Top 5 reveals from today’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct

We finally have all the details on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, thanks to today’s Nintendo Direct. During this final Smash-focused Nintendo Direct before release, the game’s creator, Masahiro Sakurai, gave fans a preview of the last few features and fighters that are headed to the game.

Among the new features Sakurai announced are Spirits, a massive new system that has characters from various games act as special power-ups for Smash fighters. Also making quite a splash during the announcement was the game’s story mode, World of Light, which looks like it will task Kirby with saving the entire Smash roster from a mysterious evil force.

While the Nintendo Direct was full of huge, exciting announcements, there were also a few smaller reveals that might get lost in the shuffle: things like Challenges, which unlock exclusive art, an exhaustive in-game tips menul new skins for the Mii fighters that include more recent games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2; and even some exciting new assist trophies.

With so many announcements coming out of the stream, let’s take a look back at the five biggest reveals from today’s final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct.

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Two new fighters round out the game’s roster of 74

The final two characters added to the base game have finally been announced: Ken, an echo fighter of Ryu, and Incineroar, a professional wrestling-themed fire-type Pokemon. Ken’s moveset changes ever so slightly from Ryu with things like faster movement and attacks that are more kick-based. Meanwhile, Incineroar is the latest unique Pokemon to join the roster, but unlike the other Pokemon, Incineroar has a move set based around wrestling moves like lariats and suplexes.

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Spirits are going to completely change the game

Spirits are a brand new addition for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and they already look like a game-changer. Spirits are supporting characters that come from various other games and give bonus powers and power-ups to your Smash fighter. You can select a Spirit, and it will give you a specific type of upgrade to help make your character more powerful or augment them in some way. Each different variety of Spirits counters another type of spirit, giving Smash a new out-of-game chess match for players to compete in.

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The online modes are getting an overhaul, including a new app

Rather than the For Fun and For Glory modes that existed in Super Smash Bros. Wii U, Nintendo announced that Ultimate will include one matchmaking system where players can choose their rules and get matched with players who are looking for a similar experience. But for the more competitive players, the Global Smash Power system will act as a ranking system for every player who plays online, and if you’re ranked highly enough, it will unlock a special Elite mode.

The game’s online features will also be tied to a special, stand-alone Nintendo Switch Online app called Smash World. This will act as a place for players to upload and store videos and clips of their favorite matches, almost like a social media service for Smash highlights.

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Paid DLC is going to add more fighters and stages after launch

Along with the 74 fighters playable at launch, Smash Ultimate will also get a few more characters as downloadable content through 2020, starting in 2019. The first of these characters is Piranha Plant, who will be free to download a few months after launch for anyone that pre-orders the game a few months. After that, characters will be sold as bundles with one fighter, one new stage and several music tracks, all for $5.99. There will also be a special Smash Pass that costs $24.99 and give players five characters. No new information has been given on which characters these might be, but they will surely be announced sometime after the game launches on Dec. 7.

The World of Light story mode looks amazing

There’s quite a bit going on in the trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s story mode, World of Light. A mysterious beam of light appears to be capturing characters and imprisoning them in an alternate world, where evil clones of them are being created. While the mode looks like it will eventually involved the entire roster helping to save the day, the only fighter we see survive the beam of light in the video is Kirby, and the mode appears to start with his as our lone hero. It’s exactly the adventure Kirby deserves.

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