Luigi's 'death' scene in the recent Direct

You'll very likely recall the recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate direct, which - amongst other things - revealed a plethora of new content in the form of characters, stages, and modes. You might also recall that Luigi seemed to have his soul ripped out during the show, and a large section of the game's main menu was blurred out for a future reveal. These two things aren't actually related, are they? Or are they?

If you missed the news last week, we reported on an excellent effort from Twitter user @noctulescent, who used various tricks to take a deeper look at the blurred section of that menu. It appears that the section contains the word 'Spirits', signalling the possibility of a brand new mode under that fancy name. We immediately jumped to the conclusion that Luigi's spirit being removed in the show's opening sequence could be involved, but fans have taken things to another level.

Several threads on Reddit are currently full to the brim of speculation from eager and excited fans, with mentions of a new single-player campaign - or at least a revamp of The Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl - popping up all over the place. With Luigi's 'death' in this Nintendo Direct, and Mario and Mega Man seemingly being wiped out during Ridley's reveal at E3, the general consensus is pointing towards a story mode where the player must collect the souls of 'murdered' victims, unlocking them as a playable character in the process. Other theories suggest that you might actually 'kill' the characters to unlock them, although this seems a little un-Nintendo to us.

What happened to Mario after Ridley's attack?

We have to say that we completely agree that the first theory could be a possibility, however - two members of team Nintendo Life actually discussed this very idea in a recent YouTube video (at around the 12:34 mark). It could well produce a much larger, deeper single-player mode than we've ever seen before, once again living up to the game's 'Ultimate' name. 

Masahiro Sakurai did say to expect more news on the blurred out section in the future, so we'll be eagerly waiting for confirmation on what the mode will be exactly. In the meantime, though, let us know what you think about these theories with a comment or two below.

[source eurogamer.net]