I got Smash Ultimate on Friday. Over the past couple of months, the hype has been building. I’ve been looking forward to trying out the new characters, beating challenges, and especially hitting the World of Light story mode.

As I started World of Light, I saw that my choice was quite limited. The mode starts out with only being able to play Kirby. I noticed his side-B is stronger than it has been in the past, but other than that and the change of his Final Smash, everything seems pretty much the same about him. He is round, pink, and ready to annihilate.

Kirby ends up escaping destruction at the hands of Galeem (as Nintendo can’t have a villain lately that doesn’t have some weird name (looking at you, Tabuu/Ghirahim/any Zelda monster!)) and finds himself in a strange new world. All the other Smash characters have been turned to puppets powered by “Spirits,” which consist of more minor characters from across various Nintendo or otherwise Smash-affiliated series. These puppets pose a the enemies for the World of Light campaign.

Essentially, I have to fight them all off to regain the glory of being able to play as the ridiculously large cast of characters. True to my nature of being bad at games (lately, I’ve been quite terrible. I don’t know what’s happening to me), I have been unceremoniously trampled by several of the fights. I thought I could handle Normal difficulty, but apparently I thought wrong. Even being able to use the GameCube controller hasn’t helped.

The AI is surprisingly crafty this time around. Jigglypuff would leap with great agility to avoid my attacks in a much more effective fashion than I predicted. The enemies will hesitate to blast my shields and wait until I’ve already let go of the shoulder button. I played for about an hour and was already disappointed in myself.

Regardless, I’m hooked by Smash’s presentation this time around. It has the appeal of a story mode that last game’s party-game-board thing lacked, and the UI is easier on the eyes than Smash Run of Smash 3DS. Granted, the whole game is plainly a graphics improvement on the titles before it. The colors are bright, vibrant, and all-around Nintendo-y, the characters are all stylized enough to maintain residency outside of the Uncanny Valley, and Ice Climbers are back, so I have nothing to complain about on that front!

Now, to download Pirahna Plant and get back to you all on that.