An Overwatch player has created a Super Smash Bros-style game mode in Overwatch using the Workshop.
The Workshop is a scripting system that allows players to create their own new rules for game modes in order to develop custom modes, with very few limits to what they can imagine.
After more than three weeks on the Public Test Realm (PTR), the Workshop finally released to the live servers on May 21, at last giving players on all platforms access to the feature.
The degree of control that the Workshop gives means that new game modes need not even obey the fundamental rules of Overwatch. As a result, it’s possible to disregard details like the first-person perspective, three-dimensional movement, and even the typical concept of health, to create a replica of Nintendo’s popular fighting game Super Smash Bros.
The ‘Super Smashwatch’ mode by u/ajfis3 offers a full, 2D fighting game-style replica of Smash Bros mechanics.
As in Smash, each player’s damage number increases above their head as they get hit. The higher the number, the further they get knocked back by incoming damage. The goal is to knock the enemies off the map, with each player having three lives.
As well as the heroes’ own abilities, the mode also borrows some of the other standard mechanics from Smash, such that all characters can double-jump, put up a shield, and perform an air-dodge to either help avoid damage, or stay on the map.
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Those that wish to try out this mode for themselves can do so by importing it with the share code VZ4YG.
The Workshop isn’t the only major new feature that Blizzard have released for Overwatch recently, with its appearance on the live servers being shortly followed by the arrival of the new Replays system on the PTR.
- Read more: How to use the new Overwatch Replays feature
Jeff Kaplan has also recently stated that the summer content plan will not follow the typically predictable schedule, with some fans speculating that the developers might be looking to introduce a new in-game event for the first time since 2017.
With such a surge in new features and content, there’s perhaps never been a more exciting time to be an Overwatch player.