Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduces Squad Strike Mode, a new special battle mode where players take control of several characters at once, but there was some underlying confusion on whether players controlled three or five characters in one consecutive battle, or whether it would start a new match for each battle. However, this has been clarified by JC Rodrigo from Nintendo Treehouse in the most recent Nintendo Power Podcast.
Here’s JC’s breakdown of Squad Strike:
“Squad Strike has a lot of viability to me in the competitive scene, and even if you’re not competitive, it’s a completely different way to think about the game, because similar to other traditional fighting games that have multiple characters forming a team, you have to think about your abilities for each of those characters when you go in.
And when you pick those characters, you have to know that you’re at least competent in one of them. So you have two of them that are kinda your subs, that are not really your main characters. And you come out, and you have your main character as your anchor, and if you’re really good with the character – do you lead off with that? You choose your order, and there’s a lot of strategy and metagame that goes along with it, that I think is really gonna be surprising, so I would definitely recommend people take a hard look into doing 3v3 matches, and for it to become a legitimate tournament mode in the competitive scene.
And it’s one continuous battle. It moves very quickly – each of the characters can have a certain amount of stocks, and you just go in. It’s one full battle, and you can do first-to-threes, first-to-twos, you know.”
Here’s the full section of the video below:
On the topic of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Best Buy has also announced that there will be demo events at certain stores across the United States from early September to early October. [Thanks, Nintendo Everything!]
Here’s the full list of locations and times the demo will be available:
New York
Best Buy Upper West Side
1880 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
Saturday, September 8: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 9: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
San Francisco Bay Area
Best Buy San Jose
181 Curtner Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125
Saturday, September 8: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 9: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Chicago
Best Buy Bucktown
2100 N. Elston Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
Saturday, September 15: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 16: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Los Angeles
Best Buy Torrance
3675 Pacific Coast Highway
Torrance, CA 90505
Saturday, September 15: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 16: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Minneapolis
Best Buy Richfield
1000 West 78th St
Richfield, MN 55423
Saturday, September 22: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 23: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Dallas
Best Buy Park Lane
9378 N. Central Expressway
Dallas, TX 75231
Saturday, September 22: 10 a.m.–7 p.m
Sunday, September 23: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Atlanta
Best Buy Buckhead
2537 Piedmont Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
Saturday, September 29: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 30: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Denver
Best Buy Colorado Blvd.
4100 E Mexico Ave.
Suite A
Denver, CO 80222
Saturday, September 29: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, September 30: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Miami
Best Buy Hialeah
4001 W 20th Ave.
Hialeah, FL 33012
Saturday, October 6: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, October 7: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Seattle
Best Buy Bellevue
457 120th Ave. NE
Bellevue, WA 98005
Saturday, October 6: 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, October 7: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches for Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.
