How many characters will be in Smash 5

[Lyndis_]

It's greatly going to depend if they're building 100% off the Smash 4 roster or are going in new like previous titles.

I'd guess we're going to have 70-75 at launch, and DLC will hypothetically bump it up a bit higher than that. Probably about 80, but if Smash 5 does exponentially better than 4 did we might just see a few more.

EDIT:

I find anything less than 70 to be absurd unless this is actually a port-ish of Wii U / 3DS. That's only a 12 character increase, which was the smallest one we ever got (from nonexistence to Smash 64).

Oops, you're correct. I originally mis-remembered the 58 from Sm4sh+DLC as the vanilla 51, somehow. My only worry is I don't totally know how high we can go before it becomes unsustainable to balance and add everything required for every single character.

I've edited my post to fix this!

 

[Ben Holt]

It's greatly going to depend if they're building 100% off the Smash 4 roster or are going in new like previous titles.

I'd guess we're going to have 60-65 at launch, and DLC will hypothetically bump it up a bit higher than that. Probably about 70, but if Smash 5 does exponentially better than 4 did we might just see a few more.

I find anything less than 70 to be absurd unless this is actually a port-ish of Wii U / 3DS. That's only a 12 character increase, which was the smallest one we ever got (from nonexistence to Smash 64).

 

[Luigi player]

Hm, I'm assuming a few (2-4) will be cut (mostly clones, maybe Miis or 3rd parties).

In the end I guess we'll end up with about 60-65 at the games release, which would be about 5-10 new ones. I think that sounds about right.

I'm assuming there will be DLC chars like in Smash4 after the games release, to make more money and have more time to work on them while also keeping the game fresh/etc/milking it. Assuming this I guess I'd lean more towards 65, maybe even more depending on what they feel like doing.

 

[papagenos]

I have to guess 64 at launch (65-67 if you count Miis) just too nintendo of a number not to choose, maybe 70-75 ish after DLC this time around. I don't expect any real cuts this time to be honest but the exact number of characters all kind of depends on the 3 clones returning or becoming alt costumes or something and if you count the Mii's as 3 so its hard to say.

I find it very hard to "check all the boxes" when trying to make mock up rosters this time and not hit a high number. And by "check all the boxes" I mean adding a newcomer that fills all the likely criteria: a retro rep, inkling, ice climbers/wolf returning, a wtf rep, an assist trophy being made playable, 3rd party rep(s), pokemon rep, at least a few of the following series will get a new rep: mario/zelda/dk/kirby/metroid/fe. obviously not all boxes will get checked and there may be some overlap characters that check off multiple boxes at once but i still cant imagine getting a smash game where most if not all of these things happen and thats a lot of characters right there.

Again, I'm not expecting cuts at all beyond the clones becoming costumes or something so this gets very difficult and assuming we wont get something like say a retro rep this time, ice climbers count for that i suppose, or say we dont get a wtf rep its still hard to guess which "box" we wont "check" this time when sakurais past rosters seems to suggest otherwise. I try not to follow patterns with smash but how else can we predict if we don't use the evidence for how this has happened before?

smash 4 blew me away with the character count especially after DLC but a lot of that was because brawl taught me to lower my expectations and they went above and beyond with smash 4. That said I hate to have high expectations but I truly think this game is coming straight off of smash4 and the ballot and everything and I cant help but think we will actually get a very full roster with lots of the most anticipated characters showing up. I mean this is an era of guessing a smash roster where in the last game AFTER we got amazing third party reps like megaman and pacman we still got more 3rd party gaming icons like Ryu and Cloud added, I never thought something that crazy would happen, before smash4 I was just hoping we'd get megaman and thats it for new 3rd party characters. So its really hard to make a mock roster with like one new 3rd party rep and feel like it's what to expect anymore, 3 at launch feels almost more likely if sakurai plans to blow us away and he is always trying to.

believe me i overhyped for brawl and it hurt and I don't want to do that again, but honestly guessing at 65-75 characters even at launch and no cuts actually feels realistic and "low expectations" given how smash 4 went down and where we are at now.

 

[Ben Holt]

I swear everyone low balls their estimates. I remember Smash 4 speculation not too long ago, and everyone was saying 50 was the max. Well, he had 52 at launch and ended with 58, which is nearly 60, almost twice the increase people were speculating at the time.
If I were to make a completely random guess, I would say we get a launch lineup of 76 characters (7 rows of 11 including random) and after all DLC, we will get 83 (7 rows of 12 including random).
I'm no leaker, but I just have a gut feeling about this.

 

[Radical Bones]

I'm going to say that there'll be 65 characters, with about 4-5 cut from Smash 4.

 

[Oddball]

I dunno.

A lot? It will have a lot of character?

 

[RetroMetalSonic]

My bet's around 65.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I can't imagine we're going to get a lot - the roster is jam packed already. We've got 55 including DLC and not Miis, so I can't see more than 60-65 tops.

I am perfectly happy to be wrong, though.

I'm one of those people who loves the concept of DLC since it allows us to choose which characters we want to add to the game. I think DLC is a great place for the veterans who've been cut since they'll be easy to put in, and it does hurt to have lost them. Also, 3rd parties or more obscure characters work great as DLCs.

I'd expect about 55 total characters in vanilla with another 10 or so DLC, but I would say keep them coming.

 

[TheSpitefulWolf]

i wouldn't be mad to see a pare-down, get it to about 40-45 of the real-deal mother****ers

also don't want to see too much 3rd party nonsense. smash 4 really pushed the comfort boundaries

 

[NintenRob]

I like the idea of the base game being 64 characters

Here's an example roster.

 

[Jibblypuff_]

I'm gonna guess id 70s in the base roster and low 80s after DLC

 

[KCJ506]

The only way I can see there being little to no cuts is if they reuse the same assets from Smash 4. If the game is being reworked from the ground up then I'm fully expecting quite a few cuts and to have a smaller roster than Smash 4 at launch.

But even if they reuse assets, they aren't gonna do so for every single Smash game afterwards. If Nintendo were to still be making Smash games 20 years from now, the roster isn't gonna have 120+ characters. There will be a lot of characters that have come and gone over the years.

 

[UnknownM]

Honestly probably 60-65 characters that are starters or unlockables and then the limit would increase to 70-72 with DLC included.

 

[CannonStreak]

I am expecting a total of 15-16 newcomers to be honest, and I do hope no cuts are made, though I can see three being cut.

 

[Freduardo]

75 with dlc.

 

[Deleted member]

I am expecting a total of 15-16 newcomers to be honest, and I do hope no cuts are made, though I can see three being cut.

Which 3 do you see being cut?

Anyway, my guess is that the base roster would probably be as big as Smash Wii U/3DS roster at the most.

 

[CannonStreak]

Which 3 do you see being cut?

Anyway, my guess is that the base roster would probably be as big as Smash Wii U/3DS roster at the most.

Can't say for sure, but maybe some third party characters (I won't say who) will get cut.

 

[Questionmark222]

I'd say around 70, not including DLC.
I'm pretty sure that, since the game will probably be built off of Sm4sh's engine, we'll see little to no cuts because it wouldn't take too much dev time to bring back all the vets from the game (still, maybe some 3rd parties such as Cloud could get the axe due to licensing issues, but I doubt it, since in Cloud's case for example, Square Enix seems to want to support the switch (here's the source: https://mynintendonews.com/2018/02/...are-looking-to-develop-nintendo-switch-games/ )). I also expect to see 10-15 newcomers added at launch, as well as the Ice Climbers and my boy Wolf making their comeback. But this speculation is entirely based on the assumption that 5mash will reuse Sm4sh's assets.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

I wonder if the cast can ever get too big for a fighting game.

Like having a 100 characters sounds cool but developing all of that and then balancing it all, that sounds nightmarish of a project.

Granted I do feel like Nintendo is using the former smash game as a basis then building from that to make the next one usually.

 

[Gameboi834]

I really think that Nintendo and Namco-Bandai have, especially if they're using 4 as a base, the quality standards and capability to make a fighting game with up to 70 characters, but that number just seems daunting to me. Because for each character you have to consider not only models, textures, SFX, hitboxes, skins, movesets, audio, and balancing, but also unique things for each character such as Kirby Hats; how their moves respond to things like reflectors, G&W's bucket, and Ness's energy healing shield; trophies; series music; new UI art; events; bugfixing; etc. I think 70 should be the limit in order to maximize fun and not get too caught up in the miscellaneous assets.

 

[osby]

I think around 10 newcomers in the base roster sounds plausible. Maybe we would get a few characters that wasn't in the last entry or a few couldn't return due to unpredictable reasons... so 65-70.

 

[YoshiandToad]

73.

Sm4sh had 58 I think I read? Newcomers are the biggest source of hype and reason to purchase for many and since so many games are just porting stuff from Wii U to Switch, why not use some assets to ease the agony and tweak after?

Yeah I'm optimistic but 60 characters seems a bit crap when most people are desperate for no cuts.

After DLC, who the hell knows. The sky is the limit really.

 

[Zinith]

70. After that I think it'd get too big...

Well, until Singularity happens that is

 

[Deleted member]

Around 35 I'd say in the base game, with like 5-10 more DLC.

I expect (hope for) a franchise reboot.

 

[Tollhouse]

Well I'm gonna say 75 at the lowest for smash 5 including dlc.

I'm gonna guess there will be no more than 4-5 cuts. Doc, Dark Pit, Lucina, The Mii Fighters (could be changed to just one style fighter rather than 3 which they should've been to begin with imo), and also I could see one of the 3rd parties not making it back.

Assuming we lose 5 characters that would knock our count to 63. I can see them releasing veterans as DLC so Ice Climber and Wolf fans may need to wait until after launch to be reunited with their beloveds. They need to make room for the newcomers to promote this game and keep it fresh.

Oh and for the people who say Wii-Fit is not coming back; you're wrong.

 

[Zeox]

Only 4:
* Green Mario
* Doctor Green Mario
* Baby Green Mario
* Pink Gold Metal Green Doctor Baby Mario

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

70 at the minimum, smash 4 is so recent that I can't see anyone getting cut, which lets us have 12 newcomers total. There could be more but 70-75 seems like a good bet

 

[Megadoomer]

Around 35 I'd say in the base game, with like 5-10 more DLC.

I expect (hope for) a franchise reboot.

In a franchise where an overwhelming majority of the excitement comes from the roster, it seems like an odd move to make the roster so small that people could get a bigger roster by going backwards by two console generations.

 

[Deleted member]

In a franchise where an overwhelming majority of the excitement comes from the roster, it seems like an odd move to make the roster so small that people could get a bigger roster by going backwards by two console generations.

35 would put it at the same level as Brawl iirc, and then if you add in DLC, it puts it at 40-45, which is a nice number that's neither too large nor too small for a fighting game roster.

Anyway, a roster of 70 characters is excessively bloated. Hell, Smash 4 at 58 characters already has too many characters (shocker, yes, you can actually have too many characters in a game), which results in a game where matchups are a nightmare, balancing is all over the place, and you wind up with way too many characters feeling too "samey" because they weren't given enough attention/development time. Unironically, the best characters of Smash 4 wound up being the DLC ones, and that's cause they were clearly given far more individual attention than their base game counterparts.

You already have people ITT speculating 70 characters, and then following it up with "well, more than that would be too much."

I and a bunch of people would prefer quality over quantity. I'd much rather have a smaller roster of 35 characters that are totally revamped and fleshed out, than one of 70+ faces, half of which I hardly recognize, with balance being a mess, and too many characters having samey, repeating moves, and combos.

Obviously when I say reboot, I'm implying that all the movesets of all the characters are totally redone into something more fresh, and more fleshed out. People who have been following this franchise since 64/Melee, are already starting to feel burnout after 4. And that apathy for the franchise is only gonna get worse, if you keep pretending that adding in more obscure characters very few people care about to bloat an already excessively large roster is gonna continue to hype people up like it used to. All the biggest possible surprises have already been delivered. Now all I want is a good game, not a Nintendo fanboy's wet dream, you got MUGEN for that. Again, quality over quantity



EDIT:
Also, roster speculation/hype is something that characterizes all fighting game launches. It's not exclusive to Smash Bros like people seem to like to pretend it is. Fighting Game fans have been learning to deal with the fact that your main doesn't show up in the latest game, but might show up again in a future game.

And no, the mainstream audience generally doesn't much care for anyone not called Mario, Link, or Pikachu. C.Falcon as well, as he's reached meme status. But characters like obscure Pokemon, Takamaru, Ridley, FE characters, Shulk, etc... etc... fly over most people's heads. Hell, most people would be bummed to see Cloud and Ryu go, two characters most of the people in these threads seem to be very happy to cut, all the while touting the importance of roster hype, to defend the idea of a 70+ character roster, full nobodies very few people care about.

 

[CrusherMania1592]

All of them.

The game will have all the character.

Yes. Even that one you're thinking of now.

Goku?

I wanna say between 70=80 characters this time around

 

[osby]

I used to say 70 is too much, but considering it might well be our last Smash game for a while, I hope they go all the way. I know it's too much work to add characters, but's thinking back Smash For, its really nice seeing newcomers, even if I'm not familiar with them.

 

[Oddball]

Counting characters by selectable slots
Let's do some math.


The Original Smash Bros had 12 characters.

Smash Bros Melee had 25
This is 13 characters more for a roster increase by 208.3%

Smash Bros Brawl had 35 characters
This is 10 characters more or an increase by 140%

Smash Bros 4 had 58 characters.
This is 23 more characters and a roster 165.7% larger.


Going by averages the next game should have 15.3 more characters or an increase by 171.3
which (rounding up) gives us either a roster of
74 characters by average number increase
or
100 characters by average percent (rounded up)

I doubt either of these numbers will be accurate, but it's a fun little math problem.

 

[Sarki Soliloquy]

Seeing the majority estimate being 55-70, I hope from the bottom of my chilled heart that Sakurai throws us a curveball & gives us like 25-50.

In a franchise where an overwhelming majority of the excitement comes from the roster, it seems like an odd move to make the roster so small that people could get a bigger roster by going backwards by two console generations.

Well, why do we need such a big number for the same excitement?

 

[Oddball]

Well, why do we need such a big number for the same excitement?

You always want to go bigger and give people more for the sequels.

 

[Deleted member]

Counting characters by selectable slots
Let's do some math.


The Original Smash Bros had 12 characters.

Smash Bros Melee had 25
This is 13 characters more for a roster increase by 208.3%

Smash Bros Brawl had 35 characters
This is 10 characters more or an increase by 140%

Smash Bros 4 had 58 characters.
This is 23 more characters and a roster 165.7% larger.


Going by averages the next game should have 15.3 more characters or an increase by 171.3
which (rounding up) gives us either a roster of
74 characters by average number increase
or
100 characters by average percent (rounded up)

I doubt either of these numbers will be accurate, but it's a fun little math problem.

Melee has 27 characters. And it's a fallacy to assume it can just keep going up indefinitely.

Do you even have any idea how ridiculous it is to assume a fighting game can have 100 characters, and not be a total disaster?

You always want to go bigger and give people more for the sequels.

Bigger is not always better.

 

[Oddball]

Melee has 27 characters.

Count them.

I'm willing to say 26 if you want to count Sheik as a separate character. I don't know who the 27th character you're thinking of is.

And it's a fallacy to assume it can just keep going up indefinitely.

I never said anything about indefinitely.

If I had said "By Smash Brothers 16, you can expect a roster of 2,087 characters, you may have a point. I just used those numbers to go up to the next game.

Do you even have any idea how ridiculous it is to assume a fighting game can have 100 characters, and not be a total disaster?

Oooh! "How ridiculous is it?" ... That was the setup for a joke right?

Bigger is not always better.

It's not, but it's not a bad way to aim. You rarely have anybody ask for "Smaller and less impressive."

And like I said, I doubt those numbers would be anything close to accurate. I just wanted to do the math and see what it gave me.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Let's go with 64-70 for non dlc (miis included)

75-77 with dlc add

 

[SorrowOfAcheron]

77 characters with DLC.

And that's a fact.

Adenine approved.

 

[SquashiniKun]

I'm gonna go with about 70 characters at launch and 78 characters after DLC