Nintendo has announced that Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is getting a playable demo shortly, though Club Nintendo fans will also be receiving a special treat.

The demo hits on September 20th for Australia and contains five characters: Mario, Link, Pikachu, Villager, and Mega Man, as well as the Battlefield stage. It includes local multiplayer, and can only be opened 30 times.

Qualifying Club Nintendo members will automatically receive four download codes via email. Nintendo encourages recipients to share their codes, as up to three other friends who also own Nintendo 3DS or 2DS systems can play multiplayer together through local wireless even if those three friends aren’t Club Nintendo members. The Club Nintendo demo of the game allows for unlimited play, and features the Smash mode with five playable characters (Mario, Villager, Link, Pikachu and Mega Man), one stage (Battlefield) and the ability to compete in local multiplayer matches with fellow Nintendo 3DS and 2DS owners who have downloaded the demo to their systems.

In related news it seems the 3DS may be usable as a controller for the Wii U Smash Bros., that is according to an image surfacing on Twitter (via IGN). Nothing official has yet been confirmed, though Twitter user Kyle McLain - who spotted the option - noted that it "does [...] say that if you connect your 3DS with your Wii U, that you can use your 3DS as a controller?"

Hopefully this discovery means that Nintendo are now toying with the idea of a unified system for later use, possibly indicating that we may see their next system in some combined state. The possibilities are endless as they say.

Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS comes out on October 4th. A Wii U version is expected sometime in November.