What Characters Appear in the Super Smash Bros for Nintendo Switch Trailer?

Nintendo shocked the world when it announced a new Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch, which would be out later this year. We’re still waiting to see whether this will be a new Super Smash Bros. game or an enhanced version of the 2014 Super Smash Bros game for the Wii U/Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo gave us a tantalizing tease of who would appear in the new game. In addition to Inklings from the Splatoon game series, we also got a brief glimpse of a shadowy group standing in front of a flaming Super Smash Bros. logo.

We’ve zoomed and enhanced a still of the game’s roster and were able to identify a few fan favorites from among the group. Here’s a first look at the characters appearing in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Switch:

The Inklings

The Inklings were the first characters to appear in the trailer, battling each other in a fast paced ink battle. The Inklings come from the Splatoon franchise, one of Nintendo’s newest IPs. 

In Splatoon and Splatoon 2, players battle in turf wars by spraying ink with squirt guns, paintball guns, and rollers on an enclosed map. Players can switch between a humanoid form and a squid form that can swiftly swim through the ink. While you can focus your attention on shooting other players, you ultimately win battles by having more of your ink on the map than the other team.

With a large arsenal of weapons to choose from, expect the Inklings to be effective ranged fighters that can quickly squirm out of harm’s way by using their squid form. 

Mario

Of course, no Super Smash Bros. game is complete without Mario, and we got a solid look of Nintendo’s main mascot in the teaser trailer. 

Mario has always been a well-rounded fighter, but there’s a chance that the new Smash Bros. could give him a little more of a ranged attack. Super Mario Odyssey teamed Mario up with Cappy, a sentient hat that Mario could throw at enemies. Assuming this is a new game, we’d expect Cappy to bounce over to the new Switch version to give Mario a mid-range attack that Mario can use to interrupt charging foes. 

Hopefully, we’ll also get to see a New Donk City stage in the new Super Smash Bros. New Donk City was easily the best stage in Super Mario Odyssey and would be perfect for a huge Smash Bros. brawl.

Link (Breath of the Wild)

One of the biggest clues that this new Super Smash Bros. game isn’t a port of the Wii U version is the inclusion of Link from Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the trailer. While Link has appeared in every Super Smash Bros. to date, Link was wearing a blue tunic from the acclaimed Nintendo Switch game instead of his traditional green garb. 

While Link will definitely be a swordfighter in the new Smash Bros., it’s possible we could see some of the mechanics from Breath of the Wild factor into the game. Link’s weapons would wear down over time and eventually break after prolonged use. It would be amazing if this jumped over to Super Smash Bros., which would mean that Link couldn’t spam one move or risk losing his weapons and end up vulnerable.

Bowser

Now that the three “definite” characters are out of the way, let’s move on to the characters we saw in silhouette in the new trailer. 

First up is Bowser, Mario’s traditional nemesis and frenemy in the Mario games. Bowser has appeared in multiple Smash Bros. games as a slow-moving but powerful bruiser. Armed with devastating punches and a fire breath attack, Bowser can do a lot of damage in the hands of the right player. 

One of the big questions is whether Bowser will be donning his schnazzy tuxedo from Super Mario Odyssey. Bowser kidnapped Peach and tried to marry her on the moon, but he looked pretty darn dashing in a white tux and top hat while doing so. 

Samus

Another obvious silhouette was Samus, the star of the Metroid franchise. Samus has appeared in every version of Super Smash Bros wearing her familiar Power Suit. Samus’s Power Suit gives her a ton of different projectile attacks ranging from homing missiles to a charge shot. Samus is great as a zone attacker, but she’s vulnerable at point blank range. 

In recent games, Samus can also alternate between her Power Suit and her Zero Suit, a less bulky form with entirely different attacks. Zero Suit Samus is much quicker than her Power Suit Samus and has formidable aerial attacks. Zero Suit Samus was considered one of the best characters in the last two Smash Bros. game, so we can bet that she’ll be back in the new game. 

Donkey Kong

We also caught a glimpse of Donkey Kong, another Smash Bros. veteran. Donkey Kong was Mario’s first antagonist, but Nintendo eventually spun him out into his own video game franchise, where he adopted a more laidback attitude. 

Donkey Kong is probably the most mobile and agile of the heavyweight characters in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, which made him a lot more useful in fights than other characters in the game. The most recent game saw Donkey Kong as a fantastic combo machine, although he was just as vulnerable to combos due to his large size.

Pikachu

Besides Mario, Nintendo’s most popular character is Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokemon franchise. Pikachu can be spotted standing in front of Samus, his ears lit up by the fiery Smash Bros. symbol behind him. 

Pikachu is one of the speediest characters in Super Smash Bros., which means that he can be deadly in the right players’ hands. While Pikachu is fast, he can also be KOed easily and doesn’t have any really powerful attacks, which some felt made him an underwhelming character. There’s not a lot of room for error while playing Pikachu, but he can still be a ton of fun to play with, especially in stages where there’s a lot of room to manuever.

Star Fox

Fox can be seen on the right hand side of the silhouetted characters, his ears visible in front of Bowser’s arm. Fox is another Smash Bros. veteran, having appeared in every version of the game to date. 

Fox’s biggest asset is his blaster and his quick mobility. The blaster lets him do a bunch of damage quickly, while his mobility prevents him from getting outmaneuvered by smaller characters. Fox also has a handy deflector shield that will deflect most attacks – which is an amazing weapon when timed properly. Fox’s biggest weakness is that his movements can be easily tracked, which makes him easy to counter and put into devastating combo attacks. 

Sheik

The final obvious character in the trailer is Sheik, who can be seen standing to the left of Samus. Sheik is in her trademark arms crossed pose, which makes her a little bit hard to identify at first. 

Sheik is an alter ego of Princess Zelda who appeared in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As Sheik, Zelda assisted Link as an adult while hiding in plain site. 

While Zelda is considered one of the weakest fighters in the Smash Bros. games, Sheik is one of the strongest. Her smash attacks and agility make her one of the best characters in the game, even if her regular attacks don’t do much damage.  

Other Possibilities

There’s at least one more swordsman/swordswoman in the silhouette, which could be any one of the Fire Emblem characters. There’s also a couple of round characters, which could mean Kirby, or Jigglypuff (or both). Finally, it appears that King Dedede’s hat can be seen in the shadows, although we can’t definitively say that it’s him. 

Other characters that we can expect to see include Ness, Yoshi and Luigi, as both characters have made appearances in every Smash Bros. game to date. Princess Peach is another character who’s almost a guarantee to appear in the game. 

As for new characters, it’s possible that we’ll see a character from ARMS, Nintendo’s newest fighting franchise, make an appearance in the game. We also wouldn’t be too surprised to see Crash Bandicoot, as Nintendo announced that the former PlayStation stalwart would appear in a remastered trilogy of older games for the Nintendo Switch later this year.