By ADHEESHA DE SILVA

After the initial teaser three months ago, Nintendo says Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – the next installment of the famous game franchise – will have an October 7 release on the Nintendo Switch console.

The announcement was made during during its E3 Nintendo Direct conference yesterday. It’s been four years since the last entry – Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U – was released.

The series has prided itself on giving players a wide range of characters to choose from, and this installment, Ultimate takes it one step further.

“Every fighter in Super Smash Bros. history is joining the battle,” Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai said. This not only includes characters from the four previous Smash games, but also any DLC that brought new characters in.

Ultimate is also being modernised to reflect its brand new home on the Nintendo Switch. Link will wear his outfit from 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, while Mario is being given multiple outfits from his last game, Super Mario Odyssey.  Many other characters have been given similar changes.  

Ultimate will also have full support for Gamecube controllers, which will be happy news for diehard Smash fans.

Mr Sakurai's comments did not indicate if  Ultimate would have a single player story or not.

Smash fans are obviously super eager for the game to be released.