Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[GoldenYuiitusin]

The Hex Maniac's redesign from XY is crazy popular compared to the original GBA sprite. And despite ORAS being what made it insanely popular, the design first appeared in XY.

And in case you're wondering what that has to do with anything...Helena is a generic Hex Maniac turned into an actual character.

I think he knows and was trying to do a funny referring to the specific character as opposed to the generic class.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

.......Pokemon Legends Z-A........AZ

Man, I know they probably won't, but man, I would give them credit if they showed off AZ's story/narration in full glory, with death and destruction in tact.

They should make that story into a Musou

 

[Shinuto]

Looks like Pokemon is getting ALPHA Mega Gardevoir and Lopunny.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Another real question no one's asking.


.....does this mean AZ's Floette will FINALLY be released?

 

[fogbadge]

will flygon finally get his mega?

 

[Hydreigonfan01]

Looks like Pokemon is getting ALPHA Mega Gardevoir and Lopunny.

Bottom text

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Looks like Pokemon is getting ALPHA Mega Gardevoir and Lopunny.

Another real question no one's asking.


.....does this mean AZ's Floette will FINALLY be released?

I hope Mega Flygon finally gets added

 

[Gengar84]

I hope Mega Flygon finally gets added

That would be a good opportunity to give it the Bug/Dragon typing too. Its design always looked like it would be more of a special attacker to me but its stats are more physical. A Mega could do something there too.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Recently I've been thinking a lot about stages, and since the Switch generation is almost over, I felt that this was a good time to look back at what Nintendo released and make a stage selection for a Smash 6. So I've made a stage selection of 70 stages, much less than Ultimate selection but I felt it was hard to go lower than that (especially because I made my selection assuming that every franchise is back, so I wanted a stage for every third party franchise to be back).

Here's what I end up with. There's 31 new stages + 1 stage from a past Smash game that wasn't in Ultimate, but there's 71 cut stages from Ultimate, so it's kind of a "stage selection reboot" in a way. A lot of new stages are meant to replace of older stages (some example are Last resort replacing Brawl's Luigi's mansion or Alfegard taking the spot of Yggdrasil's altar).

Spoiler: Long list of stages

Delfino plaza (Mario sunshine)
Mushroom kingdom U (New super Mario bros U)
Mario galaxy (Mario galaxy)
Mario circuit (Mario kart 8)
Bowser's castle (Super Mario bros wonder)
Last resort (Luigi's mansion 3)
Big sho' theater (Paper Mario origami king)
Jungle japes (Donkey kong country)
DK Island (Donkey kong country tropical freeze)
Yoshi's island Brawl (Super Mario world 2 Yoshi's island)
Crafted world (Yoshi's crafted world)
Temple (Zelda II Adventure of Link)
Gerudo valley (Zelda Ocarina of time)
Skyloft (Zelda Skyward sword)
Koholint island (Zelda link's awakening)
The depths (Zelda tears of the kingdom)
Brinstar (Metroid)
Burenia (Metroid dread)
Dream land 64 (Kirby's dream land)
Halberd (Kirby super star)
Alivel Mall (Kirby and the forgotten land)
Corneria (Star fox)
Prism tower (Pokémon X and Y)
Unova Pokémon league (Pokémon black and white)
Area zero (Pokémon scarlet and violet)
Jubilife village (Pokémon legends Arceus)
Big blue (F-zero X)
Onett (Earthbound)
Icicle mountain (Ice climber)
Garreg mach monastery (Fire emblem three houses)
Lythos castle (Fire emblem engage)
Flat zone 3 (Parachute, Turtle bridge, Greenhouse and Octopus)
Reset bomb forest (Kid icarus uprising)
WarioWare inc (WarioWare)
Wario land GB (Wario land: Super Mario land 3)
Distant planet (Pikmin)
Hero's hideaway (Pikmin 4)
Gyromite (Gyromite)
Smashville (Animal crossing)
Mystery island (Animal crossing new horizons)
Tilt city (Wii fit)
Boxing ring (Punch out)
Gaur plain (Xenoblade chronicles)
Agnus castle (Xenoblade chronicles 3)
Duck hunt (Duck hunt)
Inkopolis square (Splatoon)
Museum D'Alfonsio (Splatoon 3)
Sky arena (Arms)
Pictochat 2 (Pictochat)
Wuhu island (Wii sports resort)
Excitebike (Excitebike)
Astral plane (Astral chain)
Transient temple (Ring fit adventure)
Tetris (Tetris)
Shadow moses island (Metal gear solid)
Green hill zone (Sonic the hedgehog)
Kronos island (Sonic frontiers)
Wily castle (Mega Man)
Pac maze (Pac-man)
Battle harbor (Street fighter 2)
Midgar (Final fantasy 7)
Thule (Bayonetta 3)
Dracula's castle (Castlevania)
Mementos (Persona 5)
Alfegard (Dragon quest)
Spiral mountain (Banjo Kazooie)
King of fighters stadium (King of fighters)
Minecraft world (Minecraft)
Dragon's nest (Tekken)
Hollow bastion (Kingdom hearts)

 

[Nabbitfan730]

Our First Switch 2 Game. Generation 6's Pokemon Z

 

[BuckleyTim]

lol that’s exactly why I don’t like to make definitive statements one way or the other. I don’t know anything about what any game company might be thinking. The best I can do is speculate but I always admit I’m just guessing. I wonder if this hurts Zoroark’s chances. It was near the top of my list both in who I personally wanted and found most likely if we got an older Pokemon instead of a Gen 9 rep.

Zoroark's chance were already slim to none, but unless we speed towards gen v remakes in like 2026 at most I think it's blatantly not in the cards timing-wise again.

I guess we just gotta hold on to the hope that the mon being in the master ball with all the other legendaries means anything for what the smash team thinks of them.

 

[Gengar84]

Zoroark's chance were already slim to none, but unless we speed towards gen v remakes in like 2026 at most I think it's blatantly not in the cards timing-wise again.

I guess we just gotta hold on to the hope that the mon being in the master ball with all the other legendaries means anything for what the smash team thinks of them.

I feel like had we gotten a Gen 5 spinoff rather than Gen 6, it would have shot right up there among the most likely options. Thats kind of what I was banking on with my predictions. They seemed to be pushing its Hisuian form lately as well. With Gen 6 being the focus, I agree that its chances are now very slim unfortunately. At least Gengar seems to be a relatively popular character in speculation if we were to get an older character and it has remained relevant through the whole series.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

I guess we just gotta hold on to the hope that the mon being in the master ball with all the other legendaries means anything for what the smash team thinks of them.

Pretty sure it's a nod to how Zoroark used to be an event exclusive like a Mythical and nothing more.

Since that's what the item is for. Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. And Goldeen for a drawback.

 

[Sucumbio]

So if ZA is coming 2025 for Switch... And they've pushed Switch 2 to 2025, is it going to be a switch 2 launch or a cross platform release like Twilight Princess or...

 

[Louie G.]

I think Echo Fighters best work not just when the Echo Fighter works gameplay and proportion-wise with the character they are Echoing, but when that character really does have no chance of being playable aside from being an Echo. Characters like Octoling, sure they can work, but with how they are next in line as the next Rep, they don't require the Echo Status.

It's not required for Octoling to be an echo fighter, and given any extra dev time I'd much prefer that at least some adjustments are made, but I also don't think it'd particularly be a disservice to tee them up to be one either. Octoling is a "canonical" echo, they play 1:1 with Inkling in Splatoon.

Splatoon does offer a ton of unrepresented weapon types that could fill out an Octoling moveset if they choose to take that direction, but I think pretty much any way they want to go with this character is justified. That could even boil down to being an extra set of alternate costumes, at minimum. I agree that a character planned from the start has more wiggle room to be an original character or a semiclone, even with a similar set of abilities, but the difference here between Octoling and Dixie Kong is the latter actually has functional differences and the former does not.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

So if ZA is coming 2025 for Switch... And they've pushed Switch 2 to 2025, is it going to be a switch 2 launch or a cross platform release like Twilight Princess or...

It'll be a last gen title like the Gen 5 games and Ultra sunMoon

 

[Sucumbio]

It'll be a last gen title like the Gen 5 games and Ultra sunMoon

I am not so sure... If it was released this year yeah but released the same year and maybe at the same time I'm thinking this is a Switch 2 launch title. But I could be wrong obv.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I am now realizing that with this new Pokemon games that technically means we have a Gen 9 stage in Smash ultimate since there's a Lumiose city stage in the game.

 

[fogbadge]

I am now realizing that with this new Pokemon games that technically means we have a Gen 9 stage in Smash ultimate since there's a Lumiose city stage in the game.

I was wondering if they might update the look in the future

 

[RileyXY1]

I am not so sure... If it was released this year yeah but released the same year and maybe at the same time I'm thinking this is a Switch 2 launch title. But I could be wrong obv.

I think that it's a simultaneous release and will be on both the original Switch and the Switch 2 as basically a launch title for the latter.

 

[SPEN18]

Aside from the characterization issues, ZSS is just a really strange addition. Like, Sakurai pretty much based an entire unique character off of the special add-on gimmick in a remake, with only very minor appearances outside of that at the time of addition. Did he think the Zero Suit gameplay was going to become a series staple or something?
Of course, ZSS in Smash was really originally a product of wanting more transformation gimmicks and probably also wanting another Metroid character at a time when the obvious next rep was deemed infeasible. But now, the transformation gimmick is gone and it doesn't seem like the move to bring it back, while Ridley is in the game (and we even have Dark Samus who debuted around the same time as Zero Mission). Which makes the addition even stranger now. Sure, the Zero Suit design has continued to recur, but usually in minor, non-gameplay-relevant roles, with its "standout appearance" since Zero Mission arguably being...Other M...

 

[Kirbeh]

Re ZSS

While I understand the ire regarding her portrayal in Other M, I think her Brawl portrayal was perfectly fine. Felt like a fairly accurate portrayal of her Zero Mission appearance (random energy whip aside, but you get the idea.)

I'm not a fan of Smash basically doubling down on the heels either but I'll at least give credit for giving them some use as jet boots.

I'd personally like a rework that brings the design closer to Zero Mission again but that comes with the need to rework her moveset again and while I prefer the ZM design, I do prefer the jet boots over the tether. So a bit of an issue there, but given that the vast majority of her moves are made up anyway I think there's room for making up some new moves again. Third time's the charm hopefully?

Re PKMN Z

I can't believe Z is actually happening and it's a Legends game. Honestly a really pleasant surprise. I was pretty concerned we'd get some undercooked remakes of Gen V, and while that's still potentially on the table, I'm glad (and coping) that Gen V is safe for now and that Gen 6 is getting some love with a good concept like Legends.

 

[Louie G.]

Since this is a safe space I can share that Zero Suit Samus is the one character I outright want to be cut next game.

I don’t mind characters like Sheik being retooled and sticking around, but with ZSS it feels like it is actively detracting from Samus’ potential. Samus can stay sluggish and play campy because ZSS is the in your face speedy and agile one. When really, Samus should be able to find a balance between these elements and they should be informing the whole package.

And like SPEN said, with Ridley here ZSS’s job is pretty much done. Metroid has real supporting characters now.

It bothers me maybe more than it should that the Samus in the Power Suit feels like the one that struggles to do anything aside from spit missiles and charge shots at you. Literally antithetical to how this dynamic is supposed to work… I know Samus is better this game, but she still doesn’t feel very good for me to control. And maybe one of Sakurai’s only true misses IMO when it comes to creative liberties, because those high heels are the worst. Sorry to be basic but it’s true.

 

[Gorgonzales]

I got a feeling Aegislash is our next Pokemon character that makes it into the next Smash game because of the Legends Z-A announcement.

you heard of anime swordfighters

now get ready for

anime sword fighter

 

[Idon]

Nah, I think you guys are all sleeping on Ceruledge as the next Pokemon rep.

It has reached an obscene level of advertisement and marketing compared to almost every other pokemon in its generation, and even made it solo into Pokemon Unite, a game that actually has split evolutions:

 

[BuckleyTim]

Nah, I think you guys are all sleeping on Ceruledge as the next Pokemon rep.

It has reached an obscene level of advertisement and marketing compared to almost every other pokemon in its generation, and even made it solo into Pokemon Unite, a game that actually has split evolutions:

the sheer amount of salt if they go with a humanoid swordfighter for the next pokemon rep lol

 

[Gorgonzales]

I want all of you to be wrong and the next Pokemon rep to be something completely unremarkable like lickilicky or something

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Would be better than Meowscarada at least, but yeah, I'll keep sleeping while Gen 9 is skipped over outside anything introduced in ZA.

 

[Ivander]

the sheer amount of salt if they go with a humanoid swordfighter for the next pokemon rep lol

On the one hand, yeah it's a humanoid sword fighter. On the other hand, they'd be our first proper duel-sword wielder that isn't a swordfighter holding a beam saber.

Edit: They'd also be our first playable Ghost Pokemon in Smash.

 

[Gengar84]

Nah, I think you guys are all sleeping on Ceruledge as the next Pokemon rep.

It has reached an obscene level of advertisement and marketing compared to almost every other pokemon in its generation, and even made it solo into Pokemon Unite, a game that actually has split evolutions:

Ceruledge is in my top three favorites from Scarlet and Violet alongside Lokix and Great Tusk. I for one would love to see it get into Smash. There are other Pokemon I really like from the Gen like Koraidon, Miraidon, Anihilape, Iron Thorns, and others that would be fun too. I also like Meowscarada but I’m a bit fatigued on starters at the moment for Smash reps.

I want all of you to be wrong and the next Pokemon rep to be something completely unremarkable like lickilicky or something

View attachment 385563

Lickitung is actually one of my brother’s absolute favorite Pokemon. It’s also the first Pokemon mod we made in Ultimate (over Yoshi) so I know he’d be ecstatic.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Did he think the Zero Suit gameplay was going to become a series staple or something?

Well it isn't the first time Samus could be seen fighting unarmored, at least.

 

[Sucumbio]

Aside from the characterization issues, ZSS is just a really strange addition. Like, Sakurai pretty much based an entire unique character off of the special add-on gimmick in a remake, with only very minor appearances outside of that at the time of addition. Did he think the Zero Suit gameplay was going to become a series staple or something?
Of course, ZSS in Smash was really originally a product of wanting more transformation gimmicks and probably also wanting another Metroid character at a time when the obvious next rep was deemed infeasible. But now, the transformation gimmick is gone and it doesn't seem like the move to bring it back, while Ridley is in the game (and we even have Dark Samus who debuted around the same time as Zero Mission). Which makes the addition even stranger now. Sure, the Zero Suit design has continued to recur, but usually in minor, non-gameplay-relevant roles, with its "standout appearance" since Zero Mission arguably being...Other M...

I'm personally fond of her inclusion because I was really into the GBA back then (had that GameCube adapter) so when brawl dropped I was like super hyped for her and Snake ofc cause our circle loved both Franchises. But...

Yeah, the transform thing was annoying as f. But I basically got into starting as Samus and learning when to shed the parts and it was pretty cool but yeah I hate to say it her continued presence is owed strictly to Sakurai at this point and honestly I'm okay with it but if she dropped I'd also be okay.

 

[Shinuto]

Would be better than Meowscarada at least, but yeah, I'll keep sleeping while Gen 9 is skipped over outside anything introduced in ZA.

Regional variant Tinkaton, hey someone built the giant STEEL tower in Lumiose City.

 

[Gorgonzales]

Since this is a safe space I can share that Zero Suit Samus is the one character I outright want to be cut next game.

I don’t mind characters like Sheik being retooled and sticking around, but with ZSS it feels like it is actively detracting from Samus’ potential. Samus can stay sluggish and play campy because ZSS is the in your face speedy and agile one. When really, Samus should be able to find a balance between these elements and they should be informing the whole package.

And like SPEN said, with Ridley here ZSS’s job is pretty much done. Metroid has real supporting characters now.

It bothers me maybe more than it should that the Samus in the Power Suit feels like the one that struggles to do anything aside from spit missiles and charge shots at you. Literally antithetical to how this dynamic is supposed to work… I know Samus is better this game, but she still doesn’t feel very good for me to control. And maybe one of Sakurai’s only true misses IMO when it comes to creative liberties, because those high heels are the worst. Sorry to be basic but it’s true.

Fully agree. The existence of ZSS holds Samus back and I think it's time for Zero Suit to say her goodbyes. I'd prefer to see one retooled Samus in the style of Dread. Dread Samus is flippin rad.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Let's go buddy buddy.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Regional variant Tinkaton, hey someone built the giant STEEL tower in Lumiose City.

Built from remains of all the Corviknights that used to roam Kalos.

Used to.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Anyone excited about Pokemon Sleep?

 

[Shinuto]

Anyone excited about Pokemon Sleep?

No.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

was fairly popular gameplay wise (in Brawl and Smash 4 at least), and still enjoys popularity to this day. I'd rather she stay personally, because I like playing the character and her moveset and I know many others do.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

That trailer is inaccurate.

They'd still be running while asleep.