Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Steve Impressions

Earlier this month, Nintendo shocked the world and potentially broke Twitter when they announced that Steve from Minecraft would be joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the next DLC fighter. His inclusion in the game has been a meme for years now, so it’s safe to say that no one actually expected him to be put into the game. Steve’s move set would have to be so unique and different that it was hard to seriously imagine him as a fighter. Well the team behind Smash somehow managed to bring him over to Smash in a unique way that makes him stand out from everyone else on the roster, even if he’s not the most fun or easiest fighter to use.

You see, similar to most of the DLC fighters, Steve has a gimmick to him, that being his ability to craft items. Just like in Minecraft, mining for materials and crafting tools with them is the key to success when playing as Steve, as his entire move set requires you to have materials on hand. This causes him to be a character that takes some getting used to since you can’t just duke it out with opponents like normal, and have to be a bit more thoughtful with how you approach fights. His neutral special has him dig for materials, and he can do this while moving so you aren’t a sitting duck. As you collect materials, a bar fills above your damage percentage showing what you have and how much of it you have.

Just like in Minecraft, Steve has very short range, so if you want to do any real damage, you’re going to have to get up in your opponent’s face. The way that Steve fights is with different items from Minecraft. Neutral attacks use a sword, side attacks use a pickaxe, and up attacks use a regular axe. Each tool starts off as a wooden version, but can be upgraded and made stronger with different materials. At any point, you can go to your crafting table (or summon it to your current location) and use your neutral special again to craft new tools with the best material you have. The goal is to make yourself some diamond tools because they do the most damage, and to always try to have a diamond on standby when your tools eventually break. You can still fight without them, but you do significantly less damage, so it’s not ideal.

His two attacks with the most range though are his mine cart special attack, and his TNT special, but both can be very situational and require materials. The mine cart allows you to race across the stage and ram into enemies pretty hard. This can be done with increased speed if you have any red stone to use, making your mine cart hit harder and be harder to dodge. If you want to be particularly annoying, you can summon the mine cart and jump out of it before it reaches an enemy, causing them to be stuck in it and potentially fall to do their death. As for the TNT, you place it down and a pressure plate appears next to it that detonates the explosive once it’s stepped on. If you have red stone though, you can set a trail and put the pressure plate farther away from the TNT so that you can blow it up from a safe distance.

Now this all may sound simple, but in practice it’s not. I’m not a hardcore Smash player in any way, shape, or form, but I am fairly good at the game. Trying to make sure that you have enough materials, while also fighting other people is a tough balancing act that can be a major pain depending on who you’re going up against. A speedy character like Sonic or Pikachu is likely to give Steve trouble since they can easily run circles around him and constantly keep the pressure on him, whereas someone like Ganondorf who’s slower will give Steve a bit more time to get himself together. I only played 1v1 matches against AI opponents, but I can only imagine how difficult and annoying it would be to play as Steve in a match with multiple opponents. Sure you may be able to fade into the background due to all the commotion, but it’s more likely that you’ll end up getting caught in the chaos of everyone fighting each other.

One other special move that Steve has is the ability to place blocks. This can be done by doing your neutral special while in the air. As long as you are holding the button while airborne, Steve will continue to place blocks as you move. To keep things balanced, you can’t place blocks too far up, down, or sideways off the stage. They also disintegrate on their own over time (though players can break them as well), with the stronger materials taking longer to break than the weaker ones. This move is perfect for edge guarding opponents and ensuring they can’t come back to the stage. It’s also a good way to try and put up a barrier of sorts between yourself and others so you can have a little bit more time to dig for materials and craft what you need without being attacked.

Steve’s recovery is also pretty poor. He uses Elytra to fly back to the stage, but it’s best used for horizontal recovery as a glide. Trying to use it vertically from a very low point will cause you to stall and fall straight down. The move also lasts a long time, leaving you wide open to attacks for its entire duration, though you are able to cancel out of it at any time by shielding or trying to attack while you have the wings on.

After having spent the past couple days playing with Steve and getting a feel for his character, I’m coming away from him the same way that I came in. He’s a bizarre character choice with a unique set of moves that definitely sets him apart from the rest of the roster, but he’s not a character that I see myself actually wanting to play with. He’s a bit too technical and quirky for my tastes. Maybe if I’m playing with friends and we’re just goofing off I would use him, but if I’m trying to seriously play, Steve’s not my guy. All that being said, I don’t think he’s a bad character. I think that there’s potential here for the more hardcore Smash players who like to spend hours digging into the fighters and testing out different potential combos.