Bayonetta joins the playable cast of Super Smash Bros.

By Danny Cowan Published December 16, 2015

Super Smash Bros. – Bayonetta Gets Wicked!

Nintendo announced its final roster update for Super Smash Bros, revealing that Sega’s gun-toting Umbra Witch Bayonetta will join the cross-franchise brawler as a playable character next year on the Wii U and 3DS.

Super Smash Bros. series creator Masahiro Sakurai announced that Bayonetta won her spot in the Super Smash Bros. cast by popular vote, beating out fighters from previous games in the series and ranking in as the single most-wanted “negotiable and realizable character” worldwide.

Bayonetta boasts her own unique collection of moves and abilities, making her a formidable opponent. Throughout the course of each match, Bayonetta can take down foes using her four pistols, powerful melee attacks, and time-warping abilities that allow her to temporarily slow down rival characters. For her show-stopping Final Smash move, Bayonetta summons a gigantic demon that clamps down on opponents with its massive teeth.

Bayonetta is a combo-based character who can string together several quick attacks in a row, similar to how she controlled in the original Bayonetta games. Upon starting a combo, players can take to the air and juggle their opponents for multiple successive hits. Bayonetta also brings her “Bullet Arts” gunplay mechanics into battle, allowing players to extend their combos by holding down an attack button at any point.

The Super Smash Bros. series has featured many playable guest stars from non-Nintendo franchises over the years, starting with Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Metal Gear’s Solid Snake in 2008’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii console. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS continued the trend with the introduction of Street Fighter’s Ryu earlier this year, and a downloadable content pack released this week adds Final Fantasy VII‘s Cloud Strife as a playable character.

Nintendo revealed that Corrin from the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates will also join the Super Smash Bros. roster next year. Bayonetta and Corrin will launch as playable characters for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS in February of 2016.

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All Super Mario Bros. Wonder power-ups, ranked

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder is perhaps the Mario franchise's most colorful and unusual game to date, featuring all manner of dream-like themes and near-endless amounts of creativity. Like any new Mario game, though, it also comes packing some brand-new power-ups alongside a handful of returning classics that everyone knows and loves. All of the power-ups have their unique uses that can help you fend off baddies, reach new areas, or simply create hilarious hijinks, but some are notably more exciting than others.

Here are all of the Super Mario Bros. Wonder power-ups ranked. They'll all come in handy when you're tracking down all of the badges, medals, and Special World entrances.
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Play these 3DS and Wii U games before Nintendo shutters their online features

Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

In April 2024, Nintendo will discontinue online services across its Wii U and 3DS consoles. While the eShops for both systems were shut down in March 2023, this will remove the online functionality of many apps and games, making gaming on either of these platforms an almost entirely offline experience. As a result, many games on those systems will lose important features and never be quite the same to play afterward. So, you'll need to get some gaming time in by next April if you want to refresh and preserve the memories of playing online on these two underdog Nintendo platforms.
While the aforementioned eShop closures make it impossible to buy new games digitally, plenty of games that you likely already own physical copies of or already had downloaded have online features that won't work properly come April 2024. As such, we recommend you play the following games online before the discontinuation of those services next year.
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Kid Icarus Uprising is mostly remembered for its entertaining story, charismatic characters, and odd controls, but it also features a surprisingly fun multiplayer experience in Together Mode. In multiplayer, up to six players can use powerful weapons and abilities from the main adventure in one of two modes. Free-for-all lets players loose on a map, tasking them with racking up the most kills within a set time limit. Light vs. Dark is more complex, as two teams of three face off until enough players are defeated that one respawns as an angel; when that powered-up angel is killed, the match is over.
While far from balanced, Kid Icarus Uprising's Together Mode is one of the most entertaining competitive multiplayer experiences exclusive to 3DS. It can be played locally, using bots to fill in empty spots, so thankfully it won't stop working entirely. Still, it's not easy in 2023 to come across multiple people near you who have copies of Kid Icarus Uprising and want to play. As such, check out this cult classic 3DS game's hidden gem of a mode before praying that the rumors of a remaster eventually become true.
Nintendo Badge Arcade

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Nintendo confirmed it will widely shut down online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games in April 2024, which will be just over a year after it discontinued the Nintendo eShop on those systems.
This deactivation of most of the online services for those platforms was revealed on X (formerly Twitter) and Nintendo's support site early Wednesday. "In early April 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication will end for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. This also includes online co-operative play, internet rankings, and data distribution," the message says. "We will announce a specific end date and time at a later date. Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned. We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software over a long period of time and apologize for any inconvenience."
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Just like the Wii U and 3DS eShop closure that caused a ruckus earlier this year, this move is a blow to game preservation and will forever harm some games not available anywhere else. While it's understandable that Nintendo might want to move on from these systems' dated online infrastructure, it's still a disappointing move for those of us who spent a lot of time playing games offline and online on these systems.