The new Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS won’t be out until sometime next year, so it’ll miss out on Nintendo’s so-called “Year of Luigi.” Still, that’s not stopping the other Mario brother from joining the Smash Bros. line-up and making the whole game just a little bit more awkward.
Luigi looks like he hasn’t changed much since Brawl: the screenshots seem to imply that he’ll still fight with a slightly modified version of Mario’s fighting style. Luigi is the 14th character added to the new game’s roster.
While I don’t think anyone is surprised that Luigi is returning (especially given that Nintendo has dedicated a whole year to games focused on him,) there are some neat, little surprises slipped into the screenshots displayed during today’s Nintendo Direct: first off, we’ve been given a better look at Mega Man’s stage, which seems to be themed around the Wily Castle stage from Mega Man 2. Nintendo also dropped a hint that Link’s stage will be themed around the town area from Skyward Sword, as Beedle’s Flying Shop from that game is clearly visible in the background in one of Luigi’s screenshots.
Nintendo can’t seem to go through a single press conference or Nintendo Direct without revealing some new tidbit about the upcoming Smash Bros., so stay tuned in the coming months for more info about the game’s characters, stages, and whatever else they decide to throw into their cross-over flagship title.