Everyone grab a grain of salt in one hand, and clasp your ticket for the hype train in your other hand. We have a round of reportedly leaked images from the upcoming Super Smash Bros. port for the Nintendo Switch, and they look good… really good.
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There are five images that surfaced today on 4chan, of all places. I’m loathe to report on anything that comes exclusively from 4chan, but then, there have been several legitimate video game rumors that had their genesis at 4chan. All of this is to say that we can’t be sure of anything at this point, but we are assuming that Super Smash Bros. is coming to the Switch.
These images, according to the leaker, will show up very soon in a popular Japanese gaming magazine. If we had to guess, we’d assume that the magazine will be Famitsu. Whether these are meant to debu there before Nintendo‘s official E3 presentation is unknown, but it seems unlikely. An announcement this big, especially if this is a brand new Smash and not a direct port, would be worth saving for the presentation.
Without further ado, take a gander at our supposed leaked screenshots below. We’ll go over each of them briefly.
Remastered 3DS Stage
This image is one of the most convincing of the bunch. Here we see a completely remastered version of a Paper Mario stage found in the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. If this is fake, then it took a lot of effort on the part of the creator, because this stage was unique to the 3DS version of the game. There were no high resolution images of a Wii U version of this stage to tinker with, so this suggests a comprehensive version of the game on Nintendo Switch, containing all stages from both previous versions.
The stage also boasts an aesthetic most closely resembling the style of Paper Mario: Color Splash, and we’re hoping with everything inside of us that a Color Splash port is announced for the Nintendo Switch as well. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
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Split-Screen Madness
Here we see some split-screen action which, we have to admit, would probably be really hard to follow while playing in handheld or tabletop mode. We assume that this is an upgrade version of, or evolution of, Smash Run. This is an adventure style mode found in the 3DS version of Smash Bros. that has you blast through different stages, defeating small foes and picking up power-ups along the way, before facing off against a boss.
How this would work out in a split-screen mode we’re not sure. Perhaps all four players would run through the gauntlet and then battle each other at the end with their power-ups?
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More Split-Screen Confusion
What’s happening here is anyone’s guess. It’s possible that this is another mode of the upgraded Smash Run mode we mentioned above, but it looks like Mega Man and Mario are competing in two separate challenges. Mega Man is participating in what looks to be Smash Run, but on the lower screen we don’t see any items or power-ups for Mario. It looks like Mario is running through an enemy elimination challenge instead.
Perhaps players will be able to face off in separate challenge modes and compare high scores at the end? That seems a little too convoluted to be the truth, but we’re having trouble imagining how else this picture makes sense (unless it’s fake).
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Target Smash
Here’s a game mode that will be more immediately recognizable to long-time Smash players. Smash the target! Here again we see a completely remastered stage unfamiliar to us, so if this is a complete fabrication, then it took someone some serious time and effort to cook it up. Everything looks sharp vibrant, a clear visual upgrade from even the Wii U version of Smash, which already looked fantastic.
We don’t have long at all to wait, guys, so try to keep it together (we’re not). Nintendo’s E3 presentation is less than two weeks away, and who knows? Maybe we’ll see these images in Famitsu before then.ย In the meantime, weigh in on the poll below and tell us whether you think these images are real or fake (team real ftw!).
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