Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ for Nintendo 3DS/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 April 8, 2014, the following 29 characters have been confirmed.

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

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

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*
 * Boxing Ring (Punch Out!!)~
 * Final Destination*
 * Garden of Hope (Pikmin 3)~
 * Kalos Pokémon League (Pokémon X and Y)~
 * Mario Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)~
 * Palutena's Temple (Kid Icarus: Uprising)~
 * Pilot Wings (Pilotwings/Wii Sports Resort)~
 * Pyrosphere (Metroid: Other M)~
 * Skyloft (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)~
 * Town and City (Animal Crossing: City Folk)~
 * Wily Castle (Mega Man 2)~
 * Windy Hill (Sonic Lost World)~
 * Wii Fit Studio (Wii Fit)~

Returning stages

 * Halberd (Kirby Super Star)*

3DS

 * Arena Ferox (Fire Emblem: Awakening)~
 * Balloon Fight (Balloon Fight)~
 * Battlefield*
 * Boxing Ring (Punch-Out)~
 * Final Destination*
 * Find Mii (Find Mii II/Street-Pass Quest II)~
 * Gerudo Valley (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D)~
 * Living Room (Nintendogs)~
 * Prism Tower (Pokémon X and Y)~
 * Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 7)~
 * Reset Bomb Forest (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
 * Spirit Train (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks)~
 * 3D Land (Super Mario 3D Land~)
 * Tortimer Island (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)~
 * Unknown Tomodachi Life Stage~

Returning Stages

 * Jungle Japes (Donkey Kong Country)*

New Items

 * Back Shield (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
 * Bees (Animal Crossing)
 * Beetle (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
 * Blue Shell (Mario Kart series)
 * Bombchu (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
 * Boomerang (Super Mario 3D Land)
 * Bullet Bill (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Chest (original)
 * Cucco (Legend of Zelda series)
 * Drill Arm (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
 * Fairy Bottle (Legend of Zelda series)
 * Fire Bar (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Galaga Ships (Galaga)
 * Gust Bellows (Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
 * Hocotate Bomb (Pikmin series) **
 * Killer Eye (Kid icarus: Uprising)
 * Ore Club (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
 * Master Ball (Pokémon series)
 * POW Block (Super Mario Bros. series) **
 * Rocket Belt (Pilot Wings)
 * Special Flag (Rally-X)
 * Steel Diver (Steel Diver)
 * Tanooki Leaf (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * X Bomb (Kid Icarus: Uprising)

Returning Items

 * Assist Trophy (original)
 * Banana Peel (Mario Kart series)
 * Barrel (original)
 * Beam Sword (original)
 * Blast Box (Original)
 * Bob-omb (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Bumper (original)
 * Bunny Hood (Legend of Zelda series)
 * Capsule (original)
 * Crate (original)
 * Deku Nut(Legend of Zelda series)
 * Dragoon (Kirby Air Ride)
 * Fire Flower (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Food (original)
 * Franklin Badge (Mother Series)
 * Freezie (Mario Bros.)
 * Green Shell (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Golden Hammer (original)
 * Gooey Bomb (original)
 * Hammer (Donkey Kong)
 * Heart Container (Legend of Zelda series)
 * Home-run Bat (original)
 * Hothead(Super Mario World)
 * Lightning Bolt(Mario Kart series)
 * Lip's Stick (Panel de Pon)
 * Maxim Tomato (Kirby series)
 * Metal Box (Mario series)
 * Motion-Sensor Bomb (original)
 * Mr. Saturn (Mother Series)
 * Pitfall (Animal Crossing)
 * Poké Ball (Pokémon series)
 * Poison Mushroom (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Ray Gun (original)
 * Rolling Crate (original)
 * Sandbag (original)
 * Screw Attack Metroid series)
 * Smart Bomb (Star Fox series)
 * Smash Ball (original)
 * Smoke Ball (original)
 * Soccer Ball (Super Mario Strikers)
 * Spring (Donkey Kong)
 * Starman (Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Star Rod (Kirby series)
 * Super Scope (original)
 * Super Mushroom(Super Mario Bros. series)
 * Superspicy Curry (Kirby series)
 * Team Healer (original)
 * Timer (original)
 * Unira (Clu Clu Land)
 * Warp Star(Kirby series)

The Hocotate Bomb (once a part of Olimar's Final Smash) and the POW Block (once a stage hazard) return as items.

Pokémon
In order to increase the rate of rare Pokémon appearing in battle, there are now two types of Poké Balls: the traditional red and white Poké Ball, which summons common to rare Pokémon, and the Master Ball, which summons only legendary Pokémon.

New Pokémons

 * Chespin
 * Dedenne
 * Eevee
 * Fennekin
 * Gogoat
 * Inkay
 * Oshawott
 * Snivy
 * Spewpa
 * Swirlix
 * Zoroark

Returning Pokémons

 * Bellossom
 * Electrode
 * Gardevoir
 * Goldeen
 * Meowth
 * Metagross
 * Snorlax
 * Staryu
 * Togepi

New Pokémons

 * Arceus
 * Darkrai
 * Keldeo
 * Kyurem
 * Meloetta
 * Palkia
 * Giratina
 * Victini
 * Xerneas

Returning Pokémons

 * Deoxys
 * Entei
 * Kyogre
 * Latias
 * Lugia
 * Mew
 * Suicune

Assist Trophies
Sakurai has hinted that the Assist Trophies may differ slightly between versions

New Assist Trophies

 * Ashley (WarioWare)
 * Chain Chomp (Super Mario)
 * Color TV-Game 15 (Color TV-Game)
 * Dark Samus (Metroid)
 * Elec Man (Mega Man)
 * Isabelle (Animal Crossing)
 * Midna (The Legend of Zelda)
 * Mother Brain (Metroid)
 * Skull Kid (The Legend of Zelda)

Returning Assist Trophies

 * Andross (Star Fox)
 * Devil (Devil World)
 * Dr. Wright (SimCity)
 * Knuckle Joe (Kirby)
 * Lyn (Fire Emblem)
 * Metroid (Metroid)
 * Nintendog (Nintendogs)
 * Saki Amamiya (Sin and Punishment)
 * Samurai Goroh (F-Zero)
 * Starfy (The Legendary Starfy)
 * Waluigi (Super Mario)

Changes from Brawl and New Features

 * Random Tripping has been confirmed to not return. Forced tripping has returned since the banana peel was confirmed.
 * Gliding has been confirmed not to return.
 * 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.
 * Most regular attacks now have special graphical effects to give them a more "agressive" feel, as if they are "cutting through air".
 * 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.
 * Character transformations will be removed from the game; Zero Suit Samus and Sheik are now separate characters from Samus and Zelda.
 * As shown in the April's 7th Smash Direct, the characters Special Moves can be customized to give certain results, such as Pit's arrows performing a spin after being fired, Kirby freezing characters instead of swallowing them or Mario's Fireball being much larger but slower.
 * Almost all stages now have a "Final Destination version", which is a flat version of the respective stage, without any platforms or stage hazards.
 * The 3DS version will have an exclusive mode called "Smash Run", where up to four players can compete in two separate instances:
 * The first one happens in a large maze, similar to the Great Maze from the Subspace Emissary mode seen in Brawl. Players can defeat enemies, who will drop specific power-ups that will greatly enhance the characters abilities, such as speed, jumping ability, normal attack power, special attack power, and throwing power. Being hit by enemies will also make the characters drop those power-ups; some enemies, such as Tac, will be able to steal the player's charged power, which can be retrieved by defeating the fleeing enemy. This match lasts for 5 minutes, and the goal is to collect as much power-ups as possible.
 * The second one happens in a traditional brawl, where players will fight each other with their enhanced abilities.
 * Sakurai stated that this mode was inspired by one of his own games, Kirby Air Ride (which was the last Kirby game he worked on as a director), which featured a similar mode called City Trial. "I created that game a while ago, and thought I'd unearth a piece of it and use it in Smash Bros."
 * Online gameplay has been completely reworked, where players can choose between two new modes:
 * "For Fun": stage select is random (no Final Destination), all items available, Smash battles only (free for all up to 4 players), and only wins are recorded.
 * "For Glory": stage select is restricted to Final Destination, no items available, 1-1 battles possible, and both wins and loses are recorded.
 * Additionally, players can customizes freely those rules when playing with friends.
 * A new ranking system will be introduced, called Global Smash Power.

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.
 * Greninja was announced and Charizard (as a single playable-character), Yoshi, Sheik and Zero Suit Samus were confirmed to return on April 8th, during a Nintendo Direct presentation.

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 shown on a Nintendo Direct, on February 14, 2014. A trailer for the announcement of Charizard and Greninja was also shown in the Super Smash Bros. Nintendo Direct on April 8th, 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. You can customize character's movesets. These customized movesets will be usable in any mode except for non-friend online matches.
 * 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.
 * In the 3DS version, stages only have two varying musical pieces.