The time is finally upon us. Fatal Fury‘s Terry Bogard is finally playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Series director Masahiro Sakurai held a 45-minute presentation earlier today (similar to the one he held for Hero and Banjo-Kazooie) detailing the new fighter’s moves as well as the game’s 6.0 update, which adds a number of new features and fixes.
The main draw of every major Smash Bros. Ultimate update is the new fighter, and Terry is one of the best we’ve seen so far. Just like Ryu and Ken, Terry has several moves that require specific commands to execute. Also like his Street Fighter counterparts, Terry will automatically turn to face his opponents in one on one matchups to make inputting those commands easier. Each of Terry’s special moves has stronger versions that power up depending on how long the button is held.
What really sets Terry apart, however, is his side special attack. Normally in Smash, the side special move is the same for both the left and right directions, but Terry’s side special is different. There are two different side specials depending on whether you input forward or backward. Also, if Terry reaches over 100%, he gets access to super special moves that can very easily turn the tide of battle if used correctly. These moves are high-risk, high-reward, and should only be used if you’re sure you can land them. Terry has a ton of unique mechanics and moves that will no doubt make him an incredibly satisfying character to learn.
The new stage is called King of Fighters Stadium, and like Terry, it has its own unique mechanics. The blast zones of the stage are walled off and fighters can only be knocked through them once they’ve taken enough damage. The stage will feature cameos from several SNK fighting game characters like Geese Howard and Billy Kane, but there is one notable omission.
Mai Shiranui, a fan-favorite SNK character will not be making an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate because Sakurai believes she isn’t a good fit for the family-friendly game. “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many ages, so we decided not to feature her,” said Sakurai, clearly in reference to the character’s incredibly revealing outfit.
Still, Sakurai is a huge SNK fan, so he asked SNK for 50 songs to put in the game hoping that a decent chunk of them would be approved. What Sakurai wasn’t expecting, though, was permission to use all 50 songs in the game. The King of Fighters Stadium includes all 50 of these SNK songs, 15 of which are remixes. Tracks from Art of Fighting, Samurai Showdown, and Metal Slug are all there. This smashes Castlevania‘s record of 34 songs by a large margin, and now we can officially say that Smash Bros. Ultimate has 25 times as many SNK songs as Final Fantasy songs.
Of course, alongside Terry Bogard, we also have Update 6.0. The update overhauls online battle arenas, bringing the ability to change rules, send messages to other players, and more. Five new Mii Fighter costumes are now available as well, and they’re all fighting game themed this time around. Costumes like Iori Yagami and Ryo Sakazaki will be available for 75 cents starting today. Additionally, support for the upcoming Chrom, Simon, and Incineroar Amiibo figures was added. These figures will be available on November 15.
With four of the five slots on the fighter pass already filled, we’re left with one burning question. Who’s the last one? Will it be the highly rumored Doom Slayer? Will Geno make a surprise appearance? Or will it be someone else entirely? Only time will tell.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch.
