The Smash Bros. Countdown was an event hosted by the Japanese Super Smash Bros. Twitter account, @SmashBrosJP, which featured other promotional Twitter accounts counting down to the release date of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The event started on November 27th, 2018, ten days away from the game's release date, and lasted up until the actual release date, December 7th.
In total, 22 accounts (including @SmashBrosJP itself) were involved in the event, and each posted a piece of promotional material, such as a screenshot or an illustration. The concept is similar to the character posters from the previous game, which featured franchise artists illustrating pieces for Smash Bros.; however, the countdown was not limited to newcomers, unlike the posters.
The full countdown can be viewed through a Twitter Moment. Additionally, the English language accounts @NintendoVS and @NintendoEurope reposted most of the promotional material in English.
10 Days Left
On the first day, the participants were @SmashBrosJP and @mario_odysseyJP, the official Super Mario Odyssey account.
The Smash Bros. contribution is a simple, minimalist image to introduce the concept.
The Super Mario Odyssey contribution is a short animated video, fashioned after the countdown videos for the release of its game the year prior. It features Cappy and Mario, in the form of the number 10, bouncing on-screen, similar to the numbers 4 and 3 from the Super Mario Odyssey countdown videos. Then, the camera zooms in to Cappy, as Mario jumps out of the number 10, like with the 0 in the release day video, which itself is a reference the E3 2017 trailer for Super Mario Odyssey; however, he assumes his pose from the game's box art, which then transitions into the box art itself. This video was also reposted by @SuperMario_UK, the official European Mario account.
Super Smash Bros.'s contribution.
Super Mario Odyssey's contribution.
9 Days Left
The second day's participants were @KONAMI573ch, the official Konami account, and @CAPCOM_MHB, the official Monster Hunter account.
Konami's contribution is an illustration of Simon Belmont and Richter Belmont, while the Monster Hunter contribution is an illustration of Mario and a Rathalos by Kaname Fujioka, director of the Monster Hunter series.
Konami's contribution.
Monster Hunter's contribution.
8 Days Left
The third day's participants were @doubutsuno_mori, the official Animal Crossing account, and @officialpacman, the official Pac-Man account.
The Animal Crossing contribution is an illustration of Villager and Isabelle leaving their village, with Tutu, Sandy, Cesar, Genji, Nibbles, Ribbot, Rover, Pelly, Phyllis, and Pete looking on as they depart. This illustration was later reposted to the English language Animal Crossing accounts, @animalcrossing and @AC_Isabelle.
The Pac-Man contribution, the only one to originate from an English-language account, is a screenshot of Pac-Man and Mr. Game & Watch on Pac-Land.
Animal Crossing's contribution.
Pac-Man's contribution.
7 Days Left
The fourth day's participants were @bomberman573, the official Bomberman account; @Kirby_JP, the official Kirby account; and @FFVIIR_CLOUD, the official Final Fantasy VII Remake account.
The Bomberman contribution is an image of Bomberman running from an explosion.
The Kirby contribution is a screenshot of seven Kirbys on Green Greens, with six of them showcasing new Copy Abilities (Simon Belmont, King K. Rool, Inkling, Ridley, Isabelle, and Incineroar).
The Final Fantasy contribution is an illustration by Tetsuya Nomura, character designer of the Final Fantasy franchise, that depicts Cloud, Mario, Link, and Kirby in a chibi style.
Bomberman's contribution.
Kirby's contribution.
Final Fantasy VII's contribution.
6 Days Left
The fifth day's participants were @XenobladeJP, the official Xenoblade Chronicles account, and @SEGA_OFFICIAL, the official SEGA account.
The Xenoblade contribution is a screenshot of Zeke, a playable character in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, saying "6 days to go, chums!" This screenshot was coupled with the announcement of an update to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which added Mythra's support spirit design in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume. This costume is available by equipping a new item, the Massive Melee Aux Core.
The SEGA contribution is an illustration of Sonic by Yuji Uekawa, the lead character designer of the Sonic series, based on his character artwork in Ultimate.
Xenoblade Chronicles's contribution.
The announcement of Mythra spirit.
Massive Melee Mythra in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, based on her appearance in Ultimate.
SEGA's contribution.
5 Days Left
The sixth day's sole participant was @Pokemon_cojp, the official Pokémon account.
Their contribution is a collage of every Pokémon character in Ultimate, including those summoned through Poké Balls and Master Balls. This was also coupled with the announcement of the Partner Pikachu and Partner Eevee spirits from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, which were added to the game post-launch.
Pokémon's contribution.
The announcement of the Partner Pikachu and Partner Eevee spirits.
4 Days Left
The seventh day's sole participant was @ZeldaOfficialJP, the official The Legend of Zelda account.
Their contribution is an illustration by Yusuke Nakano, character designer of the Zelda series, that features the playable Zelda characters reaching for the Triforce.
The Legend of Zelda's contribution.
3 Days Left
The eighth day's participants were @FE_Heroes_JP, the official Fire Emblem Heroes account; @platinumgames_j, the official Platinum Games account; @FireEmblemJP, the official Fire Emblem series account; and @yoiko_minecraft, the official account for the YouTube comedy duo Yoiko, which comprises Japanese comedians Shinya Arino and Masaru Hamaguchi.
The Fire Emblem Heroes contribution is an illustration in that game's chibi style, featuring the playable characters and Assist Trophies battling on Castle Siege. Characters from the same universe are grouped together. In addition, Lucina and Chrom's poses are reminiscent of the boxart for Fire Emblem: Awakening. Smoke trails indicate that Corrin launched Feh, the mascot for the Order of Heroes. In the center of the image, an Orb is emblazoned with an inverted Smash logo, similar to a Fake Smash Ball. The emblem for the kingdom of Askr, where Fire Emblem Heroes takes place, also appears in the background.
The Platinum Games contribution is an illustration of Bayonetta, Rodin, and Madama Butterfly by Yusuke Hashimoto, the director of Bayonetta 2.
The Fire Emblem contribution is a screenshot of the seven playable Fire Emblem characters at the time on Arena Ferox. This was coupled with the announcement of the relaunched Fire Emblem World website, a general information source for the Fire Emblem series.
As noted in their Tweet, Yoiko are not featured in the game itself; however, they had previously appeared at Japanese pre-release tournaments for Ultimate, and also announced that they would be streaming an official Let's Play of the game.
Fire Emblem Heroes' contribution.
Bayonetta's contribution.
Fire Emblem's contribution.
Yoiko's contribution.
2 Days Left
The ninth day's participants were @metalgear_jp, the official Metal Gear account, and @3DS_Palutena, the official Kid Icarus account.
The Metal Gear contribution is a render of Solid Snake (taken from Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection).
The Kid Icarus contribution is a screenshot of Pit in his "peace sign" victory pose; it was coupled with the unveiling of the Pit (Victory) AR Card for Kid Icarus: Uprising, which had never been released previously.
Metal Gear's contribution.
Kid Icarus's contribution.
The Pit (Victory) AR Card.
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1 Day Left
The tenth day's participants were @ROCKMAN_UNITY, the official Mega Man account, and @SplatoonJP, the official Splatoon account.
The Mega Man contribution is an illustration by Yuji Ishihara, character designer of Mega Man 11, featuring Mega Man in his Ultimate and Mega Man 11 designs.
The Splatoon contribution is an illustration of an orange Inkling girl on Battlefield, having painted the number 1 with orange ink. The Inkling has the Super Smash Bros. logo in her eye, as a callback to the reveal trailer for the game.
Launch Day
On launch day, @SmashBrosJP posted a collage of every playable character to celebrate the game's release.
Prior to the game's American release, Joker was announced as a DLC fighter for Ultimate at The Game Awards 2018. In tandem with the announcement, @p_kouhou (the official Persona account) posted an illustration of Joker by Shigenori Soejima, character designer of the Persona series.
Super Smash Bros.'s contribution.
Persona's contribution.
Trivia
- The Fire Emblem and Xenoblade series are the only ones to post more than one picture for the event.
- The Final Fantasy contribution may reference Final Fantasy VII as there were seven days left.
- The Legend of Zelda contribution makes a pun with the Triforce spelling it with the number "4".
- Street Fighter is the only base-game third party universe to not be represented in the countdown.
- The series with fighters at the time of the launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. that had twitter accounts but did not participate in the project were Earthbound（ @1101complus） and Street Fighter（ @streetfighterja） .
- At the time, the account for the "Earthbound" series used to be the official account of Almost Daily Itoi Shinbun, the website run by Shigesato Itoi, the author of the original game, but when the website launched a new project about Earthbound in 2020, it was separated and a new account（ @hobonichimother） was created.