Okay. Okay. Sit down, grab your GameCube controller with the snapback issue you refuse to fix, and let’s talk about the unhinged chaos demon that is the “SSBB F Pokéballs Switch Modifier.”
Because holy Arceus, this thing has officially pushed my relationship with Pokéballs from “wow, fun nostalgia” to “this is the reason I scream into a pillow at 2AM.” And before you @ me — yes, I’ve been playing Smash since Melee, yes, I wavedash (badly), and yes, I still think Brawl’s tripping mechanic was an elaborate troll by Sakurai that we all just accepted like Stockholm syndrome. But this modifier? This modifier has me both cackling like Wario after a fart KO and rage-quitting like a Marth main who just got pineappled on Battlefield.
What Even Is This Modifier?
So here’s the setup for you uninitiated normies: someone out there (probably a mad genius with too much time and way too much love for RNGesus) cooked up a Switch mod for Super Smash Bros. Brawl that basically turns every single item spawn into a Pokéball. But not just a Pokéball. No. This thing lets you toggle which Pokémon show up.
That’s right. Want a 1v1 stamina match with nothing but Electrode spawns? Congratulations, your masochist tendencies are showing.
Pure Joy… For 0.3 Seconds
At first, it’s a dopamine buffet. You’re like, “Oh hell yeah, it’s my boy Scizor, watch him dash around like the cracked-out ninja he is!” Then Goldeen pops out and flops uselessly on the stage like a soggy piece of bread and suddenly the entire match is ruined. But you laugh. Because it’s hilarious when your buddy throws what he thinks is a game-changer and gets literally wet fish energy in return.
You know what’s not hilarious? Getting chased off the stage by Entei for the fifth match in a row while your “friend” (read: sadistic cousin) sets the spawn rate to “entire Pokédex but just the legendaries.” I swear, if I see Giratina phase through the floor one more time and yeet me into the blast zone, I’m uninstalling life.
Balance? Never Heard of Her
You ever try edgeguarding when Palkia shows up and flips the stage? Yeah, good luck with that, king. Hope you like losing stocks to gravitational war crimes. Oh and let’s not forget Kyogre — aka the blue tidal wave of salt — who just swims across the stage and evaporates your neutral like it never existed.
And yet… I keep coming back. Because it’s so stupidly fun. Smash has always been about embracing the absurd, and this modifier dials that chaos to 11. It’s like turning on all items in Final Destination just to watch Fox mains cry.
The Pokémon Meta is Real
I cannot believe I’m saying this, but there is now Pokémon tier discourse in my friend group. “Oh yeah bro, Deoxys is totally S-tier, but only in large stages.” Excuse me?? What timeline is this? We’re out here labbing Pokémon item hitboxes like it’s a legit meta. Someone even made a matchup chart for Pokéball spawns. I wish I were joking.
Also, why does Snorlax kill at 30%? That big boy drops like a judgment from Smash God and wipes you clean off the screen while you’re trying to recover. And don’t even get me started on Lugia — that thing just nukes the entire screen. That’s not gameplay. That’s a cutscene with a death tax.
Final Verdict: It’s Chaos, and I Love/Hate It
Do I recommend the “SSBB F Pokéballs Switch Modifier”? Hell yes. And also absolutely not. It’s the best kind of unbalanced nonsense. It’s like playing with a bunch of Loot Box RNG disguised as adorable pixel monsters — and when it works, it’s magic. But when it doesn’t? You feel like you’re trapped in a Pokémon Center that only heals your trauma.
Smash has always been a party game in disguise, and this mod strips off the disguise, throws it into the fire, and replaces it with a Pokéball-shaped clown nose. You’ll hate it. You’ll love it. You’ll scream. You’ll laugh. You’ll lose to Wobbuffet because your buddy baited you into attacking it and now you’re eating 50% recoil damage like a chump.
So yeah. 10/10. Would rage again.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to set the spawn rate to just Ditto and watch the CPUs fight a thousand copies of themselves while I drink a juice box and question my life choices.