Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Louie G.]

If we get a Gen 10 rep, it might have to be DLC this time rather than base game due to timing issues.

I dunno, maybe. We have no idea when either Gen 10 or the next Smash is coming out though so it’s not something we can really say anything of substance about.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

I'd be interested in a new game that cuts a lot of characters who maybe aren't relevant outside of Smash, but then takes some of the remaining characters and updates their movesets with new moves, either for balance reasons or to reference newer games. And then after that, they could start adding new characters. IMO it would be great way to make a sequel feel fresh.

 

[Gengar84]

I still like a lot of newer gen Pokemon but I’m personally hoping for something other than “popular starter from newest gen”. I just think that can get kind of boring and predictable if that’s all we ever see from here on. I’m also not a huge fan of the profession based direction that a lot of modern starter Pokemon have. It kind of breaks the immersion of being able to envision these creatures living in the wild, even in a fantasy world. I’ve always preferred the more simplistic monster designs that don’t go to far with the source of inspiration and keep it a bit more subtle.

 

[fogbadge]

I still like a lot of newer gen Pokemon but I’m personally hoping for something other than “popular starter from newest gen”. I just think that can get kind of boring and predictable if that’s all we ever see from here on. I’m also not a huge fan of the profession based direction that a lot of modern starter Pokemon have. It kind of breaks the immersion of being able to envision these creatures living in the wild, even in a fantasy world. I’ve always preferred the more simplistic monster designs that don’t go to far with the source of inspiration and keep it a bit more subtle.

in fairness that’s not how the last two were picked

 

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah, I think this is a trap a lot of those Reboot rosters fall into where they cut a bunch of characters but then add characters that only make sense in a roster that adds onto Ultimate’s (Noah & Mio, Meowscarada, BWD, Waluigi etc.). You’d need a new approach to the roster rather than gutting the innards and then putting a Waddle Dee-shaped band-aid on it.

Yeah. "Cut older supporting characters. Replace with newer supporting characters." is a weird plan.

With a smaller roster though, the game could be more rich in other departments, like the story mode for example.

I'd rather have more Fighters than more story.

Let's be honest: We all wish for another platforming quest like the Adventure Mode or The Subspace Emissary.

No thank you.

Meowscarada and Incineroar are both anthro cats, they are both clearly inspired to two historical anime characters (Tiger Mask and Doronjo) and they have complementary colors.

Both Dark-type starters.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I still like a lot of newer gen Pokemon but I’m personally hoping for something other than “popular starter from newest gen”. I just think that can get kind of boring and predictable if that’s all we ever see from here on. I’m also not a huge fan of the profession based direction that a lot of modern starter Pokemon have. It kind of breaks the immersion of being able to envision these creatures living in the wild, even in a fantasy world. I’ve always preferred the more simplistic monster designs that don’t go to far with the source of inspiration and keep it a bit more subtle.

That's why I've been hoping for Ogerpon since the only Legendary we have is Mewtwo and I feel like Ogerpon would use the Tera mechanics better as a Final Smash since she has a specific form for it lol

This is of course assuming Gen 9 happens at all, but we might get another Greninja situation here, which would honestly be kinda wild to me because I can't think of a Smash game that's had to account for THREE Generations in its Poke Balls and other content. 64 was Gen 1, Melee added Gen 2, Brawl skipped 3 and added a character from 4, Smash 4 skipped 5 and added a character from 6, and Ultimate added from 7, but now we have to account for Gen 8, 9, and possibly 10.

 

[Arcanir]

I die a little inside when I see a roster suggest Raven Beak is a fulfilling replacement for Ridley.

Bonus points when their goal is to fill in modern Nintendo picks but they decide Isabelle of all characters is expendable, cut Min Min etc. Pick a path and stick to it. Many of these people don’t actually know what their end goal is. Always one step forward two steps back with these contemporary “reboots”.

I remember taking a curiosity glance at a video and when he got to Ridley and cut him for almost that exact reason I had to shake my head. It's even worse when it comes to FE as it's baffling how many people think Alear (who I like, but still) is a replacement for seven characters.

 

[BritishGuy54]

I think it’s funny a lot of people throw around the term reboot for Smash Bros, and expect all their favourite legacy picks to stay in a full-on reboot.

A true reboot would make seniority more of a risk, not less.

 

[CannonStreak]

I think it’s funny a lot of people throw around the term reboot for Smash Bros, and expect all their favourite legacy picks to stay in a full-on reboot.

A true reboot would make seniority more of a risk, not less.

With some other things they may think, I am not sure if those people actually know how reboots themselves work.

 

[RileyXY1]

I dunno, maybe. We have no idea when either Gen 10 or the next Smash is coming out though so it’s not something we can really say anything of substance about.

I was talking of the next Smash game coming out before Gen 10 does, which could potentially lead to another Roy situation as the new Pokémon will debut in Smash before they debut in the actual Pokémon franchise. Also, it might be too early as Gen 10 might not be out until 2026 while the Project Plan for the next Smash game might have been worked on as early as 2022.

 

[Shinuto]

I don't want Gen 10 cause i really don't think we'll be lucky enough to get another Greninja who ends up being popular despite not even being released yet when he was picked by Sakurai.

 

[Gengar84]

I don’t have much a preference for any particular gen for Smash. As long as I like the specific Pokemon they go with, I’m happy regardless what gen it came from. Unfortunately, many of my favorite Pokemon are relatively obscure and unlikely to get in. Who knows if that will hold true for the next game though.

 

[Shinuto]

I don’t have much a preference for any particular gen for Smash. As long as I like the specific Pokemon they go with, I’m happy regardless what gen it came from. Unfortunately, many of my favorite Pokemon are relatively obscure and unlikely to get in. Who knows if that will hold true for the next game though.

My most unlikely is probably primarina or pheromosa

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Hear me out on this: In the event of a Smash reboot, all the Pokeball assists come from Gens 8-10. Not a single returning Pokeball from the first seven generations.

 

[Shinuto]

Hear me out on this: In the event of a Smash reboot, all the Pokeball assists come from Gens 8-10. Not a single returning Pokeball from the first seven generations.

Oh hell no we ain't getting rid of electrode and snorlax

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Oh hell no we ain't getting rid electrode and snorlax

Hisuian Electrode though...

New Kalos Snorlax variant for ZA?

 

[Gengar84]

My most unlikely is probably primarina or pheromosa

I’d say mine are Cofagrigus and Golisopod but there’s a ton of them. Those two and Gengar are my top three favorites overall.

 

[Idon]

Hear me out on this: In the event of a Smash reboot, all the Pokeball assists come from Gens 8-10. Not a single returning Pokeball from the first seven generations.

Let me tell you that idea definitely didn't work for Gen 5 Pokemon....

 

[DarthEnderX]

With some other things they may think, I am not sure if those people actually know how reboots themselves work.

You can't reboot something that doesn't have a plot.

It's just a new Smash game with a smaller roster.

 

[Gengar84]

You can't reboot something that doesn't have a plot.

It's just a new Smash game with a smaller roster.

I guess you could completely rework every character’s moveset from the ground up. I think that might constitute as a reboot. Not that I really expect that to happen.

 

[CannonStreak]

You can't reboot something that doesn't have a plot.

It's just a new Smash game with a smaller roster.

I was thinking more gameplay based things for a reboot of Smash, but this makes too much sense to deny, nonetheless!

 

[Kirby Dragons]

Since we already have several playable starters, I'd be upset if the next Pokemon was yet another starter. Especially if it's someone we haven't seen yet, while there's already several beloved Pokemon. I'd like the next Pokemon to be mythical or pseudo-legendary. Or if Gen 10 has an equivalent to Ultra Beasts/Paradoxes, maybe we can get one of them. Even a popular common Pokemon like Jigglypuff could be fine.

 

[smashkirby]

Tbh if the little descriptions a la Trophies came back and they were applied to Spirits, I'd be more than okay with Spirits to save on dev time.

I know there's like 1528 of them so writing descriptions for them would definitely reduce the overall number and I get why they didn't, but yeah.

Now that you mention it, I wonder if that fansite that wrote up descriptions for Spirit characters is still around...

All the same though, I kind of would like for Trophies to return in a major sense, but if Spirits are what we're going with going forward? Meh, no skin off my back.

Maybe they could make them like cards, with something to do with em. And maybe they could feature only main characters and not every small object, and be more consistent this time. Stunt Race FX has just five characters and only two of them appeared as Spirits.
NGL, I was hoping Coupe from that game was one of the DLC characters. I still love how sassy she is:
View attachment 393962

You know, this reminds me of something we all discussed on here for a brief bit some time ago.

I think it was a mode where we play as Spirits, having them fight each other or something like that...

Kinda random.
But how do you guys feel about Threed as a new earthbound stage?
I'm playing Eartbound for the first time, and Threed has become one of my favourite locations in JRPGs.
View attachment 393966

How am I JUST now realizing that the name of these towns in EarthBound are numbered??? ONEtt, TWOson, THREEd, FOURside??? Come ON, now...

 

[Noipoi]

I definitely think they should spice things up a bit in regards to new Pokémon in Smash.

Even if it has to be from the newest generation, which is understandable, it doesn’t have to be a starter every time.

 

[RodNutTakin]

Masahiro Sakurai on the future of Smash: ‘I’ve been doing too much of the work myself’

Where does Smash go from here?

www.theverge.com

"I think we’ve reached the limit, at least in terms of volume of content and fighters. Basically, if I were to have the opportunity to work on another Super Smash Bros. game, that means we would have to shrink the roster, but we need to think about whether fans would be pleased about that"

I think a lot of people miss the part where he doesn't specify how much he would have to shrink things by, and get a bit hasty with conclusions as a result.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I think a lot of people miss the part where he doesn't specify how much he would have to shrink things by, and get a bit hasty with conclusions as a result.

I feel like some people kind of conflate it with that comment he made (can't find it to quote it directly but) where he basically said "We could either reuse Smash 4's assets, or we could make new ones and end up with a roster a third of the size", not realizing that a roster with a third the size of ultimate would be slightly smaller than Brawl lol

 

[Guynamednelson]

I think a lot of people miss the part where he doesn't specify how much he would have to shrink things by, and get a bit hasty with conclusions as a result.

Well if he really thinks he has to shrink the roster in order to add new content, which I bet he does, I doubt it'll be Everyone But Like Five Characters Is Here.

 

[Stratos]

I'll be fine if Masahiro Sakurai decides to introduce a new Pokémon from Gen 10 in the next Super Smash Bros. game. But if she decides to bring a Pokémon from Gen 9, I believe it will be (although everyone has already assumed this) Meowscarada, because in the Pokémon anime series Liko's first Pokémon is Floragato, which she got when she was still Sprigatito.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Well if he really thinks he has to shrink the roster in order to add new content, which I bet he does, I doubt it'll be Everyone But Like Five Characters Is Here.

Exactly. There's no cutting 10-12 characters at worst. At that point you just bring back everyone.
30 something is more likely.

Anyways, Sakurai already said that Brawl was the limit in terms of how many characters get to be playable and that Smash 4 would have to find different avenues to be interesting. Then Smash 4 added a ton of characters anyways.
I'm pretty sure he even said something along those lines while Ultimate was literally in development.

But also, what should he say? Keeping expectations in check seems like the wisest way to go about speculating a sequel, especially with a fanbase as rabid as the one Smash has.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Weirdly enough, Smash may very well be bettered by a radical reboot (if even for one entry) to avoid stagnation and genuinely knowing which cut characters would cast the biggest shadow with their absence. I wouldn't be keen on losing about 80% of Ultimate's roster or even having major parts of movesets changed but there could very well be vital gameplay lessons learned by new fighters and seeing how remaining characters would be altered.

Double Dash was a major change to the Mario Kart formula and while I'm not as keen on it as many of the GC generation are, I do think the ideas it introduced were vital to bringing greater depth to MK in future titles and long term the series was better off with its creation.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I just don't really see the point of a "reboot", even gameplay-wise, as long as Sakurai is in charge, which at least most of us presume he will be.

He's said in the past (unless I'm remembering wrong) that he doesn't like to change movesets drastically in order to avoid alienating fans from one game to the next, and doesn't like cutting characters if he can help it because every character has their fans, so if Sakurai's in charge, there's no reason in my mind to believe we'd get a massively shaved down roster and drastic character reworks (even if some characters could do with one imo like Sonic and Lucario).

In my opinion, the next Smash is gonna just be a typical new Smash game, bigger than Smash 4, but likely smaller than Ultimate by a fair bit.

 

[SPEN18]

Remember, the similar architecture between the Wii U and Switch was what even enabled the extent of asset reuse that Ult employed. Then there is also the matter of keeping the team together to go essentially straight into Ult's development on the heels of 4. With the next console very likely to be a big step up from the Switch, and with the Switch holding on years after the end of Ult's DLC, we can't expect such a smooth transition in terms of asset reuse and team composition.
Then you consider that retaining Ult's base roster would have already been a challenge given the previous factors and the extent to which it blew the last ground-up game's roster out of the water in numbers, and add in the fact that Sakurai and co. went and added a full dozen characters on top of that...and yeah, the writing's really on the wall. And that's not even mentioning all the licensing factors, or the need to infuse the roster with enough fresh new faces.
Point is, you don't have to dig into word-for-word interpretations of Sakurai quotes to conclude that bringing back everyone or close to everyone would be a massive logistical and budgetary issue.
That said, we know they can make at least a Smash-4-size game. No reason to expect anything less than that. But expecting less than Ult, that makes sense because of all the special and largely unrepeatable circumstances that went into it.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

That said, we know they can make at least a Smash-4-size game. No reason to expect anything less than that.

Based on what?
But also, that would be around 30 cuts from Ultimate, 40+ if you want to make room for newcomers.

 

[SPEN18]

Based on what?
But also, that would be around 30 cuts from Ultimate, 40+ if you want to make room for newcomers.

Not sure what the question is here?
I'm saying roughly Smash-4-sized is as low as I think it could be (I said "at least"). I think it will be bigger than Smash 4, but not as big as Ult.

 

[ShotoStar]

But I bet it was not simple to cope with that. Correct me if I'm wrong.
With a smaller roster though, the game could be more rich in other departments, like the story mode for example.
Let's be honest: We all wish for another platforming quest like the Adventure Mode or The Subspace Emissary.

I don't really want a Story Mode, to be honest. Subspace Emissary was fun as an experiment but it's not the end all be all in terms of Smash Bros priorities. I would like an Adventure Mode ala Melee's though just with more features, new worlds, new enemies taken from franchises added after Melee and whatnot. I'm happy with the cinematics of Smash being relegated to character reveals as long as they actually add those trailers to the Movies selection of the Vault menu next time. Still weird they didn't when it'd be a nice bonus to have every reveal trailer in one place to watch for whatever reason

 

[Louie G.]

Rather than a story mode, my pipe dream would be for each character to get a proper arcade campaign or at least some loose narrative string to cleverly cross over different faces. Kind of like Street Fighter or Marvel vs Capcom.

That way we get fun, unexpected crossover elements but they’re more isolated than Subspace, so they can just flesh out each idea individually. Although I don’t think we’d ever see something like this unless we condensed the roster significantly.

 

[Perkilator]

I still think NASB 2’s campaign would make a fun basis for future Smash adventure modes.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Still weird they didn't when it'd be a nice bonus to have every reveal trailer in one place to watch for whatever reason

They had to make the game fit a 16 GB cartridge somehow

Sakurai talks about it here, and he suggested he'd have to have the music be downloaded separately. I wonder why he didn't consider that for the trailers?

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Not sure what the question is here?
I'm saying roughly Smash-4-sized is as low as I think it could be (I said "at least"). I think it will be bigger than Smash 4, but not as big as Ult.

I mean, that seems to be the consensus, but accounting for newcomers that's about 30+ cuts no matter how you slice it.
Yet the cuts everyone predicts are usually just Pichu, Young Link, Piranha Plant and uuuuh Lucas I guess?, and that's it. Something doesn't add up.

But taking Smash 4 as a baseline feels pretty arbitrary to me. That game also only had all the characters it had because it was largely built off Brawl.

 

[Guynamednelson]

But taking Smash 4 as a baseline feels pretty arbitrary to me. That game also only had all the characters it had because it was largely built off Brawl.

But not as much as Ultimate was built off of Smash 4. Brawl's models were too high-res for the 3DS and too low-res for the Wii U, so they had to scrap them all, meanwhile the Switch is comparable enough to the Wii U to warrant keeping most of the models made for Smash for Wii U.