According to the latest Nintendo Direct, Super Smash Bros. will have its own event in December this year. Here's what you can expect to see revealed next month.

With Nintendo's recently announced Super Smash Bros. Direct just around the corner in December, fans have less than a month to place their bets as to what the company will reveal in what will reportedly be the last chance for Smash Bros. DLC.

Now a year after the game's release, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS has seen a lot of extra content, both free and paid, including 4 DLC characters, several additional stages and even new game modes. At the most recent Nintendo Direct, fans eagerly awaited any sign of more content for the increasingly-popular fighting game, only to be promised their own event to come in the following month. We did, however, get one very exciting reveal, which set the stage for the 'Top 5 Things We Can Expect to See in the Smash Direct'.

Cloud

With the trailer for Final Fantasy VII's Cloud revealing that the popular character would be making his way into Super Smash Bros., fans were blindsided in the best possible way. Cloud came out of nowhere with no famous Smash Bros leaks preceding his announcement and even if there had been a leak, very few people would have believed them.

Usually a character must have previously been in a Nintendo title to qualify for the Smash roster, but Cloud is the only of those rare exceptions. Though he will be making an appearance in Final Fantasy Explorers for 3DS, set to come to the west in early 2016 . While Cloud doesn't have a release date at present, it seems extremely likely that the spiky-haired mercenary will be available to download immediately after the Direct airs, in a similar fashion to Lucas, Roy, and Ryu's launch in June.

New Stages

Nintendo has been very active with releasing new stages over the last year, with the unique Mario Maker stage and the community-based Miiverse stage making appearances as free DLC. Besides this, the Big N has also released updated versions of popular stages from previous games, to the pleasant surprise of old school Smash Bros. fans.

Cloud's inclusion has confirmed at least one Final Fantasy stage will be added to the game, but it would be surprising if that was the only DLC location added. Perhaps we will see other well-known areas added, such as Blackbelly Skatepark from Nintendo's popular first party game, Splatoon.

Smash Ballot Results

Back in April, Nintendo announced a ballot where Smash fans could vote for the characters they wanted to see in the game as DLC. The company stressed that the winners of the ballot wouldn't necessarily be made into downloadable content but that the voting was simply a way for the developers to judge what people wanted most out of a new character.

The ballot ended on October 3rd and as of yet, no results have been announced, making this final Direct the ideal opportunity to discuss the winners. It's likely that we'll see a reveal made in December and possibly even characters added, inspired by the results. Popular characters that have strong backings include Krystal (Star Fox), King K. Rool (Donkey Kong) and Inkling (Splatoon), as well as veteran Smash Bros characters such as Wolf, Snake, and the Ice Climbers.

New Characters

There are a number of reasons as to why new characters (besides Cloud) are likely coming to the game this December. Firstly, when Lucas was scheduled for release, Nintendo prepared two bonus characters and launched them alongside the Mother representative. Now that everyone is expecting Cloud, it wouldn't be unprecedented for the company to release a couple of additional DLC characters alongside the hyped swordsman.

Secondly is the Smash Ballot. Despite Nintendo claiming that the ballot wouldn't affect character placement in the game, it seems fairly pointless if the long-running vote didn't result in anything besides additional Mii costumes. So far the ballot has led to the production of a number of character costumes such as a King K. Rool , Chrom, and Lloyd but seeing as Mii Fighters aren't always tournament-legal (for all those that care for competitive play), the costumes are less desirable.

Lastly, a data-mining of the 1.1.1 update revealed that three empty character slots were added to the game's code. Cloud will fill 1 of the slots upon his release but that still leaves 2 empty and ready to be filled. Not long ago, there were rumors about Shovel Knight coming to Smash but there has been no mention of the indie game protagonist in several months. Director Sakurai has previously stated that the remaining characters to be added will be 'strictly fanservice' and Cloud certainly checked that box.

Mii Fighter Costumes

If there's one thing that is sure to come from the Smash Direct, above even Cloud's release, it is the release of more Mii costumes. Nintendo seemingly loves to release these costumes and for good reason: it's an easy way of bringing in more money without having to spend too much time developing and balancing a new character or stage.

Cloud is bringing with him some new Mii costumes that dress up the fighters as the iconic Chocobos from the Final Fantasy series but that might not be enough for the Big N, as this is the last chance they'll have to release any costumes that they've got planned. It's likely that we might see more of the popular characters voted for on the Smash Ballot as Mii costumes if those aren't already being added to the game's roster.

No matter what comes when the Smash Bros. Direct airs next month, it has been a great year for fans of the fighting game. Nintendo has given the community much more than anyone expected and the latest iteration in the franchise is likely going to stick around in the same manner as its 2001 predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Super Smash Bros. is available on Wii U and 3DS. The Direct is set to air in December.