There’s nothing quite like a Super Smash Bros. character reveal. It has become an event, with levels of hype equivalent to the Super Bowl. One only has to watch a Nintendo NY reaction to Banjo-Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to understand how important these fighter reveals are. Over on sites like Reddit, one can probably find countless speculation threads. Simply put, Super Smash Bros. is a worldwide phenomenon.

Smash generates a level of hype because of its dedication to each individual newcomer, implementing moves based on their respective games. When your favorite characters are announced, you know they are going to be implemented in the best way possible. Nintendo has been hyping newcomers for years now, but has taken some different approaches as time went on. For this article, let’s take a look at how fighter reveals have evolved over the years.

Straight To The Point

Super Smash Bros. Melee was released in 2001, in a time when social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter didn’t exist. Thus, newcomers were not the social media events they are today. Things began to change when Super Smash Bros. Brawl was announced. The 2008 Wii title set the foundation for fighter reveals. Take a trip down memory lane and watch the original E3 trailer.

Snake appearing still delivers the goosebumps. For Brawl, Nintendo launched the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website after the E3 trailer. Longtime players will remember checking the website every weekday for new updates, chief among them being character “newcomers” as they were called. Things were straight to the point then, no gimmicks. The website served as the hub for character reveals. It was a simple, but effective approach to unveiling characters. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS (referred to as Smash 4 from hereafter) did not use the website approach in favor of more trailer reveals.

Smash 4 upped the ante when it came to new fighters. After all, Brawl opened the floodgates by introducing third-party characters. It seemed inevitable Smash Wii U would go even bigger. Indeed, one of the first characters revealed was none other than Capcom’s Mega Man.

A small change from Brawl to Smash 4 is the “Newcomer” label was abandoned in favor of unique phrases, such as “Cloud Storms Into Battle!” The big thing is that Nintendo crafted original animations for many of its reveals. This is similar to Brawl’s E3 trailer, but taken to the next step. In Mega Man’s trailer, he is introduced with a CGI sequence, even showing his Robot Master abilities. That’s not all. For characters such as Palutena and Little Mac, hand-drawn animation is used, making fans wonder why there wasn’t a Super Smash Bros. anime. Just look at the impressive Link vs. Pit sequence below.

These animations were always followed by gameplay showing off the characters, so fans can have an understanding of how they operate. Also, Smash 4 introduced the coveted letter invitation, which would be used in full force in the most recent game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trolling The Players

Social media is bigger than ever, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate takes advantage of it. The character reveals evidence this with the amount of fun and little bit of trolling they have had. A notable aspect for some of the reveals in Ultimate is the fake-out. This is seen in King K. Rool’s trailer, as well as Banjo-Kazooie’s. Those were just the beginning. The fake-out is in full effect with the reveals for Terry Bogard and, more recently, Min Min. The invitation letter goes to different characters before being acquired by the true reveal. It’s obvious game director Masahiro Sakurai is having fun with the viewers, building even more hype than what was already present.

Seeing Captain Falcon and Kirby chilling in a ramen shop is a testament to how “meta” the trailers have become over the years. One more interesting factor about Ultimate’s character reveals is that at times, fans don’t even know it is a fighter reveal at first. This is seen with Isabelle and Joker. Watch this live reaction to Joker’s reveal to understand what Nintendo has managed to accomplish with its reveal trailers today.

Fighter Reveals Are A Form Of Art

The evolution of Smash reveals can be summarized like this: the buildup hype for characters took off in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the E3 trailer and DOJO!! website. Things were straight to the point — fighters were revealed through the DOJO!!. It’s in Smash 4 when fighter reveals started to become worldwide events.

Nintendo crafted animations to highlight many of the newcomers. The invitation letter was also introduced, something that became a major common factor in Smash Ultimate. For the recent Smash Bros., Nintendo has continued to craft original animations, but also has a fun time trolling the audiences with fake-outs. Also, there are times Nintendo tricks the audience at first by not even saying the video features an actual fighter reveal.

With how things have progressed, it’s interesting to consider how Nintendo will approach fighter reveal trailers in the next Super Smash Bros.

NEXT: Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Min Min Character Breakdown