Super Smash Bros. Universe

**Super Smash Bros. Universe**,(大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズユニバース, *Great Fray Smash Brothers Final*) sometimes referred to as **SSBU**, **Universe**, or **SSB7** is the 7th (6th if you count *Super Smash Bros. For 3DS and Wii U* as one game) and final installment of the Super Smash Bros. series. Released for the Nintendo NX's home console and portable console, it is the biggest and most expansive Super Smash Bros. series, made to be the climactic ending of the series, adding as much content into said game as possible. It was released on November 21, 2021, 20 years after the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The game is known for its considerable development team lineup, featuring Sora LTD. and HAL Labs, who return to work alongside with Nintendo's R&D teams, Bandai Namco, SEGA and the new Cross Team, a development studio made up of developers who have worked on similar games to Smash Bros. or Smash fangames in general. Other companies also collaborated with various features, such as Square Enix working on the game's story mode, and Atlus working on the new refined Spirits mechanic. The game also has a very big lineup of composers from around the world, who have worked on various series represented in Smash Bros.

The goal of Super Smash Bros. Universe was to celebrate the goal of the series, which was bringing together various game franchises and putting them all into one fighting game. Instead of just focusing on main Nintendo titles, Universe strives to instead focus on the broader aspects of the company's history and partnerships. As such, the game has the biggest roster ever in any fighting game, with characters from the more obscure, like Mach Rider, or super popular characters like Microsoft's Master Chief. The game also features the series' first 4th party characters, Hatsune Miku, and Shonen Jump's Son Goku from the Dragon Ball series, due to their massive connection to gaming as a whole. Gameplay-wise, the game tries to merge the fast-paced action from games like Super Smash Bros. Melee, while making it more accessible to newcomers. Other new additions include a fleshed-out Story Mode, game modes, and Quality of Life changes.

A limited-edition pre-order release of Super Smash Bros. For NX came in an extra booklet showing off the history of Super Smash Bros.' history. It also came with a special download code for another game called *Super Smash Bros. Remix*, a "reimagining" of the original game on the Nintendo 64, but with more content. A mobile game called, *Super Smash Bros. Mini* was also released on iPhone and Android devices, is compatible with this game. The game requires 21 GB of memory in the NX's System Memory, while the story mode requires 10 GB, meaning a total of 31 GB is needed to fully enjoy the game. Data can be copied to an SD Card and transferred onto another Nintendo Switch console. If the player does not create a save file when they start, he or she will not be able to play via the Nintendo Network and vault data cannot be saved.

## Opening Movie

The opening movie for *Universe* is very different when compared to those of its predecessors. Instead of being a collection of snippets of gameplay, it is a completely 3D animated opening consisting of the default starter characters to show off the NX's graphical prowess.

## Characters

As stated before, Super Smash Bros. Universe boasts the record of having one of the highest rosters in fighting game history. A total of 298 characters are available to play as in-game, with 98 of them being unlocked from the start unless the user is playing in Tournament Mode, or has purchased an Unlock Key from the NX's Eshop. All 88 characters from Super Smash Bros. (64) to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate appear in the game, with the rest of the roster being newcomers. Character transformations do make a return, but only for the Unova Pokemon Trainer, with the older Pokemon Trainer Pokemon (Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard) being their own character.

Most of the newcomers are additions to series already referenced or shown in the Smash series before. Many of the highly requested characters join the cast, like Puyo Puyo's Arle, while others were added in due to their history in Nintendo's years of service, or video games as a whole.

Some characters have alternate costumes that change their appearance, name, and voice clips to another character. These are called Mirror Fighters, however, they are considered to be alternate costumes in-game, and aren't usually considered as another character. Unlike Smash Ultimate, which numbers each character by their addition to the Smash series, Universe on the other hand numbers each character by their first appearance in gaming ever, further referencing the history theme. As such, they will be ordered in the same numbered order Smash Universe lists them in.