For those who own Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and wish to level up their Spirits, there’s a new, slightly pricey option. As long as players own a Switch Online subscription ($20 a year) they can now feed their Spirits with some free currency. It’s called a Spirit Pack, and it comes with five large snacks, 30 medium snacks, 100 small snacks and 3000 SP, for buying spirits, music or other goodies from the in-game Super Smash Bros. shop. It’s called Spirit Board Challenge Pack 4 -Bolster Your Spirits-.
It’s a bit annoying to gate content behind a Switch Online subscription considering Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a premium title at $60, with a DLC fighters pass at $25 plus a second season pass for $30.
For those with Nintendo Switch online it’s a no-brainer, just head on over and pick it up. In terms of content, Switch Online has been a bit lackluster unless you’re personally into SNES games, but on the plus side, Super Smash Bros isn’t charging real money for this pack (beyond the Switch online subscription).
Many other developers would introduce a way to “skip the grind” by offering, say, spirit food for cash, and many games are currently developed around making them frustrating to add incentive for real world purchases on top of Season Passes and Premium Editions, but Super Smash Bros. already has over $50 worth of DLC, so it evens out. Then, of course, there’s buying every amiibo, which is a form of DLC on its own.
Some players are finding it a bit disconcerting introducing this type of DLC after launch, with one commentor saying, “[It’s] like an innocuous first step to normalize [adding paid DLC]. Here’s some currency you can win in several ways and is not bought… this time around, but come the next game that’s gonna change.” So here’s hoping that’s not the case.
When downloading the free content, players can go to their individual spirits and feed them snacks, which will level them up and give you an advantage on the spirit board, or in your special matches against friends.
