<P> At E3 2011, it was confirmed that a fourth and fifth Super Smash Bros. game would be coming to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the two games being cross-compatible with each other in some way . Sakurai stated that the announcement was made public in order to attract developers needed for the games, as development for the titles did not start until May 2012 due to production on Kid Icarus: Uprising . On June 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that the creation of the games would be a co-production between Sakurai's Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco Entertainment . The titles were officially revealed at E3 2013, with new information being released via trailers, Nintendo Direct presentations, and developer posts on Miiverse . The game features 58 characters (seven of which are downloadable) with 19 brand new fighters, including third - party characters Mega Man, Pac - Man, Ryu, Cloud Strife, and Bayonetta . The game was released for Nintendo 3DS in Japan in September 2014, and in North America, Europe, and Australia the following month . The Wii U version was released North America, Europe, and Australia in November 2014, and in Japan the following month . </P> <P> In April 2014, Bandai Namco Entertainment posted a recruitment advertisement on a Japanese career job opportunity website . The recruitment page consisted of a listing for programmers for "Smash Bros. 6", which was expected to be released in 2015 for both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS . The page noted there were 120 game developers working on the project at the time, and that Bandai Namco expected that number to increase to 200 . However, shortly after its publication, the page was taken down . In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was . In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in the Smash Bros. series . </P> <P> On March 8, 2018, a Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch was announced during a Nintendo Direct, in which Inkling characters from Splatoon appeared, suggesting that they would be new characters in the game . Sakurai later confirmed that he had worked on the game "in silence, day after day ." On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced that they would host another Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament, in which a selected group of players would get to play the game for the first time and compete in a series of matches before a winner is chosen . The tournament took place alongside the Splatoon 2 World Championship at E3 2018 and was held on June 11--12 . Both events were live streamed on Nintendo's official YouTube and Twitch channels . The title was later confirmed as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018, containing all playable characters from previous games in addition to Princess Daisy from the Mario series, the Inklings from the Splatoon series, and Ridley from the Metroid series . The game is scheduled to be released worldwide on December 7, 2018 . </P> <Table> Timeline of release years <Tr> <Td> 1999 </Td> <Td> Super Smash Bros . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Melee </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2002 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2003 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2005 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2006 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2007 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2008 </Td> <Td> Brawl </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2009 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2011 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2012 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2013 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2014 </Td> <Td> for 3DS and Wii U </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2015 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2016 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2017 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2018 </Td> <Td> Ultimate </Td> </Tr> </Table>

When does super smash brothers ultimate come out