Nearly twenty years ago the first title in the Super Smash Bros. franchise launched on the Nintendo 64. From its modest beginnings, the series has evolved into a major staple for competitive gaming as well as a go-to fighter for when friends come over. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is no different providing a large roster of iconic characters far beyond its Nintendo-only roots, 108 stages and over a thousand collectable Spirit characters. Joining the line-up are a host of new faces, including Ridley from the Metroid series, Simon and Richer from Castlevania, and, secretary extraordinaire, Isabelle from Animal Crossing. While staying true to its traditional gameplay mechanics, there have also been a number of tweaks and additions making this truly the ultimate addition to the franchise. Three new techniques have been introduced to Ultimate; the Directional Air Dodge, Perfect Shield, and the Short-Hop Attack. The Directional Air Dodge lets the player dodge while moving in the direction they tilt left analogue stick. If this is excessively used the character will become more vulnerable to attacks and the range in which they dodge will shorten. The Perfect Shield can be executed by letting go of the block button as an opponent lands an attack, rendering the attack useless. The Short-Hop Attack can be executed by pressing both the attack and jump buttons at the same time, letting the player hop a short distance off the ground while performing an air attack. While these attacks are considerably likely to land a hit, they do slightly less damage than a regular attack. As always, there are a multitude of game modes to keep things from feeling stagnant, which is often an issue in the fighting game genre. Smash mode is the regular go-to where you can create your own pre-set rules, like the number of stock units, and time limit, that can be saved as a shortcut. Stamina mode has now been added to Time and Stock modes; stamina is a gameplay option that replaces the damage percentage with a traditional life bar as found in numerous other fighters. Instead of building up a damage percentile, this life bar is depleted to defeat characters. Adding to Smash mode is Squad Strike, an elimination-style mode where the player chooses between 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 Squad Strikes. Both sides battle each other as the three or five characters in one battle, once a character is defeated the next character is put against the prior winner. Tourney mode makes its triumphant return from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and allows up to 32 participants to compete in a tournament bracket that can be made up of both CPU as well as actual players. The last feature from Smash Mode is Smashdown, a new Special Smash Mode. Players start off presented with a number of matches. After the match comes to an end, the character used in that match will no longer be available which forces the player to select a different character for the next one; a great way to learn a variety of characters move sets and abilities. Unsurprisingly we see the return of the Classic mode. This time around the format is similar to that Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Your chosen character battles a number of opponents with a bonus level thrown in for good measure. At the end of the road, the boss fight will be presented, in the form of Master Hand, or the right-handed counterpart, Crazy Hand. The standout addition to Super Smash Bros Ultimate is, without a doubt, the Adventure Mode titled "World of Light". Wold of Light takes you on a journey where the villain Galeem defeats all the characters in the Super Smash Bros. universe, bar one, and imprisons them in the World of Light. The characters are then cloned and possessed by spirits. Pretty dark, right? You then venture through a board game-like map, rescuing fallen characters and accumulating Spirit characters that act as RPG elements to add new criteria and stats to your character. Once you’ve enhanced your character with the battle specific Spirit attributes, you stand a far better chance against your opponent. Activating the Spirit trait prevents your character being affected by wind, as an example, and can be the difference between standing strong or being blown away like a plastic bag. You can train your Spirits in a number of different dojos, as well as, send them exploring to discover valuable items while you continue throughout the twenty-plus hour adventure mode. Lastly, the Training mode allows players to harness their abilities, either with traditional, or manipulate, gameplay elements. Ultimate's online mode lets you create public or private arenas for friends and strangers with specific rule-sets. Quick Play matches you against fighters of a similar skill level to you and features an option where you can use a preferred rule-set. Matchmaking is quick and efficient but can be rather hit-and-miss, depending on how diverse you are as a player with the differing rule sets. For better or worse, every character from previous instalments returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Some characters are now known as “Echo” fighters instead of being classified as ‘additional’ characters, cheaply taking up a character spot. These characters have the same move sets as the original characters but can vary in execution, speed, or power. Having the roster as large as what it is, provides you with an experience whereby Mario, Mega Man, Sonic, Pac Man, Snake, Ryu, Cloud, and Bayonetta can all partake in a unique Smash experience. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is by far the most complete game in the popular franchise. It hasn’t reinvented the wheel and doesn’t need to. Ultimate presents enough additions and improvements to smooth out the edges and deliver a beautiful balance of chaos and fluidity. Bundled together by, probably, the most diverse soundtrack in gaming today, gorgeous visuals, and tried-and-tested mechanics, makes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate one of the best experiences that a fighting game has to offer.

Fans were disappointed to discover that industry icon Hideo Kojima did not make an appearance at The Game Awards 2018 with his new upcoming game, Death Stranding - as it has been the tradition in the last two years for the major gaming event. However, this isn't to say that we won't see the game in some capacity soon, as Kojima might have already begun teasing a new announcement. Kojima recently sent out a Tweet with an embedded 1-minute video, showing off Death Stranding footage. Sadly, you won't find any new footage here as the clip is comprised of pre-existing footage from prior trailers. However, the tweet states that you can find a trailer on the Death Stranding official website. Upon arriving on the website, though, fans were greeted with old clips and nothing new. This could easily be dismissed as Kojima simply linking pre-existing trailers to his tweet, but as many gamers are aware, this is Kojima after all, and it's within his nature to subvert expectations - especially regarding teasers and how he markets new announcements. While we didn't see Death Stranding at The Game Awards, it's a possibility that the eccentric developer is planning a big reveal soon on another platform. With PSX 2018 cancelled, one could only speculate that he might host his own live stream. Death Stranding currently does not have a release date, but is currently in development exclusively for PlayStation 4.

Lego games have become a small cult following, with some of the greatest entertainment titles becoming digitised themes for the Great Yellow Brick Company. One such title is the Lego: The Hobbit, which currently free on the Humble Bundle store. You will need to be quick though, as this is only available for two days! All you need to do is sign up to the Humble Bundle newsletter, redeem your code, and jump in! Alternatively, simply click here, and follow the steps. Once you are done, you will receive a link to your free download through the email address you provided. Lego: The Hobbit is only available until the 15th of December at 8pm local time, and you must redeem your Steam key before the 20th of December.

Well, this is it, folks. The 22nd film to make an appearance in the Pokémon franchise finally has a title. In a 2019 line-up presentation on Thursday by film distributer TOHO, Mew Two's Counterattack Evolution (Mew Two no Gyakushū Evolution) was announced and given a 12th of July 2019 opening date in Japan. This film's title serves as a reference to Pokemon: The First Movie, which opened in Japan two whole decades ago in 1998 - how time flies. A trailer for this film was already played at screenings of this year's film, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (Gekijōban Pocket Monster: Minna no Monogatari), which aired on an eerily similar July 13th in Japan, and came in swinging by opening in 2nd place at the Japanese Box office. Whilst I have a personal soft spot for Pokemon 2000 over Pokemon: The First Movie, I'm feeling excited about a Mew Two centred movie again and will be keen to catch this when it eventually escapes the east and hits our shores. Until then, however, we'll have to be patient as we wait for more details.