Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: all the details from the Nintendo Direct (August 8th 2018)

8 August 2018 Lite_Agent Bandai-Namco, Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Today, the latest Nintendo Direct presentation was livestreamed, and it was all about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Quite a lot of things were revealed during this one, so here’s a recap for you (complete with some additional announcements).

First, here’s the recording of the presentation, in case you missed it and don’t want to get spoiled:

The official website has also been updated with details, pictures and videos for the new fighters, stages, items, etc. revealed during the Nintendo Direct!

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Castlevania

First, two new characters were revealed, and they’re from the Castlevania series!

The two characters are:

Simon Belmont: his signature weapon is the Holy Whip, that he uses to attack. It leaves you open to attack, and it’s quite slow, but its reach is really something else (longer reach than any other fighter in the game). Fun fact: you can move the whip freely! His special attacks are all iconic ones from the Castlevania games: Axe, Cross, Holy Water, and Uppercut. They may seem rather simple, but they’re all really powerful! Finally, his Final Smash is Grand Cross.

Richter Belmont (an echo fighter of Simon Belmont): his look, voice, and animations are all completely different from Simon Belmont’s.

Of course, those two Castlevania characters didn’t come empty-handed: they came with a new stage, called Dracula’s Castle… the darkest stage in the game! Just like in classic Castlevania games, hitting a candlestick with an attack will spawn an item. Various enemies from the series appear as stage hazards: Medusa, Mummy, Creature and Flea Man, Death, Carmilla, Werewolf… and even Dracula himself, who appears as a boss (though the conditions for him to appear are unclear).

The music team are big fans of Castlevania music, and it shows: they went and added no less than 34 music tracks (including new and classic tunes).

Finally, Alucard is also in the game, but only as an Assist Trophy. He can transform into a bat, take his mist form to avoid attacks, and more. You can KO him (just like most other Assist Trophies), but it’s going to be easier said than done!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – New Echo Fighters

After that, two highly requests characters were announced as Echo Fighters:

Chrom (Echo Fighter of Roy)

Dark Samus

Speaking of Echo Fighters, the fighter selection screen will have an option that allows you to either display them separately, or stack them with the fighter they’re based on (making you cycle through them).

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Stages

During the next segment, many returning stages were showcased:

Great Bay
Shadow Moses
Living Room
Gaur Plain
Figure-8 Circuit
Flat Zone X
Pokémon Stadium
Garden of Hope
Brinstar Depths
Summit
Unova Pokémon League
Magicant
Gamer
Final Destination
New Donk City Hall

All returning stages have been enhanced, and now sport better graphics. They have also been rebalanced. The only exceptions are the stages from Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64, which were kept mostly intact for nostalgia purposes:

Saffron City
Hyrule Castle
Dream Land
Kongo Jungle

In total, there’s no less than 103 stages in the game: a record for the series!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 103 stages
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 56 stages
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: 42 stages
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 41 stages
Super Smash Bros. Melee: 29 stages
Super Smash Bros.: 9 stages

What’s more, every single stage has a Battlefield and Omega Form, which means there’s actually no less than 300 stages in total. The best part? They’re all playable in 8 players Smash! Also, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduces an option to turn off stage hazards. Finally, all stages are available from the very beginning (no need to unlock them!), and are ordered chronologically on the stage select screen.

But that’s not all: a new feature allows you to have two stages morph into one another during battle. You first have to activate the option, and then choose two stages. You can also select how long a stage stays before it morphs into another one.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Music

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the music tracks are now organised by series. That means that when choosing the music from a specific stage, you can set pretty much any music track from the same series (for example, a stage based on a The Legend of Zelda game can be played with any music track from that series).

The game features more than 800 musics, with all the jingles and victory fanfares bringing the total to over 900 tracks. You would need more than 28 hours to listen to every single track in the game! Of course, the Sound Test menu is back, with all music tracks sorted by series (with standalone tracks from a specific game instead of series found in the Other section).

What’s more, the game lets you create your very own playlist, which is pretty handy when you want to listen to specific tracks. It’s also going to be useful when you want to listen to some music in Handheld Mode, because yes, you will be able to do just that! The game will let you use your Nintendo Switch like a (really fancy) portable mp3 player, and you will be able to turn off the screen to save battery.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Rules

In this game, the first thing you have to select before playing is the Rules. If you want to jump right in as fast as possible, you can create Rulesets for quick access. After rules, you have to select the stage, and then the fighters. That way, you can select a character perfectly suited to a given stage. Of course, there’s also different “rules” for who gets to choose the stage, such as the player who came last during the previous game, for example.

Also, Stamina Battle has been added to the game as standard battle option. In Sudden Death, the camera now zooms on the fighter, giving a real sense of urgency. Finally, a new option allows you to activate the Final Smash Meter: when it’s completely filled, you can launch a weaker version of the Final Smash, even without a Smash Ball! However, only one such Final Smash can occur simultaneously.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Rules

Here’s some Battle Modes revealed/showcased during the Nintendo Direct presentation:

Squad Strike: 5 on 5 or 3 on 3 elimination battle. Each player uses 3 or 5 consecutive fighters. You can play in 1 vs 1, or have several players take turns to play.
Tourney Mode: you select the number of players and the number of bots, and then the game automatically generates a tournament bracket. Playable with up to 32 players.
Smashdown: in this mode, fighters are no longer available to any player after they’ve been selected once. You really need to learn how to use all of them if you want to win, especially if your opponents play dirty and try to pick up characters you’re the most familiar with!
Training Mode: now plays on an exclusive stage, with gridlines and lines that indicate the trajectory based on the damage percentage of your target.
Classic Mode: classic Smash experience, with each fighter now getting their own set of opponents!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Items, Pokémon, Assist Trophy

Here’s some new items showcased during the presentation:

Banana = fires one powerful “bullet”
Killing Edge: when it glows, its power intensifies
Bomber: you lift it up, throw it, and the bomb blows up
Death’s Scythe: instant KO for badfly damaged opponents
Staff: power increases the further you are from your target
Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom: reverse opponent’s controls
Rage Blaster: the higher your damage %, the stronger it gets

Here’s some Pokémon:

Alolan Exeggutor
Abra
Solgaleo
Lunala
Mimikyu
Pyukumuku
Vulpix
Alolan Vulpix
Marshadow
Ditto

And here’s some Assist Trophies:

Zero
Knuckles
Krystal
Klaptrap
Kapp’n
Chef Kawasaki
Gray Fox
Nikki
Shovel Knight
Moon

Finally, Rathalos (one of the most iconic monsters from the Monster Hunter series) appear as a stage boss, but also as assist trophy… in fact, he’s the very first character to appear as both!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Main Menu

At the end of the presentation, we got our first look at the main menu of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Some of the elements were blurred, including a mysterious game mode that will be revealed soon. There’s also a dashboard on the right side of the screen, that can be accessed by pressing the ZR button.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – King K. Rool

Finally, a new character was revealed at the very end of the presentation… King K. Rool!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Limited Edition and amiibo

Right after the presentation, Nintendo announced that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will get a Limited Edition in Europe, including the following:

a copy of the game
a Nintendo GameCube Controller Super Smash Bros. edition
a Nintendo GameCube Controller adapter

Finally, Nintendo confirmed that all new fighters revealed during today’s Nintendo Direct presentation will get their own amiibo: Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont, King K. Rool, Chrom, and Dark Samus. More details about them will be shared at a later date.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Artworks, Screenshots and press release

REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 8, 2018 – A legendary vampire hunter and a fan-favorite villain are joining the sprawling cast of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimategame. In a Nintendo Direct video presentation entirely focused on the Nintendo Switch exclusive, it was revealed that Simon Belmont from the Castlevania series and King K. Rool, the main antagonist from the original Donkey Kong Country games, are both joining the game as playable fighters. In addition, the Nintendo Direct also shared additional information on Echo fighters, new stages, new modes and one of the most impressive collections of music ever in a single game, with more than 900 music tracks and 28 hours of music. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on Dec. 7.

“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the biggest games Nintendo has ever released,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Between all the iconic fighters, stages and music, it’s the largest video game crossover ever produced – and nothing short of a Nintendo fan’s dream come true.”

To view the Nintendo Direct video in its entirety, visit https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. Some of the highlights revealed in the video include:

Simon Belmont: Simon’s signature weapon is, of course, his whip, with special attacks true to the Castlevania series, including the axe, cross, holy water and Grand Cross Final Smash. His stage is Dracula’s Castle, with candlesticks that release an item when destroyed. Alucard, the tragic hero from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, appears as an Assist Trophy, lending his cursed steel in battle. Richter Belmont, a descendant of Simon Belmont and the star of his own Castlevania games, also joins the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster as an Echo fighter.

King K. Rool: As the beloved villain from all three Donkey Kong Country games on Super NES, King K. Rool joins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable fighter. He attacks with a blunderbuss that can fire cannonballs at opponents, and throws his crown, which acts like a boomerang.

Echo Fighters: Echo fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have move sets based on other fighters, but a different visual appearance. In addition to Richter Belmont, two other Echo fighters in the game are Chrom from the Fire Emblem series (Echo fighter for Roy) and Dark Samus from the Metroid games (Echo fighter for Samus). Echo fighters can be displayed as separate fighters on the character select screen or stacked on top of the character they are echoing. When stacked, players can change between them with the press of a button. It’s up to players to decide how they want them displayed.

Stages: Returning favorites with new visuals and tweaks will make up most of the stages in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but there are new stages in the mix as well. These include Dracula’s Castle from the Castlevania series and New Donk City Hall from the Super Mario Odyssey game. More than 100 stages will be in the game, but because the popular Battlefield and Omega forms can also be selected for each stage, more than 300 total stages are available right from the start! Each stage in the game will also support eight-player battles (additional accessories may be required for multiplayer modes and are sold separately) and feature the ability to turn off hazards like the Yellow Devil in Wily Castle.

Stage Morph: In a Super Smash Bros. first, the Stage Morph option will let players seamlessly transition between two different stages. When you select this option in the rules, one stage will transform into another during battle.

Music: For fans that want it all, My Music lets players select specific music tracks for each stage. Up until now, each stage had its own music track. But in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, players can select tracks by series. If they are fighting on a stage from The Legend of Zelda, for example, they can select any music track included from that franchise, including new additions like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Main Theme. Counting game music tracks and other music, like in-game menus and other short musical passages, there are approximately 900 compositions – that’s more than 28 hours of video game music! When playing in Handheld mode, music can be played even while the Nintendo Switch screen is turned off, turning the system into its own portable music player.

Items: New items being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate include the Banana Gun, Killing Edge, Bomber, Death’s Scythe, Staff, Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom and Rage Blaster, among others from a wide variety of different video game franchises. Items in the game can be picked up and used offensively and defensively in battle.

Pokémon: After players throw a Poké Ball in the game, many new and returning Pokémon may appear to assist in battle. Some of these Pokémon include Abra, Solgaleo, Lunala, Mimikyu and the enormous Alolan Exeggutor.

Assist Trophies: Some of the new Assist Trophies that are joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate include Zero from the Mega Man X series, Knuckles from Sonic The Hedgehog, Krystal from Star Fox Adventures, Rathalos from the Monster Hunter series, Shovel Knight from, well, Shovel Knight and the evil Moon from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

Classic Mode: The single-player mode in which players battle against a series of fighters will return in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Each fighter has a set of stages and opponents that she or he will face.

Stamina Battle: In addition to Time Battle and Stock Battle, Stamina Battle is also one of the standard modes in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Stamina Battle, players fight to deplete each other’s stamina until only one fighter is left standing.

Final Smash Meter: In addition to regular Final Smashes that can be activated after breaking a Smash Ball, the Final Smash Meter is now a selectable option. If enabled, players can charge their Final Smash Meter over the course of a battle. Once the Final Smash Meter is fully charged, players can unleash a less powerful Final Smash attack.

Squad Strike: When playing Squad Strike, players will participate in 5-on-5 or 3-on-3 skirmishes, with each player using either five or three consecutive fighters in one battle.

Tourney Mode: Up to 32 players can participate in Tourney mode, making it great for parties or events with a lot of people. And since Nintendo Switch can be played anywhere, these tournaments can even take place in unexpected places!

Smashdown: After battling in this mode, the previously selected fighters will no longer be available, forcing players to have to pick a different fighter for the next round. This mode favors players who are skilled with multiple fighters and encourages others to diversify their rosters.

Training: The improved Training mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate includes an exclusive stage that features a grid, used to help measure the distance and trajectory of special moves and fighter knockback.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) comes out on December 7th worldwide.

Source: Nintendo Direct / Nintendo (Twitter) / Nintendo (Twitter) / Nintendo PR