Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL) is the upcoming fifth installment in the Super Smash Bros. fighting series. It will be a 3D on a 2D plane fighting game for the Nintendo Switch developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo. It will be released on 7 December 2018.

Sonic the Hedgehog, along with every other character from the previous installments, are scheduled to return along with a few batch of new characters. This game also supports amiibo, including the Sonic amiibo.

Development
The first teaser for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate appeared during a Nintendo Direct on March 8, 2018. Back then, it was only known by the title Super Smash Bros.. It was formally announced during Nintendo's Nintendo Direct presentation at E3 2018.

Responsible for the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd., who were behind the development of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with Masahiro Sakurai serving as the director. The intention of Sakurai's for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was to include every possible character from previous Super Smash Bros. games, which he knew would be both a complex problem for both development and licensing. He also intended to speed up the game by adjusting the characters' abilities. Sakurai knew that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was both a core title for Nintendo, and that it has a dedicated playerbase that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that he needed to complete these goals to satisfy both groups. Nintendo announced that David Hayter reprises his Solid Snake voice-over for Ultimate.

Inclusion of Sonic the Hedgehog
On 12 June 2018, it was announced on the E3 Nintendo Direct that every single playable character from the past four games would return. Among them is Sonic the Hedgehog, marking his third appearance as a fighter in the series.

In addition to Sonic's inclusion as a fighter, Green Hill Zone from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Windy Hill from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U make a return. Shadow the Hedgehog returns as an Assist Trophy, slowing players down using Chaos Control with the green Chaos Emerald. Knuckles the Echidna will also make an appearance as an Assist Trophy and will attack opponents by punching them, using the Homing Attack, or dig underground and use a powerful uppercut when summoned.

Spirits
Various other Sonic characters also make an appearance in the form of spirits. Spirits are power up characters give different fighters a boost in battle. They come in four levels, in order from weakest to strongest: Novice, Advanced, Ace and Legend. All currently known Sonic spirits include:

Trivia

 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game since the original Super Smash Bros. to not be announced alongside new hardware.
 * Moreover, this is the first time since Super Smash Bros. Melee that a Super Smash Bros. game has not been announced years in advance.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to not feature the involvement of Satoru Iwata as he passed away in July 2015.
 * The release date of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate falls one day after the late Satoru Iwata's birthday, 6 December, which was also the release date of Super Smash Bros. Wii U in Japan.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game since Super Smash Bros. Melee, the second installment of the series, where no veteran characters were cut.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game where the English voice for the Announcer has not been changed from the previous game.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game since the original Super Smash Bros. to feature 2D illustrations on the box art.
 * With Sonic's inclusion in this game, he is the only third-party character to appear in three Super Smash Bros. titles.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to have none of its newcomers as starter characters.
 * Sonic's default head icon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate bears a striking resemblance to several logos and icons in the Sonic series, namely the logo for Sonic Team.
 * Sonic and Knuckles were both featured on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate blog on 2 July 2018.
 * So far, Sonic is the only third party character with more than one stage representing his series.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game in which two characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series appear as Assist Trophies.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to have a vocal theme song in both English and Japanese.
 * Unlike other installments in the Super Smash Bros. series, Sonic actually takes a bit of damage if he falls in any body of water, which is a nod to his inability to swim.
 * The cliff appearing at the start of World of Light's reveal trailer is a reference to the opening cutscene from Brawl and the cliff overlooking the Isle of the Ancients and is even used borderline identically, showing all the fighters before changing perspective to look over a sunrise/sunset and an ocean.
 * This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to not feature Trophies since the original Super Smash Bros.