Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now out, and while the game undeniably seems to take upon the (extremely solid) base of the Wii U game, it builds on it. A lot. In fact, one of the easiest ways to see just how much additional work was put into Ultimate over For Wii U is to compare the visuals of both, side by side, and see just how much added technical and artistic detail there is in the former relative to the latter.

A brand new video by YouTube user ElAnalistaDeBits does just that. It takes stages and characters that are common across both games (which is most of them), and plays them side by side, and you can see just how massive the differences are between the two games. The lighting and textures in Ultimate seem to be a generation apart compared to For Wii U.

That said, on the resolution and framerate front, at least, both games are evenly matched—Smash 4 ran at 1080p and 60fps, as does Smash Ultimate, albeit Ultimate does look far better while doing so.

You can check out the video below. If you haven’t picked up Ultimate already, you might want to do so now—all the cool kids, it seems, are doing it.

The Switch isn’t that much more powerful than the Wii U- but you wouldn’t know that by just how much of a facelift the stages in the game have gotten compared to the superlative Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which launched on Nintendo’s troubled console four years ago, and served as a base for this new game.

YouTube channel GameXplain has posted a new video, highlighting how the stages that Ultimate shares with the Wii U game have received substantial graphical facelifts- in a lot of cases, these improvements are minor and subtle (though clear enough that you know right away Ultimate looks better). However, in some cases, the enhancements and improvements are staggering. Director Masahiro Sakurai really knows how to get the most out of each hardware he works on (remember how great Super Smash Bros. and Kid Icarus Uprising looked on the 3DS?), and Ultimate looks like it will be no different.

You can check out the video for yourself below. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out on Nintendo Switch on December 7.

To celebrate the Evolution Championship Series (aka EVO) 2018, a special weekend has been announced for some very big fighting games on Steam. Six games are available to play for free until August 6th, 10 AM PST, while also being discounted until the same time for those who wish to purchase them permanently instead.

The games in question include Capcom’s Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice 2 and Bandai Namco’s Tekken 7. Arc System Works’ Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Guilty Gear Xrd – Revelator – are also free. Given that BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a fairly recent release and critically acclaimed, this is your chance to try the game out and see if it’s for you.

Purchasing any of the above games in question will see save progress transfer over as well. EVO 2018 starts today and ends on August 5th. Though exhibition matches will be held for the upcoming Soulcalibur 6 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, pools for games like Injustice 2, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are the main attraction. The finals, taking place on August 5th, will include these games as well.

The world’s premier competitive fighting game tournament is almost here, and for the first time in years, it looks like Street Fighter 5 has been dethroned from its top spot of having the most number of registrations. Instead, this year, the most popular game at the tournament seems to be Arc Systems Works and Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball FighterZ, which has 2,530 fighters registered for the event.

Street Fighter 5 still took second place, with 2,421 registrations, while Tekken 7 saw year on year growth, with 1,504 entrants. Super Smash Bros. fell dramatically this year- presumably because of dwindling interest in Melee, and because the Smash Wii U scene is getting ready to move on to Smash Ultimate, which comes out later this year. Smash Wii U had 1,303 registrants, while Melee almost matched it with 1,302 registrants. They were trailed by BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Guilty Gear Xrd, and Injustice 2, which had 1,148, 621, and 356 registrations respectively.

Given how spectacular Dragon Ball FighterZ is to look at, and just how much fun it is to watch matches in it, it’s no surprise that it seems to have led the pack on registrations this year. Will things change next year, especially with a new Smash game, which presumably consolidates the audiences for Melee and Wii U? That remains to be seen. For now, Dragon Ball is king.

https://twitter.com/MrWiz/status/1020203089670782976

It seems like DragonBall FighterZ is winning big at EVO this year so far, at least in terms of the number of registrants. According to Mr. Wizard, it currently has more entries than any other fighting game being featured at the tournament, beating even Capcom’s Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, which, if you remember, just got its relaunch this year.

Street Fighter 5 is, however, in second place, while Tekken 7 comes in at a surprising third place. Smash Bros. Melee and Smash Bros. 4 round out the top five respectively. It is to be noted that as of right now, entries are still open, so things might just end up shifting around a bit- but even so, DragonBall FighterZ strong showing indicates that interest in it is strong from not just the mainstream community, but also the competitive fighting one.

EVO 2018 will be held later this year- it will be interesting to see whether FighterZ is able to maintain this level of popularity going into next year.

https://twitter.com/MrWiz/status/973659377117798400

All eyes are on Street Fighter 5, Capcom’s latest entry in their long running flagship fighting game franchise, which seems to be breaking all sorts of records at EVO, the world’s premier fighting game tournament- but Nintendo’s mega crossover fighter, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, is doing pretty damn good for itself too.

EVO today announced that this year’s tournament for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U at EVO is the single largest Smash tournament that EVO has ever hosted- and considering just how big some Smash showings at EVO have been, that is a truly mind boggling statistic.

The best part is, this isn’t even the entirety of the Smash community represented- there is a thriving community that is still playing the venerable 2001 Gamecube exclusive Super Smash Bros. Melee, with more than a thousand players still signing up for the Melee tournament too.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is available exclusively on the Wii U. A handheld counterpart developed for the Nintendo 3DS is also available.

Evo has just broken yet another record! Super Smash Bros. for WiiU is officially the biggest smash tournament ever! https://t.co/4kBRLyj2OC

— Evo (@Evo) May 31, 2016

EVO 2015 is almost here- the world’s premier fighting game tournament, and also one of the showcases for eSports, has record participation this year, across a full range of games, covering everything from anime based fighters like Guilty Gear and Persona, western fighters like Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct, technical and exacting ones like Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom, and Nintendo’s Smash Bros., of course.

If you were planning on following this event at all, in any capacity, then you are in luck- EVO has gone ahead and released the full schedule for the tournament for this year, which you can see above by clicking on the image. The last two days appear to be especially exciting, with Smash 4, Melee, Street Figter, and Guilty Gear finals all being held in that period.

Which games are you planning on following at EVO this year? Personally, I’m excited for Persona and the two Smash games. What about you? Let us know in the comments.

It should not come as a surprise to anybody, but the games with the most entrants at the world’s biggest and most prestigious fighting game tournament, EVO, also happen to be the two most popular fighting games on the market. The numbers are in, and it appears that Ultra Street Fighter IV and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are the two most popular games at EVO this year, in terms of numbers of participants.

The third game is Super Smash Bros. Melee, which, in an incredible feat for a fourteen year old game, saw its total participation rise, while also beating many, much newer, constantly updated games. Collectively, it appears as though Smash Bros. is the biggest attraction at EVO this year (though of course, Street Fighter remains the largest individual one).

The full numbers are:

• Ultra Street Fighter IV – 2,227
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 1,926
• Super Smash Bros. Melee – 1,869
• Mortal Kombat X – 1,162
• Guilty Gear Xrd – 968
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – 816
• Tekken 7 – 458
• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax – 437
• Killer Instinct – 397

Personally, this is a good lineup, and I am glad to see that all of these games got so much love. And I cannot wait to see some higher level play for the sublime Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information on EVO 2015.

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.

As Nintendo’s crossover fighter, Super Smash Fighter, grows from just being a celebration of Nintendo, and to a celebration of gaming at large, the possibilities of further inclusions into the Smash roster grow more and more. Being on the roster of Super Smash Bros. is always a big deal- hence, so many third parties voicing interest in having their characters included in Smash via DLC. And with Nintendo themselves opening the doors to third party characters, the possibilities are now literally infinite.

Which makes this datamine of the files included in Smash Bros. via a recent update so interesting- it appears Nintendo themselves are expanding the roster via first and third party characters. The datamines have revealed files that indicate that Fire Emblem’s Roy and Street Fighter’s Ryu may both be added to the game some time soon, via DLC.

That would certainly be worth seeing- Roy would be the third retired veteran being added back into Smash after Mewtwo and Lucas (Roy was originally in Super Smash Bros. Melee). Ryu on the other hand would be the first instance of a character from a conventional fighting game series being translated to Smash Bros. mechanics.

Will this happen? Nintendo has been very opening about adding more characters into the series, so it’s not totally out of question. We’ll keep you posted.