Super Smash Bros Ultimate for Nintendo Switch has finally been revealed in full. Here’s what we know so far.
Update: The surprises don’t stop coming. After the announcement of Castlevania’s vampire-hunter Simon Belmont and Donkey Kong Country’s original villain, King K. Rool, we now know that Isabelle from the Animal Crossing franchise will now join the cast of Super Smash Bros Ultimate when the game comes out on December 7 2018.
We’ve run through everything else – including some limited edition bundles – in our news and rumors section below…
Nintendo scared us for a minute. After going one full year without hearing a peep about a new Super Smash Bros. game, we had almost given up hope.
And then, out of nowhere during a Nintendo Direct, Nintendo dropped the news: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the next generation of the series that’s coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. Details were scant then, but we knew enough to get excited.
Fast-forward to today when we know more about the game than ever. We know that it’s a honest-to-goodness new entry in the genre, not a remake or a port from the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS, and that it will include every fighter ever included in a Smash game – yes, even the third-party DLC characters from the last game.
In addition to the massive roster of returning characters, Nintendo surprised us with three new fighters exclusive to Ultimate that include Ridley, Inkling and Daisy, plus King K. Rool and Simon and Richter Belmont of Castlevania fame. Alongside the E3 reveal of the space pirate Ridley, there’s a lot of fan service going on, and we’re very here for it.
The latter is part of Super Smash Bros‘ new Echo Fighter system wherein it takes a fighter from the roster – in this case Peach – and reworks their abilities for a different play-style. The result is a character that’s different, but familiar.
There will be new items and maps to go along with the characters, plus hundreds of mechanical tweaks that Series Director Masahiro Sakurai is overseeing personally.
Ultimate might seem a bit overzealous, but this is the closest we’re ever going to get to a complete collection and one that has some serious eSports potential.
Following the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct, we know Super Smash Bros will come out on December 7,2018.
Not only is the base game available that day, but so is the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Switch bundle that includes a download code for game, the console, a customized docking station and a special controller – starting on November 2,2018.
At E3 2018, a majority of the Nintendo Direct live stream was dedicated to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. At just over 25 minutes, this is a long reveal and you can watch it below:
Here’s the initial teaser from the March 2018 Nintendo Direct and it’s a good one. You can watch it below:
Revealed at E3
Good news for those excited about Super Smash Bros: the game was the star of Nintendo’s E3 show. During the livestream, Nintendo’s Masahiro Sakurai revealed almost everything we’ve been wanting to know about the next instalment of the Super Smash Bros series that will arrive on December 7,2018. A Nintendo Direct stream on August 8 also added a lot of new tidbits and changes to the entry.
Everyone is here
Every character that has ever appeared in Super Smash Bros is coming back to the Switch version. Every single one. Nintendo has so far announced over 60 characters including the return of Ice Climbers as a duo and Pichu from Super Smash Bros Melee. We’ll also see returning crossover characters like Sonic and Solid Snake.
The first new characters to be announced were the Inkling from the Splatoon series and space pirate Ridley from the Metroid series.
Available as both a boy or girl character (with dozens of clothing and style choices), the Inkling’s attacks all revolve around the different weapons available in Splatoon and inked opponents take more damage from attacks. Users will also have to press the B button while their shield is up to reload their inking ammo.
Ridley, meanwhile, was only appeared briefly in Nintendo’s E3 2018 Direct, and it seems as though he will be a very aerial-focused character with dive bomb moves.
The latest Nintendo Direct also introduced Castlevania’s vampire hunter Simon Belmont, featuring his iconic whip and an exploding vial of holy water, with Alucard Son of Dracula featuring as an otherworldly assist trophy.
We also caught a glimpse of the hulking crocodile villain King K. Rool from the original Donkey King Country games, and Isabelle from Animal Crossing.
So many stages
Smash Bros Ultimate is set to almost double the number of stages seen in recent games. We’re being treated to a total 103 distinct stages, up from 56 from the Wii U game – with additional variations depending on how you want the environment to behave.
New stages include Dracula’s Castle from the Castlevania series, and even New Donk City Hall from Super Mario Odyssey – complete with the city’s singing band to underscore the action.
There’ll also be a new Stage Morph mode, which allows players to teleport their fighters to a new location halfway through a match.
New items, new looks, new Pokemon
It wouldn’t be Smash Bros without countless incremental changes – and this game sticks to the trend.
Some of the new items include a single-shot Banana Gun, a Death’s Scythe that does more damage to low-health fighters, and a Ramblin‘ Evil Mushroom that temporarily reverses your enemy’s control system.
Knuckles, Shovel Knight, and the evil moon from Majora’s Mask will be joining the list of Assist Trophies – while the long-necked Alolan Exeggutor can now be summoned from a Pokeball to awkwardly split the battle stage in half, which we think is hysterical.
All the classic characters have also received overhauls to their look or moveset. Here are just a few of the new changes to veteran smashers:
Compatible with the GameCube controller
In case you were curious, you will indeed be able to play the game with a GameCube controller. Nintendo has announced a special ‚Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Limited Edition‘ in Europe, which will include a copy of the game alongside a dedicated GameCube controller and adaptor – no doubt appeasing the nostalgia of those who grew up playing on the earlier Nintendo system, or who just want a more traditional controller layout.
The US version will instead pack in a Switch Pro Controller with a special Smash Bros design, with a black steelbook case for the game cartridge.
Masahiro Sakurai is on board
The series creator of Super Smash Bros, Masahiro Sakurai, confirmed back in March that he was working on the newly announced Nintendo Switch title.
Sakurai said in a tweet (via Siliconera) that he’s been „quietly working on it day after day“, asking for fans to „please wait until we can reveal its content, or until the time of its release!!“
Sakurai’s involvement is unsurprising, but promising given that he’s been involved with every other Super Smash Bros release.
A port or something more?
There was much debate about whether the new Super Smash Bros would be a wholly new game, or a ‘deluxe’ re-release of Super Smash Bros 4 (the one that appeared simultaneously on Wii U and 3DS in 2014).
The latter wouldn’t have been surprising, given that Nintendo had been porting a lot of games from the unloved Wii U console such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Pokkén Tournament onto the Switch, albeit as more fleshed-out or ‚definitive‘ versions.
