NEWS: 8-PLAYER SMASH, SMASH TOUR, MEWTWO DLC AND MORE REVEALED DURING SUPER SMASH BROS. DIRECT

Just, whoa.

The Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Nintendo Direct today dropped a TON  of bombshells on what kinds of new content we’ll be seeing in the Wii U version coming November 21st. Apparently, there’s way more content than we were expecting.

First off, 8-PLAYER SMASH IS COMING. A new multiplayer mode where up to 8 people can play at once, so you won’t feel like the 5th wheel anymore. Or the 6th, or 7th or 8th for that matter. This is pretty big, and changes lots of things for both the series and the fighting game genre as a whole. Any kind of fighting game tournament can choose to use this mode for more creative competitions, and it just looks insane to be playing this with friends. Seeing as the GameCube controller adapter only has four ports, the latter four controllers will probably be using a Nintendo 3DS, Gamepad, Wiimote, Pro Controller, or other wireless alternative. Also, there will be several much larger stages fit for 8 players to fight on, but not every stage will allow for 8-Player Smash. New stages include The Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Super Star, Big Battlefield, Palutena’s Temple, Hyrule Temple, and Jungle Hijinx- a stage with both a foreground and background to play on!!

Tons of new modes were announced, including a revamped Classic mode, reversed All-Star mode, altered Stadium modes and Smash Tour, a board-game style 4-player mode that replaces Smash Run on the Wii U. In Smash Tour, your Mii will move across spots on a map and pick up characters to use in battles as well as power-ups for your characters similar to the ones in Smash Run. When two Miis arrive on the same platform, all players will have to fight in a special free-for-all using the characters and power-ups they’ve acquired. If you win, you can potentially take characters from other players. Special Orders are one more new game mode where players choose between tickets with challenges on them and fulfill the order to receive prizes. There are two categories: Master Orders and Crazy Orders, dispersed by Master Hand and Crazy Hand respectively. Events and Challenges will also return.

But probably the biggest announcement of the entire Direct video did not even appear until the very end after the copyright text and end screens, and it wasn’t even part of the 50 things Nintendo promised! Pokemon fans, MEWTWO IS BACK. Mewtwo will be unlocked for free when players buy both the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. and link the two together through local connection. Currently, the development team is still working on Mewtwo and will have the character ready for download sometime during Spring 2015. Ladies and gentlemen, this is proof that other DLC characters and stages may still be in the cards.

And that’s barely scratching the surface of all the different things Nintendo announced today during the Direct! With so much new content coming our way, it’s finally clear: This is the definitive Super Smash Bros. game. Click here to see the entire 35-minute video for yourself, and a big thanks to announcer Xander Mobus for giving us the best video voiceover a fan could ask for!