Wait, Did Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Just Kill Luigi?

Nintendo seems to have gone dark for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighting game for the Nintendo Switch. And no, I'm not talking about them going media dark by being silent about the gameplay and characters, I mean dark in terms of the tone of the story. The latest Nintendo Direct dropped on YouTube and it wasn't quite what a lot of gamers expected. With nearly half an hour's worth of new content revealed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the most startling thing about it all was that it appeared as if some of the main characters bit the dust, including Luigi.

Twitter users like Jacob Pinecone have been posting small snippets from the latest Nintendo Direct via tweets, with the 30 second clip above showing Luigi in his Luigi's Mansion gear going toe-to-toe with the Grim Reaper and losing in a definitively one-sided fashion.

This comes from the full Nintendo Direct for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which starts on a dark and rainy night where Luigi is seen inside a castle with his ghost hunting gear. A mysterious figure enters the castle while Luigi is running from ghosts until he encounters the Grim Reaper. After Luigi is seemingly killed by the Grim Reaper, Simon Belmont is unveiled with his chain whip.

In between this segment the video reveals another cinematic of Luigi where his ghost is floating around his petrified (and very much dead) body. A mask is seen just outside the castle looking at Luigi, which is revealed to be Carmilla, and as it begins to cry purple tears we hear Luigi scream again but we don't see what happens to him.

The Nintendo Direct doesn't directly acknowledge this grim subplot taking place, but instead it focuses on the new echo fighters, such as Dark Samus from the Metroid Prime series, as well as Richter and Simon Belmont from the Castlevania games. It also introduces Chrom from Fire Emblem.

After going through some additional details, the Nintendo Direct ends with a screen-shaking thud, and another cinematic plays and King Dedede is blasted out of the screen by King. K. Rool from Donkey Kong Country. Some gamers thought this indicated that King Dedede had bought the farm along with Luigi.

However, upon further inspection it turns out that after showing characters like Mega Man and Mario getting taken out by Ridley, and Luigi biting the dust at the hands of Death, and causing a social media meltdown where Nintendo fans thought that their favorite characters were done for, Nintendo UK came forward to confirm that "Luigi is okay."

Of course, this still doesn't address if King Dedede is all right, and if Mega Man and Mario are doing better, but I imagine that if Luigi survived the scythe swipe from Death, then Mega Man and Mario are probably just fine and dandy as well.

You can look for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to launch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch starting December 7th later this year.