MISHAWAKA – It has been just over a week since the announcement of Minecraft Steve’s inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and he is finally in the game.
I am not the best Smash player in the world, nor am I a Smash Bros-centric YouTuber, so I did not find out everything about Steve in his first day on the scene; it has taken me a bit to develop my knowledge of him as a character. Steve is just heavier than a midweight character, which means he is strong, fairly durable and slow. His mobility is nothing special – in fact, it is barely good: his dash is not that quick, his jump cannot even reach a standard platform, and his recovery, though excellent laterally, does not net him much verticality.
His fighting style is primarily close-range, but he does have a few moves with some serious range. For example, Steve can use his down-special to set up a block of TNT on one end of the stage and link it to a pressure plate halfway towards the other side. Alternatively, he can use his side-special to send a minecart across the stage, and the player can choose whether or not Steve will occupy the minecart for the duration of the move, or if they will send an empty cart. If Steve is in the cart, it will deal damage, but if the cart is empty, it will function as a grab, keeping the opponent stuck in it until they can wriggle free. His recovery is the Elytra, which allows him to go up a short distance and glide horizontally for a few seconds. This move is a bit finnicky to get a handle on, as it can easily launch you in the wrong direction if you are not careful
Naturally, the only remaining special move is the main gimmick of Steve as a character: building. Anytime Steve is on the ground, he can collect materials by holding the special button. Near a crafting table, he will be able to use those materials to upgrade the weapons he uses in battle. The materials he has are also consumed by using some of his moves. He can collect dirt, wood, stone, iron, gold, redstone and diamond. When Steve is in the air, if he presses the special button, he will use the lowest grade of material he has to place a block directly beneath him. The blocks decay within a few seconds if someone is standing on them or attacking them; otherwise, they stick around for a bit. The only limit to where Steve can place blocks is about four to five meters off of the stage. Any space after that is blocked off by the build limit. Beyond his specials, none of Steve’s other moves are noteworthy – they are just slow.
As far as how all of this comes together as one character, Steve is a whole bunch of dumb fun. Some of the really devastating moves involve putting the blocks in the right place at the right time, like blocking off a person’s escape route or placing stone in front of the stage so they are unable to recover. There is a lot of potential for Steve to become incredibly dangerous, but luckily enough, he has not even been out for a week, so a bunch of people, myself included, are less worried about Steve annihilating us and more content that the funny Minecraft man is in Smash Bros.