History YMMV / SuperSmashBrosUltimate

** While [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Byleth]] was a [[https://nintendosoup.com/here-are-the-top-10-most-requested-characters-by-region-for-super-smash-bros-ultimate/ heavily requested character in Japan]] and has consistently polled there as one of the most popular fighters in the game, their announcement as the last character for the first Fighters Pass received more negativity from Westerners than even Hero got, with Byleth's reveal trailer listings on [=YouTube=] having dislike ratios varying from 30%-50%. The reasons range from being a first-party fighter in a pack that otherwise only contained [[GuestFighter third-party fighters]], being another swordfighter (even if they mix up the formula with three other [[BladeOnAStick unique]] [[BowAndSwordInAccord weapons]] in their moveset), being another ''Fire Emblem'' character (a series that is already highly represented with seven other playable fighters), or just being an underwhelming choice for the first Fighters Pass to conclude on. Even ''Fire Emblem'' fans and other people who genuinely wanted Byleth to make it in agree that they should've been saved for the middle of the second Fighters Pass. One demonstration of this is when [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/eq6zq6/heres_the_crowds_reaction_for_byleth_compared_to/ Byleth was revealed at the Nintendo NY store]] (a locale that became popular for hosting a crowd of Nintendo fans that usually pop off, cheer, and get rowdy at every consecutive reveal — even for Hero and Terry), where in comparison to past reveals, the initial reaction to Byleth was much more mild, being more chatter than cheering, only really picking up after Sothis' "Too many swordsmen, are there?" quip and the reveal that Byleth multi-wields.

** Wolf's voice. While in ''Franchise/StarFox'' and ''Brawl'' he has been a BadassBaritone, ''Ultimate'' averts said trope due to Jay Ward's (his voice actor) new delivery compared to ''Brawl'', which sounds more like a GutturalGrowler. That being said, Wolf's raspy and "over-the-top" voice lines, along with his pain sounds that [[FurryReminder resemble those of a real life canine]], are still considered funny... although people won't deny his taunt where he snarls is actual {{Narm}} material.

** Steve has a victory screen where he eats a piece of steak, then puts his arm down, still holding the steak, which is [[https://imgur.com/a/LEQHZzg now in front of his crotch]]. Many fans were very quick to notice [[ADateWithRosiePalms it]]. Nintendo also caught on and quickly [[https://twitter.com/PhantomArtifice/status/1319088320014667776 changed the animation]] in version 9.0.1, so the steak now disappears when it's eaten, much to the lament of many.

** Dark Samus is an [[EvilCounterpart insane doppelganger of Samus]] [[HumanoidAbomination of alien origins]] and is capable of corrupting the minds of others (including Ridley) in her home series. This being the first true HD depiction of Dark Samus, she's been given a design update similar to Ridley to make her [[OrganicTechnology "armor"]] look even more organic and slimy, and has more wraith-like movements compared to the character she's [[MovesetClone Echoing]]. And like Ridley, she was also [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a highly-requested character by the Western fandom]].

** Ganondorf retains the "Arabian carpet-like" cape he donned in ''Ocarina of Ti', except it's much more detailed this time around. Again though, that doesn't make him look any less badass.

** Ganondorf's cape in this game looks like an Arabian carpet, but that doesn't make him any less badass.

** The [[VideoGame/YoshisStory Black Yoshi]] costume was replaced in this game by a [[VideoGame/YoshisCraftedWorld Crafted Yoshi]] alternate. Few players believe this was a worthy trade.

** The game's inclusion of multiple characters and spirits from [[Franchise/MetalGear Mature]]-[[VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} rated]] [[VideoGame/Persona5 game]] [[Franchise/ResidentEvil series]] could raise a few eyebrows from some people. It may even lead to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the opposite trope]] if a kid is inspired to try out any of those games after seeing them in ''Smash''. (''VideoGame/Persona5'', for example, has a very active under-18 fanbase on [=TikTok=].)

** Strangely enough, [[PaletteSwap Echo Fighters]]. While "clone" characters in ''Smash'' were seen as contentious due to many people accusing them as being a "waste of a character slot" that could've been reserved for whatever new character the fandom mob wants to promote, rebranding them as Echo Fighters managed to help turn favor around towards them, being seen more as a creative way to add characters that might be too similar or niche from an already represented series. While some people were hoping more Echo Fighters to be added to the game, there were only five Echo Fighters added to the game on release, and none for the [=DLCs=].

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0iTDafXuM Wah-lelujah]].

* ContestedSequel: Not the game as a whole, but World of Light has lead to some split opinions among fans of previous games' single-player modes, particularly [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl The Subspace Emissary]]. Is it an epic and fun journey that goes through a large part of Nintendo's history beautifully? Or is it a slog to go through, having to fight many repetitive fights without any character? [=WoL=] is intended to be played in short bursts in order to go with the Switch's portability, so anyone trying to rush through it might get tired of it quickly. It doesn't help that all of the cutscenes focuses on the heroes fighting a bigger threat, rather than the characters interacting like Subspace Emissary's cutscenes, which are widely considered the best part of the mode.

** Pyra and Mythra are this to the "transforming character" dynamic that Sheik and Zelda had in ''Melee'' and ''Brawl.'' For the latter two characters, the entire gimmick was hampered by FakeBalance. Sheik was supposed to rack up damage but have trouble killing, while Zelda was supposed to be a MightyGlacier, but Zelda was so incredibly ineffective that most players stuck to Sheik, who actually had little trouble finishing stocks in the right hands and there were many jokes that Zelda's best move was her down special, to the point that the two characters were made separate by the fourth game. Building on everything that the revamped Pokémon Trainer brought to the table, Pyra and Mythra were designed to have more clear strengths and weaknesses from the get-go, meaning that players are actually encouraged to swap between the two, and their StanceSystem is often cited as the reason why they're such competent fighters, rather than holding them back.

* FandomSpecificPlot: A very popular AU is having Sonic and Pikachu escape Galeem's lasers along with Kirby and having them as a starting trio.

** After the [[KillEmAll infamous]] "World of Light" trailer was released, many took to calling this game "''Super Smash Bros.: [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]''".

* DiscreditedMeme: With Sephiroth's reveal and his inclusion bringing in additional ''Final Fantasy'' music and spirits, "Stingy Creator/SquareEnix" has met its ultimate demise. Masahiro Sakurai additionally explained that the initial lack of ''Final Fantasy'' music and spirits were due to the difficulty of having to clear through copyright holders in multiple regions, not from Square Enix itself.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven:
** Masahiro Sakurai fought tooth and nail to get every single fighter back for ''Ultimate''; re-securing the rights to all the third-party characters and songs, in particular, was the hardest part, but he and the team were able to do it.
** Grant Kirkhope had to redo his remix track for Spiral Mountain ''12 times'' before he finally got a satisfying result, since he normally has a difficult time revisiting older songs he's composed.
** When Sakurai's staff went to SNK for approval of selected songs from their game library to come with Terry, 50 of them were proposed with the prospect that an amount between 10 and 20 would make the cut. They gave the OK to ''every single one of them''. As a result, ''Fatal Fury'', or rather, SNK collectively (via the representation of ''The King of Fighters'', ''Alpha Mission'', ''VideoGame/{{Athena}}'', ''VideoGame/PsychoSoldier'', ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'', ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'' and ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'') has the most amount of music for a DLC and third-party franchise and the third most amount of music available for any given franchise in the game, only losing out to ''Mario'' and ''Fire Emblem''.
** To accommodate for the ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' characters' [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter unusual playstyle]], Sakurai and his team actually went back and altered the programming of ''every other stage in the game''.
** Due to Pneuma lacking any existing official artwork, Masatsugu Saito drew an exclusive illustration for her spirit. In addition, Sakurai entrusted Pyra and Mythra's reveal trailer to Monolith Soft, to keep authenticity.
** Sakurai and the team didn't want to simply put Kazuya in the game and be done with it. They wanted to replicate the feel of playing as a ''Tekken'' character which was quite a difficult task. They finally managed to find a sweetspot where Kazuya feels like he plays like in his own games without being gimped in ''Smash''.
** [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]] takes this to another level.
*** All of his main outfits in the games are available as the different player skins. It then went even further when it was revealed that those outfits all would get alternate skins based on various drive forms in the series... except for the original, which instead has the Timeless River look on it. Sakurai himself even notes that no other character in the game has so many different outfits.
*** Just getting Sora was "a huge undertaking", according to Masahiro Sakurai. It required both some luck (Sakurai just so happening to run into a Disney executive at an awards show), and a lot of negotiation. Disney is infamous for being fiercely protective of its intellectual properties, and turned Sakurai down at least once; in Sora's reveal video, it was mentioned that Sora was the most requested fighter on the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot. Sakurai and his team had to repeatedly negotiate for almost six years before Disney finally agreed to let Sora be included in ''Smash''.

** The [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies Three Mage Sisters]] spirit increases the power of battering items, which could be a reference to the [[AnAxeToGrind weapons]] [[FlamingSword they]] [[BladeOnAStick use]], but it could also be a dark reference to [[spoiler:Hyness using them as bludgeons in his boss fight]].

** The [[VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies Three Mage Sisters]] spirit increases the power of battering items, a dark reference to [[spoiler:Hyness using them as bludgeons in his boss fight]].

** Sora's inclusion in the game is not the first time Nintendo worked with Disney. Through their second-party developer at the time Rare, they did ''VideoGame/MickeysSpeedwayUSA'', published the Capcom-developed GBA port of the first ''[[VideoGame/DisneysMagicalQuest Magical Quest]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DisneysMagicalMirrorStarringMickeyMouse Magical Mirror]]'' for [=GameCube=], themselves created a few Mickey Mouse themed ''Game & Watch'' systems (all of which are referenced in ''Brawl'''s Chronicle[[note]]Albeit the former three are exclusive to the Japanse version[[/note]]), published ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder'', and they licensed Disney and Pixar characters in ''[[VideoGame/ArtAcademy Disney Art Academy]]''. There's also a [[VideoGame/DisneyTsumTsum Disney Tsum Tsum Festival]] themed Nintendo Switch. Even outside of games, the [[SoBadItsGood infamous]] 1993 ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' film was distributed by Disney under their Creator/HollywoodPictures label. Nintendo also lent Bowser for a cameo appearance in the movie ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and even namedropped Mario within the movie. Even before Nintendo entered the video game market, they produced playing cards that featured Disney characters during the [[TheFifties 1950s]] and [[TheSixties 1960s]].

** [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Palkia]] (who flips the screen upside down), [[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Nightmare]], (who turns the screen entirely black), [[VideoGame/Nintendogs Nintendog]] (who partially obscures the screen), and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Skull Kid]] (who can do what Palkia does, but can also reverse controls or make all the players invisible). While it would be arguably helpful against an opponent, the fact that these effects are afflicted on you as well makes them less than ideal. Given that Skull Kid is meant to be a trouble-maker, however, it's likely that he is not even trying to assist you at all.

** [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Palkia]] (who flips the screen upside down), [[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Nightmare]] (who turns the screen entirely black), and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Skull Kid]] (who can do what Palkia does, but can also reverse controls or make all the players invisible). While it would be arguably helpful against an opponent, the fact that these effects are afflicted on you as well makes them less than ideal. Given that Skull Kid is meant to be a trouble-maker, however, it's likely that he is not even trying to assist you at all.

** One of the Spirit Board Challenges requires you to challenge and defeat ten Legend Class Spirits. Not only are Legend Spirits quite rare, many of them are especially difficult without fight-specific cheese strategies (many of which qualify for ThatOneLevel). Thankfully, ''obtaining'' the Spirit itself is not part of the Challenge, merely defeating them is enough.

** While [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Byleth]] was a [[https://nintendosoup.com/here-are-the-top-10-most-requested-characters-by-region-for-super-smash-bros-ultimate/ heavily requested character in Japan]] and has consistently polled there as one of the most popular fighters in the game, their announcement as the last character for the first Fighters Pass received more negativity from Westerners than even Hero got, with Byleth's reveal trailer listings on [=YouTube=] having dislike ratios varying from 30%-50%. The reasons range from being a first-party fighter in a pack that otherwise only contained [[GuestFighter third-party fighters]], being another swordfighter (even if they mix up the formula with three [[AnAxeToGrind other]] [[BladeOnAStick unique]] [[BowAndSwordInAccord weapons]] in their moveset), being another ''Fire Emblem'' character (a series that is already highly represented with seven other playable fighters), or just being an underwhelming choice for the first Fighters Pass to conclude on. Even ''Fire Emblem'' fans and other people who genuinely wanted Byleth to make it in agree that they should've been saved for the middle of the second Fighters Pass. One demonstration of this is when [[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/eq6zq6/heres_the_crowds_reaction_for_byleth_compared_to/ Byleth was revealed at the Nintendo NY store]] (a locale that became popular for hosting a crowd of Nintendo fans that usually pop off, cheer, and get rowdy at every consecutive reveal — even for Hero and Terry), where in comparison to past reveals, the initial reaction to Byleth was much more mild, being more chatter than cheering, only really picking up after Sothis' "Too many swordsmen, are there?" quip and the reveal that Byleth multi-wields.