Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[BrawlX10]

Anywho, to make this post actually Smash related/related to current topic, I much prefer Smash with a bright aesthetic, but I do feel like a different sort of visual identity will happen, partially because Ultimate was built off of Smash 4's backbone and is a bit of an odd case, and partially because it's a really easy way to make the next game FEEL different, alongside obviously the new content like I'm hoping they'll do with making the stage list primarily new stages and HOPING they'll do with like remixing all of the victory themes to make them all consistent.

Yeah, i think they'll want to diferenciate it as much as posible from Ultimate.

 

[PeridotGX]

This shouldn't have taken so long and the moment has passed, but I have the stages from the Mario spinoff series. I'm going for a Melee-adjacent thing - most series get two new stages (some get more and some get less of course), for more variety. I'm not expecting this in Smash 6 of course.

Spoiler: Donkey Kong

• Forest Flurry (Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze)

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A grassy hill stage from Mario, followed by a jungle stage from Donkey Kong? Daring, I know. I genuinely contemplated skipping Tropical Freeze for a second Returns themed stage, but Freeze missed the boat two games in a row, I almost feel bad for it so I decided to throw it a bone. My first choice was Mangrove Cove, but it barely had the frigid feeling that makes Tropical Freeze stand out so I went with a stage towards the tail end of the game. As far as layout is concerned, I kind of expect this stage to be “more of the same” of Kongo Jungle 64 and Kongo Falls. It isn’t redundant if we get rid of the original!​

• Mine Cart Madness (Donkey Kong Country)

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Like I said in the first post, when a series was getting multiple stages I tried to make at least one of them come from an older game in the series. I considered Gangplank Galleon to represent DKC2 and to give K. Rool a home stage, but come on. The mine cart stages are almost as iconic to the Kongs as their jungles, and it’s borderline criminal we don’t have one yet (this being the perfect stage for a spamton spirit battle is probably coincidental). Functionally, I’m expecting something similar to Yggdrasil’s Altar - you fight on one large minecart, and more minecarts to serve as platforms come and go.​

• Construction Zone (Mario VS Donkey Kong)

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Don’t let the name fool you. Sure, this is partially to represent the recently resurrected Mario VS Donkey Kong series, but it’s mostly an excuse to have another shot at a stage based on the original Donkey Kong - with an original layout to make the stage playable. Mini Marios would appear as stage-specific items, and Donkey Kong (either the genuine article or a mini, i don’t really know) would show up to cause mayhem.​

• Jungle Japes (Donkey Kong Country, returning from Smash Melee)

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We already have a DK Jungle stage, yes, but it’s not the climate you expect from one. I think that leaves enough room to keep this stage around. Jungle Japes has been in every game since Melee and is more distinct than the others, giving it the edge to stick around in my opinion.​

Spoiler: Yoshi

• Crafted World (Yoshi’s Crafted World)

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Ok, at this point I think I can say that a series’s first stage is going to be less daring than it’s second. You have to eat your veggies before you can have the pie. Crafted World is the newest Yoshi game, it’s really obvious. I’m imagining the stage layout looks a lot like the Wooly World stage (may it rest in peace), with the gimmick being that the stage “flips” every so often, mirroring the layout.​

• Rafael’s Moon (Yoshi’s Island)

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The second Yoshi stage would obviously come from the original SNES game, and this seems like a fairly iconic setpiece. I considered the final boss arena, but there are already two stages that involve a giant bowser in the background I think a third might be redundant. This stage’s gimmick is obvious - it’s a fully cylindrical stage that’s center of gravity is at the middle of the stage. Asteroids would float by to serve as platforms. Similar to how the Construction Zone stage is kind of a do-over of 75M, this is kinda a do-over of the Mario Galaxy stage.​

• Super Happy Tree (Yoshi's Story, returning from 64)

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I didn’t want the returning stage lineup to be “Oops, All Melee”, (which pains me because I love the Super Mario World stage), and we already have a Yoshi’s Island stage, so Super Happy Tree is kinda forced to be the returning Yoshi stage. It would be touched up graphically to be up to modern standards, but honestly it already looks better than most of the other 64 stages.​

Spoiler: Wario

• Cyber Games (Get It Together)

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Sorry to all the Wario fans at home, I know **** all about Wario so I don’t have much to say here. I went for a Get It Together stage because the cyber aesthetic seemed a lot more interesting than the tropical (I have a lot of island stages). As for its gimmick - it would basically just be “WarioWare Inc. 2”. It’s the obvious choice for a WarioWare stage, and a new take on it seems more interesting than bringing back the original for a fourth round.​

• Golden Pyramid (Wario Land 4)

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People want Wario Land representation, so giving it a stage seems reasonable and Wario Land 4 gets rereleased more than Shake It so I went with a stage from the former. I still don’t know much about Wario, so I don’t have much to say about this one either. It could be a giant stage, you could have hazards from all the iconic Wario enemies I know about, who knows. Wario doesn't have Original 12 priviledge so he doesn't get a retro stage​

I'm on spring break, so I have the time to keep working on this.

The Legend of Zelda

• Great Sky Island (Tears of the Kingdom)

Spoiler: Reasoning

I’m expecting some disappointment that I didn’t go for the Depths. I strongly considered them, but I have plenty of cavernous stages so this seemed like the more distinct choice. I haven’t actually played Tears yet, so I’m not too sure what the gimmick would be here. Maybe you could have Zonai robots modify the stage’s layout as the match progresses?

• Still World (Tears of the Kingdom)

Spoiler: Reasoning

I don’t think we’re going to get a character from Wisdom, but giving it a stage feels very reasonable. I considered doing something like Death Mountain to also represent LTTP, but the aesthetics of the Still World won me over. I think the gimmick here would be an extended version of Yggdrasil’s Altar, where islands are perpetually floating in and out of the fighting area.

• Ganon's Tower (The Wind Waker)

Spoiler: Reasoning

When I’m giving a series multiple stages, I’ve been deliberate about one of them being a pull from an older title. The variety makes things more interesting IMO. I wanted a stage with the “Toon” aesthetic, I wanted a stage for Ganondorf - this takes care of both of those. I’ve seen this stage modded into Brawl and Ultimate, so there’s clearly a want for it. For gimmicks, I don’t really have anything.

• Hyrule Castle (Ocarina of Time, returning from 64)

Spoiler: Reasoning

For the longest time, Ocarina was seen as the best game in the series - it totally deserves a stage. You could definitely give it something new, but I didn’t want to get rid of any of the other stages I have down. I don't want to overdo desert stages, so that's why I didn't go with Gerudo Valley. Like with Super Happy Tree, I would give it a full visual makeover. I don’t really like the “so retro” N64 aesthetic.

• Temple (Zelda II, returning from Melee)

Spoiler: Reasoning

Yes, this stage is probably a bit redundant with the Great Sky Island. But it’s Temple, one of the most iconic stages in Smash history, and the only giant stage generally well regarded. If anyone gets to sneak in, it’s Hyrule Temple.

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Metroid

• Cataris (Metroid Dread)

Spoiler: Reasoning

Dread getting a stage is obvious, right? I’m not going to lie, Cataris isn’t an overly inspired choice. I went with it because of Smash’s tendency to go with locations early in the game, especially with the “main” stage of a series, and Cataris has more interesting aesthetics than Artaria. I very much considered Raven Beak's arena, for whatever it's worth For a gimmick, it would no doubt have the Metroid classic of rising and falling lava. Additionally, I think adding EMMI in a similar fashion to the Ultimate Chimera is an easy way to make the stage more unique (assuming we’re not getting EMMI as an AT)

• Phenandra Drifts (Metroid Prime)

Spoiler: Reasoning

When it came time to add a “retro” Metroid stage I briefly considered SR388, but Phenandra Drifts was really the only logical choice. It represents the Prime series, it has very unique aesthetics, and most importantly - I’ve seen a lot of requests for this stage in a few different places. It’s not quite Bowser’s Castle level, but it’s in the conversation. It’s unique geography might be enough of a gimmick.

• Brinstar (Metroid, returning from Melee)

Spoiler: Reasoning

Brinstar is one of those stages that I feel like you can’t really cut. I briefly considered keeping Norfair instead, but the green acid of this stage is a bigger contrast with Cataris

 

[DarthEnderX]

Still World (Tears of the Kingdom)

You mean (Echoes of Wisdom)?

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Yeah, i think they'll want to diferenciate it as much as posible from Ultimate.

Outside of art style, I think the models and animations will improve or be updated because of the improved hardware.

 

[Wonder Smash]

While this would be amazing, it entirely depends on whether or not that commercial is well-known in Japan.

If it's not, chances are we might just get a standard trailer but that would still be fine because we'd get the Crash Dance out of it.

And a lot of Mario vs Sonic vs Crash fighting. I expect that in a lot of screenshots too.

 

[Slime Scholar]

I still prefer the cartoony visuals of Smash 4 and Ultimate.

Brawl felt like a big epic crossover where the heroes unite to beat the baddie. But it lost some of the characters' identities in the process.

Smash 4 and Ultimate lacks that core unifying strength but I think it lets the individual aspects of the characters shine more. Like Mario can finally be himself. Pikachu can be a bright and cartoony character he always was.

Smash really needs that color. Because so many of these franchises need that color.

I agree and think they could take it further. Like the red in Mario's clothes is pretty desaturated compared to his home series. Sakurai has said this is because red in video games tends to look the same in different lighting but I didn't think it was a problem in really any Mario game on the Switch.

Looking at these two side by side makes me hope some characters get new models and animations made from the ground up.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I agree and think they could take it further. Like the red in Mario's clothes is pretty desaturated compared to his home series. Sakurai has said this is because red in video games tends to look the same in different lighting but I didn't think it was a problem in really any Mario game on the Switch.

IIRC, he specifically desaturates the cartoony cast specifically so they fit in with the likes of Snake, Bayonetta, and Samus, who all have more muted color pallets. Aside from Snake though (grey on grey can only get so vibrant) I'm not sure entirely why that's so necessary. It may have to do with art direction since SSB4 was a ton more saturated across the board.

On that subject, my problem with SSB4 is that while the saturation is high, the colors themselves are a bit too flat.

 

[SharkLord]

I think there's a good chance Smash 6 might give cel shading a go. Lately, cel shading and painted CGI have been on the rise, in games and animation alike. We've seen it used in a good variety of Nintendo titles too - Mario and Luigi, Zelda, Kirby, Fire Emblem, and Xenoblade have all used it to some degree during the Switch era. Smash itself has already leaned into brighter, more cartoony hit effects in Ultimate, so it's not that far of a jump.

Personally, I think a comic book/anime styled look could work really well for Smash. Something kinda like Spider-Verse or Hi-Fi Rush.

(Though, if it were up to me every game would look like Hi-Fi Rush, so I may be biased)

 

[smashkirby]

A comic book art-style like Jump Ultimate Stars would be cool, like in each characters classic mode we could have a intro like this:

It's funny you say this, because ever since Spirits were first properly revealed to be a thing in Smash Ultimate, I had actually likened the concept to that of the Nintendo DS Jump Stars games' Koma (manga panel) system. Really, the only difference being that the playable characters in Smash couldn't have their Fighter Spirits used in gameplay.

Still though, could you imagine WoL following Jump Ultimate Stars' world-hopping gimmick thing and having a world intro for every universe represented in Ultimate???

No, you're correct. Smash 4 is when Smash just became a typical fighting game in terms of vibes which is fine but it feels like Smash lost its soul.

The Sora trailer is the one exception.

Yeah, exactly! For what it's worth, you wouldn't believe my utter surprise at Sora's reveal starting off with letting us know that Smash apparently HASN'T totally dropped the 'toys-to-life' concept.

I also find it quite interesting how Sora's reveal also went out of its way to tell us that even the alternate skin characters apparently have their own trophy (toy) forms.
It makes me wonder just how would a Subspace follow-up tackle the alt. skin characters in such a thing? Would they be part of the story? Could we select their base character's alternate costumes to access them? Would they just not be acknowledged and not take part in such a story?

BTW, the more I think about it... is anyone else NOT really a fan of the invitation thing that Smash Bros. has been doing? I don't know, I feel like that's another aspect of modern-day Smash Bros. that's been taking up too much precedent over the 'toys-to-life' concept Smash started with.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Personally, I think a comic book/anime styled look could work really well for Smash. Something kinda like Spider-Verse or Hi-Fi Rush.

Yeeesss...

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

BTW, the more I think about it... is anyone else NOT really a fan of the invitation thing that Smash Bros. has been doing? I don't know, I feel like that's another aspect of modern-day Smash Bros. that's been taking up too much precedent over the 'toys-to-life' concept Smash started with.

I like the invitation thing, but I can KINDA get where you're coming from with this? I'm just not really sure how you'd make a commonplace thing for the toys to life concept interesting or exciting for a fighting game trailer that gets the point across immediately, like would a kid buy a new toy/figure every trailer?

It is kinda funny that what was originally just part of Villager and Isabelle's trailers was expanded to Joker, Terry, Byleth, Min Min, and Pyra/Mythra, but considering its use in promotional material (like as placeholders for the Fighters Passes, being shown when they said more characters were coming), it's a pretty immediate way to get the point across at this point and I feel like it's likely to continue as a marketing/promotional tool considering Ultimate DLC expanded the invitation's role a lot lol