#and I guess this screenshot is how you'll find out I'm italian

[dangerouseggwolfangel]

I got all the new spirits and... I know this is old news and all but... I can't thank Sakurai enough for what he has done with this game and with the spirits. I understand the people who miss the trophies, they were really cool.

But the sheer amount of characters you can actually put into the game by using existing art and all the lovely references that the developers put into the spirit battles are so much cooler than what the trophy and the stickers were. Okay, trophies have nice descriptions which makes them more useful for people that are unfamiliar with the characters. But for people that are familiar with the characters, nothing beats KNOWING why the Aerith spirit battle is at the Fountain of Dreams and Cloud is trying to protect her. Nothing beats knowing why the Cait Sith spirit battle has 3 Mr. Game & Watch spamming Judge. Even if you got the plot of FFVII spoiled you won't get the reference. You need to play the actual game.

The part that really warms my heart is that Sakurai didn't need to try so hard to make bonus battles that are so perfect for the characters. He didn't need to constantly update the game with more spirits and he certainly didn't need to give us so many. Most people would have been 100% satisfied with just the playable characters from 7. But no, he gave us Shiva, who was sadly missing from the game despite being the most popular summon (or is Bahamut more popular?). He gave us the Turks. They have many fans, sure but not enough to get in Kingdom Hearts or Dissidia apperently, so nobody would have been surprised if they were skipped.

Elena (or Irina if you are japanese) is one of my favorite characters ever, and my first videogame crush. And she is now in the best game of all time. This really feels like a Chistmas gift from Sakurai. I am so happy. I was so happy when Shantae was a spirit at launch. I was so happy when Igor from Persona was added as a spirit, when Leon S. Kennedy from RE4 was added (and his Spirit Battle references that game perfectly too), when Sans got a costume, when music from the Metal Slug games got in with Terry.

I understand that Smash hype and discourse will always be about playable characters, but sometimes we all really need to take a minute to appreciate all that Smash Ultimate is OUTSIDE its massive roster. I am mostly a fan of minor characters who have no realistic chance of getting in the game at all, which is why I mostly give support to characters who wouldn't make me cry tears of joy, or would become my mains, but have a good chance of bringing with them spirits (or background characters if Sakurai pulls another Terry) that would make me so happy.

Ryu Hayabusa, a pretty boring ninja if you ask me, but one of the most important recurring characters in Ninja Gaiden is my beloved Ayane who would get in as a spirit, so come on Ryu supporters WE GOTTA MAKE HIM HAPPEN!

Someone from Soul Calibur? Sure, anything to get a Voldo spirit.

Someone from Tekken? I love Xiaoyu, King, Yoshimitsu, Nina, Anna and Paul so fricking much, and at least a couple of them are guaranteed if we get Jin or something.

Crash Bandicoot? YES! A Cortex spirit would be the best.

Sora? Only worth it for the Roxas spirit.

Byleth? Not my first choice, but I don't get all the people who are mad because they wanted the house leaders. I'm too busy smiling because the house leaders got wondeful spirit battles (and also Seteth for some reason).

When smash speculation and wishlists are involed, you guys seem to care about who gets in as a playable character, the bonus stuff you don't care about (unless it's missing, like FF music until now. Then you suddenly care). I care about the bonus content and who gets in as playable matters just a little bit to me. Which makes me weird. But to me the spirits are what makes Smash Ultimate the best smash game and I'm willing to die on this hill.

Imagine being a Mallow fan. Barely anyone discusses or even remembers him. Everyone goes nuts about that stupid puppet who is literally just as important as your Mallow but he gets to appear in cameos and stuff, while Mallow is left in the dust. Then Ultimate comes out and Mallow is a spirit. It's not a Geno & Mallow spirit, Geno doesn't get to intrude in anyway. It's just a simple spirit battle who references your favorite game. A little detail. But you have never felt so seen and cared for as a Mallow fan.

The devil is in the details, and the masterpiece is in the details too. If Smash Ultimate had exactly the same roster, with the same gameplay, but no care and love for details in the background, in the victory screens and its approach to single player content was more on the level of Smash 4...

It would still be an 8.5/10 game at minimum, but it would also be so much worse at what its trying to do.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's been two years and Smash Ultimate is still such a beautiful game that keeps being given attention and players keep going back to it not just because it's a really pretty games with good gameplay mechanics. But because every inch of it has been crafted with love, care and attention to details.

You can have the best gameplay, and the nicest graphics but if you don't care to put all your passion into polishing your game as much as possible nobody will care (coughcoughMarvelVsCapcomInfinitecough)