Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu fō Nintendō Surī Dī Esu / Wī Yū) is an upcoming fighting video game being developed by Sora Ltd. and Namco Bandai Games and published by Nintendo as the fourth title in the Super Smash Bros. series of games, in which characters from various Nintendo franchises fight against each other. The game was first announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011. As the title suggests, the game is being developed for both the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U consoles for a planned release in 2014.^[1]

Like previous games in the series, Super Smash Bros. is a competitive fighting game in which up to four players from various Nintendo games fight against each other. Players use a variety of attacks to damage their opponent, increasing their damage percentage which makes them easier to knock out of the playing field. Smash Balls, first introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, make a return, allowing whoever obtains them to perform extremely powerful attacks. Trophies also were confirmed to be returning. The game is presented in high-definition visuals on Wii U and black-outlining on the Nintendo 3DS. Both versions of this new installment will contain the same amount of playable characters, but feature exclusive stages.^[3] The Nintendo 3DS version will include more stages and unlockable trophies based on settings seen in Nintendo's handheld video games, while the Wii U version will have more stages and trophies designed after those in home console releases.

Several assist trophies, a returning feature from Brawl, have been revealed on Nintendo's social network, Miiverse, including Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask^[4] and a French Bulldog from Nintendogs.^[5]

As of February 13, 2014, 23 different playable characters, from different Nintendo and third-party franchises, have been confirmed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Along with various veteran characters from previous installments, including the return of third-party character Sonic the Hedgehog, five all new characters have been announced so far: Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Rosalina, and Little Mac.

Notes

  The character has not appeared as a playable character in a previous Super Smash Bros. game and is new to the series.

† Both male and female variants of the character appear in the game, but it is currently unknown if the male variant is playable.

Lead developer Masahiro Sakurai has stated development on the game had not begun at the time of its announcement, and began after the completion of Sakurai's other project, Kid Icarus: Uprising, in March 2012.^[30][31] The game is a joint-project between Sora Ltd. and Namco Bandai with Yoshito Higuchi, as director.^[2][32] For the 3DS version, Sakurai wants it to be more of an "individual" and "customizable" experience where, hypothetically, the player could take a customized character and upload it to the Wii U version.^[33][34]

Sakurai commented on the possibility of including a Capcom character in this iteration of the series, saying that "[he] can't say that it's entirely out of the realm of possibility that some Capcom character could appear in the next Smash Bros. The big problem, though, comes from the idea of trying to get characters from a completely different universe to fit with the style that has been dictated by Nintendo's characters in a fighting game."^[35] The balance of the characters' powers were previously only measured by Sakurai, but he will involve his staff more in this game to make sure the characters are competitively balanced.^[36]

In February 2012, Sakurai commented that, in his brainstorming for the future title, he had been looking over the information on the Smash Bros. Dojo (the official Smash Bros. website) and reflecting on the past game's development.^[37] He later commented that the game will "change directions", and emphasized connectivity between systems again.^[38] By June 2012, Sakurai reported that the game's development was in its first steps, and that he intends to bring back old Nintendo characters for it.^[39] In August 2012, Sakurai stated that while the addition of third-party characters appealed to fans and broadened the Smash Bros. audience, he recognized the need to narrow down their inclusion since introducing non-Nintendo characters "willy-nilly" would lose focus of the game. He also noted that the game system had been completed. Feeling that the series had found its target audience and introducing gimmicks would hinder rather than help the brand, Sakurai explained that he was thinking of ways to introduce a new, different experience, while retaining the frantic gameplay from previous installments.^[40]

In January 2013, Nintendo confirmed that the first screenshots of the game would be shown at E3 2013 on June 11 to June 13,^[41] and Sakurai confirmed that a trailer would be shown at the respective Nintendo Direct on June 11.^[42] The game was fully revealed in a Nintendo Direct on June 11, 2013, which showcased gameplay footage for both versions of the game, as well as revealing Animal Crossing's Villager and Capcom's Mega Man as playable characters.^[43] The Wii Fit Trainer was later shown to be another playable character on the convention floor.^[27] It was stated that Namco Bandai characters get no priority, even though the publisher is supporting the game.^[44]

In an interview with IGN, Sakurai stated that they had removed the tripping mechanic introduced in the previous title and that there are no plans for including downloadable content in the near future. He also commented that the gameplay was between the fast-paced and competitive style of Melee and the slower and more casual style of Brawl.^[45]

When Joystiq asked what level of interaction the two versions of the game would feature, Sakurai said that there would be no cross-platform play between the Wii U and 3DS since each version will have different stages.^[46] Despite this, Sakurai said that character customizations could be transferred from one version to the other.^[46] Sakurai did not provide details on how customization would work, although he did say that it would not be different costumes or features acquired through repetitive completion of in-game tasks.^[46] Sakurai has also stated that the main single-player campaign will not feature cutscenes akin to the Subspace Emissary mode in Brawl, as he felt the experience of viewing such scenes for the first time was ruined by people uploading said scenes to video sharing sites. He has instead chosen to focus on promotional character introduction videos for each of the brand new fighters that benefit from internet sharing.^[47][48] To promote the game, Sakurai has been posting daily screenshots of the game to both the official website and Miiverse each weekday.^[49]

• Official website