Despite being famously wary of online multiplayer (or really online anything), Nintendo are increasingly aware of the huge subculture of obsessive and competitive Smash Bros fans that has only been growing with every new release in the series. As such, their E3 reveal of Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS took the form of the Super Smash Bros Invitational, a tournament that invited some of the world's best players to try the new game for the first time. Besides being an opportunity to see Greninja and Mega Man's Final Smashes for the first time (and to discover to Robin Williams' daughter Zelda doesn't play as her namesake), the tournament and the fact that Nintendo chose it as a way to unveil all these new features of the game suggest that Super Smash Bros Wii U and 3DS will be pushing the competitive culture of the game more than ever. Obviously, it's already baked into the concept of Smash Bros from a base level - it doesn't really work as a single-player experience, sorry loners - and whilst previous titles in the series have offered online play as an option, we wouldn't be surprised if the Invitational was a hint that they'd be really pushing the boat out and finally embracing online multiplayer with these new games.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
