Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 2

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 2 is an action fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd., Nintendo, and Namco-Bandai and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DSGo in 2023, a full five years after its predeccesor Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It is the seventh game in the and the first to be a direct sequel to a previous title rather than an alternative version.
The game not only continues the trend of having all veteran characters return but also extends the concept even further, with every stage from past games returning as well as having more items and modes than any of title in the series. Additionally, Ultimate 2 features many new changes to the gameplay that massively change dynamics, alongside sweeping changes to character movesets to make them more accurate to their original games while also more fun to play.
==Announcement History==
===May 2023===
During the Fire Emblem Expo 2023, a brief video was played teasing a new Super Smash Bros. title for the Nintendo Switch. Later than week, a video was quietly posted to Nintendo's YouTube page with a short video of Masahiro Sakurai, announcing the newest game in the series, titled Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 2. He said that he wouldn't be able to reveal anything then, other than that he was working hard to bring back every character and stage. At the end of the video, the icon for E3 appeared, which many took as a sign that the game would appear at Nintendo's segment on that year's E3.
==Gameplay Changes==
*For the first time since Melee, a new type of Special Move has been added to character's arsenals: Status Specials. These can always be performed by pressing the Special Button while Shielding, although it can also be set as a separate button. These represents moves that affect the character's status or act defensively rather than offensively. Nearly all Status Specials were previously Down Specials, and most are either transforming moves, gimmick moves, or counters.
*Characters can now Shield in the air while retaining the ability to directionally air dodge. These Shields act exactly the same as the do on the ground other than the difference in Up and Down Dodging, which cause the fighter to move directly up or down in the air rather than acting as a Sidestep.
**Fighters may now Directional Air Dodge an indefinite amount of times in the air, and Air Dodges now have much less endlag, although the exact amount now depends on the individual character.
**Shielding characters experience some recoil from attacks, albeit less than would be received without a shield.
*Characters can now Grab in the air even if they do not have a Tether Grab. Upon Grabbing an opponent, fighters may Pummel or Throw them just as they can on the ground.
**Animations for Throws and Pummels are usually the same in the air as on the ground, although there are exceptions. Additionally, some Throws cannot be done in the air at all, and pressing that direction will cause the opponent to be released instantly.
**Characters can break out of a Grab much quicker in the air that on the ground.
**Throwing an opponent results in a recoil opposite of the direction in which they were thrown
*All Grabs can now grab ledges other than Link's, removing Tether Grabs as a separate category. Most Grabs, however, are still ineffective for this purpose.
**Simon and Richter's Side Aerials can still grab ledges 
*Stale-move negation, also known as staleness, has many changes:
**Staleness now effects other properties of some moves that only damage and knockback, including range and animation
**Variations of Special Moves may now have different stale levels; for example, each different level of Robin's tomes have separate staleness
**Staleness once again affects items that are produced by characters, such as Link's Bomb
**Counter Special Moves now take into account the staleness of both the Counter and the countered attack
*Custom Moves do not return; however, players may now create Custom Sets, which allow them to individually change the values of every attack in a character's moveset, including individual hitboxes.
*Pivot Grabs and Dash Grabs have been removed. Now, Grabbing while Dashing or turning simply causes a regular Grab to occur with all the same attributes as if the fighter was standing still.
*Toon Link, Diddy Kong, Samus, and Dark Samus can now Swing, which allows them to lower from the edge with their Grabbing implements a far distance and then swing back and forth. By swinging towards the stage and then back with enough length, they can swing in a wide arc and fling themselves onto the stage, giving them a powerful and unique way to make it back onto land that is hard to stop.
*Following changes from Ultimate, Smash Attacks can now be held for a much longer period of time than ever before, but their strength begins to decay as they are held until they have no strength and the character ceases to be charging it.
==Roster==
As with Ultimate, every veteran character from previous titles returns alongside numerous newcomers. The idea of Echo Fighters also returns, with some fighters being classified as Echoes differently than in Ultimate.
==Characters==
Many characters have received completely revamped movesets. 
===Significant Changes===
*Many character's have new unique Grabs that set them apart from other characters:
**Bowser Jr.'s Grab does damage to the character right in front of them, pushing them backwards before Grabbing them if they are close enough. If they stand a certain distance away, they are only Grabbed. Counters will react to the first hit but the Countering character will always be Grabbed before they have time to release the attack, other than Incineroar, who receives the full benefit.
**PAC-MAN grab's are now notably faster and also suck in opponents with windboxes.
**Isabelle's Side Special is now her normal Grab, and it can now be tilted at different angles to make up for replacing her more standard Grab from Ultimate
**Toon Link's Grab has been changed to the Grappling Hook, which has gravity and ties into the new Swinging feature.
**Diddy Kong's Grab has been changed to swinging a vine from his game, which is just as fast as before but with much longer range.
===Detailed Movesets===
==Stage Roster==
Every stage from previous Super Smash Bros. titles returns, aside from the duplicated Battlefields and Final Destinations, the Big Battlefield stages from Smash For and Ultimate, and the two original Flat Zone stages, as they remain merged as Flat Zone Z. The following changes have been made to the roster of stages:
*Peach's Castle (Smash 64) is now titled Above Peach's Castle
*Mushroom Kingdom (Smash 64) is now titled Mushroom Kingdom I. Mushroom Kingdom (Melee) is now titled Mushroom Kingdom II. Mushroom Kingdom II (Melee) is now titled Subcon.
*Brinstar Depths is now titled Kraid's Lair
*Yoshi's Island (Melee) is now titled Donut Plains
*Pirate Ship is now titled Tetra's Pirate Ship
*Mushroomy Kingdom is now titled Ancient Kingdom, and the World 1-2 version returns after being cut after its appearance in Brawl
*Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium are now merged into Pokémon Stadium X, which cycles between all forms of the two stadiums
*PictoChat and PictoChat 2 are now merged as PictoChat X, which cycles between all hazards present between the two versions
*Distant Planet is now titled Forest of Hope
*Gaur Plain is now titled Bionis' Leg
*Paper Mario is now titled Paper Mario Collage
*Mario Circuit from Smash For Wii U is now titled Mario Circuit 2
*Mario Galaxy is now titled Gateway Galaxy
==Stages==
==Item Roster==
==Items==
==Assist Roster==
==Development==
The creative director of the game, Masahiro Sakurai, had weekly columns during the development of the game describing many of the decisions and factors that went into Ultimate 2. His first concerned the name, and he gave many reasons as to why it was named as it was. His first was that he did not wish to invalidate either of the two Ultimate titles, knowing that the original was the "ultimate" Smash Bros. game at the time but that Ultimate 2 would now take its place. He also stressed that the two games were developed using a similar philosophy of appealing to the dreams of fans as well as preserving the history of the series.
He later commentated on the number of fighters in the game; counting Echo Fighters, it was by far the largest growth of any Smash Bros. title before. Sakurai stated that this was possible due to continuing the progress made in the original Ultimate and being able to work off of it as a baseline. Additionally, he clarified that creating Echoes was even easier than before due to changes in workflow. Lastly, he described how this was the first title in the series where it was possible to consider every fighter's moveset deeply thanks to how quickly they were able to develop new characters.
==Trivia==
*The new title for Mushroomy Kingdom, Ancient Kingdom, is the same as the titles for the Mushroom Kingdom stages in Japanese