Nintendo announced Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final DLC fighter will be shown off by director Masahiro Sakurai in a video stream on October 5, capping off months of speculation and bringing years of roster expansion to an end.
The final Mr. Masahiro Sakurai Presents will go live at 10:00 a.m. ET that day and include the usual demonstration of how the new playable character works. Once live, the fighter will be the 82nd to be added to the game, and round out the sixth and final slot in the Fighter Pass Vol. 2 DLC that began with Arms’ Min Min a year ago. They’ll likely arrive alongside other extras as part of Challenger Pack 11, cementing Ultimate’s legacy as one of the most ambitious crossovers ever.
It was a shock when Nintendo announced back before Ultimate’s release that the game would include every fighter previously seen in the series in addition to newcomers. But that was nothing compared to some of the surprises that were added through DLC in the years since it launched. Banjo & Kazooie, Sephiroth, Persona 5‘s Joker, and Minecraft’s Steve and Alex were just a few of the characters from far-flung series that can now beat the shit out of each other thanks to Smash Bros.
While Sakurai has repeatedly stated that this is the game’s last new character, his role in the future of the series is more up in the air. Sakurai has had a long and storied history of overworking himself on Smash Bros. and has even toyed with the thought of retiring, at least from the series if not from game development in general.
A fun party game that also happens to have a thriving competitive scene, Smash Bros. Ultimate became far and away the most popular game in the two-decade old franchise with over 20 million copies sold. It’s currently the third best-selling game on Switch, just behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. So while we’ll probably get a new Smash Bros. someday, I’m sure Nintendo’s in no rush.
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