Despite having a roster of 86 characters, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is surprisingly well balanced. This is fairly different from previous entries in the Super Smash Bros. series as the power scaling between the top tiers and the rest of the roster has typically felt pretty noticeable.
By all means, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate isn’t perfect considering that there’s been plenty talks about potentially banning Steve and even Kazuya from tournament play. However, Steve wasn’t always the menace that he’s known for being today.
As noted in Rekzius’ latest video (which spans for about two hours), Steve was released during a weird time in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s lifespan. Due to the COVID lockdowns, the game had effectively transitioned into an online.
Furthermore, Steve isn’t the type of character that most players want to use considering that he has to spend a great deal of time just simply mining for resources for the sake of acquiring more advanced weapons. Steve is naturally one of the campiest characters throughout the history of the Super Smash Bros. series.
Rekzius mentions that Steve has an innate advantage over other camping characters in that he becomes more powerful the longer he camps. A character like Samus, for example, is at her most powerful when she has a Charged Shot stocked up, but it’s not like she’s able to have two of these stored up at once. Steve, on the other hand, can keep mining resources after he gets access to diamond weapons.
Just from the perspective of hitboxes and hurtboxes, there are also plenty of oddities within Steve’s kit. People didn’t really know it back then, but it’s clear that Steve was always going to be strong with the properties on his attacks.
Check it all out below: