Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[fogbadge]

Welp when it comes to the concept of true fan im like this about that!
Try To Be a true fan and you can be one!
Dont try and youre only the fan of 1 instalment or group of instalments! Aka Open World Zelda Fan still a fan just not a full/ True one!
Insult older fans while pushing an agenda aka if .... doesnt become a dog this Franchise is Dogistic makes you a fake fan!

I hope i could explain my stand on this topic without offending anyone!

you can't call someone not a true fan without insulting them. let me try and put this in context for you, first of all have you played all 20 main series zelda games from start to finish?

 

[Louie G.]

This is aside from anything else, but I'm a bit saddened that Phoenix Wright's slim chances to be in smash kinda evaporated as it became clear that Smash could get pretty much any IP it set its mind out to get, Nintendo relevance be ignored. He's my most wanted Capcom rep but there's no way he gets anything more than a mii costume when we still have monster hunter, dmc, and resident evil on the shortlist. I mean, that's exactly what happened with Ultimate unfortunately. Here's hoping that the series gets to be AT'd or spirit evented in whatever the next iteration of Smash is.

I think Phoenix has a shot if vocal fan demand persists, he almost certainly had a visible presence on the Ballot, but yeah the way third parties are selected has been bust wide open and Capcom has at least five hotter commodities that Nintendo / Sakurai could be interested in pursuing. Chun-Li, Monster Hunter or someone from Resident Evil are more evergreen, and Dante has kind of surpassed Phoenix as the fan favorite. I think we could get more than one Capcom character but I suppose we have to draw the line somewhere.

I always kept Phoenix in the back of my mind as being sort of like a Bayonetta or even Banjo sort of pick, but I believe part of the issue with him (aside from his relative obscurity) is that his moveset potential is as abstract as it is. I think Sakurai could do wonders with him if he wanted, so base game would definitely be the best chance. But if Nintendo is in charge of DLC selection again, I feel like they don't have quite the same eye for suuuuper out there character concepts like Sakurai does directly. Everyone in Ultimate, even the sillier characters like Steve, had pretty obvious fighting potential.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

View attachment 382590

So when a cop goes undercover as a criminal, they aren't a cop anymore?

When Sheik was undercover, the monarchy was literally deposed and the government of her father was toppled, so...

And yeah, what the other person said about being undercover and not wanting to be grouped along them.

Not like it matters because my hashtag was clearly referring to simply those princesses and not every single one ever.

 

[Garteam]

I think my biggest Smash hot take is that I don't think Dante is in a very good position entering the next Smash game.

Dante, by his nature, needs to be a DLC character. The entire appeal of his inclusion from a gameplay perspective is that he's got a ton of moves and weapons that he can use which would require an expansive moveset to implement. However, a lot of Dante's popularity during the Fighter's Pass era was built off DMC 5 releasing around the same as the first Fighter's Pass, and especially people misinterpreting that Dante would the final fighter in that wave due to the DMC Twitter account stating something big was happening on the day Byleth was announced. However, the Gigaleak seems to suggest that Capcom doesn't really have anything planned for the series in the near future. Yes, there's Peak of Combat, but that doesn't mean that Capcom themselves is interested in substantially supporting the franchise as it goes forward. As a massive Mega Man X fan who thought Dive was a sign that more X content was coming, it seems like NebulaJoy is given the autonomy to work on whatever they want, regardless of whether or not Capcom wants to work closely with that franchise going forward.

As such, Dante kind of finds himself in an awkward position. Capcom's corporate division isn't going to go to bat for him like with Chun-Li, a Resident Evil character, or Monster Hunter. Likewise, he's not so closely connected to Nintendo for his popularity as a Smash candidate to be able to waive long periods of having an inactive franchise like Phoenix Wright or Zero. In that regard, I think Dante's current position is analogous to Shovel Knight and Ray-Man's positions leaving the ballot era; they were once really strong contenders whose chances have been harmed by changing circumstances both in Smash speculation and the greater gaming ecosystem. I still think he has a shot, but the era of "Dante is such a shoe-in that we should be discussing Vergil as a serious candidate" is over and the era of "Dante would be cool, but he would have gotten in as DLC in Ultimate" has begun.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Smash Remix Youtube channel seems to be terminated....

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

The interesting factor with Dante is the possibility of future Devil May Cry ports. Getting DMC4 and DMC5 on the next Nintendo system could hypothetically be something in play for Dante appearing.

Honestly, I think pretty much all the heavy Capcom hitters (Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry) are possibilities. with the more modest IP's like Mega Man or Phoenix Wright also not entirely out of the question.

My real dream would be Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Final Fight, & Bionic Commando also being considered, but I'm aware that's not terribly realistic.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

This is aside from anything else, but I'm a bit saddened that Phoenix Wright's slim chances to be in smash kinda evaporated as it became clear that Smash could get pretty much any IP it set its mind out to get, Nintendo relevance be ignored. He's my most wanted Capcom rep but there's no way he gets anything more than a mii costume when we still have monster hunter, dmc, and resident evil on the shortlist. I mean, that's exactly what happened with Ultimate unfortunately. Here's hoping that the series gets to be AT'd or spirit evented in whatever the next iteration of Smash is.

Yeah as a big Layton supporter, I have pretty much the same feeling. At the peak of the franchise popularity, Smash was at Brawl and base Smash 4, and we weren't getting that many third party in the first place. But when they start adding more third party starting with Smash 4 dlc... the franchise was already dying. And now we know it's coming back and while I still want to have hope that he could get in, there's just way more competition than ever because pretty much every characters aside from Sony stuff is on the table, so even with his big Nintendo connection I'm not even sure if his chances would be that high anymore.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I think my biggest Smash hot take is that I don't think Dante is in a very good position entering the next Smash game.

I think DMC is currently Capcom's 4th biggest franchise. Street Fighter and Monster Hunter are already represented. This unfortunately leaves him in competition with Resident Evil still.

Not like it matters because my hashtag was clearly referring to simply those princesses

...of which Sheik was one.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Edit: Doublepost

 

[Dinoman96]

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

Lest we forget:

 

[Noipoi]

Considering how he seems to worm his way into Smash games recently, and Nintendo's solid relationship with Ubisoft, I'd like to think Rayman has a sliver of a chance.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

...of which Sheik was one.

Sheik and Zelda are separate characters in Smash. They have separate fighter numbers, separate gameplay, separate everything. Having Sheik there is not equivalent to having Zelda there. The symbolic representation of having Sheik, who was only in Ocarina of Time (among mainline titles), compared to having Zelda, a major character throughout most games in the series, is completely different.

If someone made a fanmade Smash game and put in Dr. Mario but not the original Mario, I think people would be justified in asking why the heck the original Mario is not there.

 

[Garteam]

The interesting factor with Dante is the possibility of future Devil May Cry ports. Getting DMC4 and DMC5 on the next Nintendo system could hypothetically be something in play for Dante appearing.

Honestly, I think pretty much all the heavy Capcom hitters (Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry) are possibilities. with the more modest IP's like Mega Man or Phoenix Wright also not entirely out of the question.

My real dream would be Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Final Fight, & Bionic Commando also being considered, but I'm aware that's not terribly realistic.

I think the best thing that could happen is that Capcom loses its "Everything must be AAA release, have an art style based on realism, and be developed on the RE engine" attitude. Capcom forces themselves to constantly run back to Resident Evil and Monster Hunter through this strategy because they're the only franchises that consistently sell well enough to cover the costs of development. Even Street Fighter seems to be on rocky ground in the long term because of this strategy, given that Capcom highlighted that they're okay with Street Fighter 6 not selling as much as Resident Evil because they view the franchise as an investment into a burgeoning e-sports market. If you can't make this model of development work, the best Capcom is willing to give you is the occasional retro reboot to keep your franchise in the public consciousness, like Mega Man 11 or Ghost 'n Goblins: Ressurection. I think DMC is the franchise most adversely affected by this, as it doesn't need to have an AAA budget and DMC 5's sales show that the series could easily support itself as a Capcom mainstay if development costs weren't so high.

I think DMC is currently Capcom's 4th biggest franchise. Street Fighter and Monster Hunter are already represented. This unfortunately leaves him in competition with Resident Evil still.

Mega Man is Capcom's fourth largest franchise at 36 million. DMC is their fifth at 29 million. That being said, I do agree on the substance behind this point that Resident Evil is the biggest thing in DMC's way right now as far as Smash is concerned. That's also not considering the possibility of another Mega Man or Street Fighter character.

 

[Dinoman96]

Considering how he seems to worm his way into Smash games recently, and Nintendo's solid relationship with Ubisoft, I'd like to think Rayman has a sliver of a chance.

I've always felt the fact that Nintendo published Rayman Legends as a Wii U exclusive in Japan had something to do with that, same thing with Shovel Knight being an assist trophy. Their associated spirits are even ordered with the misc. Wii U/3DS first party characters in Ultimate, as opposed to being tacked on with the other third parties like Shantae, Monster Hunter, Virtua Fighter, etc at the end of the base game lineup.

It's kinda like why there's been content from other third party owned IPs like Culdcept and Baten Kaitos. Notice how their content specifically comes from the games Nintendo published at least in Japan, like Culdcept 2012/Culdcept Revolt and Baten Kaitos Origins respectively, much like how Rayman's content in Smash 4 and Ultimate is based purely on Rayman Legends, the one Rayman game Nintendo published.

 

[Oracle Link]

you can't call someone not a true fan without insulting them. let me try and put this in context for you, first of all have you played all 20 main series zelda games from start to finish?

Thats not what i meant by being a true fan im not saying you have to play every installment but atleast try to play more than 2 really specific ones!
Like 5 are probably enough! I mean considering the sales for both BOTW and TOTK are over 18 Million or billion
And ALL Other zelda games reach 9 Million to billion With Multiple releases!
There is a point to be made that half of the zeloda fan base is only a fan of the open world formula aka Open world fan!

To be a true fan you dont have to reach a quota or be perfect BUT you have to atleast TRY!

 

[fogbadge]

Thats not what i meant by being a true fan im not saying you have to play every installment but atleast try to play more than 2 really specific ones!
Like 5 are probably enough! I mean considering the sales for both BOTW and TOTK are over 18 Million or billion
And ALL Other zelda games reach 9 Million to billion With Multiple releases!
There is a point to be made that half of the zeloda fan base is only a fan of the open world formula aka Open world fan!

To be a true fan you dont have to reach a quota or be perfect BUT you have to atleast TRY!

only five? and then you’re a true fan? I don’t think so. Just a quarter. No, no, no. How can you claim to be a true fan if you don’t play everything

 

[dream1ng]

I think my biggest Smash hot take is that I don't think Dante is in a very good position entering the next Smash game.

Dante, by his nature, needs to be a DLC character. The entire appeal of his inclusion from a gameplay perspective is that he's got a ton of moves and weapons that he can use which would require an expansive moveset to implement. However, a lot of Dante's popularity during the Fighter's Pass era was built off DMC 5 releasing around the same as the first Fighter's Pass, and especially people misinterpreting that Dante would the final fighter in that wave due to the DMC Twitter account stating something big was happening on the day Byleth was announced. However, the Gigaleak seems to suggest that Capcom doesn't really have anything planned for the series in the near future. Yes, there's Peak of Combat, but that doesn't mean that Capcom themselves is interested in substantially supporting the franchise as it goes forward. As a massive Mega Man X fan who thought Dive was a sign that more X content was coming, it seems like NebulaJoy is given the autonomy to work on whatever they want, regardless of whether or not Capcom wants to work closely with that franchise going forward.

As such, Dante kind of finds himself in an awkward position. Capcom's corporate division isn't going to go to bat for him like with Chun-Li, a Resident Evil character, or Monster Hunter. Likewise, he's not so closely connected to Nintendo for his popularity as a Smash candidate to be able to waive long periods of having an inactive franchise like Phoenix Wright or Zero. In that regard, I think Dante's current position is analogous to Shovel Knight and Ray-Man's positions leaving the ballot era; they were once really strong contenders whose chances have been harmed by changing circumstances both in Smash speculation and the greater gaming ecosystem. I still think he has a shot, but the era of "Dante is such a shoe-in that we should be discussing Vergil as a serious candidate" is over and the era of "Dante would be cool, but he would have gotten in as DLC in Ultimate" has begun.

Possibly, but it's premature to declare any of this while his popularity is still high. I mean, Crash may also slip into a period without games and that tentatively leaked Doom game may be distant enough away to see their respective popularities in turn fall. But before that happens, we can't presume it will.

Also don't overlook the fact that DMC5 very well may get a release on Switch 2. I suspect Capcom will be supporting that thing.

We're in an unprecedented time where basically none of the most popular third-parties have a strong Nintendo connection. I think momentum will carry some of them through a decline in releases, because extremely high popularity can sustain itself based on the feedback loop of expectation it creates.

And if they gauge for popularity without a ballot/poll, we won't know from what time period they drew their findings from.

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

Less we forget:

Lloyd is still a perfectly viable candidate. Tales getting a character is still entirely plausible and him being the choice the same.

 

[Gorgonzales]

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

Less we forget:

Lanky Kong jumpscare

It is fun to look back on older predictions like these. I will say the choices are more creative than modern lists of a similar nature, it's fun seeing characters like Plok and E. Gadd given recognition.

Looking at Doshin the Giant as a suggested character is hilarious, and I'm wondering how to make him playable without shrinking him to be... well, not giant. I think that having his "hand" be the playable character while the actual giant looms in the background of the stage would be a really cool idea (especially if he could manipulate the height of certain soft platforms to emulate his home game). It would be a charming touch to have Doshin shake the pain off his hand in the background whenever someone knocks it into the blast zone.

 

[Louie G.]

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

I DO agree with the sentiment, but Lloyd feels out of place here. Or rather, Tales as a whole still feels like a perfectly viable choice divorced from the context where it entered the conversation. I guess in a post Cloud world the more prestigious Yuri Lowell feels like the more sensible option, although Sakurai himself seems to be pretty fond of Lloyd in particular and he remains the only Mii Costume from that series. So I think out of these he probably has the best case - although there are other Namco properties that deserve equal consideration and are more often excluded, like Dark Souls or even Taiko.

Rayman is weird. I do think when he became a serious point of conversation, many of us locked in on this perfect Sonic / Mega Man / Pac-Man trifecta of cute, cartoony platforming mascots and saw Rayman as a fitting evolution from there. As we would soon find out, this really wasn't how the third party selection process would continue to go. He's still got the strongest case out of anyone Ubisoft-related, they're practically begging for him to be here, and his appearance in a kinda sorta technically Mario game is a solid point in his favor. But his relative obscurity in Japan is still a hurdle to overcome. I do think Ubisoft is probably the most likely western corpo outside of the Microsoft sphere to join the family though, for whatever that's worth.

Phoenix and especially Layton... well, I hope they can be acknowledged in some form or another. I'd like to see a deluxe Layton Mii head or something. I think the funniest of these Nintendo-centric movements in retrospect has to be the neglect of Cloud in favor of Black Mage or sometimes Terra. I can't blame anyone for feeling that way, I didn't expect Cloud either, but nearly 10 years later it seems kind of silly.

 

[Garteam]

Possibly, but it's premature to declare any of this while his popularity is still high. I mean, Crash may also slip into a period without games and that tentatively leaked Doom game may be distant enough away to see their respective popularities in turn fall. But before that happens, we can't presume it will.

Also don't overlook the fact that DMC5 very well may get a release on Switch 2. I suspect Capcom will be supporting that thing.

We're in an unprecedented time where basically none of the most popular third-parties have a strong Nintendo connection. I think momentum will carry some of them through a decline in releases, because extremely high popularity can sustain itself based on the feedback loop of expectation it creates.

And if they gauge for popularity without a ballot/poll, we won't know from what time period they drew their findings from.


Lloyd is still a perfectly viable candidate. Tales getting a character is still entirely plausible and him being the choice the same.

I'd be a bit more optimistic about Dante's popularity remaining if he hadn't already taken a hit in popularity in the post-Ultimate era and if his popularity during the Fighter's Pass era wasn't so closely correlated to DMC 5's release and false leaks relating to Byleth's announcement. A lot of that also has to do with other Capcom characters like the Resident Evil cast and Monster Hunter being seen as viable again and Chun-Li and Zero increasing in popularity due to Sephiroth's inclusion, but he's no longer a Top 5 contender like the fanbase once thought he was.

I also don't think that Crash or Doom Slayer are necessarily the most comparable characters to Dante, as a lot of their appeal also comes from additional historical value that isn't applicable to Dante. DMC is important, but it was never the PlayStation's "Unofficial Mascot Title" like Crash Bandicoot or completely revolutionizing PC gaming like Doom. I do think Crash is going to be hurt by his franchise's health taking a sudden nose-dive with Crash Team Rumble's commercial and critical failure, but that historical value helps carry these characters during periods of inactivity. I also think there are still a handful of really popular third parties with a notably high Nintendo connection, like Ryu Hayabusa and Geno, so it's not like we're completely out of those woods.

Also, I don't think a DMC5 release on the Switch 2 would sway things much either way. The only third-party characters that had Switch releases to coincide with their inclusion were Hero, with Dragon Quest XI S being a de-facto Nintendo game, and Sora, whose ports honestly felt kind of cobbled together at the last minute. Keep in mind that Resident Evil's Switch ports actually received a lot of attention from Nintendo, getting a spotlight at E3, but even those were only enough to get some spirits.

 

[MBRedboy31]

View attachment 382627

Smash Remix Youtube channel seems to be terminated....

It was taken down for violation of YouTube’s “harmful and dangerous policy,” for some reason… It doesn’t make sense to anyone…

We unfortunately must confirm that YouTube has deleted our channel. See image. pic.twitter.com/mc3loiPRE5

— Smash Remix (@SmashRemix) January 6, 2024

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I was scared for a moment there Nintendo Ninjas shut the entire project down. Hopefully they can get their account restored soon.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Mega Man is Capcom's fourth largest franchise at 36 million. DMC is their fifth at 29 million.

I used the qualifier "currently" for a reason. Mega Man is not more popular than DMC these days.

 

[Will]

It was taken down for violation of YouTube’s “harmful and dangerous policy,” for some reason… It doesn’t make sense to anyone…

We unfortunately must confirm that YouTube has deleted our channel. See image. pic.twitter.com/mc3loiPRE5

— Smash Remix (@SmashRemix) January 6, 2024

Well yeah, it’s harmful and dangerous to **** around with Nintendo ninjas.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Making predictions for 3rd party characters is next to impossible. I don't think there's any big obvious fan request left, like Sonic and Megaman back then (or Banjo and Sora later on), and Ultimate broke a lot of barriers on who can or can't get in.
Even so, I'll throw my two cents.

Konami: the next character in line has to be Bomberman, and I'd argue he's one of the most likely 3rd party newcomers in general. The series has been around since forever and also seems to be in as decent a shape as a multiplayer-focused maze puzzle game can be in 2024, plus Bomberman himself is both iconic and closely associated to Nintendo. To cap it all off, Bomberman received some kind of special attention in Ultimate, for example with the Mii Costume coming in different colors. I think he's also an easy character to make fit into the game. From Konami I think it's either him or Alucard, other series are either a little too obscure (like Goemon or Twinbee) or not as easy to translate (Silent Hill). Bomberman and Alucard are just relatively easy slam dunks imo.

Sega: no idea here. We could get a second Sonic character, of which Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and Eggman are all excellent choices. Personally I'd like to get Knuckles the most. Or they could put in some new series. Yakuza? Puyo Puyo? Maybe Virtua Fighter... Personally I'd like Ristar, his game is fun, but I know he has 0 chances lol. Ecco is also cool, but in addition to being too obscure he also just straight up can't work. Oh and a Streets of Rage character would also rock. Sega has a ton of cool characters, but I feel like most of the classic ones aren't that mainstream.

Capcom: if I'd have to bet on a 3rd party character in general getting into the next Smash, it's Monster Hunter. The series has already received a lot of attention in Ultimate and it's easy to work with. Personally. I'd love somebody from Resident Evil, Leon has always been one of my most wanted characters, but I have no clue how to make him work. The fact that the series only got spirits in Ultimate doesn't make me very confident in its chances. Then there's Dante, who just feels like a good fit. He's iconic and he has a ton of moves. Chun Li also feels likely, but I'm not sure if it's just because we're now thinking that most 3rd party series are going to pull a Sephiroth. She's definitely one of the few who have 100% earned it, though. Phoenix Wright I don't think it's that likely, the series is not as mainstream as other stuff and Phoenix isn't as natural of a fit into an action game -- not impossible though.

Namco: personally I just want a character from Dark Souls / Elden Ring. The series is omega top tier in the Valhalla of videogames, and they could make the Chosen Undead (or whoever) into a very unique character if they let you, for example, switch weapons on the fly, altering not only your range and strenght but also your weight and movement speed, reflecting the heavily custmoizable nature of the games. Somehow I don't feel like Dark Souls is that likely, though. Tales is another possibility. Or they could add another Tekken character if they manage to make them work? Jin and Heihachi are definitely big deals. Aside from these three series, I don't know... I'm not a big expert on Namco.

Square: Geno's stocks are at all-time high at a very strategic moment. Maybe it's finally time for him to get in. Then there's 2B, who's kinda likely, but I think her moment was in Ultimate as a Joker-style pick. Another character from Final Fantasy is a possibility, but as much as I'd like for them to branch out of FF7 and add, I don't know, Vivi with a Lindblum stage and all that sweet FF9 music, I know the next character is just going to be Tifa lol. Crono is also worth mentioning because everyone loves Chrono Trigger, but he's not very likely. Meh, anything could happen with Square.

Microsoft: impossible to predict what's going to happen here, or if they'll even want to provide more characters. Banjo and Steve were very special cases, as a former Nintendo character and as the protagonist of Minecraft. You could narrow it down to Master Chief / Crash / Doom Slayer as the most requested, but they own so many IPs now... Personally I think Doom Slayer would be the best choice, but I'm biased - I love Doom. Halo kinda feels like it could still be a step too far, even with how much Nintendo and MS cooperate, and Crash... I don't know. There's nothing wrong with Crash, he just gives me unlucky vibes for some reason.

Ubisoft: there's a non-0 chance they pull a Megaman/Ryu or a Banjo/Steve, with Rayman and Ezio (or any character from Assassin's Creed). First the more fan-servicey, more closely associated to Nintendo character, and then the more mainstream one. I see nothing wrong with Rayman as a choice, he does feel a little B tier (no offense to Rayman fans), but he's still very well-known and his funny abilities are enough to endear him to audiences not familiar with the character. Plus Rayman music is great. He's just easy to envision, which at least for base game I think is a plus.

SNK: anything could happen, but personally, since Terry already covers the fighting game side, I'd love them to put in a Metal Slug character. Maybe all four in a single slot, Hero-style. I don't think the final moveset would be too unique, as a lot of stuff you do in Metal Slug is kinda already covered by other characters already in Smash, but eh it would be cool.

Indie: ??? I think Undertale has the best chances of getting a character, with Cuphead and Shovel Knight not too far behind. Hollow Knight also feels possible. For Undertale I'd like to get Frisk more than Sans. He's harder to translate into Smash but I think he could be more unique.

Other: there's Ryu from Ninja Gaiden, he was pretty requested during Ultimate, I think he could happen as a classic NES pick kinda like Simon, I don't think he has much competition in this department, unless you want to count Bomberman. There's also other big publishers which I don't think are all that likely to get a character, like Rockstar or EA.
My pick? Crazy Dave from Plants VS Zombies, make him plant all different kinds of plants around the stage to get stage control in the weirdest ways. I think he'd be super fun, but I also think he'll never happen.

Just free-flowing thoughts. I won't make predictions because it's impossible

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I do think it's worth bringing up that Dante and Lloyd were stated to be popular requests when their Mii costumes were released. That alone means they're on Sakurai's radar.

Sure neither might be the most lucrative option around, but that popularity does get people included into Smash and we've seen that on several occasions.

 

[Ivander]

I do think it's worth bringing up that Dante and Lloyd were stated to be popular requests when their Mii costumes were released. That alone means they're on Samurai's radar.

Sure neither might be the most lucrative option around, but that popularity does get people included into Smash and we've seen that on several occasions.

Same with Dovahkin/Dragonborn, Shantae and Sans. Out of all the Mii Costumes that got a tidbit from Sakurai, those five in particular were pointed out by Sakurai to be popular requests.

 

[Gorgonzales]

Same with Dovahkin/Dragonborn, Shantae and Sans. Out of all the Mii Costumes that got a tidbit from Sakurai, those five in particular were pointed out by Sakurai to be popular requests.

I think about this a lot. I personally believe that Mii Costumes signal a "next in line" of sorts, since they are included due popularity after all. In the next Smash, I wholeheartedly believe that at least one of them will get the full fighter treatment. At least one, and out of all the ones we've received I think it'll be Sans due to both Undertale's popularity as an indie icon and the overwhelming reaction his Mii costume reveal had.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Dovahkin/Dragonborn

If it's any consolation, TES6 is extremely unlikely to be out before Smash 6 anyway.

 

[Louie G.]

I think about this a lot. I personally believe that Mii Costumes signal a "next in line" of sorts, since they are included due popularity after all. In the next Smash, I wholeheartedly believe that at least one of them will get the full fighter treatment. At least one, and out of all the ones we've received I think it'll be Sans due to both Undertale's popularity as an indie icon and the overwhelming reaction his Mii costume reveal had.

Honestly I don't even think Sans was a consolation or anything at first, rather straight up the most they assumed they would need to give Undertale. After all, it was one indie title that happened to hit it big, Sakurai liked it a lot, so they made it happen and this would sustain everyone. And it did, nobody was upset that Sans was a costume and was just happy to have anything Undertale related in the game, but I can't imagine that response was anything close to what they were expecting.

Now Undertale continues to persist, with a hotly anticipated sequel on the horizon. Next year it will be 10 years and Undertale is still a beloved phenomenon. Even if Sans doesn't make the cut as a character outright, I think Undertale is near guaranteed a larger presence in the next game. And sure, there are specific reasons why he probably sold better than every other costume (music, it actually LOOKS like him), but I think it may be telling to the Smash team assuming these numbers are likely FAR beyond any other costume. We don't have those stats, but I feel like this is self-evident.

As for everything else, I don't personally think this directly constitutes any sort of "next in line" role but they're at least characters to keep an eye on. Shantae probably did well on the ballot, but characters like Sans, Dante, Dragonborn and Doom Slayer were probably worked out later to respond to the demand that came AFTER Smash Ultimate began production / DLC was locked in. So I think it's relevant, but not definitive. At the very least, I don't think anyone is quite as obvious as like... that K. Rool costume in Smash 4, that one seems pretty clear cut in retrospect like we were being told "just wait a little bit" lol.

 

[NotGenerico]

I've had a personal theory for the Dante Mii Costume for a while. I think that Nintendo noticed Dante's popularity specifically around the time when a lot of people were hyping him up as the last character of Fighter Pass 1. At the time, FP2 had already been decided, so I think that Nintendo chose to throw Dante's fans a bone with the Mii Costume as its the next best thing to being playable. I feel like the Mii Costumes in that wave along with Sans and Doomguy are all very likely for the next game.

 

[Wonder Smash]

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

Less we forget:

I still think Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton should make some kind of appearance, though. Trophies, spirits, whatever. These are hit series that have almost exclusively been on Nintendo consoles, so why not have them part of this Nintendo themed series? Especially since Nintendo has published most of the Professor Layton games.

Also, Thomas from Kung-Fu? He's a movie character.

 

[Garteam]

I used the qualifier "currently" for a reason. Mega Man is not more popular than DMC these days.

I don't know if I'd agree with that tbh. I think Mega Man is presently a bit bigger just because there's a lot more legacy to the franchise relative to DMC. Mega Man is still a relevant name as far as retro gaming goes, which does keep it in the public consciousness to an extent. There's a reason 3 of the 5 games available on Capcom's 40th anniversary website were Mega Man. There are also Mega Man references in Free Guy and Minecraft had an entire pack dedicated to Mega Man X last year, so the franchise is at least popular enough to justify Hollywood and the biggest game in the world to go out of their way to work with it.

Either way, both franchises are in Capcom jail for the crime of not being Resident Evil, Street Fighter, or Monster Hunter and deserve better. Give me a Mega Man X/DMC crossover where X openly thinks Dante is a dumb stoner and Dante openly thinks X is a lame nerd, but they become friends throughout their wacky adventures fighting demons that are also somehow Mavericks.

 

[EarlTamm]

Same with Dovahkin/Dragonborn, Shantae and Sans. Out of all the Mii Costumes that got a tidbit from Sakurai, those five in particular were pointed out by Sakurai to be popular requests.

Geno was also a case of this, though his mention was back in Smash 4 rather than Ultimate.

 

[Schnee117]

DMC doesn't get as many new entries because it comes down to Hideaki Itsuno working on other games he wants to work on.
After DMC4 he went to work on Dragon's Dogma and we got Ninja Theory's poorly received (to put it very lightly) DmC shortly after that.
After Dragon's Dogma got it's expansion he went to DMCV and after that he went on to DD2. Capcom's reluctance to let other people take a stab at a major game is most likely because people hated Ninja Theory's take. That's why they'll support the series with supplementary material like a mobile game and the Netflix series as well as crossovers whilst Itsuno is wrapping up DD2's base game and presumably working on a Dark Arisen-like expansion for it.

None of it comes down to not being one of their core pillar games or anything baseless about sales (Capcom has sales figures of their 1 million+ sellers readily available here (as of September 30th 2023) and it's worth noting that they count each release and re-release and expansion separately in case you're wondering why SF2 isn't as high as you'd thought it would be) and budgets. It's simply that the main guy for it also works on other things whereas Capcom will always have teams dedicated solely to Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter. DMC is fine and doesn't need to be "done better" because it isn't getting a new release every 2 years.

 

[Mamboo07]

So, we're discussing about Capcom reps in Smash?

 

[Perkilator]

On the topic of Capcom reps, one idea I had for Chun-Li was having three Final Smashes and being able to choose one before a match, similar to how you choose one out of three Super Arts in 3rd Strike.

 

[DarthEnderX]

So, we're discussing about Capcom reps in Smash?

Yep!

1. Arthur [Ghosts ‘n Goblins]
2. Jill Valentine [Resident Evil]
3. Morrigan [Darkstalkers]
4. Dante [Devil May Cry]
5. Phoenix Wright [Ace Attorney]
6. Viewtiful Joe [Viewtiful Joe]
7. Amaterasu [Okami]
8. Mike Haggar [Final Fight]
9. Strider Hiryu [Strider]
10. Nathan Spencer [Bionic Commando]
11. Firebrand [Gargoyle’s Quest]
12. Zero [Mega Man X]

Need that Nintendo/Capcom merger, so they all become 1st Party picks!

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Yeah, with all due respect, the likes of Layton, Rayman, Phoenix Wright, Lloyd, etc definitely feel like relics from an era where we thought the only third parties that had a shot were Nintendo adjacent ones, with Snake being the only exception due to the Kojima thing, who got cut anyways.

Less we forget:

I have no idea who Corobo is.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Capcom is such a difficult choice for me. There's so many good choices.

My extreme bias answer would be Phoenix Wright, but I'd also love Chun-Li, Dante, an RE character, Amaterasu, Viewtiful Joe, etc. There's so many fantastic choices, even if I think only a handful are realistic.

My bet is that Monster Hunter is the next franchise to be included, which I can't help but feel a little disappointed in. I've never been able to get into the franchise I just can't. It might just be like Animal Crossing for me, except I really love Animal Crossing's characters.