Smash Bros. fan uncovers what Ultimate’s ‘mysterious mode’ is called

Last week’s Nintendo Direct presentation dumped a ton of news about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, including the reveal of new fighters Simon Belmont and Richter from Castlevania, King K. Rool from Donkey Kong Country, Chrom from Fire Emblem and Dark Samus from Metroid. It also included a tease of content to come: a “mysterious mode” that’s apparently important enough to be included in the Switch game’s main menu.

Thanks to some digital reconstruction by a Smash fan on Twitter, we might know what that mode is called: “Spirits.”

Shortly after the Nintendo Direct ended, Twitter user “l’attardé” pieced together the pixelated portion of the menu screen, which game director Masahiro Sakurai said he “can’t talk about ... just yet.” In both English and Japanese, the green menu portion of the screen appears to read “Spirits.”

Speculation about what the Spirits mode might be centers on what Nintendo and Sakurai have shown to date, namely that Luigi’s spirit is sliced out of his body by Castlevania’s version of Death. And since Mario and Mega Man appear to have been straight-up murdered by Ridley in a previous trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans are wondering how the spirits of these characters might come into play in a possible single-player mode, a la Adventure Mode and Subspace Emissary from previous Smash Bros. games.

Last week’s Nintendo Direct also hinted at the appearance of Castlevania’s Dracula in Ultimate, with Sakurai saying that the conditions under which he’ll appear are still under wraps.

Since Sakurai said he plans to reveal much more about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, including its full roster, prior to the release of the game on Dec. 7, we’ll know more soon.