During the anticipated Nintendo Direct stream first announced during this years EVO 2018, Nintendo went above and beyond showcasing all of the new content Super Smash Bros. Ultimate provides. With more than 900 compositions (28 hours worth of music) 103 stages and now 71 characters five newcomers) announced today, the amount of content in the game is sometimes hard to grasp.

Multiple new game modes, a dedicated training mode (with technical hit-stun and launch indicators), new items, assist trophies, the ability to play two stages at once, the ability to turn stage hazards off -- this really is the ultimate Super Smash Bros. game.


The newcomers

The stream started with the incredible lore confirmation that Luigi is, in fact, dead. After stumbling around Dracula's castle terrified, he confronts death itself and is promptly murdered.

After confronting the reality that Luigi's death is now, per lore, a part of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Belmonts come rushing through to save the day, revealing their inclusion in Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was an exciting reveal as the classic Castlevania score coupled with iconic Belmont fighting styles filled the stream.

The next big reveal is Chrom and Dark Samus -- two echo fighters that were hotly requested by the community. While they will play similar to their source character (Marth and Samus) the differences will be enough to make competitive players and casuals alike appreciate their inclusion as two separate characters.

Tons of new information

From there, the stream went through an exhaustive list of new features that Smash fans love to hear about. New stages, new modes, the ability to use your Switch as a portable SSBU soundtrack listening device and a mysterious game mode that was purposefully hidden from view when the games main screen was shown.

But, by far, the most exciting moment was the announcement of King K. Rool, the iconic villain from the Donkey Kong series. After a humorous cutscene that faked out King K.Rool's reveal (Donkey and Diddy Kong were tricked by King Dedede dressed up as King K. Rool, Nintendo unleashed the double fake by actually revealing the character. 

As expected, the stream chat blew up in a series of hype and shock, as King K.Rool, despite being among the most requested character to ever join the franchise, always had compelling arguments against his inclusion.

Nintendo doesn't care about those arguments however, just as they didn't care about Ridley being too big or the implications of returning every single Super Smash Bros. character. Hats off to Nintendo -- they really are blowing away everyone's expectations about Smash Bros. Ultimate.