'Smash Ultimate': Ken, Incineroar, and Piranha Plant Join the Final Roster

In a Nintendo Direct on November 1, 2018, Nintendo revealed the final additions to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster ahead of the game’s launch on December 7. Now we finally have official confirmation that Ken and Incineroar will be joining the Smash Bros. Ultimate roster.

Ken is an Echo of Ryu from the Street Fighter series with a similar moveset. However, he’s a bit faster with some slight differences. Like Ryu, he also has two final smashes depending on whether you’re close or far away from the nearest opponent.

Incineroar is a pro-wrestling-inspired fighter from Pokémon Sun and Moon. It’s side special even materializes a set of wrestling arena ropes that you toss your opponent against before issuing a powerful slam. It’s Final Smash is also a wrestling style move.

As a final reveal, Nintendo revealed that you’ll be able to play as Piranha Plant. This character will be released after the main game, and it’s included with Smash Bros. Ultimate for anyone who pre-orders the game.

The video, which featured Smash series director Masahiro Sakurai, followed months of rumors and speculation, including a recent leak that appeared to show the final box art with eight additional (unannounced) characters. However, according to Sakuria, these two additions (Ken and Incineroar) and the final new characters coming to the game before it launches in December.

Does that mean other rumored fighters like Geno and Banjo-Kazooie won’t make the cut?

Apparently so, but Nintendo also confirmed plans for future downloadable content bringing new fighters to the game post-release. The company plans to offer DLC packs containing a new character, along with a stage and music track from the same video game series.

Each DLC will cost $5.99 individually, or you can pay $24.99 ahead of time for all five. Of course, you won’t know which characters are coming — not even Nintendo knows yet — and it could be a full year before all those DLC characters are revealed.

We might even get Waluigi…

Isaac the Assist Trophy

Ahead of today’s Direct, one major leak claimed Nintendo would add Isaac from Golden Sun to the game. However, the company instead revealed the character as an Assist Trophy you can use in battle. Other new Assist Trophies include Tiki from Fire Emblem, Dr. Robotnik from Sonic, and Guile from Street Fighter*.

In total, Nintendo says there are now more Assist Trophies than Pokémon (the ones that come from Poké Ball items) in the game.

Spirits

Nintendo also detailed a new feature called Spirits that replaces Trophies with something much more interesting. These characters, which come from a variety of video games, can be captured and trained. You can also defeat some of them (called Masters) to unlock new facilities.

“The Spirit system lets you simulate battles between characters from more series than ever before,” Nintendo explains.

To be honest, I’m still a little confused on this new feature, but it seems like an interesting addition to the Smash series.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches December 7 for Nintendo Switch.