Official DLC Speculation Discussion Volume II

[Louie G.]

But I also don't get that vibe from any Chief supporters here. Sure, support right now is louder than he's ever had, and that's because the stars have never aligned for his potential inclusion like they have here and now. But I don't see anyone demanding his inclusion.

I genuinely can’t remember having a run-in with any toxic Master Chief supporters. I think most people understand that even though things are probably better for him now than they’ve ever been, Halo x Smash is still a very lofty dream and all that.

It’s easy to forget as with Smash it often feels like the exception rather than the rule, but a big fanbase doesn’t always mean a toxic one. I have a feeling we’ll see some cool Microsoft announcement tomorrow no matter what, so hopefully it will give Halo fans something to be happy about one way or another.

 

[Schnee117]

I genuinely can’t remember having a run-in with any toxic Master Chief supporters. I think most people understand that even though things are probably better for him now than they’ve ever been, Halo x Smash is still a very lofty dream and all that.

It’s easy to forget as with Smash it often feels like the exception rather than the rule, but a big fanbase doesn’t always mean a toxic one.

I have a feeling we’ll see some cool Microsoft announcement tomorrow no matter what, so hopefully it will give Halo fans something to be happy about one way or another.

Halo itself had a great showing over the past two days so anything in Nintendo's direct is a cherry on top to be honest.

 

[Nekoo]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

Worth it.

 

[Gengar84]

I’m kind of bummed because I’ll be at work until 3:30 and the direct starts at noon. It’s going to be difficult to stay of the internet during my lunch break and until I get out of work. Hopefully I can find a link to the direct without spoiling anything.

 

[Ivander]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

I wouldn't mind the main music track not being in. The Orchestrated version not being in, however, would be a travesty.

That said, I just remembered that the song is possibly cross-owned with Utada Hikaru, the song writer and singer, so there is indeed the possibility of it not being in.

 

[Goombaic]

Now's totally the perfect time to suggest a never-ever character!

Here's a concept fighter pack for a character that is definitely not in the pool of possibilities for an E3 reveal, Junpei from Zero Escape. He's from a visual novel so viewing him as a fleshed out fighter might need a bit of a mental gymnastics but I'll do my best to sell him as a fighter anyways. I don't think he'll ever be a Smash character but it's always nice to theorize potential. I'll try to avoid spoiling the games as much as possible and will put warnings whenever I go off the rails with spoilers. Enjoy.

Spoiler: Junpei

Overview
Junpei comes from the Zero Escape trilogy, a visual novel series that started in the DS with 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, received a sequel with Virtue's Last Reward in 2012, and ended with Zero Time Dilemma in 2016, with remakes of the first two games released a year after. The games, while performing well overseas, underperformed in Japan, so much so that Zero Time Dilemma's development was put on hiatus, with fan demand been the only reason development continued.

As for Junpei himself, he was the protagonist of the first game, reappearing in both sequels as a side character. Junpei possesses the ability of "morphogenetic shifting," an ability that lets him gain knowledge of the future and alternate timelines, allowing him to know things that he shouldn't. This ability is expanded upon in the sequels, but the original game alone showed how great this power can be. Other than that ability, Junpei is a pretty normal guy, so as a fighter, he will use unconventional methods to be able to work as a Smash fighter with a twist.

The Moveset

Spoiler: Moveset

So y'all know how Duck Hunt is technically a trio with the dog, duck, and offscreen Zapper user? My vision for Junpei's moveset would be similar to this. His moveset would still very much be like Villager and Isabelle's, with Junpei doing mundane tasks with surprisingly effective results like opening a hatch on the floor and poking people with a random tool, but offscreen, there is someone influencing and helping Junpei, that person being Zero, the mastermind of the Nonary Game. Zero could provide Junpei the tools and help he needs to be able to keep up in Smash. Junpei would be unaware of this, believing that Zero is out to kill him and is constantly at alert while fighting.

A moveset like this would involve Junpei fighting in a way that makes it obvious he doesn't know what's going on for most of the fight. Nearly all of his moves are him trying to defend himself from Zero's shenanigans rather than actually putting up a fight. He still has moves that he does at his own will, but most of his major moves would have him react to Zero's actions. To give an idea of what I mean, one of Junpei's throws could have him block an item thrown by Zero by covering himself with his opponent. I'm not gonna show a whole moveset, but here are the special moves and final smashes I managed to come up with with this idea in mind.

Special Moves:

Neutral Special: Gun- Junpei shoots in front of him with a golden gun. He can't fire as rapidly as Joker and has to reload after firing 6 bullets, but the bullets deal more damage and knockback than Joker's.

999 Spoiler: The gun actually comes into play in both endings of the game as it's used to hold characters hostage. Junpei himself never uses it or even gets to hold it, but it's not a hard stretch to imagine he knows how to use one.

Side Special: Smoke Grenade- A grenade is thrown in front of Junpei by Zero. It starts giving out a smoke that can send opponents to sleep if they stay in it for too long.

This was the method of capture Zero used to collect the participants. The drug used in the grenade reappears throughout the series for several purposes. Knocking people out with drugs is an unfortunately common occurrence in the series.

Up Special: Explosive Charge - Zero assists Junpei by detonating an explosive below him, giving Junpei an upwards boost that surprisingly doesn't damage him. The explosion deals a great amount of damage and knockback to nearby foes.

Not really based on anything other than the fact that Zero implanted an explosive inside the participants of the first game.

Down Special: RED and DEAD- Junpei pulls out a device that scans his hand. For 9 seconds, Junpei receives a power up that greatly increases his damage, makes him faster, and grants him superarmor at low percentage. After 9 seconds pass, Junpei scans his hand on the device again and returns to his normal stats. The cooldown to use this move again is 81 seconds, which resets upon usage or KOing Junpei. The cooldown is shown on the HUD like so:

Every 9 seconds the watch's value goes up by one.

In 999, you had to use devices called REDs and DEADs to go through numbered doors. REDs made the doors open while DEADs deactivated bombs inside the participants that were activated once they went through the numbered door. The participants had 81 seconds to use the DEAD so an adrenaline rush always happened whenever they had to go through this process. Because this was actually an important element to Zero's plan, I thought translating this to Smash would make for a great down special.

Final Smash Ideas

Spoiler: 1. Incinerated: Based on 999 so SPOILERS

This is a cutscene final smash. A smoke grenade is thrown in front of Junpei, and any opponents caught in it go to sleep. They wake up in an incinerator, and an alarm goes off with an announcer warning them that incineration will begin in "3, 2, 1..." The flames of the incinerator cause massive damage and launch or KO the opponents after the final smash endss.

This is based on the events that unfold in the incinerator, in which Akane/Ace and Snake are potentially burned alive. This seems like the easiest reference possible for a final smash and it is a good representation of the dire consequences in the Zero Escape series.

Spoiler: 2. Roll the Dice: Based on a game over scene and more in Zero Time Dilemma so SPOILERS

Another cutscene concept, the same transition from the Incinerated final smash is used here, except the number of fighters that can be caught is capped at 3. Instead of waking up in an incinerator room, the opponents are instead placed in a rec room with a poker table in front of them. 3 dice are rolled on the table. Once the results of the roll are shown, suits of armor in the room display their miniguns and start gunning down the opponents, launching them or KOing them depending on their damage. The final smash has a 1/216 chance of just doing something different, which occurs when all three dice roll a one. Instead of being gunned down, the fighters are instead prompted to touch a button that appears on the table. It is pressed, resulting in an explosion that instantly KOs them, regardless of damage taken.

This final smash is based on the decision game C-Team (which included Junpei) had to play in ZTD, which prompted them to roll 3 dice and have them all land on 1, or else. In the actual game, rolling three 1's always happens on the third roll, but in this concept it would actually have a 1/216 chance of happening. Instead of having nothing happen though, I instead decided to have this result in another reference. The button references a decision game D-Team plays that results in a hilarious game over that blows up the entire building the decision game participants are in and more in spectacular fashion. Pressing the button is the only option in this concept.

Spoiler: 3. Morphogenetic Shift: Goes without saying but SPOILERS

TL;DR, **** this timeline, I'm going to another one.

This one isn't a cutscene final smash. Instead, when activated, Junpei gives out a yell to the sky along with his conciousness. The essence of his conciousness comes back down and returns to "his" body. The final smash ends after that. The effects of this final smash either result in nothing or pure hilarity. This final smash causes every fighter to swap their damage, stocks, and KOs. This is completely random and not affected by where players currently rank (for example, the current 4th player will not have a higher chance of receiving the 1st player's stats, and vice versa). The swap pool includes players that have already being knocked out, so this could theoretically result in a Junpei who's in the lead getting himself out of the game by swapping his stocks with someone who was already eliminated. As the swaps are random, there is a chance that nothing happens. This effect is no different in timed, stamina, or spirit battles.

This final smash is of course based on the most important ability in the series, the ability to shift between timelines and retain your memories. I translated this into Smash by basically having Junpei enter a whole new fight by swapping around stocks and KOs. Shifting those stats around changes the entire course of the game and would be very chaotic if it was ever implemented. I don't think it is possible to actually make this effect possible but this is just an idea so who cares?

Stage:

Spoiler: The Q Room

The Q Room is the final puzzle room in Virtue's Last Reward. It is a room that, while completely blank at first, can transform and display new objects, most of which are puzzles from previous rooms in the game, making the Q room serve as a compilation of said puzzles. While the 999 also included a final room that reused puzzles, I felt that VLR's Q room provided a more unique and interesting setting for a stage. The room's transformation could allow the devs to make references to several puzzles throughout the series rather than just VLR's puzzles and also make the stage's platforms transform over time.

The room would be much bigger in Smash than it was in the original game, as the main platform would be the floating cube in the middle of the room. The transformations would take place over time, making random devices and items emerge from the cube. The possible items would include:

• A piano
• A surgical table with a mannequin on it
• The helm of a ship
• A coffin labeled "All Ice"
• A metallic door with the number '9' labeled in red
• A dartboard
• A treatment pod
• A large bookshelf
• A robot with a pair of boxers
• A tombstone labeled "Tu fui, ego eris"
• A casino table
• A strange alien like pod
• A strange bomb (Can be detonated if hit for long enough)
• A stand with a big blue button
• A strange chair that can extend to reach higher places

These can appear on any face of the main cube platform, expanding the stage from all sides. The non-hazard version would prevent any platforms from spawning, leaving you with a blank slate of a room.

Spirits:

Seeing how each game has a cast of around 9 characters, there is a wide selection of characters to choose. I chose these 10 characters for the 9 spirit battles (get it?) because they're either very popular or very important to the stories of their respective game.

Spoiler: Spirits

June

Class: Legend Support
Effect: Critical Health Final Smash (Grants a final smash immediately at high damage)
Fighters: Zelda and Junpei
Conditions: The enemy tends to avoid conflict, defeat the main fighter to win

Junpei's childhood friend and main love interest. One of the most important characters in the series, it's only natural to make her the main legend spirit of the board.

Santa

Class: Novice Support
Effect: PSI Resist+
Fighter: Link
Conditions: The floor is frozen

A non-assuming man with an important role in Zero's plan.

Snake and Clover

Class: Advanced Attack
Effect: Battering Items Power+
Fighters: Snake and Villager
Conditions: The enemy becomes stronger after an enemy is KO'd

A brother and sister duo that just can't catch a break. As they're protective of each other, making one stronger without the other during the battle would be a perfect reflection of their relationship.

Sigma

Class: Ace Shield
Effect: None
Fighter: Richter
Conditions: The enemy is injured but powerful

The protagonist of Virtue's Last Reward who, much like Junpei, has a vital role in the nonary game he's participating in.

Phi

Class: Advanced Support
Effect: Jump+
Fighter: Zero Suit Samus
Conditions: The enemy falls slowly

A mysterious girl who appears to have the same abilities as Junpei. She's a great ally to Sigma.

Dio

Class: Novice Attack
Effect: None
Fighter: Roy
Conditions: The enemy tends to avoid conflict

Dio is a very selfish game participant in Virtue's Last Reward. His actions mostly serve to hinder everyone else and can end up killing them, not that he really cares.

Carlos

Class: Ace Neutral
Effect: None
Fighters: 3x Terry, 3x Junpei, 3x Zelda
Conditions: Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd

Carlos is the team leader for C-Team alongside Junpei and Akane in ZTD and the closest thing to a primary protagonist in the game. He's a team player and achieving his team's ending involves going through several timelines where they're just picked off like flies. As such, I think a spirit battle that reflects this would be kind of funny, where you just kill off C-Team repeatedly until the battle ends.

Diana

Class: Advanced Shield
Effect: None
Fighters: Isabelle, Richter, Zero Suit Samus
Conditions: Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle

Diana is the team leader for D-Team, which includes herself, Sigma, and Phi. A nurse with a pacifist personality, it's no shock that the events in ZTD tear her apart mentally. Despite the odds, she is still determined to get out of her predicament alive along with everyone else.

Zero (Zero Time Dilemma)

Class: Ace Attack
Effect: None
Fighters: Dr. Mario and 6x Metal Mega-Man
Conditions: The enemy is metal,

This Zero comes from the third game in the series. By far the worst and most unfair person to take the role as his plans have world ending consequences, making the parcipants make decisions that will likely leave them dead.

Music List:
Zero Escape's OST is fairly unique and enhances the escapes room sequences' atmosphere. The music outside of the escape room sequences is also great, but would definitely need to be remixed to fit in a fighting game context. Here the list of music tracks with my reasoning for choosing said track.

Spoiler: Music

9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors/Morphogenetic Sorrow: Morphogenetic Sorrow is the main reoccurring theme of the series, so it has to be included here. It could then transition into the more intense opening theme to fit a fight more well.

Unary Game/Ambidexterity: An intense theme that sets the mood immediately in the first escape room. Pretty unforgetable and deserving of a remix.

Senary Game: An oddly cool and weird track, I feel like it encapsulates the series' escape rooms perfectly.

Septenary Game: This one is just cool.

Pantry: A very unique track for a room that can take a very long time to solve.

Q: The theme for the stage I'm suggesting. Also helps that it's a cool track.

Blue Bird Lamentation: Alright maybe this track might be a bit too dramatic to turn into a fight theme, but it's so good. If Midna's Lament could get a remix, I don't see why this one couldn't either. It could even include this neat melody from ZTD to further expand the track.

Interminable Dilemma: Maybe the credits theme shouldn't be included in this list, but for a game with several endings, I think it's appropriate to include at least one. A remix would definitely be needed, though.

Ustulate Pathos: Carlos' theme. A nice ambient track and fitting for such a nice character. I think a remix could make it work as a fight theme.

Classic Mode
Classic mode simply includes characters whose fighter numbers' digital root equals 9. A digital root is basically the sum of the digits in a number (Digital root of 12 is 3 because 1+2 = 3, etc.). Digital roots were an important element in the original game and with 9 being such an important number to the series, I thought this would be a neat route for Junpei. Another idea I had in mind would be to repeat the same fight again and again with certain elements, like allies and available items, changing every time, but I passed on that idea once it came to actually coming up with the initial fight and changes.

Miscellaneous

Alternate colors based on several characters in the Zero Escape, the references starting from the second color being: Clover, Luna, Alice, Tenmyouji, Carlos, Junpei's ZTD appearance, and Zero.

• In the mural, Junpei would appear by Robin's side, reading the tome alongside with him.
• Junpei's title in boxing ring would be "Morphogenetic Shifter."
• Junpei's victory theme.
• His stock icon would be Zero's mask rather than his own face.

That aside, I find it hilarious that the 4 Zelda champions as a group is suddenly one of the main rumors as we head into the Direct. I would welcome it with open arms, but surely everyone knows that's impossible, right? Imagine though...

 

[Paraster]

Speaking of ports of old games... there are a lot of licensed games I want back hahahahaha like REALLY BAD.

One of them is that SNES Power Rangers game I played way too many times as a kid. First game I ever beat in fact!

THAT THING HAD A BALLER SOUNDTRACK DUDE! Even if it was literally just them standing in a building it went hard like

JIMINY CHRISTMAS I want it back hard hahahaha SO HARD!

We got a remake of Battle for Bikini Bottom, could we get a remake of the SpongeBob Movie game?

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

Well, that was the same monkey's paw we had all the way back in Smash 4 with Cloud coming without One Winged Angel and JENOVA, wasn't it?

The Paw curls even further

We only get two battle songs and have to wait for Simple and Clean and the majority of KH songs to come with Riku/Kairi/Roxas/Aqua/whoever in five years as part of the next game's DLC.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

When you walk away

You dont hear me say

Pleaase, oh baby

Dont go

 

[Gengar84]

Now's totally the perfect time to suggest a never-ever character!

Here's a concept fighter pack for a character that is definitely not in the pool of possibilities for an E3 reveal, Junpei from Zero Escape. He's from a visual novel so viewing him as a fleshed out fighter might need a bit of a mental gymnastics but I'll do my best to sell him as a fighter anyways. I don't think he'll ever be a Smash character but it's always nice to theorize potential. I'll try to avoid spoiling the games as much as possible and will put warnings whenever I go off the rails with spoilers. Enjoy.

Spoiler: Junpei

Overview
Junpei comes from the Zero Escape trilogy, a visual novel series that started in the DS with 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, received a sequel with Virtue's Last Reward in 2012, and ended with Zero Time Dilemma in 2016, with remakes of the first two games released a year after. The games, while performing well overseas, underperformed in Japan, so much so that Zero Time Dilemma's development was put on hiatus, with fan demand been the only reason development continued.

As for Junpei himself, he was the protagonist of the first game, reappearing in both sequels as a side character. Junpei possesses the ability of "morphogenetic shifting," an ability that lets him gain knowledge of the future and alternate timelines, allowing him to know things that he shouldn't. This ability is expanded upon in the sequels, but the original game alone showed how great this power can be. Other than that ability, Junpei is a pretty normal guy, so as a fighter, he will use unconventional methods to be able to work as a Smash fighter with a twist.

The Moveset

Spoiler: Moveset

So y'all know how Duck Hunt is technically a trio with the dog, duck, and offscreen Zapper user? My vision for Junpei's moveset would be similar to this. His moveset would still very much be like Villager and Isabelle's, with Junpei doing mundane tasks with surprisingly effective results like opening a hatch on the floor and poking people with a random tool, but offscreen, there is someone influencing and helping Junpei, that person being Zero, the mastermind of the Nonary Game. Zero could provide Junpei the tools and help he needs to be able to keep up in Smash. Junpei would be unaware of this, believing that Zero is out to kill him and is constantly at alert while fighting.

A moveset like this would involve Junpei fighting in a way that makes it obvious he doesn't know what's going on for most of the fight. Nearly all of his moves are him trying to defend himself from Zero's shenanigans rather than actually putting up a fight. He still has moves that he does at his own will, but most of his major moves would have him react to Zero's actions. To give an idea of what I mean, one of Junpei's throws could have him block an item thrown by Zero by covering himself with his opponent. I'm not gonna show a whole moveset, but here are the special moves and final smashes I managed to come up with with this idea in mind.

Special Moves:

Neutral Special: Gun- Junpei shoots in front of him with a golden gun. He can't fire as rapidly as Joker and has to reload after firing 6 bullets, but the bullets deal more damage and knockback than Joker's.

999 Spoiler: The gun actually comes into play in both endings of the game as it's used to hold characters hostage. Junpei himself never uses it or even gets to hold it, but it's not a hard stretch to imagine he knows how to use one.

Side Special: Smoke Grenade- A grenade is thrown in front of Junpei by Zero. It starts giving out a smoke that can send opponents to sleep if they stay in it for too long.

This was the method of capture Zero used to collect the participants. The drug used in the grenade reappears throughout the series for several purposes. Knocking people out with drugs is an unfortunately common occurrence in the series.

Up Special: Explosive Charge - Zero assists Junpei by detonating an explosive below him, giving Junpei an upwards boost that surprisingly doesn't damage him. The explosion deals a great amount of damage and knockback to nearby foes.

Not really based on anything other than the fact that Zero implanted an explosive inside the participants of the first game.

Down Special: RED and DEAD- Junpei pulls out a device that scans his hand. For 9 seconds, Junpei receives a power up that greatly increases his damage, makes him faster, and grants him superarmor at low percentage. After 9 seconds pass, Junpei scans his hand on the device again and returns to his normal stats. The cooldown to use this move again is 81 seconds, which resets upon usage or KOing Junpei. The cooldown is shown on the HUD like so:

Every 9 seconds the watch's value goes up by one.

In 999, you had to use devices called REDs and DEADs to go through numbered doors. REDs made the doors open while DEADs deactivated bombs inside the participants that were activated once they went through the numbered door. The participants had 81 seconds to use the DEAD so an adrenaline rush always happened whenever they had to go through this process. Because this was actually an important element to Zero's plan, I thought translating this to Smash would make for a great down special.

Final Smash Ideas

Spoiler: 1. Incinerated: Based on 999 so SPOILERS

This is a cutscene final smash. A smoke grenade is thrown in front of Junpei, and any opponents caught in it go to sleep. They wake up in an incinerator, and an alarm goes off with an announcer warning them that incineration will begin in "3, 2, 1..." The flames of the incinerator cause massive damage and launch or KO the opponents after the final smash endss.

This is based on the events that unfold in the incinerator, in which Akane/Ace and Snake are potentially burned alive. This seems like the easiest reference possible for a final smash and it is a good representation of the dire consequences in the Zero Escape series.

Spoiler: 2. Roll the Dice: Based on a game over scene and more in Zero Time Dilemma so SPOILERS

Another cutscene concept, the same transition from the Incinerated final smash is used here, except the number of fighters that can be caught is capped at 3. Instead of waking up in an incinerator room, the opponents are instead placed in a rec room with a poker table in front of them. 3 dice are rolled on the table. Once the results of the roll are shown, suits of armor in the room display their miniguns and start gunning down the opponents, launching them or KOing them depending on their damage. The final smash has a 1/216 chance of just doing something different, which occurs when all three dice roll a one. Instead of being gunned down, the fighters are instead prompted to touch a button that appears on the table. It is pressed, resulting in an explosion that instantly KOs them, regardless of damage taken.

This final smash is based on the decision game C-Team (which included Junpei) had to play in ZTD, which prompted them to roll 3 dice and have them all land on 1, or else. In the actual game, rolling three 1's always happens on the third roll, but in this concept it would actually have a 1/216 chance of happening. Instead of having nothing happen though, I instead decided to have this result in another reference. The button references a decision game D-Team plays that results in a hilarious game over that blows up the entire building the decision game participants are in and more in spectacular fashion. Pressing the button is the only option in this concept.

Spoiler: 3. Morphogenetic Shift: Goes without saying but SPOILERS

TL;DR, **** this timeline, I'm going to another one.

This one isn't a cutscene final smash. Instead, when activated, Junpei gives out a yell to the sky along with his conciousness. The essence of his conciousness comes back down and returns to "his" body. The final smash ends after that. The effects of this final smash either result in nothing or pure hilarity. This final smash causes every fighter to swap their damage, stocks, and KOs. This is completely random and not affected by where players currently rank (for example, the current 4th player will not have a higher chance of receiving the 1st player's stats, and vice versa). The swap pool includes players that have already being knocked out, so this could theoretically result in a Junpei who's in the lead getting himself out of the game by swapping his stocks with someone who was already eliminated. As the swaps are random, there is a chance that nothing happens. This effect is no different in timed, stamina, or spirit battles.

This final smash is of course based on the most important ability in the series, the ability to shift between timelines and retain your memories. I translated this into Smash by basically having Junpei enter a whole new fight by swapping around stocks and KOs. Shifting those stats around changes the entire course of the game and would be very chaotic if it was ever implemented. I don't think it is possible to actually make this effect possible but this is just an idea so who cares?

Stage:

Spoiler: The Q Room

The Q Room is the final puzzle room in Virtue's Last Reward. It is a room that, while completely blank at first, can transform and display new objects, most of which are puzzles from previous rooms in the game, making the Q room serve as a compilation of said puzzles. While the 999 also included a final room that reused puzzles, I felt that VLR's Q room provided a more unique and interesting setting for a stage. The room's transformation could allow the devs to make references to several puzzles throughout the series rather than just VLR's puzzles and also make the stage's platforms transform over time.

The room would be much bigger in Smash than it was in the original game, as the main platform would be the floating cube in the middle of the room. The transformations would take place over time, making random devices and items emerge from the cube. The possible items would include:

• A piano
• A surgical table with a mannequin on it
• The helm of a ship
• A coffin labeled "All Ice"
• A metallic door with the number '9' labeled in red
• A dartboard
• A treatment pod
• A large bookshelf
• A robot with a pair of boxers
• A tombstone labeled "Tu fui, ego eris"
• A casino table
• A strange alien like pod
• A strange bomb (Can be detonated if hit for long enough)
• A stand with a big blue button
• A strange chair that can extend to reach higher places

These can appear on any face of the main cube platform, expanding the stage from all sides. The non-hazard version would prevent any platforms from spawning, leaving you with a blank slate of a room.

Spirits:

Seeing how each game has a cast of around 9 characters, there is a wide selection of characters to choose. I chose these 10 characters for the 9 spirit battles (get it?) because they're either very popular or very important to the stories of their respective game.

Spoiler: Spirits

June

Class: Legend Support
Effect: Critical Health Final Smash (Grants a final smash immediately at high damage)
Fighters: Zelda and Junpei
Conditions: The enemy tends to avoid conflict, defeat the main fighter to win

Junpei's childhood friend and main love interest. One of the most important characters in the series, it's only natural to make her the main legend spirit of the board.

Santa

Class: Novice Support
Effect: PSI Resist+
Fighter: Link
Conditions: The floor is frozen

A non-assuming man with an important role in Zero's plan.

Snake and Clover

Class: Advanced Attack
Effect: Battering Items Power+
Fighters: Snake and Villager
Conditions: The enemy becomes stronger after an enemy is KO'd

A brother and sister duo that just can't catch a break. As they're protective of each other, making one stronger without the other during the battle would be a perfect reflection of their relationship.

Sigma

Class: Ace Shield
Effect: None
Fighter: Richter
Conditions: The enemy is injured but powerful

The protagonist of Virtue's Last Reward who, much like Junpei, has a vital role in the nonary game he's participating in.

Phi

Class: Advanced Support
Effect: Jump+
Fighter: Zero Suit Samus
Conditions: The enemy falls slowly

A mysterious girl who appears to have the same abilities as Junpei. She's a great ally to Sigma.

Dio

Class: Novice Attack
Effect: None
Fighter: Roy
Conditions: The enemy tends to avoid conflict

Dio is a very selfish game participant in Virtue's Last Reward. His actions mostly serve to hinder everyone else and can end up killing them, not that he really cares.

Carlos

Class: Ace Neutral
Effect: None
Fighters: 3x Terry, 3x Junpei, 3x Zelda
Conditions: Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd

Carlos is the team leader for C-Team alongside Junpei and Akane in ZTD and the closest thing to a primary protagonist in the game. He's a team player and achieving his team's ending involves going through several timelines where they're just picked off like flies. As such, I think a spirit battle that reflects this would be kind of funny, where you just kill off C-Team repeatedly until the battle ends.

Diana

Class: Advanced Shield
Effect: None
Fighters: Isabelle, Richter, Zero Suit Samus
Conditions: Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle

Diana is the team leader for D-Team, which includes herself, Sigma, and Phi. A nurse with a pacifist personality, it's no shock that the events in ZTD tear her apart mentally. Despite the odds, she is still determined to get out of her predicament alive along with everyone else.

Zero (Zero Time Dilemma)

Class: Ace Attack
Effect: None
Fighters: Dr. Mario and 6x Metal Mega-Man
Conditions: The enemy is metal,

This Zero comes from the third game in the series. By far the worst and most unfair person to take the role as his plans have world ending consequences, making the parcipants make decisions that will likely leave them dead.

Music List:
Zero Escape's OST is fairly unique and enhances the escapes room sequences' atmosphere. The music outside of the escape room sequences is also great, but would definitely need to be remixed to fit in a fighting game context. Here the list of music tracks with my reasoning for choosing said track.

Spoiler: Music

9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors/Morphogenetic Sorrow: Morphogenetic Sorrow is the main reoccurring theme of the series, so it has to be included here. It could then transition into the more intense opening theme to fit a fight more well.

Unary Game/Ambidexterity: An intense theme that sets the mood immediately in the first escape room. Pretty unforgetable and deserving of a remix.

Senary Game: An oddly cool and weird track, I feel like it encapsulates the series' escape rooms perfectly.

Septenary Game: This one is just cool.

Pantry: A very unique track for a room that can take a very long time to solve.

Q: The theme for the stage I'm suggesting. Also helps that it's a cool track.

Blue Bird Lamentation: Alright maybe this track might be a bit too dramatic to turn into a fight theme, but it's so good. If Midna's Lament could get a remix, I don't see why this one couldn't either. It could even include this neat melody from ZTD to further expand the track.

Interminable Dilemma: Maybe the credits theme shouldn't be included in this list, but for a game with several endings, I think it's appropriate to include at least one. A remix would definitely be needed, though.

Ustulate Pathos: Carlos' theme. A nice ambient track and fitting for such a nice character. I think a remix could make it work as a fight theme.

Classic Mode
Classic mode simply includes characters whose fighter numbers' digital root equals 9. A digital root is basically the sum of the digits in a number (Digital root of 12 is 3 because 1+2 = 3, etc.). Digital roots were an important element in the original game and with 9 being such an important number to the series, I thought this would be a neat route for Junpei. Another idea I had in mind would be to repeat the same fight again and again with certain elements, like allies and available items, changing every time, but I passed on that idea once it came to actually coming up with the initial fight and changes.

Miscellaneous

Alternate colors based on several characters in the Zero Escape, the references starting from the second color being: Clover, Luna, Alice, Tenmyouji, Carlos, Junpei's ZTD appearance, and Zero.

• In the mural, Junpei would appear by Robin's side, reading the tome alongside with him.
• Junpei's title in boxing ring would be "Morphogenetic Shifter."
• Junpei's victory theme.
• His stock icon would be Zero's mask rather than his own face.

That aside, I find it hilarious that the 4 Zelda champions as a group is suddenly one of the main rumors as we head into the Direct. I would welcome it with open arms, but surely everyone knows that's impossible, right? Imagine though...

My number one never ever is Zegram Ghart but I’ve already talked about him plenty. Magus is my second but I recently talked about him as well.

One character I think would be awesome in Smash that I’ve never once seen discussed is Raziel from Soul Reaver. We already have vampire hunters in Simon and Richter so it would be awesome to see Kain or Raziel get in to challenge them. They both have really interesting moveset potential and really unique looks.

 

[Ben Holt]

Sora in Smash is by definition a monkey's paw because it gets Disney in Smash.

No Sora! No Wreck-It Ralph (technically debuted in an arcade game to promote the upcoming movie)! Keep the anthropomorphic mouse away from Smash!

 

[zeldasmash]

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

It must be seen to be believed

What's a shame is that this game from a gameplay perspective looks cool and concept wise it's also pretty sweet.

But the edge levels from the main character are Dirge of Cerberus levels of edge...

 

[PLATINUM7]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

That's the tamest monkey paw ever.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

To be honest this is the most realistic scenario. Yuri is a JRPG sweetheart in Japan.

Bu-b-but w-who else but Lloyd! At least that's what Sakurai said.

 

[GoodGrief741]

My disorganized thoughts on E3 so far:

I want to preface this by saying that so far this has been an underwhelming E3, and that I can see it going down in history as one of the worst E3s of all time (not entirely undeservedly, but I imagine recollections of it will be much worse than what it's actually being). This isn't meant to be an indictment or a criticism towards anyone who liked or disliked any of the presentations or games (for the most part), just my own experience.

It feels like I might be the only person who thinks this but I thought the best presentation was Square Enix's. It was paced like ass, and I can't even remember most of what was shown, but Guardians of the Galaxy and Final Fantasy Origin made the presentation for me. The former looks to be everything the Avengers game wasn't, and more like what I want from a superhero game - I've seen comparisons to Jedi Fallen Order after Battlefront II and, given first impressions, I agree. As for Final Fantasy, I can't understand why that of all things became the internet's punching bag. I expected (and welcome) Chaos memes and the typical jokes about Nomura's designs but it seems like it's getting tons of genuine hate. I don't know, gameplay and story-wise what's been stated and shown is very compelling to me. Calling Square Enix the worst conference so far just seems wrong when there's stuff like Ubisoft and especially Gearbox.

Honestly, the most disappointing presentation to me was Microsoft's. Of course it's objectively the one with the most games but that's a given, it's a console maker, they don't play by the same rules as publishers who can only show off their own games. But when you compare it to the past few Microsoft presentations (ones that were without Bethesda, mind you), it just didn't stack up. There was a lot more third-party filler, with lots of games being nothing more than a cutscenes and a logo. I was especially looking forward to what they have cooking in the first party department after their huge studio buyout spree, and it felt like they had nothing to show for it. A bunch of release dates and trailers, sure, but in terms of announcements it was just Outer Worlds 2 and that new Arkand game that looks like Fortnite. It lacked games that should've been mandatory, like Fable, Avowed, Perfect Dark, Hellblade 2, and even stuff that should've been a slam dunk like Starfield was held back by the fact that they didn't show gameplay (even though it should be far enough into development that they feel confident in giving it a release date). I don't know, I think Microsoft had both the biggest potential to surprise and the most to prove and they did neither.

As for Capcom, what is there to say? They delivered on what they promised. I came away quite happy from their presentation despite not having played RE8 yet and not being into Monster Hunter because of the attention they're giving to Ace Attorney. Just to have it headlining E3 alongside those two titans is huge, but picking it as the game to give the gameplay presentation to is a big vote of confidence. I was watching it with a bunch of friends who haven't played an Ace Attorney game in their lives and they thought it looked like a blast and are considering buying TGAA (despite me offering to lend them my copy!) Not much to say about this one other than to blame Capcom for not showing anything else is the dictionary definition of entitlement, and it feels like many are just hating on it because they want to continue the narrative that E3 sucks and nuance isn't really the internet's strong suit.

I've seen people say that this E3 proved its irrelevance and I couldn't disagree more. Quite the opposite in fact. I don't remember past E3s dominating online discourse to the extent that this one has, it's almost inescapable. It's clear that there was a lot of pent-up demand, and that might be partly to blame for the disappointment. Other than that, there will probably be many post mortems and "what happened?" articles and opinion pieces about this E3, so I'll just briefly state what I think the reasons were: the pandemic (duh); we're still in a transition period to the next gen, that's exacerbated by the fact that the new consoles are selling pretty slowly (again, because of the pandemic); Sony didn't show (it's clear that E3 could use a third big console maker potpourri, as Nintendo always ends E3 and Microsoft alone isn't enough to prevent a narrative from taking hold).

However my takeaway from this E3 is that in spite of the constant disappointment, this week has been the most fun I've had in quite a long time. I got to watch tons of games, talk with friends about games, and then go online and see more people talk about games. It's fun, gleeful, a celebration of a hobby I'm passionate about, and honestly to be able to forget about everything and have my biggest problem be the fact that I didn't get DQ12 gameplay, even for just a couple of days... Well, it was sorely needed after everything that's gone down these past years.

Nintendo will probably "win" E3. They usually do even in years where the others have good showings. So I'm really looking forward to their presentation, and also Bandai Namco's (who I've felt is the wildcard of E3, it could be banger after banger or the most boring thing ever). But even if the pattern holds and both of them **** the bed I'm having my fun and that's really all that matters.

 

[SNEKeater]

Monkey's Paw:


Sora is in Smash


The Paw curls


Simple and Clean isn't

Tbh I never liked Simple and Clean that much. I prefer Sanctuary from KH2 by a lot.

The orchestral version, however... Not having that with Sora would be very sad. Dream Drop Distance remains as the KH with the best opening for me thanks to that version of Simple of Clean.

 

[SneakyLink]

I’m kind of bummed because I’ll be at work until 3:30 and the direct starts at noon. It’s going to be difficult to stay of the internet during my lunch break and until I get out of work. Hopefully I can find a link to the direct without spoiling anything.

I posted a link to the live-streamed direct a couple pages ago but I'm not sure how it works.

For those who have not seen these things live, does the livestream link become the uploaded Direct link (as in, without the wait at the start)?

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Them Ninteninjas must be really doing their job. Still no leaked info regarding Nintendo content.

 

[GothicSlenderman]

I’ll go with

Rash/Pimple/Zitz (Battletoads)
Illidan Stormrage (Warcraft)
Sarah Kerrigan (Starcraft)
Lu Bu (Dynasty Warriors)
Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria)
Crono (Chrono Trigger)

I unironically would love to see Velvet (Ok I never played her game but I just think she's cute and I like Alt girls lol)

As for Chrono. I remember he used to be brought up as much as Geno back in the day when Brawl was new. Brawl being the newest game was a much different time. Especially with all the Machinimas and Homebrew hacks. Not sure what caused interest to die out.

 

[Captain Shwampy]

Them Ninteninjas must be really doing their job. Still no leaked info regarding Nintendo content.

They're going to beat capcom and square by showing absolutely nothing tomorrow

just a black screen

 

[GothicSlenderman]

I’m kind of bummed because I’ll be at work until 3:30 and the direct starts at noon. It’s going to be difficult to stay of the internet during my lunch break and until I get out of work. Hopefully I can find a link to the direct without spoiling anything.

Same. I have to take my mom to see a surgeon right at Noon which is when the direct starts. I'm split on whether or not I should spoil myself since I know there's a chance of being disappointed. And with how I persoinally am 50/50 on the DLC so far that's a good possibility

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Them Ninteninjas must be really doing their job. Still no leaked info regarding Nintendo content.

Hopefully they continue to succeed.

 

[MBRedboy31]

Monkey's Paw:

Sora is in Smash

The Paw curls

Simple and Clean isn't

On a side note, not having the vocal themes could possibly actually be for the better, since that would mitigate copyright issues with using Sora’s home stage on livestreams (such as tournament streams and VODs. )

 

[Gorgonzales]

At least nintendo's e3 can't be as bad as the one i had in my dreams last night. it was like 3 minutes, and the only things included were an overview of Miitopia and a trailer for Sticker Star HD.

why did you bring that up
sticker star hd feels like something that modern nintendo would unironically do

 

[Gengar84]

I unironically would love to see Velvet (Ok I never played her game but I just think she's cute and I like Alt girls lol)

As for Chrono. I remember he used to be brought up as much as Geno back in the day when Brawl was new. Brawl being the newest game was a much different time. Especially with all the Machinimas and Homebrew hacks. Not sure what caused interest to die out.

Yeah I’m not really sure either. Chrono Trigger is at least as beloved as Super Mario RPG but no one from that game gets anywhere near the support of Geno. It never really made any sense to me. All I can think of, that others have pointed out, is that Geno is a Mario character but I would have thought Crono would have at least been a popular request along side him.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

At least nintendo's e3 can't be as bad as the one i had in my dreams last night. it was like 3 minutes, and the only things included were an overview of Miitopia and a trailer for Sticker Star HD.

Begone foul prophecy.

 

[Shroob]

Them Ninteninjas must be really doing their job. Still no leaked info regarding Nintendo content.

I'm not sure if Nintendo's even sent **** out yet.


They know it'll leak as soon as they, so it seems like they're trying to drop stuff until they literally can't hold onto it anymore.

 

[Polan]

anyone got any of them leaks?

 

[Shroob]

anyone got any of them leaks?

Leak machine [ B ] roke, come back in a few hours.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

anyone got any of them leaks?

Right here, friend.

Spoiler

 

[Icedragonadam]

So I think the Nintendo Ninjas may have silenced Practicalbrush.

 

[Technomage]

anyone got any of them leaks?

Only Kano does.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[volbound1700]

Nintendo doesn't have much of a presence outside of Japan compared to other companies and I think this helps them avoid leaks.

 

[chocolatejr9]

So I think the Nintendo Ninjas may have silenced Practicalbrush.

They're always watching.

ALWAYS...

 

[Cosmic77]

Given Nintendo's track record, I wouldn't be surprised if they leaked their own material by accident on a website or something.

 

[Shroob]

Looks like the guy who started the 4 Champions/Rayman leak got banned from Gamefaqs.


I have no idea what caused it.

 

[WahHahaha]

So I think the Nintendo Ninjas may have silenced Practicalbrush.

At this point, even if he does leak something it's gonna be so close to the direct that it won't be worth looking at.

I'll just watch it live without knowing what will be in it, it's more fun anyway.

 

[Momotsuki]

We'll get some sorts of leaks maybe five minutes before the presentation starts. And I won't see them. And that's good!

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Tbh I never liked Simple and Clean that much. I prefer Sanctuary from KH2 by a lot

A person of culture we have here

 

[PLATINUM7]

Looks like the guy who started the 4 Champions/Rayman leak got banned from Gamefaqs.


I have no idea what caused it.

They didn't want to hear the truth.