The surprises kept on coming at the final Smash Ultimate Nintendo Direct today. Check out all of the latest news and characters here!
The final Smash Ultimate Nintendo Direct started by recapping the 72 characters thus far, then went into two new characters.
Starting with the reveal of Ken from Street Fighter, he will act as Ryu’s echo fighter. He was a character that many predicted as being in this game, making this an exciting reveal. Ken has a Heavy Shoryuken attack, and two final Smashes.
Right after Ken’s reveal, he was challenged by Incineroar from the Pokémon series. He is a very tough looking opponent, with a final smash using a large fire explosion. He uses very powerful throws, and he pauses to show off for the audience. He uses a lot of his moves from the Pokémon games, including his counter being Revenge. Max Malicious Moonsault is his final Smash’s name.
Amiibo waves were announced for December 7, 2018, February 15, 2019, and sometime in 2019.
There aren’t any trophies in this game, since they are too many characters that would have to be represented in this massive title. Instead, there will be a new mode to represent a lot of different series’ characters.
Spirits mode was finally unveiled. Spirit characters will help out your character in battle in the form of stat boosts. In the new single player mode, characters will have to fight to regain their physical forms. There are different levels of spirit strengths, with one primary spirit being assigned at a time. A support spirit attaches to the primary spirit, giving you additional skills.
The Spirit Battles are the main ways to win spirits, as you match up with characters of similar attributes to your own in battle. There is a sort of rock-paper-scissors technique to master here. A final Smash meter will be in play during Spirit Battles. You can power up amiibos using Spirit powers.
Online play was detailed, in which players will no longer have For Fun or For Glory organization. Preferred rules are set, within Smash, Team Battle, and 1-on-1, along with item preferences and stage hazards. You can also choose to not have any rules at all, and they will be given to you at random. Your ranking of the Global Smash Power is used for matchmaking, a welcome change to Smash Bros. online battling. The GSP will display for each individual character that you play as. The matchmaking system will make choices based on physical location to prioritize better match connections.
Elite Battles are online battles that are only accessible after you reach a GSP. A Smash Tag is something claimed after you defeat a player. You can make short messages on the taunts in random battles now, but they are all pre-set. While waiting for a battle, you can choose a mode of battle to play in the waiting lobby. In Spectator Mode, you can watch other players battle, just as before. To form a 2 player team, you still need to be on the same console. When you create a Battle Arena, you can play with friends, taking place of the “rooms” from Smash 4.
The Nintendo Switch Online App will allow voice chat in Battle Arenas. Smash World will be a separate app for gameplay videos to be rewatched.
Assist trophies were featured, starting with Yuri Kozukata of the Fatal Frame series, then Isaac from Golden Sun, Black Knight from Fire Emblem, Thwomp from the Super Mario series, Spring Man from Arms, and Wily Capsule from .
Some more assist trophies are Flies and Hand from Mario Paint, Tiki from Fire Emblem, Vince from Art Academy, Guile from Street Fighter, and Akira from Virtua Fighter. There are 59 assist trophies in this game, outnumbering the Pokémon this time around.
Century Smash is a Fighting Polygon Team type of mode. You can make videos out of replays, and you can fight in All Star mode before you unlock all of the characters. You can sort the in-game tips by character in Smash Ultimate. In the game’s content shop, you can use in-game gold to buy music tracks, spirits, and more.
In the options, there are 11 language choices, including German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and English. A new handicap allows you to nerf or gain strength when playing locally. Mii Fighters can once again be customized, with a lot of different voice choices.
The Mii costumes included are the Yiga Clan from Zelda, Splatoon 2 outfits, Ribbon Girl from Arms, Chibi Robo, Ray MacKill, and Toy-Con from Nintendo Labo.
There will be more characters available in paid DLC down the pipeline. There will be 5 new fighters made from scratch, with none of them being echo fighters. The DLC will be $5.99 for a bundle set of a fighter, stage, and music tracks. There is also a Fighters Pass that will be available to purchase before all of the characters are revealed, and it costs $24.99. A Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Mii outfit is a bonus given when the Fighters Pass is bought.
There is a free perk for pre-ordering the game now: a Piranha Plan fighter. He sits in his warp pipe, and spits out acid. He can coil up small and then extend himself out very far. His Final Smash sees him transform into Petey Paranah. Its neutral b is a spikey ball. He will be out after the game releases, and will be only available for free with those that register their pre-order of Smash Ultimate on Nintendo Online, much like Mewtwo was released for Smash 4.
There are going to be demo events in North America where all 74 fighters will be available to play before the game releases.
There is a new Adventure Mode that is not like Subspace Emissary. New cutscenes were shown off, as Fox lead the assault on many, MANY Master Hands. A new baddie made up of what looked like ribbons attacked the Smash fighters, and Shulk was able to use his vision foresight to see the big hits coming. Alas, all of the fighters, some with speaking roles, were evaporated by energy blasts, save for one.
Kirby escaped on his star ride, with a new lyrical song playing as the pink puff realized the task in front of him: to save all of the Smash Bros. characters. All of the characters turned into evil, red-eyed versions of themselves, but as they were defeated, their souls were reclaimed. This sequence was completed by a titlecard that announced it as “World of Light.”
Smash Ultimate releases on December 7, 2018 for the Nintendo Switch.
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