Hey there, boys and girls, and welcome to another installment of Smashing Saturdays! This week perked up with some really interesting new reveals, including a change to how Luigi plays, more glorious detail about a classic yet new-to-Smash Pokémon, some fantastic new music and a very surprising new Assist Trophy. All that, plus a new Character of the Week. So let’s get Smashing!

As much as I don’t typically enjoy clone characters, Luigi is a special case. After all, he’s always been the odd man out in the dynamic duo of plumbing brothers. While he was pretty much exactly the same as Mario in the original game, he thankfully got a lot more personality in Super Mario Bros. 2. Suddenly the lanky sibling could jump higher, but at the cost of having slippery movement. Then several years later he got even weirder when he inherited a mansion and a cool vacuum cleaner. Which brings us to today’s reveal. Apparently, now Luigi will utilize the Poltergust when he throws players. While that sadly isn’t illustrated in the trailer, it does make me excited to see if the green guy got any other significant changes in Ultimate.

Fun fact – Ditto is TERRIFYING in 3D!

While it’s not exactly news that Ditto is coming to Ultimate, this picture is too priceless not to share. The way he’ll work is the shapeshifting blob will transform into whoever throws his Pokéball, and will have access to the same moves. So he’ll be a real wild card when he shows up to battle, perhaps more so than any other Pokémon. Just as it should be for such a classic and weird creature.

Next up, thanks to the inclusion of Simon and Richter to Smash Bros., we’re getting a bunch of music from the Castlevania series. This week, we are getting Lost Painting, straight from my favorite game in the series, Symphony of the Night! However, this version is remixed by Tetsuya Shibata to sound a bit more modern rock and less gothic. So it’s not exactly the same, but it still is pretty catchy. You can listen by clicking here.

Although I’m terrible at the Sonic games, I’ve appreciated the levels he got in Smash Bros. Perhaps none so much as Green Hill Zone, a throwback to an iconic area from that series. It’s always fun to play, since the shattering landscape and Point Marker smacking players in the face makes for a tense battle every time. Here’s hoping Sonic gets some more stages in Ultimate to mix things up even more.

I’m still a bit shocked that Pac-Man made it into Smash Bros. Not cause he’s unworthy, but just cause I am amazed they could make a cohesive moveset out of his games. But as has been proven to me multiple times, he’s a very powerful character in the right hands. I’m far from amazing as him, but I still enjoy playing the yellow maw from time to time. I might end up playing him more in Ultimate, since it looks like his Final Smash got an extra dose of caffeine. Now he can chomp foes as fast as Sonic can run in circles!

They saved the best for last this week, with a strange new Assist Trophy. Remember Swapnote? Remember that annoying character who told you how to use its features? Yea, she’s in Ultimate now. Nikki will draw things on the screen (what else?) to cause mayhem for everybody that didn’t summon her. Nothing quite like getting blown away by a windmill! But don’t leave yet, as I have another odd Character of the Week for you below!

Character of the Week

Wario

I’ve been a fan of Wario ever since he got his own series of platformers, and kept on playing when WarioWare became a beloved series. In Smash he’s a weird mixture of different versions of his character, but I’d say he incorporates more from WarioWare than anything. He’s a lot of fun to play as, blasting into foes with his motorcycle, twirling around, passing gas and chomping things with his cruel chompers. And as far as Final Smashes go, there are few as creepy and weird as him transforming into Wario-Man and dashing about. My only complaint is that his Final Smash made him hard to control, but it looks as though that’s been fixed in Ultimate.

While he’s far from one of my mains, I do like trying my hand at other characters just to keep my reflexes fresh. I’m sure many are still upset about Wailuigi not making the cut in Ultimate, but honestly I think it’s enough to have Wario. After all, he’s headlined multiple games, whereas Wailuigi only exists to be another playable character in Mario Tennis and occasionally Mario Kart. I might change my tune if he gets his own game in the near future, but until then I’ll stick with the treasure hunting, garlic eating, scheming bad boy, Wario.

Thanks as always for joining us. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Halloween season, whether you actively celebrate it or not. I’ll be carving some pumpkins for the occasion and counting the days til December!