Nintendo Direct

Nintendo Directs are a series of online video presentations made by Nintendo at irregular intervals to demonstrate and announce new games. Alongside other games, announcements about Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have been made at Nintendo Direct presentations. There are some directs that were completely Smash-oriented, which are listed below.

Standard Nintendo Directs
Below is a list of announcements or mentionings of Smash Bros. in directs pertaining to other Nintendo-related subjects.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U

 * The June 21, 2012 presentation revealed that Bandai Namco would be a head developer for Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, though no gameplay footage was shown.
 * The E3 Direct on June 11, 2013 revealed the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which also demonstrated the addition of . Immediately after the main trailer, debuted in a separate video. 's reveal trailer was also later shown on the same day at Nintendo's E3 booth.
 * The August 7th, 2013 presentation confirmed as a playable character for the new titles, as part of . While every other character that has been revealed in a Nintendo Direct had a reveal trailer or video footage showing them off in Smash 4, Luigi's reveal was only through accompanying screenshots.
 * The October 1st, 2013 presentation confirmed 's return as a playable character, showing off gameplay footage of him.
 * The December 18th, 2013 presentation confirmed as a newcomer, showing her reveal trailer, in addition to indirectly confirming the return of the Fire Flower, Green Shell, and Poké Ball through Rosalina's trailer.
 * The February 13th, 2014 presentation confirmed as a newcomer, showing his reveal trailer.
 * The E3 Direct on June 10, 2014 revealed s and in addition to amiibo. 's reveal trailer was also shown later that day at Nintendo's Smash Bros. Roundtable.
 * The August 29th, 2014 presentation, which was only presented in Japan, confirmed as a newcomer, who had been leaked shortly prior.
 * The November 5th, 2014 presentation showed the trailer for, meaning that all newcomer trailers had been shown at that point.
 * The April 1st, 2015 presentation showed a trailer for the DLC character, as well as announcing as a second DLC fighter, and the addition of new  costumes. It also introduced a ballot on the official website for users to vote for new DLC fighters. More amiibo waves from the Smash Bros. series were planned to release in the future, including Mewtwo and Lucas.
 * On May 7th, 2015, a Splatoon Direct aired, showcasing all of the game's main features and modes. Towards the end of the Direct, it was revealed that the Inklings would have costumes in the game for the Mii Gunner as downloadable content.
 * The November 12th, 2015 presentation showed a reveal trailer for, as well as an announcement for a special broadcast coming in December.
 * The April 12th, 2017 presentation revealed that the, , and amiibo would be available on July 21st, 2017. Each amiibo will come in two different poses, similar to the Famicom and NES editions of the  amiibo.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 * The March 8th, 2018 presentation ended with a reveal trailer for a new Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo Switch. It showed a girl and boy Inkling battling in a white arena (in a similar vein to the initial teaser trailer for Splatoon), which then became dark and revealed the Smash logo in the reflection of the girl Inkling's eye. The game was shown to be scheduled for release in 2018.
 * The E3 Direct on June 12, 2018 showcased the 25-minute segment for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, alongside its first trailer. All previously playable characters were confirmed to return. s, and  were confirmed to be playable newcomers. A wide range of new and reused elements was shown off for the game.
 * The September 13th, 2018 presentation revealed a Nintendo Switch bundle including a special Smash-themed dock, Smash-themed Joy-Con, and a download code for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for release on November 2nd, 2018. Towards the end of the Direct, was announced as a new playable fighter. That presentation was originally scheduled for September 6th, 2018, but an earthquake struck Hokkaido in Japan on that day. As a result of the aftermath, Nintendo then decided to delay that presentation by one week to September 13th, 2018, out of respect for the victims affected by the tremor. This marked one of a few times where a Nintendo Direct presentation and any news of Isabelle's inclusion were delayed for any given reason.
 * The February 13th, 2019 presentation revealed an update coming soon to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and parts of Joker’s in-game model.
 * The E3 Direct on June 11, 2019 revealed from  and  from  as the second and third playable characters as part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 1.
 * The September 4th, 2019 presentation revealed from SNK's  as the fourth and penultimate playable character in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 as well as confirming the development of more DLC fighters after the Pass, though its status as a second volume and the amount it would have were unrevealed.
 * Directly after the live showing of this Nintendo Direct was a presentation done by Sakurai showcasing Banjo & Kazooie's moveset, their accompanying stage and music, various new Mii Costumes (one of which came with a new song), and the return of Home-Run Contest.
 * The March 26th, 2020 Mini presentation revealed a character from as the first character from the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 would release in June 2020. The identity of the ARMS character was not revealed to be Min Min until June 22, 2020.
 * The February 17th, 2021 presentation revealed and  collectively as the fourth character from the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 and confirming a release of March 2021.
 * The E3 Direct on June 15, 2021 revealed from  as the fifth playable character from the Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
 * The September 23rd, 2021 presentation announced a Mr. Sakurai Presents to air on October 5th, in which from  was revealed as the last DLC character.
 * The September 14th, 2023 presentation revealed that the amiibo for would be available some time on 2024.

Developer Direct - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (June 11, 2013)
Released as a follow-up to the earlier June 11th, 2013 E3 Direct presentation, this video was Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai's first appearance in a Nintendo Direct. In it, Sakurai briefly summarized the aesthetics and design goals of both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4, then gave new details on several fighters that had been revealed that day. These included veterans and  as well as newcomers, , and. In conclusion, Sakurai announced the opening of the Director's Room Miiverse community, where he would provide daily updates about the games' development.

Video
Original Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvLiMHhW_5c

Stage announcements
Several -exclusive stages were seen for the first time during the showcase, but were not named or discussed.


 * Gerudo Valley
 * Spirit Train
 * Living Room
 * 3D Land

Trivia

 * The Capsule seen in this video has its elongated design from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and earlier games rather than the final, shortened design in Smash 4.
 * During the end of the video, when the known stages in the Wii U version are shown off, background music plays in all of them except Boxing Ring; at the time, had not been revealed, and the stage was not known to be a -themed stage, so this was likely done to avoid spoiling the stage's source and the unannounced character.

Super Smash Bros. Direct (April 8, 2014)


On April 8th, 2014, this special Nintendo Direct was fronted by Masahiro Sakurai and was completely focused on giving information about Super Smash Bros. 4, in addition to revealing new and returning elements. It was known as the Dairantou Smash Brothers Direct, "大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ Direct" in Japan, though this Nintendo Direct was referred to as Super Smash Bros. Direct in Japan as well.

Video
Original Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir98bJkma_4

Character announcements

 * and were each confirmed to return as completely solo characters, with it additionally being announced that characters will no longer be able to transform into another character mid-match. While not directly stated, this announcement disconfirmed the Pokémon Trainer returning as a playable character in the same design style he had in Brawl, since his fundamental concept was based around character switching.
 * was confirmed to return as a playable character, with his altered posture and movement being explicitly shown off.
 * After the Smash Direct finished, a reveal trailer was played, that showed off the Poké Ball Pokémon, revealed 's return as a solo playable character, and revealed as a newcomer.
 * Some differences to returning characters' movesets have been shown and explained, including Final Smashes.
 * Special moves were shown to be customizable to some extent; though the details had yet to be revealed, it was shown that it would go beyond just altering a move's damage and knockback output, with the function and properties of special moves being able to be completely changed. However, it was confirmed that, whilst they would be usable during local multiplayer and "With Friends" online play, they would be disallowed during "With Anyone" play.

Stage announcements
Several stages were revealed and/or showcased, including past stages from Brawl and Melee. It has also been revealed that the Wii U and 3DS versions will have different past stages. In addition, it was confirmed that some stages will have boss characters that appear and attack players during normal gameplay, that can be fought and defeated; when defeated, they will erupt in a massive explosion, that will harm all players except for the one who dealt the finishing blow. It was also shown that most stages will have a "Final Destination form", which turns the stage into a single large flat platform with no additional platforms while removing all stage hazards.

Multiplayer announcements
The Online mode was confirmed to be present in both versions. The other multiplayer announcements revealed were:


 * Two game modes for "With Anyone" were announced: a casual-geared mode similar to Basic Brawl called For Fun, and a competitive-geared mode called For Glory.
 * Players will no longer be anonymous on the "With Anyone" modes, with their Nintendo Network ID being fully visible.
 * Players can now be reported for frequently disconnecting during matches and for griefing, which can result in the offending players getting banned from playing on the Wi-Fi modes. Players who abuse the report system to falsely report others can get penalized as well.
 * A ranking system called Global Smash Power will be implemented. Unlike rankings in other games, it uses an inverse ranking system showing how many people the player has outranked, rather than just stating their place in a global ranking, and it will be influenced by the player's single-player mode scores.
 * The 3DS-exclusive Smash Run multiplayer mode was revealed, a mode that has players compete against each other while collecting power-ups, in gameplay similar to The Subspace Emissary.

Item announcements

 * Several items were confirmed via a showcase, revealing previously unseen returning items, and revealing new items.
 * The returning items revealed were the Beam Sword and Smart Bomb. Other returning items revealed outside this item showcase during other parts of the Direct or in additional screenshots released to the press after the Nintendo Direct, were the Blast Box, Deku Nut, Franklin Badge, Freezie, Golden Hammer, Gooey Bomb,, Heart Container, Hothead, Lightning Bolt, Lip's Stick, Maxim Tomato, Mr. Saturn, Pitfall, Poison Mushroom, Sandbag, Screw Attack, Smoke Ball, Soccer Ball, Spring, Starman, Star Rod, Super Mushroom, Superspicy Curry, Team Healer, Timer, Unira, and Warp Star.
 * The new items revealed were the Back Shield, Bombchu, Fire Bar, POW Block, and Rocket Belt. Other new items revealed outside this item showcase during other parts of the Direct or in additional screenshots released to the press after the Nintendo Direct, were the Beehive, Boomerang, Drill, Killer Eye, Special Flag, Spiny Shell, and Super Leaf.
 * Assist Trophy characters were showcased, revealing previously unseen or confirming already seen returning Assist Trophies, and revealing new Assist Trophies.
 * The returning Assist Trophies revealed and confirmed were Andross, Devil, Dr. Wright, Knuckle Joe, Lyn, Saki Amamiya, and Samurai Goroh.
 * The new Assist Trophies revealed were Chain Chomp, Color TV-Game 15, Dark Samus, Elec Man, and Midna. It was additionally shown what Ashley, Isabelle, Mother Brain, and Skull Kid do when summoned.
 * Poké Ball Pokémon were showcased, revealing previously unseen Pokémon, as well as revealing new Pokémon. The Master Ball was also shown, which only contains rare and legendary Pokémon.
 * The returning Pokémon revealed were Bellossom, Deoxys, Electrode, Entei, Meowth, Metagross, and Staryu.
 * The new Pokémon revealed were Arceus, Eevee, Fennekin, Gogoat, Keldeo, Kyurem, Meloetta, Victini, and Xerneas (while Xerneas has been previously shown in a screenshot, this is the first time it was confirmed to be a Poké Ball Pokémon).
 * Some additional Pokémon that weren't part of this reveal appeared in other video of the Direct or in screenshots released to the press after the Direct. These Pokémon were Chespin, Darkrai, Goldeen, Latias, Lugia, Mew, Snorlax, and Spewpa, who appear as Poké Ball Pokémon as well.
 * In the beginning of Charizard's/Greninja's reveal trailer, many Pokémon can be briefly seen being spawned from a flurry of Poké Balls. Interestingly, most of the Pokémon are either Pokémon already confirmed to be Poké Ball Pokémon, or Pokémon that were Poké Ball Pokémon in the past games; it was later confirmed in a pic of the day that these Pokémon will have a role in Smash 4. The Pokémon shown here that weren't shown in the Direct or in any other screenshots, were Gardevoir, Giratina, Inkay, Kyogre, Oshawott, Togepi, Snivy, Suicune, Swirlix, and Zoroark.
 * Through the broadcast, some of the new Trophies were shown.

Trivia

 * As with most Brawl trailers, all gameplay seen in the Direct lacks voices for the playable characters (due to voice acting being one of the last parts of development). There are, however, two exceptions: the reveal of the Halberd stage, and the reveal of Yoshi, both of which use voice samples from Brawl.
 * Demonstration Wi-Fi battles are labeled as Tokyo vs. Kyoto, similar to the demonstration ones for Brawl.
 * Diddy Kong's and Lucario's pictures by their percentages in the Nintendo Direct use their Brawl portraits as placeholders.
 * The English broadcast was translated via a spoken voice-over, while other European-region broadcasts used original Japanese with subtitles.
 * Sakurai stated that Assist Trophies would "figure into All-Star mode" in some fashion. However, Assist Trophies ended up playing no role in the mode, and they do not even spawn as regular items within battles; in Japanese, Sakurai instead referred to the "all-star" cast as opposed to the mode itself.
 * When Waluigi was shown off, he was depicted as being a part of the series, despite never appearing in a single installment of said series. In the final game, he is a part of the  series.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza (October 23, 2014)
A Direct that revealed over fifty new elements included in, which aired on October 23rd, 2014 at 3 pm PDT. In the English version, it was narrated by, the English announcer of Super Smash Bros. 4. The Japanese version (, Great Fray Smash Brothers for Wii U: 50 Great Reasons) was narrated by, the voice actor for Chrom and Takamaru.

Character announcements

 * was officially announced towards the end of the Direct, with his trailer.
 * was shown multiple times throughout the Direct, despite not being officially announced yet.
 * was confirmed as a DLC character, free for owners of both versions of the game towards the end of the Direct, with a release date of Spring 2015.

Stage announcements
A number of stages were confirmed for the Wii U version, including an official name for the previously leaked minecart stage. It also confirmed "big stages", designed for eight-player battles, including Big Battlefield and the aforementioned stage, as well as a Miiverse stage set for release post-launch.

Here is a list of all the stages that were fully revealed:


 * Big Battlefield
 * Delfino Plaza
 * Luigi's Mansion
 * Woolly World
 * Jungle Hijinx
 * Kongo Jungle 64
 * 75m
 * Bridge of Eldin
 * Norfair
 * The Great Cave Offensive
 * Temple
 * Lylat Cruise
 * Pokémon Stadium 2
 * Port Town Aero Dive
 * Skyworld
 * Wrecking Crew
 * Wuhu Island
 * Miiverse
 * Wrecking Crew
 * Wuhu Island
 * Miiverse

Mode announcements
The mode Special Orders, which was previously teased by Sakurai on Miiverse, was officially announced. Additionally, the board game-like mode Smash Tour and Stage Builder, which were previously leaked by Amazon, were also confirmed, alongside Events, Special Smash, and other modes.

Trivia

 * In PAL territories, this Nintendo Direct was named ": 50 Must-See Things".
 * Additionally, the release date listed for was changed to "2013" - the year the game was first officially released in Europe.
 * Skyworld was erroneously labeled a stage. It actually hails from the  series; this was fixed in the Must-See Things version.
 * Mewtwo is erroneously called a "new fighter" upon its reveal as downloadable content.
 * Fact 53 was about the soundtrack album from Club Nintendo. In the Japanese version of the Direct, it was titled Special Sound Test (the subtitle of the album's Japanese version). This was mistranslated as Sound Test in the North American version of the Direct (the correct subtitle of the album's North American version would have been A Smashing Soundtrack). In the European version of the Direct, it was correctly titled Premium Sound Selection (the subtitle of the album's European version).
 * The Paint segment briefly showed an image of Kirby and Toon Link in their designs seen in a New Nintendo 3DS commercial released in Japan.
 * In both English versions of the Direct, Ridley's powered-up form is named Meta Ridley in Fact 11. This is actually a mistranslation, since this form is given a different name (, Black Ridley) in the Japanese version.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U - New Content Approaching (June 14, 2015)
On June 14th, 2015 at 7:40 am PDT, a Super Smash Bros. livestream was hosted by Masahiro Sakurai, confirming two new characters, four new stages, new amiibo, the 2nd Wave of costumes and the upcoming Tourney mode.

Video
Original Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ4QX-UIO-s

Stage announcements

 * Dream Land
 * Suzaku Castle
 * Hyrule Castle
 * Peach's Castle

Mii Fighter costume announcements

 * Isabelle
 * MegaMan.EXE
 * Akira
 * Jacky
 * Heihachi
 * Heihachi

Mode announcements

 * The release date for mode, was revealed to be in August 2015. However, it was released early on July 31st, 2015.

Trivia

 * Sakurai's claim that the music changing in Suzaku Castle was a series first is not entirely true, as the stage in Super Smash Bros., and the  and Mushroom Kingdom II stages in Super Smash Bros. Melee, also had distinct music that would play near the end of a time match. However, the music on Suzaku Castle also changes when one player is down to one stock in a stock battle, which is a first for the series.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U - Final Video Presentation (December 15, 2015)
On December 15th, 2015, at 2 PM PDT, the final Super Smash Bros. 4 presentation was hosted by Masahiro Sakurai. It provided information on the previously-announced character and Midgar stage, as well as numerous new features.

Video
Original Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bFyg4kaVE0

Characters

 * was announced to be released a few hours following the Nintendo Direct presentation.
 * from Fire Emblem Fates was confirmed to appear as DLC in February 2016.
 * was announced as the winner of Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot and was confirmed to appear as DLC in February 2016.

Stages

 * Midgar was announced to be released in a pack with Cloud after the Nintendo Direct presentation.
 * Umbra Clock Tower was announced to be released in a pack with Bayonetta in February 2016.

Music

 * Two Fire Emblem Fates songs (the original version of Lost In Thoughts All Alone, and a remix of said song) were confirmed to be added to Coliseum and Castle Siege when Corrin is purchased on the Wii U version.
 * Multiple songs from Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 of the Bayonetta series, in addition to two new remixes, will play on the Umbra Clock Tower stage.

Trophies

 * Alongside trophies for the new fighters, trophies for Bayonetta characters were confirmed to be added when Bayonetta is purchased, and Fire Emblem Fates characters were confirmed to be added when Corrin is purchased on the 3DS version.

amiibo

 * amiibo for DLC fighters and  were confirmed for release in March 2016 alongside Famicom-colored R.O.B. in North America. Production for, , and  amiibo was also confirmed to have started. Interestingly, despite R.O.B.'s NES colors being available in Japan, no mention was made to him in the Japanese direct.

Mii Fighter costumes

 * The previously-announced Chocobo hat was confirmed to be released alongside Cloud and Midgar, as well as a Geno costume.
 * Several costumes, including Tails, Knuckles, Ashley, and Takamaru were confirmed to be released in February 2016 alongside Corrin and Bayonetta.

Trivia

 * The Japanese Direct has an extra segment not seen in other languages showcasing the different languages Bayonetta speaks in depending on her costume.
 * In the original Japanese Direct, Sakurai states that Bayonetta's placement on the Fighter Ballot was among the top 5 "in North America" with the accompanying graphic also reading "North America". In all translated versions of the Direct, Sakurai (through voiceover or subtitles) continues to say "North America", but the graphic changes to "top 5 in the US".
 * In the English Direct, when talking about the Limit Break version of Blade Beam, the caption misspells, "stronger" as "stonger".

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct (August 8, 2018)
At EVO 2018, it was announced that a Nintendo Direct would air on August 8, 2018 with Masahiro Sakurai providing new information on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

New Stages

 * Dracula's Castle
 * New Donk City Hall

Item announcements

 * New items were showcased: Banana Gun, Killing Edge, Bomber, Death's Scythe, Staff, Ramblin' Evil Mushroom and Rage Blaster.
 * New Poké Ball Pokémon were showcased: Alolan Exeggutor, Abra, Solgaleo, Lunala, Mimikyu, Pyukumuku, Vulpix, Alolan Vulpix, Marshadow and Ditto.
 * New Assist Trophies were showcased: Alucard, Zero, Knuckles, Krystal, Klaptrap, Kapp'n, Chef Kawasaki, Nikki, Shovel Knight, Moon and Rathalos. Returning assist trophies revealed and confirmed were Gray Fox and Ashley.

Boss Announcements

 * Dracula
 * Rathalos, who will be acting as both a boss and an assist trophy.

Mode announcements

 * Squad Strike
 * Tourney
 * Smashdown
 * Stamina battles are now available through a standard rule option, allowing them to be combined with Time and Stock rules.

Rules announcements

 * Rulesets are selected first. Pressing the Y button will sort to the last used ruleset.
 * Stages are selected before fighters
 * Stage Morph
 * Final Smash Meter
 * Counterpicking

Trivia

 * In the Japanese Direct, Inkling is shown in a Tourney under the name Agent 3 using the corresponding yellow costume, while every other character is on their default.
 * Oddly, when displaying the number of stages featured in each Smash game, is listed as having 48 stages and 56 after DLC, while the correct numbers are 47 and 55 (if "DLC" is interpreted as meaning "paid DLC"). It is unknown what caused this discrepancy.
 * On August 4, 2021, the video for this Direct was mysteriously privated and/or removed from all of Nintendo's official YouTube channels. The reasoning behind this is currently unknown.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct (November 1, 2018)
On October 30th, 2018, Nintendo of America announced a Nintendo Direct for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to air on November 1st at 7:00 AM PDT / 10:00 AM EDT. Nintendo stated this would be the final Nintendo Direct presentation focused on Ultimate before the game's launch on December 7th. Series director Masahiro Sakurai once again was the host of the roughly 40-minute presentation.

Videos
Original Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqz5vGmMAQ

Mode announcements

 * Spirits
 * Adventure Mode: World of Light
 * Mob Smash, a rename of Multi-Man Smash that can now be played on different stages in their Battlefield forms.
 * Century Smash, a rename of 100-Man Smash
 * All-Star Smash, replacing All-Star Mode
 * Cruel Smash, returning from Brawl and Smash 4.
 * Online
 * Elite Smash
 * Battle Arena

Item announcements

 * Ten new Assist Trophies were introduced: Yuri Kozukata, Black Knight, Thwomp, Spring Man, Wily Capsule, Flies & Hand, Tiki, Vince, Guile, and Akira. Returning Assist Trophies were also showcased: Shadow, Takamaru, Starman, Nightmare, Color TV-Game 15, and Isaac.

Boss announcements

 * Galeem
 * Galleom
 * Galleom

Mii Fighter costumes

 * New Mii Fighter costumes include Lip, the Yiga Clan, Splatoon 2 Inklings, Ribbon Girl, Chibi-Robo, Ray MkIII, a Toy-Con Robot Kit and Rex.

Other

 * The main theme of Ultimate was revealed to have lyrics, and was called Lifelight.
 * Rathalos’s previously confirmed role as a boss was confirmed to be a part of Adventure Mode.