Unleashing the Ultimate Potential: Super Smash Bros Sequel Embraces Super Mario Bros Wonder's Key Concept

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reached its peak by including almost 200 video game franchises. However, for a potential sequel, it should take inspiration from Super Mario Bros. Wonder in order to improve its level design. While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate offers a wide variety of stages to choose from, the stages themselves have remained somewhat repetitive. The limited range of hazards, such as moving platforms, obstacles, and vehicles, calls for a sequel that introduces more dynamic stages.

The introduction of a new game mechanic in Super Mario Bros. Wonder could be the game changer that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate needs for its stage designs. Although the full capabilities of Super Mario Bros. Wonder's new Wonder Flower have yet to be revealed, the effects it has on world design show that even seemingly ordinary level elements, like warp pipes and trees, can transform and enhance gameplay. Both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as flagship Nintendo series, have the potential to benefit from exchanging their best ideas.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Stages Got Shortchanged

While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is often regarded as the most ambitious installment in the series, boasting a roster that combines beloved characters from previous games with exciting new additions, its extensive selection of over one hundred stages fails to fully capture this level of innovation. Apart from the absence of seventeen stages from earlier titles, the existing stages themselves undergo minimal changes throughout gameplay. Although certain stages like Pokemon Stadium feature transformations such as conveyor belts and wind fans, and Luigi's Mansion can be destructible and reconstructed, the overall layouts remain largely unchanged.

This approach to stage design may cater to beginners, allowing them to acclimate to the levels' transformations and hazards at their own pace. However, it can prove monotonous for experienced players who are well acquainted with the level dynamics even before a match commences. Consequently, while the alterations in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's stages may appear practical, they lack surprise and fail to offer a significant challenge. To exacerbate matters, players have the ability to toggle stage hazards on or off, rendering these changes potentially more bothersome than intriguing.

Adding Some Wonder to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Wonder Flower, featured in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, has the potential to revolutionize stage designs in a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sequel. By incorporating the unpredictable level changes seen in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, ordinary features in Super Mario stages can be transformed, while other stages like Dream Land or Hyrule Castle could see significant changes to their landscapes. A sequel to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate could introduce a Wonder Flower-like ability that creates alternate stage routes, offering players different designs based on their in-game actions.

However, there is one obstacle to overcome. It is crucial that the new power-up from Super Mario Bros. Wonder is not just treated like any other item in Super Smash Bros. In order to provide a fresh and unique experience for players, the Wonder Flower should not be limited to a simple on/off toggle before each match. Its effects should have a more significant impact, ranging from activating optional hazards to incorporating a randomizer that introduces unknown effects on players or even swapping the current stage for another.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Switch.