Hey Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Where's the Smash Meter?
By Jason Fanelli ·
The Final Smash Meter was supposed to bring competitive an explosive new wrinkle, but instead it's gone largely ignored. Why?
The Super Smash Brothers Ultimate North American Open wrapped up this weekend at PAX East, with six weeks of online competitions culminating in one final showdown. It’s the latest chapter supporting the fact that since the game’s launch in December SSBU has developed a thriving competitive scene, with major tournaments happening all over the country almost every weekend. However, as I watch these competitions play out I find myself asking the same question over and over again: where’s the Smash Meter?
The Meter Debuts
As you can see from Maxmilian_DOOD’s reaction, the Final Smash Meter was a big deal when Nintendo announced it last August. Finally, we had a more traditional way to incorporate Final Smashes into the game’s core strategy, treating it like a super move in other fighting games instead of an extra attack gained through a random item appearance.
When the game launched in December, the Final Smash Meter functioned exactly as promised. The Smash Ball that served as the gatekeeper for the Final Smash attack was no longer necessary, and the Smash scene could go back to the pure “no items” format they’ve had since Melee with all attacks available...or would they?
Early Meter Absences
The weekend after Super Smash Bros Ultimate launched, The NorthEast Championships - one of the biggest tournaments on the East Coast - became one of the first to host a tournament in the new game. A lot of eyes were on this competition for obvious reasons, but as matches kicked off there was an obvious omission: the Final Smash Meter was not activated.
To many, this was not much of a surprise: the Smash community has shown reluctance to immediately accept change in the past (here’s looking at you, Melee). However, as time went on - and as Nintendo got involved in competition themselves - I thought for sure the feature would eventually permeate the meta and become part of the normal ruleset. After all, meter mechanics have been part of the greater fighting game community for decades, why wouldn’t Smash want to employ a meter?
Then the North American Open started…
The Death Knell for the Smash Meter
It’s one thing for independent tournaments to ignore the Smash Meter. After all, being independent means they choose the house rules and sticking to what made Smash great is their prerogative. However, when Nintendo itself announces a tournament and the rules ignore the Final Smash Meter, I start to wonder if the feature will ever be used.
It is astounding that a feature as ballyhooed as the meter was back in that August Smash Direct would, less than a year later, be completely ignored on the competitive scene it was supposed to improve. Is there something wrong with the meter that cannot be fixed to better suit competition? Say it fills too fast, would a patch not fix that?
Obviously, it will take one well-known Smash tournament, an Apex or a Genesis or an Evo perhaps, to employ the Final Smash Meter properly and see what happens from there. Even if it’s a side tournament or an exhibition, something to at least test the effect of the meter on the competitive arena, that would be enough. From there it could be tweaked, found to be perfectly fine, or abandoned, but at least someone will have tried it. Otherwise, it serves as little more than a waste of the development team’s time, which is a real shame.
For more on the FGC, check out LI Joe's recent gameplay video of the new Samurai Shodown, as well as our running Fatalities list for Mortal Kombat 11.