Hold on to your Gamecube controllers, friends, because the new Super Smash Brothers game has just been revealed at E3 in Los Angeles. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate! Along with the reveal of the new game we were teased with hours of new footage from the invitational tournament hosted by Nintendo at E3. This reveal is a godsend for fans of the game both competitively and casually as many new adjustments are being made to the game's tried-and-true formula. Let's dive deeper in.
One of the big reveals from Nintendo's presentation is the roster. Masahiro Sakurai, the game's long-time creator, revealed that every character who has ever been playable in any previous Smash game will again be playable in Ultimate. This means long time favorites such as Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series, Wolf from Star-Fox and Pichu, Pikachu's scrappy pre-evolution will once again find their way to Final Destination to clash with Nintendo's other gaming icons. Sakurai himself added that he wanted these games to be a celebration of the series' history, which appears to be the main reason behind the inclusion of these characters. In addition to the returning characters, several new characters were announced, such as Inkling, from Nintendo's newest successful franchise Splatoon, Daisy, Princess Peach's doubles partner, and Ridley, one of the most iconic bosses of the Metroid franchise.
Undoubtedly, the inclusion of these characters is bound to excite and draw in new players, wide-eyed and ready to Smash.
The new gameplay mechanics look phenomenal as well, with the reintroduction of directional airdodges, calling back to the second game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Melee. The game appears to be much faster than its predecessor, with many of the characters having received nerfs to their survivability and recoveries. With this new faster style of gameplay, will the competitive meta see a shift to three or even four stocks? Only time will tell. It really feels as though Nintendo took all the feedback that both types of players were giving them.
Finally, there's the invitational tournament itself. Eight of the top Smash players across all games were invited to do battle in front of hundreds of thousands of people on a game they'd never played before. It's kind of like that scene in The Wizard where they reveal Super Mario Bros. 3 in the middle of the climax of the movie. Anyway, the tournament was played on the various new stages that Nintendo hand-picked for them to show off to the crowd. There were many hype moments and eventually Zer0, the retired champion of Smash 4, came out on top. Many were incredibly pleased with the way the game and the tournament turned out.
Overall, the game looks amazing and all the news that comes out about it only serves to make the community bigger and more excited for it. This should be a console-seller for the Switch (I know it will be for me) and another one of Nintendo's big wins this year. I hope you all are ready to Smash.
