Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Rie Sonomura]

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— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) October 15, 2020

IT’S TIME TO STOP!

 

[chocolatejr9]

Actual images taken from patient's retinas before death. Could this be the face of God?
View attachment 289316

No, that's just Hirobrine. He just shows up in patch notes every now and then.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

Over the summer, I was considering making a newcomer support page for an Among Us character. It's a very fun and cute game. But then sometime in August I think, it hit the absurd mainstream level where it's played and memed so much that it kinda loses it's charm, at least in my opinion... Now every YouTube video about the game has "900 IQ Play" in the title.

I still think it'd be cool if we got an Among Us Mii Costume someday in the future.

 

[SharkLord]

Over the summer, I was considering making a newcomer support page for an Among Us character. It's a very fun and cute game. But then sometime in August I think, it hit the absurd mainstream level where it's played and memed so much that it kinda loses it's charm, at least in my opinion... Now every YouTube video about the game has "900 IQ Play" in the title.

I still think it'd be cool if we got an Among Us Mii Costume someday in the future.

If that happens, would their hands be floating in the air or would they just inexplicably gain limbs?

On the topic of missing body parts, one indie character I think would be cool but has no chance in heck is the Beheaded from Dead Cells. I even made a support thread for him, but uh, didn't really catch on.
Why yes, I did jump at the chance to plug my support thread. Why do you ask?

 

[Cutie Gwen]

If that happens, would their hands be floating in the air or would they just inexplicably gain limbs?

On the topic of missing body parts, one indie character I think would be cool but has no chance in heck is the Beheaded from Dead Cells. I even made a support thread for him, but uh, didn't really catch on.
Why yes, I did jump at the chance to plug my support thread. Why do you ask?

If that happens I demand a gag where a Belmont tries to pick up food, preferably the roasted chicked, only for Beheaded Mii to yeet him away and steal the food. I'm still wondering how the hell they got away with calling that food custom CastleVaniesque

 

[Phoenixio]

pic.twitter.com/vsbN5p3TjP

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) October 15, 2020

IT’S TIME TO STOP!

12-15-11-30. Obviously that means the next reveal will be on December 15th at 11h30.

 

[Blargg888]

pic.twitter.com/vsbN5p3TjP

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) October 15, 2020

IT’S TIME TO STOP!

12:14 and 10:30...

BUT OF COURSE. It's clearly the release times for the next DLC fighters!

Fighter Pass #8 will be released at 12:14, and Fighter Pass #9 will be released at 10:30!

I AM A GENIUS.

 

[Will]

12-15-11-30. Obviously that means the next reveal will be on December 15th at 11h30.

You jest but you know people are actually going to start thinking this. Send it out there, I guarantee someone will be on board.

 

[SharkLord]

12-15-11-30. Obviously that means the next reveal will be on December 15th at 11h30.

"Is this a Fighter's Pass Volume 2 hint?"

 

[Knight Dude]

Speaking of SEGA they uploaded a full version of their 60th anniversary Artwork and I think at least one of the characters on here will get in this pass (Except for Joker and Sonic Nintendo would never add either of them...)

Joe Mushashi or Axel and Blaze would be pretty cool. Though I think most Sega choices would be pretty solid.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

12-15-11-30. Obviously that means the next reveal will be on December 15th at 11h30.

I'm going to laugh so hard if this conspiracy theory ends up being true lmao!

 

[Mamboo07]

pic.twitter.com/vsbN5p3TjP

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) October 15, 2020

IT’S TIME TO STOP!

Hehe klocks go tik-tok

 

[ganondorf_22]

I think now that Steve is in the game, we can put in Donkey Kong (old version) as a character. Alphonse will replace him as a part of the stage if you're playing as him on the 75m stage.

 

[Arcane Jill]

Speaking of SEGA they uploaded a full version of their 60th anniversary Artwork and I think at least one of the characters on here will get in this pass (Except for Joker and Sonic Nintendo would never add either of them...)

The fact that Demifiend was used here instead of Flynn, Nanashi, or Smt V protag (though he prob doesn't have a render for them to use yet) gives me more hope that he will be chosen if we get a mainline rep.
Also, Arle up front and near center. And people say she's an unimportant nobody of a character for SEGA . Expecting to see her be added in some form.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Am I mad or has Chrome changed to only show the root URL in the bar instead of where you actually are?

 

[P.Kat]

Koubu's are honestly not THAT huge
View attachment 289299

If that's the case then I could see Sakurai giving Sakura a Koubu guage where the more she attacks, the faster the guage fills until she expend it to use the Koubu, which will last for a period of time. Either that or she'll be able to use the mech at anytime but it'll overheat quickly cause severe damage if she doesn't exit out of the mech.

 

[Garteam]

In a confession of sacrilege, I will admit I haven't played Steve (waiting to get some friends together before I try him), but I have been watching gameplay of him. He's a ton of fun to watch with all the crazy tools he has. I know it's early, but I really like how no two people really play the character in the same way. It really fits Minecraft's "world is your oyster" gameplay.

That being said, not having the "oof" and items scattering when you hit the blast zone is a missed opportunity.

 

[StarBot]

Enjoy laughing guys! The Math Guy has returned!

So like, I understand this guy is being tounge and cheek about everything, and only doing this for mostly for laughs

BUT

I absolutely, positively, unironically agree with Backseat, that having Steve, REALLY messes up on having another Western rep in this pass

I would love to proven wrong, but watching this video made me realize that boy, we sure gonna have alot of disappointment in this community

 

[osby]

So, here's a question: Sakurai said that every stage in the game was changed in order to work with Steve's mining ability. Prsumably, same thing was also done for Inklings during the development of the base game, for their stage inking mechanic.

Hypothetically, what other newcomer candidates might require a special skill that affects or is affected by stage terrain?

 

[rychu_supadude]

Well if we're looking for biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig series, Smash has got three of the six games to get Lego sets, at least outside of Lego Ideas.

Mario, Sonic, Minecraft

That leaves:
Prince of Persia, Spy Hunter (thanks to Midway Arcade pack) and Portal

"Three of the six"? Bruh.

There's also Angry Birds... yes, they were based on the movie, but so was Prince of Persia which you already counted.

 

[Curious Villager]

So, here's a question: Sakurai said that every stage in the game was changed in order to work with Steve's mining ability. Prsumably, same thing was also done for Inklings during the development of the base game, for their stage inking mechanic.

Hypothetically, what other newcomer candidates might require a special skill that affects or is affected by stage terrain?

I suppose any other character from a franchise where you can mess around with the environment like Splatoon and Minecraft.

Like maybe Muddy Mole with the digging mechanic if he ever got considered... Or Knuckles for a more relevant example..

 

[JamesDNaux]

Hypothetically, what other newcomer candidates might require a special skill that affects or is affected by stage terrain?

You have to start thinking with portals.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I know nobody expected an Octopath or ToM playable characters before their spirit events (especially the latter) but

Would you say Square Enix won’t get another character this pass cause of that or?

if anything I kinda think Arc System Works is SOL cause their first and only content were the River City spirits

I think Square getting two events is suspicious in favor of them getting another character tbh. I don’t think they’d be actively working with Smash still if they didn’t have some more big content coming.

I’m iffy on Arc Sys. I think Sol Badguy would make a lot of sense. But you do have a point about “spoiling” their presence in Smash if they did have a character coming. Why not save that content until after Sol then?

So like, I understand this guy is being tounge and cheek about everything, and only doing this for mostly for laughs

BUT

I absolutely, positively, unironically agree with Backseat, that having Steve, REALLY messes up on having another Western rep in this pass

I would love to proven wrong, but watching this video made me realize that boy, we sure gonna have alot of disappointment in this community

I think we’re in uncharted waters when it comes to western characters. Similar to how people didn’t think we’d see anymore 3rd parties after Pac-Man or that 3rd party companies would only get one rep during the Smash 4 days.

There’s definitely a good chance that we don’t see any more western characters since Smash has historically gone with Japanese picks. But we’ve seen a TON of western content join Smash in the past year, I think any hurdles there was with western companies is over. But then there’s also the chance that they just prioritize 4 Japanese characters for one reason or another. It’s hard to definitively decide one way or another IMO.

I’d say the only outcome that absolutely doesn’t happen is that all 4 characters are western lol

 

[Dinoman96]

I don't feel like there's a "western franchise quota" that Nintendo feels like they have to abide by. If they want something like Crash in the pass, they're not gonna go "oh, but we already included Minecraft as the western character this pass...".

 

[JOJONumber691]

they won't shadowdrop a reveal, they know how much hype a reveal generates and won't miss out on the free advertizing. We'e had two fighters in the shadowdrop era, and neither of them were.

Yeah, until you realize that after Byleth, Nintendo KNOWS that an Anime Swordfighter would be very disappointing. I think Euden getting a Shadowdrop would create more hype around him than a formal reveal. It would allow Euden to speak for himself, and making it clear a character can be released AT ANY TIME! It would be really healthy not gonna lie.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Given the fan rules/patterns Nintendo's broken before, breaking "two western characters one pass" hardly feels out of the question. Its easy to see a scenario like Koei-Tecmo, Square, and Capcom characters as 8, 9, & 10, before finally ending with someone like Crash from Activision as 11.

 

[Garteam]

It is kinda strange to see how quickly people pivoted back to the idea that Fighter's Pass #2 would be just as third party dominated as the first pass and have a stronger Western focus after Min Min had us thinking outside that box for a few months. I guess Steve is the Rorschach test of Smash speculation, where everyone sees what they want for the remaining four characters in the implications of his inclusion.

Personally, I'm still on the 50/50 split train as far as the first/third party debate goes. The general trend of the first character in a Smash wave setting certain themes for the rest of the set, the abundance of third parties in past DLC, the fact Smash's DLC is slowly being winded down, and the precedence that DLC ends on a Nintendo character from a new release really makes me think we're getting three characters from both sides of the aisle.

In terms of Western reps, I'm a little less optimistic. Non-Japanese characters in Smash are such a new thing that it's hard to be super confident about about any predictions, but it did always feel like another Microsoft character and Crash were the only serious Western reps to keep an eye on, with a League of Legends or Fortnite character being the only remaining darkhorse options. We've got our Microsoft character out of the way with Steve, so I think it's Crash or bust as far as additional Western characters go.

 

[JOJONumber691]

I think Square getting two events is suspicious in favor of them getting another character tbh. I don’t think they’d be actively working with Smash still if they didn’t have some more big content coming.

I’m iffy on Arc Sys. I think Sol Badguy would make a lot of sense. But you do have a point about “spoiling” their presence in Smash if they did have a character coming. Why not save that content until after Sol then?



I think we’re in uncharted waters when it comes to western characters. Similar to how people didn’t think we’d see anymore 3rd parties after Pac-Man or that 3rd party companies would only get one rep during the Smash 4 days.

There’s definitely a good chance that we don’t see any more western characters since Smash has historically gone with Japanese picks. But we’ve seen a TON of western content join Smash in the past year, I think any hurdles there was with western companies is over. But then there’s also the chance that they just prioritize 4 Japanese characters for one reason or another. It’s hard to definitively decide one way or another IMO.

I’d say the only outcome that absolutely doesn’t happen is that all 4 characters are western lol

FFXIV is calling out to Smash! I think it's very likely for Ultimate, far more so than Sephiroth is anyways.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

It is kinda strange to see how quickly people pivoted back to the idea that Fighter's Pass #2 would be just as third party dominated as the first pass and have a stronger Western focus after Min Min had us thinking outside that box for a few months. I guess Steve is the Rorschach test of Smash speculation, where everyone sees what they want for the remaining four characters in the implications of his inclusion.

Personally, I'm still on the 50/50 split train as far as the first/third party debate goes. The general trend of the first character in a Smash wave setting certain themes for the rest of the set, the abundance of third parties in past DLC, the fact Smash's DLC is slowly being winded down, and the precedence that DLC ends on a Nintendo character from a new release really makes me think we're going three characters from both sides of the aisle.

In terms of Western reps, I'm a little less optimistic. Non-Japanese characters in Smash are such a new thing that it's hard to be super confident about about any predictions, but it did always feel like another Microsoft character and Crash were the only serious Western reps to keep an eye on, with a League of Legends or Fortnite character being the only remaining darkhorse options. We've got our Microsoft character out of the way with Steve, so I think it's Crash or bust as far as additional Western characters go.

Even if Fighter's Pass 2 is mostly 3rd party, I still believe we are getting one more Nintendo rep. Probably a Xenoblade rep since we got a Fire Emblem character and a Arms character in the DLC lineup thus far being newcomers from the most relevant franchises on the Switch.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

"Three of the six"? Bruh.

View attachment 289338

There's also Angry Birds... yes, they were based on the movie, but so was Prince of Persia which you already counted.

You know, I had completely forgotten about Overwatch.
And I had forcibly purged the Angry Birds movie from my brain, you monster.

 

[SKX31]

In a confession of sacrilege, I will admit I haven't played Steve (waiting to get some friends together before I try him), but I have been watching gameplay of him. He's a ton of fun to watch with all the crazy tools he has. I know it's early, but I really like how no two people really play the character in the same way. It really fits Minecraft's "world is your oyster" gameplay.

That being said, not having the "oof" and items scattering when you hit the blast zone is a missed opportunity.

Be prepared:

Given the fan rules/patterns Nintendo's broken before, breaking "two western characters one pass" hardly feels out of the question. Its easy to see a scenario like Koei-Tecmo, Square, and Capcom characters as 8, 9, & 10, before finally ending with someone like Crash from Activision as 11.

Yeah, I could see that - especially with the sheer number of Western /non-Japanese third parties in general that would probably really like to get in. That would also count for Japanese third parties, true, but still, Sakurai / Nintendo has loads of options.

 

[BernkastelWitch]

I feel like the pass can go any direction at this point. Maybe we'll get another 1st party. Maybe another 3rd party is on the horizon. Maybe we'll get one of the most commonly talked about 1st/3rd parties around. Maybe we'll get a "Niche" character or a character people have written off as unlikely. Anything is quite possible.

Personally part of me feels like we could get a more Japanese oriented character to balance Steve being Western since it feels like Nintendo is trying to cater to everyone internationally. Minecraft is huge worldwide but I can also imagine we'll get something that has a bit of a regional specific popularity like in Japan to add some diversity in many ways. Or Nintendo and Sakurai may play it safe and just go with "International popularity" characters. Who knows at this point.

 

[SharkLord]

I'm still predicting a 50-50 split between first parties and third parties. Maybe we'll get another Western rep, maybe we won't.

 

[JOJONumber691]

I feel like the pass can go any direction at this point. Maybe we'll get another 1st party. Maybe another 3rd party is on the horizon. Maybe we'll get one of the most commonly talked about 1st/3rd parties around. Maybe we'll get a "Niche" character or a character people have written off as unlikely. Anything is quite possible.

Personally part of me feels like we could get a more Japanese oriented character to balance Steve being Western since it feels like Nintendo is trying to cater to everyone internationally. Minecraft is huge worldwide but I can also imagine we'll get something that has a bit of a regional specific popularity like in Japan to add some diversity in many ways. Or Nintendo and Sakurai may play it safe and just go with "International popularity" characters. Who knows at this point.

Like Euden, FFXIV, Jonesy and a Pokemon for example.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

I'm still predicting a 50-50 split between first parties and third parties. Maybe we'll get another Western rep, maybe we won't.

I still think another western rep is happening. Most likely Crash Bandicoot.

 

[Pinguino21v]

Euden

He said international popularity. Dragalia Lost didn't even launched in Europe.

FFXIV

On that, I can agree.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I still think another western rep is happening. Most likely Crash Bandicoot.

Watch instead we get Tracer or Jonesy.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

Watch instead we get Tracer or Jonesy.

Honestly, I don't think Activision would choose Tracer over the iconic Crash Bandicoot. But I could be wrong.

 

[BernkastelWitch]

Honestly, I don't think Activision would choose Tracer over the iconic Crash Bandicoot. But I could be wrong.

IIRC, some reps in Blizzard said if they wanted one of their characters in Smash it'd be Diablo first. It's vague memories but I imagine if we somehow get a Blizzard rep, it'd probably be a legacy rep like Diablo or Warcraft.

But as Activision as a whole, it'd very likely be Crash first and anyone else would be in a hypothetical 3rd pass or the more likely new Smash game if we get Crash.

 

[SharkLord]

Honestly, I don't think Activision would choose Tracer over the iconic Crash Bandicoot. But I could be wrong.

Tracer isn't even owned by the Activision side. Not that it matters, seeing as Nintendo's calling the shots.