Super Smash Bros. Invitation Letter

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About

Super Smash Bros. Invitation Letter refers to a trope in Nintendo advertisements in which characters learn they will be part of the Super Smash Brothers roster by receiving a written invitation. The trope has been parodied in photoshops and comics.

Origin

The first appearance of the Smash invitation appeared in the June 11th, 2013 advertisement for Super Smash Brothers for Wii U. Villager was the first character to receive the letter (shown below).

The following day, DeviantArt ^[5] user eltoNNNNNN published a painting of the envelope, which would later be used in memes. The post received more than 10,000 views in less than one decade (shown below).

Spread

The cliche began seeing parodies in the lead up to Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, as the announcement of each new character led to the creation of fan art of the character receiving the letter. For example, on June 18th, 2018, Redditor Zsar_Salad^[1] posted a comic showing Daisy when she received her invitation, gaining over 5,200 points (shown below, left). After the final roster pre-DLC announcements was announced, Twitter user @KrazyBonesTV^[2] posted a comic of Mario telling Banjo-Kazooie there was still a chance, gaining over 480 retweets and 3,100 likes (shown below, right).

Others have joked about characters from other pieces of media receiving invitations. For example, Redditor banana_in_your_donut^[3] posted to /r/animemes an image expressing their desire to see Goblin Slayer in the series (shown below, left). Redditor 1st_General_Waffles made a photoshop of Jotaro from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure receiving the letter, gaining over 3,200 points^[4] (shown below, right).