Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct + Nintendo Treehouse Live - live-stream/blog

Stay tuned to this post for a live-blog of whatever info is shared during the Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, as well as the Treehouse Live presentation happening afterwards.

- Ken from Street Fighter is joining Smash Bros. Ultimate!
- Incineroar joins the battle as well!
- Ken is based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Heavy Shoryuke, Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, Hell Wheel, Focus Attack, faster than Ryu, has two Final Smashes (Shinryuken and SHippu Jinraikyaku)
- Incineroar uses pro-wrestling moves and loves to pose for the audience, cancel a pose at any time, Darkest Lariat, Cross Chop, can do an Irish Whip, back body drop, lariat, Revenge down special, Max Malicious Moonsault final smash

- Power-up your fighters with the spirits of characters not appearing in the game as fighters. Spirits offer up different types of power and support based on who they are. Hit puppet fighters to grab the spirit within for yourself. Pick a spirit that has an advantage over your opponent. Primary spirits level up after battle, or you can feed it snacks to do so. Some Spirits have enhanced forms that only appear after leveling up. Train spirits at the dojo, or send them out to hunt for treasure. Beat Master Spirits to unlock facilities. Spirits can be used to power-up amiibo players. Final Smash meter is enable when fighting against a Spirit.
- Online matchmaking is based on three factors
- set preferred rules for online play to find players best suited for you
- Global Smash Power shows where you rank among all other players online, and there's a different score for each character
- repeated self-destructs will bounce you from an online game
- Elite Battles opens up when you've reached a high enough GSP
- beat a fellow player to receive their Smash Tag
- select short messages to send before/after battle
- play other modes while you wait for online battles to start
- Spectator Mode returns to let you watch other players' battles
- form a two-player time and play online with a single Switch
- create a special type of battle arena to fight against friends and other similar players
- uses voice chat with the Switch Online mobile app
- Smash World free service coming to mobile phones in 2019, and will offer regular updates
- Yuri from Fatal Frame, Isaac from Golden Sun, Black Knight from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Thwomp, Spring Man from ARMS, Dr. Wily, Flies and Hand from Mario Paint, Tiki from Fire Emblem Awakening, Vince from Art Academy, Guile from Street Fighter, Akira from Virtua Fighter are all Assist Trophies
- there are 59 assist trophies in all
- Help feature lets you review game modes, features, and more
- Century Smash, and All-Star mode are included and available right from the start
- save your replay footage and create videos with it
- check out the tips and tricks offered during loading screens at any time
- complete challenges to earn rewards
- records section tracks battle history
- trade in Smash tags for in-game gold, and use gold for music tracks, spirits, and items for Spirits mode
- supports 11 languages
- TV mode and handheld have separate settings for brightness and sound
- adjust the strength of fighters on the same system to ensure a fair fight using custom balance
- customize Mii fighters and change their outfits
- new Mii fighter outfits: Yiga Clan, Splatoon 2, Ribbon Girl, Chibi Robo, Ray MkIII, Nintendo Labo Toy-Con
- DLC fighters being worked on. This will be paid DLC, and there will be a Fighters Pass for 5 different characters. Individual characters for $6, 5 characters in the Fighters Pass for $25, may take up to a year to release all the characters

- Piranha Plant will be a fighter released after the game comes out, and will be a limited-time free offer. Piranha Plant amiibo is on the way as well.
- Smash Bros. Ultimate features an adventure mode called World of Light, but full details will be kept secret until launch