Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Will]

Alright, here's my predictions.

CP8 revealed around December/January, released the following month.
CP9 revealed and released in the Spring range. Gun to my head, I'd go with March and April, respectively.
CP10 revealed at E3 and released in the July/August range.
CP11 could be revealed at E3 as well, depending on how big they are. If not E3, reveal in September instead. Either way, I expect a release in the September/October range, maybe November at the very latest.

Note that this assumes December 2021 is the absolute latest, and not necessarily the exact end date.

Until they stop working from home, it's pretty bold of you to make the release periods so short in between.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Until they stop working from home, it's pretty bold of you to make the release periods so short in between.

I don't know how much of the work load on Min Min/Steve/CP8 they've done in the office, but those predictions line up with how a fighter in this pass seems to take 8-11 months to make.

 

[Shroob]

Until they stop working from home, it's pretty bold of you to make the release periods so short in between.

I mean, only took 3~ months between MinMin and Steve, if they really are ending by December 2021 without delays, they kinda have to stick to that schedule unless they do something like:

Character early 2021

Save the next character until around E3 and then go from there.

 

[Will]

I mean, only took 3~ months between MinMin and Steve, if they really are ending by December 2021 without delays, they kinda have to stick to that schedule unless they do something like:

Character early 2021

Save the next character until around E3 and then go from there.

That's what I was thinking, going from Early 2021 to Spring just like that doesn't sound right. I'm not saying the schedule isn't going to work, I'm saying the frequency of the actual character release is what concerns me.

 

[Shroob]

That's what I was thinking, going from Early 2021 to Spring just like that doesn't sound right. I'm not saying the schedule isn't going to work, I'm saying the frequency of the actual character release is what concerns me.

But then if we space them out at the beginning of the year doesn't that just frontload the end? If we wait until E3 for CP9, then that means we gotta drop 3 characters in 7 months, which, while definitely doable, would be a jarring take for how the pass had been up to that point.


By the time that January rolls around, we'll be 3~ months past Steve dropping, and people are gonna be antsy as hell, especially since I doubt that the game awards are gonna throw us a bone this year, meaning I kinda expect a character to drop around Jan-Feb, but then it's a pretty long gap til June, and then those last 3 releases all feel hella close together.

The spacing of fighters next year, in a perfect world, would be 3 months apart, but something tells me it's gonna be jank af and they're absolutely gonna push it to the end date of December 2021.


It feels like any road you take, things feel odd. If you do one every 3 months, E3 will probably just have a trailer and the release will come later, if you have a character in early 2021 but nothing til E3 after, then the 2nd half of the year is super back to back with 3 characters needing to drop in 7 months.


IF we were getting another character this year, you could definitely smooth out the releases for next year to once every 4 months, but we're not getting any new Amiibo until January at the absolute earliest, which means we're not gettin' **** for the rest of the year after Steve.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

Went on /v/ the other day, found this. Of course, it's likely fake. I just thought this would be interesting to share.

Spoiler: big

View attachment 288396

Not to give this leak any credibility but Sakurai did mention that Min Min was a special request so that might have been why she may not have been included on the list. Maybe she was a more recent addition than the other fighters?

Then again I don't believe Nintendo gave Sakurai any list to choose characters from.

 

[Speed Weed]

ok i know i'm like way late on the current newcomer rankings but here i go anyway

LET'S ****ING GOOOOOOOOOO:

hell yeah:

cool!:

meh: Steve

......ehhhhhhhhhhh......:

this does not spark joy:

 

[Will]

Y'know, I wonder if Call of Duty ever has a shot of representation one way or another. It's a pretty big franchise.

I'm just saying. It could.

 

[7NATOR]

Y'know, I wonder if Call of Duty ever has a shot of representation one way or another. It's a pretty big franchise.

I'm just saying. It could.

I'm reminded of that time some suggested that Instead of Mega Man, they should ave added a Call of Duty Soldier because Call of Duty is "The Game Ever"

I wonder what that guy is up to
---------------------------------------------------------

Also A question I need to ask. When it comes to NEW (Key word, New) Trademarks being filed, in order to be given ownership, don't you have to show proof you're actually doing something with whatever you're trademarking?

 

[Will]

I'm reminded of that time some suggested that Instead of Mega Man, they should ave added a Call of Duty Soldier because Call of Duty is "The Game Ever"

I wonder what that guy is up to

Not sure either. I don't doubt a moveset for Call of Duty, I just doubt the character of choice because there are so ****ing many.

 

[7NATOR]

Not sure either. I don't doubt a moveset for Call of Duty, I just doubt the character of choice because there are so ****ing many.

I assume they go with Captain Price, since I believe he's the most notable Protagnist and the Protag of Modern Warfare games (1-3) where those were the "Golden Age" of Call of Duty

I just wonder how they'd handle Spirits though. Some of the character's use real people's likeliness and that wouldn't fly

 

[JOJONumber691]

It would likely just be a generic Solider from Modern Warfare with a WW2 and Black Ops Skin.

 

[ZeldaPlayer87]

Is it greedy of me to want more characters after Fighter’s Pass 2? I know it’s been said that there are no plans beyond this pass, but plans can change, especially if Nintendo has any say. Like I know tons of games go beyond 3 seasons or so. Some are on Season 3, 4 or even 5 in terms of fighters. At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

 

[SKX31]

Y'know, I wonder if Call of Duty ever has a shot of representation one way or another. It's a pretty big franchise.

I'm just saying. It could.

Maaayyyybe?

Outside of Activision-Blizzard's likely willingness to favor Crash / Tracer to a lesser extend, I do think that CoD has enough weapon variety and potential overall that it has a small shot (heh). If there's any character that would be included, it's probably Modern Warfare's Captain Price - Modern Warfare was so important to the franchise that AB did remaster the game last year, after all. And it started the Modern / SciFi side of CoD. As far as moves go - outside of guns, the killstreak bonuses allow for attack dogs, UAVs and other stuff, so the character would have a lot of interesting stuff to pull from.

There are a couple big problems it has though. A lot of its guns are real (or very similar to real ones) so they might have to be changed to avoid having say the AK-47 in the game. Likewise, many of its stages are real or based on real locales, so they'd have to carefully select there too. CoD is also heavily associated with the U.S. Army (what with the Army sponsoring numerous CoD events and heavily promoting itself in CoD). I do believe that Nintendo would rather avoid the Army being involved for quite a few reasons - for example, Nintendo's family friendly image.

Is it greedy of me to want more characters after Fighter’s Pass 2? I know it’s been said that there are no plans beyond this pass, but plans can change, especially if Nintendo has any say. Like I know tons of games go beyond 3 seasons or so. Some are on Season 3, 4 or even 5 in terms of fighters. At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

Within the context I don't think it's greedy - that said, Sakurai's been working on Smash since Uprising came out in 2012. His PoV is understandable IMHO. Also, I don't believe he's the type of developer who would ever consider going live service either.

 

[osby]

At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

I mean, they are already releasing DLC fighters individually, along with the Fighter Pass. It's not like you have to buy them together.

 

[kirbsmash]

I mean, they are already releasing DLC fighters individually, along with the Fighter Pass. It's not like you have to buy them together.

I just bought fighter pass 2 very quickly without any thought after it was shown, since I pretty much like every fighter pass 1 character, even Byleth, but their moveset made me a bit upset.

 

[MooMew64]

Honestly, I always felt the mindset of thinking the December 2021 end date being a placeholder was wishful thinking. Pass 1 ended in January, about a month before the February end date, I don't think it's too out there to expect Pass 2 will follow suit and probably end early November of next year at the absolute earliest.

No matter how you slice it, FP2 is gonna have a weird as heck release schedule because of the pandemic, longer dev times for super unconventional characters like Min Min and Steve, and for most likely having a smaller dev team than pass 1 did. CP8 will probably be a late January/early-to-mid February release IMO. I know not many are looking forward to these big gaps in news, but honestly, I'm fully expecting we won't see CP9 until E3, and then I could easily see a sped up end like Smash Wii U got.

 

[Will]

There are a couple big problems it has though. A lot of its guns are real (or very similar to real ones) so they might have to be changed to avoid having say the AK-47 in the game. Likewise, many of its stages are real or based on real locales, so they'd have to carefully select there too. CoD is also heavily associated with the U.S. Army (what with the Army sponsoring numerous CoD events and heavily promoting itself in CoD). I do believe that Nintendo would rather avoid the Army being involved for quite a few reasons - for example, Nintendo's family friendly image.

Perhaps, but I'm thinking three steps ahead. Throw the wacky weapons from Zombies into the mix. Perhaps the moveset can pull from all CoDs.

 

[P.Kat]

Is it greedy of me to want more characters after Fighter’s Pass 2? I know it’s been said that there are no plans beyond this pass, but plans can change, especially if Nintendo has any say. Like I know tons of games go beyond 3 seasons or so. Some are on Season 3, 4 or even 5 in terms of fighters. At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

Not necessarily, there's always gonna be people who want more. It's only a problem if Sakurai says "That's it for DLC," and people can't accept that, and then start to rage, scream, and send death threats, and the like.

If I didn't get any of the characters I wanted, I'd probably would want a 3rd pass but we have 4 slots left so only time will tell.

Another thing to add is depending on how much cash flows in through this DLC, Sakurai MIGHT make a 3rd wave, and judging from the crashed servers on Smashboards, and Twitter when Steve was announced, the cash for the fighter pass is likely to cascade right about now if it didn't before.

And we still have 4 fighters left...

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

As far as content after the second Fighter's Pass, at the very least, I'd love a big last wave of (premium?) Mii Costumes. Basically be a final bow for various third parties (and Nintendo) for Smash Ultimate, letting some beloved characters get in in some form before the game wraps up.

 

[drag0nscythe]

Yet you'd think most people would learn after Omni's Rayman and the Grinch...

I made a pretty convincing goemon model also based on the Mii costume. Pretty sure if I rendered the head a little better and made the correct lighting, I could fool people.

speaking of which, if there is anyone that is good with that with the Ultimate models, I could use some help.

Spoiler

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

all I can say if im glad I didnt buy this whole pass. Id be dissapointed in myself if I did

 

[drag0nscythe]

I always feel weird. because I am usually just happy with new content. no hatter the character. Yes, I have my preferences. but mew stuff is always fun. Especially in a game that I am already super happy with.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

For anyone curious, here's what the mii costume trailer looks like without the ESRB's policies that think kids can't handle being shown a name that has had blood on it while it's A-ok for them to gamble their parents monies on fifa cards.

 

[MooMew64]

I'm just really curious what'll end up happening with those dummy slots found in the game. Like, I'm 99% certain there won't be a FP3, but it is interesting they're there.

They probably won't be used at all and CP11 will be our true final fighter, but it's still interesting to speculate.

 

[drag0nscythe]

I'm just really curious what'll end up happening with those dummy slots found in the game. Like, I'm 99% certain there won't be a FP3, but it is interesting they're there.

They probably won't be used at all and CP11 will be our true final fighter, but it's still interesting to speculate.

Hopefully the hacking community can get ahold of it. I know switch hacking is much harder then Wii, but given emulation, I would love those slots to be highjacked by fans.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

The amount of people that are mad that Male Byleth is finally getting some attention in the form of the amiibo on Twitter is hilarious

 

[Staarih]

I feel like a full-on third pass probably won't happen, but a few individual packs could be in the cards if really deemed necessary.

Personally I feel like Ultimate has given me more than I could ask for. Sure, I still have characters I'd like to see, but those would be just cool extras and not necessarily anything I would require to enjoy the game - I'm totally content with what we have. I noticed it with the Steve reveal: I'm cool with whatever we get, as that's just more content on top of an already top-notch package.

 

[JOJONumber691]

If that happens, it's probably via four Echo Fighters.

 

[P.Kat]

I just bought fighter pass 2 very quickly without any thought after it was shown, since I pretty much like every fighter pass 1 character, even Byleth, but their moveset made me a bit upset.

As much as I'm glad for Min Min's inclusion, I'm still holding off on the fighter pass until I see the third character.

 

[SuperSmashStephen]

If they did make a 3rd Fighter’s Pass, how many characters would it introduce?

 

[CannonStreak]

As much as I'm glad for Min Min's inclusion, I'm still holding off on the fighter pass until I see the third character.

Must say, if you are doing that, I call it a rather wise decision.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Is it greedy of me to want more characters after Fighter’s Pass 2? I know it’s been said that there are no plans beyond this pass, but plans can change, especially if Nintendo has any say. Like I know tons of games go beyond 3 seasons or so. Some are on Season 3, 4 or even 5 in terms of fighters. At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

On one hand a part of me wants there to be four more (Echos since they wouldn't be as time-consuming for Sakurai) to round out to 90 (92) but at for the most part Sakurai I feel earns a very long break after this though given the workaholic he is probably won't and since that's the case would at most hope he does a smaller project like Kid Icarus Uprising 2.

Really wish they'd port Uprising onto the Switch or at least be available in the Nintendo eShop. I really want to play that game.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

If they did make a 3rd Fighter’s Pass, how many characters would it introduce?

Probably 4, if we go by the WoL slots. They may make it only 4 too as a last hurrah

 

[SNEKeater]

Is it greedy of me to want more characters after Fighter’s Pass 2? I know it’s been said that there are no plans beyond this pass, but plans can change, especially if Nintendo has any say. Like I know tons of games go beyond 3 seasons or so. Some are on Season 3, 4 or even 5 in terms of fighters. At the very least, they should forgo the pass system, and do individual releases.

I don't think it's greedy. I also would like to get more fighters, but I won't be upset if Pass 2 is really the end for Ultimate. It has to end at some point.

And while probably it won't happen I'd like to see Sakurai taking a vacation or something. Then he could start KI: Uprising 2

 

[3BitSaurus]

I don't think it's greedy. I also would like to get more fighters, but I won't be upset if Pass 2 is really the end for Ultimate. It has to end at some point.

And while probably it won't happen I'd like to see Sakurai taking a vacation or something. Then he could start KI: Uprising 2

Relevant meme:

This is basically what we're looking at if we get any content after Volume 2.

 

[Will]

And while probably it won't happen I'd like to see Sakurai taking a vacation or something.

I feel like Sakurai is the type of person who just keeps working even though he knows he could easily get a vacation. Always on the grind.

 

[SNEKeater]

I feel like Sakurai is the type of person who just keeps working even though he knows he could easily get a vacation. Always on the grind.

Yeah, same. That's why I said Sakurai taking a vacation seems like a pipe dream. I just hope he takes a little break or something lol

And at the same time he manages to play a lot of games. I remember that thing about him playing 240? PS4 games during 2019.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Remeber when Sakurai said he was lonely with no one around to laugh at his jokes

 

[SKX31]

Perhaps, but I'm thinking three steps ahead. Throw the wacky weapons from Zombies into the mix. Perhaps the moveset can pull from all CoDs.

That honestly might be a good place to pull from, Pulling from all CoDs might also be a good way to go since you'd also guarantee sci fi weaponry from Advanced Warfare (not sure if they'd prioritize Infinite Warfare though - the backlash against that was big enough that Activision did swerve on that after all).

I feel like Sakurai is the type of person who just keeps working even though he knows he could easily get a vacation. Always on the grind.

Yeah, same. That's why I said Sakurai taking a vacation seems like a pipe dream. I just hope he takes a little break or something lol

And at the same time he manages to play a lot of games. I remember that thing about him playing 240? PS4 games during 2019.

It's worth noting that he (probably) fully accepted and internalized the Japanese ideal of a man who works constantly. It's going to be very difficult to say when he takes a break / focuses on something else, although I don't think he's the kind of guy who eagerly works on a live service game because... a live service game basically demands that a developer commits to the same game over a lot of time. It takes someone who's willing to solely devote to a specific game for that really (like IceFrog, who's made Dota and subsuquently Dota 2 his baby since 2005 and not developed anything else. His example is admittedly rather extreme, although there are lots of live service games which have gone on for 5+ years like GTA V and Monster Strike I believe?).