On December 7, 2018, fans of the Super Smash Brothers series were finally able to play as characters such as Ridley, King K.  Rool, and Simon and Richter Belmont. That was a year ago. Now, fans can play as Joker from Persona 5, Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury, and Banjo and Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie.  How were they revealed? And what will happen next? Let’s see on the year in review of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

November 1, 2018, was the final Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Nintendo Direct.  Fighters Ken from Street Fighter and Incineroar from Pokemon Sun and Moon had been revealed as the final characters in the base game.  However, the creator of Super Smash Brothers, Masahiro Sakurai announced that anyone who registered the game to their Nintendo account would receive a special fighter.  Piranha Plant from Super Mario Brothers was that special fighter. He would eventually be released as a gift to those who registered (and as a paid gift to those who had not) on February 1, 2019.

On December 6, 2018, at the 2018 Game Awards, the power suddenly went out.  This was intentional. Suddenly, one of the main screens lit up with a red color.  What happened next was the craziest thing anyone could have ever expected. Joker from Persona 5, a game on the Playstation (Nintendo’s biggest competitor), was coming to Smash!  He would eventually be released in the Challenger Pack 1 from the Fighter’s Pass DLC (Downloadable Content) on April 17, 2019.

On June 11, 2019, at the start of Nintendo’s E3 presentation, a new fighter was revealed.  The Hero from Dragon Quest XI would be coming to Smash!  He was released in Challenger Pack 2 on July 30, 2019.  During that same presentation, another fighter would be revealed, a fighter that longtime fans had wanted for a long time.  Banjo & Kazooie from the Banjo-Kazooie series would finally be in the game!  He was released on September 4, 2019, in Challenger Pack 3.

On September 4, 2019, a Nintendo Direct was occurring.  Banjo & Kazooie’s release date had just been revealed for the same day.  But now, a new fighter would be revealed: Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury was joining the battle!  He was released as Challenger Pack 4 on November 6, 2019.

Nobody knows who Challenger Pack 5 is or when they will come.  All we can do is wait. Just like we have waited for every other DLC fighter’s reveal and release.  On September 4, 2019, after the reveal of Terry Bogard, Masahiro Sakurai also revealed that other DLC fighters were in development;  Challenger Pack 5 is probably not the last one. A whole year with five new fighters is a big accomplishment, and it’s my hope that after all of the DLC is finished and released, Sakurai can take a delightful, long break.  He deserves it!