Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
| Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | |
|---|---|
Box art, showcasing some of the game's large playable roster | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Masahiro Sakurai |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Programmer(s) | Tetsuya Otaguro |
| Artist(s) | Yusuke Nakano |
| Composer(s) | Hideki Sakamoto |
| Series | Super Smash Bros. |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Switch |
| Release | December 7, 2018 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, succeeding Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of the various characters and use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety of game modes, including a single-player campaign and multiplayer versus modes. Ultimate features 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previous Super Smash Bros. games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those from third-party franchises.
Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of 3DS/Wii U's downloadable content (DLC). Series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai returned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the studios that developed 3DS/Wii U, with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal with Ultimate was to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, with Hideki Sakamoto writing the main theme "Lifelight". Ultimate was first teased in a Nintendo Direct in March 2018, with Nintendo's E3 2018 Direct primarily revealing and featuring it that subsequent June. Ultimate received downloadable content adding new fighters, stages, and other content until October 2021.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released on December 7, 2018. The game received universal acclaim from critics who lauded its refined gameplay and fine-tuning of the series' best elements as well as its extensive variety of content and characters, while its online mode was negatively received for its technical performance and matchmaking. Ultimate is often considered to be one of the best titles on Switch and one of the greatest video games ever made, becoming a popular competitive fighting game in Esports like its predecessors. It is also the best-selling fighting game in history and one of the best-selling games on the Switch, having sold over 36 million copies as of March 2025.