A huge Nintendo franchise is coming to the Nintendo Switch this year: 'Super Smash Bros.'

Ben Gilbert

Mar 9, 2018, 04:48 IST

Nintendo

A teaser for "Super Smash Bros." was shown during a Nintendo Direct video presentation on Thursday evening.

One of Nintendo's most popular franchises, "Super Smash Bros.", is headed to the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo says the game will arrive in 2018 - it's likely to be a major holiday game, but there's no scheduled release date.
A handful of characters are clearly shown in the tease, including Mario, Link, Bowser, and Pikachu.

Nintendo has got another huge game coming to its hit Nintendo Switch game console: "Super Smash Bros."

A video showing two characters from the "Splatoon" franchise teased the game in a live YouTube presentation on Thursday evening. The two characters are chasing each other when, suddenly, the world goes dark. A massive burning symbol appears: The symbol of the long-running "Super Smash Bros." franchise, which goes all the way back to the Nintendo 64 in the late 1990s.

Nintendo

The symbol is seen in the reflection of one of the characters from "Splatoon."

Nintendo is revealing next to no information about the game thus far. It's not clear if this is an entirely new game, or an updated version of the game from Nintendo's last console (the Wii U).

If you've never played a "Smash Bros." game, think of it like a fighting game version of "Mario Kart." Nintendo's large cast of famous faces - from Mario to Donkey Kong to Pikachu to Princess Peach - take each other down in a simplified fighting game format. Rather than taking players on one at a time, "Smash Bros." distinguishes itself by throwing anywhere from two to eight players into a match at any given time. It's a chaotic, silly, surprisingly deep fighting game series with a serious following.

Here's a look at the last game in the series, "Super Smash Bros. Wii U":

Nintendo

Characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man are actually owned by Sega and Capcom (respectively). One of the best things about the "Smash Bros." franchise is that it has amazing guest characters.

It's clear from the brief teaser shown on Thursday night that the fighting game series will see returning favorites like Mario and Link (from the "Super Mario" and "Legend of Zelda" franchises). The silhouettes of many other Nintendo characters can be seen in the distance, and it's clear that Bowser and Pikachu will also make return appearances.

Can you pick out the rest?