Nintendo Directs are always stuffed with an assortment of the company's characters, but next week's Super Smash Bros. Direct will pile tons of them into just one game. The Wii U and 3DS fighter will star in a livestream airing on April 8 at 3PM PT/6PM ET, and there are simultaneous broadcasts scheduled for Europe (11PM UK time) and Japan (7AM, April 9).

Nintendo's been steadily pumping out the character reveals over the last year or so - we're up to 24 fighters now - but we've had no further news on a release date beyond the 2014 window. You'd have to think there's a good chance that'll be narrowed down in next week's broadcast, but we're also not so far away from E3, where Nintendo first unveiled the game.

Whatever happens, you'll be able to watch next week's Direct right here on Joystiq, and we'll have all the news as and when it hits. In the meantime, I'll just say - with no evidence or basis in reality behind it - that in the year Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright are having a crossover, Capcom's lawyer and Level-5's scholar would be my top picks for new introductions to the roster. Behind Walter White, that is.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/04/ne...s-at-your-scr/