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Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread
- Thread starter NonSpecificGuy
- Start date
LiveStudioAudience
Smash Master
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Really, I'd say the issue with Stellar Blade is that it's not even been suggested as getting on a Nintendo console at this point and its style of gameplay is one done by other franchises that feel more likely for Smash.
SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
Rating standards have tightened since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? In what ways?
As far as Bayonetta goes, I don't think this'll affect her much since I don't think she's going to have enough priority to get chosen in the first place, but if America, Japan, or Europe decides that her outfit is no longer appropriate for the good boys and girls that might just swing the pendulum faster.
For 2B, I don't think it'll affect her at all. You'd already have to close the slit in her dress and seal in the boob window, but those are pretty easy changes to make, and after you do that there's nothing really that problematic about the design. Maybe the dress would have to be a bit longer or the subhose would have to be turned into leggings? If we're to go off what's currently in the game, the slit might not have to go away entirely considering the one that exists in Palutena's design. Even with the alterations it'd still be a really pretty dress.
I'm assuming that I'm one of the few people who want Mike Kirby as a Final Smash?
BritishGuy54
Smash Ace
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- 796
Long story short, the ESRB (North America’s game rating organisation) implemented some new rules over the last few years. It mainly revolves around the game’s rating and referencing games with a higher age rating. And since Smash is full of references…
Wonder why FP2 couldn’t disclose where the Doom Slayer Mii Costume was from? Or why Noah and Mio’s Spirit was missing their series of origin?
Basically, Smash cannot continue having an E10+ rating if it wants to keep a majority of its characters and references.
Remember the backlash towards Spirits lacking descriptions? Imagine if that went further. Stages, characters, and music may not be allowed to reference what game they come from.
Even if Nintendo lets Smash bite the bullet and raises it to a T rating, three characters could be at risk still. That being Snake, Joker, and Bayonetta. All from M rated series.
SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
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chinkuru
Smash Cadet
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Marco Rossi, I think he is the most iconic SNK character and has a great moveset potential ( parachute entrance, knife, gun, grenade, jet pack, heavy machine gun, rocket launcher, shotgun, flamethrower, POW kame hame ha, boxing glove, metal slug as final smash and walkie, canteen and snot as taunts)
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SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
Oh...So it's like...You'd have to remove a handful of The Legend of Zelda titles, a handful of Fire Emblem characters, some stuff from Metroid (at least Dark Samus), the entire Xenoblade Chronicles series...
Yeeeah unless The Pokémon Company takes a hard stance on "E10+ or no Pokémon" Super Smash Bros. is going back up to T, but there's no way it's going up to M over this. That feels like a pretty definitive all characters from M rated games and/or franchises are disconfirmed. You can't just not say what series a character is from, and I don't think pulling an "Altaïr from the Altaïr series" would work either.
meanwhile PEGI doesn't seem to care much
DarthEnderX
Smash Hero
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My most wanted SNK character is the SV-001 Metal Slug itself. Driven by Marco, Tarma, Eri or Fio (Bowser Jr.-style).
I'd also like to see Nakoruru.
And I'd really like Crystalis to at least get a Spirit. Because reasons.
Peach, Daisy and Zelda's FSes are all stupidly broken.
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SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
Going off mostly memory and a few quick searches, to keep the E10+ rating, we'd loose or miss out on the following characters and stages:
Of course, this is assuming that content from T+ games can't exist at all, which has already been shown not to be the case. Since these properties can get in without credit, I'd imagine anything from E rated series are still fair game, just without mentioning what specific game they're from. So Fire Emblem's cast won't actually be demolished by this reason specifically, just the names Awakening, Path of Radiance, Fates, and Three Houses, will be scrubbed from the game.
Xenoblade Chronicles is the sole entirely T rated 1st party franchise here, and that could throw a wrench into the works, as having Shulk and friends along with their stages without a single mention of the series name would be quite strange and causes problems like where their music goes in the menus. I think the series is too important to Nintendo to get all of its characters axed because of this, but how they will go about it I don't know. I will laugh really hard if we get Shulk from the Shulk series.
I do have to wonder if Kazuya got rated before the changes were made, because if he didn't, that changes things quite a bit.
Anyway, my knee jerk reaction is that characters and stages from entirely M rated series will go away entirely, and depending on the desired rating, it might happen for T rated series as well, except for probably Xenoblade Chronicles. Going past that initial reaction...I'm just unsure of what will happen.
- The Legend of Zelda
- Bridge of Eldin
- Metroid
- Dark Samus
- Frigate Orpheon
- Earthbound
- I genuinely don't know how Mother 3 would be handled since it isn't rated by the ESRB. My guess would be that it's safe
- F-Zero
- Possibly Big Blue (dunno what game it's based on)
- Port Town Aero Dive
- Fire Emblem
- Lucina
- Chrom
- Ike (Kind of. Radiant Dawn is E10+ but Path of Radiance is T)
- Robin
- Corrin
- Byleth
- Arena Ferox
- Gerreg Mach Monastery
- Metal Gear
- Snake
- Shadow Moses Island
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Shulk
- Pyra/Mythra
- Gaur Plain
- Cloud Sea of Alrest
- Street Fighter
- Ryu
- Ken
- Suzaku Castle
- Final Fantasy
- Cloud
- Sephiroth
- Midgard
- Northern Cave
- Bayonetta
- Bayonetta
- Umbra Clock Tower
- Castlevania
- Most Castlevainia titles are T rated, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the first one isn't, so Simon and his stage stays, but Richter is a question mark.
- Persona
- Joker
- Mementos
- Fatal Fury
- Most of the series is rated T, but some aren't, so I have no idea.
- Tekken
- Kazuya
- Mishima Dojo
Xenoblade Chronicles is the sole entirely T rated 1st party franchise here, and that could throw a wrench into the works, as having Shulk and friends along with their stages without a single mention of the series name would be quite strange and causes problems like where their music goes in the menus. I think the series is too important to Nintendo to get all of its characters axed because of this, but how they will go about it I don't know. I will laugh really hard if we get Shulk from the Shulk series.
I do have to wonder if Kazuya got rated before the changes were made, because if he didn't, that changes things quite a bit.
Anyway, my knee jerk reaction is that characters and stages from entirely M rated series will go away entirely, and depending on the desired rating, it might happen for T rated series as well, except for probably Xenoblade Chronicles. Going past that initial reaction...I'm just unsure of what will happen.
Guynamednelson
Smash Legend
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Once again:
E rated game.
Allowed to have costumes from Doom.
Allowed to say they're from Doom.
And this is after the ESRB censorship started with Smash.
Allowed to have costumes from Doom.
Allowed to say they're from Doom.
And this is after the ESRB censorship started with Smash.
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smashkirby
Smash Hero
You joke, but Roll is legit among my top 3 most wanted Mega Man characters in Smash Bros., so...No. We need to add Roll too. Then we'd be Fire Emblem.
Ngl, it does my heart good to see someone entertain some iM@S content in Smash. Ngl, I was sort of banking on at least one of the OG iM@S idols (from 765 Production) to get a Spirit or something (be it Haruka Amami, Chihaya Kisaragi, or Miki Hoshii. Maybe even Iori Minase, if Sakurai wanted to do Katsuhiro Harada a favor).
Ngl, I STILL feel this way. Like, with how Ultimate's character selection played out (ESPECIALLY in terms of the base game), it might have been so we didn't deal with the vitriol that usually comes with clones in Smash...
While I've also always found Negative Zone weird as heck (moreso for the fact that they gave it to Luigi), I DO appreciate Sakurai and the team NOT totally dropping the idea and simply giving it to Ashely, who far and away, makes the whole thing feel less uncomfortable of an addition.
Imagine my surprise to hear that this wasn't even on the Wii U VC.
Athena, Nakoruru, Kyo, Rock Howard, Iori, The Metal Slug gang pulling a Bowser Jr./Koopalings, Ryo, Yuri, B. Jenet, and Mai Shiranui (Yes, I'm ignoring the 'good boys and girls' thing here. Don't care).
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SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
Ah. So all the weirdness was Smash's knee jerk reaction then.
Actually it could just be that it requires heavier scrutiny or something so they just didn't bother for Spirits and Mii Costumes so they could go up on time.
HyperSomari64
Smash Master
A stage can also work too. With the girls singing on the background.
BritishGuy54
Smash Ace
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- 796
If we do get in a situation for Shulk and friends, I think they could end up calling it the Monado series. A bit of a throwback towards the prototype name for Xenoblade, and in the same vain as FP2’s Mii Costumes.
I’d more so imagine music ends up like how some spirits are now since the last few spirit events. They can exist, they just can’t say what game they’re from. So all Twilight Princess music could be unlabelled or just generic ‘Legend of Zelda’ music.
I think Nintendo just lets Smash raise to a T rating. We still lose three characters, but at least we don’t lose more like twenty due to ESRB and other ratings meddling.
Shinuto
Smash Champion
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ESRB is gonna get it's ass obliterated if it's stupid rules screws out Smash fans of Snake and other M Rated stuff for smash, it'll be a PR disaster
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Kirbeh
Smash Champion
Just to clarify my own point, I was actually not referring to the ESRB thing BritishGuy64 brought up. It does seem like it could present some problems, but it's currently uncertain how prevalent it really is (or if it will remain), nor does it seem to be applied all that consistently.
Even so, if it truly were that big a deal, I don't think we'd lose the T/M rated characters, rather they'd just scrub references to home series. So, stuff like the origin games for stages on the select screen would be removed, etc. In the absence of trophy descriptions, the more detailed/historical/archival aspect of Smash has already been scaled back in Ultimate, so I could see them simplifying things further and just omitting series names if need be.
What I was referring to, was the stricter CERO standards which has been the case since Smash 4, combined with Smash's necessity to be rated A and to some extent, the higher levels of censorship imposed by western parties.
It's not that I think 2B or Eve are outright impossible (well, Eve is unlikely for completely separate reasons) but I do think there's a conflict of interest.
You could lengthen 2B's skirt, give her leggings, remove her cleavage and reduce her bust and hip sizes. In that sense yes, you could make her work after a number of modifications to her design.
My case, however, is that despite changes being possible, they still chose to exclude a character like Mai. 2B has a similar level of exposure and making too many changes to the design would possibly be seen as not properly representing the character or conflict with the wishes of her creator, Yoko Taro. An authentic or minimally altered 2B cannot exist in a CERO A Smash Bros. I do think a censored 2B would still receive a mostly positive reception, but I also think they may simply consider other choices instead. It's not like Square has a shortage of viable options.
You could raise Bayonetta, who I do think is a fair comparison/point of reference in most respects. However, I do think in her case, the outfit alterations are far more subtle compared to what they'd need to do for 2B and other characters of more risqué attire. Also of note is that Bayonetta 3 gives her a much safer design to work with. As things are now, I'm basically looking to the next Smash to see how Bayonetta is handled, (if she returns at all.)
Until then, I'm keeping my expectations for 2B low. She's definitely got the popularity and even the legacy at this point imo, but I do still see her design as a potential hurdle on top of general competition from her fellow Squeenix characters. (Or I'm just waaaaay overthinking the whole thing which is also probably likely.)
SMAASH! Puppy
Smash Legend
I think in the case of Mai specifically, they just didn't find it too worth it to redesign her for a background cameo since it would require extra negotiations, and her outfit in particular a bit difficult to alter in a way that doesn't look silly. Comparatively 2B would (probably) be a character, and the alterations would be much easier: The brown material from the design on the chest could be placed on the boob window, and it would still look really nice. The slit could be altered so the hem goes down to the mid-thigh like with Palutena, or if need be, they could turn the subhose into leggings, and both would probably look similarly good. Neither change is likely to meaningfully alter her character design, and at the very least, she'd fare way better than Pyra in that regard.
So while showing too much skin has somewhat of a precedent for keeping characters out, I do think there's more precedent saying that if they did want her, they'd get her in. My only question would be "would they want her?". Like you said, It's not like Square has a shortage of viable options.
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Decided to take my shot at a 70-man roster, but also decided to throw in 20 characters I wanted to include
Louie G.
Smash Hero
re: my SNK question, I'm unsurprised to see the love dealt toward Nakoruru.
But it makes me curious, how come Haohmaru gets largely shafted within this conversation? On paper it makes sense - he feels like the most "basic" pick, he's kind of a standard samurai character. Nakoruru is a cute girl with a knife and a bird companion. It does call to some interesting potential on her end, and as far as practicality or likelihood goes she's got a Mii Costume and had a role in Terry's trailer.
On the flipside though, at least in the context of Smash's own roster, I think Haohmaru stands out a lot. It's odd to me that Smash still doesn't have its signature samurai character, probably one of the most glaringly and confusingly absent archetypes simply given how popular it is to explore across a slew of games. Nintendo has their own options via Takamaru, Samurai Goroh, and by some metric Ganondorf now. But the point being, the lack of a playable samurai altogether would already make Haohmaru a striking addition to the series.
Nakoruru is a bit more marketable and widely popular, but Haohmaru is a star in his own right and the leader of Team Samurai in KOF. Technically, he's the series protagonist. I suppose it's something like the relationship between Demitri and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, where Demitri is the intended main character and Morrigan became the breakout star. I think with Samurai Shodown, it's a bit less extreme (and Haohmaru doesn't quite have his "Midnight Bliss" to gatekeep him from crossover games) but it seems like the most apt parallel.
Gameplay wise, Nakoruru has that bird and she's got a bit less of a conventional swordie kit. But I'd wager again, Haohmaru stands out just fine by proxy. The traditional fighting game characters we have on the roster so far are all varying degrees of martial artist. We don't have a sword character with command inputs, the whole shebang. And with Shodown's unique properties like Rage Gauge and the ability to be disarmed or drop your weapon (so presumably, Haohmaru would enter a second, disadvantage state with exclusively physical attacks) is plenty to serve him as a unique addition. Adding all that to Nakoruru's more complex pseudo-puppet gameplay might make her just a little too unwieldy. With Sakurai's design philosophy in mind, I think he might feel more inclined toward Haohmaru's more straightforward approach.
Yknow, hypothetically. I dunno how likely it is, Samurai Shodown is a pretty small-time series compared to other third parties on the roster but it's a pretty feasible second dip for SNK and feels like it's had a somewhat overlooked influence on certain Smash mechanics (rage) and even some attacks and character quirks (Mii Swordfighter essentially has Haohmaru's Ougi Senpuu Retsuzan).
But it makes me curious, how come Haohmaru gets largely shafted within this conversation? On paper it makes sense - he feels like the most "basic" pick, he's kind of a standard samurai character. Nakoruru is a cute girl with a knife and a bird companion. It does call to some interesting potential on her end, and as far as practicality or likelihood goes she's got a Mii Costume and had a role in Terry's trailer.
On the flipside though, at least in the context of Smash's own roster, I think Haohmaru stands out a lot. It's odd to me that Smash still doesn't have its signature samurai character, probably one of the most glaringly and confusingly absent archetypes simply given how popular it is to explore across a slew of games. Nintendo has their own options via Takamaru, Samurai Goroh, and by some metric Ganondorf now. But the point being, the lack of a playable samurai altogether would already make Haohmaru a striking addition to the series.
Nakoruru is a bit more marketable and widely popular, but Haohmaru is a star in his own right and the leader of Team Samurai in KOF. Technically, he's the series protagonist. I suppose it's something like the relationship between Demitri and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, where Demitri is the intended main character and Morrigan became the breakout star. I think with Samurai Shodown, it's a bit less extreme (and Haohmaru doesn't quite have his "Midnight Bliss" to gatekeep him from crossover games) but it seems like the most apt parallel.
Gameplay wise, Nakoruru has that bird and she's got a bit less of a conventional swordie kit. But I'd wager again, Haohmaru stands out just fine by proxy. The traditional fighting game characters we have on the roster so far are all varying degrees of martial artist. We don't have a sword character with command inputs, the whole shebang. And with Shodown's unique properties like Rage Gauge and the ability to be disarmed or drop your weapon (so presumably, Haohmaru would enter a second, disadvantage state with exclusively physical attacks) is plenty to serve him as a unique addition. Adding all that to Nakoruru's more complex pseudo-puppet gameplay might make her just a little too unwieldy. With Sakurai's design philosophy in mind, I think he might feel more inclined toward Haohmaru's more straightforward approach.
Yknow, hypothetically. I dunno how likely it is, Samurai Shodown is a pretty small-time series compared to other third parties on the roster but it's a pretty feasible second dip for SNK and feels like it's had a somewhat overlooked influence on certain Smash mechanics (rage) and even some attacks and character quirks (Mii Swordfighter essentially has Haohmaru's Ougi Senpuu Retsuzan).
I'd be totally down for either this or simply having them on-foot. I feel like there's a ton of potential and personality brimming from both options, neither would feel like any other character on the roster - no wrong answers in my book. The prospect of outright playing as a tank would be pretty incredible. I wonder if they would have the guts to make this the definitive biggest or heaviest character on the roster, surpassing Bowser.My most wanted SNK character is the SV-001 Metal Slug itself. Driven by Marco, Tarma, Eri or Fio (Bowser Jr.-style).
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7NATOR
Smash Master
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- 4,089
Terry seems like the first of what's to come in the Next Smash, as he seems to be Full Mascot Character Representative of SNK as a whole instead of just his Franchise, at least that what it seems like
With all the music being brought, and all the other content (which I think might be expanded in Base game with Assists and Spirits and more Costumes), I think We might see this with the more "Niche" Company Representatives in the future. Companies like Koei, Arc System Works, and Falcom
So I don't know if we get 2nd SNK character, which is no good since Kyo and Iori (Especially) I'd say are cooler characters and the Actual Main characters of SNK's Biggest Franchise, and I would have liked to seen some Rekkas in the game (Only see that with Fire Emblem). However Terry is also cool and he's a great mascot for the Company
Wonder Smash
Smash Champion
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I'm guessing either Athena (the intended mascot) a KOF character (either Kyo or Iori), or Marco Rossi.
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Louie G.
Smash Hero
Right, my question was under the hypothetical that it does happen. I don't necessarily think it will.
Although I'd rather not use "Terry is representing his whole company" as an excuse anyway. For now he is, but neither Sakurai nor SNK had foresight regarding what would happen next game. Terry was the opportunity to celebrate the company in the moment, mostly through music. But it's not as if we have a Metal Slug or Samurai Shodown stage, or any of those characters appearing in the background either. Not to mention under this condition, someone like Athena or Iori could just operate as a "second rep" scenario under the general KOF-adjacent umbrella.
In Smash 4, Pac-Man kinda felt like a company ambassador. To some extent he still does, mostly for classic Namco arcade games but he did and still does have his little taunt to pay homage to series across Namco's catalogue. At some point many people just kind of accepted this was how Namco would remain represented, and Tekken caught us off guard. I recognize it's a bit different here, but I don't think Metal Slug / Samsho should be gatekept under the guise that they have a few songs in the game already. Terry does a great job as SNK's ambassador, but acting like that's all it's due is selling the rest short.
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SpecterFlower
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2020
- Messages
- 859
Monaco isn’t gonna work. (Only 1 game really worries itself much with the monado)
they could just change it to the Xeno series
that's what you think
Louie G.
Smash Hero
In respect to the ESRB stuff, I'm sure it's not going to be as crazy as some people here are suggesting. If we get to the point where freaking Samus Aran is on the chopping block they'll simply bump Smash up to a T-rating. Not as if T-rating is especially unfamiliar to Smash, nor would it prevent younger audiences from playing it... let's be real, Fortnite is rated T and it's one of the most popular games among young children all the same.
But given its inconsistency across other games such as the aforementioned Fall Guys, I don't think this situation is quite as dire as we might fear it to be at first. Even though most of the M-rated content in Smash boils down to third parties, I don't think we'd ever be in a situation where Sakurai buckles down and just abandons all M-rated content specifically under the ESRB guidelines. If there are complications, there will be workarounds. Who the hell knows what the deal was with those spirits, but if it's truly an issue then I'm sure it will be a high priority initiative to find an unobtrusive way to step around the problem.
But given its inconsistency across other games such as the aforementioned Fall Guys, I don't think this situation is quite as dire as we might fear it to be at first. Even though most of the M-rated content in Smash boils down to third parties, I don't think we'd ever be in a situation where Sakurai buckles down and just abandons all M-rated content specifically under the ESRB guidelines. If there are complications, there will be workarounds. Who the hell knows what the deal was with those spirits, but if it's truly an issue then I'm sure it will be a high priority initiative to find an unobtrusive way to step around the problem.
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D
Deleted member
Guest
I think Octopath Traveler might not be elegible for Smash Bros. because it has no clear main character, of course, i'm just saying the general concious that i've seen on forums and boards about a Octopath rep, i personally don't think it's that big of a deal to just pick one character, so i'd be fine with just Tressa for example, but most people seem to mind, through.
And about the subject about a esport, MMO and free-to-play rep, i do not play those games much either, but it's obvious they're very important for the industry right now, for better or worse, so it'd be weird to go through 2 fighter passes or more for the next game and not add at least one character from those type of games.
A Genshin Impact, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch, World of Warcraft...etc rep would be HUGE, like really HUGE.
Kirbeh
Smash Champion
I'd be super down for Haohmaru myself, but I suppose you sort of answered your own question; people just tend to feel he's kind of basic. And he kinda is, though intentionally like with Ryu.re: my SNK question, I'm unsurprised to see the love dealt toward Nakoruru.
But it makes me curious, how come Haohmaru gets largely shafted within this conversation? On paper it makes sense - he feels like the most "basic" pick, he's kind of a standard samurai character. Nakoruru is a cute girl with a knife and a bird companion. It does call to some interesting potential on her end, and as far as practicality or likelihood goes she's got a Mii Costume and had a role in Terry's trailer.
On the flipside though, at least in the context of Smash's own roster, I think Haohmaru stands out a lot. It's odd to me that Smash still doesn't have its signature samurai character, probably one of the most glaringly and confusingly absent archetypes simply given how popular it is to explore across a slew of games. Nintendo has their own options via Takamaru, Samurai Goroh, and by some metric Ganondorf now. But the point being, the lack of a playable samurai altogether would already make Haohmaru a striking addition to the series.
Nakoruru is a bit more marketable and widely popular, but Haohmaru is a star in his own right and the leader of Team Samurai in KOF. Technically, he's the series protagonist. I suppose it's something like the relationship between Demitri and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, where Demitri is the intended main character and Morrigan became the breakout star. I think with Samurai Shodown, it's a bit less extreme (and Haohmaru doesn't quite have his "Midnight Bliss" to gatekeep him from crossover games) but it seems like the most apt parallel.
Gameplay wise, Nakoruru has that bird and she's got a bit less of a conventional swordie kit. But I'd wager again, Haohmaru stands out just fine by proxy. The traditional fighting game characters we have on the roster so far are all varying degrees of martial artist. We don't have a sword character with command inputs, the whole shebang. And with Shodown's unique properties like Rage Gauge and the ability to be disarmed or drop your weapon (so presumably, Haohmaru would enter a second, disadvantage state with exclusively physical attacks) is plenty to serve him as a unique addition. Adding all that to Nakoruru's more complex pseudo-puppet gameplay might make her just a little too unwieldy. With Sakurai's design philosophy in mind, I think he might feel more inclined toward Haohmaru's more straightforward approach.
Yknow, hypothetically. I dunno how likely it is, Samurai Shodown is a pretty small-time series compared to other third parties on the roster but it's a pretty feasible second dip for SNK and feels like it's had a somewhat overlooked influence on certain Smash mechanics (rage) and even some attacks and character quirks (Mii Swordfighter essentially has Haohmaru's Ougi Senpuu Retsuzan).
I'd be totally down for either this or simply having them on-foot. I feel like there's a ton of potential and personality brimming from both options, neither would feel like any other character on the roster - no wrong answers in my book. The prospect of outright playing as a tank would be pretty incredible. I wonder if they would have the guts to make this the definitive biggest or heaviest character on the roster, surpassing Bowser.
Unlike Ryu, and more like Dimitri as you pointed out, Samsho sort of pushed the spotlight onto other characters far quicker, more often, and to greater success* in a sense. Ryu was never overshadowed by his "replacements" and with Street Fighter being such a big series, he's always enjoyed a good amount of popularity.
Granted, I don't think Shizumaru or Yoshi-tora have necessarily overshadowed Haohmaru either, but the Darkstalkers comparison is definitely more apt. It's really the female cast in characters like Nakoruru, Shiki, Mina, Iroha and more recently Darli and Hibiki (she's been popular since CvS2 so making her a guest just brought her back to the forefront.)
Plus, there are other characters among the male cast that share similar popularity as far as I'm aware; mostly Genjuro and Ukyo.
As for other SNK representation I'd happily take more Garou if they wanted to stick to that. Otherwise, I'd be down for most SNK properties I can think of off the top of my head; KoF and AoF, Metal Slug, Samsho, The Last Blade, World Heroes, Athena. Maybe pull a NeoGeo Battle Coliseum and give us deep cut like Kisarah from Aggresors or something even more left field like WakuWaku7(provided they still hold rights to it.)
Speaking of NGBC, they could add in Yuki and Ai alongside Reiji and Xiaomu from Namco x Capcom. It'd be fun to have characters created for crossovers games to then crossover themselves.
In terms of actual likelihood, I would say it's between any of Kyo, Iori, Geese, Rock, Nakoruru, a Metal Slug character (probably Marco if they don't go the alt route) and Athena (Asamiya not the princess, though I'd gladly take either or both.)
EDIT: JP names being flagged as curse words, added a dash to Yoshi-tora
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SpecterFlower
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2020
- Messages
- 859
No I know
There’s a better series icon than the Monaco anyway.
but I’m not gonna throw around spoilers to people who might play the game.
it’s not a focal point of the other games, I would still say monado is the worst way to rep the franchise
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7NATOR
Smash Master
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I was in Speculator mode when I answered. Under the Hypothetical, I would definitely go Kyo or Iori (or both) because they are too cool not to be in, and I think for some the picks they would have went with, perhaps even over Terry. They also can also have combined elements of all the Different Versions of the characters (EX Forms, Kyo clones, Iori without the Flames).
I'd also think if people have Fun with Terry, they will have fun with either Kyo/Iori with their specials as well as being able to do Max Mode and Cancel from Super into Supers. though that does sounds kind of broken
One thing I will say is of Fighting game Reps, Samurai Showdown would fit right in due to not being reliant on Combos, unlike many other fighting games, but on 1-2 Strong hits, which fits Smash Perfect fully.re: my SNK question, I'm unsurprised to see the love dealt toward Nakoruru.
But it makes me curious, how come Haohmaru gets largely shafted within this conversation? On paper it makes sense - he feels like the most "basic" pick, he's kind of a standard samurai character. Nakoruru is a cute girl with a knife and a bird companion. It does call to some interesting potential on her end, and as far as practicality or likelihood goes she's got a Mii Costume and had a role in Terry's trailer.
On the flipside though, at least in the context of Smash's own roster, I think Haohmaru stands out a lot. It's odd to me that Smash still doesn't have its signature samurai character, probably one of the most glaringly and confusingly absent archetypes simply given how popular it is to explore across a slew of games. Nintendo has their own options via Takamaru, Samurai Goroh, and by some metric Ganondorf now. But the point being, the lack of a playable samurai altogether would already make Haohmaru a striking addition to the series.
Nakoruru is a bit more marketable and widely popular, but Haohmaru is a star in his own right and the leader of Team Samurai in KOF. Technically, he's the series protagonist. I suppose it's something like the relationship between Demitri and Morrigan from Darkstalkers, where Demitri is the intended main character and Morrigan became the breakout star. I think with Samurai Shodown, it's a bit less extreme (and Haohmaru doesn't quite have his "Midnight Bliss" to gatekeep him from crossover games) but it seems like the most apt parallel.
Gameplay wise, Nakoruru has that bird and she's got a bit less of a conventional swordie kit. But I'd wager again, Haohmaru stands out just fine by proxy. The traditional fighting game characters we have on the roster so far are all varying degrees of martial artist. We don't have a sword character with command inputs, the whole shebang. And with Shodown's unique properties like Rage Gauge and the ability to be disarmed or drop your weapon (so presumably, Haohmaru would enter a second, disadvantage state with exclusively physical attacks) is plenty to serve him as a unique addition. Adding all that to Nakoruru's more complex pseudo-puppet gameplay might make her just a little too unwieldy. With Sakurai's design philosophy in mind, I think he might feel more inclined toward Haohmaru's more straightforward approach.
Yknow, hypothetically. I dunno how likely it is, Samurai Shodown is a pretty small-time series compared to other third parties on the roster but it's a pretty feasible second dip for SNK and feels like it's had a somewhat overlooked influence on certain Smash mechanics (rage) and even some attacks and character quirks (Mii Swordfighter essentially has Haohmaru's Ougi Senpuu Retsuzan).
I do think think Haohmaru is Cool, with that Tornado Projectile and everything. He'd also be simple so people that just want to Swing Sword and Do Huge Damage can have fun, at least on the surface. Terry also does show that people can get down with Motion inputs and still be able to be considered easy to play for people. I'm also guessing if they brought in the Unarmed gimmick from the series, you'd be able to use his Sword against him in Smash Specifically just to make things more fun
I just think at the end of the day, to alot of people he's just a Sword dude, in a game full of Swords everywhere. I like the Samurai aestheticic and archetype as well, but I think for Smash you are going to need a bit more Flashyness to get more people on board, or maybe you need to be a Cute and/or Hot Female Samurai, and I don't know if Haohmaru fits that description for people, in addition to Samurai Showdown being more niche series anyway, so he gets snubed in attention
For a Samurai character in General, I think all of them either suffer from their Franchise being too niche or the characters themselves not being the main option for representation on the playable roster. I also think that while we don't have a Traditional, Samurai focused character, I will say that Sephiroth already does have Elements of a Samurai character, including focus on the Sword and Spacing, some Good Grappling (well grabs anyway), Mobility, Picking the right time to strike, Counter, and even projectiles (since Samurai were attuned with Archery).
It's just that because he is Sephiroth Final Fantasy, everything is Exaggerated and has a more godly air to it, instead of more grounded like a traditional Samurai, but those elements are there and that's part of why I like playing as him so much, even if he can be frustrating at times
Maybe if the Main Character of the Next Fire Emblem game or Xenoblade were to be samurai based, I think we'd finally get a character with more traditional Samurai focus
it is connected to characters who are a focal point
Kirbeh
Smash Champion
new series symbol right here
yes, I know it was a typo/auto-correct, but the bit was too easy to pass up
osby
Smash Obsessed
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HyperSomari64
Smash Master
Now I want to see Sega's Super Monaco GP represented in Smash.
Louie G.
Smash Hero
I hope if Terry returns we'll at least see his Garou outfit represented in some fashion. I'm assuming they skipped out on it because it doesn't jive with his animations involving his hat, but I feel like they could just have him wear the coat. That is if they don't figure out some workaround to give an alternate costume a few special animations instead. Not much precedent for that, but at least Inkling / Byleth have some different idles.
I'm convinced he'd win people over if he was added, but it makes sense to me that people might overlook him before seeing him in execution. I'm convinced that Samurai Shodown's gameplay essence implemented in Smash would be enough to emphasize him as "flashy" just as Terry was able to win people over by generally just being the coolest guy around. Being able to lose his weapon in particular would be pretty eyecatching. He also has a handful of fun quirks and cool looking moves like the aforementioned tornado attacks and using his sake jug to whack people. And out of all the "sword dude" archetypes, I think samurai is one that most people would be more or less accepting toward given how little of it exists on the roster as is.
Bottom line, one of those characters that people wouldn't know they want until they get him. Yknow, like Terry.
But yeah, Samurai Shodown isn't the kind of series I generally expect to be discussed in the context of Smash. But it is one that I could see Sakurai having an affinity for, and is somewhere higher in the pecking order if we were to discuss introducing a brand new SNK IP to Smash. Pretty much between SasmSho and Metal Slug, I would imagine. Neither of them get quite enough love in the general conversation, compared to some other similarly popular or influential series.
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Scrimblo Bimblo
Smash Ace
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It's probably this. It would be way too dumb otherwise. Like, come on.
As for Metal Slug characters, I like to think they're the most likely SNK rep. They would change genre a little after Terry, and Metal Slug was huge huge in some parts of the world at one point.
Can't see the tank being the actual fighter though. You don't actually spend much time on it in the games, its moveset is very limited and some moves would just look ridicolous even for Metal Slug's standards.
On the other hand, the actual characters are very easy to make a moveset for. Most of their movements (walk, run, crawl, jump, standing on a ledge, entrance animation) can just get straight up lifted from the games, and they have so many weapons the moveset writes itself. Gun, grenade, heavy machine gun, rockets, laser, flamethrower, knife, the little boxing glove attached to a spring... You can just take them as they are, assign them to a direction and boom! Marco is playable. The Metal Slug can be the final smash.
But yeah, some old arcade glory the Metal Slug squad, Bub and Bomberman would be a very welcome surprise for me.
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Hadokeyblade
Smash Legend
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Random thought, if Final smashes remained like how they were in Brawl and 4 then the Metal Slug would make a perfect final smash for Marco.
Kinda like the Landmaster final smash but smaller and faster.
SpecterFlower
Smash Ace
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entire Xeno series spoilers
yeah Alvis and A
Alvis is the Monaco and a is a part of Alvis and therefor has a monado as well.
that’s two characters
after shulk loses the monado he creates a Monado replica which is great but the monado itself itself still appears in one game and dlc for 3
that’s if we’re talking the series iconography.
if we’re talking the meaning of the word monado you can play as 2 of them socne the aegis’s weapons are monado, though they are the Monaco.
I still think it would be bad representation becuase you aren’t supposed to know that from the outset and the series has remained firm in only using shills as iconography, I would just use the Zohar / aegis core crystals
it’s much less a spoiler
Alvis is the Monaco and a is a part of Alvis and therefor has a monado as well.
that’s two characters
after shulk loses the monado he creates a Monado replica which is great but the monado itself itself still appears in one game and dlc for 3
that’s if we’re talking the series iconography.
if we’re talking the meaning of the word monado you can play as 2 of them socne the aegis’s weapons are monado, though they are the Monaco.
I still think it would be bad representation becuase you aren’t supposed to know that from the outset and the series has remained firm in only using shills as iconography, I would just use the Zohar / aegis core crystals
it’s much less a spoiler
actually i was referring to klaus, the guy who created the worlds