User:PanchamBro/Sandbox

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Development

Towards the end of Super Smash Bros. 4's post-launch development, Masahiro Sakurai announced that his next project had been decided and that he would be taking a small vacation following the end of development. Unlike previous Smash titles, which had their development studios built from the ground up, Bandai Namco returned to help game development. Prior to starting development, the team had a choice between completely overhauling the game's system and feel or working off of what was established in the last game. The team ultimately went with the latter. Had the team gone with the former, the game would have likely only had a third of its characters. Despite deciding to base the game off of the previous installment, Sakurai still increased the overall speed of the game, but only by an amount that wouldn't be too alienating to people unfamiliar with the series. Sakurai notes that he had wanted to make these changes in previous titles, but was unable to because it was easy for one to lose track of their character's position on screen, especially on the Nintendo 3DS. When Sakurai had revealed to his development team that he intended to bring back every previously playable character, he was met with silence. The project plan was later finished by December 2015, and development officially began in February 2016, immediately after DLC wrapped up for SSB4. On November 12, 2017, Nintendo filed a number of trademarks, notably including a Japanese Super Smash Bros. logo.

A Super Smash Bros. title for the Nintendo Switch was later officially revealed on March 8, 2018 via a Nintendo Direct. Without explicitly confirming the playable status of any characters, the teaser trailer hinted the Inklings would be debuting in the game as newcomers, while also suggesting that Mario, Link, and several other series veterans would be returning. Shortly after the reveal, Sakurai confirmed in a tweet that he had been working on the game "in silence, day after day". On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018, a tournament taking place on June 12th where invited professional players will play the upcoming game. Later, in volume 542 of his Famitsu article, Sakurai revealed that his work schedule had been cut down significantly, citing strict regulations regarding work hours. On April 18, 2018, Nintendo again filed a number of trademarks for several game logos, including the Super Smash Bros. logo. Most of these game logos originate from games with some relationship to the Smash series, including Pikmin, Star Fox, and F-Zero. These trademarks were approved on May 14, 2018.

The first extended look at the game came at Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation. Masahiro Sakurai introduced the coverage, which kicked off with an extended video showing new incarnations for veteran characters. After confirming the return of several previously cut characters such as Ice Climbers and Snake, the tagline "Everyone Is Here" was introduced, and the video revealed that all playable characters from previous Smash Bros. titles would be returning to the new game, including the formerly cut Pichu and Young Link from Melee, as well as Pokémon Trainer and Wolf from Brawl. New information on the Ultimate incarnations of characters was revealed, including the presence of Cappy in Mario's taunts and other moves, that Zelda would be based on her A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds design, all the DLC fighters from Smash 4 would return as part of the launch roster, Ike would have his Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn designs from the two previous games and much more. The presentation introduced "Echo Fighters", which Lucina and Dark Pit are now marked as, while Daisy was revealed as a new Echo Fighter. The presentation also confirmed returning elements, items, and stages, which would receive revamped Ω forms and Battlefield forms. The trailer also confirmed the Inklings as the game's first newcomers, while concluding with a reveal of the game's final title: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The presentation officially concluded with a final trailer in which Ridley from the Metroid series - long requested by fans for inclusion in the series but rebuffed by Sakurai due to his large size - was confirmed as a playable character.

Following the end of the presentation, a Nintendo Treehouse event went live. During the Treehouse event, several matches were streamed and some new features were revealed and discussed. In addition to the Treehouse livestream, a playable demo of the game was opened to the public at E3 2018 and at the Nintendo Store in New York. Following the end of the Splatoon 2 World Championships, the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018 began. During the match pitting MkLeo as Bayonetta against Plup as Ridley, Masahiro Sakurai reportedly shook his head after MkLeo had performed a successful ladder combo on Plup. At the end of the invitational, the Nintendo Treehouse livestream resumed, further showcasing more gameplay elements and matches. In addition to this, the official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website was published. This would serve as the primary source for new details about the game.

At the EVO 2018 fighting game tournament, Nintendo revealed that a new Ultimate-focused Nintendo Direct presentation would be released on August 8, 2018. The presentation opened with a trailer confirming the inclusion of content from Konami's Castlevania franchise for the first time in the series. The trailer revealed the presence of new fighters, Simon Belmont and his Echo Fighter, Richter Belmont; a new Assist Trophy, Alucard; a new stage called Dracula's Castle, and more. The Direct also covered two new Echo Fighters, Chrom and Dark Samus from Fire Emblem Awakening and the Metroid Prime series respectively, as well as new music, modes, stages, and items. The presentation concluded with a trailer introducing a new playable character: King K. Rool, leader of the Kremlings and nemesis of the Kong family from the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country series.

In a Nintendo Direct presentation shown on September 13, 2018, a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Switch console bundle was unveiled, featuring a specially designed dock and Joy-Con controllers along with the download code for the game. Isabelle, from the Animal Crossing series was also revealed as a newcomer.

The final pre-release Ultimate-focused Nintendo Direct presentation aired on November 1, 2018. This revealed Ken and Incineroar from the Street Fighter and Pokémon series respectively as new playable characters, as well as the inclusion of DLC fighters - Piranha Plant from Super Mario appearing shortly after launch, followed by five other unannounced characters, which have been selected in advance by Nintendo as future additions. It also took a deeper look at the game's modes and online infrastructure, and revealed Spirits mode and Adventure Mode: World of Light, before finishing with the mode's opening cutscene and the reveal of the game's vocal theme, Lifelight.

On November 20, 2018, an overview trailer narrated by Xander Mobus (The Announcer) covered the game in further detail, showcasing all of the playable fighters, stages, items, Pokémon, Assist Trophies, Spirits, game modes and more.

At the 2018 Game Awards, the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5 interrupted the broadcast to announce that their leader, codenamed "Joker," would be joining the roster as the first DLC fighter of the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 in Ultimate.

During the Nintendo Direct on February 13, 2019, a spring update was announced alongside a sneak peek at Joker's model and a look at new amiibo.

In the "Nintendo Switch My Way" trailer, "Stage Builder" was leaked. It is yet to be confirmed if this was a mistake on Nintendo's behalf or if it was simply a marketing ploy.

On April 16, 2019, a video titled New Content Approaching was released. The video detailed Joker's moveset and confirmed that he would be released on the next day, April 17. The video also revealed Mementos, Stage Builder, new Mii Costumes, Video Editor, and Shared Content. Version 3.0.0 was launched on April 17.

During Nintendo's E3 2019 presentation on June 11th, the Hero from Dragon Quest and Banjo & Kazooie from their namesake series Banjo-Kazooie were confirmed as the second and third newcomers in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1, set to be released at some point in Summer and Fall of 2019 respectively. The former's gameplay would later be shown off in a dedicated video presentation on July 30th, the day of the character's release date, while the latter's was showcased in a special video following the September 4th Nintendo Direct. Both presentations were hosted by Sakurai himself.

During the September 4th Nintendo Direct, Terry from SNK's Fatal Fury series was announced to be the fourth newcomer in the Fighter Pass Vol. 1, set to be released sometime in November while the third Challenger Pack, Banjo & Kazooie was shadow-dropped after the Direct alongside the 5.0.0 update, the return of Home Run Contest, their stage: Spiral Mountain, 5 new Mii costumes and 10 new tracks. In addition, following Terry Bogard's reveal, it was also announced that more DLC fighters beyond the Pass Vol. 1 was confirmed to be in development thanks to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's strong sales.

On January 16th, 2020, Nintendo released an "Mr. Sakurai Presents ???" livestream that revealed Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses as the final (and only first-party) member of the Fighters Pass Vol. 1, set for release on January 28th. The 7.0.0 update wasn't mentioned but it would include their stage: Garreg Mach Monastery, 11 new tracks added to all Fire Emblem stages and 5 more Mii costumes including Altaïr from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and indie star Cuphead, with a music track from his game, Floral Fury. It was also revealed that Ultimate would receive a second DLC pass called Fighters Pass Vol. 2 that will consist of six more playable newcomers instead of five like the first one. Said pass is expected to have all six fighters released by December 31, 2021.

In a Nintendo Direct Mini held on March 26, 2020, a character from ARMS was announced to be the first fighter in Fighters Pass Vol. 2. The new fighter was revealed to be Min Min in a presentation held on June 22, with a release date of June 29. The 8.0.0 update becomes with a new stage: Spring Stadium, which includes 18 new music tracks, and 5 more Mii Costumes, one of them returning from Smash 4: Heihachi from Namco's Tekken, the other four are Mii Costumes of Callie and Marie, the Squid Sisters from the Splatoon series (who are also an Assist Trophy), Ninjara from ARMS and Vault Boy from Bethesda's Fallout.

On October 1st, 2020, Nintendo released a "Mr. Sakurai Presents Challenger Pack 7" livestream that revealed only Steve, the main protagonist from Minecraft, as a playable character, two days later, it was revealed 6 new Mii Costumes: one of them is Gil from Namco's Babylonian Castle Saga, the other five are from Bomberman, a Diamond Armor, a Pig and a Creeper from Minecraft, and Travis from No More Heroes.

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Development

Towards the end of Super Smash Bros. 4's post-launch development, Masahiro Sakurai announced that his next project had been finalized, unbeknownst as the next Super Smash Bros. game, and that he would be taking a small vacation following the completion of Smash 4's DLC content. Sakurai had been inspired to work on the next Smash Bros. game as a request from Iwata before he passed away.

Unlike previous Smash titles, which had their development studios built from the ground up, Bandai Namco returned to help game development. Prior to starting development, the team had a choice between completely overhauling the game's system and feel or working off of what was established in the last game. The team ultimately went with the latter. Had the team gone with the former, the game would have likely only had a third of its characters. Despite deciding to base the game off of the previous installment, Sakurai still increased the overall speed of the game, but only by an amount that wouldn't be too alienating to people unfamiliar with the series. Sakurai notes that he had wanted to make these changes in previous titles, but was unable to because it was easy for one to lose track of their character's position on screen, especially on the Nintendo 3DS. When Sakurai had revealed to his development team that he intended to bring back every previously playable character, he was met with silence. The project plan was later finished by December 16, 2015, and development officially began in February 2016, immediately after DLC wrapped up for SSB4.

There were various characters that had been considered to be added onto the roster. Alucard was originally considered to be a playable character for Castlevania before Sakurai decided to choose Simon and Richter instead. Decidueye was also considered to be a playable character from Generation VII of Pokémon, but Sakurai picked Incineroar instead. Due to the timing of the finalized plans for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, representatives from ARMS or Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had failed to arrive to the base game. In compensation, Rex, Nia, Spring Man, and Ribbon Girl would be made as Mii Fighter costumes, with Rex's Mii costume being bundled as part of the first Fighters Pass, and various ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 character would be represented by spirits. ARMS would eventually get a playable character with Min Min as DLC, who was a request from ARMS director Kosuke Yabuki, after Sakurai had a decision to choose Min Min or Ninjara.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was later officially teased on March 8, 2018 via a Nintendo Direct, albeit the name would not be revealed until E3 of that year. Without explicitly confirming the playable status of any characters, the teaser trailer hinted the Inklings would be debuting in the game as newcomers, while also suggesting that Mario, Link, and several other series veterans would be returning. Shortly after the reveal, Sakurai confirmed in a tweet that he had been working on the game "in silence, day after day". On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018, a tournament taking place on June 12th where invited professional players will play the upcoming game. Later, in volume 542 of his Famitsu article, Sakurai revealed that his work schedule had been cut down significantly, citing strict regulations regarding work hours.

At E3 2018, an extended look into the game was livestreamed, with Masahiro Sakurai directing the presentation. The presentation revealed that every character from the Super Smash Bros. series, even character that been previous cut such as Ice Climber and Snake or were DLC fighters like Cloud and Bayonetta, have now returned to the roster. The presentation also highlighted several changes made to the Smash Bros. roster, such as Zelda having her look based off her A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds design, or clone charactesr now being desinated as Echo Fighters. The presentation ended with the reveal of Ridley from Metroid series - long requested by fans for inclusion in the series but rebuffed by Sakurai due to his large size - being confirmed as a playable character. The following Nintendo Treehouse also included additional info about the game that was not mentioned during the presentation, such as the stage hazard toggle. Immediately following the presentation, the official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website was published, and would serve as the primary source for new details about the game.

The following months saw Simon, Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool, the latter being a very popular request, being revealed during an Smash Ultimate-focused Nintendo Direct presentation on August 8, 2018. The Nintendo Direct of September 13, 2018 revealed Isabelle from Animal Crossing would be joining the roster, and in a November 1, 2018 Direct, Ken and Incineroar had been formally revealed, including the new Spirits mode and Adventure Mode: World of Light. The direct also announced the first Fighters Pass, featuring five fighters that would be added to the game with their own stage, music tracks, and spirits.

During the development on post-content for Smash Ultimate, there were considerations to include Slime from Dragon Quest if Square Enix did not allowed the team to use Hero. Due to time constraints, only four of the Dragon Quest heroes were finalized for the game. In addition, one character that was not realized until Fighter Pass Vol. 2 was Steve from the popular video game Minecraft. Negotiations between Mojang Studios and the team working on Smash Bros. began somewhere during 2014/2015, during the period when SSB4 post-content development was ongoing, however said negotiations went nowhere until 2020, as Steve would join the roster as DLC. As would Sakurai explained, developing Steve required immense work, having to readjust every stage to allow Steve to use his Create Block move.

As of October 2020, DLC content so far has included the five fighters that represents the first Fighters Pass: Joker from the Persona series, Hero from the Dragon Quest series, Banjo & Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie, Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury, and Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. A second Fighter Pass is ongoing, with characters like Min Min from ARMS and Steve from Minecraft being revealed. There are four fighters that are yet to be revealed. In addition, modes like Stage Builder and Home-Run Contest were brought back in the game by post-content updates. New content like Video Editor and a new stage called Small Battlefield were also implemented.