Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[fogbadge]

Eh knowing Sakurai and how minimalistic he is with changing character movesets between games, I think it will most likely just replace her Phantom down special, (maybe even combine it a little depending on how late the game is by the time they finalized the plans for the next Smash considering it already essentially involves her summoning an enemy to fight for her briefly..)

Maybe switch between an Octorock, Moblin and Dark Nut depending on how long you hold the button.

yeah that seems most likely

I suppose he might just randomly stick a hood on one of her alts

 

[Stratos]

Tanabe's already stated back in 2015 that the story of Dark Samus and Phazon are over.

Next proper Metroid Prime "would likely now be on NX"

Nintendo's next home console Metroid Prime game will now likely not release until the company has launched its next-gen…

www.eurogamer.net

Yes, this was from nearly 10 years ago, however this interview reveals that he wants to focus more on Sylux which has now clearly come to pass, so yeah. Pretty sure the only future Dark Sammy has now is just as an echo fighter in Smash (assuming she doesn't get cut, hopefully!)

In that case then I'm looking forward to the new story in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond where the planet Phaaze, Phazon and Dark Samus are no longer there. I also wonder if Sylux will play a bigger role, which I think is for sure. I'm also thinking if there will be a Metroid like Metroid Prime but mutated with another substance instead of Phazon and if this new Metroid becomes the new Dark Samus or somehow this Metroid merges with Sylux or that there is no such Metroid and it has some other premise. But as I wrote before, we have to wait for the release day of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in 2025.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Sylux looks better here. He's more markedly humanoid and definitely creepier than in his older Bionicle-like design. At least that's the impression he gives me.

Yeah Raven Beak and Dark Samus are still cooler, not to mention Ridley, but I don't hate him? He feels pretty intimidating in this trailer.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Big news for Mario Party folks (or at least for me), the British store pages are going up for some of the new games and I just found this on the page for Super Mario Party Jamboree.

"Motion-controlled minigames require a Joy-Con controller and are not available when playing online. Motion-controlled minigames are not compatible with Nintendo Switch Lite or Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, but button-controlled minigames can still be played when using these consoles/ accessories."

Now all I have to know is if this game allows me to play the normal board game online with friends or if it does the weird thing the original Super Mario Party did I think where only the side modes were online. The store doesn't help much with this since it says "Online: 1-20" for players for Koopathlon, but doesn't tell me anything about the board game since 4 is definitely less than that 20 lol

 

[fogbadge]

I suppose you could argue Echoes of Wisdom is almost a Zelda take on the monster collecting genre

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I'm just glad we can directly play as Zelda instead of the Phantom Knight or some other weird caveat. We haven't had that outside of things like Randomizers/Zelda Classic or the CD-i games(and other spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors, or, well, Smash Bros.)

It's great. I really like her gameplay catering more to who she is, which is more about thoughtfulness. Less so about pure combat. She has the Triforce Piece of Wisdom, so it makes sense.

I hope we get a game starring Ganondorf(or Ganon) at some point, though.

Otherwise, glad to see Mario & Luigi are back, and the Metroid Prime 4 finally having some information is nice. Pretty cool direct overall~

 

[PeridotGX]

It was so obvious... Mario & Luigi

The red is Mario reference... The green in the cape is a Luigi reference... The blue represents the water that the Brother Ship floats on. It was so obvious - we were played for fools.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Outside the context of being a DK fan, pretty strong Direct with MP4, M&L Brothership, and the Zelda title all standing out. No guarantee the latter will have an effect on Smash character selection, but the mechanic does have some potential.


(Within the context of being a DK fan, its confirmation that the Switch era is another GC esque one where Nintendo arguably mishandled the IP, but I've had that sense for a while, so Returns HD might eventually end more on the sweet side of bittersweet.

 

[BritishGuy54]

Within the context of being a DK fans, its confirmation that the Switch era is another GC esque one where Nintendo arguably mishandled the IP

I wouldn’t say Nintendo mishandled it, but rather just didn’t handle it at all. But I can’t blame them, with Retro only just out of development hell with Metroid Prime 4, and lacking development resources.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

If it was a greater priority, I think Nintendo could have found a studio for it rather than waiting for Retro to be done with Prime 4. I suspect it isn't and thus they didn't. I'd love to be wrong but given that the greatest spotlight on it appears to come from the theme park and Mario movie, I just don't have much reason to think otherwise.

 

[fogbadge]

shipshape island stage?

 

[SPEN18]

Now that was...actually about as good as could be expected. I'm sure the generally low expectations going in helped the reactions, and there wasn't really an absolute bombshell announcement here unless you were like convinced going in that MP4 was cancelled, but I was bracing for next to nothing and we got a pretty solid goodie bag here.

It was a really great sign when the 2D Zelda showed up in the middle of the Direct, because that meant the finisher had to be at least as good. I was split guessing between an MP4 trailer and an FE4 reveal for the closer, and we ended up with the former.

I still don't know where FE4 is, but at least we're still confident this game exists and will come at some point. Getting another more niche franchise back would've really sealed this one for me (I mean not even necessarily Star Fox or Kid Icarus level, but even something in the same vein as Endless Ocean or Another Code would've been cool). However, hard to be disappointed with what we got; M&L and 2D Zelda looked good and MP4 finally got some gameplay shown off.

 

[TheQuester]

shipshape island stage?

I could see it, specially if Sakurai and the team wants to focus on new stages like the past smash games.
We did get a Paper Mario stage after all in 43DS.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Sylux looks better here. He's more markedly humanoid and definitely creepier than in his older Bionicle-like design. At least that's the impression he gives me.

Also, being flanked by a pair of Metroids that he may or may not have control of does a lot to make him more menacing.

 

[Curious Villager]

I hope we get a game starring Ganondorf(or Ganon) at some point, though.

I'm happy we got to see both Ganondorf and classic Ganon return this gen. Hopefully the latter doesn't get only 5 seconds of screentime and mind controlled again by some other villain and at least gets treated as an actual character with dialogue instead of being treated like a mindless beast though..

 

[Garteam]

Ngl it was a decent Direct, but the lineup wasn't for me. It's good to finally see Prime 4 after all of this time and I'm happy I was wrong about the project's state, but I'm not close enough with the Prime series to get a ton out of it personally. It also feels Nintendo wants to do more with DK but they can't find the proper devs. Everything was pretty inoffensive, but I wasn't blown away by it.

Oh, except Marvel vs. Capcom returning from the dead after Infinite was botched. That was really cool. Easily the highlight of the Direct.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I'm happy we got to see both Ganondorf and classic Ganon return this gen. Hopefully the latter doesn't get only 5 seconds of screentime and mind controlled again by some other villain and at least gets treated as an actual character with dialogue instead of being treated like a mindless beast though..

Though it's clear the Ganondorf in TOTK is completely different from the rest, if only cause he's actually evil with no hint of Demise or other forces. That, and his personality is very contrasting to the other three games featuring him.

Anyway, it is nice. What I'm curious is what roles Link and Ganon will have within the game beyond the intro story.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I'd love a Ganon centered game someday where the core mechanic relates to having to revert from the pig form into Ganondorf depending on the context. The latter being necessary for interacting with NPC's because they all run off screaming when the see the blue pig (ala Wolf Link in TP) would be pretty amusing.

 

[Curious Villager]

Though it's clear the Ganondorf in TOTK is completely different from the rest, if only cause he's actually evil with no hint of Demise or other forces. That, and his personality is very contrasting to the other three games featuring him.

Anyway, it is nice. What I'm curious is what roles Link and Ganon will have within the game beyond the intro story.

Unless there's some hidden second villain, I'm assuming Ganon's the one responsible for those tears throughout the kingdom, probably after many defeats, thought it would be best to take out Link first thing this time instead of leaving him to wander around the kingdom and getting stronger.

Ganon will probably at some point mind control Link to fight against Zelda (as some kind of homage to the times this happened to Zelda like in Twilight Princess), might also potentially put Zelda's echo ability to good use for that by creating copies of Link through that to help her beat Ganon and save Link.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

This was like the best Direct of the Switch era for me lol, aside from the Smash-related ones.
A new Mario, a new Zelda, and a new Metroid. That's all it takes to please an old Nintendo fan.
Perfect Dark on the N64 service is also great news, I've always wanted to play it.
No new DKC is hardly surprising but still disappointing, I kinda wanted Returns on Switch though so that's nice enough. Too bad about the 2025 release date...

 

[superprincess]

Clearly not going to be a Smash BCP anymore

...Y'all still had hope for this?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Unless there's some hidden second villain, I'm assuming Ganon's the one responsible for those tears throughout the kingdom, probably after many defeats, thought it would be best to take out Link first thing this time instead of leaving him to wander around the kingdom and getting stronger.

Ganon will probably at some point mind control Link to fight against Zelda (as some kind of homage to the times this happened to Zelda like in Twilight Princess), might also potentially put Zelda's echo ability to good use for that by creating copies of Link through that to help her beat Ganon and save Link.

Well, the Trident caused some of the tears itself, so it probably is his fault. It could also relate to the person who made the Trident. Honestly, that'd be great new lore. Ganon/dorf might not even be the true villain here for all we know, though looking at the fact he is a Trident, he's likely just the normal one and is tied to Demise. Other Ganon/dorfs might not be, which means they can play a helpful role(even if it's still to hijack the plot later because of his own personal ambitions. WW pretty clearly showed his ambition wasn't out of pure evil either, so he has proven to have good intentions potentially).

Yeah, I could see Ganon reenacting that as a nice callback too. Though it'd be funny to make echoes of Link to essentially repeat the WW final battle. XD

 

[Guynamednelson]

...Y'all still had hope for this?

Eh, not really. I felt it was a "now or never" thing, and clearly Nintendo chose never.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I'm glad to see Perfect Dark and the Miles Edgeworth games!

Funny how I just mentioned Phoenix Wright and then the spin-offs gets announced.

 

[RileyXY1]

I think we'll find out about the next Smash game next year with a 2026 release. I think that the roster was decided last year, with a focus on 2021-2023 Switch games when it comes to newcomers, which is par for the course as newcomers typically come from the previous console generation.

 

[Curious Villager]

Well, the Trident caused some of the tears itself, so it probably is his fault. It could also relate to the person who made the Trident. Honestly, that'd be great new lore. Ganon/dorf might not even be the true villain here for all we know, though looking at the fact he is a Trident, he's likely just the normal one and is tied to Demise. Other Ganon/dorfs might not be, which means they can play a helpful role(even if it's still to hijack the plot later because of his own personal ambitions. WW pretty clearly showed his ambition wasn't out of pure evil either, so he has proven to have good intentions potentially).

Yeah, I could see Ganon reenacting that as a nice callback too. Though it'd be funny to make echoes of Link to essentially repeat the WW final battle. XD

I mean, looking at the trailer again, Ganon didn't really put up much of a fight against Link, one Dead Man's Volley and Spin Attack and he's gone leaving his Trident behind, so it does seem like an intentional trap he laid out for Link to let his guard down and trap him within this new realm he laid down. So he might very well be the mastermind behind it all, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what other twists may come along.

 

[TheQuester]

I think we'll find out about the next Smash game next year with a 2026 release. I think that the roster was decided last year, with a focus on 2021-2023 Switch games when it comes to newcomers, which is par for the course as newcomers typically come from the previous console generation.

I agree.
I think we can pretty much somewhat predict most of the base game newcomers as i'm sure the cut off is probably 2024 for the base game as i previously said.
DLC newcomers is what is almost certainly impossible to predict right now, i think we'll definitely get some characters from popular 1stparty 2025/2026 games that aren't even anounced now, peraphs even a 3rd party game that explodes on popularity when Nintendo is chosing the DLC, which may or may not be even released right now.

 

[DarthEnderX]

The new LoZ game SHOULD have been called Zelda's Awakening.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Nintendo was originally just going to call it Adventure of Zelda as a tribute to the second LoZ title on the NES, but realized that the possibility of anyone mistaking it for a remake of Zelda's Adventure for the CD-I was too high and thus changed it.

 

[RileyXY1]

I agree.
I think we can pretty much somewhat predict most of the base game newcomers as i'm sure the cut off is probably 2024 for the base game as i previously said.
DLC newcomers is what is almost certainly impossible to predict right now, i think we'll definitely get some characters from popular 1stparty 2025/2026 games that aren't even anounced now, peraphs even a 3rd party game that explodes on popularity when Nintendo is chosing the DLC, which may or may not be even released right now.

I think that SV will get a newcomer, and Splatoon might get a newcomer as well. They might even add characters to represent Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pikmin 4, Tears of the Kingdom, and Metroid Dread.

 

[Ivander]

You know something I just remembered:

3 Years Ago on the June Nintendo Direct:
Metroid Dread was revealed in the middle while Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was shown at the end.
Metroid Dread was never announced beforehand while Tears of the Kingdom was announced before, but showed gameplay for the first time.
Metroid Dread is released the year it was announced while Tears of the Kingdom was planned for next year, but got delayed to the following year.

3 Years Later on the June Nintendo Direct:
Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom is revealed in the middle while Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is shown at the end.
Echoes of Wisdom was never announced beforehand while Metroid Prime 4 was announced before, but showed gameplay for the first time.
Echoes of Wisdom is releasing the same year it is announced while Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is planned for next year.
​

Is history going to repeat itself? Regardless on what happens, I knew there was something oddly familiar with the way Zelda and Metroid were shown today.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

My takeaway from the direct is that this is the most excited for a rerelease ive ever been.

I will buy Marvel Vs Capcom at launch, will even pre order it, i love MVC2 and always played it at my local arcade until the machine got too old and they got rid of it.
So having it in my game collection excites me.

Also will probably pick up the investigations collection, wondering how different the official translation of AAI2 will be from the fantranslation.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I mean, looking at the trailer again, Ganon didn't really put up much of a fight against Link, one Dead Man's Volley and Spin Attack and he's gone leaving his Trident behind, so it does seem like an intentional trap he laid out for Link to let his guard down and trap him within this new realm he laid down. So he might very well be the mastermind behind it all, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what other twists may come along.

The real question is did he create the rifts via a spell himself, or was it an ability of the Trident? It does sound like a trap indeed. But it may be more complicated.

I do hope we learn more about the Trident's lore thanks to this. All we know is that it's an ancient artifact Ganon/dorf picked up during FSA, but it has nothing to do with the rest of the games, as that's the last in that timeline. It's got untapped potential~

 

[Wonder Smash]

Speaking of the CD-i, did Philips ever make any original video game IPs of their own for their console?

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I will say, I don't think the content of the direct really change many characters space in speculation... Except for one.

Sylux. I know I like to dunk on him and Ridley and Dark Samus were much better choices at the time (still are), but now that they're actually doing something with him, I think he's got a decent shot. He's an older character thats proven to not be a one shot. In fact, he's the only recurring character that's workable. Raven Beak whole infinitely cool is dead in his debut. Kraid and Mother Brain don't work for obvious reasons. The other bounty hunters have never appeared again. Sylux may actually rise up to be a legitimate recurring villain.

It feels weird to actually give Sylux his fair dues after this long.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I will say, I don't think the content of the direct really change many characters space in speculation... Except for one.

Sylux. I know I like to dunk on him and Ridley and Dark Samus were much better choices at the time (still are), but now that they're actually doing something with him, I think he's got a decent shot. He's an older character thats proven to not be a one shot. In fact, he's the only recurring character that's workable. Raven Beak whole infinitely cool is dead in his debut. Kraid and Mother Brain don't work for obvious reasons. The other bounty hunters have never appeared again. Sylux may actually rise up to be a legitimate recurring villain.

It feels weird to actually give Sylux his fair dues after this long.

Apologies for trotting out an old meme but...

"You thought it was Raven Beak for Smash 6, but it was me Sylux all along!"

 

[BritishGuy54]

I agree.
I think we can pretty much somewhat predict most of the base game newcomers as i'm sure the cut off is probably 2024 for the base game as i previously said.
DLC newcomers is what is almost certainly impossible to predict right now, i think we'll definitely get some characters from popular 1stparty 2025/2026 games that aren't even anounced now, peraphs even a 3rd party game that explodes on popularity when Nintendo is chosing the DLC, which may or may not be even released right now.

I feel almost certain we’re getting new Pokémon, Fire Emblem, and Xenoblade to represent new games in the next Smash.

Either Noah or Mio feel guaranteed, Pokémon could opt for a Gen 10 rep instead, and Fire Emblem could end up going with Alear or capitalising on a rare opportunity and adding a popular older favourite since that was one of Engage’s main focuses.

It feels like the right time for picks such Bandana Dee and Paper Mario with recent releases.

I can see Xenoblade and Splatoon getting the Kid Icarus treatment from Smash 4, where we get a unique fighter and an echo fighter.

Sylux is likely pushed to being DLC. Prime 4 may have come a bit late here. Geno may also be in this boat if Square plays ball.

Animal Crossing also feels likely to get a character, although it may be a lower priority.

And I think they’ll pander to the 2000’s kids with a now-retro character. Likely Isaac since he’s pretty well demanded, and Advance Wars failed to meet expectations, it seems.

 

[Ivander]

I will say, I don't think the content of the direct really change many characters space in speculation... Except for one.

Sylux. I know I like to dunk on him and Ridley and Dark Samus were much better choices at the time (still are), but now that they're actually doing something with him, I think he's got a decent shot. He's an older character thats proven to not be a one shot. In fact, he's the only recurring character that's workable. Raven Beak whole infinitely cool is dead in his debut. Kraid and Mother Brain don't work for obvious reasons. The other bounty hunters have never appeared again. Sylux may actually rise up to be a legitimate recurring villain.

It feels weird to actually give Sylux his fair dues after this long.

I do want Sylux to potentially survive and become a more recurring character. Not a fully recurring character that appears in every game after, but I love Metroid's settings and the design of the other Hunters from Hunters and Prime 3 and would certainly be okay with more recurring characters besides Samus, Ridley, Mother Brain and the Space Pirates. If they are to get their fair dues this game, here's hoping it's at least a pretty big send-off(or if they somehow reach Boba Fett popularity, to miraculously survive the Sarlaac Pit they get put in).
Not to mention with Sylux having been playable before(albeit in a multiplayer mode, but still), I think it'd be kinda cool if Metroid Prime 4 got a "Sylux Mode" after beating Metroid Prime 4, similar to the Belmont Modes in the Metrovania Castlevania games(or Albus Mode in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia).

But yeah, ultimately I still want Raven Beak for Smash Bros, but if Sylux proves their worth and cool factor in Metroid Prime 4, I'd be okay with Sylux for Smash Bros too.

 

[fogbadge]

Do you think Zelda’s new Tri Staff could work as an item? I’m not sure of the practicality in a fighting game of an item that spawns random objects. Though it would be fun dropping tables and chairs on people

 

[pitchfulprocessing]

All jokes aside I thought that was actually sort of an odd trailer for Prime 4. The sections they showed were pretty safe with the gameplay, the music wasn't amazing, the visuals weren't too different from the Prime Remaster, and the way the gameplay was cut up was sort of odd and janky. It's sort of atypical of Nintendo to not show off the big gameplay hook in the initial trailer, makes me wonder if it might have been better to save it as a Switch 2 reveal and show off the amped up resolution and textures while showing off the Switch 1 version later. Still, it's definitely exciting, and I like a lot of what was shown already.