thanks to sakurako and tokyo treat for
sponsoring this video love him or hate
him final smashes have become one of the
most iconic parts of a character's move
set ever since their debut in super
smash brothers brawl i've got so many
fond memories just wreaking havoc with
the land master flying around shooting
fireballs as yoshi or doing whatever
this is and that still holds true for
the series newest entry smash ultimate
right well not really while final
smashes are still in the game and we did
get some downright awesome new additions
this time around for the dlc fighters
like what is this we still have some of
the lame ones like mario's fireball and
all three of those memorable examples i
gave along with many many others are no
longer in the game at all with even more
still appearing to be here but acting
significantly different than how they
did in previous games almost being
indistinguishable attacks this time
around
and why is that why did nintendo go
through so much trouble to change almost
half the roster's final smashes
did they all just suck can't be right
they still have to puff up in the game
you'd think with all the other things
that they'd have to focus on during
smash ultimate's development from the
stages to the music to the
i mean story i guess they'd relax on
making so many entirely new final
smashes and reworking ones which
honestly didn't need it with cutscenes
as intricate as this until you uncover
the real reasons for all of this lying
within here is a story more tragic than
you may think time to grab the popcorn a
blanket and maybe even some tissues too
as we examine the real reasons behind
every rejected final smash
not every rejected final smash has had a
tragic backstory though some were just
well weird one of the most memorable
final smashers of all time for me has
got to be luigi's negative zone i don't
know about for the best reasons but
still memorable nonetheless this move
was original to super smash brothers
brawl where he does a dance hurting
opponents that get caught in the
negative zone vortex it seems like a
really strange choice concerning that of
all characters you'd think that luigi
would have some of the most options
possible for an attack taking
inspiration from platforming luigi
manchin luigi
simping luigi okay maybe not that many
options but despite all this they really
wanted this move in this set leading to
fans trying to craft some sort of
canonical origin for it because
everything needs to have a complicated
backstory in this game right alright so
the theory goes that the name negative
zone may be a reference to luigi always
being in his brother's shadow even kind
of being referenced in the moves trophy
description hey remember when we had
those couldn't find those details next
to the png images now this makes some
sense since luigi was originally just a
palette swap of mario for player 2. but
i think if it wasn't inspiration at all
it was pretty weak it certainly looks
cool having all the colors inverted and
everything but it makes a lot more sense
to change it to an ability that he's
known to use in his own series which we
finally received in smash 4. here he can
use the poltergust from luigi's mansion
definitely the most fitting move that
they could have possibly given to luigi
it's a cool attack where he sucks up
opponents within its reach and it even
got changed to the new one from luigi's
mansion 3 for smash ultimate safe to say
we'll never see luigi entering the
negative zone again and considering how
good the replacement was i certainly
hope not another mario character would
get their final smash changed recently
though and it definitely wasn't as
drastic rosalina who we all love and
totally agree deserved a spot in smash
way back in 2014 at a pretty basic final
smash back in the 3ds and wii u edition
of the series see she's from galaxy
right you know what else is from mario
galaxy power stars except when they're
in mario 64 over a decade prior but that
doesn't count right so since this
character who we decided needed to be in
nintendo's premiere fighting franchise
doesn't have well really any moveset
material of her own
let's just uh put this in here and have
it shoot out smaller stars if you didn't
know this beforehand you'd probably
think i'd be making this up right i'd
love to be a fly on the wall in some of
these meetings it was only natural that
some would feel that this wasn't the
best they could do for a final smash
even for this character we could change
it to the black holes from galaxy maybe
get lubba or one of the other galaxy
original characters in there or oh we
could just upgrade it from a power star
to a grand star man i think we give this
company a little bit too much credit for
effort sometimes i don't know grand
stars are the special versions of power
stars within galaxy so it was a natural
upgrade to change it even though it
still sucks and since the original had
smaller stars shooting away from the
large one which wasn't too effective in
battle here they buffed the move by
having the smaller stars shoot towards
the grand star instead this way giving
an easier opportunity to trap opponents
within it i mean the change was for the
better it's just kind of still a big
star right rosalina is not the only
character to simply get a slight change
to our final smash though ganondorf
falls in a similar class his final smash
turns him into the iconic beast form of
gannon charging at the opponent this was
only in brawl in smash 4 though an
ultimate his attack functions largely
the same but ganon's appearance is based
on the ocarina of time incarnation of
the character and was given another name
ganon the demon king this one makes
sense in all to get a more fitting
reference for ganondorf specifically but
i can't help but get the feeling that
changes like these two were made just so
nintendo could come out and say hey
we've got like 50 new final smashes in
this game the most new ever while hiding
slight changes like these in there but
nintendo would never do something like
this just for the sake of it right this
is too close to conspiracy territory
need i remind you that this is the same
company that said the wii u would have
quote unprecedented third-party support
before the console came out only for it
to flop and then leave the people who
did buy it after hearing that promise
just go huh
yeah there's really not that much here
nintendo doesn't care about your
feelings but these final smashes aren't
just being changed because of nintendo's
compulsion to lie to its fans though as
we're gonna get into some of the
downright craziest and somewhat tragic
real reasons for some changes later on
but ganondorf wasn't the only zelda
character who got changed for unrelated
reasons since in brawl zelda and sheik
were still the same character they were
given the same final smash being the
light arrow when used either zelda or
sheik will draw a large bow and shoot
the arrow at any opponent who's in its
way link was first able to wield the
light arrows in ocarina of time which is
likely why they gave it to sheik since
she was first introduced in there as
well whereas zelda was first able to use
them in wind waker it was a decently
fitting final smash enough so that in
smash 4 when they got split up the
attack got carried over for both
characters yet in smash ultimate they
still felt the need to change these
attacks for zelda they very fittingly
changed it to the triforce of wisdom
which he uses in the final battle
against ganon in ocarina of time
spoilers in case you haven't played it
yet i know the last time i talked about
this there's a lot of people who had a
fit over a 20 year old game getting
spoiled that uh you know is so reliant
on its story in this battle she traps
ganon in it so link can deliver the
final blow a very fitting final smash
for zelda right now for a sheik she
dashes forward and slices the opponent
up with a dagger when she catches anyone
the sheikah eye symbol will appear on
screen and the screen will darken before
the attack now while this move isn't
directly from any particular zelda game
the shika eye symbol does represent the
shika clan which princess zelda claims
to belong to while in the chic persona
and sheik using the daggers in this
fast-paced style likely originates from
hyrule warriors but i feel they just
wanted to change up both of their final
smashes because having two that are
exactly the same kinda sucks especially
when very similar final smashes are used
by other characters outside of zelda and
cheek as well so these changes were
definitely for the better but it
wouldn't be right if nintendo didn't
complete the triforce with changes to
link as well or should i say the hottest
nintendo character link is hot is link
hot to you uh link is hot i gotta say
link is hot but yeah god i miss reggie
man originally link had the same final
smash as toon link the one that young
link would receive in ultimate as well
it's very simple just having a triforce
symbol up here where opponents can get
trapped in it and you slice them up and
well that's it it's not like this was
seen frequently in the zelda series
either it was just original to smash
pretty lame if you ask me they replaced
it with a pretty cool breath of the wild
reference with the bow and arrow
although the attack is still pretty
simple i'll take anything to get rid of
this trash though now all we need is
something for tune in young link who
they uh just kind of left as is pit is
unique in that he actually has not only
one but two rejected final smashes they
can't seem to figure out what they want
out of this character huh guess it's
kind of fitting since they had to
completely change what kind of game kid
icarus was with uprising men in his
original final smash pick calls to the
goddess palutena for her army of
centurions that attacked the opponent
this originated from the first kid
icarus on the nes where the centurions
are high-ranking soldiers of palutena
and the angel land who were turned to
stone by medusa's army the inspiration
kind of had to come from this game since
it was the only one out at the time
uprising hadn't released a much more
peaceful time for the nintendo community
and because uprising came out his final
smash got changed to the three sacred
treasures in smash 4. when used pitt
equips the wings of the pegasus and
fires off a ton of arrows of light at
the opponents the canon reason given for
this is since palutena became a fighter
now with the increased popularity of the
series she canonically doesn't want to
help pitt in battle this is even
confirmed in dialogue within palutena's
guidance so it's really cool how they
kept up this detail now only if that
logic extended to some other franchise
but as i said this wasn't the final
change to pitt's final smash it changed
to the lightning chariot and ultimate
another reference to uprising this one's
pretty simple pit jumps aboard the
lightning chariot and it flies off
screen if you get caught in this well
things aren't gonna work out too well
for you but my personal theory
surrounding the change here is that
sakurai is secretly trying to put more
spotlight onto a character that he
helped revive in uprising by
consistently changing up their move sets
and giving the franchise three roster
spots in smash i mean it's not the most
absurd amount ever but sonic's just
sitting over there like
yeah this is fine another character from
a franchise with three reps that also
had three final smashes over the years
is king dedede man you gotta leave a
like and sub for these transitions i'm
on point today in brawl ddd whistles and
dances to summon a large crowd of waddle
these that run across the stage for 10
seconds damaging anything in their way
now this was an original move for brawl
with no real inspiration behind it and
it was likely there because he already
had a waddle dee throwing attack at the
time so it was easier to develop as
compared to creating something entirely
new kind of in a similar vein to if
bowser jr had a bunch of mecha koopas
raining down on the stage but since the
waddle d special was cut from ddd's main
moveset in smash 4 it made a lot more
sense to change the final smash as well
also could you imagine if they try to
put this on the 3ds like oh my we'd have
crashes everywhere this move was changed
to ddd burst when activated ddd inhales
his opponents before slamming them with
three flaming hammer spins and then
finishing the move by throwing a bomb at
the victims and while the move itself is
a smashed original the bomb that ddd
throws at the end of it does closely
resemble the bomber enemy from the
series so there is a slight reference in
there but to sakurai the kirby series
creator this wasn't enough for mario the
most iconic video game character of all
time his final smash
that doesn't need to change but my
character oh well now we've got some
standards and ultimate we got ddd rush
where the powerful hit with the hammer
turns into a cut scene involving mask
ddd is upgraded form from kirby
superstar ultra the caged ring that he
puts his opponents in kind of reminds me
of the cage of death uh oh wait wrong
franchise god i can't keep referencing
this i might have to rethink my whole
channel what the ring is actually
reminiscent of is the arena in which
kirby fights mass ddd and the new hammer
that fires missiles is also used within
this boss fight this is my personal
favorite of his final smashes even
though i know the other ones do have
their supporters yeah they're they're
there somewhere i'm sure another kirby
rep will get a change with his final
smash and ultimate this being meta
knight but it's not too different as
compared to ddd the original called
galaxy darkness had the screen going
black followed up with a powerful slash
attack whereas the new one begins with
the slash trapping the opponent in a
vulnerable position where they're hit
with a barrage of strikes the original
actually got the name galaxia from the
name of meta knight's sword and the
anime kirby right back at ya and yes
this was an actual thing see the anime
references are making more sense now
this move will get referenced in game
after brawl had released but considering
it was a smash original it made some
sense to change the attack the new
attack darkness illusion is used in star
allies so it's nice to get a modern
reference in there but without a doubt
the most memorable rejected final smash
from the kirby series to me has got to
come from kirby himself back in brawl we
had cooking kirby as a final smash this
move being based on the cooking ability
from superstar and kirby the amazing
mirror he'll don a chef hat and grab a
frying pan putting nearly everything in
the limited radius in the cauldron to
stew after a short period of time all
the characters and even items that are
sucked in will be shot back out with the
attack dealing some damage but not a lot
but instead of buffing the move they
completely replaced it with the ultra
sword in smash 4. it's simpler and
something you'd expect to see kirby use
more often originating as a super
ability in kirby's return to dreamland
i've seen many support the change while
others feel it's a lot more generic
compared to the original which was much
more unique and i'd have to agree on
that like literally every character has
a sword final smash nowadays did kirby
really need one too but even though it's
interesting to look at some of the final
smashes that got changed for nintendo
simply wanting a more interesting or
fitting attack in their minds what i
think is much more fascinating are the
final smashes that got carried over with
the exact same inspiration just with a
different attack in its place and the
real reasons for why they made these
changes will tell us a lot about a big
design philosophy change nintendo made
for smash ultimate as a whole and how it
relates to the sad reality of all of
this but first of all i gotta get this
off my chest seeing all that cooking
with kirby made me hungry i can't even
lie it would be nice if we had something
oh
well what do we have here tokyo treat
and sakura co recognize my clear love
for japanese games and snacks too so
they sent me a couple of their new boxes
to try and i put them to the test for
tokyo treat i got 20 of the latest most
exclusive limited edition and seasonal
flavored japanese snacks that are only
available in japan for a limited time
each month their box is a unique theme
and for april i got sakura picnic they
have exclusive and seasonal japanese
snacks this month such as pineam sakura
candy strawberry and red wine loaf and
banana caramel kitkat one of my personal
faves the pine am sakura candy and the
loaf are exclusively made for tokyo
treat subscribers and i honestly really
enjoyed this one with the sakura go box
i got 20 traditional and authentic
artisan japanese snack items including
japanese teas you get one special
japanese tableware with your box every
month too which is really cool now if
you're skeptical about how authentic
this all is i gotta let you know that
sakuraico helps in partnering with local
japanese snack makers to continue
sharing japanese culture and traditions
that have been passed down for over a
hundred years this stuff is the real
deal their theme for this month was
matcha and mochi we have sakura sencha
tea exclusively made for sakuraico and a
lot of matcha themed snacks and for mei
man you know they got some of that good
stuff i love the matcha wafer and can't
get enough of the hojicha chocolate
crunchies look you're probably a
nintendo fan watching this video you
probably want to experience some
authentic japanese treats and i don't
blame you but as always i got the hookup
by using the codes to roth you could get
five dollars off your first sakurako or
tokyo treat box using my links in the
description below choose your side pick
what fits you or pick both that's what i
do make sure you get your order in by
may 30th to ensure you do not miss this
box
now during my truly immaculate recap of
some of smash brothers most notable
final smash rejections i neglected to
mention some which are actually still
technically in the game just with a
twist little max final smash returns
into gigamac which is probably the most
fitting final smash he could get
originating from the two player mode in
punch out wii where you can turn into
this form after hitting your opponent
enough times it is still in smash
ultimate but in smash 4 there's one key
difference you can control it and
ultimately the move will go off
automatically once you use it it's
called gigamac rush now and it's still a
powerful attack you rush into your
opponent delivering a ton of blows to
them but you do not have the freedom
that you did in smash 4. same thing
happened to mr gaiman watch with this
octopus final smash octopus originates
from the game and watch title
well octopus in the game a giant octopus
guards a sunken pirate ship and snatches
up anybody who's in its way the final
smash acts very similarly to it although
now it's no longer fully controllable as
it was in previous games it's only
vertically controllable now pac-man has
one of the most iconic final smashes
ever you turn retro and in smash 4 you
can move around the screen eating your
opponents like their power pellets in
the original pac-man but in ultimate you
only have slight control of him as he
automatically moves forward now pikachu
and p2 both use volt tackle as their
final smash but it's uncontrollable in
smash ultimate the decision to make
wario wario man for his final smash was
a great one this form appears in so many
different games throughout the series
but now you can no longer play as him
and it's just changed to a cut scene
sonic naturally changes into super sonic
but you can no longer control him and
just go zoom zoom zoom zoom zoom around
the screen
no it does it for you many are wondering
why control was taken out of the
player's hands in this way so many times
does everything just have to be done for
you in games nowadays you know back in
my day we we didn't have to do that we
didn't play pokemon with checkpoints but
the real reason that nintendo gave for
cutting transformation final smash is in
the place of cutscene ones is because
for ultimate they wanted quick final
smashes that wouldn't disrupt the game
flow which is pretty interesting because
it's not like final smashes were the
most competitive game mechanic or
anything like that them disrupting game
flow in a casual multiplayer match isn't
really that big of a deal and in some
cases it kind of helps make the
experience more fun there are two main
camps within the community surrounding
this issue there are those who don't
like transformation final smashes they
did go on for a while some described it
as playing a game of tag where you're
trying to catch other opponents in the
game they're just trying to run away
from you it's much more streamlined to
have every final smash either be just a
cutscene or a quick attack but the
counter argument to this is that
transformations did allow for more
uniqueness and freedom in the gameplay
you feel more involved which when
playing a video game i mean
you probably want to be involved right
unless you're playing an a-mashing
simulator and the argument that this was
done to not interrupt the flow of
gameplay as much kind of doesn't hold up
when you realize that a cutscene
interrupts gameplay maybe even more so
there's no gameplay involved at all
we're not even talking competitive
anyway and even outside of competitive
many players don't even utilize the
feature as part of their core smash
experience so balancing it doesn't
really matter or does it as we'll see
coming up it seems like sakurai
internally may have wanted all that i
just said to completely change this time
around but before we get into the real
story surrounding that i've gotta say
that those changes to transformation
final smashes aren't even some of the
most interesting examples to me giga
bowser is an original character to smash
that's appeared in the series since
melee being playable as a final smash
beginning in brawl now you may be
thinking why did they bother making a
whole new form of bowser like this
couldn't they have used something much
simpler or already seen within the
series well you see that would make
sense but for long time fans of the
smash series you may be familiar with
sakurai's personal beef with bowser and
if not
well this could probably make a whole
video on its own but have you ever
noticed how bowser's persona in smash is
quite different than how it is in the
vast majority of games in the mario
series like in most games yeah bowser is
trying to present himself as an
intimidating threat and all that but
there's always that glimpse of a goofier
and more innocent side of his
personality but that's not the case in
smash he's always angry at making
generic growling sounds during gameplay
and this is no accident as sakurai has
gone on record multiple times saying
that he believes bowser should be
presented in that vein that he is better
in that role now i love sakurai he's
been the mastermind behind one of my
favorite nintendo series but the idea
that he knows better than the people
behind the mario series for what makes
bowser work as a character
is pretty ridiculous despite this
sakurai has made this his hill to die on
for some reason so we got gigabowser as
sort of sakurai's true vision of the
character now he's cool and all
especially when playing as him just
clicking buttons and knocking out the
opponent but in ultimate he had to
undergo one critical change like many
others gigabowser is no longer playable
in the regular form but for this guy in
particular of course sakura had to give
him some special treatment we couldn't
just get a cutscene final smash or a
quick attack like most others know we
need to see sakurai's vision for
gaming's biggest villain highlighted in
some way so you do get some control of
this new attack giga bowser appears even
larger this time behind the stage and
you can launch a powerful punch towards
an area of your choice i really like the
reference to the final battle of yoshi's
island with bowser in this spot and i
guess
new super mario brothers 2 if you care
about that game but i still find it
funny that even though this form of
bowser has never been carried over into
a main series game like ever it still
remains positioned as one of the most
interesting and iconic final smashes
ever and my personal theory is it's
still all over sakurai's secret hatred
of how bowser is portrayed another mario
character who got a final smash change
in ultimate is diddy kong i mean i guess
he's not really a mario character huh
guess my transitions are slipping his
original final smash was called rocket
barrel barrage where he's able to fly
around with his rocket barrel pack
shooting powerful shots from his peanut
pop guns you had full control of the
character originally though so this
meant it had to change the new version
it was changed to is called the hyper
rocket barrel where diddy activates a
silver updated version of his rocket
barrel pack multiplies himself and
dashes across the screen in multiple
directions kinda like sonic this whole
final smash has taken inspiration from
the rocket barrel jetpack power up in
donkey kong 64 where diddy could use the
jet pack to fly around in mid-air again
it was just altered to simplify and
quicken the move locario underwent a
similar change in smash 4 as it relates
to his mega form during this date mega
lucario's aura attacks are almost twice
as powerful and he only takes half
damage from attacks as well it's a
pretty powerful form but again it was
fully controllable and that had to
change it's kind of a good thing though
that before smash 4 lucario had a
different final smash since back when
brawl was out mega evolutions didn't
exist in the pokemon series i mean they
kind of don't exist now either but
that's besides the point in the original
final smash lucario would fire off this
mega powerful blast of aura at the
opponent and kind of a compromise was
made in ultimate but going back to aura
storm but lucario still mega evolves
which is nice to see actually one of the
good instances of nintendo changing it
up lucario isn't the only mega pokemon
in smash ultimate though far from it
while mewtwo's final smash got to remain
the same because it's just a simple
attack with sidestrike megacharizard x
is no longer present in the game i mean
outside of his spirit which is totally
the best integration of a character you
can have but the story behind this is
that back in smash 4 we didn't have the
standard pokemon trainer as we did in
brawl or c today due to technical
limitations with the 3ds version of the
game they had to remove the swapping
mechanic of going from one character to
another if they could only keep one of
the three pokemon of course charizard's
gonna be the one who gets that
preferential treatment
and since the triple finish final smash
from the original character featured all
three pokemon attacking the opponent at
the same time that obviously couldn't be
used anymore something new was needed
and with pokemon x and y being the
newest entries in the series releasing
at the time which featured two mega
charizard forms one was bound to be used
and mega charizard x was the choice this
allowed you to transform into him and
fly around attacking the opponents with
either dragon rush or launching fire
blasts this was definitely a great
replacement even though i generally
don't like mega charizard x as a pokemon
very much its design takes away of the
uniqueness of shiny charizard's
coloration to me but aside from my
personal pet peeve with the form itself
it was a fitting attack until ultimate
saw the return of squirtle in ivysaur
and subsequently the triple finish final
smash in which mega charizard x does not
return i agree that it wouldn't make
much sense for one of these three to
just randomly mega here so i don't miss
the reversion to the original final
smash and unless megas get brought back
in a new pokemon game or something like
that i highly doubt we see mega
charizard x return to smash in this vein
ever again by now we've seen many final
smashes which involve you turning into
an upgraded form of the character and
wreaking havoc on your opponents which
they felt the need to simplify but what
about some attacks that were really
unique that don't fall into this
category per se but they still thought
they need to simplify as well enter
donkey kong's conga b oh yeah dk gets
his bongos out and starts playing them
originating from dk-64 and playing more
of a role in donkey kong for the
gamecube and man if you get hit by this
it's not going to be a fun time i've
always loved using this move and you
could actually increase the drums power
by timing button presses to the beat of
the music in the background but this
seemed to be too unique and for ultimate
they changed his final smash to be based
on one of his jungle beat attacks where
he rapidly punches the opponent
completely removing the uniqueness that
the original brought now i gotta be
honest here while i don't think either
move perfectly represents dk or anything
like that i am in the crowd that prefers
the original purely because of the
rhythm gameplay being a fun change of
pace although i can totally see people
pointing out flaws about it like if
you're playing the game in a crowded
setting and have to play muted or simply
can't time the beat you're at an
incredible disadvantage but i can't seem
to get behind this generic barrage of
punches being its replacement i've
offered some other ideas in previous
videos like the moon punch from tropical
freezes at cutscene final smash but for
a character as iconic as donkey kong i
feel he deserves much better kinda like
some other iconic character wait a
second what's that sound landmaster
oh yeah the smash bros crew of star fox
characters collectively has got to have
one of the most iconic final smashes of
all time for those of you who don't know
landmaster dropped in a tank on the
battlefield allowing you to move it
around a bit and shoot the opponents
with it it was a really ambitious attack
but it was kind of clunky to maneuver
and definitely stalled the pace of the
game if you're using that argument since
this thing was basically your new
terrain to play around for ultimate
instead of using this transformation
attack they changed it into a cut scene
for all three characters and for as well
as these cutscenes turned out i still
can't get the nostalgia out of my mind
about the landmaster like what a
memorable move the landmaster also had
the issue of not really referencing a
majority of games in the franchise very
accurately riding on a tank on land
definitely isn't what people immediately
think of when playing a star fox game
although i'm sure for the sake of the
franchise i'm sure fans wouldn't mind
people at least thinking of something
about it man what a sad state this is in
i feel for you star fox fans in contrast
to this though a character who doesn't
get talked about much at all in terms of
his final smash history is rob the robot
despite him having three different final
smashes over the years and i think the
reasons for this are number one no one
really actually caring about rob is a
character but number two it's not like
the changes were that drastic back in
brawl rob used an attack called
diffusion beam where he gains
invincibility and shooting medium ranged
whirling lasers out of his eyes this got
changed in smash 4 though to the super
diffusion beam oh my with a name like
that you know it's gotta be better when
activated rob transforms into a laser
cannon and fires an intense beam of
energy at the opponent like samus's
final smash you do have the ability to
angle the beam slightly vertically if
you want it's a much more generic type
of attack though but considering that
neither have had much material for a
deep origin from nintendo's perspective
they probably just wanted to give the
move a buff this was not the reasoning
behind the change for smash ultimate
though this time we got an attack called
the guided robo beam rob once again
transforms into a laser cannon and this
time fires off a series of small lasers
that hone in on opponents that are close
enough to him all ending with a powerful
blast and this is a pretty cool final
smash to me it keeps the theme of
simplicity that they're going for here
but in contrast to smash 4 this one
makes it a little bit more unique than
someone like samus i wonder how metroid
fans feel about rob getting a more
unique final smash of all characters
whereas samus has just been stuck with
the same lame one for years hey you
never know with the metroid series kinda
picking up in popularity nowadays maybe
in the next entry we got hope for
something more interesting at this rate
the next smash is probably going to come
out before metroid prime 4. now snake
without a doubt had one of the coolest
final smashers in brawl this guy gets
behind the screen and essentially just
starts shooting missiles at the fighters
on stage you've got full control and can
aim at the target of your choice a great
idea with a great inspiration from
shooting grenades in the middle gear
games but for ultimate they just had to
go and mess with it the player can guide
this crosshair to lock onto opponents
and after a brief moment missiles will
launch from the foreground and attack
the targeted players this is similar but
not quite as good as to what he had in
brawl in my opinion i'd like the freedom
to shoot one at a time there but at
least they kept the crosshair in kind of
like bowser's punch they likely changed
the attack to make it quicker to execute
but i also believe part of the reason
has to be because of the visible gun on
screen like in a team rated game in
brawl it got a pass but probably not
here oh but it's okay for inkling to use
a gun but not snake what says favoritism
now when i say the character is zero
suit samus you're probably thinking to
yourself man i just i don't care
unless you're an artist but zero suit
actually is one of the most interesting
final smash histories in my opinion
since if you didn't play brawl most
would likely assume that she had the
same final smash as samus since they
were incorporated into the same
character slot zero suit was only
accessible after samus had used the
large beam to shoot for her final smash
but have you ever thought about how you
turn back to regular samus yeah it's
kind of an obscure predicament that
you'd only really get into if you're
playing like a 99 stock game or
something like that but zeruzu's final
smash is actually different with her
radiating energy dragging in items and
enemies towards her while damaging
anyone close enough then regaining her
varya su and transforming back into
regular samus after the characters were
split up in smash 4 though this
obviously couldn't be carried over while
standard sims final smash remained
mostly the same just without the ability
to transform into zero suit hers instead
would be completely changed in smash 4
she got the gun ship and she'll hop in
there firing several energy beam shots
at the opponents very similar to how
snake's grenade launcher worked in brawl
and actually in an eerily similar move
to what they did with snake's final
smash zero suit adopts the zero laser as
her new final smash and ultimate by
temporarily transforming into suited
samus this one's pretty interesting as
it's almost directly a hybrid between
the two final smashes that she
originally had which i think is a nice
compromise if they absolutely had to
change it it references both samus's use
of the hyper beam and super metroid to
defeat the mother brain and the gunship
which has been a staple in the series
since metroid 2. but again i can't help
but think about the striking
similarities between the changes made
for zero suit and that of snake guess it
makes sense to find out that these
weren't the only similar changes that
these two characters would undergo an
ultimate
uh
yeah but enough about zero suit samus
for most people when you think of smash
brothers one of the characters that'll
pop into your mind for better or worse
is yoshi and his final smash history is
actually pretty interesting in brawl in
smash 4 he'll grow wings and take off
you're able to fly around as him and
shoot fireballs blasting the opponents
being based on his appearance in super
mario world where different abilities
are gained based on the type of koopa
show that you have in your mouth but
since this was freely controllable
nintendo either had to come up with an
entirely new final smash idea to go
along with the same philosophy as almost
every other change in ultimate or change
it to a cut scene but with this one in
particular i'd say it would be pretty
tough to do just a simple attack it just
wouldn't feel right this led to them
scrapping the concept entirely and going
with the stampede final smash where a
ton of yoshi's will trample over the
opponent in a cutscene this is
definitely a cool attack to see executed
but its origins are kind of interesting
this can kind of be thought as a smash
original move believe it or not since
this exact scene was depicted in melee's
opening movie nearly 20 years prior now
even though i think the new change is
kind of a cool callback i still much
prefer the original a compromise could
simply be made by incorporating yoshi's
more interesting abilities like the
flight and fire into his main moveset
but since nintendo doesn't seem to want
to bother altering any of the og
characters i highly doubt that happens
with all this known though we can infer
one thing above all with confirmation
that the majority of final smashes were
changed to be faster and not interrupt
gameplay as much it seems like they were
trying to be phased into more players
gameplay sessions smash was always
intended to be a party game and not a
fighting game a statement that some
let's call them fans in the community
seem to take really personally and
sakurai's expressed his disappointment
many times over the years with how many
in the community immediately turn off
the majority of the game's features
including final smashes having final
smashes that don't disrupt gameplay as
much and are generally more streamlined
in nintendo's minds would help them get
further accepted into casual play
but what about the hardcore competitive
community when the final smash meter was
first revealed for smash ultimate there
was a lot of debate sparking up
throughout the competitive side of the
community there were many wondering if
this could lead to final smashes being
accepted into competitive play since
this feature in essence allowed you to
earn the use of your final smash by
building up your meter throughout the
match rather than just getting lucky by
cracking the smash ball open when it
randomly appears for you at the right
time but in contrast to some who were
open to the idea there were many others
who were strongly opposed to this a
bunch of people in the hardcore
community were shooting this concept
down well before the feature even came
out despite all the streamlining of
final smashers that we had seen up until
that point it was difficult for many to
form an opinion on this issue though
since we simply couldn't get our hands
on the feature until the game released
but at the time the reception to the
idea was mostly negative leading to
sakura having to issue a pretty sad
response sakurai is quoted as responding
to a question about the feature saying
that the final smash meter is better
suited for casual party play over
serious competitive play things would
get pretty hectic with it he said which
i believe is him in effect giving up on
the hope of pleasing everyone with this
feature final smashes would still be
broken in the minds of the competitive
scene like pokemon singles players in
jenny not wanting a mons dynamax form to
be influencing your team choices
choosing a character for having a really
good final smash was seen as
uncompetitive in the minds of many
throughout the competitive community
sakurai really pushed final smashes in
this game not just with the introduction
of the meter but also its inclusion in
world of light he wanted as many people
to use his creations as possible maybe
even originally intending for it to be
competitive after the reduction in power
that a lot of them would end up getting
along with the faster pace of final
smashes being intended on their end to
not interrupt gameplay as much but if
that goal existed at all it was without
a doubt given up on at some point
whether the initial negativity from some
parts of the community was responsible
for the statement by sack right or not
i'll leave that up to you but without a
doubt the overhaul to this feature was
in the hopes to reintegrate it into more
players experiences after years and
years of disappointment about it not
being the case even still though i don't
know after all of this if these changes
really made a difference were the people
now playing with final smash meter
really never using the smash ball before
it's obviously difficult to say for sure
but the tragic part of this to me is
that all this effort may not even help
sakurai achieve his goal but to truly
understand his personal attachment to
these over-the-top attacks we can't just
look at interviews about his
disappointment or changes made to the
series newest entry all of that could be
blown out of proportion by fans in the
media alike where we can truly confirm
all of this lies all the way back in the
first instance of final smash is getting
rejected this being from smash 64. yep
final smashes were intended to be in the
first super smash brothers game and they
even had voice lines recorded to be used
in the attacks could you imagine what
these moves would have been like way
back in the day they likely would have
been a bit simpler obviously without the
over-the-top cutscenes but that in
itself would have a major influence on
the future because as we've gone over
today many characters have gotten their
same final smash carried over throughout
the years in every single entry marth
has the critical hit samus says the beam
dr mario has the pills so if we got
final smashes included in the original
entry we potentially have some even more
simple final smashes than we already
have included to this day but like many
cut features this had to be taken out
almost certainly because of limits on
the nintendo 64's hardware final smashes
weren't just a flashy new addition to
the third entry in a massive nintendo
franchise to sakurai it was meant to be
as integral as the original 12 master
hand the platform-based fighting
gameplay all of it and while i enjoy
dabbling in final smashes every now and
then the reality is it's likely not as
key to smash as they originally wanted
we'll always have the memories of
cooking opponents with kirby having a
fully controllable og pac-man and of
course negative zone but if smash
ultimate fails to be sakurai's final
foray into this fabled franchise i
wouldn't expect a return of these
rejected attacks but instead even
further efforts to make final smashes as
seamless as everything else
i'll see you next time and if you're new
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