As every Super Smash Bros Ultimate fan knows, a while back Nintendo announced their plans for Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s DLC. Consisting of five completely new characters and associated stages and music packs, these are being sold for $5.99 each, or $24.99 as a set as part of the so called Fighter’s Pass.

But it seems they’re not the only bits of DLC being added to Ultimate. No, free updates and DLC are coming to the game too.

With the first example being two new Spirits based on Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee. These Spirits are based on Pikachu and Eevee respectively, which makes sense given their roles as starter Pokémon in the games.

And they’ll be available to unlock in the game on December 14th. Here’s the tweet from the official Japanese Pokémon account about the deal:

12月14日（金）より #ピカブイ の「プレイ記録」のあるNintendo Switchで #スマブラSP を起動すると、ソフトごとで相棒のスピリッツを先行ゲットできる！ 今後スピリッツボードに追加されるので、お題をクリアして入手することも可能になるぞ。 #スマブラカウントダウン pic.twitter.com/XxqqtxFnFg

— ポケモン公式ツイッター (@Pokemon_cojp) December 2, 2018

What’s more, the way these Spirits are unlocked is quite unique too. Basically, you get them immediately if you have Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee save data on your Switch.

In Super #SmashBros. Ultimate, those with save data for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! will unlock the Partner Pikachu Spirit, and those with save data for #PokemonLetsGo, Eevee! will unlock the Partner Eevee Spirit! They can be unlocked by completing challenges too! pic.twitter.com/Sx4xIpCXwn

— Nintendo AU NZ (@NintendoAUNZ) 2 December 2018

While non players will be able to get them by completing challenges in game.
That’s pretty interesting, and brings us right back to the days of Smash Bros Melee and Mario Kart Wii, where trophies and characters were unlocked by save data there too.

Its timing is interesting too. After all, how often do you see updates announced before a game’s release date?

Not often, we’ll say that much.

But Smash Bros Ultimate is not a normal game with a normal history. We’ve already gotten mods based on the leaked game and official DLC announcements in a pre-release Direct, so an update like this isn’t outside the realm of possibility.

More interestingly though, they also prove something keen eyed fans have known for weeks. Namely, that Spirits do not rule out a character from being playable.

Seriously. We’re not sure where this misconception came from (maybe confusion with Assist Trophies or Poke Balls), but it’s been already proven wrong by K Rool’s presence as a Spirit in Kaptain and Baron form in the same game. Or how ‘Fighter Spirits’ are now a thing over on the wiki:

However, now Pikachu has put another nail in that coffin, since he’s obviously also playable in Ultimate and now has another Spirit to represent him too.

It also proves that new Spirits are going to be part of the game’s DLC line up as well. Seems like another quick update type that Nintendo can keep pumping out to advertise their latest titles.

So yeah, now we know. We’re getting extra Spirits as free DLC, said spirits could be based on characters who are already playable in Ultimate, and that DLC plans are already being laid out before the game’s release date.

Pretty cool all round really.

Source:

Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee/Let’s Go Pikachu Spirits in Smash Bros Ultimate (Twitter)