Nintendo hosted a new Nintendo Direct today that detailed over 50 things that the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. will have.  Some of these things are familiar to veterans of the series, while some others, like the all new Smash Tour mode, will be entirely new.  It had a lot of information to take in, so we’ll try to stick to the highlights here.

First off, the game will support up to eight players locally, which in turn will change the stage selection options to accommodate the larger amount of characters, limiting them to the larger stages.  It seemed like having four players was already a lot going on, but adding in an extra four players will only increase the chaos.

Like I mentioned above, Smash Tour will be a board game style mode where players will use Mii characters to take turns, picking up items, power-ups and characters to use in the mini-game like smash battles.  This mode is the Wii U answer to Smash Run on the 3DS, allowing players to collect custom moves, soundtrack CDs, trophies, and special equipment throughout this mode.  As players collect stat boosting power-ups, they in turn use them in their battles, using the characters they pick up as a sort of “stock life” in the battle.  It should be an interesting mode that extends the amount of options players will have to play the game.

Event Mode, which was a blast to play in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is returning, and it’s bringing back it’s own set of special challenges, as well as a special set of two-player co-op challenges, just like in Brawl.  Speaking of co-op, practically every mode in this game can be played with at least two players, even the normally single-player modes from the 3DS version like Trophy Rush, Target Blast, and now for the first time, Classic Mode can be played with two players, earning a character trophy for both characters upon successful completion.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduced a stage builder, which while fun, it was a bit limited.  This is not the case with the game on Wii U, as now players will be able to use the Wii U gamepad to draw out their stages just the way they like to, giving it a bit more of a personal flavor.  Looking at some of the examples in the Nintendo Direct, it’s easy to see just how many hours could easily be spent in this mode alone, and for good reason too.  Players will eventually be able to share their creations with the world, giving other players the chance to download custom stages, not to mention custom move sets for characters, snapshot photos, and even replays.

Long time fans of the series have been requesting Ridley to become a playable character in the series, and though he is still not a playable character, we have the next best thing.  On the Pyrosphere stage from the Metroid series, Ridley will act as a stage hazard, though that is not his only purpose.  Damage him enough on the stage, and he’ll actually fight alongside your character.  This is a similar mechanic to the Flying Man on the Earthbound stage, Magicant, in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.  What’s different in this situation is that Ridley actually counts as a point when you KO him, even having his own special point marker on the results screen.  In a nice twist, the player that gains him on their side will be able to KO Ridley themselves, gaining the point to themselves.  It’s also possible for Ridley to drain a material on the stage and transform into Meta-Ridley, becoming even more powerful and dangerous for the opposing players.

Another couple of modes that was added to the game was actually teased not too long ago.  Master Orders and Crazy Orders are a pair of modes that offer interesting challenges to the player from Master Hand or Crazy Hand.  Master Orders is a less risky version, giving more of a standard fare of challenges.  Crazy Order however, gives players a greater set of risks, but with said risks, come greater rewards.  The challenge here is you only get one shot, and if you lose, you lose all the rewards, whereas you still get to keep some of them in Master Orders.

Speaking of the infamous bosses of the series, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS introduced players to the new boss Master Core, coming in various forms.  The Wii U version has an all new exclusive form of the boss known as Master Fortress, a dungeon-like form that makes it so that players will have to destroy this boss from within.  This form will only be available on the higher intensity levels for Classic Mode, so it will be a challenge just to get to it alone.

Like I said, there was a lot of content to cover, and I only grabbed a few of them, but perhaps one more special piece of content was the announcement of the return of Mewtwo.  Mewtwo was cut from the roster in Brawl and replaced by Lucario, making fans hopeful for his inclusion in this game.  When the game launched on the 3DS in Japan last month, fans were saddened to see the final roster lacked the psychic Pokemon.  Despite this, it looks like Mewtwo is being brought back in the form of DLC, coming free for owners of both the 3DS and Wii U version of the game, most likely becoming paid DLC for other players later on.  This gives players an extra incentive to buy both versions of the game, and looks to pave the way for the option of other DLC content in the future.  Mewtwo is currently scheduled to be released in Spring next year, and sounds like he’ll be coming with a new set of abilities as well.

For more information on what I didn’t point out feel free to watch the entire Nintendo Direct below.  Super Smash Bros. for Wii U comes out on November 21st, 2014 in North America.