Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[SMAASH! Puppy]

This is a really minor and inconsequential thing but I really wish Minecraft's series symbol was the Creeper face. It's iconic (as overused as the word is) and has a much more distinct and recognizable shape than... a block.

I dunno. I think Minecraft having it's software icon is extremely fitting. I suppose the creeper face would be more interesting to look at, but I do like it better than some of the other decisions they've made...

...OK mostly I just don't like Mega Man's. I know it makes sense if you're Japanese, but it's just kind of generic if you aren't familiar with the branding.

Yeah, like I'm not advocating for any of the Original 12 to be removed myself but I'm increasingly becoming frustrated with the general sentiment of older = safer. Smash needs to move forward. The most underwhelming thing the series could do, and what a lot of people seem to believe would happen, is that we pretty much lose a bunch of Smash 4 and Ultimate newcomers and everyone who was added before that is a legacy pick... so what, does that just continue forever? Do we keep adding new characters just to do away with them the next time?

And I'm not talking about Ness and Captain Falcon, or anything. But a take like "Zero Suit Samus would get precedent over Ridley because-" is gonna make me tear my hair out. Every character is someone's favorite, but that includes the new blood. It infuriates me, quite frankly, when people treat Little Mac as expendable but will rightfully die on the hill that Ness or Pit should continue to be a mainstay. If we got Little Mac in Melee this would not be a question whatsoever. Is that fair?? Does the simple act of being here first outweigh every other thing that makes a character's addition valuable?

There are only a few characters who seem to unanimously break this cycle. Villager, Shulk and Inkling. Sometimes Ridley and Isabelle, maybe Robin or Greninja, but not always. Everyone else can go screw themselves apparently, because whenever we talk hypothetical """reboot""" rosters the first move is to go scorched earth on anything newer to Smash than 2008. Surefire way to guarantee the series becomes repetitive and stale.

I think part of this has to do with it being hard to conceptualize Super Smash Bros. without these legacy picks, and there are too many of them to also include most picks that don't have that argument.

In reality, we probably will see some pretty darn heavy cuts. Jigglypuff for example causes quite a lot of problems, and will probably only skirt by if they have enough time, and if she's easy enough to make to justify having such an unbalanced Pokémon roster out of the surviving members.

Meh. In my experience, having a bunch of alt costumes means you also have to have a mediocre 3D rendered art style.

That said, that's probably what they'll do. Because Smash doesn't really DO artistic art styles anyway.

From what I've seen ArcSystem Works's games, and other anime styled games, only don't have alternate costumes because they hand animate their characters, which probably won't ever happen for Super Smash Bros. There are games with distinct art styles that do have costumes though. UMvC3 is probably the only example that I have off the top of my head, but there are probably others.

And to be fair, "mediocrity" is fairly subjective. I know you don't like Street Fighter 6's artstyle, but I think it mostly looks pretty darn good. In fact, I'm surprised Terry looks so sickly when you look at his face up close. If the other characters didn't look like that I'd wonder if it wasn't a design choice for Ed.

 

[DarthEnderX]

From what I've seen ArcSystem Works's games, and other anime styled games, only don't have alternate costumes because they hand animate their characters, which probably won't ever happen for Super Smash Bros.

I think that is exactly correct.

 

[Jave]

Okay everyone, I hope it's fine to ask this here, since it's a place where the more people in the know hang out.

I'm trying to compile a list for a survey of as many characters as possible that could be potential newcomers for the next Smash. Not asking for favorites or your most wanted here, but for characters you feel actually have an at least decent shot of being in, as the survey is for predicting the Smash 6 roster.

But I need some help with the series I'm not too familiar with:

• I didn't play Pokemon Scarlet/Violet so I'm lost on most of Gen 9. I know Meowscarada is the most popular pick, but what are others that could be potential choices? Similarly, what Pokemon from previous Gens you feel actually have a legit shot?
• Metroid and Pikmin are series I haven't played much of its games. I'm familiar with Oatchi (Pikmin 4) and Sylux and Raven Beak (Metroid) being popular picks. Anyone else from those series I shouldn't forget?
• Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Feel free to contribute in any way, even for stuff not mentioned above. I don't want to make the list too big (probably no more than 200 characters), but I don't want to overlook some popular picks, which can easily happen when making a list like this (specially with characters from series yet unrepresented).

 

[Gorgonzales]

Okay everyone, I hope it's fine to ask this here, since it's a place where the more people in the know hang out.

I'm trying to compile a list for a survey of as many characters as possible that could be potential newcomers for the next Smash. Not asking for favorites or your most wanted here, but for characters you feel actually have an at least decent shot of being in, as the survey is for predicting the Smash 6 roster.

But I need some help with the series I'm not too familiar with:

• I didn't play Pokemon Scarlet/Violet so I'm lost on most of Gen 9. I know Meowscarada is the most popular pick, but what are others that could be potential choices? Similarly, what Pokemon from previous Gens you feel actually have a legit shot?
• Metroid and Pikmin are series I haven't played much of its games. I'm familiar with Oatchi (Pikmin 4) and Sylux and Raven Beak (Metroid) being popular picks. Anyone else from those series I shouldn't forget?
• Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Feel free to contribute in any way, even for stuff not mentioned above. I don't want to make the list too big (probably no more than 200 characters), but I don't want to overlook some popular picks, which can easily happen when making a list like this (specially with characters from series yet unrepresented).

For Pikmin, you got Oatchi down, but you should also include Louie since he plays a pretty important part in pretty much every Pikmin except 1 and is probably the closest thing the series gets to a main antagonist (other than like, the planet itself, but.... lol).

 

[Louie G.]

Metroid and Pikmin are series I haven't played much of its games. I'm familiar with Oatchi (Pikmin 4) and Sylux and Raven Beak (Metroid) being popular picks. Anyone else from those series I shouldn't forget?

Pikmin: Louie as mentioned by Gorgonzales, and for kicks I would include a Bulborb as well. You never know, they are pretty important.

Metroid: I'd throw EMMI into the pile, even though Raven Beak is the central antagonist of Metroid Dread it's really the EMMI that influence the progression of the game, as well as being central to its marketing. EMMI has an amiibo, Raven Beak doesn't. Feel like it's at least on the table (and IMO is just as cool).

Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Well, in my opinion, some combination of these series...
Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Puyo Puyo, Tales, Dark Souls, Bomberman, Ninja Gaiden, Nier, Halo or DOOM, Undertale
Maybe Gulity Gear, Metal Slug, Rayman and/or Assassin's Creed, Virtua Fighter? Shin Megami Tensei, Like a Dragon?

Some, notably Nier, Halo or DOOM, feel more like DLC choices to me than base game but the point still stands. And yknow, some more likely than others. These are just kind of the series that I have on my mind in some way or another.

Also not a Pokemon expert these days, but Ogerpon seems to be pretty popular. They were featured in some of the recent DLC, and I dig them. Probably also worth taking into account the legendaries as well as a couple standout favorites like Tinkaton. As for Pokemon from other gens... probably not. Maybe Eevee or Gengar.

 

[Noipoi]

Okay everyone, I hope it's fine to ask this here, since it's a place where the more people in the know hang out.

I'm trying to compile a list for a survey of as many characters as possible that could be potential newcomers for the next Smash. Not asking for favorites or your most wanted here, but for characters you feel actually have an at least decent shot of being in, as the survey is for predicting the Smash 6 roster.

But I need some help with the series I'm not too familiar with:

• I didn't play Pokemon Scarlet/Violet so I'm lost on most of Gen 9. I know Meowscarada is the most popular pick, but what are others that could be potential choices? Similarly, what Pokemon from previous Gens you feel actually have a legit shot?
• Metroid and Pikmin are series I haven't played much of its games. I'm familiar with Oatchi (Pikmin 4) and Sylux and Raven Beak (Metroid) being popular picks. Anyone else from those series I shouldn't forget?
• Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Feel free to contribute in any way, even for stuff not mentioned above. I don't want to make the list too big (probably no more than 200 characters), but I don't want to overlook some popular picks, which can easily happen when making a list like this (specially with characters from series yet unrepresented).

The legendaries for Gen 9, Koraidon and Miraidon, are crucial to the story and well-liked characters in their own right.

Tinkaton is pretty popular, with a lot of memes behind it.

Ogerpon is also pretty popular, being the breakout star of the dlc.

Armarouge and/or Ceruledge stand out as really cool designs that are prominent in a lot of side material like spin-offs and the anime.

Gholdengo is treated as a big deal, being the 1000th Pokemon. It could have a funky moveset based around surfing and coins.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Okay everyone, I hope it's fine to ask this here, since it's a place where the more people in the know hang out.

I'm trying to compile a list for a survey of as many characters as possible that could be potential newcomers for the next Smash. Not asking for favorites or your most wanted here, but for characters you feel actually have an at least decent shot of being in, as the survey is for predicting the Smash 6 roster.

But I need some help with the series I'm not too familiar with:

• I didn't play Pokemon Scarlet/Violet so I'm lost on most of Gen 9. I know Meowscarada is the most popular pick, but what are others that could be potential choices? Similarly, what Pokemon from previous Gens you feel actually have a legit shot?
• Metroid and Pikmin are series I haven't played much of its games. I'm familiar with Oatchi (Pikmin 4) and Sylux and Raven Beak (Metroid) being popular picks. Anyone else from those series I shouldn't forget?
• Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Feel free to contribute in any way, even for stuff not mentioned above. I don't want to make the list too big (probably no more than 200 characters), but I don't want to overlook some popular picks, which can easily happen when making a list like this (specially with characters from series yet unrepresented).

Should we compare notes?

 

[Perkilator]

Which 3rd Party series not yet featured in Smash are the most likely candidates to get a playable character?

Despite everything the series has gone through, I’d like to believe that Nintendo (and by extension, Sakurai) are at least semi-aware of Cash Banooca’s fan demand.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Even NateDrake is expecting a Direct next week

https://old.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1f1622i/natedrake_is_expecting_a_direct_this_week/

 

[Noipoi]

Despite everything the series has gone through, I’d like to believe that Nintendo (and by extension, Sakurai) are at least semi-aware of Cash Banooca’s fan demand.

I feel like Crash is in a similar spot to Rayman.

Someone at Nintendo has to know that a good amount of people would like to see them in Smash, but both their franchises may be in too much turmoil for that to happen this time.

Then again the Banjo Kazooie franchise has been a barren wasteland since 2008, and they still got in Smash. So who knows.

 

[Guynamednelson]

I know Meowscarada is the most popular pick, but what are others that could be potential choices? Similarly, what Pokemon from previous Gens you feel actually have a legit shot?

Alongside the ones Noipoi posted, I think there could be an argument for Pawmot

It's the first Pikaclone to evolve, receives plenty of promotion through being a Pikaclone and the signature mon of Nemona, and has potential to not even be a semiclone of Pikachu through its focus on punches and other arm attacks.

I kind of wonder how they'd handle its signature move, Double Shock, which temporarily removes its Electric typing.

 

[Sucumbio]

Okay everyone, I hope it's fine to ask this here, since it's a place where the more people in the know hang out.

insert Jameson laugh

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Even NateDrake is expecting a Direct next week

https://old.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1f1622i/natedrake_is_expecting_a_direct_this_week/

One of the people in that Reddit thread does make me kinda wonder, since they mentioned Switch 2 getting announced before Tokyo Game Show at the end of September, and from my short search apparently Nintendo isn't typically at Tokyo Game Show but they will be this year in the Business Meeting Area?

I don't know if that means anything at all and even if it does, those rumors about the enhanced port of BotW and the port of FF7R on Switch 2 happened like a year ago and we didn't see anything about the Switch 2 last year, but that comment in that Reddit thread does make me wonder about it lol

 

[Noipoi]

Even NateDrake is expecting a Direct next week

https://old.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1f1622i/natedrake_is_expecting_a_direct_this_week/

If this isn't a Partner Showcase or an Indieworld or even a Mini, but a whole as general direct, I'm gonna be really surprised.

And I'm gonna be expecting an announcement of new console proportions next month, as I see no other reason to push the usual September direct up.

 

[KillerCage]

The unlockable characters of course. Yet, Luigi is there and that won't happen. But those 4 easily. All others just can't be cut at all.

That's the challenge; you have to keep at least one of the unlockable four while cutting one of the original 8.

 

[RileyXY1]

I feel like Crash is in a similar spot to Rayman.

Someone at Nintendo has to know that a good amount of people would like to see them in Smash, but both their franchises may be in too much turmoil for that to happen this time.

Then again the Banjo Kazooie franchise has been a barren wasteland since 2008, and they still got in Smash. So who knows.

Although Banjo & Kazooie had massive fan demand on their side. Crash wasn't even on the radar until after Ultimate was announced, and his demand only began to rise after Banjo & Kazooie had already been revealed.

 

[Dinoman96]

I've always felt Crash was one of those characters that got screwed over by not being popular where it really mattered the most, back in 2015 when the Smash ballot was a thing. Same thing with Doomguy, Dante, Master Chief, etc

 

[Opossum]

Although Banjo & Kazooie had massive fan demand on their side. Crash wasn't even on the radar until after Ultimate was announced, and his demand only began to rise after Banjo & Kazooie had already been revealed.

This is dead wrong.

I literally ran the Ultimate era Crash thread. Why are you blatantly lying?

 

[Noipoi]

This is dead wrong.

I literally ran the Ultimate era Crash thread. Why are you blatantly lying?

He gets these weird ideas in his head and just runs with them

 

[Louie G.]

Crash is in a weird spot right now, I don't think Nintendo would be turned down if they reached out to Activision / Microsoft and asked for the character. Strong fan demand can counteract a dim future. After all, that's what happened with Banjo. But I don't like comparing these two characters, because the longtime push for Banjo & Kazooie and their unique position in Nintendo's history makes them an extremely unique and special case.

Regardless, I think there are two much stronger options from Microsoft that would take precedent over Crash. Those are of course Halo and DOOM. I'm unsure if my mentality aligns with that of Sakurai or Nintendo, but I think bringing over a character from a brand new game style - someone so aesthetically, thematically and fundamentally different than anything we've seen in Smash thus far - is simply more compelling than another platforming mascot character. Not that Crash wouldn't be unique, but if we're to consider all three of these characters are on somewhat equal footing I feel like the two characters with a brighter future who may also bring more to the table are perhaps the idealistic choices.

But if we want to roll with the "Crash is the new Banjo" future, then we could feasibly see a repeat of what happened with Banjo / Steve happen with Crash and one of the FPS boys. They're certainly different enough from one another. I've always felt Crash's chances of being added to Smash are a bit overblown, and his significance a little bit overstated, but at the end of the day... he was one of the most consistently popular requests throughout Ultimate's hype cycle and I'm sure that is recognized by someone. Couple that with having a smidge of nostalgic appeal overseas and it at least justifies him to remain in the conversation.

 

[cashregister9]

Even NateDrake is expecting a Direct next week

https://old.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1f1622i/natedrake_is_expecting_a_direct_this_week/

This is entirely semantics and based on very specific things that may not even apply.

I don't think it will be an indie world because Indie Worlds aren't considered Nintendo Directs by Nintendo

Nintendo Direct - Archive - Nintendo Official Site

The online home for exclusive Nintendo news — broadcast directly to you, the player.

www.nintendo.com

Now again this is a semantics thing and the leakers could just be hearing "Nintendo Presentation" and assume a direct.

Could very well be a mini or partner showcase though.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

So Lucas is a Japan only character because his source game is only available in Japan. Aside from Smash, he only appears in that game.

But can we consider Roy a Japanese only character anymore? He's got a consistent English voice actor. He's made several appearances in Heroes. He's had a big appearance in Engage. Both of those games were localized around the world.

I think Roy can't honestly be considered a Japan only character anymore his debut is Japan only, sure, but I think Marth and Roy getting English voice actors was a very deliberate move.

 

[Opossum]

So Lucas is a Japan only character because his source game is only available in Japan. Aside from Smash, he only appears in that game.

But can we consider Roy a Japanese only character anymore? He's got a consistent English voice actor. He's made several appearances in Heroes. He's had a big appearance in Engage. Both of those games were localized around the world.

I think Roy can't honestly be considered a Japan only character anymore his debut is Japan only, sure, but I think Marth and Roy getting English voice actors was a very deliberate move.

It's something I've thought about a lot but never really had a chance to bring up, but yeah I'm in agreement. Calling Roy "Japan only" in the same way that Lucas is just...isn't the case anymore. I'd argue it hasn't been the case since Heroes released. He's literally been given major billing several times in an internationally released Fire Emblem game...and that was before Engage.

It's just that his one game that IS region locked is...well, his headlining game. But as a character he really can't be considered as such anymore. For the record I'm also excluding his Awakening Einherjar cameos and his Blazing Blade true ending cameo from this, since those appearances are incredibly minor...if you count those then he hasn't been Japan-only for even longer.

 

[Gorgonzales]

This is dead wrong.

I literally ran the Ultimate era Crash thread. Why are you blatantly lying?

In Riley's defense, it really did feel like a lot of Crash's support came flooding in after Banjo was revealed. Smashboards is just one site in a sea of social media, and it was easy to see that, among the more "general" public online, Crash support was there but didn't hit full swing until Banjo made it.

Almost like people were like, "shoot, that platforming mascot we wanted actually got in, who's next in line?" Of course, it's not that simple and I doubt many people follow that line of thought, but it's easier to visualize the situation this way.

 

[Opossum]

In Riley's defense, it really did feel like a lot of Crash's support came flooding in after Banjo was revealed. Smashboards is just one site in a sea of social media, and it was easy to see that, among the more "general" public online, Crash support was there but didn't hit full swing until Banjo made it.

Almost like people were like, "shoot, that platforming mascot we wanted actually got in, who's next in line?" Of course, it's not that simple and I doubt many people follow that line of thought, but it's easier to visualize the situation this way.

I'm sorry but I absolutely disagree. Banjo was basically a non-factor.

The biggest surge in Crash support happened when the N. Sane Trilogy was announced for the Switch...in the same Direct that revealed Ultimate's existence. The day Ultimate speculation began in earnest. He was a major player in base game speculation...which doesn't gel with the idea that Banjo being confirmed was the catalyst.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Went to look at the old Smash 2 poll from May 1999 just to see how many votes Banjo got on that because I was curious. Seeing he beat out Zelda/Sheik, Meta Knight, Falco, Wolf, Diddy, Pit, and the Ice Climbers on that poll was neat.

Also noticed Crash is on that poll in the "Those Aren't Nintendo Characters" group, interestingly getting more votes than Sonic and Mega Man and getting beaten by one vote by Bomberman.

Doesn't really mean anything nowadays since so many of them got added later and we know Sora and Banjo took the top two Ballot spots, was just looking out of curiosity's sake and thought it was neat.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Not asking for favorites or your most wanted here, but for characters you feel actually have an at least decent shot of being in, as the survey is for predicting the Smash 6 roster.

I don't deal in predictions, only wishlists.

"I want" interests me more than "I expect".

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Holy crap.

Dixie Kong and Bandana Waddle Dee are one point away from each other.

We may have a new first place soon.

 

[Wonder Smash]

Yeah, I too remember Crash becoming more of a major talk when the N. Sane trilogy was released. This is basically common knowledge for anybody that was around during speculations back then. As usual with any character, the common idea is that a new game=higher chances. Anything about Banjo was completely unrelated to Crash at that time.

 

[Diddy Kong]

That's the challenge; you have to keep at least one of the unlockable four while cutting one of the original 8.

Oh I see now. In that case am cutting Jigglypuff, Falcon, Ness and I guess Fox.

 

[robot067]

As cool as Joker is what would be even cooler is a Hero type character with every Persona protagonist. Mainly because this is the only even slightly realistic way Naoya, Tatsuya, or Kotone could ever happen lol

Also my only real take on cut speculation is that we have absolutely no idea how many/who will be cut and I kinda feel like trying right now is a dead end. I just hope we don't lose Lucas. I can't go through that again.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

As cool as Joker is what would be even cooler is a Hero type character with every Persona protagonist. Mainly because this is the only even slightly realistic way Naoya, Tatsuya, or Kotone could ever happen lol

Also my only real take on cut speculation is that we have absolutely no idea how many/who will be cut and I kinda feel like trying right now is a dead end. I just hope we don't lose Lucas. I can't go through that again.

that cant work because joker uses a different weapon

 

[RealLuigisWearPink]

I feel like this ''would any of the original 12 be cut, does seniority really matter, etc'' discussion has happened before every game since like Brawl and everytime the original 12 is back again lol.


With that said, Puff out, Meowth in

 

[robot067]

that cant work because joker uses a different weapon

Aside from Joker and Kotone they all use some kind of sword, and Joker's knife could just extra eiha energy for more length or something. Maybe Kotone uses a flip phone like a dagger. If that happened they'd better have Tatsuya fight with his lighter.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Aside from Joker and Kotone they all use some kind of sword, and Joker's knife could just extra eiha energy for more length or something. Maybe Kotone uses a flip phone like a dagger. If that happened they'd better have Tatsuya fight with his lighter.

I mean as cool as having the other Persona protags would be, Joker is really only set up to be Joker, considering the stage is Mementos, the series icon is the symbol of the Phantom Thieves, and not to mention every protag starts with a different element (Orpheus is Agi/fire, Izanagi is Zio/electricity, and Arsene is Eiha/curse). I just don't think it would work very well, all things considered.

also using a flip phone as a dagger is certainly something, but i don't know what exactly lol

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

About Crash:
Banjo and Crash are not really all that comparable past both being platformer mascots whose series have seen better days.
Banjo was a Nintendo character. Without the ownership shift, he'd basically be like Pit or Little Mac in the context of Smash. Or heck even Fox nowadays. Even his trailer plays into that. The fans know, Sakurai and the Nintendo higher-ups know.

Crash is slightly more detached, and unlike Banjo and most other Ultimate newcomers he probably didn't light the Ballot on fire.
Of course he's always been a popular character, but to me it feels like he only really sparked something within the general Nintendo fandom after the N. Sane Trilogy released on Switch, which was a little too late for Ultimate... But not for the next game.
At the end of the day he's a very popular character that would have no problem fitting in and has decent fan backing now.
The only question is, would Nintendo pursue him? I feel like they have more incentives to do so now, compared to the Ultimate days, but still, could go either way.


About older Smash characters VS newer Smash characters:
I agree that cutting most of the characters post-Brawl while keeping most of the N64/Melee/Brawl cast for a sequel looks silly, and I fully agree with the notion that just because X character got introduced before Y character doesn't automaticallt make the former more valuable than the latter... Case in point: Zero Suit Samus VS Ridley.

However... Due to the way Smash works, it's true most of the times.
Take Ultimate: most newcomers were very well received, but half of them are not owned by Nintendo. This automatically makes it difficult to consider them 100% guaranteed staples of the series.
And then, protagonists and very important characters tend to have been added in earlier installments of Smash. Wario, Diddy and Dedede will always outprioritize most Smash 4/Ultimate newcomers, that's just how it is.
That said, I feel like at least will join the "core" cast. Not sure about many other characters.
in my opinion are absolutely going to be in every future Smash game, but since they're not owned by Nintendo you'll always find someone who disagrees, especially on Cloud.
I'd say would also fall in that group if they were Nintendo-owned... But they're not, so it's a little more up in the air.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Not every Melee and Brawl newcomer would take priority over newcomers of newer installments, however in the case of Melee and Brawl most of the newcomers where big omissions and huge fan requests. Hence the characters where included earlier.

There are exceptions of course. With Melee, the clones minus Ganondorf, Ice Climbers and Sheik stand out. Mewtwo is another argument that probably has similar or lower priority compared to newer Pokémon as Greninja and Incineroar even if I don't like to admit it.

With Brawl it becomes even more difficult. Diddy, Wario, Ike, Pit, Meta Knight, Dedede, Olimar, Lucario, even the Pokémon Trainer, these are all huge characters. They where added for these exact reasons. Melee had a low development cycle, Brawl had to add more popular and missing characters for this reason.

 

[NintenRob]

Holy crap.

Dixie Kong and Bandana Waddle Dee are one point away from each other.

We may have a new first place soon.

I wonder if Gamefaqs had much influence on that? In my experience, Bandana Dee tends to be quite polarising there

 

[Borskaboska]

re: Crash
I think, while the crash series isn't looking too hot rn, Crash has a better chance than most consider because Sakurai and Smash tend to prioritize old school gaming. Every game gets a retro pick, There's like seven gen 1 pokemon, mario uses his 8 bit sound effects, megaman. Just megaman. I think crash gets a huge boost purely by virtue of being big in the 90's so he's always going to have a chance so long as the series isn't sold off as a tax write off.

As far as microsoft having better candidates, like Master Chief and Doom Slayer, i am still one of those guys who thinks the ESRB is going to disincentivize sakurai from adding M rated characters. Besides that, are master chief or doom slayer even more popular than crash? I had assumed Halo didn't have much international appeal due to the XBox not selling well in japan, but that may have changed in recent years. Doom I'm 50/50 on, it's a classic series and historically important. I do think Doom is more likely to get representation than Halo, though.

Re: Joker
I got nothing to say about adding other persona reps besides
1) I'm extreamly dissapointed that Joker and Arsene don't have the stand mechanics from Heritage for the Future.
2) I like demifiend because he's an almighty supernatural being that can destroy gods, and he just wears some cool sneakers and shorts.

 

[TheQuester]

If Smash was made today the "original 12" would look a LOT different (with Inkling, Isabelle, and some Fire Emblem schmuck being the obvious frontrunners). Fox and Captain Falcon were sensible choices for 1999, but in today's day and age I don't think Nintendo would vouch for them.

I agree than in 2024 the original 12 would be completely diferent, but Smash Bros. 64 was made in 1999 and the choices made from the roster that day are still relevant to Smash Bros. as those 12 characters have never been cut and are legacy veteran characters at this point, them begin sensible choices in 2024 doesn't really matter anymore.
I personally think you shouldn't remove any of them if you can avoid it, they're part of Smash Bros identity at this point, Ness, Falcon, Jigglypuff, removing them would feel really wrong.
It's like removing Drackies, Chimaera Wings or Metal Slimes in a future Dragon Quest game, it would feel wrong, they've been there since the beginning, they're still a part of the series identity, even if a smaller one.