'Super Smash Bros. 4' Release Date: Greninja And Charizard Join The Fight As Nintendo's Premiere Game Finally Has A Release Window

During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, much was revealed about the upcoming “Super Smash Bros.” for Wii U and 3DS. One of the most important being the release date! Well, actually it was just the release date window. The 3DS version is expected this summer while the Wii U version will follow in the winter of 2014.

Masahiro Sakurai also revealed five more playable characters, three of which are familiar faces. The first two came after the news that character transformation would disappear from the next Smash Bros. iterations. That seemed like bad news as players grew fond of Sheik and Zero Suit Samus, but Sakurai put us all at ease when he revealed both female fighters would come as standalone characters with improved abilities.

He also revealed Yoshi is coming back but this time his character has been updated to make him a more formidable foe. And last but not least, is the news that there are two new playable Pokemon characters! In an epic promo trailer we see Charizard take on a slew of heroes including Mario, Link, Samus, Kirby and Olimar and Pikman. If you recall in previous games, Charizard was only available through the Pokemon Trainer but now it seems that he is a standalone fighter and has enormous power!

While the heroes fight we see a mysterious shadow charging up a powerful attack to stop the fighting. That’s when Greninja appears and joins the action. The trailer then shows off the fighting styles of both these Pokemon, check it out below!

Meanwhile it was also revealed that the 3DS version of “Super Smash Bros.” will get a unique multiplayer mode called Smash Run. Smash Run pits four players against one another in a dungeon full of random enemies. The goal is to collect stat-boosting power-ups as quickly as possible before the time runs out. After the five-minute timer is done players will then face off against each other with their newly acquired stats.

If you missed any of the Nintendo Direct watch it in full below along with the introduction trailer for Charizard and Greninja.