Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Hydreigonfan01]

Is Reimu that niche? Touhou's pretty big in Japan, right? At least in my mind, she's one of the obvious possible future indie picks alongside Shovel Knight, Shantae, and the Hollow Knight MC.

Sans is more likely then all of those characters individually and I don't even think it's close.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Who's is your number one dark horse Pic.I think Travis touchdown has a decent shot of being in the next smash tbh

If you think he has a decent shot, how is he a dark horse?

For me, it's Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky.

 

[Louie G.]

My guess is Octolings as a Inkling echo are almost a sure thing and I could easily see a second unique Splatoon fighter between Callie & Marie, Off the Hook, and DJ Octavio in addition to the Octolings. I feel like they’d all offer something unique. If it were my choice, I’d go with Octavio because he’s the most visually distinct and I’m always a fan of more villains but I could see any of them making it.

Octavio was my first instinct when I was weighing out the options, but I backed off a bit on account of the idols having much, much more notoriety and widespread popularity. DJ Octavio checks off all the boxes on paper, he's a recurring antagonist in a very successful Nintendo series. He's had a prominent role to play in all three games, even leveling out to kind of an ally in Splatoon 3 akin to Dedede. I'm excited for what the future holds for him. But he's in this strange limbo where he's also a bit obscured, maybe on account of Splatoon's campaign being more of a side mode compared to its multiplayer.

The idols are at the forefront of multiplayer, being the focal points of Splatfests and the first thing you see when you boot up your game. Whichever way you choose to play Splatoon, you're gonna be confronted with them. So that level of familiarity probably goes a long way in distinguishing them as more central to the series' identity. You've also got those concerts, merchandise, all that. That doesn't make me want DJ Octavio any less though, I think he's insanely cool and I wouldn't even be mad if we got him alongside one of the duos. Splatoon's cast is bursting with fun potential and I'm just eager for Smash to embrace it. But I think when weighing out the priorities here, thinking about the "next" step for the series in Smash, he falls behind the idols considerably. Maybe after that.

 

[Gengar84]

I’ve got a ton of long shots on my most wanted list. Just a few of my favorite third party characters are are Battletoads, Fulgore, Magus, Zegram, Illidan, Kerrigan, Alphen/Shionne, Bill Rizer, Sub-Zero, Zero, Jinx, Lu Bu, Etna, Raziel, Death, H’aanit, Princess Garnet, Frederica Aesfrost, Xemnas, Joanna Dark, Misako, Juri Han and Gaige. Who knows if any of them will make it but I’d love to get at least one of them.

 

[cashregister9]

The funniest part about the Dark Horse question is that everyone's most wanted is a Dark Horse in their eyes

my picks are dark horses in my eyes

 

[DynamicSmasher]

Is Reimu that niche? Touhou's pretty big in Japan, right? At least in my mind, she's one of the obvious possible future indie picks alongside Shovel Knight, Shantae, and the Hollow Knight MC.

The problem moreso is that there's only 2 Touhou games officially localised in the west, 15.5 Antinomy of Common Flowers and 17.5 Sunken Fossil World. Both spin-offs, hence the .5s. Westerners might recognise some of them vaguely from memes like Bad Apple and Night of Nights, but a) most people wouldn't even recognise that it's Touhou and b) a lot of those memes are getting old anyway. Sure, Smash boards would recognise it, but a lot of younger kids would never have seen it.

Who's is your number one dark horse Pic.I think Travis touchdown has a decent shot of being in the next smash tbh

I guess I would go with Filo from FF12- Revenant Wings, which is the one I played. A hoverboard fighter could be cool. Oh, or Ekko from League along the same lines+time manipulation

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

I think I'm actually in a decent enough position to get hopefully a couple of my mw next time around, just due to how many more games I've played since Ultimate and how many of them got love in that entry. Hoping Sans, Raven, Beak, Shadow, just one of them or maybe a few others and I'll be happy.

If there was one character I'd consider pretty Dark Horse but not entirely out of the cards, it'd be Alucard. He was considered for Ultimate, though whether Sakurai would triple dip one of the best represented series (and make it the second behind FF to introduce another fully unique 3rd party) is a bit of a debate. Even just the assist attacks make me wanna see a fully fleshed out moveset for him, though I also think it'd be cool if he pulled a couple of Dracula's attacks out as well.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Is Reimu that niche? Touhou's pretty big in Japan, right? At least in my mind, she's one of the obvious possible future indie picks alongside Shovel Knight, Shantae, and the Hollow Knight MC.

She's pretty niche in the West at least and if that hampers first party characters like Takamaru, I can only imagine it'd be an even bigger issue for a third party lol

I do think she has some kind of shot because Touhou music has been in Taiko no Tatsujin before, connecting it with Namco (though I don't know if they'd need to ask ZUN for permission or just the circle that made the song, but I would assume ZUN would have to know) and his connection with Toby Fox who is in turn connected to Sakurai if only slightly, plus it'd be easier to get rights since ZUN is only one guy, but I just don't know if she has the Western presence necessary.

 

[PlasmaDam]

I think if Noah gets in you could do a N echo fighter as well

 

[Undella2]

I think if Noah gets in you could do a N echo fighter as well

N would work better as an alt costume a la alph to olimar imo.

He's literally the same person as Noah, just a different reincarnated(?)/reborn version of him

 

[Diddy Kong]

You know, with all the rumors going around that Switch 2 is gonna see a Breath of the Wild remaster or new version of the game, am rethinking which of the Champions we could possibly see included as a newcomer.

I do think this is quite a possibility. Sure thing I love Impa, and think she's the most logical and fitting newcomer, but that isn't because of Breath of the Wild. A game that stands a whole league on its own regarding Zelda games.

Which Champion is the choice of you guys? I'm thinking Urbosa, her ability seems most combat oriented and she's the most flashy. However Mipha has the strongest popularity probably?

I also think Impa can be included alongside this. But yeah.

 

[Hydreigonfan01]

N would work better as an alt costume a la alph to olimar imo.

He's literally the same person as Noah, just a different reincarnated(?)/reborn version of him

Dr. Mario isn't an alt of regular Mario, despite being the same person.
There's enough of a difference in fighting style between Noah and N, where despite the two of them being the same person they can have some differences between the two of them to be echo fighters.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Revali would probably re-use some ideas Sakurai had for Decidueye, so I could imagine him taking priority if a Champion was picked.


But my answer remains Master Kohga is the best available option from the Wild era.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Dr. Mario isn't an alt of regular Mario, despite being the same person.

Being fair, he was planned to in Smash 4 but being its own slot in Melee was the sole reason he remained a clone instead.

 

[PlasmaDam]

Zelda newcomer is a weird question because there isn't really a consensus it's all fractured you got the Skull kid camp you got the midna camp and you got the champion camp who can't even decide which champion it should be. I think we are Def getting totk Ganon rework and that's it

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

You know, with all the rumors going around that Switch 2 is gonna see a Breath of the Wild remaster or new version of the game

.......why would that happen when Breath of the Wild is on the Switch already?

People really out there thinking Nintendo is Sony levels of greedy, huh?

 

[PlasmaDam]

You think Sakurai would change Zelda to botw Zelda or he is fine with the current Zelda we have now? Botw Zelda has much more to work with but I don't think he would change Zelda 2 games in a row

 

[Undella2]

You think Sakurai would change Zelda to botw Zelda or he is fine with the current Zelda we have now? Botw Zelda has much more to work with but I don't think he would change Zelda 2 games in a row

I'd prefer for each Zelda rep to represent a different era/game of the franchise. Currently, what, normal link is BOTW, zelda is LTTP, and ganondorf is OOT? I think? And then young link represents ocarina of time to some extent and also majora's mask and toon link represents the, uh, "toon" games (mostly the wind waker timeline stuff though to my knowledge).

 

[Thegameandwatch]

You think Sakurai would change Zelda to botw Zelda or he is fine with the current Zelda we have now? Botw Zelda has much more to work with but I don't think he would change Zelda 2 games in a row

Smash 4 is the only time that Zelda kept the same design as the previous game. I think the reason is because Skyward Sword didn’t have Ganondorf which is also why Link was also still TP version with modifications from SS.

I think it’s better in my opinion for the Zelda characters to represent different games rather then most of them being the same.

 

[ninjahmos]

I dunno if this has already been shown here, but apparently, someone made a moveset for Phoenix Wright in Smash Ultimate:

From the looks of it, almost all of his attacks and other animations have been ripped straight from Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I dunno if this has already been shown here, but apparently, someone made a moveset for Phoenix Wright in Smash Ultimate:

From the looks of it, almost all of his attacks and other animations have been ripped straight from Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.

It's very funny seeing the comments and people not realizing this is taken from another game.

Anyone who's played UMvC3 would know the Turnabout mode is intentionally OP because it's limited and not easy to get in the first place. (They would also know the name of it in the first place lmao)

 

[Ivander]

You think Sakurai would change Zelda to botw Zelda or he is fine with the current Zelda we have now? Botw Zelda has much more to work with but I don't think he would change Zelda 2 games in a row

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he made BotW/TotK Zelda their own character. It's not exactly what some fans want, but considering Sakurai is more a gameplay enthusiast rather than a character enthusiast, BotW Zelda does have enough to differentiate her moveset(between powers of light and time, and the Sheikah Slate powers) from the currant Zelda.

Which Champion is the choice of you guys? I'm thinking Urbosa, her ability seems most combat oriented and she's the most flashy. However Mipha has the strongest popularity probably?

• Daruk/Yunobo and Revali/Teba/Tulin would offer the most gameplay-wise IMO, with Revali/Teba/Tulin being a bit higher than Daruk/Yunobo due to Revali, Teba and Tulin being very aerial-focused characters with access to ranged attacks with their bows. Meanwhile, Daruk and Yunobo would be pretty unique in that they would probably have a much more focused gameplay revolved a bit around their rolling and they can double as heavy-weights that may appear slow, but can suddenly go quite fast and hit hard.
• Mipha wouldn't exactly offer that much more with Greninja and Squirtle being in, though her being more a long-range spear user with a bit more focus on defense would be enough to make her unique from them. Sidon I think could offer a bit more just with his size, as he'd be much taller and bulkier than most of the cast, making him more of a heavy-weight compared to Greninja and Squirtle while also being able to do and give what Mipha can.
• While I like Urbosa and Riju, despite their thunder magic, they arguably offer the least amount of gameplay potential and it doesn't help that they are probably the more regular looking characters that have the issue of using a sword like a good number of characters. I do think they can offer something unique with their thunder magic with how their skills work and how lightning works in BotW/TotK, but they seem like characters that if you were trying to make characters with an interesting moveset, Urbosa and Riju would be a hard sell compared to the other Champions/Sages.
  Though to their benefit, the fact that they are the most human out of the Champions/Sages and use a sword arguably make them the more easier characters to create.

If I had to choose, gameplay-wise and look-wise, it'd probably be Tulin, since Tulin is a bit more unique looking compared to Revali who shares alot with Falco and Tulin being much more lightweight compared to Revali and Teba would probably help justify them being an absolute menace in the air with access to ranged attacks and having alot less vulnerability in the air. Daruk/Yunobo would be my 2nd choice and Sidon would be my 3rd choice.

 

[Gengar84]

You know, with all the rumors going around that Switch 2 is gonna see a Breath of the Wild remaster or new version of the game, am rethinking which of the Champions we could possibly see included as a newcomer.

I do think this is quite a possibility. Sure thing I love Impa, and think she's the most logical and fitting newcomer, but that isn't because of Breath of the Wild. A game that stands a whole league on its own regarding Zelda games.

Which Champion is the choice of you guys? I'm thinking Urbosa, her ability seems most combat oriented and she's the most flashy. However Mipha has the strongest popularity probably?

I also think Impa can be included alongside this. But yeah.

Urbosa is my favorite but I think Mipha might be the most interesting from a gameplay perspective. We don’t have a ton of water element users and Mipha would be our first dedicated polearm user. I’d be happy with either of them though.

 

[Louie G.]

I really like the spread of Zelda designs right now, but after TOTK I'm certain that Ganondorf will get an update. And if that happens, that leaves Zelda as kind of the odd one out. So personally, I think she will get a new design inspired by BOTW / TOTK as well. Probably a dress influenced by her outfit in TOTK if I had to be more specific. I've come around on that design so I'd like to see the way it'd be implemented.

I'm in agreement with the people who say they like the characters to all represent something different. But realistically, I think we're due for another Twilight Princess situation. Kind of a shame, because I really do love Ultimate's Zelda design in particular. Hopefully they just get better with alternate costumes next time and give us the options to play as alternate versions of the triad.

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

Zelda newcomer is a weird question because there isn't really a consensus it's all fractured you got the Skull kid camp you got the midna camp and you got the champion camp who can't even decide which champion it should be. I think we are Def getting totk Ganon rework and that's it

...is there room for an Impa supporter in these camps? I think she's a fresh take for the Sheikah Ninja concept and as one of the few recurring side characters without being a representative of one of the three Triforce pieces, there's a lot of room to play around with her design depending on what they choose. Although, I'd also be just as happy with Skull Kid, since I have fond memories playing the remake of MM and being scared by Ben Drowned videos about a decade ago.

Watch all this end up wrong and Tingle finally gets in or smt.