Smash Bros. Fans Just Got Trolled Accidentally By Nintendo's 45 Minute Direct
Overview & Key Takeaways
After a week of so-called leaks, Switch 2 fans were convinced Nintendo would reveal a new Smash Bros. game during the Direct showcase
The rumor mill was busy leading up to Wednesday morning's Nintendo Direct. Many major video game outlets had reported the possibility that Nintendo was about to announce the first new Super Smash Bros. game in nearly seven years. The so-called leak was met with some skepticism — but also plenty of hope. It was just a rumor, but didn't the timing seem right for a new Smash Bros. game?
The last game in the series, Smash Bros. Ultimate, came out in 2018. Series director and lead designer Masahiro Sakurai called a potential new title "impossible" in 2021, and said that Ultimate would be his last entry in the series. Longtime fans also knew that Sakurai had said something similar after every single Smash Bros. game he's overseen. The famed game developer had teased that he was working on a new game in 2024. Perhaps, fans thought, it could be a new Smash Bros. game?
And so, many fans went into Wednesday's Nintendo Direct crossing their fingers. Instead, Nintendo packed the showcase with a seemingly endless parade of ports and remakes that probably could have been an email. Still, even as the show progressed, fans held their breath. Surely, many believed, Nintendo was just front-loading the unexciting announcements. Undoubtedly, the showcase would blow everyone's socks off near the end, when Nintendo finally pulled out the big guns.
Image Nintendo
Somewhere midway through, Nintendo announced the sick-looking Metroid Ravenous. Fans hoped this was the turning point for the show, and that Nintendo would keep the momentum going with increasingly bigger announcements. Spoilers: Nintendo did no such thing. The showcase continued with small announcements that felt all the more deflating after multiple weeks of Grand Theft Auto 6. Plugged-in gamers were coming off the high of witnessing some of the most impressive technical achievements the medium has ever seen... and now they were being treated to a never-ending parade of old games that, at times, couldn't hold a stable frame rate.
Then came the final announcement. Even before the pink puffball appeared, fans clocked that they were looking at something Kirby-related. Even here, some fans held on to the delusion that maybe, just maybe, the footage was a giant fake out by Nintendo; surely the announcement could go in any direction. Several minutes into the footage, fans behaved like Kirby could pull out his hammer and break the confines of the game to reveal a totally different title.
Image: HAL Laboratory/Nintendo
Nope. The logo for Kirby and the World Beyond appeared, and everyone realized that a new Smash Bros. announcement was not coming.
The YouTube chat was aghast. Well after the show ended, hundreds of people were calling the showcase a giant L. A number of fans called it some variation of the worst show ever. The reasons varied, but many attributed their frustration to the lack of Smash Bros.
In dedicated Smash Bros. communities, fans commiserated over their woes — or chastised each other for getting carried away.
"I really let the internet gaslight me into thinking we were getting Smash 6," one Smash Bros. fan wrote on Reddit.
Maybe it's all for the best. Notoriously, Sakurai's dedication to Smash Bros. has led to a number of health issues over the years. While working on the series, the game designer reportedly wouldn't even take sick days: he would just hook up to an IV drip and keep working. Eventually, Sakurai started to take things easy — which in practice meant that he "allowed" himself to go home at 10 p.m.
A new Smash Bros. announcement could happen at some point. It's a major Nintendo franchise, and the world is clearly ready for a new title. Until then, all fans can do is laugh at their own hubris.
