On March 8, 2018, a Nintendo livestream aired showcasing upcoming games and events. Nintendo livestreams like this one are called Nintendo Directs, which air about every month or so. This one was special, however, as one of the most popular games that Nintendo has ever created was teased for a sequel. This small tease included a character called Inkling looking up at a flaming logo of the game. The logo was of the game Super Smash Brothers.

There have been 4 Super Smash Brothers games in the past, starting in the year 1999. Every time one of the new sequels releases, it tends to improve a lot from the previous game.

For those who don’t know, Smash Brothers in a 2-dimensional fighting game with a unique twist. Instead of going for a KO on your opponent, you rack up their knockback percentage which increases how far they will go when hit. If your opponent starts to be at a high percentage, then a good hit will launch them off the stage, taking one of their lives away.

For example, if an opponent is at 50%, then they will be launched 50% farther when hit.

In the months following the March Nintendo Direct, more announcements have been made about content, controls, and finally the name and release date. At the big gaming convention called E3 on June 14, 2018, the game was officially titled as Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. It was scheduled to be released on December 7, 2018.

The main selling point of this Smash Bros, was that every fighter from every previous Smash Brothers game would be included as a playable fighter. To top it off, brand new fighters would be included in the game as well. Just this announcement of the fighters alone has caused the most hype and excitement for a Smash Brothers game in history.

Of course, the fighters in Super Smash Brothers must be diverse, fun, and popular among fans. In Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, there are 70 fighters in total, 12 more than the previous game! Most iconic Nintendo characters have been in the game since the original 1999 Smash Brothers, such as Mario and Kirby.

However, some of the newer fighters are from series most people have never heard of, such as Simon Belmont from Castlevania, and Palutena from Kid Icarus. There are even some fighters who are just strange and irrelevant, such as Wii Fit Trainer from Wii Fit and Little Mac from Punch-Out. However, the diversity and mystery of all the new fighters just makes the game even more interesting.

Finally, after months of anticipation, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate was released on the scheduled release date of December 7, 2018. So many questions were to be answered, and how much it stacked up to the previous entries in the series.

An adventure mode called “Spirits” was unveiled, which takes a new look at the game as a whole. In this “Spirits” mode, characters who are not official fighters in the game become spirits, who are imprisoned in the bodies of other fighters. For example, Waluigi is not a fighter in Smash Brothers, so he becomes a spirit inside of a purple Luigi instead. Another new mode in this Smash Brothers game is called Squad Strike, which allows you to play a battle with multiple characters in a tag team sort of way.

To top it all off, online servers have been perfected with limited waiting times, and the amount of stages and music tracks are at the highest amount they have ever been before. So, after all these additions and perfections, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate easily becomes the best Super Smash Brothers game in history.