Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is an upcoming Wii U and Nintendo 3DS title. It will be developed by Namco Bandai Games Inc. and Sora, and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth installment in the series.

Confirmed Characters
As of February 21, 2014, the following 24 characters have been confirmed.

NEWCOMERS Little Mac Mega Man Rosalina & Luma Villager Wii Fit Trainer

VETERANS Bowser Diddy Kong Donkey Kong Fox King Dedede Kirby Link Lucario Luigi Mario Marth Peach Pikachu Pikmin & Olimar Pit Samus Sonic Toon Link Zelda

Confirmed Stages
So far, 24 stages have been shown.

( * means that the stage has returned from a previous game, and ~ means that it's an entirely new stage unique to the game, and ^ means that the game the stage is from is not 100% confirmed. Some of these stages might be moved depending on future info.)

Wii U

 * Battlefield*
 * Garden of Hope (Pikmin 3)~
 * Mario Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)~
 * Pyrosphere (Metroid: Other M)~
 * Skyloft (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)~
 * Smashville (Animal Crossing: City Folk)*
 * Wily Castle (Mega Man 2)~
 * Windy Hill (Sonic Lost World)~
 * World Circuit (Punch-Out)~
 * Wuhu Island (Pilotwings/Wii Sports Resort)~
 * Palutena's Temple (Kid Icarus: Uprising)~
 * Unknown Super Smash Bros. Themed Boxing Arena~
 * Unknown Stage Shown on 4/1/14
 * Unknown Wii Fit Stage~

3DS

 * Battlefield*
 * Arena Ferox (Fire Emblem: Awakening)~
 * Castle of Darkness (Find Mii II/Streetpass Quest II)~
 * Gerudo Valley (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D)~
 * Prism Tower (Pokémon X and Y)~
 * Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 7)~
 * Spirit Train (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks)~
 * Super Mario 3D Land (Super Mario 3D Land~)
 * Tortimer Island (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)~
 * World Circuit (Punch-Out)~
 * Unknown Donkey Kong Country Returns Stage~
 * Unknown Kid Icarus: Uprising Stage~
 * Unknown Nintendogs Stage~
 * Unknown Super Smash Bros. Themed Boxing Arena~
 * Unknown Tomodachi Collection Stage~

Items

 * Assist Trophy (original)
 * Beetle (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
 * Bumper (original)
 * Capsule (original)
 * Fairy (Legend of Zelda series) (new)
 * Fire Flower (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Green Shell (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Gust Bellows (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) (new)
 * Home-run Bat (original)
 * Ore Club (Kid Icarus: Uprising) (new)
 * Poké Ball (Pokémon series)
 * Smash Ball (original)
 * Steel Diver (Steel Diver) (new)
 * Ray Gun (original)
 * Unnamed Rocket Ship Item (Pikmin series) (new)
 * X Bomb (Kid Icarus: Uprising) (new)

Assist Trophies

 * Andross (Star Fox)
 * Ashley (WarioWare) (new)
 * Isabelle (Animal Crossing) (new)
 * Mother Brain (Control Capsule) (Metroid) (new)
 * Nintendog (Nintendogs)
 * Skull Kid (The Legend of Zelda) (new)
 * Starfy (The Legendary Starfy)
 * Waluigi (Super Mario)

Changes from Brawl

 * Tripping has been confirmed to not return. When Sakurai announced this, he was referring to random tripping, though forced tripping has returned since the banana peel was confirmed.
 * Though originally there were plans to include a single player story mode, Sakurai has since changed his mind. It has not been announced what, if any, mode will take it's place.
 * Short movies featuring character introductions, like the ones introducing Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and Mega Man, will take the place of the originally planned story mode cutscenes.
 * The speed of the game will be between that of Brawl and Melee. This is to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers after the lukewarm response by hardcore gamers to Brawl's more floaty mechanics.
 * The "impact-launch" effect has been altered to a colored light trail indicating which player will receive the point should a KO occur. Additionally, a red/black effect will appear when a character is hit by a strong attack and/or has a high damage percentage, to indicate the character will likely be KO'd.
 * Some attacks have been adjusted to prevent a character's back from facing the screen.
 * Many of the characters' moves have been strengthened such as Marth's Shield Breaker and Link's Meteor Smash.
 * Characters with consecutive standard attacks, such as Fox's infinite kick, will always have a finishing move to end the combo. Little Mac was the first character seen performing this, in his official reveal trailer.

Development
The game was first announced at E3 2011, but no further information was released due to Masahiro Sakurai working on finishing Kid Icarus: Uprising. At the start of 2012, the game was officially in production, but new information was not released until the following year.
 * On June 11, 2013, two trailers were shown during a Nintendo Direct: one announcing the game and the Villager as a newcomer, and another announcing that Capcom's Mega Man would also be a new, playable character. One more trailer was released before the end of E3 2013 showing that Wii Fit Trainer would be playable for the first time.
 * Pikmin & Olimar was confirmed to return on July 12, 2013.
 * Luigi was confirmed to return on August 8, 2013 in a Nintendo Direct during the "Year of Luigi."
 * Princess Peach was confirmed to return on September 12, 2013.
 * Toon Link was confirmed to return on September 26, 2013.
 * Sonic The Hedgehog was confirmed to return on October 1, 2013 in a Nintendo Direct video, the same day he was confirmed for Brawl.
 * Marth was confirmed to return on November 7, 2013.
 * Rosalina and Luma were announced on December 18, 2013 in a Nintendo Direct video.
 * Zelda was confirmed to return on December 26, 2013.
 * King Dedede was confirmed to return on January 10, 2014.
 * Lucario was confirmed to return on January 31, 2014.
 * Little Mac was announced on February 13, 2014 in a Nintendo Direct video.
 * Diddy Kong was confirmed to return on February 21, 2014.

Trailers


The first trailer for Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U was revealed at E3 2013, showing off the game for the first time, as well as revealing the inclusion of the Villager as a newcomer. Two more trailers were released later for the new characters Mega Man and Wii Fit Trainer respectively. A trailer was released on October 1, 2013 to announce Sonic the Hedgehog. A trailer for the announcement of Rosalina & Luma was shown in the December 18, 2013 Nintendo Direct. A trailer for the announcement of Little Mac was also shown on a Nintendo Direct, on February 14, 2014.

Trivia

 * This game was announced at E3 2011 but development didn't start until after the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012 and no characters, stages or gameplay were shown until E3 2013 a full 2 years after the first announcement.
 * The 3DS and Wii U versions will have different stages: the 3DS having stages from handheld games, while the Wii U having stages from console games.
 * The 3DS version will have some form of character customization.
 * The 3DS and Wii U versions will not have cross-platform play due to the use of different stages in each version. However it would appear that the customizable character function can be transferred to/from each version.
 * Sakurai stated that in the 3DS version, outlines will be placed around the character so it will be easy to see them from far away. The thickness of the outlines can be decreased or even removed.