Buff-laden 'Smash Bros. Ultimate' 6.0 update underwhelms pro players

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received its first sixth major update Wednesday, which added Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury series to the roster and brought a handful of balance changes to existing characters.

Nintendo posted a complete list of the tweaks coming after a 45-minute presentation by game director Masahiro Sakurai. For the first time ever, this patch did not nerf any of the characters considered the best by the Smash Bros. community. On the contrary, it consisted entirely of buffs to the weakest characters in the game.

Notably Kirby, Jigglypuff, and King K. Rool who many professional Smash Bros. players named as three of the worst characters in the game received were given a helping hand. But a few pro Smashers said even with the improvements, it’s unlikely these characters will move up in tier lists.

Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios who is ranked as the best Smash Bros. 4 player of all time said that Jigglypuff and Kirby’s underlaying weaknesses were simply not addressed. Both lack the tools to approach opponents effectively and die far too early. The buffs were essentially like putting a Band-Aid on a totaled car.

“These buff as aren’t that significant, because the fundamental weakness [of these characters] are the same,” he said during his Wednesday morning Twitch stream.

Even though Jigglypuff received six beneficial changes, the most out of any character, Adam “Armada” Lindgren wasn’t at all impressed.

“Overall Puff didn’t really get buffed much,” the Smash Bros. Melee veteran said in a YouTube video.

While Nintendo might be moving in the right direction for the most lackluster cast members, it seems like many will remain at the bottom of the food chain.

Here’s a full list of the Version 6.0 patch notes posted by Nintendo.

Donkey Kong

• Side Tilt: Extended launch distance.
• Neutral Air: Increased power and increased attack range.
• Up Special: Increased the speed that super armor activates when using the move on the ground.Made it easier to hit multiple times when hitting an airborne opponent when using the move on the ground, and extended the last attack’s launch distance.
• Down Special: Increased attack speed when using the move on the ground.Reduced vulnerability when using the move on the ground

Kirby

• Neutral Attack 1: Increased attack speed.
• Up Smash: Extended launch distance when hit in the low-damage range.
• Neutral Air: Increased attack speed.Extended launch distance when hit in the high-damage range.
• Up Air: Increased attack speed.Increased power and extended launch distance.
• Neutral Special: Reduced start time for Inhale. Made it harder to disrupt Kirby’s Copy Ability.

Jigglypuff

• Air Dodge: Reduced vulnerability.
• Directional Air Dodge: Reduced vulnerability.
• Down Air: Shortened the landing time after using the move.Reduced vulnerability when landing after using the move.
• Forward Throw: Adjusted launch angle.
• Neutral Special: Shortened the charge time until reaching max charge.
• Side Special: Increased the duration of the damage animation when the move hits.Increased the opponent’s downtime when shielded.

Robin

• Side Tilt: Extended launch distance.
• Neutral Air: Increased attack speed.
• Side Special: Extended the duration of the fireball. The duration of the pillar of the fire is not affected.
• Other: Increased the recharging effect smash attacks have on the Levin Sword.

King K. Rool

• Neutral Air: Reduced vulnerability when landing after using the move.
• Forward Air: Increased power of the high-damage range.Increased attack range of the high-damage-range attack and increased the duration.
• Up Air: Increased the amount of time hit detection lasts.Extended launch distance for the high-damage range.
• Neutral Special: Increased attack speed. Made it easier to vacuum up the Kannonball. Shortened the time needed to shoot out the vacuumed Kannonball. Extended launch distance when hit with the Kannonball.
• Down Special: Reduced vulnerability when the counter succeeds.Increased the range the counter counts as a success. Increased the high-damage range.

Incineroar

• Neutral Attack 3: Increased power.Extended launch distance.
• Forward Air: Increased the amount of time hit detection lasts.Decreased power for the latter half of the time hit detection lasts.
• Down Air: Made it easier to trigger a meteor effect when you hit with the high-damage range.
• Neutral Special: Increased the power at the beginning of the move.Increased the range at the beginning of the move and increased the duration of the move.
• Down Special: Increased the amount of time the damage-reducing pose is effective.Extended launch distance of the flames after receiving an opponent’s attack. Reduced vulnerability when receiving or not receiving an opponent’s attack.

Hero

• Neutral Special: After Kafrizz hits a fighter or the stage and explodes, Gravitational Pull (item) or Pocket (The Villager and Isabelle) will have no effect on the explosion.

Version 6.0 for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out now.