Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[fogbadge]

The Xenoblade Chronicles subreddit has agreed to host my poll.

Here comes the Xeno sweep!

come on rex

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Taking a look at the poll, I am very pleasantly surprised that Noah got a lot of votes, and I'm really surprised that he got more than Mio, even if only by two. To me it seemed like everyone wanted Mio way more than Noah to avoid having "Xeno Sword Boi" being an overabundance, or just to have something new. Personally, I'd be ecstatic if we got both, but am expecting, and would be fine with, one or the other.

I think one of the great things about this poll is that it shows what people would like to see when they aren't treating things as a zero sum game. Turns out there's a lot of first party characters with wide appeal (at least to the Smash Community), which is funny given the sentiment during Ultimate's DLC.

Also, I was gonna vote for Polar Bear, but I want to see them become their own character in a new Ice Climber game first. In fact, considering their outfit is shades and hot pink swim trunks, I'd be willing to bet they'd be a pretty fun character if given the chance.

it was the hair

and at the time I had played neither of their games

That and classic Mega Man's hair is rarely 3D modeled, and tends to look different every single time they draw it.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

The DK subreddit has also agreed to my poll.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

The DK subreddit has also agreed to my poll.

Oh yeah. It's Funky time.

 

[Laniv]

The DK subreddit has also agreed to my poll.

Things are about to get funky

 

[Louie G.]

At this point, screw it. I’m rooting for Funky Kong to climb a few more placements up to number one. It’s definitely not happening, but I think it would be a glorious outcome.

Maybe a good result of this poll is installing more confidence in these smaller support groups? I expect Funky Kong may get a bit more conversation around the boards, at least. And seeing his rise has made me more of a supporter, even though I’ve always liked him.

 

[Gorgonzales]

The DK subreddit has also agreed to my poll.

Rise of the Dawn of the War of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Kongs.

 

[ninjahmos]

It seems pretty unlikely, but…I think it'd be pretty cool if we got a Silent Hill stage for Smash (at least, if not a character). I'd love to hear songs such as the Silent Hill Theme, Theme of Laura and Promise

 

[smashkirby]

With mai shiranui's new design with the tight leather pants i now move to wanting her to join smash in that outfit.

Do a trailer similar to Ken and Incineroar where they reveal two characters at once and have the other be Chun Li.

Insert Plankton "YEEES!!!" meme here

For real though, Chun-Li and Mai Shiranui are definitely up there in terms of my wanted 3rd parties, so this would be a pleasant surprise for me.

What's more, between this and Mai coming to Street Fighter 6 alongside Terry (Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I surprisingly haven't seen more conversation about Mai on that front. Maybe it's just because we haven't seen anything substantial about her yet other than the fact that she's confirmed for SF6 at all).

I mean... Kinda? She'd probably be behind characters like Kyo, Iori, Nakoruru and a Metal Slug character.

I mean, even within Fatal Fury itself... Geese and Rock are right there.

Mai would definitely be a cool pick, but, uh, yeah the choice for a 2nd SNK character isn't exactly an easy one lol.

I think Athena is underrated. She’s rich in SNK history, would represent an interesting new fighting style and has been fighting alongside Terry in KOF for 30 years. If we were fortunate enough to get more SNK I believe she’d be a really great choice… we already got her theme song beautifully arranged for Smash too!

If you held me at gunpoint I’d probably say it’s between her and Geese. My personal choice from SNK at large would be Marco / Fio or Haohmaru, but if we wanted to expand specifically on the FF / KOF side those two feel like the most viable options.

I know I'm pretty late to this conversation, but I have to agree about how surprising it is to see the likes of Athena Asamiya be so... downplayed, I guess?

No joke, until I learned about the existence of Nakoruru? I legit thought ATHENA was SNK's... well, FEMALE mascot, if nothing else.

All of that being said, Athena is honestly who I'm putting my money for an additional SNK character, if it's not Mai, Rock, Kyo, Iori, Nakoruru, or a Metal Slug character.

The results for the poll... are here!



You can use either thread to discuss them if you like, but try not to forget the poll thread.
I guess if people want, I can directly post the write up in this thread. Do people want that?

I don't think I can properly describe the utterly JOYOUS feeling in my heart to see that Bandana Waddle Dee (of all characters) is currently THE most-wanted first party character, beating out folks like Waluigi and the like (at the moment, at least). What's more, to hear that the average Waddle Dee (of all mooks) got a NOTABLE amount of votes is sending me (in a REALLY good way).

It's even a bonus for me that BOTH of my most-wanted first-parties (who I STILL think should have been added in Ultimate at the latest) are the TOP TWO most-wanted first-parties overall (B.W.D. and Dixie Kong, BTW).

Overall, it's nice to see that, despite my beliefs and all the talk I've seen regarding them being 'bottom of the barrel' selections, Nintendo's own catalogue of characters ARE still in VERY high demand, even to this day.

 

[DarthEnderX]

What's more, between this and Mai coming to Street Fighter 6 alongside Terry (Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I surprisingly haven't seen more conversation about Mai on that front.

Well, she's not coming out next Spring.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

The Star Fox Reddit has agreed to our poll.

 

[Ivander]

The Star Fox Reddit has agreed to our poll.

Me and the boys on our way to vote for our most wanted.

 

[SPEN18]

I already suggested it but I'm still not sure how many Funky voters actually want him as a full unique character and how many just threw him a vote because they view him as a straight Echo candidate. The latter fits especially well with the hypothesis of "everyone likes Funky, even if he's not their favorite." Obviously we've seen unique!Funky support in this very thread, but I do wonder what proportion of his apparent fanbase that is.
Another character in a similar situation is Black Shadow. I really doubt he'd have his result without all the advocating for him to follow the Falcondorf mold in some way, shape or form.

 

[ninjahmos]

With mai shiranui's new design with the tight leather pants i now move to wanting her to join smash in that outfit.

Do a trailer similar to Ken and Incineroar where they reveal two characters at once and have the other be Chun Li.

They could also use her design from Fatal Fury 3/Real Bout Fatal Fury (possibly edited to make it more Smash-friendly), if fans also want something resembling her OG design.

As for Chun-Li, and I feel like I've already said this several times, but it'd be pretty cool if they could not only include her OG SFII design, but also her designs from SF Alpha and SF6. Same goes for Ryu (and Ken, if he makes it in the next game)

By the way, they should use "Gomen ne!" as one of Chun-Li's taunts and "Yatta!" as one of her winposes.

 

[Idon]

Taking a look at the poll, I am very pleasantly surprised that Noah got a lot of votes, and I'm really surprised that he got more than Mio, even if only by two. To me it seemed like everyone wanted Mio way more than Noah to avoid having "Xeno Sword Boi" being an overabundance, or just to have something new. Personally, I'd be ecstatic if we got both, but am expecting, and would be fine with, one or the other.

I am of the opinion that the people that are most outspoken about that are the people that one, do not play the game and aren't interested in the actual character's capabilities and two, are generally not as common as they are loud. Because if you ask any actual player of XC3, they're gonna say holy **** Noah is the most fun character in the game by far. (followed by, weirdly enough, Sena)

Being a Xeno Sword Boi means all the privileges that come with it including the most fleshed out kit of any of the characters in that game. Hell his lategame powerup fundamentally changes how you approach combat encounters while unfortunately, Mio's is better off not using that at all.

I think even a cursory look at them ingame beyond their character design shows the difference in "smash" potential

Spoiler: XC3 spoilers

No disrespect to Mio of course, love her just like the rest of the universe does.

 

[Undella2]

I am of the opinion that the people that are most outspoken about that are the people that one, do not play the game and aren't interested in the actual character's capabilities and two, are generally not as common as they are loud. Because if you ask any actual player of XC3, they're gonna say holy **** Noah is the most fun character in the game by far. (followed by, weirdly enough, Sena)

Being a Xeno Sword Boi means all the privileges that come with it including the most fleshed out kit of any of the characters in that game. Hell his lategame powerup fundamentally changes how you approach combat encounters while unfortunately, Mio's is better off not using that at all.

I think even a cursory look at them ingame beyond their character design shows the difference in "smash" potential

Spoiler: XC3 spoilers

No disrespect to Mio of course, love her just like the rest of the universe does.

Noah's final smash be like (minor XC3 spoilers): pulls out lucky 7 "I'm not gonna sugarcoat it; Break! Topple! Launch! Smash!" or however the memes around him go these days

 

[Gengar84]

I am of the opinion that the people that are most outspoken about that are the people that one, do not play the game and aren't interested in the actual character's capabilities and two, are generally not as common as they are loud. Because if you ask any actual player of XC3, they're gonna say holy **** Noah is the most fun character in the game by far. (followed by, weirdly enough, Sena)

Being a Xeno Sword Boi means all the privileges that come with it including the most fleshed out kit of any of the characters in that game. Hell his lategame powerup fundamentally changes how you approach combat encounters while unfortunately, Mio's is better off not using that at all.

I think even a cursory look at them ingame beyond their character design shows the difference in "smash" potential

Spoiler: XC3 spoilers

No disrespect to Mio of course, love her just like the rest of the universe does.

I beat all three mainline Xenoblade games along with the DLC for 2 and 3 (with 165 hours in XBC3) and I respectfully disagree. Noah does have my favorite visual design of any of the three main characters (Shulk, Rex, and Noah) but I personally had the most fun playing Mio and Eunie. I think I used Mio the most. I just liked her boost from timing the attacks. My favorite character overall was Ashera but she wasn’t actually playable. That said, I mained Sharla in the first game so I’m probably an outlier.

 

[TheQuester]

I honestly feel like Astral Chain rep is a sleeper pick, kind of like Shulk was back in the days of Smash 4 (Okay, it's probably a more sleeper pick than Shulk was, lol, but i think you guys get my point)

 

[Gengar84]

I honestly feel like Astral Chain rep is a sleeper pick, kind of like Shulk was back in the days of Smash 4 (Okay, it's probably a more sleeper pick than Shulk was, lol, but i think you guys get my point)

Yeah, I think there’s a pretty decent chance of getting Officer Howard in Smash, especially if there any plans to continue the series. I’d also love Jenna Anderson but she’d likely be saved for DLC if she has any chance at all. I just think she was a really cool character with a great design.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I played everyone with an emphasis on whoever had my favorite class at the time, essentially using the swap mechanic to keep varying up the gameplay. I thought Noah's lategame mechanics were fun, but I'm terrible at optimization, so I never based my strategy around it.

Minor Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Spoilers:
In terms of his potential appearance in Super Smash Bros. I think Lucky 7 could make Noah an extremely unique character among the cast depending on how they implement it. They could just make it a Joker style powerup, but what sounds more interesting to me is turning it into an iaido stance style move, adding another semi-common fighting game archetype to Super Smash Bros. When it comes down to the choice between the two, I could see Sakurai giving Noah the edge for this reason alone should he have the same idea.

Also, I didn't know Dominion Flower was bad. I kept it on her the entire rest of the game. lol

Off topic, but I kind of found it annoying how you get access to Daze at the very beginning, but you don't get Burst arts outside of Eunie and Tion interlinking until very late in the game.

I beat all three mainline Xenoblade games along with the DLC for 2 and 3 (with 165 hours in XBC3) and I respectfully disagree. Noah does have my favorite visual design of any of the three main characters (Shulk, Rex, and Noah) but I personally had the most fun playing Mio and Eunie. I think I used Mio the most. I just liked her boost from timing the attacks. My favorite character overall was Ashera but she wasn’t actually playable. That said, I mained Sharla in the first game so I’m probably an outlier.

Sharla's overheat mechanic is pretty fun, and saving people with her support abilities during visions is extremely fun, but she really doesn't play nice with the Chain Attack mechanic. Her partners for a good while are just Shulk and Reyn, who almost exclusively have red arts, and hers are almost exclusively blue. Dunban doesn't really do much to alliviate this issue either. It's not until you get Melia and Riki that Sharla starts to synergize with the other characters, as Riki has a lot of pink and purple arts that do decent damage, and Melia's Chain Attack role is spamming Talent Arts. Other characters start to get a bit more freedom in what they can do as well, so you could go a round with pink arts, then use a Talent Art after Sharla so you can swap to red and go a round with beeg damage. Sharla also gets Head Shot, which also helps with this issue, though IIRC it's not actually any good otherwise.

Side note: Do the different colored arts have names? I always referred to them as Attack (Red), Buff (Blue), Debuff (Purple), Break (Pink), Topple (Green), and Daze (Yellow) Arts,

 

[Gengar84]

I played everyone with an emphasis on whoever had my favorite class at the time, essentially using the swap mechanic to keep varying up the gameplay. I thought Noah's lategame mechanics were fun, but I'm terrible at optimization, so I never based my strategy around it.

Minor Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Spoilers:
In terms of his potential appearance in Super Smash Bros. I think Lucky 7 could make Noah an extremely unique character among the cast depending on how they implement it. They could just make it a Joker style powerup, but what sounds more interesting to me is turning it into an iaido stance style move, adding another semi-common fighting game archetype to Super Smash Bros. When it comes down to the choice between the two, I could see Sakurai giving Noah the edge for this reason alone should he have the same idea.

Also, I didn't know Dominion Flower was bad. I kept it on her the entire rest of the game. lol

Off topic, but I kind of found it annoying how you get access to Daze at the very beginning, but you don't get Burst arts outside of Eunie and Tion interlinking until very late in the game.


Sharla's overheat mechanic is pretty fun, and saving people with her support abilities during visions is extremely fun, but she really doesn't play nice with the Chain Attack mechanic. Her partners for a good while are just Shulk and Reyn, who almost exclusively have red arts, and hers are almost exclusively blue. Dunban doesn't really do much to alliviate this issue either. It's not until you get Melia and Riki that Sharla starts to synergize with the other characters, as Riki has a lot of pink and purple arts that do decent damage, and Melia's Chain Attack role is spamming Talent Arts. Other characters start to get a bit more freedom in what they can do as well, so you could go a round with pink arts, then use a Talent Art after Sharla so you can swap to red and go a round with beeg damage. Sharla also gets Head Shot, which also helps with this issue, though IIRC it's not actually any good otherwise.

Side note: Do the different colored arts have names? I always referred to them as Attack (Red), Buff (Blue), Debuff (Purple), Break (Pink), Topple (Green), and Daze (Yellow) Arts,

I’m not sure they have names either. I’ve always referred to them the same way you do. As for Sharla, I was never really great at optimizing how to use certain characters well. I just played with characters I liked. Dunban and Riki were my favorites followed by Sharla and I just enjoyed being able to control myself when to heal and buff my party members when I wanted to. I usually play as the healer for that reason. I mained Nia in Xenoblade 2 partly because she’s my favorite and partly because I like playing the healer.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I’m not sure they have names either. I’ve always referred to them the same way you do. As for Sharla, I was never really great at optimizing how to use certain characters well. I just played with characters I liked. Dunban and Riki were my favorites followed by Sharla and I just enjoyed being able to control myself when to heal and buff my party members when I wanted to. I usually play as the healer for that reason. I mained Nia in Xenoblade 2 partly because she’s my favorite and partly because I like playing the healer.

That makes sense. Heh, playing Sharla also has the perk of her never cooling off during a Chain Attack, though if you're paying attention that part isn't really that big an issue. She isn't exactly subtle.

"Gotta cool off...OKAAAAAAAAAAY!"

I also quite like Xenoblade Chronicles 2's approach to healing in that, essentially, healing is just DPS with extra steps. Amusingly, some of the healing blades have the highest DPS in the game. You also get Blades like Boreas, who is always a win in my book.

 

[fogbadge]

On the subject of xenoblade I think pretty much every playable character across the four games would make for a unique smash fighter. As would most of the blades and heroes. But at the same time I’m not sure how many of them would be worth the bother. When it came down to it on swamps poll I don’t think I voted for to many of them, Noah, Rex, Zeke and Morag. I think Elma.

don’t really have a point just offering my perspective. Mind you post pyra/mythra led to some of the most obnoxious interactions I’ve had with the smash fandom and I think that’s left me a little burnt out on the idea of xenoblade and smash.

still it was very pleasing to see Rex and Noah doing well on the poll

 

[Gengar84]

On the subject of xenoblade I think pretty much every playable character across the four games would make for a unique smash fighter. As would most of the blades and heroes. But at the same time I’m not sure how many of them would be worth the bother. When it came down to it on swamps poll I don’t think I voted for to many of them, Noah, Rex, Zeke and Morag. I think Elma.

don’t really have a point just offering my perspective. Mind you post pyra/mythra led to some of the most obnoxious interactions I’ve had with the smash fandom and I think that’s left me a little burnt out on the idea of xenoblade and smash.

still it was very pleasing to see Rex and Noah doing well on the poll

Apologies if I was a part of that. I’m not a big fan of Rex as a character but I always try to be respectful about it and I do empathize with his fans that really wanted to see him in Smash but were let down seeing another party member get in before him. I think it’s cool that we have different opinions on what characters we like as long as we don’t put others down who don’t share our tastes.

 

[fogbadge]

Apologies if I was a part of that. I’m not a big fan of Rex as a character but I always try to be respectful about it and I do empathize with his fans that really wanted to see him in Smash but were let down seeing another party member get in before him. I think it’s cool that we have different opinions on what characters we like as long as we don’t put others down who don’t share our tastes.

don’t worry about it gengar I’m sure it wasn’t you. I think the people it was aren’t active on the forum atm. But I’ve felt you make it perfectly clear you want who you like. And that shouldn’t be a problem

 

[Diddy Kong]

Apologies if I was a part of that. I’m not a big fan of Rex as a character but I always try to be respectful about it and I do empathize with his fans that really wanted to see him in Smash but were let down seeing another party member get in before him. I think it’s cool that we have different opinions on what characters we like as long as we don’t put others down who don’t share our tastes.

XBC2 Rex isn't spectacular I agree. However! XBC3 Rex is a total different breed of beast. That's the specific version I'd want to be included. Am pretty sure that lore wise it makes the most sense too.

 

[Gengar84]

XBC2 Rex isn't spectacular I agree. However! XBC3 Rex is a total different breed of beast. That's the specific version I'd want to be included. Am pretty sure that lore wise it makes the most sense too.

He was definitely an improvement in 3 but he and Niko still ended up being my least favorite party members in the DLC for 3. I didn’t dislike either one in that game but I just liked the other party members more. The only issue is that XBC3 and XBC2 Rex almost feel like completely different people to me. The story definitely went a bit over my head though and I didn’t fully understand what was going on even though I beat it. Still fun though.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

He was definitely an improvement in 3 but he and Niko still ended up being my least favorite party members in the DLC for 3. I didn’t dislike either one in that game but I just liked the other party members more. The only issue is that XBC3 and XBC2 Rex almost feel like completely different people to me. The story definitely went a bit over my head though and I didn’t fully understand what was going on even though I beat it. Still fun though.

I unfortunately haven't been able to play the DLC, but from what I've seen he's a fairly natural progression for the character. He's still a character who follows a strict moral code, and always tries to help as many people as possible, but he's outgrown his impulsiveness (which Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story did its best to beat out of him) and nievité.

EDIT: My main gripe is the change in voice actor. I mean, puberty is a thing but like, dang. It's also sad that his previous voice actor never got a chance to redeem themself since a lot of their issues seemed to stem from voice direction.

 

[fogbadge]

I unfortunately haven't been able to play the DLC, but from what I've seen he's a fairly natural progression for the character. He's still a character who follows a strict moral code, and always tries to help as many people as possible, but he's outgrown his impulsiveness (which Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story did its best to beat out of him) and nievité.

EDIT: My main gripe is the change in voice actor. I mean, puberty is a thing but like, dang. It's also sad that his previous voice actor never got a chance to redeem themself since a lot of their issues seemed to stem from voice direction.

I think he has a steady tv career so I wouldn’t worry about him

 

[Gengar84]

I unfortunately haven't been able to play the DLC, but from what I've seen he's a fairly natural progression for the character. He's still a character who follows a strict moral code, and always tries to help as many people as possible, but he's outgrown his impulsiveness (which Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story did its best to beat out of him) and nievité.

EDIT: My main gripe is the change in voice actor. I mean, puberty is a thing but like, dang. It's also sad that his previous voice actor never got a chance to redeem themself since a lot of their issues seemed to stem from voice direction.

Yeah, that’s true he does still have that. Thats also true for 95% of main protagonists though. I think the impulsiveness was part of what made him stand out. Anyway, that’s just an observation I had when I was playing the game and it’s all subjective.

 

[BuckleyTim]

I can understand the position for having Rex in Smash even though he's arguably vestigial without the blades (I haven't played 3 dlc yet so I'll probably see the argument for him standalone when i get to it). But even as a fan of Spring Man... I'm just a little confused as to why he was second in the polling so far. Don't get me wrong I am definitely a "it feels weird to just have Min Min when Spring Man is the guy with the Metal Sonic equivalent" kind of guy, but... I don't think they were wrong to just skip to her cuz what does he or even Ribbon Girl add in terms of personality when you really get down to it. Granted, it's not like this is a concern when Twintelle is still beating him and Dr. Coyle is in third (the secret playa's choice imo)... i guess this is a natural result of multiple choice voting because maybe the general sentiment is "well he did get passed over so it'd be nice if they threw him a bone".

Really though, it'd be funny if Arms 2 came out and they gave him a character arc inspired by the fact that he lost to his robot double on the popularity tournament they had at the end of the updating cycle for Arms.

 

[fogbadge]

I can understand the position for having Rex in Smash even though he's arguably vestigial without the blades (I haven't played 3 dlc yet so I'll probably see the argument for him standalone when i get to it). But even as a fan of Spring Man... I'm just a little confused as to why he was second in the polling so far. Don't get me wrong I am definitely a "it feels weird to just have Min Min when Spring Man is the guy with the Metal Sonic equivalent" kind of guy, but... I don't think they were wrong to just skip to her cuz what does he or even Ribbon Girl add in terms of personality when you really get down to it. Granted, it's not like this is a concern when Twintelle is still beating him and Dr. Coyle is in third (the secret playa's choice imo)... i guess this is a natural result of multiple choice voting because maybe the general sentiment is "well he did get passed over so it'd be nice if they threw him a bone".

Really though, it'd be funny if Arms 2 came out and they gave him a character arc inspired by the fact that he lost to his robot double on the popularity tournament they had at the end of the updating cycle for Arms.

Or maybe the general sentiment is we actually like the guy

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Yeah, that’s true he does still have that. Thats also true for 95% of main protagonists though. I think the impulsiveness was part of what made him stand out. Anyway, that’s just an observation I had when I was playing the game and it’s all subjective.

Eh, I wouldn't say being impulsive is entirely unique on its own either. I think the main unique thing is that the desire to protect everyone and everything is treated as a character flaw to some extent. Rex agreed to help Pyra in the beginning because he had a bleeding heart, but what motivates him more is the prospect of saving everyone in existence from a dying world. The rest of this story challenges this motivation. Things like "is this worth fighting for?", "can he even accomplish this?", and "can he continue knowing that he can't?".

 

[Gengar84]

If I were making Smash just for myself, I’d definitely prioritize fan favorites over sticking strictly to the main character of every game. I do think having the main character makes the most sense in the majority of cases but it gets kind of boring to me if that’s all we ever get. In my opinion, as long as we have the main character from the first entry in a series, we should be able to get more experimental with the others. Fire Emblem, for example, should still have Marth but we shouldn’t be obligated to always go with the lord every single time. Going with someone like Tharja or Edelgarde could have been interesting alternative choices.

After seeing the disappointment some people have in Smash not meeting their expectations with getting the main character, like what happened with Rex, I can understand why that might not be the best idea for the general audience. It would have been interesting to see how fans reacted if this was always the approach from the beginning but it can be a bit tricky to expand these options going forward while keeping most people satisfied.

 

[fogbadge]

If I were making Smash just for myself, I’d definitely prioritize fan favorites over sticking strictly to the main character of every game. I do think having the main character makes the most sense in the majority of cases but it gets kind of boring to me if that’s all we ever get. In my opinion, as long as we have the main character from the first entry in a series, we should be able to get more experimental with the others. Fire Emblem, for example, should still have Marth but we shouldn’t be obligated to always go with the lord every single time. Going with someone like Tharja or Edelgarde could have been interesting alternative choices.

After seeing the disappointment some people have in Smash not meeting their expectations with getting the main character, like what happened with Rex, I can understand why that might not be the best idea for the general audience. It would have been interesting to see how fans reacted if this was always the approach from the beginning but it can be a bit tricky to expand these options going forward while keeping most people satisfied.

Well fan favourites and main characters aren’t mutually exclusive. Look at cloud. Or look how well the main characters from xenoblade are doing on swamps poll.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Tbh I'm kind of of the opinion that as long as we have Min-Min we don't really need another ARMS character to begin with because pretty much all of them would play pretty similarly minus specific quirks like Byte having Barq or Ribbon Girl having an extra jump. Like you could give them different arms to use aside from Ramram, Megawatt, and Dragon, but I kinda feel like it'd boil down to different element attributes on the same moves (sorta like how Richter's Holy Water is aura element instead of fire like Simon's, which is why it kills Red Pikmin). Just feels like it'd be a hard sell when the Arm attacks are like jab, neutral special, forward smash, forward air, back air, side special, probably at least the tether half of up special, down special for changing arms, like a lot of the kit is just the punches that everyone in ARMS can do.

Plus none of the other characters are able to kick like Min-Min can, so unless they go all in on their specific quirk (which admittedly I could see with characters like Helix or Max Brass), then I don't really know how they could differentiate themselves, I guess? Like Twintelle for example would basically just be Min-Min with different arms and access to Witch Time/Foresight lol

I dunno, that's just my opinion on another ARMS character anyhow. Just kinda throwing it out there while ARMS is getting brought up as someone who enjoyed the game for a while when it came out.

 

[ninjahmos]

If Tidus ever got into Smash, they could include plenty of songs from Final Fantasy X, including Otherworld

 

[Kirby Dragons]

Tbh I'm kind of of the opinion that as long as we have Min-Min we don't really need another ARMS character to begin with because pretty much all of them would play pretty similarly minus specific quirks like Byte having Barq or Ribbon Girl having an extra jump. Like you could give them different arms to use aside from Ramram, Megawatt, and Dragon, but I kinda feel like it'd boil down to different element attributes on the same moves (sorta like how Richter's Holy Water is aura element instead of fire like Simon's, which is why it kills Red Pikmin). Just feels like it'd be a hard sell when the Arm attacks are like jab, neutral special, forward smash, forward air, back air, side special, probably at least the tether half of up special, down special for changing arms, like a lot of the kit is just the punches that everyone in ARMS can do.

Plus none of the other characters are able to kick like Min-Min can, so unless they go all in on their specific quirk (which admittedly I could see with characters like Helix or Max Brass), then I don't really know how they could differentiate themselves, I guess? Like Twintelle for example would basically just be Min-Min with different arms and access to Witch Time/Foresight lol

I dunno, that's just my opinion on another ARMS character anyhow. Just kinda throwing it out there while ARMS is getting brought up as someone who enjoyed the game for a while when it came out.

I support Twintelle but I don't necessarily disagree here. ARMS characters largely have the same fighting style, so it would be hard to make a second one stand out.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Tbh I'm kind of of the opinion that as long as we have Min-Min we don't really need another ARMS character to begin with because pretty much all of them would play pretty similarly minus specific quirks like Byte having Barq or Ribbon Girl having an extra jump. Like you could give them different arms to use aside from Ramram, Megawatt, and Dragon, but I kinda feel like it'd boil down to different element attributes on the same moves (sorta like how Richter's Holy Water is aura element instead of fire like Simon's, which is why it kills Red Pikmin). Just feels like it'd be a hard sell when the Arm attacks are like jab, neutral special, forward smash, forward air, back air, side special, probably at least the tether half of up special, down special for changing arms, like a lot of the kit is just the punches that everyone in ARMS can do.

Plus none of the other characters are able to kick like Min-Min can, so unless they go all in on their specific quirk (which admittedly I could see with characters like Helix or Max Brass), then I don't really know how they could differentiate themselves, I guess? Like Twintelle for example would basically just be Min-Min with different arms and access to Witch Time/Foresight lol

I dunno, that's just my opinion on another ARMS character anyhow. Just kinda throwing it out there while ARMS is getting brought up as someone who enjoyed the game for a while when it came out.

While a lot of the ARMS would be severely homogenized due to the removal of elemental effects*, I do think that the loadouts themselves would make quite a big difference. For example, giving Min Min Ninjara's loadout would probably be the least impactful, as Biff and Chakram will be extremely functionally similar to the Dragon and Ram Ram ARMS respectively, but the inclusion of Tri Blast would be huge as, at least in theory, they would be explosive projectiles, meaning that opponents without disjoints would have a hard time challenging them, and she'd get extra shield pressure for smash attacking them. However, as projectiles, there would also be more built in defenses against them.

As far as the overall playstyle, I do agree that we're looking at clone characters at best, but I do think there would be value in that, especially if some of them can be added as Echo Fighters.

*I think the effects that don't break the game would be kept, such as explosion and poison.

 

[Louie G.]

If I were making Smash just for myself, I’d definitely prioritize fan favorites over sticking strictly to the main character of every game. I do think having the main character makes the most sense in the majority of cases but it gets kind of boring to me if that’s all we ever get. In my opinion, as long as we have the main character from the first entry in a series, we should be able to get more experimental with the others. Fire Emblem, for example, should still have Marth but we shouldn’t be obligated to always go with the lord every single time. Going with someone like Tharja or Edelgarde could have been interesting alternative choices.

You know, I'm kind of curious what we'd be talking about if Byleth had never been added. Would a Three Houses character still be considered a strong candidate, for its great critical and commercial success? Would we still be talking about Byleth, or would one of the house leaders like Edelgard become the central figure? On paper, and through Smash's precedent, Byleth seems like they would still be the character to watch here but Edelgard (and the other house leaders, for what it's worth) is such a notoriously popular figure in the fanbase now that I wonder if this would have influenced the decision after years of letting the dust settle and deciding who would resonate with people the most.

My prediction is that Edelgard would be sitting somewhere right below Lyn levels of fan support, but many of us would have considered Three Houses to be a victim of bad timing that may not be in heavy consideration for the next game. But the argument would be that the game has been Fire Emblem's greatest commercial success so far and that may counteract the pessimism.

Also as for ARMS, I agree that Min Min is fine by herself but I do think someone in a different weight class like Max Brass would create a different enough dynamic to be worth exploring on its own. But with Min Min already being kind of a heavy hitter in her own right, and ARMS characters being quite difficult to balance, I'm unsure if adding another ranged fighter like this who is twice as difficult to launch offstage is the move. Alternatively I think a Spring Man semiclone would be effective enough. Couldn't be an outright clone or echo fighter since a new ARM loadout would differentiate them pretty well.