The Dec. 2018 release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has quickly become Nintendo’s fastest selling game ever, selling over 12 million units by the end of 2018. By comparison, Super Smash Bros. 4 for the WiiU and the 3DS sold 15 million copies worldwide since its release in 2014.

Ultimate is most appealing to the casual gamer mainly because of the console it is accessible on: the Nintendo Switch. The Switch has a very broad appeal — for people on the go, it has mobile, handheld playability; and for people at home, the Switch’s docked mode performs just as well as other competing consoles.

Not only does Ultimate and the Switch appeal to the general public, but to competitive gamers as well. This past weekend, the game’s first supermajor was held, and over 2000 people registered to compete at Genesis 6 in Oakland, CA.

The event not only failed to disappoint, it surpassed expectations. In fact, on championship Sunday, Feb. 3, the stream peaked at around 150,000 viewers, in the middle of the Super Bowl. This was great in showing Ultimate’s potential as an esport; if it can rake in viewers during one of the biggest media draws of the year, what more when the biggest tournament has no other competition for viewers?

Ultimate isn’t just a fun game to watch, it’s amazing to play. Compared to the sluggish, weighed-down movement mechanics of Smash 4 and Brawl, Ultimate is fast-paced and active, leaning towards the same gameplay mechanics as Melee. Also, the game’s character diversity is very well balanced.

Genesis 6’s top 8 players represented nine different characters, out of 74 possible characters: Pichu, Wolf, Peach, Ike, Lucina, Inkling, Olimar, Pikachu, and Fox. The character parity in Ultimate is very good for the meta, as there won’t be one or two characters that will predictably win every tournament, as it seemed for Bayonetta in Smash 4, who was known to be ridiculously overpowered.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the potential to be the greatest Smash game of all time. Its viewership, accessibility and competitive integrity allows for a very dynamic esport that would only need financial infrastructure from corporate sponsors or Nintendo to hit the mainstream.