Nintendo
Nintendo on Thursday announced the newest iteration in the franchise, "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U," coming Nov. 21, will support up to eight players simultaneously. Not just four. Eight.
This is an insane development for one of the most chaotic multiplayer games ever created.
Playing with four characters in past games was crazy enough. Players are punching, kicking, jumping, and throwing fireballs at each other, beating the stuffing out of Nintendo's classic mascots as items drop onto the stage.
Items-wise, you can toss bombs and banana peels at each other, hurl your friends off the stage, freeze them in place while you clobber them, or hit them with a fan or a baseball bat. Your friend can open a Pokeball and the entire stage will get filled with creatures trying to attack you. Stages occasionally change and even fight back. It's a crazy experience that needs to be seen - and preferably played - to be believed.
Check out this video for a taste of what you might experience with just four players:
Nintendo says eight-player "Smash Bros." will be limited to a handful of stages and game modes, but this can be a game-changer, particularly for big living room parties where previously only a small number of people could play at once.
However, there are also some limitations as far as how you can play an eight-person game of "Smash Bros."
- You can only use one Wii U gamepad controller, no matter how many players
- You can use up to eight Gamecube controller, even though you'll need two separate adapters
- You can use eight Nintendo 3DS handhelds as game controllers, but each portable must also have a copy of "Super Smash Bros. for 3DS"
- You can use up to 7 Nintendo Wiimotes
- You can use up to seven Wii U Pro controllers
So get some controllers, round up your friends, and maybe buy another couch. "Smash Bros." is going to be bigger and more inclusive than ever before, and that's a good thing.