Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's final Nintendo Direct just premiered, and Twitter is flooded with memes.

Nintendo/YouTube

Nintendo just closed out Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final trailer by killing everyone

Players have questions.

Photo of Ana Valens 

Ana Valens

Internet Culture

Posted on Nov 1, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 2:42 am CDT

The release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is just over a month away, and the game’s final Nintendo Direct just premiered. In case you missed it, Nintendo packed in 40 minutes worth of information about the game—including a segment where everyone dies except for Kirby. (Congrats, Kirby?)

Nintendo’s Direct also unveiled Ultimate’s final two newcomers: Ken from Street Fighter and the Pokémon Incineroar. The game will feature 74 fighters in total, but more fighters will come in paid DLC sets for $5.99 each. Alternatively, players can purchase a fighter pass for $24.99 to access five fighter sets.

To sweeten the deal, Nintendo also unveiled the game’s first post-launch character: Super Mario’s Piranha Plant. He’s free for every player that picks up the game before Jan. 31, and fans can expect him to arrive “a couple of months” after the game launches.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1057996464234881024

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1058004352663764992

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also introduces Spirits, a new buff system which lets players equip iconic characters that provide special abilities to their fighter. There are four different Spirit classes in total, and players can assign both a primary Spirit and support Spirits.

To win Spirits, players engage in Spirit Battles against a fighter with an attached Spirit. These range from Dr. Mario dressed like Metal Gear Solid’s Hal Emmerich to a Pikachu with a Mimikyu Spirit.

It didn’t take long for the memes to begin. Players loved the new characters and Spirits.

https://twitter.com/NanamisEgg/status/1058004997252804608

https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1058008873720860673

https://twitter.com/Slayers_Goku/status/1058004872598052864

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1058005081218605057

Others were taken aback by certain introductions.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1058003484342214657

Players quickly realized that the so-called “Grinch” character roster rumor wasn’t true and bemoaned the fact on Twitter. For those unfamiliar, the alleged leak claimed Shadow the Hedgehog, Banjo-Kazooie, and Super Mario RPG’s Geno would be revealed as fighters, among others. Fans believed the leak was accurate because of an elaborate hoax geared around a Snapchat photo-alongside, a never-before-seen promotional image for The Grinch.

https://twitter.com/9_volt_/status/1057723005504241667

https://twitter.com/riningear/status/1057996700248350720

https://twitter.com/GrandpaDiedLW/status/1058008357640884225

Last but not least, there was the incredibly dramatic ending to the Direct, showing off the game’s single-player mode, World of Light. In the trailer, everyone’s Spirits are separated from their bodies by an enormous cosmic force, and only Kirby remains.

Fans had some questions afterward.

https://twitter.com/HDKirin/status/1058005633553727490

https://twitter.com/yohosiefgc/status/1058007159454162944

READ MORE

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available for pre-order for Nintendo Switch. Players that register their game with My Nintendo before Jan. 31 receive Piranha Plant for free.

Share this article
*First Published: Nov 1, 2018, 11:23 am CDT

Ana Valens

Ana Valens is a reporter specializing in online queer communities, marginalized identities, and adult content creation. She is a former Daily Dot staff writer. Her work has appeared at Vice, Vox, Truthout, Bitch Media, Kill Screen, Rolling Stone, and the Toast. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and spends her free time developing queer adult games.

Ana Valens