To the shock of many, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is adding Steve from Minecraft as a playable character. Earlier this week, series creator Masahiro Sakurai showed off Steve and Alex's moveset in a presentation, giving fans more insight to how the character would play. This presentation revealed a lot about the character, but one of the standout things was Steve's unique mining and crafting systems. Throughout matches, Steve will spend downtime mining for resources to upgrade his weapons and tools with, but an important tool type was missing from his arsenal. It seems that Steve won't have access to his most powerful material: Netherite.
It should be said that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is doing an incredible job at including Steve in the game. Minecraft, despite its popularity, is very different from the other franchises currently represented in Smash, and it was clearly a very challenging endeavor to include mining and crafting mechanics in a fast paced fighting game like this. That said, given that Steve already has systems in place to gather materials and craft wooden, stone, iron, golden, and diamond tools, some fans are curious as to why there's no way to craft Netherite tools.
Minecraft - What is Netherite?
Netherite is a very new material, first introduced in Minecraft's Nether Update that released earlier this year. Netherite represented a difficult decision for developers and a bold leap, as until this point diamond tools were the pinnacle of power and status. Netherite is unique when compared to other tools because it is more powerful, harder to obtain, and crafted differently. Rather than using a crafting table as one does with most tools, players can only get Netherite weapons and armor by upgrading diamond items with a Netherite Ingot. This creates a new, more durable and fire resistant material.
Netherite is extremely difficult to obtain, as it can only be found in one of Minecraft's most dangerous areas, the Nether. Though Netherite Ingots can be obtained as loot from Bastion Remnants found scattered throughout the Nether, more often than not players will need to mine to find it. If players are lucky enough to find a block of Ancient Debris, mining it will yield Netherite scraps. These must then be mixed with Gold in order to form a single Netherite Ingot. When taken to a Smithing Table and combined with diamond equipment, Netherite gear is made.
Steve's Crafting and Mining in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
As far as why Netherite wasn't shown in Steve's gameplay reveal, there are a few reasons that seem to make sense. For one, given the complete scarcity of Netherite in Minecraft, it wouldn't make much sense for Steve to be able to get it willy nilly from any old stage in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Along the same line of thinking, there's a lot of extra steps that go into making Netherite gear that might be hard to portray accurately in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For these reasons, and because it is a relatively new development in the world of Minecraft, it does make sense to leave it out.
That said, when playing on normal stages (i.e. not omega or battlefield variants), the materials Steve mines from the ground are based on the type of material he's standing on. In this way, he is more likely to get iron from Corneria and wood from Donkey Kong's stages. It would be interesting if it was possible for Steve to get Netherite tools, but only under specific circumstances. This would require Steve to already have diamond tools, as Netherite can't be mined without them, and be on a very specific set of stages.
Netherite Tools in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
There are a few stages that have similar aesthetics to Minecraft's Nether, particularly some of the Metroid themed stages. Brinstar, Brinstar Depths, and Norfair all feature fiery landscapes with material that even looks akin to the Netherrack found all throughout the Nether. Other stages could potentially work as well, with Dracula's Castle from Castlevania being reminiscent of the Bastion Remnants where players can find Netherite and even the Nether Fortress to an extent. There are more existing stages that could theoretically fit into this mold as well, but these are the most obvious ones.
If Netherite tools were to be added to the game, they would likely only appear on these stages and be unavailable on any battlefield of omega variants. Players would first need to mine for diamonds, a task that would likely be difficult on the aforementioned stages, and then use a diamond pickaxe to find a Netherite Ingot. Returning to the crafting table, the player could then upgrade their diamond tools to Netherite, resulting in a huge power boost for the player. To balance this, the tool might have to be less durable than its Minecraft counterpart, but it would still be a cool feature.
Diamond Remains King in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Sakurai did say several times during the presentation that the Steve he was showing fans was still in development, so while it is technically possible that Netherite will be included in the final rendition of Steve coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on October 13th, it seems unlikely. The tool is simply too situational to be a feature that would come up often, and a lot of players still have never had a Netherite tool in the original game.
There's also an issue of balance, as if Netherite were added only to those specific stages, it would give Steve a huge advantage whenever playing on those stages. This would of course be rectified by the omega and battlefield variants having set mining outputs, but it would certainly be strange during regular matches. More likely than not, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will take the old school Minecraft stance and keep diamond as the most powerful tool available to Steve and Alex, making it a particularly special thing if players manage to get their hands on some.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Switch.