Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Ben Holt]

I didn't know FF was a first party franchise where Nintendo had full unfettered access to, but go ham.

I think Third Parties need to break free from the one-per-series plus MAYBE an Echo Fighter mold.
If Smash truly is the celebration of gaming as a whole as Sakurai claims, then Juggernaut series like Sonic and Final Fantasy need to start having representation on par with Mario, Pokémon, and... Fire Emblem of all franchises to get overrepresented.

Hell, Sonic is not just a gaming icon but also a CULTURAL icon, so his series easily deserves to have Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Amy, and Metal Sonic playable.

Come on, you get 8 Final Fantasy slots and you waste them on Noctis, Chocobo, Zack and Black Mage? And I love FFIX, it's my favorite, but what are your priorities if Zidane gets in over Terra, Cecil, or even Squall?

Noctis because he is Square Enix's favorite crossover character as well as the most recent Final Fantasy protagonist.
Chocobo because it's the recurring mascot of the Final Fantasy series.
Black Mage to represent Classic Final Fantasy.
Zack because it's an obvious Echo Fighter for Cloud.
Zidane because (Disclaimer: I'm not a diehard Final Fantasy fan. Just casual. My buddy is a giant Final Fantasy nerd, and from what he tells me, ) 9 is the favorite after 7.
Sephiroth is the mandatory villain rep.
Tifa is the favorite female.
And Barret and Aerith are there as extras because FF7 is the favorite.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Ironically, I don't think Fire Emblem will be "overrepresented" in the future, as I think the next upcoming games might very well be remakes. Remakes of Ike's games in particular.

I doubt Final Fantasy will ever get anything else. I mean, Cloud almost didn't happen for Ultimate remember? They are quite stingy. I do think a new Sonic character is probably in order one day. I was honestly surprised that there wasn't a Sonic newcomer in both Smash 4 and Ultimate honestly.

 

[Gribbo]

Ironically, I don't think Fire Emblem will be "overrepresented" in the future, as I think the next upcoming games might very well be remakes. Remakes of Ike's games in particular.

I doubt Final Fantasy will ever get anything else. I mean, Cloud almost didn't happen for Ultimate remember? They are quite stingy. I do think a new Sonic character is probably in order one day. I was honestly surprised that there wasn't a Sonic newcomer in both Smash 4 and Ultimate honestly.

"To commemorate the release of Fire Emblem Echoes: War of Crimea, we've decided to make New Ike a playable character! He wields two Ragnells!"

 

[pupNapoleon]

I'll try not to clog up the thread with anymore of these, but I made a challenger pack mock up for my all time most wanted Smash newcomer

Spoiler

I love these

I wonder if Jibanyan could work as a Mii costume upgrade. I've never really considered it and am not a big Yokai fan, but that could be fun if it makes sense by any means.

Pictured: The entire speculation community ****ing imploding
Circa June 2020

Where is that from?

Just gonna say rn

If we ever get another Konami rep it has to be Vic Viper

But its the ZOE design being piloted by Leo

So not only are we repping Gradius, but ZOE as well.

A perfect two in one package. Its a perfect opportunity.

That's not what Frogger looks like.

 

[Diddy Kong]

"To commemorate the release of Fire Emblem Echoes: War of Crimea, we've decided to make New Ike a playable character! He wields two Ragnells!"

This ain't Fire Emblem Heroes lol

 

[Cutie Gwen]

"To commemorate the release of Fire Emblem Echoes: War of Crimea, we've decided to make New Ike a playable character! He wields two Ragnells!"

Lloyd Irving fans seen crying in a corner after his main appeal for people unfamiliar with Symphonia just got taken

 

[pupNapoleon]

I think Third Parties need to break free from the one-per-series plus MAYBE an Echo Fighter mold.
If Smash truly is the celebration of gaming as a whole as Sakurai claims, then Juggernaut series like Sonic and Final Fantasy need to start having representation on par with Mario, Pokémon, and... Fire Emblem of all franchises to get overrepresented.

Hell, Sonic is not just a gaming icon but also a CULTURAL icon, so his series easily deserves to have Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Amy, and Metal Sonic playable.


Noctis because he is Square Enix's favorite crossover character as well as the most recent Final Fantasy protagonist.
Chocobo because it's the recurring mascot of the Final Fantasy series.
Black Mage to represent Classic Final Fantasy.
Zack because it's an obvious Echo Fighter for Cloud.
Zidane because (Disclaimer: I'm not a diehard Final Fantasy fan. Just casual. My buddy is a giant Final Fantasy nerd, and from what he tells me, ) 9 is the favorite after 7.
Sephiroth is the mandatory villain rep.
Tifa is the favorite female.
And Barret and Aerith are there as extras because FF7 is the favorite.

Im curious-

do you find it more important to give ten more characters to series already in the game, which are big...

or to get other games that are huge into the game?

Games like Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil. Games known far outside of the gaming sphere (just like Sonic and Final Fantasy)

 

[Deleted member]

Im curious-

do you find it more important to give ten more characters to series already in the game, which are big...

or to get other games that are huge into the game?

Games like Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil. Games known far outside of the gaming sphere (just like Sonic and Final Fantasy)

I honestly don't have interest in both choices.

I would like more Metroid and Dragon Quest characters but at the same time would be cool with more series getting in.

So I am basically cool with anything at this point.

 

[SNEKeater]

I think it's more that promo picks appear to be bad only if folks don't know the character or if they aren't first party. At least, recent ideas suggest that.

"Add a BOTW2 character to promote BOTW2!"
"Add a Sw/Sh Pokemon to promote the DLC!"
"Add Fiora to rep Xenoblade Chronicles DE!" (as if Shulk doesn't already do that anyway???)

This isn't to say that any of these characters would be bad. I just think there's a particular stigma against not only "promotional" picks, but I think to some folks there also a slant against 3rd party "promotional" picks. The reason? I don't really know. But it seems to be there.

In general, if the character is cool, fun to play, and is unique when they are added, who cares if they're a promo pick? Isn't every addition a promo pick in some aspect anyway?

I guess people just tries to define inclusions they don't like as promotional picks, even if it doesn't makes sense at all. I mean, you could find few people stating that Terry was added to promote the NEO GEO ports SNK released at the beginning of Switch's lifespan. Seriously: some people tried to convince themselves that Nintendo added a character in order to promote some arcade games from the 90s.

That way it would seem that said character was solely included for promotion, because according to these people the choice was objectively bad and couldn't have another reason to be added other than being a shill pick. In the end, you're creating a stigma against new characters, just like the stigma against sword users.
A promotional character is viewed as something bad, I guess one reason could be that usually the most popular requests in the community aren't precisely recent characters, so some people just tries to bash newer characters in order to make them look as bad inclusions. In other words, a character is only worth to be added if it's at least 15-20 years old.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I honestly don't have interest in both choices.

I would like more Metroid and Dragon Quest characters but at the same time would be cool with more series getting in.

So I am basically cool with anything at this point.

I guess I'm missing your point- I did quote specific series, but that question wasnt really about those specific series.

And then mentioning two series you really like got specific enough to just get into preference of the actual series, versus the codification process in your brain.

Perhaps your answer was just 'whatever characters you like for any reason at all, nothing to do with legacy??'

 

[Cutie Gwen]

I guess people just tries to define inclusions they don't like as promotional picks, even if it doesn't makes sense at all. I mean, you could find few people stating that Terry was added to promote the NEO GEO ports SNK released at the beginning of Switch's lifespan. Seriously: some people tried to convince themselves that Nintendo added a character in order to promote some arcade games from the 90s.

That way it would seem that said character was solely included for promotion, because according to these people the choice was objectively bad and couldn't have another reason to be added other than being a shill pick. In the end, you're creating a stigma against new characters, just like the stigma against sword users.
A promotional character is viewed as something bad, I guess one reason could be that usually the most popular requests in the community aren't precisely recent characters, so some people just tries to bash newer characters in order to make them look as bad inclusions. In other words, a character is only worth to be added if it's at least 15-20 years old.

I recently found out that there are still people who genuinely believe Cloud was only added to promote FF7R. You know, 5 years before the game actually came out. The guy claimed every DLC character was a shill pick except his favourite who was purely for the fans unlike the rest. You can probably imagine who he meant

 

[DanganZilla5]

Where are people getting the assertion that cloud almost didn't make it into the base game? I know Sakurai mentioned that certain series have less music because of licensing fees, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Square Enix was being super strict and wanting Cloud to be paid DLC like some folks are saying. They could have just been strict and and didn't allow for more content than they allowed in Smash 4.

 

[Deleted member]

I guess I'm missing your point- I did quote specific series, but that question wasnt really about those specific series.

And then mentioning two series you really like got specific enough to just get into preference of the actual series, versus the codification process in your brain.

Perhaps your answer was just 'whatever characters you like for any reason at all, nothing to do with legacy??'

If I understood right you asked if I prefered to give more characters to series with many reps just for importance or to add new series which I find important.

And I tried to say I prefer to do neither since I am at a point where I am cool with basically anyone.

 

[Megadoomer]

I'm thinking about writing up movesets for two characters - one is Dante, if he was limited to just one sword (DMC5 spoiler)

Spoiler

Devil Sword Dante

, Ebony and Ivory, and his Styles (the last time I made a moveset for Dante, I wasn't able to fit the Styles in there), and another is a "what-if" moveset where the developers actually managed to get James Bond in Melee based on his Goldeneye incarnation, and by some miracle, they were able to get him back for Smash Ultimate. (for Bond, I can even picture some Spirit Battles for him despite not playing much of Goldeneye, like Oddjob being a timed match against three small Mr. Game & Watches on Great Cave Offensive, where the enemies run away from you)

At times like this, I wish I had a Youtube channel for this sort of thing, but I don't have any video-creating or voice-recording programs, and I don't like the sound of my own voice when it's recorded. (I sound like a mix between Kermit the Frog and Michael Cera when I listen to recordings of myself, even though I don't think I sound like that normally) Still, I'll probably post them here once I'm finished. (and I'll post my new Dante moveset in his own thread as well)

 

[Deleted member]

I'm thinking about writing up movesets for two characters - one is Dante, if he was limited to just one sword (DMC5 spoiler)

Spoiler

Devil Sword Dante

, Ebony and Ivory, and his Styles (the last time I made a moveset for Dante, I wasn't able to fit the Styles in there), and another is a "what-if" moveset where the developers actually managed to get James Bond in Melee based on his Goldeneye incarnation, and by some miracle, they were able to get him back for Smash Ultimate. (for Bond, I can even picture some Spirit Battles for him despite not playing much of Goldeneye, like Oddjob being a timed match against three small Mr. Game & Watches on Great Cave Offensive, where the enemies run away from you)

At times like this, I wish I had a Youtube channel for this sort of thing, but I don't have any video-creating or voice-recording programs, and I don't like the sound of my own voice when it's recorded. (I sound like a mix between Kermit the Frog and Michael Cera when I listen to recordings of myself, even though I don't think I sound like that normally) Still, I'll probably post them here once I'm finished. (and I'll post my new Dante moveset in his own thread as well)

Maybe you could contact Pizzadudemanguy on Twitter and ask him about doing some sort of collab where he translates your ideas into video form while crediting you.

The dude's cool and maybe he could accept to work with you.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Chill night so I'm going to info dump my DLC predictions. Outside of the Arms rep, none of these are in order.

snip

Solid predictions I must say. Definitely feels like one of the more realistic ones. I'd be satisfied given Crash.

 

[pupNapoleon]

If I understood right you asked if I prefered to give more characters to series with many reps just for importance or to add new series which I find important.

And I tried to say I prefer to do neither since I am at a point where I am cool with basically anyone.

Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification.

 

[ARandomFruit]

Where are people getting the assertion that cloud almost didn't make it into the base game? I know Sakurai mentioned that certain series have less music because of licensing fees, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Square Enix was being super strict and wanting Cloud to be paid DLC like some folks are saying. They could have just been strict and and didn't allow for more content than they allowed in Smash 4.

When Smash released early dataminers said something along the lines of "Cloud doesn't appear at all in WoL in any spirit battle or a fighter" I believe. That and they also said he was the last character programmed. Along with the whole "Square is greedy and strict and difficult to work with." thing that was around that time and made people theorize he almost didn't make it in, but I am getting this from like one news article and my really bad memory so I could be completely wrong.

 

[Deleted member]

Ironically enough the last character programmed happened to be Incineroar iirc.

 

[Perkilator]

I honestly don't have interest in both choices.

I would like more Metroid and Dragon Quest characters but at the same time would be cool with more series getting in.

So I am basically cool with anything at this point.

Same here, because a fun moveset is the core fundamental for a character.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

When Smash released early dataminers said something along the lines of "Cloud doesn't appear at all in WoL in any spirit battle or a fighter" I believe. That and they also said he was the last character programmed. Along with the whole "Square is greedy and strict and difficult to work with." thing that was around that time and made people theorize he almost didn't make it in, but I am getting this from like one news article and my really bad memory so I could be completely wrong.

I think there were at least rumors that Cloud's negotiations took a while, which makes sense with the number of moving parts surrounding Final Fantasy. He may well have been the last character they were able to start making. Don't think he was in danger of not getting in the game though.

 

[VGPhaze]

I think there were at least rumors that Cloud's negotiations took a while, which makes sense with the number of moving parts surrounding Final Fantasy. He may well have been the last character they were able to start making. Don't think he was in danger of not getting in the game though.

There was an interview with Sakurai where he said about getting every character, “Frankly, it almost didn’t happen.” and it’s widely speculated that he’s either talking about Cloud or Snake being difficult to get the rights for.

here’s a link to the article. It’s in part 2: https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/02/smash_special_complete/

 

[Rie Sonomura]

There was an interview with Sakurai where he said about getting every character, “Frankly, it almost didn’t happen.” and it’s widely speculated that he’s either talking about Cloud or Snake being difficult to get the rights for.

here’s a link to the article. It’s in part 2: https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/02/smash_special_complete/

I would think it was Snake personally, as he didn’t return for 4 and when Bayonetta was announced they said she was the “realizable” ballot winner, meaning perhaps due to Konami’s situation, Snake was the true winner but Konami were being pricks about it with the whole Kojima controversy

 

[cmbsfm]

I would think it was Snake personally, as he didn’t return for 4 and when Bayonetta was announced they said she was the “realizable” ballot winner, meaning perhaps due to Konami’s situation, Snake was the true winner but Konami were being pricks about it with the whole Kojima controversy

The issue with this idea is that the roster was decided in 2015, the height of the Konami situation. It’s much more likely they saved Snake for Ultimate rather than release another veteran as one of the final DLC fo smash 4.

I find it difficult to believe Konami was the problem when they’ve been one of the most generous third parties in this game with the amount of content we were given. Sure, we missed out on new codecs but that was probably due to Campbell’s character being retired.

I think, as much as I hate to admit now because I was adamant this wasn’t the case back during smash 4 speculation, that Snake was intended to be just for Brawl. There was actually an article posted here a while back that claimed to have a source close to Kojima, and the source claimed that Snake was never intended to return for Smash 4, even before they planned Smash 4.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I honestly find it difficult to swallow that Snake would have won the ballot.

I understand he is a third party veteran-
but I cannot wrap my brain around the idea that
1- any veteran won the ballot (because I do choose to believe people are imaginative as a species, even if I'm shown otherwise constantly)
2- the odd man out, even for base game Sm4sh, was the winner.

 

[Cosmic77]

People can be really touchy about SE and the idea that their characters are harder to keep in the game.

I do expect Cloud to be cut in the future more than I do the other characters, but that's just because he brings so little with him. No Spirits outside Cloud, two music tracks ripped straight from the game, and no English VA. They couldn't even give us a new AT like they did with SF and Bayo. I think the representation for FF is the most barebones any franchise could get away with.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

People can be really touchy about SE and the idea that their characters are harder to keep in the game.

I do expect Cloud to be cut in the future more than I do the other characters, but that's just because he brings so little with him. No Spirits outside Cloud, two music tracks ripped straight from the game, and no English VA. They couldn't even give us a new AT like they did with SF and Bayo. I think the representation for FF is the most barebones any franchise could get away with.

I’m still upset about the no AT thing tbh

I could think of several choices - Barret, Sephiroth, Aerith, Cait Sith with Joker Death that KOs EVERYBODY

though I think Hero’s at greater risk of being cut or at least relegated to DLC because the composer wanted a cut of the money

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

1- any veteran won the ballot (because I do choose to believe people are imaginative as a species, even if I'm shown otherwise constantly)

Voting for a veteran in a poll doesn't make you unimaginative. It just means that your most desired character is one that's already been in the game either because you can't play the game it was in, because you don't like the game it was in, or because you just want to play as that character in the new game.

EDIT: Still don't think Snake won the ballot though. There were a good chunk of people that actively didn't want him for one reason or another. The most common one was that he'd be out of place.

People can be really touchy about SE and the idea that their characters are harder to keep in the game.

I do expect Cloud to be cut in the future more than I do the other characters, but that's just because he brings so little with him. No Spirits outside Cloud, two music tracks ripped straight from the game, and no English VA. They couldn't even give us a new AT like they did with SF and Bayo. I think the representation for FF is the most barebones any franchise could get away with.

I dunno...I think he has a pretty decent chance of staying. Perhaps they'll save him for DLC if it meant he could get more stuff, but I'm not sure that that would be an option so why not keep him in base? Also, the lack of an English voice actor is pretty much entirely Nintendo's fault; They refuse to work with unionized actors (which is stupid), and Steve Burton was not allowed to be recast for the roll. However, this has apparently changed, as his current voice actor is Cody Christian. We may get him in English yet.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

are the characters I expect most to not return if there's an Smash 6 tbh.

Dark Pit and Dr. Mario at least I could see returning as alt costumes.

 

[VongolaFair]

Man I keep imagining if we get some echoes aside from this pass that my hope of getting Zack Fair will be a reality (and also give us more music for the love of god)

 

[pupNapoleon]

Quite frankly, I think more than half the roster, if not more than 2/3 are in danger of being cut.
I don't imagine the next game can be anything other than a reboot- because that's what happens in a new game.

Ultimate is at the standard of Street Fighter 2. I expect the game to get rereleased for many more generations- given it is clearly a pinnacle of video gaming, and was meant to be just such.

Of that roster that does make it back, I would think highly reimagined for the characters that didnt get the in depth treatment that characters get now- I would think we would have ... maybe no third parties. But maybe just a couple. Though I would think none.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Quite frankly, I think more than half the roster, if not more than 2/3 are in danger of being cut.
I don't imagine the next game can be anything other than a reboot- because that's what happens in a new game.

Ultimate is at the standard of Street Fighter 2. I expect the game to get rereleased for many more generations- given it is clearly a pinnacle of video gaming, and was meant to be just such.

Of that roster that does make it back, I would think highly reimagined for the characters that didnt get the in depth treatment that characters get now- I would think we would have ... maybe no third parties. But maybe just a couple. Though I would think none.

Characters I would expect the most to return are the Original 12 (Maybe Jigglypuff being cut at most given she was almost in Brawl),and some of the Fire Emblem characters.

Sonic I think is the 3rd party that has the best chance of staying.

 

[zeldasmash]

Voting for a veteran in a poll doesn't make you unimaginative. It just means that your most desired character is one that's already been in the game either because you can't play the game it was in, because you don't like the game it was in, or because you just want to play as that character in the new game.

EDIT: Still don't think Snake won the ballot though. There were a good chunk of people that actively didn't want him for one reason or another. The most common one was that he'd be out of place.


I dunno...I think he has a pretty decent chance of staying. Perhaps they'll save him for DLC if it meant he could get more stuff, but I'm not sure that that would be an option so why not keep him in base? Also, the lack of an English voice actor is pretty much entirely Nintendo's fault; They refuse to work with unionized actors (which is stupid), and Steve Burton was not allowed to be recast for the roll. However, this has apparently changed, as his current voice actor is Cody Christian. We may get him in English yet.

I honestly don't think Snake won the ballot either. I think characters like Waluigi, King K. Rool, Ridley, Shovel Knight, etc, might have ranked higher.

As for the Final Fantasy thing, I agree that it's easily the worst repped 3rd party franchise by a head and a half. There's just so little of it and considering this is Final Fantasy VII, one of the most iconic games of all time, in one of the biggest crossover games in gaming history, it's insulting that this is what it gets. I'm not fully sure if FF7 Remake might make things easier to get music tracks or at least Spirits into the game but I hope it does.

In fact, I think Remake might keep Cloud in Smash in the future because of how big it is and how good Part 1 was. As for the actors, yeah Nintendo doesn't like working with unionized actors (they are already expensive and they get more expensive through time). But again, with Remake, things might be different with it. I sure hope it does because seeing Final Fantasy 7 get so side-lined in terms of content is just sad and then you look at what Castlevania and Terry brought and it makes it worse.

 

[pupNapoleon]

Voting for a veteran in a poll doesn't make you unimaginative. It just means that your most desired character is one that's already been in the game either because you can't play the game it was in, because you don't like the game it was in, or because you just want to play as that character in the new game.

EDIT: Still don't think Snake won the ballot though. There were a good chunk of people that actively didn't want him for one reason or another. The most common one was that he'd be out of place.

We can agree to disagree on this one. Of course any generalization is not going to always be true.
However, sticking to something you know versus a new concept is the idea of sticking to safety- it is a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset.
Sticking to what is safe (meaning, familiar) is a part of the human psychology that is related to fear. Fear is the opposition to creativity.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Returning:


Uncertain:
()

Cut:


As far as my guess goes for the next game.

Edit: Before anyone accuses of bias for Ridley and K. Rool, I only assume this given their popularity and how demanded they were. Banjo is different because we won't know what Nintendo's and Microsoft's relationship will be like supposedly at the time of Smash 6.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Quite frankly, I think more than half the roster, if not more than 2/3 are in danger of being cut.
I don't imagine the next game can be anything other than a reboot- because that's what happens in a new game.

Ultimate is at the standard of Street Fighter 2. I expect the game to get rereleased for many more generations- given it is clearly a pinnacle of video gaming, and was meant to be just such.

Of that roster that does make it back, I would think highly reimagined for the characters that didnt get the in depth treatment that characters get now- I would think we would have ... maybe no third parties. But maybe just a couple. Though I would think none.

I wouldn't cut half the roster. There are too many characters that are either important for series representation (Robin, Pokémon Trainer, etc.), or are series staples (Ness, Sheik, etc.). Also, I don't think going below 45 characters is a good idea even in a reboot just due to the expectations on the next game. My thinking is that the next game should just do its best to trim the fat of the roster, add enough newcomers to make a lot of people happy, and then focus more on single player gameplay modes (or at least have as many different modes Super Smash Bros. (64) did. Ultimate was pretty lacking in this department).

If we were to completely throw tradition out of the window, I'd say the best way to do so is to go ham on the 3rd parties. Make it a true general gaming crossover rather than a Nintendo focused one.

However, sticking to something you know versus a new concept is the idea of sticking to safety- it is a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset.
Sticking to what is safe (meaning, familiar) is a part of the human psychology that is related to fear. Fear is the opposition to creativity.

Not sure how wanting to be able to play a veteran again more than wanting a newcomer makes you afraid of newcomers but ok.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I wouldn't cut half the roster. There are too many characters that are either important for series representation (Robin, Pokémon Trainer, etc.), or are series staples (Ness, Sheik, etc.). Also, I don't think going below 45 characters is a good idea even in a reboot just due to the expectations on the next game. My thinking is that the next game should just do its best to trim the fat of the roster, add enough newcomers to make a lot of people happy, and then focus more on single player gameplay modes (or at least have as many different modes Super Smash Bros. (64) did. Ultimate was pretty lacking in this department).

If we were to completely throw tradition out of the window, I'd say the best way to do so is to go ham on the 3rd parties. Make it a true general gaming crossover rather than a Nintendo focused one.


Not sure how wanting to be able to play a veteran again more than wanting a newcomer makes you afraid of newcomers but ok.

I think if they do anything other than a hard reset, the game isn't going to do well.
There is a reason we get reboots to series after they have a climax. Ultimate is a climax. Whatever is the next step is almost inherently a huge step down unless it is a big step left.

Honestly, I think in addition to a huge roster cut, with major revamps to movesets to make them more unique (and likely, a new working director versus a creative director), yes- we will get a new story mode. A really good one. One thing Sakurai doesn't bring very well to the table is story. He is a genius at gameplay, but not storytelling.

I agree that this is likely the big next step in the series.

I believe the word you were looking for was “quartet”.

Anyways, you guys know how Ultimate gifted players who got the DQXIS demo with a Tockles Spirit? nine months after the game’s launch

Well, what if we received some more free gifts in future updates? If so, what free gifts would be appreciated? My picks would be (to put it broadly):

-Free Echo Fighters: I’ve seen people speculate about an Echo Fighter Pass, but…I’m not sure I wanna pay money for glorified skins. As gifts, on the other hand? Seeing as Echoes use data from existing fighters, making some more as a gift wouldn’t hurt.

-Free Stand-alone Stages: In this case, I’d only expect one or two, but it would still be cool to see stand-alone stages not connected to any Fighter’s Pass character (be it new or returning) be handed out as a gift.

I know this is an old post- but I have to agree with you.
I think freebie stages are a good possibility at this point.
Free content keeps a game in conversation, and as far as it goes for Smash, actually allows for the people working on it to get some of their ideas in the game, and be valued more.

The fact that everyone is working in isolation adds some credence to this idea- not that I expect it.

Though I would love some updates to ATs, even items, and of course the echoes and stages you mentioned.
It could really only be done as a freebie, well ATs and such anyway.
And then Id suspect they have to be from things not related to this current fighter pass- because it wouldnt be an add on to this fighter pass.

Who knows. Is Nintendo trying to boost worldwide morale? Who knows. If there was ever a time in the world, now would be.

 

[snowgolem]

If we’re talking about cuts then it shouldn’t hurt to share who I think is going to get cut in the next game.
Automatically, every 64 rep is safe and almost every Melee rep is safe.
Nintendo and Sakurai both know people don’t like how many Fire Emblem reps are in the game, so they’re gonna do something about that. Expect and to go. They’re gonna try and keep the more unique FE characters since people have a problem with them all being similar.
I can also see and getting cut if this Sony and Konami thing happens.
I don’t want Toon Link cut, but because of how successful Link’s Awakening was, I have a feeling and are going to get replaced by Toy Link, similar to how Young Link was replaced in Brawl.
I expect most DLC to stay. I don’t know why people are trying to split the roster in half. Some think it’s too big, but that doesn’t mean you have to make difficult choices just to make it smaller. Get rid of the obvious ones and add better people to take their place.
I also have a feeling most of the people who were cut in Smash 4 aren’t coming back for Smash 6. , , , I feel like they’re coming back just for Ultimate. Speaking of Wolf, I can also see getting cut due to similarities to Fox, but I also can see him staying in.
I’m expecting all echo fighters to be removed entirely or become alternate costumes. and . Isabelle is distinct enough to be considered an actual clone, but I still consider Dr Mario an echo.
I know I said DLC is probably gonna stay, but knowing SE, may very well get cut. Along with and any other DLC we get which might belong to SE.
Joke characters are somewhere in the middle. They have unique movesets and I can see them staying, but I can also see them being cut due to their unimportance. So and are a hard maybe. Wario’s definitely staying, and I already said I thought Pichu was getting cut, and Jigglypuff is safe.
I think is getting cut too. She isn’t as important as the rest of the mario reps, maybe except she’s more important than PP. I think she’s leaving in Smash 6.
I think there’s a chance that might get cut, but I think it’s very small. The Miis are the way they represent different characters without making a complex moveset. I think they might get cut, but probably not.
And that’s it. If i missed an obvious pick, I probably just forgot about them. Sorry if this post is really long i probably should add a spoiler but I don’t want to

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Why are we talking cuts in the "Newcomer Speculation thread"?

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Returning:


Uncertain:
()

Cut:


As for as my guess goes for the next game.

I don't think they'd cut favor Isabelle over Villager since Villager embodies more of Animal Crossing, and I highly doubt we'll see the Namco and Capcom characters go. I also don't see any reason to cut an Echo Fighter if their base character is in the game, and I'm not sure about the Mii Fighters (I know you think they would just stick the Mii Maker in the game, but I'm not sure it's worth the space that would take up assuming it was necessary). Everything else I think makes sense.