Super Smash Bros Ultimate continues to build its massive roster with its second DLC Fighter Pass. The total will soon reach 77 playable characters with the addition of Steve from Minecraft.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai debuted the announcement on Nintendo’s YouTube channel today. Steve will not be alone, either, as Alex, Zombie, and Enderman will be available as alternate skins. (Steve and Alex each have three variations, with Zombie and Enderman serving as the 7th and 8th skins.) There will also be a new home stage for them, which features different seasons, environments, and structures from the bestselling game of all time.
A debut trailer showed off the characters’ unique animations and gameplay. Sakurai did not provide his usual breakdown on the new fighters’ move set—only mentioning their “short reach”—but they appear to utilize mechanics from Minecraft, such as crafting weapons, laying explosives, and placing tiles. Their Final Smash traps targets in a house loaded with Creepers and TNT, which then detonates.
Following the trailer, Sakurai discussed the process of adding Minecraft to Smash Ultimate, stating “even I never thought this day would come.” When approached with the idea by Nintendo, Sakurai considered the idea simple from an audio-visual perspective, but much more complicated in terms of programming.
“We have to rework all our existing stages so that blocks can be placed within them,” he added. “A lot of elements are completely different from our previous fighters.” Sakurai will give a 45-minute presentation on Saturday to fully explore the Minecraft representatives’ move set, as well as the other content which will be added to the game with their update.
Of course, this means Steve could eventually become an Amiibo figure, and we will have a new look for Kirby:
Steve is the second character in the Smash Ultimate second Fighters Pass, following Min Min from ARMS. Four more characters are planned to round out the package. Originally Sakurai intended for the DLC to be complete by the end of 2021, but it’s currently unclear if the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has altered this plan. No release date for Steve was given at this time.
