Super Smash Bros. 4

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Super Smash Bros. 4 (tentative title)
Logos for the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game.
Developer(s)	Namco Bandai Sora Ltd.
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Masahiro Sakurai
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Two games in the Super Smash Bros. series, currently collectively referred to as Super Smash Bros. 4 or SSB4 and individually referred to as Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, are currently in development for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS by Namco Bandai and Sora Ltd.

When originally announced in passing at E3 2011, the game's development was slated to begin sometime after October 2011, once development on Kid Icarus: Uprising had completed. In February 2012, it was then confirmed that development on the fourth game had begun. The game was unmentioned during E3 2012, something which many fans were disappointed about despite the known extremely early state of the game; the "first step of the process" was taken shortly after in mid-June. Sakurai has expressed disappointment that fans will be waiting for longer than expected for the game to be released due to the earliness of the initial announcement. Shortly afterward, it was revealed during a Nintendo Direct that Namco Bandai was the primary developer alongside Sora Ltd., and had already completed a working prototype.

The paired versions of the game were officially revealed at E3 2013 in the form of a trailer.

Pre-trailer information

Sakurai has stated, in response to a fan asking him about whether a "child Link" would appear in the game, that he has not currently decided on who would appear in the game. However, he has also said 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."

Sakurai has revealed that one feature of the 3DS Smash Bros. title will be that players can improve their character through battles and rewards, then transfer them to the Wii U Smash title to play against friends. He said the 3DS title is intended to offer a new experience for veteran Smash Bros. fans, and that neither the 3DS game nor the Wii U game would simply be sequels like Melee and Brawl were, and that they'd do more than just add characters and stages. It has also been revealed that they are looking towards co-operative play for the Wii U title. Official Nintendo Magazine said "there is merit in having skilled and unskilled players play together, so one emphasis will be on elements of players helping one-another". They also stated that the graphics would be significantly stepped up, as the Wii U can handle high quality graphics, dynamic effects and smooth character movements in HD at 60 frames per second. Sakurai is also quoted as claiming that the new game is unlikely to emphasize new playable characters, focusing instead on gameplay balance and distinctiveness of its characters.

The whiteboard drawing posted by Sakurai.

On July 2nd, 2012, Sakurai posted a whiteboard drawing on Twitter which was drawn by the game's staff. It depicts Donkey Kong, Fox, a Heart Container, Kirby, Link, Luigi, Mario, Marth, Meta Knight, Mr. Game & Watch, a Mr. Saturn, Pikachu, a Pikmin, Pit, Sandbag, Wario, and Zero Suit Samus; some argue that the curved lines in the background form the shape of Master Hand. While it came with no explicit confirmation of any of these characters or elements as reappearing, it does show they are in some sense acknowledged by the staff working on the game. The sketch also has what appears to be large block letters hidden below the visible area.

Confirmed content

The trailer shown at the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct confirmed the return of Mario, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, and Pit. Additionally, it confirmed two newcomers: Villager, from the Animal Crossing series, and Mega Man, a new third-party character from Capcom's eponymous Mega Man series. Wii Fit Trainer was confirmed as a playable character later the same day.

The Wii U and 3DS versions of the game were shown to have distinct art styles from one another in that the 3DS version uses flatter shading and black outlines to make characters easier to see at a distance. It is also known that several if not most stages will be version-specific, with the Wii U version's stages being based on console games, while the 3DS version's stages being based on handheld games. Any futher version differences are currently unknown, as is what connectivity between them might be possible.

An in-progress list of stages seen in trailers and screenshots can be found here.

Other apparent changes

• Many characters have different movement and attack animations when facing either direction, so they face the screen more often. Depending on exact animation details, this may mean that some attacks may behave slightly differently when they interact with each other from different directions.
• Damage percentage numbers are no longer a solid colour, instead appearing as a metallic gradient.
• Attacks' visual effects are in general more pronounced, with bright saturated blurs replacing the previous game's subtle ones.