Minecraft's Steve and Alex Join Smash Bros

COVID-19 has slowed down and canceled a lot of things this year, from movies to conventions to, of course, video games. One of the video games that appears to be affected by the outbreak is Smash Brothers Ultimate, as the once fairly regular flow of new content and fighters slowed to a crawl in recent months. The last new fighter, Min Min from the ARMS series, was released all the way back in March, and in the seven months since we've got nothing new.

Well, that all changed last night when a very tired looking Masahiro Sakurai revealed that the next new Smash Brothers character will be Steve and Alex, from Minecraft.

Here's the trailer:



Frankly, this has been a long time coming. In spite of Fortnite's rocket to stardom in recent years, Minecraft is still one of the biggest games in existence, and has sold the most copies on the most systems around the world. It's a bonafide classic and it's more than earned its spot on the Smash Brothers roster.

We don't know a whole lot about how they play outside what you see in the trailer, and over the weekend, a longer stream that will reveal more information is supposed to come out that shows how they actually play. But you can still get a pretty good idea from the trailer: you can mine blocks, put them down, craft upgrades for yourself... seems like a fun, authentic experience.

Still, this technically means there are two Microsoft-owned properties in Smash Brothers (Banjo-Kazooie being the other). One has to wonder if Sony will be willing to play ball long enough to get one of their characters in the roster eventually. I very much doubt it, but it would be cool to see the new Kratos in Smash Brothers. It's not as if it would be weird anymore.

(...Also, try and tell me that music doesn't slap).