Smash Bros Ultimate Gets Two Final New Fighters, Ken And Incineroar

Nintendo has confirmed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final starting roster will be 74 fighters, with newly announced Ken from Street Fighter and Incineroar from Pokemon being the last additions.

Ken will be an echo fighter, meaning most of his moves and animations will mirror Ryu’s. He’ll have unique attack animations reminiscent of his moves in Capcom’s fighting game series, however, and he’ll also be slightly faster than Ryu. Like the latter, Ken also has two super attacks. The first, Shinryuken, is a spinning upper cut that targets the center of the stage, while the second, Shippu Jinraikyaku, will initiate whenever the player unleashes the smash attack while next to an opponent.

Incineroar, meanwhile, will be a unique wrestling style fighter who poses for the audience after each successful move. These animations can be canceled though to keep the flow of combat going. As a wrestler, a lot of his attacks will be higher risk, higher reward, requiring patience.

The final form of Litten, a starter Pokemon first introduced in Pokemon Sun and Moon, Incineroar’s throws will be slightly more powerful than other characters’, while the rest of his arsenal is made up of moves like Cross Chop, and recovery move that boosts Incineroar up and back down in a “V” shape, and a Darkest Lariat cyclone attack. He also has an lateral throw that launches opponents off a set of ropes and back into him for a second attack.

While both characters look cool in their own right, they’re a far cry from the additional ones fans had been expecting after months of theorizing based on now-disproven leaks. Last week’s Grinch leak in particular, which gave some Smash fans hope that Banjoe Kazooie and other strange characters would be added into the game at release, turns out to have clearly been a hoax.

However, even more skeptical and cautious fans still thought Nintendo had more than just two remaining fighters too announce.

Of course, this starting roster of 74 is still the biggest in the series’ history, and Nintendo will be building off it for years to come with future DLC. After all, that’s where Smash Bros. Wii U found many of its most exciting new fighters, including Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife and Bayonetta. Nintendo announced near the end of today’s Direct that the game will have a $25 season pass, with five new fighters to be added to the game one at a time following its release.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches on Switch on December 7.

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