Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Joker from Persona 5, Stage Builder Mode, and more to check out now

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just got its first DLC fighter and a new Stage Builder mode

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just added Persona 5's Joker, and he's stolen into the game alongside a bunch of other cool new stuff. Joker arrives via Challenger Pack 1, which includes both the Persona 5 protagonist and a matching stage. Every online-connected player can enjoy the fruits of Version 3.0. That includes the Stage Builder mode and a suite of new sharing tools to support it.

Joker looks like fun to play and not just because his meter ability gives me those good good Persona 4 Arena / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure arcade flashbacks. That does help, though. Joker's meter builds over the course of a match, and you can fill it even faster by using his Rebel Gauge defensive ability to block attacks. Once it maxes out, Joker will doff his mask and manifest his persona, Arsenne, to power up his attacks. Best of all, Joker's accompanying Memento stage has "Reach Out To The Truth" from Persona 4 as one of its music tracks. The color even shifts to that nostalgic P4 gold when it plays.

Even if you don't do the whole paid DLC thing, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Version 3.0 has plenty of stuff to try on its own. There's the Stage Builder mode complete with the ability to free-draw your own platforms (or background/foreground decorations) using the touch screen, and an all-new Shared Content section to check out other peoples' stages, Mii Fighters, or videos - which you can splice together and spruce up all nice with the new Video Editor.

All that and the Nintendo Switch Online App has become slightly more useful with the new-and-improved Smash World section. Try watching videos sorted by characters to get your training footage on, or check out stages on your phone and queue the ones that catch your eye for download the next time you start the game.

Find more to play in our list of the best Nintendo Switch games. Or check out some questions we had in this video dive into Nintendo Labo VR.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.