I consider getting through A20 with the original three characters a top gaming achievement of mine. Doing it with the Silent took ages.

This game really wouldn't be nearly as good without the Ascension system tbh. That extra challenge is absolutely necessary as an incentive to keep playing. And I'm glad for it, as you gain a ton of mastery over the game as you play, and can see some insanely good decks.

That said, it's a huge time sink. I don't consider all of the time I spent with the game hugely valuable, as it lacks a lot of memorability outside of the occasional crazy deck.

The best Smash game that isn't Melee.

It's so damn close to being incredible. The physics of the game allow for much more interesting gameplay than 4 or Brawl (though Brawl had some neat stuff, wouldn't call it a fun viewing experience at all).

There's just small stuff like.. seven frames of inbuilt lag, a massive buffer, hold-buffering and weird buffer prioritization.. The interactions between characters can feel kinda static and flat. There's not much in freedom in your movement. Projectiles are pretty damn strong at all levels of play.

Having such a massive, balanced roster is kind of a blessing and a curse. I think that some depth is necessarily sacrificed when you can't explore top character matchups, there's just to much to have to know when there's a million potential competitive matchups. Melee is probably too far the other way but closer to ideal, with ~ 12 viable characters and some mid-tiers to shake things up.

This might read like a fanboy opinion or a sweaty try hard opinion, but it's how I enjoy and experience the game as a mostly casual player.