Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character reveal trailers
Image: Nintendo Life

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is celebrating its 5th anniversary today, 7th December 2023, and we're publishing a handful of pieces to celebrate this gargantuan fighter's birthday. First up, we asked you to vote for your favourite Smash Ultimate character reveal trailers...


Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a phenomenal game; of that, there is no doubt. However, if we're being honest with ourselves, our favourite memory of Smash Ultimate was finding out which characters would be included as additional downloadable content.

Whether it was the cheeky reveal of Persona 5's Joker at The Game Awards or the final trailer revealing Kingdom Hearts' Sora, there was nothing quite like the excitement and hype that permeated the community during both the lead-up and aftermath of those announcements.

To celebrate the game's fifth anniversary, we asked you to vote for your favourite character reveal from Smash Ultimate earlier this week. We have the final results right here, and team Nintendo Life has also chosen their favourites to round things out nicely.

So which character came out on top? Let's find out...

Staff Picks

Banjo-Kazooie - June 11th, 2019 Nintendo Direct

I'm not the world's biggest Smash fan, all told. In fact, I didn't buy Ultimate until nearly a year after it came out, and that was solely down to the most exciting announcement of this console generation for me: Banjo-Kazooie are Raring to Go!

With a similar format to King K. Rool's reveal trailer (where King Dedede donned a disguise before the croc monarch himself turned up), the guessing game was up the moment a Jiggy bounced across DK's treehouse. But Sakurai and the team still managed to build excitement, playing on our disbelief. The Duck Hunt duo fakeout lasts just a few moments — and you knew that Nintendo couldn't possibly tease fans like this and get away with not revealing Banjo and Kazooie — but until you actually saw them, you daren't believe it was true. Spiral Mountain, the characters, the moves, and the music (and that offbeat Ivysaur scene at the end) all combine into an expertly edited two minutes, twenty seconds; the snippet of DK, Diddy, and K. Rool going crazy and punching the air mirrored perfectly the scenes of fans at the NYC Nintendo store and my own reaction. Magic.

Banjo-Kazooie always felt like a celebration; a celebration of play, of 3D game worlds' potential in those early days, of Grimm fairy tales, of the humour and talent of the teams at Rare. This reveal captured that celebratory feeling for me. Forget Smash fighter announcements; watching Banjo and Kazooie return to a Nintendo console ranks alongside the biggest, best console and game reveals ever. GL

Simon & Richter Belmont - August 8th, 2018 Nintendo Direct

Listen, I love Luigi's Mansion and I love Castlevania.

So when the two franchises joined forces to reveal Simon Belmont for Smash Ultimate, you can bet that I was in absolute heaven. I love how character trailers like to keep their cards close to their chest until the big reveal, so watching Luigi sneak through a creepy castle filled with mummies and possessed statues, I was genuinely curious as to who might show up at the end. When Death drifted into view and quite literally killed Luigi, I knew who it was straight away.

That Smash was getting Simon Belmont was enough for me to squeal in absolute delight, but the fact that the game then revealed Richter as an echo fighter, Dracula as a boss character, and Alucard as a trophy assist, I couldn't deal with it anymore. I melted down onto the floor and stayed there for a good 48 hours or so before I could recover — just marvellous stuff. OR

Sephiroth - 10th December, 2020 The Game Awards

I had a hard time picking my absolute favourite reveal — like Gavin, I'm a big Banjo-Kazooie fan, and I was actually lucky to be at E3 the year he was announced. And Sora capping off the Fighter Pass was magical. But, come on, Sephiroth in Smash?

Even if you've never played Final Fantasy VII, the gravity of having Sephiroth in Smash Bros., opposite Cloud, is monumental. And his reveal trailer absolutely understands that. The fact I'm not even a huge Sephiroth fan and I screamed when 'Advent: One-Winged Angel' started playing says it all.

The reveal trailer feels like it's something straight out of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, with many of the scenes directly mirroring when Sephiroth makes his grand appearance at the end of the movie. "Shall I give Smash despair?" and "I will never be a memory" are the icing on the cake, and the closing fight between Cloud and Sephiroth, complete with an Omnislash from Cloud, taps into everyone's love for Final Fantasy VII. The gameplay showcase is amazing too. The short of Sephiroth in front of the fire, a reference to the Nibelheim incident; watching Sephiroth slice through stages effortlessly; seeing the Highwind flying out of Northern Crater. It's what every Final Fantasy VII fan ever wanted, but it's also just a thrilling showcase for an iconic character.

Plus, who can forget the brief moment when we all thought Sephiroth had murdered Mario? AH

Isabelle - September 13th, 2018 Nintendo Direct

I loved it when Sakurai and Co. would produce some of the most cinematic, guessing game trailers in recent history. As Ollie said, the way that things built to a big final reveal was always brilliant and a true air-punch moment. So why, you might ask, does the subheading read "Isabelle"? A reveal that has neither the suspense build-up nor the cinematic angles to match? It's for those exact reasons, actually.

Everything about Isabelle's reveal trailer is just hilarious to me. The fact that it takes place in-game. The way that the Animalise directly contradicts the violence that you know is right around the corner. The final reveal of the adorable moveset. It's pure cinema.

Let's also remember that this was the first time that we had seen Isabelle in a while. It was a promise of more to come (the at-the-time unnamed New Horizons was announced straight afterwards) and I couldn't have been more excited to see my beloved slice-of-life series back on my screen. It might not be the most cinematic out there, but it was (and still is) pure joy. JN


Community Top 5

Now you've read about our favourites, here's what you voted for as the best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character trailer!

#5 - King K. Rool (251 Votes)

The reveal trailer for King K. Rool would come to inspire the eventual reveal for Banjo & Kazooie, pulling a bait-and-switch technique by initially showcasing King Dedede before the big man himself, King K. Rool, leaps up from behind and whacks Dedede out of the shot. Delightful stuff.

#4 - Joker (299 Votes)

No one could have ever expected a character from the Persona franchise to appear in a Smash game (and his reveal even led to one of the most cringe-worthy Kinda Funny reactions of all time - mind the language), so this made Joker's arrival even more spectacular. The way the envelope turns to reveal the Smash logo is simply sublime.

#3 - Sora (438 Votes)

Many folks begged Sakurai to bring Sora into Smash, yet his eventual reveal wasn't just about his inclusion; it was a true celebration of the game itself and, ultimately, a final farewell to the fans. It was epic in all the right ways and showcased what a mind-blowing achievement Smash Ultimate turned out to be.

#2 - Sephiroth (652 Votes)

Sephiroth Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Image: Nintendo

Sephiroth's reveal was truly jaw-dropping, not least because it briefly teased Mario's untimely death by impalement. Alana has spoken about this one already, so we won't say too much here, but let's just say we're not altogether surprised to see so many of you vote for this one.

#1 - Banjo-Kazooie (812 Votes)

Banjo-Kazooie Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Image: Nintendo

Of course, it's Banjo-Kazooie. Of course! How could it not be? Since the franchise moved over to Microsoft, no one could have believed that the iconic duo would ever reappear on a Nintendo system, let alone in a Smash game. Yet here they are. Take a bow.

And the rest...

6 - Steve (206 Votes)
7 -
Pyra and Mythra (177 Votes)
8 -
Simon & Richter Belmont (170 Votes)
9 -
Ridley (136 Votes)
10 -
Hero (105 Votes)
11 -
Terry Bogard (95 Votes)
12 -
Inkling (88 Votes)
13 -
Kazuya (64 Votes)
14 -
Byleth (56 Votes)
15 - Piranha Plant (44 Votes)
16 -
Min Min (41 Votes)
17 -
Isabelle (38 Votes)
18 - Ken & Incineroar (36 Votes)


So that's it! Those are the very best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character reveals, as voted for by you. Are you pleased with the outcome? Disappointed? Be sure to let us know with a comment down below. Here's hoping Nintendo has another game in the pipeline soon because we sure as heck do miss the excitement that comes with these reveals.