Nintendo hosted a Super Smash Bros.-exclusive edition of Nintendo Direct yesterday. While the company didn't deliver an exact release date for the highly anticipated fighting sequel, we got pretty close. Super Smash Bros. arrives this summer on 3DS and this winter on Wii U. (The company has its priorities.)

There were plenty of new details revealed last night, as well.

Greninja, also known as the final evolution of Froakie from Pokemon X and Y, is one of the brand-new fighters. Sheik, Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi, and Charizard are all back, as well.

The 3DS version of the game will run "most" gameplay elements at 60 frames-per-second, a rather impressive feat for the handheld. 3DS players will also have exclusive access to the Smash Run mode, in which players enter into a dungeon, collect as many power-ups as possible, and then fight each other in an arena.

Both versions will have online play, and most stages in both versions will have "Final Destination" modes that simplify the layout. Nintendo claims the two versions will talk to one another, but it has not revealed exactly how.

The entire Nintendo Direct, which has far more details on the game, can be watched here:

So stoked for this on 3DS

Nintendo hosted a Super Smash Bros.-exclusive edition of Nintendo DIrect yesterday,

Just a tiny typo in here.

The online stuff sounds pretty good, but we'll have to see how they execute on that, Nintendo and all. Love the addition of Greninja. It's badass.

weird they're not concurrent. ninty gawdammit have more faith in my wii u :(

It's crazy that's it's coming out way earlier on 3DS considering the character parody etc. :/

You also think they would want to push the Wii U version more??

Thanks!

Just don't put it out on the Wii U. Keep burying your home console by putting everything worth buying on the handheld.

They're not stupid. WAAAAAAAAAY more people have 3DSes than Wii Us.

They win in two different ways:

The people who are really excited for the Wii U version aren't gonna see that the game is out 4 months early and go "no thanks, I DON'T want to be able to play it right now"

And then those same people when the Wii U version comes out aren't gonna go "no thanks, I don't need the one on the console that's dying for games and can play with an actual controller locally with my friends; I'M gonna stick with this handheld version".

It's very mercenary of them, but it's genius. I was having real trouble deciding which version I was gonna get. Now I'm probably gonna get both. I can't be the only one, either, this must be happening for an inconsequential number of people.

I wonder If the 3ds version can get 60 fps with the 3d turned on, or if it has to be off for it to run that well. After how atrocious Pokemon's 3d was, I'm a bit wary about this.

I'm probably just going to wait for the Wii U version. Smash Bros. is a game I'd rather play on a console.

This MIGHT just make me pick up a Wii U. What's the controller situation on that system? I understand that the tablet thing will probably be fine for controlling, but no way in hell am I using a wii remote.

@charlesda: They specifically mentioned that in the Direct. All characters will run at 60fps, even with the 3D turned on. The only variables they mentioned is that assist trophies will run at 30fps(they gave an example with Samurai Goroh, I believe).

wasn't originally that excited for this game cause i'm just not that big of a smash bros person but seeing new characters and how they play, like wii fit trainers, has made me much more interested. Can't wait to play it on wii u :)

@smokeyd123: Wii U has a the classic controller. Only tried it a couple times, but it seemed good to me.

Also, Winter!? Man. So much waiting.

It's real, and it's wonderful.

No series makes me geek out so hard as Smash.

That was me. I was going to skip the 3DS version unless they offered a really compelling reason to pick up both together, but now with the huge release gap I'll pick up the 3DS version at launch and then pick up a Wii U and Smash when that version comes out.

On the other hand, how can Smash move Wii U hardware now? Maybe it was never meant to.

Seeing Star Fox 1 Andross in that screenshot is really great/weird, because sometimes it seems like I'm the only person who remembers that Star Fox existed before Star Fox 64, Nintendo included. I still prefer it to 64 for some reason. Probably mostly nostalgia, but man, that game blew my mind at the time.

I would've also mentioned that they've designed the matchmaking such that there's a seperate Final Destination Only No Items mode (which allows for 1vs1 matchmaking) in addition to 4 player/2vs2 madness matchmaking.

Wait, so is Charizard a separate character unto himself now? He was one of three swappable Pokemon used by Red before right?

@flstyle: They're dropping transition/transformation characters. Charizard, Zelda, Sheik, Samus and ZSS are all distinct characters now.

Even if I wanted to play Smash on a 3DS there's no way I'd get it on mine now with both L&R buttons barely functioning. I'm completely fine with waiting for the WiiU version, assuming I'll end up picking the game up at all.

I like that they split the transforming characters up and made Charizard into his own, never was too fond of the switching mechanic.

Guess i gotta get a WiiU.

Really looking forward to this.

Did you mean parity?

They state in the video that it's 60 FPS with 3D. Except for trophies and other assist characters which run at 30? I dunno, it's weird.

@cloudymusic: I tried to play the SNES Starfox a couple of years back, and it gave me a headache. The almost-3D polygonal weirdness was so disorienting. Insane that the SNES could even pull it off, but oof, it was not a pleasant experience.

This was a pretty awesome Direct. I watched it with a group of friends and we agreed that the concepts introduced for online were several steps forward from Brawl.

The split for multi-form characters makes me think the roster is going to be huge, since there's some classic characters who are practically guaranteed but haven't shown up yet (Captain Falcon, Ness/Lucas, Ganondorf, Game & Watch).

Dunno how to feel about the Charizard thing, since I liked how Red worked in Brawl and I feel Charizard's pretty overrated. And I like Charizard. Greninja is kickass, though. Be cool if we had a Grass-type to finish a trio out. Maybe Sceptile?

I wonder if Nintendo is trying to kill the Wii U at this point.

I think releasing each version at a different time is a good move. It will encourage people to get both, not just one... though I was going to get both either way.

Hype. Hype. Smash Bros, thy name is Hype.

So much hype!

@smokeyd123: You also invest in one of these:

I have no idea how these will fair in terms of input lag. I imagine we'll have a lot of testing of that when Smash comes out.

I'm really glad I Scrolled down and watched the video before reading this and getting spoiled on the new characters..

I screamed like a little girl when Greninja showed up as a huge "BUT WAIT!!" moment, and I was already pretty excited about Charizard becoming it's own fighter (and not tied to two other pokemon)

... Soon... Soon it will be nothing but pokemon... the entire world... Yes.

@mrgtd said:

GET BOTH GET HYPE GO ALL DAMN NIGHT

You're right it's genius.

@ripelivejam: While I think it's easy to attribute the big release date difference as Nintendo having more faith in the 3DS than in the Wii U, I don't think this is necessarily (entirely) true.

It's probably at least relatively safe to assume that the Wii U version will have more cinematic stuff going on than the 3DS version, it wouldn't be that surprising if something similar to the Subspace Emissary stuff from Brawl was an exclusive mode in the Wii U version, and such a thing would make the Wii U version require more development time than the 3DS version (stages might also be more dynamic, models of just about everything may need to be more detailed, etc).

So, if the Wii U version will simply take more time to develop than the 3DS version, Nintendo probably is hoping that the fairly substantial difference in release dates aids the version-exclusive modes and stages in encouraging fans to buy both versions instead of choosing between the two.

It's also possible that they haven't quite figured out the exact details of how the versions will interconnect, that the Wii U's online infrastructure is going to be seeing an overhaul in a few months, or any number of other things may in whole or in part be influencing the decision to split the release date.

In short, while a lack of faith in the Wii U (or just a large amount of faith in the 3DS) could be behind the release date split, there are many other valid business and technical reasons for why this split would occur.

Global Smash Power is just taking the hidden metric that most competitive mulitplayer games use and making it visible, right? Because that's what it sounded like.

It just seems like the Wii U version is going to need more time is all. If the 3DS version is close to being done then why not just release it when it's done? Would people rather them not released the 3DS version until the Wii U version is ready? That wouldn't make much sense at all...it'd be Rayman Legends for the Wii U all over again

But i'm loving all the changes so far. Very smart and thought out. Sakurai must get very little sleep trying to develop these games

They haven't shown other characters from past games yet like Captain Falcon, ness, etc...so I'm really worried they won't be in. But Captain Falcon has been in their from the very beginning so no way they'd leave him out, right? In fact, I don't think I've even seen Star Fox yet

So much HYPE!!

I think I'll end up getting both versions. :)

YES! GET HYPE! Il wait till winter, its gonna be glorious.

...there are people who don't own a 3DS? Who is out there that is still holding back that are suddenly going to covert because of this???

This was so wierd, but appropriate for Nintendo.

Super Smash Pokeymans

WHERE'S MARTH?

Yeah, not a Smash Bros. fan but I do find it really odd that they haven't tacked on a subtitle for this one.

I don't think i've ever considered buying a console just for one game before but this game might make me get a Wii U.

Good to see that competitive play in Smash Brothers being at least acknowledged in this iteration. I wonder what the Melee FGC thinks of this?

They probably feel they're more likely to sell more copies of each if they're released at separate times. Makes sense to me, anyway. I'm definitely buying the 3DS version as soon as it comes out, and I'll get the WiiU version later. If they both came out at the same time, I might've just bought the WiiU version only.

Also, if they're going to release them separately, it makes sense for the 3DS one to come first, as it can serve as somewhat of a demo (albeit a full game) of what's to come.

And if there's ever a time to push the WiiU, it's during the holidays.

MY EXPERT SPECULATION. IT CANNOT BE CHALLENGED.

The custom moveset option. What they showed is great and exciting. If they go all-in on that idea, allowing you to change normal attack properties and character physics, then the doors are freaking off and all bets are off.

Dear Nintendo, please stop making me more hyped for this game; my body cannot take it.

P.S. Never stop.

@bbalpert: I totally did! Fingers got away from my brain...

Poor choice for them to release this on the 3DS first in terms of sales. If they released it the other way around, it may have been an incentive for some people to go out and buy a Wii U.

@ultimaxe: Kart 8 was always going to move more hardware than Smash, but Smash will do its part for sure

greninja is a great pick! it sounds like pokemon trainer isn't coming back, which is a bummer. he was interesting.

WiiU Gamepad feels good, IMO. However, the Pro Controller will be great for Smash.