The single-player mode of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shines on the switch

Attendant Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to be a good board game goes without saying: it's essentially the same thing. Smash Bros. that fans have loved for years, just at the natural limit. But when I recently had the chance to play a few hours in the fight with Nintendo, it was UltimateThe offer to a player who impressed me the most. The recently announced Spirits mode is much more important than it seems.

After the Wii U version of smash Ignored in a solo adventure, the Spirits mode returns to fill this gap. This is not quite a linear story mode in the same way that Super Smash Bros. Brawl's The subspace emissary mode was – although there are cinematics and a global scenario – but it fulfills a similar role.

In Spirits Mode, you have access to a vast map of the earthly world dotted with characters representing the different "Spirit" fighters, which are versions of smash characters inhabited by the spirit of another character in the video game, whose abilities and scene have been refined.

For example, a spiritual battle against a fighter inhabited by the flying dragon pokemon Rayquaza made me fight Smash Bros. the Ridley fighter, who was enlarged larger and green on a scene that had precipitous extra winds. In another fight, I fought a yellow Kirby swarm, representing the Metroid X Parasites of the franchise. Each battle of Spirit is tied to a specific character and Nintendo has done a smart job by creatively modifying the list of smash characters and scenes to adapt to different themes.

Beat a spirit and it will be added to your collection so you can use it to imbue your own special ability fighters. Spirits also have levels, and in a PokémonAs a system, you can train and improve your minds to make them even stronger. Minds have different types that are more or less effective against others, and there is a whole list of secondary minds that can provide additional effects (like, for example, decreased movement speed but increasing damage). , which adds a complete level of strategic depth.

To return to this fight Rayquaza, it is not until I equipped a Spirit that canceled the effects of the strong wind that I had a chance to win. If that sounds a little confusing, it's because it is, at least initially. But there is a lot of useful information and a convenient automatic selection button to select the recommended loading for the specific challenge of your unlocked mind if you prefer to fight.

In the Main Spirit mode, you will face a glove of mind fighting, thus freeing more challenges and more from the map throughout your story. There is also a Spirit Board mode, where you can select a table of constantly rotating challenges to get new minds.

The key here is that there is a huge variety of challenges, none of which are very long. You enter, fight your opponent and get your rewards. And between Spirit adventure mode and the board, there is always something interesting to do. And unlike, say, Emissary Subspace, which grafted awkwardly smash gameplay on a platform mode and boss fight, Spirits is always, basically, the same Smash Bros. experience that you know and love. If you are good at smash already, the spirits will take advantage of these skills; otherwise, it will eventually help you get better.

This is the kind of tiny content that evokes some of Switch's other great hits. Breath of nature maybe the biggest Zelda never play, but its smaller shrines and faster and faster mini-dungeons are the kind that you could easily knock out on a subway trip. It's the same thing for Great Mario OdysseyHundreds of moons, which are the kind of ideal challenge to take up during a commercial break during an afternoon of idleness devoted to football.

The smallest spiritual battles of Ultimate fill the same kind of space that takes advantage of the Switch's best feature: the ability to take it anywhere and play it anytime. Of course, attention is still very much focused on these iconic multiplayer battles, which are bigger, better and bigger than ever before. And I'm sure there will be many people who will take advantage of the Switch's removable controllers to do just that Final destination-stylish duels from anywhere.

But when I think about the way I've used my Switch most of the last 18 months, it's a lot more time spent on a plane or a train or a few minutes before going to bed than during evenings giant. It's nice to see Nintendo recognize that features like Spirits mode, even in a game like smash.