Super Smash Bros. Coming To Red Hot Nintendo Switch Console In 2018

Nintendo of America kicked up a frenzy of excitement on Twitter after announcing plans to bring Super Smash Bros. to its Switch console. While that was probably an inevitable eventuality, it is nice to finally have confirmation. The pairing of Super Smash Bros. with the Switch is essentially a marriage of two powerhouse products, with the wedding between the two set for sometime this year.
Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo's most popular game franchises. The original version came out nearly a decade ago for the Nintendo 64, first in Japan and then later globally. It featured eight iconic characters at the start, including Donkey Kong, Fox, Kirby, Link, Mario, Pikachu, Samus, and Yoshi, plus four others that gamers could unlock, including Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Luigi, and Ness.

There have been several more iterations and additional characters thrown into the mix since then, with releases on a variety of platforms. The latest versions include Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, both released several years ago. Super Smash Bros. for the Switch will be the sixth installment in the franchise, and potentially the most popular, given the success of the Switch console.


To drum up excitement (as if it needs any), Nintendo released a teaser video featuring Inklings from Splatoon. While splatting up the landscape, the scene goes dark as the Inkling girl turns her head to stare at something up above. The camera zooms in on her eyeball and you see a reflection of the Super Smash Bros. logo, a Smash Ball, in flames. Silhouettes of Mario and Link are also shown.

It's not clear yet exactly what characters will be included in the upcoming version, other than at least a couple of Inklings, Mario, and Link. Nintendo also has not given the new Super Smash Bros. an official name yet.

While this was by far the biggest announcement, Nintendo also revealed a single player expansion for Splatoon 2, along with a handful of other titles, such as Dark Souls Remastered and Mario Tennis Aces. On top of it all, South Park: The Fractured But Whole is headed to the Switch as well, if you can wrap your head around that one.

The Switch has been a cash cow for Nintendo. Strong sales of the hybrid console helped push the company's profit in its most recent quarter by 261 percent year-over-year. For its fiscal 2018 period, Nintendo said it expects to sell 20 million Switch units. Releasing Super Smash Bros. for the Switch should help bolster sales even further. In addition, Nintendo is going after casual gamers and makers alike with the release of Nintendo Labo, which is a new interactive experience centered around molding cardboard kits into playable accessories.