Coming absolutely out of nowhere Simon and Richter Belmont are the first new characters to be introduced in the highly anticipated
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, in an awesome cutscene full of
Castlevania references.
Not only were the
Castlevania characters the main focus of the Direct though, since series creator Masahiro Sakurai wasted no time in introducing Chrom from the
Fire Emblem series and Dark Samus from
Metroid, as two of the most highly requested characters to join the
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster as Echo fighters. Chrom based on Marth and Dark Samus based on Samus, these fighters are slightly different—gameplaywise—than the original versions so players can choose either one without affecting gameplay too much.
As far as returning stages go, Pokémon Stadium, Garden of Hope from
Pikmin 3, Brinstar Depths from
Super Metroid, Summit from
Ice Climbers, Unova Pokémon League, Magicant from
Earthbound, Gamer from
WarioWare, and Final Destination are making a comeback.
New stages are also being introduced and we get our first look at
Super Mario Odyssey inspired stage New Donk City Hall. The team has also made sure that returning stages from previous
Smash Bros. games were visually enhanced while still keeping the essence of the originals. Nintendo 64 stages, on the other hand, were enhanced as well but were intentionally kept as close as possible to the original.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is also featuring a staggering 103 stages, including the Final Destination stages, and all of these can be played in their Battlefield or Omega forms. For the first time ever, all of the stages in the game will be playable in 8-player mode and will be available from the beginning of the game. There's also the new option to turn stage hazards off in case some people find some of the stages slightly unfair, even when they choose not to play with items.
Another very interesting option added to the game is that now stages can morph into other stages with the new Morph option, having players fighting in Pokémon Stadium suddenly, and seamlessly show up in Brinstar Depths, or any other stage they choose. When selecting the stage, players can select two stages to switch between with the Morph option.
My Music option is also making a return since introduced in
Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS, which allows players to select any music they want for the stages, as well as the frequencey in which these would play.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate now features a whopping 800 music tracks for players to select, taking the concept of Ultimate to a whole new level for the franchise—not even counting menus, and other fanares which raise the amount of tracks to an even more impressive 900 pieces.
Sound test is also makign a comeback, which will allow players to listen to every single track i nthe game, which translates to a whole 28 hours of uninterrupted music—all of them sorted by series so they're a lot more accessible. Much like the Nintendo 3DS version,
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will let players use their Nintendo Switch as a music player when in handheld mode.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is definitely living up to its Ultimate title and it really looks like it will be one, if not the best game in the series. Sakurai has already said that these new characters are only the first to be introduced and that there are still more to come and with characters like Simon Belmont, Solid Snake, Mega Man, Cloud, Pac Man, and Ryu, we know that only the sky is the limit.
Check out the individual character announcements, as well as the whole Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct:
Introducing the newest and most expansive Super Smash Bros. ever! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate arrives December 7, 2018.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on the 7th of December.