Super Smash Bros. made its long-awaited portable debut last week, with a Nintendo 3DS installment that's proving to be a hit with critics — as well as with audiences, based on its release in Japan a few weeks earlier.

At this point, fans of the series are quite used to being teased with frequent updates ahead of the release of a new Smash Bros. game. The 'Smash Bros. Dojo' gave players a steady stream of images and information ahead of the 2008 release of Brawl, and this time around series creator Masahiro Sakurai's posts on Nintendo's Miiverse service and the game's official blog have performed a similar function.

Everything from new characters to the range of alternate costumes that you'll have access to in the game has been revealed ahead of launch — but there are some things that are best left for players to discover for themselves. Despite many struggling to resist the urge to spoil themselves when the game's full roster leaked back in August, Nintendo kept quiet on which secret characters would be included — until now, that is.

With the game now in many players' hands, Nintendo is adding official renders of some of its unlockable fighters to the official Smash Bros. website. The first three added to the site are the first three that you'll unlock by racking up completed matches; Ness, Falco and Wario.

The trio represent a broad swathe of the series' 15-year history. Ness, the star of cult classic Earthbound, was one of the 12 characters in the original Super Smash Bros. and has been a fan favorite ever since. Falco was one of the new editions in Melee, playing very similarly to fellow Star Fox representative and top-tier fighter Fox McCloud.

It took the huge success of the WarioWare series in the 2000s for Wario to be included as a playable character, although his signature purple-and-yellow color scheme was available as one of Mario's alternate costumes in the first two entries. In the new game, players can choose between Wario's classic attire and his WarioWare appearance pictured above. 3DS and Wii U screenshots are below.

Few will be surprised to see these three characters are in the game, but in the wake of well-loved characters the Ice Climbers being cut for technical reasons, there'll be plenty glad to see them make the cut. Indeed, the ever-expanding Smash Bros. roster always seemed likely to prompt a cull, so it was all but confirmed that these fighters would keep hold of their spot.

We've known for some time that while the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game will contain different stages, their rosters will be the same — presumably even down to which characters are unlockable. What's less clear is whether or not the rosters are complete; earlier this year, Mario Golf: World Tour set a precedent for Nintendo by offering downloadable courses and characters post-launch. It could well be that Smash Bros. receives similar content, but nothing has been said as of yet.

For now, the 49 characters of Super Smash Bros. — 12 of which are secret — should be plenty for players to try their hand at. If you've been playing, let us know which fighter you've been spending the most time with in the comments section below.

Source: Nintendo