This is one of a series of Critical Gaming Nights in which games will be available for play and staff are available to help facilitate critical discussions around the gameplay. This is the second of our series focusing on Smash Bros.

Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 2018) is a platform fighting game on the Nintendo Switch that is the latest in the Smash series of games. Players try to knock opposing players off the edge of the screen with their character – drawn from a large roster of iconic gaming characters, such as Mario, Sonic, Link, Princess Peach, and Cloud. Although mainly marketed and regarded by Nintendo as a casual ‘party game’, Smash Bros. Ultimate continues the Smash series theme of having a high skill ceiling. Moves can be easy to learn but difficult to master. Further, there are an array of advanced techniques.

Students will be introduced to philosopher Chris Goto-Jones’ idea that certain practices, including the play of fighting games, could be considered to be ‘martial arts’. Within this theoretical frame, they will consider whether their own practices cohere as they learn how to play Smash Bros.

Students are encouraged to use these experiences as material for their assessments in Digital Play: the Self in Gaming or Digital Gaming, writing carnal ethnographic or phenomenological accounts of their gameplay experiences.

Other games will be playable as well.