The original version of Super Smash Bros. 64 was released in Japan on January 21, 1999. America would later get access to the game on April 26, 1999. As it turns out, we’re approaching the 25th anniversary of the Super Smash Bros. series.
Zippo, a known insider and leaker of Nintendo news, recently shared his first Super Smash Bros. related scoop on his blog. According to his post on December 1, Nintendo is supposedly planning “announcements, celebrations and events to commemorate the anniversary of Smash throughout the year,” in celebration of the 25th anniversary.
During his blog, Zippo claims that a new game has been ruled out for the time being. It’s stated that the new Super Smash Bros. entry is being planned in some way, but that supposedly won’t be ready by the end of 2024.
Of course, this part feels like a fairly safe prediction considering all the rumors regarding the Nintendo Switch follow up. No doubt Nintendo will eventually be enticed by the game now selling over 32 million units since 2018, though it probably won’t be a launch title.
Regardless, Zippo then proceeds to speculate about the possibilities of a concert series, Super Smash Bros. 64 being released for the Nintendo Switch Online, more DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Zippo states that he believes this is extremely unlikely), and remasters of older Smash entries, such as Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Earlier this month, we reported on how Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is scheduled to receive new Spirits in celebration of the game’s fifth anniversary. However, we’ll have to wait until January to hear more about these Spirits.
The last Spirit added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the Evil Ryu Spirit back in January 2022 to commemorate Street Fighter’s 35th anniversary. Needless to say, we speculated that this latest announcement had implications on what could be happening behind the scenes for the Super Smash Bros. series.
With Zippo now reminding us that the 25th anniversary for the Super Smash Bros. series is now coming up, Masahiro Sakurai’s comment in response to this announcement has been given some new context. More specifically, he coyly pondered which game these upcoming Spirits will be coming from. Perhaps these Spirits will come from the Super Smash Bros. series itself.
What’s interesting is that Zippo’s blog is suggesting that more Smash related surprises will be dropping throughout the year of 2024. This suggests that these Spirits coming in January and the Sora amiibo dropping in February are only the beginning of what we could potentially expect.
Of course, it should be noted that Zippo has a bit of a spotty record as an insider when it comes to his predictions and scoops. Most recently, Zippo suggested in his blog that Nintendo would only have small announcements to make at The Game Awards 2023 ceremony which included Another Code R and Princess Peach Showtime mentions, but Nintendo actually had no trailers or information at all for the event.
It’s certainly worth noting that Nintendo hasn’t really held major celebrations for Super Smash Bros. anniversaries in the past, so this is a bit of a bold prediction from Zippo. Ultimately, we’ll have to see how things unfold going into 2024.