Finally unlocked all the characters and am like 45% through World of Light. Have to say, absolutely love this game. Brother and I both got it, and while he was over for Friday/Saturday to play vs modes, he paused to go back into his World of Light playthrough every time someone stopped to eat, get a drink, go to the bathroom, or anything in between. He and I both were so eager to see what was next that I almost didn't make dinner because I was too busy unlocking spirits and characters.
World of Light lacks the scope and story of Subspace Emissary (not like there was much to begin with) and the variety of Event mode, but by using the 'story' as a framing device for this game's version of event mode with Spirits being the trophies and an RPG element, everything blends together VERY well.
I could see this being my favorite Smash Bros, besting Brawl and even Melee. so many fighters, so many stages, so many minor tweaks and balances to the gameplay, I LOVE the new characters (Simon Belmont and King K Rool especially), the story mode slowly gives a drip-feed of rewards and compels you to keep playing, the variety of game modes and features are amazing, the multitude of control inputs is nice and versatile....Just such a good game. 93 might be underselling it.
I'm not without complaints, but the praise HEAVILY outweighs the concerns by a country mile. Small issues like not having trophies is like...yeah, I get that it sucks for some people but spirits work as an alternative with actual purpose beyond looking pretty. The lack of a stage creator sucks for me, personally, but with the sheer volume of stages on hand I'm okay with it. The lack of event mode is a bit of a loss but the FAR LARGER World of Light is just great. Lack of platforming adventure mode like Melee or Brawl is a bit of a disappointment but having every character have a themed, unique Classic mode is amazing. The omission of target test and board the platforms and home run contest is...neutral to me. I think having them was nice but after a certain point of having the exact same minigames 4 times in a row, I just don't care.
So yeah, some very minor losses and disappointments but everything was traded off for what I genuinely feel is an improved version of it in some way or another. We shall see what time says but so far I'm very happy with what I've got. I don't expect pure saccharine goodness but I really don't wanna see cynicism about this game. Every time I see a negative comment it hurts me a little inside because this game brings so much joy that I can't even fathom someone focusing on that one omission that upsets them and using it to justify hate.
Hell, you could never touch World of Light/Spirits and still enjoy the game because you unlock new fighters every few vs battles.
Again, steady drip-feed of rewards and accomplishments. Sakurai is brilliant and I genuinely do see this as the definitive Smash, minigame/mode omissions and all. I also already bought the fighter's pass because, even if I don't like any of the new characters, I don't play this game solo for the most part. if I don't care about Joker or Minecraft Steve or Banjo/Kazooie or Geno or Solaire of Astora, someone else will. (I want every single one of those characters but that's not the point. Only Joker has been announced and the other four are my wishlist, but that's my point: I don't know the fighters being released but I do know that it doesn't matter if they're all shit, I still want them because it's a party game and the whole point is to have a variety of options.
93 sounds about right considering modern cynicism. I personally have this floating between a 9.6/9.7 as of right now and it might actually go up to 9.7 to join my elite top tier games alongside Breath of the Wild.
My Console Library:
PS5, Switch, XSX
PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1, WiiU, Wii, GCN, N64 SNES, XBO, 360
3DS, DS, GBA, Vita, PSP, Android
