The Super Smash Bros. focused Nintendo Direct has just finished, revealing a wealth of new information! Let’s just get something out of the way though – the one thing people will probably care about the most: the new characters. A few new challengers were confirmed during tonight’s Nintendo Direct – the majority of them are connected to previous characters in the franchise, but there is one rather nice surprise as well.
In previous Super Smash Bros. games, a number of characters could change their “form” during battle under certain conditions. Some fans weren’t happy with this though, as they preferred playing as one over the other. Those fans will be happy to know that Nintendo and Namco Bandai have taken note of this with tonight’s confirmed new characters:
Zero Suit Samus is now her own character, instead of Samus’ suit breaking when she activates her Final Smash like in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the previous game, she wasn’t really that powerful but Sakurai and the rest of the development team have been working on changing that. The first change is the addition of Jet Boots that give her kicks that are both speedy and powerful.
Zelda’s alter-ego Sheik from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is no longer just a transformation for the character, but like Zero Suit Samus, is her own character. Sheik has two new moves: Burst Grenades and Bouncing Fish – the latter being an acrobatic kick.
As our favourite green dinosaur wasn’t announced as returning when Yoshi’s New Island was revealed, this left a lot of fans worried about his inclusion in this latest instalment in the Smash Bros. series. Worry not though, as Sakurai explained that the reason behind the delay in his announcement was because his look has been completely updated to look less like a dinosaur and more like he has in recent games. This has allowed the creative team to make Yoshi a lot stronger than he has been in the past.
Although he was previously a part of the “Pokémon Trainer” character from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but everyone’s favourite dragon has broken free and is now his own character. Charizard was also shown to have the ability to Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X.
Greninja, the final evolved form of Pokémon XY starter Froakie was also a surprise reveal at the end of the presentation! Greninja is a very speedy character, utilising techniques such as Water Shuriken to attack from a distance and Substitute to narrowly avoid enemy attacks.
Several previously confirmed characters have also received major updates to their move-pools, which will be covered in a separate article to come shortly! Remember, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is due out this summer, with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U following this winter.
