Going into the first Nintendo Direct of 2021, fans had very little idea of what to expect except thatSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatewould be one of the featured games. And in fact, Nintendo usedSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateto kick off the Nintendo Direct, confirming the next DLC characters to be Pyra and Mythra fromXenoblade Chronicles 2. This confirmation seemingly debunked an oldSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateleak that had so far been 100% accurate, but that particular leak is still suspicious.
TheoldSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateleakaccurately predicted Min-Min fromARMS, Sephiroth fromFinal Fantasy 7, and Steve fromMinecraft. While Min-Min could be chalked up as a lucky guess, Sephiroth and Steve were really “out there” guesses, especially sinceMinecraftis owned by Microsoft andFF7is owned by Square Enix. That same leak claimed that the remaining three DLC characters would be Ryu Hayabusa fromNinja Gaiden, Doomguy from theDoomfranchise, and Rayman.
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The announcement ofPyra and Mythra ofXenoblade Chronicles 2fame seemingly debunks this leak. However, it’s worth noting that leak is from May 2020. It’s possible that the leak was going off details that hadn’t been finalized yet. So maybe one of the other planned guest characters, like Ryu Hayabusa or Doomguy, fell through for whatever reason.
There are still at least two moreSuper Smash Bros. UltimateDLC characters on the way, so it will be interesting to see if one of the three characters mentioned in the leak are part of the lineup. Out of the characters that have been leaked, one that seems to be the most likely possibility isRyu Hayabusa fromNinja Gaiden. Not only does theNinja Gaidenfranchise have a long history with Nintendo, dating all the way back to the NES, but the franchise has a Switch game coming out this summer, which could very well coincide with a new character release as well.
Ninja Gaiden: Master Collectionwas also announced during the Nintendo Direct, coming to the Switch and other platforms this summer.Ninja Gaiden: Master Collectioncollects theNinja Gaidenreboot trilogy in one package, giving fans the chance to playNinja Gaiden Sigma,Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, andNinja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edgealong with most of those games' post-launch DLC game modes and costumes.
Whether or not there was ever any truth to thisSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateleak is hard to say, but things will become clearer when thenext DLC fighteris unveiled.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
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