Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a grandiose celebration of the entire history of video games, led by designer Masahiro Sakurai, who promised that everyone would be here – and he really did gather absolutely every character who has ever appeared in the Smash series, from Mario and Link through Pikachu to Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. Over the years, the game expanded its roster with paid fighters through the Fighters Pass, bringing in completely unexpected faces such as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, Steve from Minecraft, Kazuya from Tekken, or Sora from Kingdom Hearts, and the final fighter roster exceeded ninety characters. Each of them received their own set of moves and animations, which makes Ultimate a project whose scope is unique in the fighting genre.

The core gameplay stays faithful to the series: it's a platform fighter where the goal isn't to zero out an opponent's health bar, but to increase their damage percentage and then knock them off the screen. This simple principle is also the reason the game works on two completely different levels – as chaotic fun for four people on the couch with random items, and as a tightly tuned one-on-one duel without any distracting elements. Ultimate adds an elaborate single-player mode, World of Light, with an expansive challenge map and hundreds of spirits inspired by characters from across the entire games industry, whose traits can be combined into custom builds.

The game also excels as a spectated esports title thanks to its deep movement system and an active community that holds tournaments around the world. The visuals, a soundtrack numbering in the thousands of tracks, and a huge selection of arenas make Ultimate arguably the most comprehensive crossover title in video game history and the flagship of Switch multiplayer. The game's online side, on the other hand, was long a target of criticism for its unstable connection, so the competitive scene made do with its own unofficial solutions for years and tournaments were preferentially played live. Even so, Ultimate remains a game that you just need to turn on, and any group of people instantly knows what to do.