Watch the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate January Direct right here

By Michael Andronico
published

A new challenger is coming

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Update: The new Smash Ultimate fighter has been revealed to be Byleth, the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

It's time to find out who's going to join the fray next in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo is hosting a special livestream titled "Mr Sakurai Presents ???" in which series producer Masahiro Sakurai will reveal the next character coming to Nintendo's beloved Switch brawler. 

The Smash Ultimate January 2020 direct began at 6am PT / 9am ET. You can replay it here:

While we don't have much in the way of leaks or teases to go off of, there's plenty of speculation about who the next Smash Ultimate fighter could be. Some fans are hoping from Dante from Devil May Cry (a series that recently came to Switch) or the Doom marine. Other out-there-but-not-impossible predictions include Master Chief from the Halo series, as well as pixelated Minecraft mascot Steve.

The next Smash fighter will round out the game's first $25 Fighters Pass, which currently consists of Joker from Persona, Hero from Dragon Quest, Banjo & Kazooie and Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury in addition to the unannounced mystery character.

Fortunately, this next fighter won't be the last to join the battle. Nintendo has already confirmed that it has plans to release more DLC for Smash Ultimate beyond the initial Fighters Pass.

Five Mii Fighter costumes were also revealed: Ataïr, Cuphead, Mega Man X, MegaMan.EXE and Rabbids.

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As seen above, the stream included the note that all challenger packs will be released by the end of the year. That includes 6 challenger packs, available for pre-order in a bundle starting Jan. 28.

Michael Andronico
Michael Andronico

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored. He was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide, where he wrote extensively on gaming, as well as running the show on the news front. When not at work, you can usually catch him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.