Omega Tyrant | Smash Ultimate - Ganondorf: Classic 9.9 (No Stock Loss) @OmegaTyrant | Uploaded 5 years ago | Updated 1 hour ago
In each Smash game I've completed Classic mode with Ganondorf on the hardest difficulty without stock loss, so continuing it in Ultimate was a given. The difficulty works a bit differently in Ultimate however, as you build up the difficulty as you progress instead of just doing the whole thing at the max setting, so I achieved the closest equivalent by starting at the highest allowable difficulty (5.0), then reaching the maximum difficulty before the final round and thus having to fight the final boss at 9.9 difficulty, all while never losing a stock (which also means I never used any tickets nor continues).
Because you have to build up difficulty by playing well instead of just surviving, the Classic mode plays out a bit differently than in prior games. With this new system, the rounds are easier to just beat, but just winning them isn't enough as the amount the difficulty rises after each round is based on how well you played, so you have to beat each round quickly with minimal damage taken to be able to reach 9.9 difficulty before the final round. So unlike in the prior Classic modes where your focus is on survival tactics to clear a succession of arduous challenges, your focus is on speedrunning tactics to get through everything efficiently enough to reach the maximum difficulty before the final round. For one more big change, every character has individual fixed Classic modes specifically tailored to them, which removes a huge element of luck that was in prior games; you're still subjected to item and AI RNG of course, but you'll no longer be subjected to such significant match variance.
Now for the actual Classic run with Ganondorf; his Classic mode is based on him fighting a series of heroes, usually on a team against him, while he gets a significant knockback boost, so he can KO them all very quickly and be able to reasonably compete with the stacked odds. This huge knockback boost makes the bulk of the run pretty easy, as you can just smash your way through the team of enemies and their AI is too low-levelled to defend much against it, while against Shulk you can easily exploit his AI on Gaur Plains to advantage yourself. In round 5 against Palutena and Pit it can start to get tricky, but they're still really fragile to you and Skyworld messes up the AI a lot so it's still pretty easy to beat it with a high score. Round 6 against Link and Zelda is really the only difficult round before the boss, as the stage is really unfavorable and they will actively overwhelm you, while also actively edgeguarding Ganondorf's awful recovery. I had a few runs end against them from just dying, and getting a high score against them will be hard, but usually I could build up the difficulty very close to 9.9 before this round (even getting to 9.8 before it in this run), which means I just had to win it to get to 9.9 before the final round.
Then for Ganondorf's final round, it's a fight against Master and Crazy Hand. The Hands are more advanced than ever, with more elaborate attacks, a more elaborate pattern, and for the first time since Smash 64 they'll actually move throughout the stage and turn around instead of just staying in place. While they don't hit as hard as prior incarnations, their attacks are much more difficult to dodge and I end up getting hit a lot more often. As usual Ganondorf boasts a high DPS with his very powerful yet decently quick aerials, but his limited mobility makes evading attacks very difficult, and his recovery led to some really early deaths when I got hit offstage or hit without my midair jump. So it took a few runs that reached the Hands before I succeeded.
Overall this was the easiest max difficulty no stock Classic run with Ganon yet, with it taking me a couple hours to get a successful run. Maybe with other characters it will be more difficult, but with the huge buffs to Ganon, and the big knockback boost you get in conjunction with the emphasis on speedrunning rounds, it was a very favorable challenge to Ganon.
Now for links to me beating the other Classic modes on max difficulty with no stock loss as Ganon:
Melee youtube.com/watch?v=_7sxsD3-ogI
Brawl youtube.com/watch?v=GvOW2h6Yn7Y
Brawl Minus youtube.com/watch?v=mQhk65FER6Q
Project M youtube.com/watch?v=7pgZV2yHy9g
Smash For 3DS youtube.com/watch?v=xvPg9PzDHrg
Smash For Wii U youtube.com/watch?v=IS1Wy0RnNMg
For the playlist with all my max difficulty no stock loss Classic runs, go here youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIHpRvXPklmiVcb366P-OtNvuvM7gaQVR
Follow me on Twitter here twitter.com/TheOmegaTyrant
In each Smash game I've completed Classic mode with Ganondorf on the hardest difficulty without stock loss, so continuing it in Ultimate was a given. The difficulty works a bit differently in Ultimate however, as you build up the difficulty as you progress instead of just doing the whole thing at the max setting, so I achieved the closest equivalent by starting at the highest allowable difficulty (5.0), then reaching the maximum difficulty before the final round and thus having to fight the final boss at 9.9 difficulty, all while never losing a stock (which also means I never used any tickets nor continues).
Because you have to build up difficulty by playing well instead of just surviving, the Classic mode plays out a bit differently than in prior games. With this new system, the rounds are easier to just beat, but just winning them isn't enough as the amount the difficulty rises after each round is based on how well you played, so you have to beat each round quickly with minimal damage taken to be able to reach 9.9 difficulty before the final round. So unlike in the prior Classic modes where your focus is on survival tactics to clear a succession of arduous challenges, your focus is on speedrunning tactics to get through everything efficiently enough to reach the maximum difficulty before the final round. For one more big change, every character has individual fixed Classic modes specifically tailored to them, which removes a huge element of luck that was in prior games; you're still subjected to item and AI RNG of course, but you'll no longer be subjected to such significant match variance.
Now for the actual Classic run with Ganondorf; his Classic mode is based on him fighting a series of heroes, usually on a team against him, while he gets a significant knockback boost, so he can KO them all very quickly and be able to reasonably compete with the stacked odds. This huge knockback boost makes the bulk of the run pretty easy, as you can just smash your way through the team of enemies and their AI is too low-levelled to defend much against it, while against Shulk you can easily exploit his AI on Gaur Plains to advantage yourself. In round 5 against Palutena and Pit it can start to get tricky, but they're still really fragile to you and Skyworld messes up the AI a lot so it's still pretty easy to beat it with a high score. Round 6 against Link and Zelda is really the only difficult round before the boss, as the stage is really unfavorable and they will actively overwhelm you, while also actively edgeguarding Ganondorf's awful recovery. I had a few runs end against them from just dying, and getting a high score against them will be hard, but usually I could build up the difficulty very close to 9.9 before this round (even getting to 9.8 before it in this run), which means I just had to win it to get to 9.9 before the final round.
Then for Ganondorf's final round, it's a fight against Master and Crazy Hand. The Hands are more advanced than ever, with more elaborate attacks, a more elaborate pattern, and for the first time since Smash 64 they'll actually move throughout the stage and turn around instead of just staying in place. While they don't hit as hard as prior incarnations, their attacks are much more difficult to dodge and I end up getting hit a lot more often. As usual Ganondorf boasts a high DPS with his very powerful yet decently quick aerials, but his limited mobility makes evading attacks very difficult, and his recovery led to some really early deaths when I got hit offstage or hit without my midair jump. So it took a few runs that reached the Hands before I succeeded.
Overall this was the easiest max difficulty no stock Classic run with Ganon yet, with it taking me a couple hours to get a successful run. Maybe with other characters it will be more difficult, but with the huge buffs to Ganon, and the big knockback boost you get in conjunction with the emphasis on speedrunning rounds, it was a very favorable challenge to Ganon.
Now for links to me beating the other Classic modes on max difficulty with no stock loss as Ganon:
Melee youtube.com/watch?v=_7sxsD3-ogI
Brawl youtube.com/watch?v=GvOW2h6Yn7Y
Brawl Minus youtube.com/watch?v=mQhk65FER6Q
Project M youtube.com/watch?v=7pgZV2yHy9g
Smash For 3DS youtube.com/watch?v=xvPg9PzDHrg
Smash For Wii U youtube.com/watch?v=IS1Wy0RnNMg
For the playlist with all my max difficulty no stock loss Classic runs, go here youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIHpRvXPklmiVcb366P-OtNvuvM7gaQVR
Follow me on Twitter here twitter.com/TheOmegaTyrant
