Let me set the scene. While I was driving home today from what was an utterly soul destroying day of work, to an apartment with no power, I realized I wouldn’t make it home before the Nintendo Direct started. So I pulled into Taco Bell and grabbed a Doritos Locos Fiery Taco, some chips and cheese, and parked across the street in the Target parking lot. Just as I found a spot nestled next to a snow bank that was higher than the building itself, the Direct started.
Towards the end of the Splatoon portion and Yoshiaki Koizumi teasing that there was one more announcement– my heart pumped vigorously and my mind wandered to about a dozen different games that it could be. Super Smash Bros. was one of them– but I wasn’t dead set on it.
Cue the two inklings engaging in a one-on-one duel. At first, noticing that they were clearly modeled after their original Splatoon models and not their current Splatoon 2 models I thought, “Hmm, maybe they are porting Splatoon to the 3DS.” Then, the screen faded to black. That’s when I knew. The slow turn, the fire in her eyes. Smash was about to be teased.
As soon as the flames flickered and the logo became clear, I roared. Anyone who was in a car near me or driving by would’ve seen a bearded man glued to his phone, completely remiss of any chagrin being associated with his bellowing, while a smile shot across his face and his body parts flailed. I love Super Smash Bros. It’s a series that is deep rooted in my gaming history, involving my friends and my brothers. Whenever a new game in this series is revealed, it’s a monumental moment in my gaming life.
But enough about me, and onto what we know.
So far all we know is that the Inklings will make their first appearance in the series outside of being a collectable trophy or sticker in-game. We can clearly see that Link is the model from Breath of the Wild. There’s also a brief moment where you can see the silhouette of some other characters who are presumably more fighters in the roster. If you look closely you can make out some of the characters but this is only the beginning.
Surprisingly, the teaser also shares with us a 2018 release. We’ve debated Smash coming to Switch many times on the Pass The Controller Podcast and my opinion usually tends to lean on Nintendo porting Smash from the Wii U and carrying over all of the other content that was exclusive to the 3DS version, and making a Smash 4 Deluxe. They’ve already done this multiple times with Wii U games coming to the Switch– Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokken Tournament DX— and we will be seeing more Wii U ports such as Captain Toad Treasure Tracker that was announced today in the Direct.
Knowing that the development cycle for the Smash games is a long strenuous process– Sakurai tortures himself over the development of this series– I wasn’t expecting them to just abandon the Smash 4 community especially because Smash 4 is widely viewed as a balanced and polished game– sans the Bayonetta argument. But everything about this tease makes me think that we are in fact getting Smash 5 and not a remixed version of Smash 4. Like I said with Nintendo having no shame in porting over Wii U titles already, there would’ve been no reason for them to shy away from the fact that it was a complete edition of 4. Yet, the end of the teaser simply had the eponymous title of Super Smash Bros.
Regardless of what this actually ends up being, I cannot wait to learn more and pickup my copy. If Nintendo can keep this a 2018 release, the second year of the Nintendo Switch library is shaping up to be just as bountiful as it’s launch year.
Watch the teaser below:
Pass The Controller 