Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been a smash hit to be sure. It is the number one selling fighting game of all time and has catapulted the Super Smash Bros. series to become the number one selling fighting game franchise of all time.
That means it has beat out heavy hitters like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken, just to name a few.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest roster in the game’s history, featuring every single character to ever appear in a Smash Bros. game, plus a number of new fighters.
It recently added a number of new DLC fighters as part of the Fighters Pass.
First came Joker from Persona 5. After that, we got Banjo and Kazooie from Banjo-Kazzoie. Then came Hero from Dragon Age and Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury. All eyes were on Nintendo for the final Fighters Pass character, with rumors flying that it could be anyone from Kingdom Hearts’s Sora to Devil May Cry’s Dante.
Everyone was disheartened to see that it was Byleth from Fire Emblem, a game which already features a number of Smash Bros. Fighters.
However, hope was not lost. Game director Masahiro Sakurai, known to most gamers as Mr. Sakurai, confirmed that there was a second Fighters Pass DLC pack coming with six new fighters.
Most recently, Sakurai has confirmed that this second Fighters Pass will be the final one, with no more characters coming thereafter.
He told Japanese magazine Famitsu that once the sixth and final Fighters Pass 2 character is released, “Smash Bros. Ultimate will be over.” This led many to believe that large patches and updates for the game will stop around the same time.
Sakurai also made sure to point out that it was Nintendo that selected these six characters, not him. However, he also noted that, “if a character doesn’t make sense,” he has the ability to veto its inclusion. While Sakurai has stated in the past that he feels there are too many swordsman fighters and too many characters from Fire Emblem, he has chosen not to refuse any inclusions up to this point.
He closed out the interview by saying that he doesn’t make moves based on his own desires. He works to make people other than himself happy.
While none of the six remaining fighters have been announced, they are expected to be announced and released through 2020 and 2021.
When all is said and done, the second fighters pass will increase the number of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters to a whopping roster of 88.