Ultimate is interesting to me, because, despite being an ostensibly more casual experience than Melee, the way a lot of the kits are designed are extremely hostile to anyone who doesn't, like, go to tournaments. But even if you stick it out and get to the point where you can hit a moving target with Fox back-air, you've probably gotten good enough to be frustrated with the set initial dash distance, or how miserable it is to interact with platforms, etc. There is the classic post-melee ceiling on movement mechanics we've come to expect, but there is also a weirdly high floor to the way a lot of the characters play. I actually think this is where, at least from a non-hyper-competitive perspective, the worst changes to how Smash functions on a basic level have come from. The removal of lasting hitboxes being a kind of default, the lowering of the frame windows on weak hits generally, and the outright removal of reverse hitboxes, restrict a lot of the cool skill expression that comes from manipulating the specific placement of attacks, but more importantly, these changes harm a beginner trying to play someone like ZSS for the first time. I guess I just find it really interesting that complexity is being removed, but that has come with the strange consequence of the game being harder to learn in a lot of ways. I don't really have my finger on the pulse of smash as a primarily casual experience, so perhaps this isn't really an issue, or maybe the game naturally just filters people into the few dozens characters that don't really have this issue as strongly, but either way, I think ultimate has really strange and conflicting design priorities. (Just as a disclaimer: a lot of these things have probably been true since Brawl, but Ultimate is the first Smash game since Melee I actually put considerable time into)

(7-year-old's review, typed by her dad)

[Dad: What score are you thinking]

[CatTheCutest: A five!]

[Dad: A five?? Are you sure?]

[CatTheCutest: Well, a four. A four-point-five!!]

Okay. So first up, you start off as Gollum, and if you look at him, he's kind of creepy and horrifying. Then you see some... beautiful image. But then Gollum shows up! GRRR! And also it's very dark, so it's kinda hard to find things, especially those VINES. It was just so dark. There was only like teensy bits of fire and that was your only light. And be careful, or else you'll accidentally fall off a cliff! Cuz I did.