Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

On the topic of FPS reps, what does everyone think of Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark? I don’t think she’s as likely as either Doom Slayer or Master Chief but she does have the advantage of being the only one of the three to have ever been a Nintendo exclusive character. As far as RARE characters go, Perfect Dark would be third on my list after Battletoads and Killer Instinct but I’d love to see all three of them make it in some day. I feel like Jonna would be a strong contender for a second or third FPS rep down the line. She’s also the closest we’ll probably ever get to seeing GoldenEye in Smash, with Perfect Dark being a spiritual successor to that game.

Er, do you mean debut-wise? Perfect Dark has been on Xbox too. That or I’m missing something.

She’s pretty cool too~

 

[osby]

On the topic of FPS reps, what does everyone think of Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark? I don’t think she’s as likely as either Doom Slayer or Master Chief but she does have the advantage of being the only one of the three to have ever been a Nintendo exclusive character. As far as RARE characters go, Perfect Dark would be third on my list after Battletoads and Killer Instinct but I’d love to see all three of them make it in some day. I feel like Jonna would be a strong contender for a second or third FPS rep down the line. She’s also the closest we’ll probably ever get to seeing GoldenEye in Smash, with Perfect Dark being a spiritual successor to that game.

I feel like Smash at this point almost certainly would prioritize characters with more popularity over ones with Nintendo exclusivity.

I'm not sure if it's even fair to compare Perfect Dark to Halo/Doom. I can't see Joanna making it unless she somehow gains Banjo levels of fan demand even without competition from those two.

 

[Gengar84]

Er, do you mean debut-wise? Perfect Dark has been on Xbox too. That or I’m missing something.

She’s pretty cool too~

I said “to have ever been” Nintendo exclusive. What I meant by that is that she was Nintendo exclusive at one point even though she no longer is. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

 

[Garteam]

Sakurai, in spite of Japanese culture's emphasis on politeness and the concept of "face", publicly mocked CERO both when they made him censor Palutena's underwear and when they made him remove Mai from the KoF stage.

He's a creative that prioritizes his freedom of expression through and through. He's not going to let a foreign rating board do something as dramatic as forcing him to cut full series from the roster.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I said “to have ever been” Nintendo exclusive. What I meant by that is that she was Nintendo exclusive at one point even though she no longer is. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Ah, I wasn’t sure. Thank you for clarifying.

 

[Gengar84]

Ah, I wasn’t sure. Thank you for clarifying.

No problem, sorry if I didn’t explain it well enough in my first post .

 

[RileyXY1]

Sakurai, in spite of Japanese culture's emphasis on politeness and the concept of "face", publicly mocked CERO both when they made him censor Palutena's underwear and when they made him remove Mai from the KoF stage.

He's a creative that prioritizes his freedom of expression through and through. He's not going to let a foreign rating board change do something as dramatic as forcing him to cut full series from the roster.

Although this time he might have to in order to even release the game in the United States.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

While we're talking about DOOM, just thought I'd point out that this is March 13, meaning it's now exactly 8 years since DOOM 2016 came out.

Damn, it took you two whole months to send this?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Although this time he might have to in order to even release the game in the United States.

He'd sooner up the age rating than cut someone for that.

The only way a cut would happen for an entire franchise is due to licensing issues. Even other cuts still didn't make the franchise go away. Snake was it. Young Link cut? The Zelda franchise is still there(plus, he got 4 related Stickers to MM). Pichu cut? Oh, look, trophies. Etc. Never mind Ice Climbers, which still has content despite the cut in 4.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Organizing by smash appearance is literally not intuitive.

As in, tell me how a person who is new to smash

I don't care about them. It's intuitive for ME!

I know exactly where the character I want will be based on what game they were introduced in.

That's still how I think about Street Fighter characters, and no SF game has ever sorted it's characters that way.

On the topic of FPS reps, what does everyone think of Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark?

I think she's a long shot, because she's literally going up against Master Chief and Doom Slayer, because she's also owned by Microsoft.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Although this time he might have to in order to even release the game in the United States.

Okay, I know I've been doomsaying that anything T or above could get cut but there is no way the ESRB would look at Smash and say it's too spicy for Nintendo to launch that game in the US.

You're basically implying the series will be as forbidden to the US as Mortal Kombat is to Japan if it keeps representing M-Rated series which is an absolutely ridiculous take when games like GTA and Doom are totally okay to release by ESRB standards.

 

[Gengar84]

I don't care about them. It's intuitive for ME!

I know exactly where the character I want will be based on what game they were introduced in.

That's still how I think about Street Fighter characters, and no SF game has ever sorted it's characters that way.

I think she's a long shot, because she's literally going up against Master Chief and Doom Slayer, because she's also owned by Microsoft.

I know it’s all subjective but, for me, Smash is different than other fighting games by virtue of being a big crossover. It makes sense to order Street Fighter characters by debut because all the characters come from a single series but it does make it a bit confusing to find certain characters quickly in Smash. Organizing by series would make the roster easier to see at a quick glance for me. I think the ideal solution is to have an option for how you want the roster to be sorted, kind of like they do for inventory systems in RPGs. That way, it works for everyone.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

To me, keeping them by debut game is a good organized way. But there's no real reason anymore for not having a way to reorganize them in different ways too. After Smash 4's atrocious CSS(both versions are pretty awful, 3DS moreso), Ultimate at least fixed it so it's not remotely confusing and follows a hard theme. Brawl also had this, though Smash 64 would've if it didn't have last minute additions. Melee definitely does not work very well.

That said, the lack of it is just silly. There's tons of different people who have different ways they organize things. Franchise debut(so Zelda after Sheik, and Sheik after Link) is really how Smash 4 should've been(albeit, it's perfectly fine to have a Clone Trio, since that was legit last minute and not that confusing). You can't really get around DLC removing the logic, though. But that's a bit more justified than the Clone Trio who could've been next to their appropriate base character. Otherwise, we could have alphabetical order(albeit, it might be different per region, due to odd name changes. I.E. Pikmin & Olimar being called Captain Olimar, etc). That's at least 3 different versions(Smash Debut, Franchise Debut, Alphabetical). And as I noted before, Modes for "only from thsi game" also works.

 

[smashkirby]

So, what do you think of the fanbase's general shift from Nintendo characters to third party ones?

I love that so many franchises are being considered and included, but it really does feel like something was lost.

The best Nintendo could do as far as their own IPs is add characters from older ones, especially if they've been revived somehow. It's just that with the way they're represented (which are usually with Mii costumes and assist trophies), their chances don't seem all that promising. But if Nintendo would add characters like Isaac or Andy, then maybe fans will look at Nintendo characters more often than they do now.

While I don't totally mind 3rd parties joining Smash (The amount of characters I'd like to see in Smash from SEGA, Capcom, Namco, Konami, and SNK should NOT be understated), I figure it's not a huge secret that I'm FAR more invested in Nintendo's own catalog of characters joining Smash Bros., and to see Nintendo kind of downplaying their own characters to the point that unless they've (at the very least) got a new game in the works, they're relegated to being Assist Fighters and/or Mii Fighter outfits, and that's pretty unfortunate as it is.

That said, I think what really bums me out is the fact that the general fanbase (more often than not) actually considers Nintendo adding their OWN characters to be a waste of time and resources these days! Like, you can barely suggest a Nintendo character without getting shot down. Without a doubt, I definitely feel like SOMETHING absolutely got lost in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4's DLC (the latter point being where 3rd parties really seemed to 'steal the show' from Nintendo's characters, IMO).

With this being said, I feel like Wonder Smash definitely has the right idea. Perhaps Nintendo should just bite the bullet next game, and add not-so-big characters (like Isaac, Andy, Saki, Ray (Custom Robo), Chibi-Robo, etc.) so as to remind folks that they DO have other viable candidates for Smash outside of the usual fare, and maybe it would render fans more open to welcoming characters that hail from Nintendo's lesser-known offerings.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

The next Smash is going to be M rated - content descriptors: cartoon violence, comic mischief, mild suggestive themes.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I think the ideal solution is to have an option for how you want the roster to be sorted, kind of like they do for inventory systems in RPGs. That way, it works for everyone.

Obviously. Player's choice is always the ideal solution.

 

[osby]

With this being said, I feel like Wonder Smash definitely has the right idea. Perhaps Nintendo should just bite the bullet next game, and add not-so-big characters (like Isaac, Andy, Saki, Ray (Custom Robo), Chibi-Robo, etc.) so as to remind folks that they DO have other viable candidates for Smash outside of the usual fare, and maybe it would render fans more open to welcoming characters that hail from Nintendo's lesser-known offerings.

This can be applied to any character, not just smaller Nintendo characters but: I don't think Nintendo would (or should, imo) add any characters just to steer the newcomer speculation. It's not realistic to expect them to place so much thought into who we consider likely.

Also, Smash has always been more generous towards games/series that got new titles a while before or around the time games were being developed. I don't think big third parties changed that.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Series never mattered compared to clones being by who they're from.

This is such a strange take to me. I guess it just goes to show how people's brains can organize things very differently.

Y'know what's another customizable feature they could add? They could give us the option to switch between English and Japanese voices for certain characters, kinda like (U)MVC3.

You technically can do that already, but more customization like that can't hurt.

Although this time he might have to in order to even release the game in the United States.

Nah. In game they can drop series names in favor of the icons that they already make for each series in Super Smash Bros. So like, Trophies/Spirits wouldn't have their series of origin listed anymore, and the music menu would have icons over each series of music without any text at the top saying what series it represents.

As for advertising, they'd just focus on the character itself. Not a whole lot would change there. Presentations would just omit the "from Y series" part from "X is here from Y series!", and if Sakurai Presents were still a thing, he could just say "their home game/series" whenever he needed to talk about them.

I really don't think it'll affect character choices.

 

[Garteam]

While I don't totally mind 3rd parties joining Smash (The amount of characters I'd like to see in Smash from SEGA, Capcom, Namco, Konami, and SNK should NOT be understated), I figure it's not a huge secret that I'm FAR more invested in Nintendo's own catalog of characters joining Smash Bros., and to see Nintendo kind of downplaying their own characters to the point that unless they've (at the very least) got a new game in the works, they're relegated to being Assist Fighters and/or Mii Fighter outfits, and that's pretty unfortunate as it is.

That said, I think what really bums me out is the fact that the general fanbase (more often than not) actually considers Nintendo adding their OWN characters to be a waste of time and resources these days! Like, you can barely suggest a Nintendo character without getting shot down. Without a doubt, I definitely feel like SOMETHING absolutely got lost in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4's DLC (the latter point being where 3rd parties really seemed to 'steal the show' from Nintendo's characters, IMO).

With this being said, I feel like Wonder Smash definitely has the right idea. Perhaps Nintendo should just bite the bullet next game, and add not-so-big characters (like Isaac, Andy, Saki, Ray (Custom Robo), Chibi-Robo, etc.) so as to remind folks that they DO have other viable candidates for Smash outside of the usual fare, and maybe it would render fans more open to welcoming characters that hail from Nintendo's lesser-known offerings.

I think a big factor here is that there presently isn't a lot of overlap between long-time Nintendo requests (Issac, Dixie, etc.) and Nintendo characters that the fanbase thinks is likely (mostly late-era Switch characters). People like backing perceived winners rather than long shots that will get their hopes up and then dashed.

This would also explain why Waluigi and Bandana Waddle Dee are far and away the most popular first parties presently. They've both been requested for a while due to their intrinsic qualities, but they also have a high degree of relevance and are very important in popular, ongoing series.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Y'know what's another customizable feature they could add? They could give us the option to switch between English and Japanese voices for certain characters, kinda like (U)MVC3.

Good idea but I don't think there are enough people with VAs for both languages.

It also screws over anyone who has more languages beyond that like the Pokemon, Wii Fit Trainer or Sonic because oh, only two options.

 

[Gengar84]

On the subject of smaller Nintendo characters that would be Smash newcomers, I’d really love to see either Jenna Anderson (from Astral Chain) or Medusa (from Kid Icarus). In Jenna’s case, she’d likely have to come after Officer Howard since protagonists are generally added before antagonists. So I’d be banking on the unlikely event that the game gets two characters. For Medusa, she’s competing against Hades if the series ever gets another character. Hades is the big bad from Uprising but I’ve always preferred Medusa’s design and she was the original main antagonist from the first game.

In either case, I think both probably rely on a planned sequel in order to justify their inclusion, which I think is possible if unlikely. I just think Jenna and Medusa are both really cool and they’d both give us additional villains and playable female characters, which is a nice bonus.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I have to say, Smash has a tendancy to either pick 1-2 years old characters or to bank on NES nostalgia. Smash 4 went particularly hard on this approach as Bowser Jr. was basically the only 1st party character to not fall on either camp, and Ryu and Cloud being the other two characters to not come from either gaming's infancy or from very recent games.
As time goes on though, the gap between the oldest games and the newest games becomes larger and more and more stuff slips through the cracks.

 

[Perkilator]

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I think the newcomer selection, at least for the base game, is going to be a mix of Switch era characters and older characters.

 

[Gengar84]

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I have to say, Smash has a tendancy to either pick 1-2 years old characters or to bank on NES nostalgia. Smash 4 went particularly hard on this approach as Bowser Jr. was basically the only 1st party character to not fall on either camp, and Ryu and Cloud being the other two characters to not come from either gaming's infancy or from very recent games.
As time goes on though, the gap between the oldest games and the newest games becomes larger and more and more stuff slips through the cracks.

I’d like to see a good balance between new and classic characters. I think Smash is at its best when it celebrates the whole history of gaming and not just what’s new and relevant right now. Conversely, I do think it’s good to have some representation for the newest games as well, just not exclusively those at the expense of any older characters or series.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Good idea but I don't think there are enough people with VAs for both languages.

It also screws over anyone who has more languages beyond that like the Pokemon, Wii Fit Trainer or Sonic because oh, only two options.

There's more than you'd expect. Off the top of my head, it's most Pokémon, the entire Fire Emblem cast, I think the Kid Icarus cast, Sonic, Wii Fit Trainer, Ryu and Ken, and possibly Bayonetta and Joker. Still probably a minority in the cast, but enough to fill a menu.

Also, if they were doing it, they'd probably go all the way for the characters that had more than two VAs.

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I have to say, Smash has a tendancy to either pick 1-2 years old characters or to bank on NES nostalgia. Smash 4 went particularly hard on this approach as Bowser Jr. was basically the only 1st party character to not fall on either camp, and Ryu and Cloud being the other two characters to not come from either gaming's infancy or from very recent games.
As time goes on though, the gap between the oldest games and the newest games becomes larger and more and more stuff slips through the cracks.

Actually, Bowser Jr. was big in both Super Mario Galaxy games, so he was about as relevant as Rosalina & Luma at the time.

Other than that, I think we'll see a handful more Switch characters from stuff like Ring Fit Adventure, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Astral Chain, etc. I'm not sure we'll be seeing too many more (1st party) characters from the NES though. There's just not a whole lot of options. I think we've really just got Excitebiker.

EDIT: I think even 3rd party NES picks are limited to Ninja Gaiden and Contra, so I see "retro" picks expanding to SNES and Game Boy pretty soon.

 

[Gengar84]

There's more than you'd expect. Off the top of my head, it's most Pokémon, the entire Fire Emblem cast, I think the Kid Icarus cast, Sonic, Wii Fit Trainer, Ryu and Ken, and possibly Bayonetta and Joker. Still probably a minority in the cast, but enough to fill a menu.

Also, if they were doing it, they'd probably go all the way for the characters that had more than two VAs.


Actually, Bowser Jr. was big in both Super Mario Galaxy games, so he was about as relevant as Rosalina & Luma at the time.

Other than that, I think we'll see a handful more Switch characters from stuff like Ring Fit Adventure, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Astral Chain, etc. I'm not sure we'll be seeing too many more (1st party) characters from the NES though. There's just not a whole lot of options. I think we've really just got Excitebiker.

Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2 would be a fun retro pick from the NES era. I’ve always thought he was a cool character and never really gets used. I’m surprised he hasn’t even been in a Mario Kart yet.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I have to say, Smash has a tendancy to either pick 1-2 years old characters or to bank on NES nostalgia. Smash 4 went particularly hard on this approach as Bowser Jr. was basically the only 1st party character to not fall on either camp, and Ryu and Cloud being the other two characters to not come from either gaming's infancy or from very recent games.
As time goes on though, the gap between the oldest games and the newest games becomes larger and more and more stuff slips through the cracks.

They just need to put Isaac and Andy in there but that 2000's nostalgia crowd already.

 

[osby]

I have to say, Smash has a tendancy to either pick 1-2 years old characters or to bank on NES nostalgia. Smash 4 went particularly hard on this approach as Bowser Jr. was basically the only 1st party character to not fall on either camp, and Ryu and Cloud being the other two characters to not come from either gaming's infancy or from very recent games.

Incorrect.

Wii Fitness was 7 years old by the time Smash 4 came out, same with Rosalina and Luma. Miis were even older. Villager was around the same age as Bowser Jr.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Actually, Bowser Jr. was big in both Super Mario Galaxy games, so he was about as relevant as Rosalina & Luma at the time.

Other than that, I think we'll see a handful more Switch characters from stuff like Ring Fit Adventure, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Astral Chain, etc. I'm not sure we'll be seeing too many more (1st party) characters from the NES though. There's just not a whole lot of options. I think we've really just got Excitebiker.

I meant in terms of origins. Bowser Jr. is a little older than most other Smash 4 newcomers, since he first appeared on the Gamecube.

But yeah the NES well feels like it has drained up, at least on the Nintendo side of things.
Nintendo has made so many games, the next "surprise" or retro characters could start getting picked from later consoles.
Like, I've always kinda wanted Mach Rider, but a character from Golden Sun or Piltowings at this point would fulfill a similar role and resonate with more fans.

 

[Garteam]

Speaking of late Switch characters, most fan predictions have those as the overwhelming majority of the newcomers. Do you guys think that's what's going to happen or are characters going to be picked from a bigger period of time?

I think a lot of the late Switch-era predictions that are just important characters from releases in ongoing franchises (e.g. Rauru, Raven Beak, Oatchi, etc.) will age poorly. Sakurai tends to take a "wait and see" approach when it comes to adding supporting characters unless the series has a revolving-door cast and all of these characters are either apparent one-offs or won't have the time needed to establish themselves as a fixture of their franchise by the time the next Smash comes out.

Pokemon, Fire Emblem, and Xenoblade are the exceptions to this rule due to falling under the aforementioned revolving-door clause, but I have a lot of doubts about the latter two series getting entries. Xenoblade 3 and Fire Emblem Engage were both less successful than Xenoblade 2 and Three Houses, both of which already have characters on the roster that have proven to have popular Smash movesets. I think Sakurai will just bring the Aegis and Byleth back again and focus his efforts on ideas that are more evergreen.

To the extent we see Switch-era reps, I think they'll mostly consist of characters from new franchises (Ring Fit Adventurer, Officer Howard, etc.) or characters that were established as major players in their series but became more relevant and popular on the Switch (Bandana Waddle Dee, Tom Nook, Octoling, etc.).

 

[Shinuto]

I'm not sure that would make sense, the edit is very seamlessly done and it's the same across both IGN and GameSpot. It really seems like they just got sent an alternate version for whatever reason.

For what it's worth, the Fall Guys twitter account and website are consistent about not explicitly naming series with a rating higher than Fall Guys itself. Here's Doom, Final Fantasy, and Gears of War all getting skirted around. Those last two are notable because they opt to call them the "Warriors of Light" and "Gear Up" passes, while the official Xbox site is fine calling the latter a Gears of War crossover directly. This same applies to other higher-rated crossovers like Destiny.

Can I just say this whole ESRB thing is ******* stupid? Tell those out of touch idiots to go die in a ditch. God forbid some child know where an m rated character is from. Not like the Internet isn't a cesspool that parents gleefully let raise their children for them these days

 

[Gengar84]

I meant in terms of origins. Bowser Jr. is a little older than most other Smash 4 newcomers, since he first appeared on the Gamecube.

But yeah the NES well feels like it has drained up, at least on the Nintendo side of things.
Nintendo has made so many games, the next "surprise" or retro characters could start getting picked from later consoles.
Like, I've always kinda wanted Mach Rider, but a character from Golden Sun or Piltowings at this point would fulfill a similar role and resonate with more fans.

I’ll agree options for NES era first party characters are limited, particularly from series not yet represented in Smash. There’s still a good amount of first party characters that debuted back then but have stayed relevant over the years like Toad and others who have had occasional resurgences like King Hippo but as a whole, yeah there’s not a ton of new first party series left from that era.

Once you branch out into third party, there are still a ton of great series to choose from. You have Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads, Double Dragon, River City, Ghosts and Goblins, Bomberman, Adventure Island, and more.

 

[RileyXY1]

He'd sooner up the age rating than cut someone for that.

The only way a cut would happen for an entire franchise is due to licensing issues. Even other cuts still didn't make the franchise go away. Snake was it. Young Link cut? The Zelda franchise is still there(plus, he got 4 related Stickers to MM). Pichu cut? Oh, look, trophies. Etc. Never mind Ice Climbers, which still has content despite the cut in 4.

I don't think that Nintendo higher ups would approve of a T-rated Smash game ever again, so there might have to be a massive roster cut down just to ensure the game would release in the United States. I don't know if Sakurai would want to add a character where he can't even mention where they came from.

 

[fogbadge]

On the subject of smaller Nintendo characters that would be Smash newcomers, I’d really love to see either Jenna Anderson (from Astral Chain) or Medusa (from Kid Icarus). In Jenna’s case, she’d likely have to come after Officer Howard since protagonists are generally added before antagonists. So I’d be banking on the unlikely event that the game gets two characters. For Medusa, she’s competing against Hades if the series ever gets another character. Hades is the big bad from Uprising but I’ve always preferred Medusa’s design and she was the original main antagonist from the first game.

In either case, I think both probably rely on a planned sequel in order to justify their inclusion, which I think is possible if unlikely. I just think Jenna and Medusa are both really cool and they’d both give us additional villains and playable female characters, which is a nice bonus.

well nintendo certainly seem to like throwing money at platinum and telling them to make games these days. then the only question is would they be in the sequel

 

[SpecterFlower]

Hey, all. So I've been wondering a couple of things regarding Smash's future.

For one thing, who here expects the next Smash to pull a Melee and be announced at the new console's unveiling? Like, that idea's been in my mind for some time now, ngl.

Also, ever since the announcement of the June Direct, I've been wondering... if Smash 64 gets announced to come to NSO via said Direct, do you all think Sakurai and the Smash dev team might take it upon themselves to use the opportunity to add stuff that he wanted to add in the OG N64 game, but couldn't (Bowser, Mewtwo, King Dedede, Marth, Peppy, Slippy, Clefairy, the Parasol item, Poison Mushroom, etc.)?

Do you expect the next smash game to have a 3 year dev time?

if not it’s 0% chance

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Incorrect.

Wii Fitness was 7 years old by the time Smash 4 came out, same with Rosalina and Luma. Miis were even older. Villager was around the same age as Bowser Jr.

Sometimes I forget how omega old Villager is.

 

[SpecterFlower]

While I don't totally mind 3rd parties joining Smash (The amount of characters I'd like to see in Smash from SEGA, Capcom, Namco, Konami, and SNK should NOT be understated), I figure it's not a huge secret that I'm FAR more invested in Nintendo's own catalog of characters joining Smash Bros., and to see Nintendo kind of downplaying their own characters to the point that unless they've (at the very least) got a new game in the works, they're relegated to being Assist Fighters and/or Mii Fighter outfits, and that's pretty unfortunate as it is.

That said, I think what really bums me out is the fact that the general fanbase (more often than not) actually considers Nintendo adding their OWN characters to be a waste of time and resources these days! Like, you can barely suggest a Nintendo character without getting shot down. Without a doubt, I definitely feel like SOMETHING absolutely got lost in the transition from Brawl to Smash 4's DLC (the latter point being where 3rd parties really seemed to 'steal the show' from Nintendo's characters, IMO).

With this being said, I feel like Wonder Smash definitely has the right idea. Perhaps Nintendo should just bite the bullet next game, and add not-so-big characters (like Isaac, Andy, Saki, Ray (Custom Robo), Chibi-Robo, etc.) so as to remind folks that they DO have other viable candidates for Smash outside of the usual fare, and maybe it would render fans more open to welcoming characters that hail from Nintendo's lesser-known offerings.

Nintendo also has pretty much most of their important character in is the main difference.

there’s some bad misses but for the most part when your most important characters are Ashley, a rhythm heaven rep, Tom nook, bandanna waddle dee, Dixie king.

it makes sense why they could take a backseat to much more populist 3rd party characters

 

[Sucumbio]

I could not find any recent news articles what exactly has the ESRB changed or done that is a threat to Smash (or any games)?

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

I don't think that Nintendo higher ups would approve of a T-rated Smash game ever again, so there might have to be a massive roster cut down just to ensure the game would release in the United States. I don't know if Sakurai would want to add a character where he can't even mention where they came from.

But they can't cut stuff like Metroid, Xenoblade and Earthbound from the game. Just... No.
They'll have to find a workaround or to do some good old lobbying on the ERSB to change the policy.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I don't think that Nintendo higher ups would approve of a T-rated Smash game ever again, so there might have to be a massive roster cut down just to ensure the game would release in the United States. I don't know if Sakurai would want to add a character where he can't even mention where they came from.

Do you have anything positive to say? Jesus christ you only post negative stuff.