When Minecraft Steve was announced as a DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, an uproar of enthusiasm exploded from the game’s community. It makes sense that the main character of Minecraft, the best selling game in the world with more than 200 million copies sold, would eventually make an appearance in one of, if not, the most popular franchise crossover platform fighter series. 

Nevertheless, with the number of dream characters from the audience, it was exciting to have one of the most wanted candidates join the roster, especially since the previous two DLC fighters, Byleth and Min Min, had been exceptionally underwhelming.

As a fighter, Steve, along with Alex, Zombie and Enderman, is equipped with many fast and/or powerful normals, attacks imputed with the A button, that utilize Minecraft’s variety of tools. His sword keeps opponents in check with quick, repetitive swipes when advancing when or retreating, his overhead axe swings create damaging ladder combos and juggles, and his pickaxe send opponents far eventually becoming decent kill options. Outside of his tools, Steve’s anvil drop kills extremely well, his fire based attacks such as flint & steel have long lasting hitboxes, and his fishing rod grab gives him access to some powerful throws.

Because his tools break, Steve’s gameplay becomes centralized around his neutral special: mine, craft, and build. When the B button is pressed while Steve is on the ground, he will pull out a tool and mine for blocks and materials. The longer he mines, the better materials he gets like iron, gold, and ultimately diamond, forcing Steve to get the opponent away from him constantly to mine for better materials.

Once he has materials, Steve can go to his crafting table on stage and begin to craft. This will upgrade all of his weapons to the highest value material he has, prioritizing diamond first, followed by gold, iron, stone, and wood in this order. Most materials increase the damage, knockback, and durability of all of his tools, with gold increasing the speed of attacks instead; however, other attacks and specials use materials as well, and dying will reset all tools back to wood.

Steve’s most unique and interesting mechanic by far is his ability to build blocks and essentially create his own temporary platforms in mid air. When a block is placed, the block of lowest value is chosen first, prioritizing dirt first, followed by wood, stone, and iron. They do quickly break overtime or when hit by an attack, but they still give Steve options that other characters can only dream off. A few of those options are using blocks to block recoveries, placing them in the air to extend vertical combos, or create obstacles in between himself and his opponent.

While mining is his main focus, Steve’s other special moves provide excellent utility as well. First, his minecart acts as a fast boost of momentum on and off stage, and jumping out of it transforms it into a projectile that drags people off the side of the stage even if they try to shield it. Next, his TNT is a powerful trap tool that can be remotely detonated with a pressure plate for early kills. Lastly, his elytra has the ability to glide when coming back to stage, giving his recovery both amazing mix ups and horizontal range.

Despite his fast number of awesome mechanics, he is burdened with a few flaws, his biggest one being his mobility. Steve has the shortest grounded jump height of any character, and his ground and air speeds are among the bottom ten. Also, most of his attacks and specials require materials to be used at all. This makes it exceedingly difficult to deal with faster characters who are able to pin Steve and pose a constant threat. 

He also suffers from being an extremely complicated character. The difficulty of mastering his ability to build single handedly makes him a tough character to fully optimize. Blocks can be placed with very precise timing to greatly extend axe combos. Weaker blocks can cancel specific moves to create entirely new combos. It’s a simple mechanic that most people simply will not be able to take advantage of without a deep understanding of how to use it.

Minecraft Steve stays true to his home series with fascinating specials and strong moves that require material gathering. He’s a decent character whose playstyle works thanks to the many options he has to keep opponents at bay and the amazing rewards that come with large amounts of mining. He can sometimes be hard to play due to his complicated mining and crafting system, poor mobility, and reliance on materials, but people who overcome this hurdle will find a character that is able to control the stage effectively while being fun to play.