Man, if you thought Metal Gear fans were crazy, you haven’t ever come across Super Smash Bros. fans, who will literally break down a single pixel from every possible angle to try and analyze what hidden meanings may be masked within it.

On the heels of the most recent purported leak for the game, which apparently tipped the existence of no fewer than seven unannounced characters for the massive crossover fighter, we now have Smash fans obsessively trying to analyze another source to infer the existence of an unannounced character—except this time, the source in question is Nintendo themselves.

Nintendo and US fast food chain Wendy’s are currently doing a Smash College Tour promotional cross country gig, and a new video posted by Nintendo for this has apparently shown off an item corresponding to a character not yet announced for the game. The time stamp for this is 0:27, when Ness and Captain Falcon are fighting—in the right corner, you can see a new item which doesn’t seem to fit with any existing, known items.

Fans have concluded, in their infinite insanity, that this item is Growth, the Synergy Spell from the Golden Sun series. Going from there, they have made the jump that this can only mean that Isaac from that series will be in the game (never mind the fact that many franchises get items or stages in Smash without getting a character in it). Given that Isaac was one of the characters leaked in the other leak previously mentioned, this has led to a sort of… feeding frenzy among them.

Maybe this is real. Or maybe this is just confirmation bias, and people seeing what they want to see. I’ll let you decide that. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches for Nintendo Switch on December 7.

https://twitter.com/nintendoamerica/status/1055519359622410241?s=21

One of the biggest reveals for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate today was that Snake, from the Metal Gear Solid series, will be returning to the franchise’s roster after a ten year absence. Snake was originally in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but he did not return in 2014’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.

So- this new game. It comes out after The Phantom Pain launched, and featured iconic voice actor, who had voiced Snake in all incarnations until then, including in Brawl, with Keifer Sutherland. So who will be playing Snake this time around?

There’s good news here for Snake fans who were dissatisfied with Sutherland’s performance in The Phantom Pain– it will be David Hayter reprising his role as Snake in the new Smash Bros. game. Nintendo confirmed this in an interview with Game Informer, and Hayter himself confirmed that on Twitter shortly afterwards.

I guess he kept fans waiting, huh? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches December 4 this year, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo will be broadcasting a new stream for Super Smash Bros. this Sunday, at 7.40am PT/9.40am CT/10.40am ET. The new broadcast will feature series director Masahiro Sakurai discussing new content due for the fighter after this Sunday.

The timing is especially co-incidental- this Sunday is when the Lucas DLC and Miiverse stage debut for Super Smash Bros. As of right now, they both mark the end of announced post release content for the title, but Nintendo has expressed a desire to continue expanding the new Smash Bros. game with DLC and updates in the future, even going so far as to set up a Smash ballot. Moreover, datamines from the 3DS version have managed to unearth evidence which suggests that Fire Emblem’s Roy (who first featured in Smash Bros. back in Melee on Gamecube), and Street Fighter’s Ryu, will both be headed to the title at some point in the future. This stream may be where both of those announcements are made.

Whatever the new announcements are, we will keep you posted. Stay tuned. Super Smash Bros. is currently available on Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The second, and currently last, announced DLC pack for Nintendo’s hit racer Mario Kart 8, is now available to download. The new DLC pack, which was originally announced for May, was confirmed to be hitting early on the April 1 Nintendo Direct, and includes eight brand new tracks, three brand new characters, and four new vehicles.

Like the first DLC pack, which was The Legend of Zelda themed, the new one, too, is themed after a specific Nintendo franchise- in this case, the new DLC pack is themed on Animal Crossing. Two of the three new characters are from the Animal Crossing games, and the headlining track is also an Animal Crossing track.

However, also like the first DLC pack, this new one also features some crossover with other Nintendo franchises. F-Zero makes another appearance in Mario Kart, as the series’ iconic Big Blue track is among the eight new tracks being made available for players. Other tracks include lots of classic courses from previous games in the franchise, including Baby Park from Double Dash, which has often been called the best Mario Kart track of all time.

The Mario Kart 8 DLC can be purchased either for $7.99, or as part of the DLC bundle for $11.99. The latter option gives you access to sixteen new courses, six new characters, and eight new vehicles, so it is an absolute steal.

A free update for the game has also gone live alongside the DLC, and it adds a brand new racing mode to your game- 200cc, which includes racing through all courses at some ridiculous speeds. 200cc racing can be dangerous without a vehicle with good handling, and a driver with good judgment about braking.

Mario Kart 8’s new update and DLC aren’t the only major updates to Nintendo games that were made available today, however- if you own Super Smash Bros. on either 3DS or Wii U, you can now purchase Mewtwo as a DLC character. Mewtwo has already been available to players who own both, the 3DS and the Wii U versions of the game, and for free; now others are also free to join the party.

For more information on Nintendo, stay tuned to GamingBolt.

The Wii U’s Gamecube adapter, which Nintendo released specifically to allow players to use the Gamecube controller with the Wii U to control Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, has been a bit of a mess in North America, as far as retail availability goes. The adapter, which retailed for a price of just $20 initially (and was also part of a $100 bundle with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U), was sold out early at launch (naturally), and… it never came back in stock.

Prices continued to inflate at a startling rate online, as the scarcity of supply for the peripheral became more and more apparent, but it appears that the situation may finally be remedied… somewhat.

Gamestop has confirmed that it has the Gamecube adapter bundle back in stock… but only the bundle. What does this mean? This means that while, yes, it is theoretically possible for you to finally get your hands on the Gamecube controller adapter, you also need to buy a copy of Super Smash Bros. with it, as only the bundle is being made available.

Yikes. At least you can sell the copy to cover the costs, I guess?

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, like the Codex conversations in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, Paletuna’s Guidance sees some inane and humorous chatter between Paletuna and Pit about what is going on on screen, especially taking digs and jabs at each of the characters fighting. It adds a lot of flavor and character to the game, and now, it might have also hinted at incoming DLC characters to the game, in spite of director Sakurai’s insistence that there won’t be any post game DLC.

The exact exchange that highlights the new fighter says:

Pit: Who is that?
Palutena: I have no data on this fighter. I can’t believe it.
Viridi: It must be an intruder from another dimension.
Pit: Whoever it is, the goal remains the same. To fight and win.

Of course, this could be referring to just Mewtwo, who has already been confirmed for inclusion in the game, for players who bought both, the 3DS and the Wii U versions earlier this year, but at the same time, it also seems to, by its ambiguity, open up the possibility for future DLC characters and maybe even modes.

That would be great.

Nintendo is all set to launch Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on November 21, but the review embargo for the game actually ended earlier today, prompting a flurry of reviews and opinion pieces as everyone tried to get their own word in on Nintendo and Sakurai’s newest magnum opus. And the consensus?

It is overwhelmingly positive, with the game receiving universal acclaim for the sheer amount of content it packs (seriously, it’s ridiculous), for its gameplay (finally being considered to have topped the legendary Super Smash Bros. Melee), for the trips down nostalgia lanes that it provides with its selection of Nintendo and third party franchises, and for its technical accomplishments, which include stunning 1080p/60FPS graphics, eight players simultaneously on one console, and a soundtrack to remember.

Critics can’t stop gushing about it- speaking in his own ‘The Jimquisition’ series, Jim Sterling said, “A beautifully polished, impeccably tight game. While I’d have liked more 3DS integration, and the much-touted Amiibo inclusion isn’t anything to go crazy over, the game remains an absolutely stellar fighting game that I’m finding very difficult to tear myself away from,” awarding the game a 9.5/10.

Game Revolution gave it a perfect score, claiming that, “Smash is fun. That’s one of the most boring words to use in a video game review, I know, but I can’t sum it up any other way. Nintendo’s developers made it an obvious objective and they’ve unequivocally hit the motherload. You’ll feel like you did too, so make sure you’re tossing opponents off-stage to explore it all.”

Digital Chumps said, “Some thirteen years after Melee’s release, Nintendo has finally formulated an experience which compares appreciably to the masterpiece that we all love (and many of us still play). Whether for fun or for glory, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the follow-up Smash fans have been anticipating since.” In spite of this, the game narrowly avoided getting a perfect score. Gamespot, who still have their review in progress, were equally positive, when they came out and said, “This is it. This is Smash Bros.”

Currently, the game sits at a 94 on Metacritic, and is one of the highest reviewed title of the year, across any platform. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage of the title, including our own review, which we should have up for you shortly after its launch.

The release of the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. is well behind us, and the Wii U version rapidly approaches- the ‘real’ Super Smash Bros. 4, so to speak. And to get us all prepped and hyped and amped and so on, Nintendo has announced an all new Nintendo Direct, where they will announce fifty things that are new to the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. Considering how massive the 3DS game was anyway, that sounds pretty damn awesome to me.

These new things could be anything- from the new game modes that have been teased and leaked, to new stages, Amiibo functionality (Amiibos launch with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U), and maybe even new characters (though Sakurai was adamant that the Wii U and 3DS games would have the same roster).

We’ll see what it is, but we know it’s gonna be good. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for the lowdown.

When Sakurai focused on the 3DS edition of the new Super Smash Bros. game, and unveiled a multitude of new, exclusive game modes for it, he did promise that exclusive modes would also be present in the Wii U game, but would be talked about at a later date. Now, with the release of the 3DS game safely behind all of us, he seems to be doing just that, as in a post on the Miiverse, he posted a cryptic picture that may be showing us two new, Wii U exclusive game modes for Super Smash Bros… without telling us anything more about them.

You can see the picture above (it was accompanied with just a cryptic, “Now, what mode is this…?!”); you can clearly see that at least part of both the mode names is blurred out, leaving us just with ‘Master’ and ‘Crazy’ who have traditionally been the bosses of Super Smash Bros. games. The picture also seems to indicate that these modes will be single player.

We don’t know much more about them, but we should soon. Hang on, and stay tuned.

Both the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. are set to release in 2014. Stay tuned for more details from Nintendo Direct.