Super Smash Bros. 4 News: Roster Expands With 24th Confirmed Character

The Super Smash Bros. 4 roster just expanded to 24 characters—Nintendo has confirmed Diddy Kong will be in the game.

Nintendo announced Diddy Kong through the official website for Super Smash Bros. 4 as well as the Miiverse page of game director Masahiro Sakurai, coinciding with the launch of the newest Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. 

One of the central characters of the popular Donkey Kong series, Diddy Kong made his first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. Unlike the more bulky and physical Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong has a variety of different gadgets, including a jetpack, which allow him to take on foes. Despite both Donkey Kong and now Diddy Kong being confirmed for the game, Nintendo has yet to release any sort of information about a stage for either the Wii U or 3DS version of the game based around the Donkey Kong franchise.

Before announcing Diddy Kong's return to the franchise, during a Nintendo Direct series Nintendo revealed that Little Mac from the Punch-Out series would make his debut as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Of the 24 characters confirmed for the game, only five—Little Mac, Mega Man, Rosalina, Wii Fit Trainer, and the Animal Crossing Villager—are making their first appearances as playable characters. Nintendo may be waiting to announce completely new characters for the game until big events such as E3 in June or may leave them a surprise for fans once the game is released.

Super Smash Bros. 4 does not have a release date yet, but Nintendo has promised that the game will make an appearance sometime in 2014. The series will appear for the first time on handhelds when it is brought to the 3DS, and the console and handheld versions of the game will have some key differences. Each platform will have their own set of unique stages for fighters, based on handheld or console entries to specific Nintendo franchises. The two versions of the game will also have separate trophies, so users who wish to obtain them all will have to trade between the two versions of the game.