Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct broadcast for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was full of surprises. Surprises that ranged from grin-inducing to eyebrow-raising:
- The last new fighters were revealed: Incineroar from Pokémon Sun and Moon Versions, and Ken Masters from Street Fighter. The latter is an Echo fighter of Ken, and is based upon his appearance in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The Piranha Plant from Super Mario will be making their debut as well, as a limited-time free release by registering the game on their Nintendo account before the 31st of January 2019. No, seriously.
- DLC characters will be returning, and can be purchased in a season pass-like ‘Fighters Pass’. DLC will be sold in batches, with each release centered around a character and their game. They’ll each contain a playable character, a stage and a music track. The ‘Fighters Pass’ will be sold for 24.99 USD, but the packs can be bought individually for 5.99 USD each. Buying the ‘Fighters Pass’ will get you a Mii Fighter costume inspired by Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s Rex.
- Spirits are a brand-new feature. They’ll allow you to power up individual traits of fighters, like Stickers in Brawl‘s ‘Subspace Emissary’ mode. Also like Stickers, Spirits are collectible and will be placed inside an album once acquired. Like amiibo fighters, they’ll level up and grow stronger as you use them. Spirits are the loose souls of franchise characters, like Metal Gear Solid‘s Revolver Ocelot or Genos from Super Mario RPG. That last one has been a dream addition to the Smash roster since time immemorial, so there’s a lot of disappointed people out there.
- ‘World of Light’ is a new single-player story mode. It mostly exists to explain how Spirit characters became Spirits in the first place, and will play like a mix between an RPG and the Smash we all know and love.
- Trophies will not be in Ultimate, being replaced by Spirits.
- Online Matchmaking will allow players to find matches based on personal preferences. For example, searches can be limited to only a certain number of items. The Wii U and 3DS Smash‘s ‘For Fun’ and ‘For Glory’ separation will not be in Ultimate.
- Ultimate is available for pre-ordering now, and you’ll get double the Nintendo Gold Points if you do so. The game launches on the 7th of December.
More assist trophies were unveiled as well, making a grand total of 59 available in Ultimate:
- Yuri Kozukata (Fatal Frame: maiden of Black Water)
- Isaac (Golden Sun)
- Black Knight (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)
- Thwomp (Super Mario)
- Spring Man (ARMS)
- Dr. Wily (Mega Man)
- Flies & Hand (Mario Paint)
- Tiki (Fire Emblem: Awakening)
- Vince (Art Academy)
- Guile (Street Fighter)
- Akira (Virtua Fighter)
You can check out the full direct below:
