Well, if I’ve learned anything today it’s that I should just stop looking at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate speculation altogether because it is always wrong. Because after Nintendo confirmed it would be revealing a new fighter for the crossover brawler, I never once saw anyone predict that it would be Steve and Alex from Minecraft.
The two were revealed through a brief cinematic trailer showing Mario being punched off a Smash Bros. stage and into a dark room, which Steve tunneled his way into. This was followed by a montage of the character in action, with much of their moveset revolving around the building mechanics of Minecraft and all the tools used to do said building. Both the Minecraft Zombie and Enderman will be playable skins alongside Steve and Alex.
Following the trailer, director Masahiro Sakurai explained that Nintendo approached him about the idea, and said that it was a challenge to make Minecraft characters and mechanics translate to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but the team was able to make it work.
A more thorough look at Steve and Alex will be taking place on Saturday, October 3, at 7:30 a.m. PT/10:30 a.m. ET.
You can check out the full trailer below:
In other news:
- Spider-Man Remastered Recasts Peter’s Model And He Pretty Much Looks Like Tom Holland Now
- CD Projekt Red Would Rather Overwork its Employees Than Delay Cyberpunk 2077
- Pokemon Sword and Shield’s DLC is Coming Soon, But This Sick Music Video is Here Now
With the addition of Steve and Alex, five out of the eight revealed DLC fighters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have been third-party characters outside of Nintendo’s own stable of franchises. While the company has had a few of its own characters show up since the game launched in December of 2018 like Min Min from Arms and Byleth from Fire Emblem, it seems like DLC has been largely used to bring in characters acquired through deals with other developers. Prior to Steve and Alex, there was Joker from Persona 5, Banjo and Kazooie, and the Hero from Dragon Quest.
But also notably, Minecraft is one of the few western franchises to get any sort of representation in Super Smash Bros. This is good because if Smash Bros. fans are going to claim that the game is no longer a celebration of Nintendo, but a celebration of video games on the whole, they can’t all be from Japanese developers. Right now there’s Banjo and Kazooie, the Rare-era Donkey Kong characters, Steve and Alex, and uh, oh wait that’s still it.
The original Minecraft has gone on to become the best-selling game of all-time, but it’s not the only game in the series to come to the Nintendo Switch to round out the franchise’s representation and make them a worthwhile addition to Nintendo’s crossover fighter. Minecraft Dungeons, a cooperative dungeon crawler, launched earlier this year. For more on that, be sure to check out all of the guides we have on the game, from every rune location to how to defeat redstone golems.
