The Nintendo Switch was a bonafide hit basically right out of the gate. With the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at launch and Super Mario Odyssey not long after, many of Nintendo’s tentpole titles were quickly showing up on their hot new handheld hybrid. It was only a matter of time until we received another iteration of Super Smash Bros., which would be shown off at E3 just several months later.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate promised us the impossible: everyone is here. Yes, even Snake. No veteran fighter was to be left behind, and we got a slew of new fighters as well, mostly ones that fans had been clamoring after for decades such as King K. Rool and Ridley. Not long after, we were also promised DLC on top of all of that– Piranha Plant as a stand-alone DLC character (or you could get them for free by registering your digital/physical purchase), plus five additional mystery slots that could be purchased separately or all together as part of a ‘Fighters Pass’ package deal.
It was hard to believe that we would get even more, but fans quickly had their favorite picks in mind, and so began the endless speculation which devolved into an exhaustive web of lies and deceit. Halfway through a second wave of Fighters Pass characters, I found myself losing excitement and just wanting the roster to be complete already, at the cost of potential extra additions that could have come in the form of a third wave. But would that have been too much?
All aboard the hype train
Make no mistake: I was there for every single fighter announcement. I remember watching the reveal trailer for Banjo-Kazooie while hiding in the bathroom at work and being completely in shock that it had finally happened– the bear and bird had come home to roost.
There really is nothing else quite like a Super Smash Bros. character announcement, and many have tried to ape their style: Mortal Kombat, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and even Smash Remix, which is a fanmade update to the original N64 Super Smash Bros., and attempts to convey the same level of hype with new character reveals. It really goes to show the level of impact that this series has on the entire medium at large.
Series creator Masahiro “Never Ask Me For Anything Again” Sakurai (he never said that by the way) had become the spokesperson for the franchise more publicly with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. He had been documenting updates to the games ever since the original iteration on Nintendo 64, but exclusively to a Japanese reader base on his online blog.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl had the first big “character reveal trailer” as we know it with Snake. Sakurai then began updating his new blog, the Smash Bros. DOJO!!, but this time to a global audience. With 3DS and Wii U, however, he himself would accompany announcement trailers with a little bit of personal flair and background information.
Once Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was out in the wild and the first Fighters Pass had begun, Sakurai would have an additional presentation — Mr. Sakurai Presents — after each character announcement. He would show off a gameplay demo of the fighter, and share some personal thoughts on the process, such as the inspiration for their appearance, their movesets, and sometimes the difficulties of even acquiring the rights to get them into the game. It’s likely what inspired him to make his own YouTube channel if I had to guess. It really fed into the hype of things, and let people feel like they were almost a part of the process themselves. I’m sure Sakurai himself knew this, but it could only go on for so long.
Lies and deceit
It goes without saying that when the internet gets excited about a highly anticipated media property, leaks will happen. And the truth of the matter is, many of them are completely false. There was typically a several-month wait between character reveals for the Fighters Pass, and truthfully I had never seen anything like it before or since then: the level of falsehoods, fake character models, and blurry screenshots shared to image boards and social media to endlessly be pored over and speculated upon. What a waste of time, right? …Well, it was a little fun, I’ll admit.
Wondering “gosh, who could be next” after each trailer was something my friends and I would discuss each time. And when a new character would get added to the game, we were excited to try them out together. However, being involved in or even adjacent to online circles which attempted to really dig in and try to find out who could be next was exhausting and exciting at the same time, though more exhausting than exciting over time. It was fun to wonder if a leak could be real, but those in the know may look back and cringe at the Rayman hoax or the infamous… “Grinch Leak”. Ugh.
Speculation to a degree is fun, but the amount of time people spent on crafting fake news stories about video game characters who bounce around and say “wahoo!” is just baffling to me. It’s not the game’s fault that this happened, but it is a byproduct of the age we live in and the current state of modern “fandoms”.
Winding down
The second wave of Fighters Pass characters felt like an extra bonus I didn’t exactly need, but would happily take. Fighters Pass 1 was truly a dream roster, and while I may not be as much of a hater of the Fire Emblem characters in the game, ending on Byleth (from Fire Emblem: Three Houses) was a bit of a letdown if I’m being truly honest. Hearing that we would get six entirely new characters after that definitely softened the blow, and my excitement was renewed.
Once the second wave of Fighters Pass characters had come and gone, however, and we finally got the Sora reveal trailer, it truly felt like the end of an era. An appropriate destination at the end of a wild and crazy ride. Obtaining the rights to Sora was likely the hardest of the bunch given Kingdom Hearts’ ties to Disney, and it felt like we could finally close the book on this game and play it “fully completed”.
Looking back on all of it, I’m sure some fans have their own thoughts and critiques. Were there too many third-party characters? Were they all worth the price of admission? Was Steve from Minecraft truly a good fit? Should Geno have got in?
Personally, I have to say I couldn’t have been more pleased with it, though I’m sure I could maybe think of a few extra characters I’d like to have seen if I really thought about it hard, but there aren’t really any glaring omissions. Master Chief and Tingle would have been cool in a third wave of DLC, and maybe some oddball choices from way back in Nintendo’s first-party gaming catalog, but sometimes it’s best to just get out when you’re at the top.
Let us know whether you would’ve liked to have seen a third wave of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC in our poll below and in the comments too, of course.
The Nintendo Switch was a bonafide hit basically right out of the gate. With the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at launch and Super Mario Odyssey not long after, many of Nintendo’s tentpole titles were quickly showing up on their hot new handheld hybrid. It was only a matter of time until we received another iteration of Super Smash Bros., which would be shown off at E3 just several months later.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate promised us the impossible: everyone is here. Yes, even Snake. No veteran fighter was to be left behind, and we got a slew of new fighters as well, mostly ones that fans had been clamoring after for decades such as King K. Rool and Ridley. Not long after, we were also promised DLC on top of all of that– Piranha Plant as a stand-alone DLC character (or you could get them for free by registering your digital/physical purchase), plus five additional mystery slots that could be purchased separately or all together as part of a ‘Fighters Pass’ package deal.
It was hard to believe that we would get even more, but fans quickly had their favorite picks in mind, and so began the endless speculation which devolved into an exhaustive web of lies and deceit. Halfway through a second wave of Fighters Pass characters, I found myself losing excitement and just wanting the roster to be complete already, at the cost of potential extra additions that could have come in the form of a third wave. But would that have been too much?
All aboard the hype train
Make no mistake: I was there for every single fighter announcement. I remember watching the reveal trailer for Banjo-Kazooie while hiding in the bathroom at work and being completely in shock that it had finally happened– the bear and bird had come home to roost.
There really is nothing else quite like a Super Smash Bros. character announcement, and many have tried to ape their style: Mortal Kombat, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and even Smash Remix, which is a fanmade update to the original N64 Super Smash Bros., and attempts to convey the same level of hype with new character reveals. It really goes to show the level of impact that this series has on the entire medium at large.
Series creator Masahiro “Never Ask Me For Anything Again” Sakurai (he never said that by the way) had become the spokesperson for the franchise more publicly with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. He had been documenting updates to the games ever since the original iteration on Nintendo 64, but exclusively to a Japanese reader base on his online blog.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl had the first big “character reveal trailer” as we know it with Snake. Sakurai then began updating his new blog, the Smash Bros. DOJO!!, but this time to a global audience. With 3DS and Wii U, however, he himself would accompany announcement trailers with a little bit of personal flair and background information.
Once Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was out in the wild and the first Fighters Pass had begun, Sakurai would have an additional presentation — Mr. Sakurai Presents — after each character announcement. He would show off a gameplay demo of the fighter, and share some personal thoughts on the process, such as the inspiration for their appearance, their movesets, and sometimes the difficulties of even acquiring the rights to get them into the game. It’s likely what inspired him to make his own YouTube channel if I had to guess. It really fed into the hype of things, and let people feel like they were almost a part of the process themselves. I’m sure Sakurai himself knew this, but it could only go on for so long.
Lies and deceit
It goes without saying that when the internet gets excited about a highly anticipated media property, leaks will happen. And the truth of the matter is, many of them are completely false. There was typically a several-month wait between character reveals for the Fighters Pass, and truthfully I had never seen anything like it before or since then: the level of falsehoods, fake character models, and blurry screenshots shared to image boards and social media to endlessly be pored over and speculated upon. What a waste of time, right? …Well, it was a little fun, I’ll admit.
Wondering “gosh, who could be next” after each trailer was something my friends and I would discuss each time. And when a new character would get added to the game, we were excited to try them out together. However, being involved in or even adjacent to online circles which attempted to really dig in and try to find out who could be next was exhausting and exciting at the same time, though more exhausting than exciting over time. It was fun to wonder if a leak could be real, but those in the know may look back and cringe at the Rayman hoax or the infamous… “Grinch Leak”. Ugh.
Speculation to a degree is fun, but the amount of time people spent on crafting fake news stories about video game characters who bounce around and say “wahoo!” is just baffling to me. It’s not the game’s fault that this happened, but it is a byproduct of the age we live in and the current state of modern “fandoms”.
Winding down
The second wave of Fighters Pass characters felt like an extra bonus I didn’t exactly need, but would happily take. Fighters Pass 1 was truly a dream roster, and while I may not be as much of a hater of the Fire Emblem characters in the game, ending on Byleth (from Fire Emblem: Three Houses) was a bit of a letdown if I’m being truly honest. Hearing that we would get six entirely new characters after that definitely softened the blow, and my excitement was renewed.
Once the second wave of Fighters Pass characters had come and gone, however, and we finally got the Sora reveal trailer, it truly felt like the end of an era. An appropriate destination at the end of a wild and crazy ride. Obtaining the rights to Sora was likely the hardest of the bunch given Kingdom Hearts’ ties to Disney, and it felt like we could finally close the book on this game and play it “fully completed”.
Looking back on all of it, I’m sure some fans have their own thoughts and critiques. Were there too many third-party characters? Were they all worth the price of admission? Was Steve from Minecraft truly a good fit? Should Geno have got in?
Personally, I have to say I couldn’t have been more pleased with it, though I’m sure I could maybe think of a few extra characters I’d like to have seen if I really thought about it hard, but there aren’t really any glaring omissions. Master Chief and Tingle would have been cool in a third wave of DLC, and maybe some oddball choices from way back in Nintendo’s first-party gaming catalog, but sometimes it’s best to just get out when you’re at the top.
Let us know whether you would’ve liked to have seen a third wave of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC in our poll below and in the comments too, of course.
