Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Greenhorne Ethan]

Mostly off the top of my head, the new franchises of the Switch era are ARMS, Ring Fit Adventure, Astral Chain, Fitness Boxing, 1-2 Switch!, Game Builder Garage, and Nintendo LABO.

Fitness Boxing is only published by Nintendo internationally, it might not be anymore but I'm not sure.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I mean I think that very much depends on your definition of notable in this instance.

Are we just talking like franchises that have more than one entry, or more than that?

I'm not entirely sure I have a definition here. I think I'm more looking for what's interesting than what took off, but at the same time, the more popular something was, the more likely it could be picked, even if the goal is to shake things up (hence why most of these characters are from the NES thus far).

 

[Louie G.]

Realistically we'll have to see how well it does for it to be considered anyway.

Hmm, honestly I'm not sure. Rhythm Heaven already has a sufficient legacy behind it, being one of the more successful and longstanding series without a playable character. I think the simple presence of a new game would be enough to move the dial in its favor, even if that game doesn't completely shatter records. Although I suspect this game will do pretty well, despite being a Switch 1 title I think that's more of a technicality at this point. It's not like we won't be able to buy it on our Switch 2, so it's hard to see it get screwed the same way something like the Bowser's Inside Story remake was, etc.

Bottom line is I don't think Rhythm Heaven has much to prove right now. It just needed to prove that it still has some life left, which it does. Rhythm Heaven games are cheaper, lighter affairs as is and probably aren't held to the lofty standard of its AAA cousins. The main concern right now, in regards to Smash consideration, involves timing more than it does moving units. At least in my eyes.

 

[Oracle Link]

It would be cool alongside a new results theme.

Also do you guys think that the victory themes for the characters will be changed since they are generally the same since Brawl unless they were too long like Zelda and EarthBound.

Good idea!
Lets talk about the ones ill change/add:
Zelda protagonists: keep their theme
Ganondorf/ ganon: gets his/agahnims theme

Kirby, meta, bandana, ddd : get one new remix of the kirby dance
Magolor: crowned/lor
Dark matter: firdt few notes of hid true form theme from kdl2
Elfilin: new world

Earthbound protags: keep 8 melodies or pollyana
Porky: gets the pigmasks apear theme

The human ut: gets uts main theme

 

[smashkirby]

Is there any other notable Nintendo franchises left that both don’t have a character and the characters has moveset potential?

I think most of you have sort of gone into more detail than I was going to. I was just going to say that I guess it'd be Dealer's Choice (Really hope I'm using that term correctly here) in this scenario. Like, what would you consider 'notable' in this situation, basically.

Okay so, aside from the Gematsu leak implying Chorus Kids, who are the most prominent Rhythm Heaven characters? I know of the aforementioned Chorus Kids, Karate Joe, Yuka (Who I think is also the Tap Trial Girl?), and Barista, plus the memetic "wubadubaduba" reporter and wrestler, but I have very little knowledge on what Rhythm Heaven is like beyond "rhythm game", and as such I don't know anything about the characters beyond their names and appearances.

What do all these guys do, and how are they important to the series? What's going for them in the context of Smash?

A couple of folks have already answered this, but if I may? I feel like TV Tropes kind of comes in handy here, as I think the Characters page on that site covers (for the most part) the closest thing the series has to recurring characters.

Rhythm Heaven - TV Tropes

This page is a character sheet for the cast of the minigames of Rhythm Heaven. Cameos from its sister game, WarioWare, belong to its respective character page. Samurai Drummer A samurai who dedicates his life to drumming. He serves as the host …

tvtropes.org

This got me thinking. I hope we see a 3D model of a rhythm heaven rep. Especially Yuka

Quick obligatory plug to this one guy I know who's currently working on a Yuka mod for Smash Ultimate. Personally, I'm on the 'Yuka for Smash' train, and this guy's efforts have kept firmly on the ride.

https://x.com/SodaAndPop_Inc

I'm starting to wonder if Sony representation in Smash should be considered if this keeps up.

If I could have any character I wanted as a fighter, it would be Toro, but I think there would need to be a Doko Demo Issyo game on Nintendo first. (Which I wouldn't rule out because series developer BeXide isn't owned by Sony and has released some games on Switch)

I won't lie, there's a small part of me today that's been wondering if Sony would be eligible for (at best) a Trophy/Spirit of a character, be it Toro and/or Kuro, PaRappa, Spike (from Ape Escape), or maybe even a Hot Shots character.

Well... that is, if Sony continues licensing out their first-party IPs to continue going multiplatform, of course.

I'm kinda curious now. What are the notable 1st party franchises that don't have a character? I know the NES pretty much just has Excite and Balloon Fight left. There are the Sports series, as well as Kung Fu, Mach Rider, Clu Clu Land, and Urban Champion, but they're much less iconic. Mach Rider and Bubbles might could get some sort of Kid Icarus or Duck Hunt style glow ups and present something interesting to the roster, but they don't really have much on merit.

I also mentioned that the Switch has Ring Fit Adventure, Astral Chain, 1-2 Switch!, Game Builder Garage, and Nintendo LABO (also Fitness Boxing, but I was incorrect on them being 1st party). Of those, I think all of them are fair game, though other than Astral Chain and Ring Fit Adventure, these series would be taking the surprise character slot. I keep wanting to say that 1-2 Switch! getting a character is likely because the first game was a tie in and the sequel doesn't make the best selling list...but for some reason it's not a tie-in game. It just sold like hot cakes despite looking like a tech demo. The wonders of marketing and a small launch title base I guess?

For the other consoles I'm not too sure though. I think Golden Sun, Rhythm Heaven, and Legendary Starfy debuted on the GBA, but don't quote me on that, and whenever Game Boy games get a mention, Mole Mania tends to pop up due to it's interesting puzzle mechanics.


I guess this is mainly me being curious on what new 1st party series we could see getting a character if they decide to not only add NES and currently relevant franchises for their characters.

While I'm not saying Nintendo has to go nuts on this front (as I imagine the casual audience will eventually have a limit on how much "not-big" series they'd be willing to accept), I personally feel like there's going to come a point where they might not be able to afford getting too picky on which new 1st party series are able to get a new character, even if said series isn't all that major.

With that said, I'd like to think that the SNES has Pilotwings (by proxy of the cast of Pilotwings 64), the N64 has Sin & Punishment and Custom Robo (and Rare's stuff, provided Microsoft will play ball on that front), and the Gamecube at least has Chibi-Robo.

Side note, but I should mention that while Fitness Boxing isn't a first-party series, I think Nintendo looks at that series the way they look at Bayonetta. It doesn't belong to them, but it wouldn't be too weird to consider that series an "honorary Nintendo series" with how associated it's been with them. Heck, I could definitely see a character from those games get a Trophy/Spirit, come next Smash.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

You know how some characters have moves that require multiple inputs to use the full move? This is the case for a lot of characters jabs, but there is also Link’s side smash, Mega Man’s side tilt, Simon’s down tilt, Hero’s side tilt, Kazuya’s up tilt, and Sora’s side tilt, neutral air and forward air.

What if for the Chorus Kids every single one of their moves (with the exception of their smash attacks) requires three inputs to do the full move, with each input being performed by a different kid, and having the timing of the inputs affect the effectiveness of the move.

For Smash attacks I imagine while you are charging, the other two kids briefly yell one after the other (like in the Glee Club mini game), and if you let go to the rhythm you do extra damage/knock back (more than if it was fully charged even).

 

[Oracle Link]

Someone made a moveset for the Masked Man from Mother 3:

If you know…you know.

His Final Smash is just another explosion, which is kinda lame. Overall though, pretty cool moveset.

Like masked man is so dark/ personality less i just cant see him as a smash character!
Like ridley and sephiroth have a bit of smugness ro them, octoroks and other enemys are adorable
Even porky is atleast ya know alive

Masked man doesnt fit into the goofy world of smash at all!

If we get no new Namco characters sure. If we do get a Namco newcomer, I can see Kazuya getting lower priority. I also think his complexity, adding dev time, conjuncted with his kinda muted reception don't help either.

I mean that's basically why I think Sephiroth is as expendable as he is. I just think if the current Square characters have to make room for a newcomer, the one likeliest to be collateral damage is him.

How many third-parties do you think have to get cut before Kazuya is axed? Because unlike with first-parties there's no real fat to trim, you're instantly cutting into characters with good reasons to be there. It's just that... some have to be lower priority than others, so even minor shortcomings could be costly.

Well even with nintendo there only few characters you could consider fat that be one of the young links or both if they replace them with la/eow link,
Pirahna plant, daisy, dr mario, 1-3 fire emblem Chars, invineroar, greninja, lucario, pichu, jigglypuff, zero suit maybe 1 retro char
And thats it and thats already gonna upset a lot!
But even the "jUsT hAvE oNe LiNk DuH" which seems widely accepted will have big consequences! Lucas has a very dedicated fanbase!
Even someone like sheik with 1 canon appearnce has a big smash fanbase like most of the okay cuts come from the Big three (mario, pokemon fe) which on top of that have sone really controversial choices!
Honestly most nintendo chars are meat even if it isnt the best parts!

 

[SPEN18]

I guess this is mainly me being curious on what new 1st party series we could see getting a character if they decide to not only add NES and currently relevant franchises for their characters.

Wow, this is just handing me a chance to plug on a silver platter

There's actually a lot of highly interesting and unique choices, but here's my top two:

The big one in the Smash fandom is Golden Sun, whose popularity and reputation as one of the absolute best GBA games is well-known. The game holds up great today and probably doesn't get enough credit for its novel blend of overworld puzzles with classic random-encounter JRPG gameplay. The moveset potential here is massive and well-documented.

I also think Wave Race could be a very interesting alternate take on the mounted character idea besides the bikers who get more discussion. This had very strong sales for an N64 game, is one of the best-remembered classics on that console just under the top tier of stuff like Mario 64, OoT, and etc., and touts a longterm industry legacy for its revolutionary water physics. And it has dolphins. This also shares a character pool with 1080 Snowboarding for whatever that's worth.

Among the others worth mentioning (far from an exhaustive list):
Lip from Panel de Pon could be a puzzle genre rep; Pilotwings is a commercially successful Miyamoto darling if one could decide on a suitable choice of character and moveset; Custom Robo actually got some respectable support on the Ballot and sported a fairly long lifespan; Sin & Punishment and Eternal Darkness are well-regarded critically, respectively representing arcade-style on-rails shooters and the horror genre; Starfy and Chibi-Robo are charming favorites among pockets of Smash fans; Style Savvy did some pretty significant numbers on the DS and 3DS and represents a unique genre; Fossil Fighters is honestly a very underrated entry in the monster-collecting genre; even Vince from Art Academy was recently elevated to AT status and is a representational relic of DSiWare.

Technically these next few are relevant on Switch, but if they got in I'd still see them as strong representatives of that middle period between NES-era and modern Nintendo, with a lot of legacy pull (and anyway I think they're worth a bit more discussion):

The remake didn't move the needle I don't think, and it struggles to make headway in Japan, but Advance Wars has a lot of critical success under its belt, even if not the best sales. Worth mentioning for its colorful cast of characters, potential soldier-summoning moveset potential, and long history. Also it's a personal favorite.

On pure sales record, Brain Age and Big Brain Academy would be squarely in the conversation, it's just a matter of coming up with a viable moveset. Mileage may vary on how people feel about the globular floating mug of Dr. Kawashima or the somewhat amorphous, 2-dimensional Dr. Lobe testing their mettle in Smash, but tackling the edugame genre would make for a unique challenge.

Also feel like mentioning: Endless Ocean...not sure how you would do a character for this one, unless people were ok with like a straight scuba diver fighter, but a stage with 3D marine animals in the background would be cool. Ashley from Another Code is a cool representative of the point-and-click genre.

Edit: obviously most of these have little to no chance for a PC (though some I think do have a pretty real chance). I just like talking about them. Though all of them have at least something unique and notable about them you can point to.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Like masked man is so dark/ personality less i just cant see him as a smash character!
Like ridley and sephiroth have a bit of smugness ro them, octoroks and other enemys are adorable
Even porky is atleast ya know alive

Masked man doesnt fit into the goofy world of smash at all!

Serious and stoic is a personality and it stands out in smash. Dark Samus has a similar portrayal and she's just fine.

 

[Idon]

Masked man doesnt fit into the goofy world of smash at all!

Conversely, clinically insane maniac mass murderer Sephiroth is perfectly reasonable.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Conversely, clinically insane maniac mass murderer Sephiroth is perfectly reasonable.
View attachment 400641

Sephiroth grins on occasion, so he's more comical.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Conversely, clinically insane maniac mass murderer Sephiroth is perfectly reasonable.
View attachment 400641

Instructions unclear.
Adding Springtrap to Smash.

 

[AreJay25]

Yeah, Smash is just a goofy, funny game. I love it when the Devil, the Cunning God of Death and the Demon King in particular decide to do some silly little pranks on the protagonists of their home franchsies. Cracks me up every time.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Instructions unclear.
Adding Springtrap to Smash.

Might as well add Monokuma from Danganronpa for another killer bear while we are add it.

 

[Gengar84]

Serious and stoic is a personality and it stands out in smash. Dark Samus has a similar portrayal and she's just fine.

Yeah, and my favorite version of Zelda also had this personality type (Twilight Princess). I love a good mix of personalities in Smash but I tend to favor some of the more stoic badass types like Hyrule Warriors Impa or third party characters like Illidan or Magus. There’s plenty of more goofy characters I’d love to see too like Gengar, the Battletoads and Jinx but more serious characters are cool too.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Imagine if Pac-Man in the next smash game gets updated to be like in this game

Or maybe at least he gets one skin where he looks more metallic like in this game. Or his final smash gets updated to 0:59 to 1:01 or the transformation he uses after this. Seriously just imagine this actually happening lol. How would y’all react?
I personally don’t mind i be cool with it as long as the original Pac-Man is still intact, my first paragraph was a joke if the emoji didn’t make it obvious lol!

 

[Gengar84]

Imagine if Pac-Man in the next smash game gets updated to be like in this game

Or maybe at least he gets one skin where he looks more metallic like in this game. Or his final smash gets updated to 0:59 to 1:01 or the transformation he uses after this. Seriously just imagine this actually happening lol. How would y’all react?
I personally don’t mind i be cool with it as long as the original Pac-Man is still intact, my first paragraph was a joke if the emoji didn’t make it obvious lol!

I was just thinking of that. I’m curious what everyone thinks of this game. It’s definitely interesting but it’s giving me the same vibes as that Bomberman game that everyone hated for trying to be too dark and edgy back in the day. Definitely not something I ever expected from the franchise. I’d happily take a stage from this game over Pac-Land. The stage we have now looks like a kid drew it in MS Paint.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I was just thinking of that. I’m curious what everyone thinks of this game. It’s definitely interesting but it’s giving me the same vibes as that Bomberman game that everyone hated for trying to be too dark and edgy back in the day.

I think the concept of an edgy Pac-Man is dumb as hell. But if the game ends up being a good metrovania, I'll probably still play it.

 

[fogbadge]

Imagine if Pac-Man in the next smash game gets updated to be like in this game

Or maybe at least he gets one skin where he looks more metallic like in this game. Or his final smash gets updated to 0:59 to 1:01 or the transformation he uses after this. Seriously just imagine this actually happening lol. How would y’all react?
I personally don’t mind i be cool with it as long as the original Pac-Man is still intact, my first paragraph was a joke if the emoji didn’t make it obvious lol!

I’d probably just roll my eyes and get on with things

 

[Gengar84]

I think the concept of an edgy Pac-Man is dumb as hell. But if the game ends up being a good metrovania, I'll probably still play it.

Yeah, it is pretty dumb, but almost comically so. I’m not sure if that was the intention but I find it pretty funny. I don’t mind them experimenting with franchises here and there for spinoff games but I don’t want the core identity of the franchise to be lost as a result.

 

[Lionfranky]

The only way I feasibly see a Sony rep is if Sakurai/Nintendo are going for "what's literally the biggest character nobody would expect?" From that angle, mayyyyybe, but it also relies on whether Sony is willing to play ball and Collab on more than a golf game.

NINTENDO! GIVE ME KRATOS AND A SACKBOY MII, AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!

Good point. While Chief is a lot more expected than he was before, coming swinging straight out the gates with him would be a great way to glue my and many other jaws to the floor for a minute.

I know it may sour Japanese players.... but Chief being the final fighter fits so well for "Finish the Fight" tagline

 

[Gengar84]

Master Chief would be pretty cool but there are several Microsoft ones characters I’d personally be more excited for. He’s definitely deserving and it would be cool seeing the mascot of X-Box in Smash. Plus, we can finally recreate Haloid in Smash.

As far as Sony owned characters I’d like to see that have a realistic chance, I’d go with Aloy from Horizon. I really enjoyed the first game and we could use more cool female fighters. Plus the stage would be awesome with the giant robotic dinosaurs. She’s already got Nintendo presence through LEGO Horizon, which helps.

 

[Shinuto]

Master Chief would be pretty cool but there are several Microsoft ones characters I’d personally be more excited for. He’s definitely deserving and it would be cool seeing the mascot of X-Box in Smash. Plus, we can finally recreate Haloid in Smash.

As far as Sony owned characters I’d like to see that have a realistic chance, I’d go with Aloy from Horizon. I really enjoyed the first game and we could use more cool female fighters. Plus the stage would be awesome with the giant robotic dinosaurs.

If she counts I'd love Kat from Gravity Rush

 

[Gengar84]

If she counts I'd love Kat from Gravity Rush

I think she counts but I’m no expert. I believe she was in PlayStation All-Stars.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Kat from Gravity rush feels like something that'd just get a mii costume tbh

 

[PersonAngelo53]

I was just thinking of that. I’m curious what everyone thinks of this game. It’s definitely interesting but it’s giving me the same vibes as that Bomberman game that everyone hated for trying to be too dark and edgy back in the day. Definitely not something I ever expected from the franchise. I’d happily take a stage from this game over Pac-Land. The stage we have now looks like a kid drew it in and Paint.

Now that you mentioned yeah maybe at least a stage would be cool, or maybe some music if this game ends up having good music.

 

[Gengar84]

Kat from Gravity rush feels like something that'd just get a mii costume tbh

At least that’s more than Zegram will ever get. He’s actually my most wanted Sony character but he’s about as unlikely as you can get. To the point that Goku and Spider-Man are significantly more likely than him lol.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

I think she counts but I’m no expert. I believe she was in PlayStation All-Stars.

Yes she was in that game.

 

[Gengar84]

Here’s something that I personally think would be cool but I don’t think many others would like it: We were talking about third party surprise/wtf characters before and I couldn’t think of much at the time. What if we got an iconic Final Fantasy Summon like Ifrit, Shiva, or Bahamut as a playable character? I think they’d all offer really exciting movesets and have cool designs. Since they’re not actually characters, they’d likely fall more into a Piranha Plant style surprise character category. I dunno, I just think they’d be fun is all.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Here’s something that I personally think would be cool but I don’t think many others would like it: We were talking about third party surprise/wtf characters before and I couldn’t think of much at the time. What if we got an iconic Final Fantasy Summon like Ifrit, Shiva, or Bahamut as a playable character? I think they’d all offer really exciting movesets and have cool designs. Since they’re not actually characters, they’d likely fall more into a Piranha Plant style surprise character category. I dunno, I just think they’d be fun is all.

My favorite option would be Diablos(the FFVIII design, specifically). A really cool and useful Summon on its own, though it does get outpowered later on. But being able to reduce or remove encounters is amazing.

 

[Gengar84]

My favorite option would be Diablos(the FFVIII design, specifically). A really cool and useful Summon on its own, though it does get outpowered later on. But being able to reduce or remove encounters is amazing.

Diablos is actually my favorite summon and one of my favorite designs in gaming. I only left it out because it’s only been in a few games where the others are in almost every entry. I certainly wouldn’t complain though. Diablos is awesome. Final Fantasy VIII also has my favorite Ifrit design.

Another idea I’d personally love is a Robot Master or Maverick from the Mega Man series. A lot of them have awesome designs and memorable boss fights so they’d be fun to play as in Smash. Some of my favorites are Pharaoh Man, Air Man, Toad Man, Boomer Kuwanger, and Sting Chameleon. I don’t think any are particularly likely, especially not before Zero, Bass, Proto Man Sigma, or Dr. Wily but they’d be fun.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

I feel like Summons from Final Fantasy should have at least been Assist Trophies but at least they were included in the Midgar stage.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Here’s something that I personally think would be cool but I don’t think many others would like it: We were talking about third party surprise/wtf characters before and I couldn’t think of much at the time. What if we got an iconic Final Fantasy Summon like Ifrit, Shiva, or Bahamut as a playable character? I think they’d all offer really exciting movesets and have cool designs. Since they’re not actually characters, they’d likely fall more into a Piranha Plant style surprise character category. I dunno, I just think they’d be fun is all.

They be cool but like they are already well represented in the first final fantasy stage we have as hazards. Personally think other final fantasy characters would make more sense to make characters. Tho nonetheless I wouldn’t complain if it did happen.

 

[cashregister9]

Here’s something that I personally think would be cool but I don’t think many others would like it: We were talking about third party surprise/wtf characters before and I couldn’t think of much at the time. What if we got an iconic Final Fantasy Summon like Ifrit, Shiva, or Bahamut as a playable character? I think they’d all offer really exciting movesets and have cool designs. Since they’re not actually characters, they’d likely fall more into a Piranha Plant style surprise character category. I dunno, I just think they’d be fun is all.

Clive from Final Fantasy 16 would be the best chance of that happening, due to the fact that he turns into Ifrit and has the powers of the other summons.

I also think an Alexander stage would be great

 

[Gengar84]

Clive from Final Fantasy 16 would be the best chance of that happening, due to the fact that he turns into Ifrit and has the powers of the other summons.

I also think an Alexander stage would be great

Oh yeah, I hadn’t considered that. My friend was obsessed with that game saying it’s one of the best games he’s ever played. I was a huge fan of the series from VI-X but I kind of fell off after that. I’ll have to try it out sometime. I’m assuming they’d save the Ifrit transformation for a Final Smash attack.

Clive also fits the beast tamer archetype I’d love to see with his dog Torgal. Kind of like a mix between Ice Climbers and Rosalina. Other fun options for this general idea could be Yuri/Repede (Tales), Nia/Dromarch (Xenoblade), and H’annit/Linde (Octopath).

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

For Smash attacks I imagine while you are charging, the other two kids briefly yell one after the other (like in the Glee Club mini game), and if you let go to the rhythm you do extra damage/knock back (more than if it was fully charged even).

I always thought their smash attacks (or at least their up smash) would be the "Together Now" "BWAAA!!!" thing. You could charge it like a normal smash attack, but you'd get the most bang for your buck by releasing the attack at the correct time.

Wow, this is just handing me a chance to plug on a silver platter

There's actually a lot of highly interesting and unique choices, but here's my top two:

The big one in the Smash fandom is Golden Sun, whose popularity and reputation as one of the absolute best GBA games is well-known. The game holds up great today and probably doesn't get enough credit for its novel blend of overworld puzzles with classic random-encounter JRPG gameplay. The moveset potential here is massive and well-documented.

I also think Wave Race could be a very interesting alternate take on the mounted character idea besides the bikers who get more discussion. This had very strong sales for an N64 game, is one of the best-remembered classics on that console just under the top tier of stuff like Mario 64, OoT, and etc., and touts a longterm industry legacy for its revolutionary water physics. And it has dolphins. This also shares a character pool with 1080 Snowboarding for whatever that's worth.

Among the others worth mentioning (far from an exhaustive list):
Lip from Panel de Pon could be a puzzle genre rep; Pilotwings is a commercially successful Miyamoto darling if one could decide on a suitable choice of character and moveset; Custom Robo actually got some respectable support on the Ballot and sported a fairly long lifespan; Sin & Punishment and Eternal Darkness are well-regarded critically, respectively representing arcade-style on-rails shooters and the horror genre; Starfy and Chibi-Robo are charming favorites among pockets of Smash fans; Style Savvy did some pretty significant numbers on the DS and 3DS and represents a unique genre; Fossil Fighters is honestly a very underrated entry in the monster-collecting genre; even Vince from Art Academy was recently elevated to AT status and is a representational relic of DSiWare.

Technically these next few are relevant on Switch, but if they got in I'd still see them as strong representatives of that middle period between NES-era and modern Nintendo, with a lot of legacy pull (and anyway I think they're worth a bit more discussion):

The remake didn't move the needle I don't think, and it struggles to make headway in Japan, but Advance Wars has a lot of critical success under its belt, even if not the best sales. Worth mentioning for its colorful cast of characters, potential soldier-summoning moveset potential, and long history. Also it's a personal favorite.

On pure sales record, Brain Age and Big Brain Academy would be squarely in the conversation, it's just a matter of coming up with a viable moveset. Mileage may vary on how people feel about the globular floating mug of Dr. Kawashima or the somewhat amorphous, 2-dimensional Dr. Lobe testing their mettle in Smash, but tackling the edugame genre would make for a unique challenge.

Also feel like mentioning: Endless Ocean...not sure how you would do a character for this one, unless people were ok with like a straight scuba diver fighter, but a stage with 3D marine animals in the background would be cool. Ashley from Another Code is a cool representative of the point-and-click genre.

Edit: obviously most of these have little to no chance for a PC (though some I think do have a pretty real chance). I just like talking about them. Though all of them have at least something unique and notable about them you can point to.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Another idea I’d personally love is a Robot Master or Maverick from the Mega Man series. A lot of them have awesome designs and memorable boss fights so they’d be fun to play as in Smash. Some of my favorites are Pharaoh Man, Air Man, Toad Man, Boomer Kuwanger, and Sting Chameleon. I don’t think any are particularly likely, especially not before Zero, Bass, Proto Man Sigma, or Dr. Wily but they’d be fun.

INB4 they add Guts Man as the first playable Robot Master.

Honestly I think the most likely order is something like:

• Proto Man as an Echo Fighter at any time.
  • Bass could as well but that's a bit more of a question mark.
• X or Zero.
  • I'd personally give Zero the edge here.
• From this point onward, a Robot Master or Maverick could join to shake things up.
• Sigma, Dr. Wily, or the other of X or Zero that didn't get in yet.
  • Between Sigma and Dr. Wily, I'd say Dr. Wily has the edge.

 

[BrawlX10]

Imagine if Pac-Man in the next smash game gets updated to be like in this game

Or maybe at least he gets one skin where he looks more metallic like in this game. Or his final smash gets updated to 0:59 to 1:01 or the transformation he uses after this. Seriously just imagine this actually happening lol. How would y’all react?
I personally don’t mind i be cool with it as long as the original Pac-Man is still intact, my first paragraph was a joke if the emoji didn’t make it obvious lol!

I think Pac-Man can be in Project x Zone now, lol.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Thinking about it, it's kind of difficult to think of a Robot Master that would be added. The pool of characters here would likely just be the super popular ones, which I think limits us to Cut Man, Guts Man, Metal Man, Quick Man, Air Man, Shadow Man, and if you dig a little deeper, I think Pharoah Man, and Gemini Man can squeak in as well.

Of these, I think Pharoah Man and Shadow Man is the only two to have a varied moveset assuming we're taking his arcade appearances into account. The rest kind of spam a single attack pattern at you and a decent amount of them already have their only attack in Mega Man's moveset.

Mavericks would probably be a safer bet since even the simpler ones have multiple attack patterns.

 

[BrawlX10]

If Fortnite gets in, do you think it would be base game or DLC?

 

[Perkilator]

If Fortnite gets in, do you think it would be base game or DLC?

Probably DLC since Fortnite is so lucrative.