First things first: What is "Super Smash Bros."?
"Super Smash Bros." is a fighting game series from Nintendo that features the company's most iconic characters like Mario, Link, and Donkey Kong.
The first entry in the series debuted in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, and every Nintendo game console since has gotten a major "Smash Bros." entry. It's become a standard of Nintendo's gaming portfolio, alongside nostalgia-laced hits like "Mario Kart."
Rather than focusing on complex, expertly executed fighting moves, the "Smash Bros." series uses one control template across a massive list of characters — if you learn how to fight as one, you're able to control all of them.
Each character has different sets of moves that correspond to their gaming personas. Mario shoots fireballs, Link wields the Master Sword, Samus shoots balls of energy, etc.
The game has a devoted, hardcore following — but it's also a delightfully accessible game for the most casual of game players.
The next entry in the "Smash Bros." franchise is headed to the Nintendo Switch — but is it an entirely new game?
In Nintendo's press release announcing the new "Super Smash Bros." game, the language is extremely careful: "The Super Smash Bros. series comes to Nintendo Switch in 2018."
Whether the game is an entirely new entry in the series is unknown — the Nintendo Switch has a handful of major games that are updated re-releases of games that already came out on the Nintendo Wii U, the failed console Nintendo replaced with the Switch.
Last year's incredible "Mario Kart" game on the Switch, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," for instance? It was similarly incredible when it came out three years earlier on the Wii U.
It's entirely possible that Nintendo could do the same thing with "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U," the excellent "Smash Bros." game that launched on the Wii U in 2014. Considering how few people owned Nintendo's last console, re-releasing major Wii U games on the Switch makes a lot of sense — most Switch owners haven't played the games being re-released.
That said, the last major "Super Smash Bros." game also launched on the Nintendo 3DS — the outrageously popular handheld game console. And plenty of people played it there (just shy of 10 million copies were sold, according to Nintendo's own numbers) — about half that number got the game on Wii U.
Nintendo hasn't clarified whether "Super Smash Bros." on the Switch is an entirely new game or not, and a rep declined to comment.
We know of four characters so far, and we've got some strong guesses for the others.
In the teaser that revealed "Super Smash Bros." as coming to the Nintendo Switch, a handful of characters are shown.
Nintendo is direct about four of them: Mario, Link, and two inklings from "Splatoon" (in the foreground).
The rest are shown only as silhouettes in the shadow of a massive, burning "Super Smash Bros." logo. But we're talking about Nintendo characters here — it's pretty easy to pick out the shape of, say, Bowser from a silhouette.
So, starting from the left, here are the shapes we're able to pick out with certainty: Pit (from "Kid Icarus"), Donkey Kong, Kirby, Marth (from "Fire Emblem"), Mario, Link, Samus (from "Metroid"), Bowser, and Pikachu. Additionally, the two inklings from "Splatoon" are likely new characters.
There are also a handful of shapes that aren't sharp enough to say with certainty who they represent. Our best guesses put those shapes as Ness and Lucas (from "Earthbound"), Captain Falcon or Ganon (from "F-Zero" and "The Legend of Zelda," respectively), Little Mac (from "Punch-Out!!"), Princess Zelda, and Jigglypuff.
"Super Smash Bros." on the Switch doesn't have an official name just yet.
In the press release announcing the new "Super Smash Bros." game, it's listed as, "Nintendo Switch Super Smash Bros. (working title)."
We're gonna go wild here and guess that the final name of the game won't be, "Nintendo Switch Super Smash Bros." It wouldn't be totally off base considering that the last entries in the series were named, "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros for 3DS" — but it would still be pretty clunky.
The name is only important here in one major way: If the game is actually "Super Smash Bros. Deluxe" — along the lines of "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" — it indicates that it's an update to a previous "Smash Bros." game rather than something entirely new.
Nintendo says "Super Smash Bros." on Switch will arrive in 2018 — that's this year!
In 2017, the Nintendo Switch launched with a major "Legend of Zelda" game. A month later, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" launched. That holiday, "Super Mario Odyssey" arrived.
In 2018, Nintendo's got another strong line-up of games — from major new "Kirby" and "Yoshi" games to a mess of third-party titles. And if the new "Super Smash Bros." lands within the planned 2018 launch window, it'll likely be the biggest Nintendo game of the year.
Nintendo isn't saying when the game is expected to arrive this year, but we'd guess it lands around the holiday season.
