During their Nintendo Direct presentation today, Nintendo revealed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate got a huge update of information. First, the biggest announcement is that the game's roster will have all returning characters from all previous Smash games. Yes, every single one. Wolf, Snake, Ice Climbers, Young Link, Cloud, they're all here.
In addition, there have been a bevy of updates on all these characters. We'll start with the most major announcements.
Firstly, Ridley joins the fight for the first time. Fans requested him in the previous game, but director Masahiro Sakurai said he was "too big". However, it seems that the tides have shifted because you can now play as him! Another addition to the roster is Daisy, who joins as an "echo fighter" for Peach. This is Sakurai's term for characters with movesets based on other characters, aka clones. He also touched on the Inkling, whose main mechanic is obviously ink. When you attack an inked enemy, they take more damage.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also has new stages. The presentation showed the Moray Towers from Splatoon and the Great Plateau Tower from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Apparently, the Great Plateau Tower will have ancient civilization threats, so watch out! Shadow Moses also returns from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In addition, all stages in the game will have a Battlefield and Omega form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93H7YC-83o
There are plenty of mechanical changes too. Firstly, 8-Player Smash makes its return from the Wii U iteration. When fighting someone 1v1, damage from attacks is increased to keep things moving quickly. Directional air dodging has improved mobility, and excessive use of the dodge will end up making you more vulnerable to attacks.
Shields got a little change too. Unlike before, you have to time Perfect Shields much better or be open for punishment. As for attacks, the A + B smash attack makes a return. Also, an A + Jump input will allow you to do a short hop attack at any time.
During battles, Nintendo added some tweaks as well. First and foremost, Gamecube controllers are compatible with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! In timed attacks, the character with the most KOs will have their character portrait flash to indicate they're in the lead. Certain characters will have gauges or icons by their name at all times. For instance, Cloud's Limit gauge will always be visible by his name. Robin and Villager will have icons as well.
Final smashes have been tweaked a lot too. In general, they're much snappier and faster to keep the action frenetic. None of the transformational final smashes (such as Little Mac's or Bowser's) use normal attacks anymore. Zero Suit Samus, Falco, Bowser, Sonic, Pac-Man, Little Mac, Link, Zelda, Pit and Wario are confirmed to have either heavily tweaked or completely different final smashes.
Certain characters have some other changes besides that. Mario has Cappy to use in his moveset now. Link's bombs are from Breath of the Wild, which means they're remote detonation instead of his traditional bombs. Kirby can change into different items during his stone attack, including a treasure chest from Breath of the Wild. Samus can charge her beam in midair now. She can cancel it, but it leaves her vulnerable to attack. The dancing blade for Marth, Roy and Lucina is faster overall. Shulk can now change Monado arts with a quick button press and an analog tilt from a circle menu.
Sakurai touched on new Pokémon, items and assist trophies as well. New Pokémon include Bewear and Solgaleo. He showed the Launch Star, Black Hole and Fake Smash Ball items as well. Rodin from the Bayonetta series and Bomberman both appear as new assist trophies. Another new assist trophy are the Squid Sisters from Splatoon. They hold a concert in the middle of the stage, and as they sing, the camera slowly zooms in on them. This limits the playing field more and more until they're done. Another important note is that you can KO assist trophies now if you do enough damage. Doing this will count toward your KO total.
Overall, there have been an enormous number of changes, in the tens of thousands according to Sakurai. When you start the game, you'll start with a small roster. However, you'll be able to unlock characters constantly to keep things fresh. You can also transfer all of your amiibo data from previous titles over, so you can keep your characters you've made before. Daisy, the Inklings, and Ridley will all get Super Smash Bros. series amiibo.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate releases December 7th, 2018 Nintendo Switch.
If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2018 Coverage Hub.