Even with the release of Mortal Kombat 11 a little over a month away, many of us fighting game fans are still consumed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With continued support from Nintendo, an (almost) fully functional online network, and tons of new downloadable content (DLC) set to drop in the coming months, the Big N really locked us in for the long haul. And this spring, the Version 3.0 update of Ultimate may be sparking the attention of longtime veterans of the franchise based on the alleged findings of some dataminers.
According to the Youtube account Source Gaming, dataminers recently found evidence of Home Run Contest and Stage Builder in the code for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, leading them to believe that the two beloved game modes will be unveiled in the 3.0 update. Nintendo said in its recent Direct that the update will be available sometime in April, which has the fan community anxious to see exactly how this extremely popular game will be changing, come next month.
Both Home Run Contest and Stage Builder have been staples of the series for some time. Home Run Contest is a simple mini-game that allows you to beat the sh*t out of a sandbag and send it soaring through the air to post high scores and gather unlockable content. Stage Builder was unveiled in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and was celebrated for giving players an interface to create levels of their own. For my friends and me, this meant having an opportunity to test the limits of the game’s mechanics: We bottled up fighters into a small box and distributed enough Bob-Ombs to make damage levels reach their pulverizing maximum.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a massive hit for Nintendo. According to Digital Trends, the game sold more than 12 million units in its first three weeks on the market. Nintendo has since announced there will be five DLC characters for the title. With Stage Builder and Home Run Contest potentially arriving in April as well, it’s starting to get very hard not to consider Ultimate as one of the best Nintendo games of all time.
Dom Nero is a Senior Creative Producer at Esquire, where he also writes about film, tv, tech, and video games. Elsewhere, Dom hosts Eye of the Duck, a podcast about essential movie scenes.
