Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[PersonAngelo53]

I agree almost completely with this, except for the Temple part. For whatever reason that's one of a select few stages I never get tired of (the others being FoD and PS1, ironically also Melee stages even though I grew up on Brawl.)

Really hope fountain of dreams comes back specially. One of the most great looking stages graphically. I have to see how the switch 2 can make it look now with its increase in power.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

I hope there are new Pokemon stages since lot of the older ones have the same stage layout like two platforms.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Really hope fountain of dreams comes back specially. One of the most great looking stages graphically. I have to see how the switch 2 can make it look now with its increase in power.

There are a couple of stages that need to be included forever yeah. And Fountain of Dreams indeed is one of them.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Again, almost entirely in agreement here. Not a fan of PT, GP or GCO. NPC is at least okay in my book but not very good overall. Temple to me, remains the main exception.

I think it's the upper limit for how big stages should and it's layout just happens to work imo. I don't any other big (or eventual giant) stages feel good to play on but Temple still feels just right. I can totally understand getting bored of seeing/playing on it after so long though.

I actually don't play it super often since I tend to stick to 1v1s so that probably helps in my case

I mean I don't play it super often either beyond my time with Melee growing up because my brother would constantly pick it, I just don't know why it's been a constant in Smash stage selections for a quarter of a century now lmao

 

[Louie G.]

I'm also in strong favor of an overhauled stage lineup. I think we'll see a healthy blend of old and new with mind to series that haven't gotten much new material to work with, but I wouldn't mind letting most of the big series - Mario, Zelda, Kirby etc - let most of their stages sit out this time around.

I feel like the returning stages to watch may be those with a surge in relevance - Prism Tower comes to mind, since the next Pokemon Legends game will bring focus back to Kalos. Or Guar Plains may have reason to stick around with XBC: DE in the rear view. Would be cool to get some new locations from these games too but since both Pokemon and Xenoblade have brand new games to account for, I assume most of the effort will be dealt toward those. I want to shout out Mute City SNES too, kind of a weird stage but feels retroactively very fitting post-F-Zero 99.

Star Fox, Mother, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out etc may just work with what they've got, although I think those middle two (Mother and Kid Icarus) have a slew of great options if they feel like trying something else out. A Saturn Valley stage feels well overdue and there's obviously no shortage of Uprising chapters that new stages could be built around. With the favorable treatment both of these series have gotten through the years I wouldn't count it out. But I'd say these legacy series should probably be the highest priority when it comes to returning stages. And yknow, stuff like Flat Zone X.

 

[Dukefire]

Think of all the Tinkaton destroying Falco in his arwing memes

I would be surprised if Tinkaton packs the heaviest damage with its hammer compared to reverse warlock punch.
Though, Amy Rose would be competing against a pokemon for a spot if she has potential to join...For now, Shadow seems higher thanks to Year of Shadow last year.

 

[BritishGuy54]

RE: Mario Stages

I think Mario will get a hefty stage shakeup. A lot of the options can be sat out on next game in favour of new options. I’d say only New Donk City has a great shot at returning.

I could see a Peach’s Castle stage return, from 64 or Melee, but I do wonder whether we may see a new interpretation of Peach’s Castle (or Mushroom Kingdom) instead.

A Bowser stage is overdue, but I’m unsure it’ll be a Bowser’s Castle. Super Mario 3D World got passed over twice, and it might be time to give that game some love with World Bowser.

A new 3D Mario will likely release this year, and I can see it getting in as a stage. Same goes for Super Mario Maker 3, which feels like a good bet for the 40th Anniversary.

Mario Kart, I can see either Rainbow Road or MK8 Mario Circuit return. I think a Mario Kart 9 track is a lock for the next game, but I do wonder if we’ll get a ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ stage too, like one of the ones above, or say, Waluigi Pinball.

Paper Mario could get a new stage. One based on either Origami King or Thousand Year Door seem like the best bets.

I do wonder whether a Luigi’s Mansion 3 stage may get passed over in favour of a Luigi’s Mansion 4 stage.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder will also definitely get a stage. With Stage Morph likely gone, the Wonder Flower presents itself a unique gimmick for the stage to shift and have strange effects. The Flower Kingdom can make for a great stage.

 

[ninjahmos]

I'm hoping Princess Peach's Castle and Green Greens come back for the next game, along with Temple and Fountain of Dreams. As for stages that didn't return in Ultimate…I'm kinda hoping they bring back Mushroom Kingdom (Retro), Poké Floats and, if Ice Climbers ever make it into the next game, Icicle Mountain.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

I think the Pokemon stages need an overhaul.

I think Saffron City, Poké Floats, Prism Tower and Spear Pillar are fine. The Gym Stadiums from Gen 8 would be a cool replacement for the two Pokemon Stadium stages.

I think a random stage would be Pacifidlog Town since it can be a water based stage that could sympathize the water routes in Hoenn.

Lastly Area Zero which would be a great late game stage.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I feel like we haven’t had a spinoff Warriors title in a while. There’s still a ton of IP I’d love to see get a Warriors game. Xenoblade could be pretty fun.

The last one was a warriors game based on Fate, i think?

 

[Gengar84]

The last one was a warriors game based on Fate, i think?

The last one I was aware of was Fire Emblem: Three Hopes. I didn’t know there was a Fate Warriors.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

If I can just get a DK stage that isn't the worst level of the original arcade game or a generic jungle setting that would be light years ahead of what the series has typically gotten.

As far as Warriors games, I always thought Pokémon would be interesting selection for such a game. Granted Pokémon fighting so directly without much instruction from their trainers is an inconsistent idea across the series and choosing which ones would be the disposable mooks to be mowed down would be controversial, but there's a hell of a game there if done right.

 

[Idon]

The last one I was aware of was Fire Emblem: Three Hopes. I didn’t know there was a Fate Warriors.

The last one was a warriors game based on Fate, i think?

Kinda but not quite.
That's actually my profile pic, Fate/Samurai Remnant.
It's a single-player RPG with the combat system of Warriors so it's quite close to a typical IP spinoff crossover thing but not straight up a crossover event.

Regardless, I feel very strongly that KT is going to keep making more Warriors type spinoffs for popular titles like Zelda and FE.
I highly suspect that a Xenoblade Warriors is in the works now that there's 4 titles to pull from with dozens of characters each to use and Dynasty Warriors Origins is done.

 

[ninjahmos]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

 

[Idon]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

Let's just say I'm glad none of the DLC stages were obstacle courses lol.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

I was going to write i dont hate them but i genuinely can't think of one i really like.

 

[DarthEnderX]

So… one unique newcomer and an echo fighter is bad?

You said a newcomer, an Echo, an AT and a Boss.

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

I think they're fine as long as the scrolling is consistent. And there aren't random speedups or direction changes.

I think Xenoblade fills a very strong and so far relatively uncontested space in Nintendo being a large scope long JRPG series with a big sci-fi bent and protagonists that have unique and noticably visually different gimmicks.

That is a LOT of qualifiers...

Quoting from another thread:

I disagree. Even if all of FEs characters were unique, I'd still be pissed at this mid-teir Nintendo franchise having the same level of representation as Mario and Pokemon.

6:00 AM Pacific Time and 9:00 Eastern Time.

Weird to announce the time 2 months ahead...

 

[Gengar84]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

I think side scrolling stages are cool as long as they move at a slow, steady pace with no “speed up” sections.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

Going by the list on SmashWiki and looking at which ones say scrolling, I'm okay with Summit and Woolly World, but that's about it, and I don't even know if Woolly World should really be classified as Scrolling per se lol

 

[Ivander]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

As in Rumble Falls and Icicle Mountain? I can't say I don't like the chaos that ensues when people are trying to jump and survive when the stage is scrolling fast, but I can understand why people aren't a fan of them.

 

[fogbadge]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

I used to be ok with a couple of them. But these days I'd rather we didn't get any more

 

[Laniv]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

They're tolerable at best. At worst... they're Rumble Falls.

 

[Dukefire]

Do you think Miitopia might get a stage if Find Mii doesn't come back?

It would be hilarious if the Smash Bros characters did this.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Do you think Miitopia might get a stage if Find Mii doesn't come back?

I'd like Miitopia to get some kind of stage anyway because Miitopia has a ton of great battle music and while the Boss theme and Darkest Lord theme are perfectly valid additions, I want more.

 

[Louie G.]

I’m not a fan of scrolling stages and I don’t know many people who are.

Admittedly I have a soft spot for Mushroomy Kingdom, as a novel concept it’s pretty successful and I think it’d be more appreciated if it was able to stand as its own thing. Instead this became kind of a stage “archetype” and most of them are not as endearing.

I expect we’ll still be getting stages like this into the future but surely they must know they’re pretty unpopular? At least Ultimate didn’t add any, although probably just because we have a lot of them present as returning stages already. Bottom line, less is more IMO.

 

[GothicSlenderman]

I’m not a fan of scrolling stages and I don’t know many people who are.

Admittedly I have a soft spot for Mushroomy Kingdom, as a novel concept it’s pretty successful and I think it’d be more appreciated if it was able to stand as its own thing. Instead this became kind of a stage “archetype” and most of them are not as endearing.

I expect we’ll still be getting stages like this into the future but surely they must know they’re pretty unpopular? At least Ultimate didn’t add any, although probably just because we have a lot of them present as returning stages already. Bottom line, less is more IMO.

You're not the only one. I dislike scrolling and transforming stages as well. I wish there was an option to make them freeze at a specific form or spot and let us fight on that as if it was a normal stage.

 

[RileyXY1]

I'm sorry but this roster is plain old ridiculous. Why are there so many echo fighters? This has even more than Ultimates and the only reason Ultimate had so many is because so much of the dev time went to bringing back the tons of returning content and not having enough to make unique fighters, but prior to that, no game has had this many clones. So this roster basically assumes that even with cut characters, Smash 6 will be made with the bare minimum in terms of budget? Like, Power Suit Samus, Classic Link, Black Shadow, Dixie Kong, Jeanne, Shadow, Master Chief all being echo fighters is so unrealistic and some inclusions as just inclusions are head-scratching to say the least. And that's not even with getting to the fact that there's all these 3rd party characters. And the characters that the roster maker chose to cut are basically: freaking Marth who is the Mario of FE, Ike who is super popular, Jigglypuff because look, a roster that cuts Jigglypufff, Pyra/Mythra who are far more popular than Noah and/or Mio and have a very unique gimmick as well, King K. Rool who was so heavily requested and others... this screams fan roster and it's just not good.

Either that or they expect the game to be as rushed as Melee, if not more so.

 

[fogbadge]

part of me wants a stage based on one of nintendo's lego collabs. anyone else?

 

[Dukefire]

Either that or they expect the game to be as rushed as Melee, if not more so.

Development for a game takes A LOT of time and energy. Some people does not see the difficulties on creating projects unfortunately.....even Sakurai did explain the efforts in his videos.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

part of me wants a stage based on one of nintendo's lego collabs. anyone else?

Only if the playable characters (and Assist Trophies, too) have LEGO forms while in the stage. LOL

 

[Hadokeyblade]

part of me wants a stage based on one of nintendo's lego collabs. anyone else?

And then we get a character

 

[Swamp Sensei]

OK, just out of curiosity…

How do you guys feel about scrolling stages?

I don't outright hate any stage. But I don't like very many scrolling stages. I guess my favorite would be... Orbital Gate Assault actually.

That one is so crazy, that I have to love it.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

My prediction is that there will be a new type of Omega form which will be the equivalent for Small Battlefield (they should give it a unique name and design).

The consequence is that more stages would be redundant.

 

[BrawlX10]

I think it's one of the easiest ways to differentiate it from Ultimate bringing nearly every old stage back, and a lot of the old stages are hitting that Mario Kart 8 fatigue for me, especially the really old ones like Temple that have been in every game since their debut.

Surprisingly enough, i feel the most fatigated with Smash 4's new stages out of all, we've been playing them pretty much for 10 years at this point.
Doesn't help that i always seem to get a Smash 4 stage in online, lol.