Assist trophies are a fine tradition in the Smash Bros series. They provide a place for characters who didn’t quite make the playable roster, as well as oddballs that wouldn’t work as normal fighters. Even with Super Smash Bros Ultimate‘s massive group of characters, some just didn’t make the cut. In the latest Nintendo Direct, Mr. Sakurai revealed the final batch of new Assist Trophies. These characters range from Nintendo favorites to a few surprising inclusions from other franchises.
It’s worth noting that there are two distinct brands of Assist Trophies in Ultimate. The more off the wall characters will stick to the background and affect the battlefield in some way. The Assist Trophy characters that are ready for a fight will wander around the stage and interject themselves into combat. Knocking these fighters out will get you points, but be careful of their attacks! If you happen to summon a fighting Assist Trophy but you’re worried about losing points, you can defeat them yourself.
- Coming from Nintendo’s oft-forgotten horror franchise Fatal Frame, Yuri Kozukata is the protagonist of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. In Smash, she snaps photographs of the fighters as she’s hunting for ghosts. This stuns and spooks characters temporarily, making them easy prey.
- Golden Sun‘s Isaac returns as an Assist Trophy despite what many were hoping for. He still has his giant hand to push characters off the stage, but his other magic spells come along this time as well. He can grab characters with the hand and smash them down, just like a certain Master Hand.
- Black Knight is the boss of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Continuing the theme of adding villains for the roster’s heroes, he is Ike’s greatest foe. Decked out in a massive suit of armor, this knight will jump into battle with massive swings of his sword.
- Thwomp from Super Mario Bros makes a proper entrance into the game. Just like in the platformer, he stalks players from on high and descends to crush them as they walk underneath.
- The star of ARMS joins the fight with Spring Man’s inclusion. He’s a full fighter that will walk around and knock players away with his extended punches. He also has a super move that can release a barrage of fast jabs to anyone in his way.
- Wily Capsule brings Mega Man’s archrival into Smash Bros. Hovering from above in a classic machine, Dr. Wily launches balls of energy at the combatants. Defeating his capsule will send Dr. Wily down to the playing field, where he’ll beg for forgiveness.
- Flies & Hand is the bizarre inclusion of the Fly Swatter game from Mario Paint. When unleashed, flies will start buzzing around the screen and a fly swatter will try to hit them. Of course, if a fighter is in the way, then he’ll be smacked just as hard.
- Fire Emblem Awakening‘s Tiki is one of the franchise’s Manaketes. These are warriors who can transform into dragons, and Tiki is no exception. Flying skyward once her transformation is complete, Tiki blasts the entire stage with a cone of fire.
- From the Art Academy series, Vince summons giant statue heads and tomatoes in with the help of a handy easel. Quite a distraction during a hectic fight.
- Street Fighter‘s Guile marches into battle with a barrage of Flash Kicks. Don’t worry, his theme still goes with everything, including this cameo.
- Premiering from Virtua Fighter, Akira sports a retro look straight off the Sega Saturn. He has an array of moves from the first game in the series and even sports accurate taunts after a battle.
Along with the already announced Assist Trophy characters, Super Smash Bros Ultimate will include 59 total. Mr. Sakurai noted that this was more than the number of Pokemon included in the game’s Pokeballs.
