Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, My Thoughts

Heh heh, it seems that over the last week, various fighting games have had put out trailers for me to comment on. First, it was Tekken. Next it was Street Fighter. And now, another iconic fighting series has put out something special, and this one is my favorite series: Super Smash Bros. The latest game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is on the way. We've already got a Nintendo Direct announcing the game, but now they put out a new Direct with some special surprises. Let's take a look! Warning: This is about a half-hour long. So keep that in mind before you play it.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Cool boots, bro.

Yeah, I don't think you're in the mansion anymore, Luigi.

OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED LUIGI! YOU B******S!

Flail to the face!

OH YEAH! SIMON BELMONT HAS FINALLY COME TO SMASH! Castlevania was one of the only major NES franchises that never got to get any representation in the Smash series, so it's so AWESOME to see Simon here! And it does make sense. Simon Belmont was the protagonist of the first NES Castlevania game. I think his appearance here is supposed to be a nod to Super Castlevania IV, the first game in the Castlevania series for the Super Nintendo.

You all have no idea how awesome this is. I have played a couple Castlevanias. I do enjoy them, despite their being ridiculously hard.

And we got Richter, too! Richter Belmont is Simon's descendant, and he's from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, which was originally released in Japan for the TurboGrafx-16 (called the PC Engine in Japan) in 1993. It was remade for the Super Nintendo for the West in 1995 as Castlevania: Dracula X. The original TurboGrafx-16 version is often considered the superior version. I'm guessing that Richter will be Simon's Echo Fighter.

Poor Luigi. Be glad you're a male there, pal. If you were a woman, Carmilla will never leave you alone.

Hi, Mr. Sakurai! Hope you're doing okay.

I can imagine that they'll make up for Simon not being fast by making sure he and his whip can hit hard. And he looks like a tank. He can take a hit. I hope. And his Final Smash is cool.

And with a new fighter comes a new stage. Dracula's Castle. I imagine the vampire of the house must get annoyed about the Smashers brawling in his home. "Hey! All of you! Get out of my house! And don't set that on fire! That's an antique!" And hitting candlesticks to get items is a nice touch. Just like in the source games. I also love the monsters plaguing the stage idea. They want you out of Dracula's home before you break all his candlesticks.

Why is Carmilla crying like that? Did they catch her peeping on the female fighters again?

And 34 tracks! This stage will have 34 music tracks! The team must've really wanted to go big for finally getting to use Castlevania in Smash. Thank you Konami!

Dracula is fed up of all these people coming into his house and beating each other up in it. They also end up wrecking the place, and the castle is already a money-sucking pit. Drac doesn't need the extra stress on his bank account.

And speaking of Dracula, his son Alucard from Symphony of the Night will be an assist trophy! Awesome! I was hoping that Trevor's companions from Dracula's Curse will be assist trophies as well, but I can work with this.

Two new Echo Fighters, huh? Alright!

The first is Chrom, from Fire Emblem Awakening. Based on his usage of Aether, I'm assuming he's an Echo of Ike.

The second is Dark Samus, who first appeared as the titular villain of Metroid Prime. I love her look in this game. Sleek, simple, and intimidating. She's not here to save the day. She's here to bring the pain.

Switching between having the Echo Fighters displayed separately and having them "stacked" with their counterparts? That seems a bit...needless to me. I'd just have them displayed separately.

Hey, lots of old stages returning, huh? I would love to see the Mushroom Kingdom stage from Melee come back. I never was fond of the Brawl version that made it into a desert. And man, those old stages look great.

With Super Mario Odyssey, it makes sense there'd be a stage based on that game. And Paulina performs live for you! Hope she doesn't accidentally get knocked around.

103 STAGES! SAKURAI, YOU AND YOUR TEAM ARE CRAZY! I can imagine being able to turn stage hazards off would be handy for tournaments. And the morphing stage bit would make for some fun unpredictability.

800 MUSIC TRACKS?! SAKURAI, YOU AND YOUR TEAM ARE INSANE! Listen to them on the go, make your own playlists. Ha ha, that is cool!

Hey, I like being able to create my own custom rulesets. If I get to play with friends, I can set it up much faster. Very convenient.

Sudden Death is going to cause some heart attacks.

Gotta be quick on the draw with the Final Smash meter!

5-on-5 battles make me think of Survivor Series.

Heh heh, Smashdown. Gotta get gud with multiple fighters to win here!

Banana Gun! Two items in one! Shoot an opponent, then leave a trap. The Killing Edge is one weapon you should pray YOU get, and not your opponent. Bombers seem like less frightening Bob-Ombs. Does Death know these fighters have uh, borrowed his scythe? Oh, I can imagine the Ramblin' Evil Mushroom causing much frustration. The Rage Blaster is a funny-looking weapon. I like the idea of it doing more damage in the hands of a fighter that has more heavy damage. Desperation, and all that.

Oh, God. We're going to get fanart of Bayonetta pole-dancing on the Alolan Exeggutor, aren't we? Heh heh, the big palm tree is just so happy to be here. I always hated Abra in the original Pokémon games, but he'll be my best friend here. It makes sense for Solgaleo and Lunala to be here, as Sun and Moon/UltraSun and Ultra/Moon are the latest main series Pokémon games. And they're bringing the pain. And do NOT mess with Mimikyu. Hi, Pyukumuku! And Vulpx bringing the heat, while its Alolan counterpart brings the cold. Marshadow hits hard. I can respect that. And Ditto would be great to fake out your opponents for a second I wonder if any of the previous helper Pokémon will return.

Assist Trophy time! How ya doin', Zero? Must be nice having the break from fighting Mavericks. And Knuckles will knock you out, without chuckling. And Krystal is here, too! Fox and the gang will be happy to see her here! And I'm going to hate the Klaptrap. Getting chomped on like that must hurt. Kapp'n is going to give you a ride...to PAINVILLE. And Chef Kawasaki is going to cook up some destruction. I expected Raiden, but Grey Fox is cool, too. Nikki is the most hilarious assist so far. And yay, Shovel Knight! I love that game! Shovel Knight in this game makes me happy. Oh, look. Here comes the Moon from Majora's Mask OHMYGODIT'SCOMINGDOWNRIGHTONTOPOFOURHEADS! And Ashley from the WarioWare series is here, too. Her theme song is catchy. I'm hoping we see some old Assist Trophies return, too.

A special guest, huh? Who could it be?

Rathalos from Monster Hunter?! Okay, at this point, I think game companies are just calling Nintendo and basically saying, "Hey Nintendo! Can you put this character from our game in Smash, please?" That's what I think. And why is Rathalos both a boss and assist trophy? LOOK AT HIM. You want to tell THAT he can't be a boss and Assist Trophy?

Sakurai has one last surprise for us.

Oh Dedede, you troll. And those facial expressions will be memes, if they are not already.

KING K.ROOL IS HERE, BABY. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY REPRESENT!

Heh heh, old pirate outfit. I'm betting his big belly will be used a lot in his fighting.

I'm think he's going to eat Pikachu, Ness, and the Inkling girl later.

Was that his Final Smash?

Oh man, this Direct was incredible! New characters, new features, they are really going all out with this one! Sakurai and his team are passionate as anything, and it really shows. I said once that Super Smash Brothers has evolved from a simple Nintendo fighting game to a tribute to video games in general. You really get that vibe for this game. I want this game! I want this game so bad! I am so excited for it!

Main menu looks nice.