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Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

NintenRob

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Glad to see Skull Kid retain top spot among the Zelda crew, even if it is neck and neck. The three really would round off the Zelda crew nicely.

Speaking of Skull Kid, I feel a gentle reminder that this exists is warranted, not many Zelda characters can say they were the star of their own adventure
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StormC

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Guys. It's finally done.

You can find the results to the poll here.

And to celebrate, here's the overall top twenty...one.

3 Kid Icarus characters in the top 20 is pretty surprising to me. I guess KIU is still a fan favorite Nintendo game all these years later. No shock though that Dixie and Dee were #1 and 2.

As far as Zelda goes, I just don't think there is an appetite with Sakurai or Nintendo to add non-Triforce characters and that is what it comes down to. The Smash Ballot seems like the only real opportunity for there to have been for a K. Rool-esque addition (a less prominent character from a classic series added in on fan demand). There is no frontrunner because there just isn't a single unifying character that everyone can agree on, which isn't surprising for a series that's run over 35 years and has so many different settings and characters.

There's just no real simple solution to the Zelda "problem" as it stands. It's seemingly doomed to a stagnant roster because of the franchise's unique circumstances, the indifference of the development team, and lack of consensus among fans. Until at least one of those changes, I don't see anything shifting.
 

Slime Scholar

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There's no WAY it wasn't intentional.

Nintendo names game installments after it's consoles all the time. They never put "for" in there.

It's not "New Super Mario Bros. for Wii". It's not "Super Mario 64 for DS".
Did Nintendo stitch 3DS or Wii U to the end of any of their titles in that era? Closest thing I can think of is News Super Mario Bros. U.

Plus I don't really see how this logic tracks. Sakurai publicly calls them games 4 and 5, and we know from job listings they considered Ultimate the 6th entry. If it was an intentional pun, why contradict themselves? Or are we suggesting Sakurai doesn't really know?
Based on what?
Admittedly not a lot of evidence for this but call it a hunch. Most games drop numbering before they get to 9 or 10 (IDK if Nintendo considers Tour to be a mainline "numbered" game. It was developed in-house) and I don't know why they even started doing it with the 3DS game to begin with.

But this isn't an important topic so I'm just going to drop it.
 

Hypercat-Z

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Glad to see Skull Kid retain top spot among the Zelda crew, even if it is neck and neck. The three really would round off the Zelda crew nicely.

Speaking of Skull Kid, I feel a gentle reminder that this exists is warranted, not many Zelda characters can say they were the star of their own adventure
View attachment 394146
Freshly_Picked_Tingle_Cover.jpg

Guys! This dude had ALMOST onscreen $3X in the game.
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NintenRob

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Kirby Dragons

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Most requested Zelda characters have the problem of only being relevant in one or two games, so Nintendo might feel like it's not worth adding them. It'd be interesting if they gave us multiple Zelda newcomers in the next Smash, so they can represent more of the franchise all at once.
 

WeirdChillFever

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Impa is interesting as a choice because she herself can be split down in various incarnations. Personally I’m rooting for a Old Impa and Young Impa doesn’t entice me nearly as much. Weird to see characters I support be in the top 10 range, and for Off the Hook it’s especially weird to see them make the jump to the big time when I felt I was one of the few ones advocating for them in the DLC speculation period. Gonna focus on getting Master Kohga to the top next, or at least get him in the conversation as the default Wild saga representative.
 

Gengar84

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Guys. It's finally done.

You can find the results to the poll here.

And to celebrate, here's the overall top twenty...one.

It’s awesome to see Dixie made the member one spot. Other characters here I’d love to see are Isaac, Raven Beak, Skull Kid, Impa, Midna, Noah, Mio, Medusa, and Lyn. Dixie, Impa, and Medusa specifically are all in my top 10 most wanted first party characters.
 

pitchfulprocessing

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Guys. It's finally done.

You can find the results to the poll here.

And to celebrate, here's the overall top twenty...one.

Really great work to everybody involved overall. The Ring Fit results are interesting. I've wondered for a while how much of their support is split between wanting them because their moveset could be interesting and wanting them because they're a pretty safe and likely newcomer.
 

Scrimblo Bimblo

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About Zelda, my feelings haven't really changed.
This time BotW and TotK are going to be impossible to ignore, they need to get a character. A BotW/TotK character however wouldn't really satiate the hunger for Skull Kid, Midna and Impa.
Skull Kid and Midna however would have been good choices three times in a row and have been skipped over three times in a row, and let's face it the Impa people want is a spin-off character.

Anyways I feel like the next Zelda character will be a contemporary pick more than a long-standing fan request.
 

Gengar84

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I just hope Smash sticks to the theme of general Zelda series representation instead of focusing solely on the newest versions of every character. I loved Tears of the Kingdom and it was the first Zelda game I’ve ever actually completed but I prefer general amalgamations of iconic characters rather than basing everything off a single game. Plus, I think Link’s green hat and tunic are too iconic to drop entirely. I’ve said it before but my hope is we can get all versions of every Triforce trio member as alts like they did for Hyrule Warriors.
 

WeirdChillFever

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About Zelda, my feelings haven't really changed.
This time BotW and TotK are going to be impossible to ignore, they need to get a character. A BotW/TotK character however wouldn't really satiate the hunger for Skull Kid, Midna and Impa.
Skull Kid and Midna however would have been good choices three times in a row and have been skipped over three times in a row, and let's face it the Impa people want is a spin-off character.

Anyways I feel like the next Zelda character will be a contemporary pick more than a long-standing fan request.
There is a clear answer to combine both the Wild saga demand and the demand for older fan favorites, and I mean older fan favorites.

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Impa tears up the battlefield
 

Gengar84

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There is a clear answer to combine both the Wild saga demand and the demand for older fan favorites, and I mean older fan favorites.

View attachment 394150

Impa tears up the battlefield
Lol that would definitely be interesting but my favorite is her Hyrule Warriors incarnation. If that design is off the table, I’d love to see her Skyward Sword design since that looks like the base for the HW design (kind of like how HW Ganondorf pulls from his Twilight Princess design).
 

WeirdChillFever

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Lol that would definitely be interesting but my favorite is her Hyrule Warriors incarnation. If that design is off the table, I’d love to see her Skyward Sword design since that looks like the base for the HW design (kind of like how HW Ganondorf pulls from his Twilight Princess design).
Oh I’d love her Skyward Sword design

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SMAASH! Puppy

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As far as Gwin being the least liked Xenoblade Chronicles X character goes, as an only somewhat important side character (he's in a few story missions, but is overshadowed by Irina) who's supposed to be "the regular guy" of the group, I can see why he fails to stand out. That being said, it does mean he lost to the objectively worst character Bozé Lowes so it's still kinda sad.
 

Swamp Sensei

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As far as Gwin being the least liked Xenoblade Chronicles X character goes, as an only somewhat important side character (he's in a few story missions, but is overshadowed by Irina) who's supposed to be "the regular guy" of the group, I can see why he fails to stand out. That being said, it does mean he lost to the objectively worst character Bozé Lowes so it's still kinda sad.
Boze wasn't even in the poll. I didn't bother with a lot of the optional characters. The Xenoblade list was already huge.
 

Oracle Link

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Honestly adding the three frontrunners should be easy!
Letme guess impa is one of them?
Cut sheik or make her a costume for a new moveset!
cut young link (And toon if you add toy link as an replacement)
And then add number 3 bam 3 zelda newcomers and only 7 characters marrio and pokemon had atleast 2 more!

Again i do have to say keeping a small link is crucial! Toon link or the new design or both (as alts) would probably be ideal!
 

Louie G.

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About Zelda, my feelings haven't really changed.
This time BotW and TotK are going to be impossible to ignore, they need to get a character. A BotW/TotK character however wouldn't really satiate the hunger for Skull Kid, Midna and Impa.
Skull Kid and Midna however would have been good choices three times in a row and have been skipped over three times in a row, and let's face it the Impa people want is a spin-off character.

Anyways I feel like the next Zelda character will be a contemporary pick more than a long-standing fan request.
I do believe there’s more excuse now than before to add someone like Skull Kid, after a more active showing of support and generally more “free space” compared to Brawl needing to fill out some of the more obvious picks and Ultimate well… only adding six unique characters at launch. Smash 4 didn’t have too much of an excuse, I feel like that’s kind of the game that locked Zelda into this current stagnation.

But I’m in agreement with you on the greater sentiment. Zelda has been massive over these past few years, bigger than it’s maybe ever been, and while the enduring support for these “one-shot” picks continues to climb it makes more sense to add a fresh face from one of these wildly popular games that better demonstrates this series growth. Unless they are simply content representing this through the Triforce Trio directly, and updating Ganondorf and/or Zelda accordingly.

Urbosa and Sidon are the notable Wild era picks on the poll so those are the ones I’ve got my eye on. Although I’m pleasantly surprised at the showing for Master Kohga, only a couple places down. That’d be a fun choice.
 
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Diddy Kong

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So uh...

You know Zelda? The franchise where everyone says they need to just pick one character and support that option like crazy? It would be really simple if people just picked the frontrunner.

My poll suggests the true problem. There isn't a frontrunner. There's three. And they're so close in votes that they make up the 12th, 13th and 14th spot in the overall rankings.

Yes, the top three Zelda choices are all right next to each other with only a twenty votes difference between 12th and 14th. They're incredibly close. And the next Zelda character is 102 votes lower.

We might never solve this problem, LMAO. I can't earnestly say any of the three are substantially more popular than the other because it's not really true.


(Also I'm almost done with everything. Yay!)
I'll take this as a huge win for Impa. Cause Skull Kid and Midna kinda have their almost cult like following. Especially cause both Majora's Mash and Twilight Princess have a strong following that still hail these games as the best in the series.

Good things.
 

smashkirby

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Hi, been awhile hasn’t it?

I was genuinely thinking of not returning period but tbh the thought of a new Smash Bros is tantalizing to me, thought I’d lay out some ideas for it.

I guess in terms of first parties, I’m thinking Noah & Mio, as well as Pauline are pretty surefire to me. As well as the Octolings. Other characters I wanna mention that I’m less confident in but still think are worth mentioning are Bandana Dee, Ayumi Tachibana, Zoroark (yes, I’m dead serious about that one), and a Metroid character, most likely Sylux but timing would depend on it. Other than those ones I’m not sure about other first parties, I’d really like to see Chibi-Robo but I doubt they’d go with him. Elma I’ll put as an honorable mention.

Now for third-parties, I have quite a few I’m thinking of, and I mean, quite a few. Firstly I’d like to talk about Chun-Li. I think a Capcom character is very likely but she probably takes the cake as the one I see the most. But I could see several other options, just that she seems most obvious to me. Then there’s Tales. I know a lot of people want Lloyd and Yuri, but I’m honestly feeling Cress, especially with the Tales remaster project coming for the anniversary Phantasia will likely be most relevant. I’d be open to any Tales character though, Velvet and Luke being personal wants. As for other characters, I could see another Square Enix character. Perhaps 2B, maybe Chrono if they let him out of port jail. I really think an Ubisoft character is happening too, Rayman, Ezio, and Jade seem like the characters I think they’d go with (or Just Dance). Also would not sleep on a Type-Moon character, thinking they’ll go with Saber, maybe Arcruied as DLC. ArcSys could also get a character. I’m thinking Kunio is possible, but since Strive is coming to switch someone from guilty gear too, could be sol but considering his similarities to Terry, imma go with funny yo-yo girl Bridget. Thinking a character adjacent to Suda51 is in the cards too. I know Travis is immensely popular as a pick, but I wouldn’t sleep on Juliet from Lolipop Chainsaw, since the Repop remaster is coming out. Could also see another SNK character, I’m thinking Hoahmaru. Since Trails in the Sky 1st is coming to Switch, Estelle Bright potentially? (Would they do Joshua with her?) and since LEGO Horizons is coming as well, and the demographic overlap, I think Aloy would be a swimming fit for the game. A Koei Tecmo character is another one I see in the cards but not feeling DOA or Ninja Gaiden, I’m thinking Atelier probably, my money is on Marie (or Ryza I guess). Finally, if my profile picture wasn’t an indicator, I’d love to see Sakura Shinguji in the game from Sakura Wars, though lack of recent games make me hesitant to say they would go with her. Time will tell.

Those are just some things I’m spitballing, lemme know what you think!
Wow! Been a while since you've been here! Honestly, I'd say your first-party picks are pretty spot-on. Not saying they're ALL guaranteed, but it's still striking to me that Ayumi in particular could be a legitimate prediction in this day and age.

As for your 3rd party picks, I'm personally still hoping for Lloyd myself, but do you really think Cress is possible? Not saying I don't want him, but I haven't followed Tales for a while now...

Regarding another SNK character, I'm leaning towards either Mai, Rock, or Athena myself.

And just to throw a shout-out to Sakura really quick, I'm still hoping Shinguji and Amamiya appear as an Captain Olimar/Alph-situation...

A regular old Waddle Dee being the 6th most wanted Kirby character makes the hat Goomba comments so funny. Like yeah, we want the regular Goomba too. lol
I saw that, and you know what? Given how popular the Waddle Dees are in their home country of Japan, I can honestly see it. Not to mention that, in a worldwide sense, Nintendo HAS been pushing the Waddle Dees harder as co-mascots of Kirby (like in Japan). All in all, Bandana Dee being the face of his species really HAS helped them gain a foothold as important characters in the Kirby series.
 

Gengar84

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I'll take this as a huge win for Impa. Cause Skull Kid and Midna kinda have their almost cult like following. Especially cause both Majora's Mash and Twilight Princess have a strong following that still hail these games as the best in the series.

Good things.
I’d love for any or all three of them to get in Smash. HW Impa is my favorite of the three but Skull Kid and Midna are both really cool too, especially if Midna rides Wolf Link like she did in HW.
 

SMAASH! Puppy

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So, there's this fan game called Pokémon Close Combat. It's a fighting game featuring a bunch of fighting types that makes pretty good use of their own unique identities mixed with fighting game archetypes, and has a charming sketchy hand drawn artstyle that has Gen 1 sprite energy, but everyone's on model.

There's a ton of creativity on display, allowing Pokémon that don't normally stand out to do so. We've got Polywrath creating whirlpools to trap opponents or give himself a new approach option, Scrafty flinging his posse of Scraggys around, and Great Tusk has a roll stance that makes him very dangerous. They gave Tyrogue the ability to evolve on round 2 depending on whether he favored punch special moves (Hitmonchan), kick special moves (Hitmonlee), or neither (Hitmontop), each with their own movesets. If you cancel this evolution, Tyrogue gets a raging demon super, and all in all, I think that's one of the coolest gimmicks I've seen in a fighting game.

All of this to say, well for one Pokémon Close Combat is really cool, but beyond that it's just further proof that Pokémon has so much potential for fun editions to the cast. Even the humanoid picks have a lot to offer. I guess it just means that the issues people took with the starters is just the predictability (and dislike of Incineroar as a Pokémon) of it; We saw the pattern and we hated it. Even so, Meowscarada is still an extremely popular pick, and that's over the far superior choice of Skeledurge who deviates from the norm more than the other two. The stage magician angle is that enticing I guess. I'm personally still hoping for a cut deeper than a skim off the pond, but even as much as I dislike Meowscarada's design, I think i'd enjoy the end result.
 

SPEN18

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From the perspective of a supporter of X character, seeing these poll results is always like "wow, we've come a long way, but still a long way to go."
A lot of the results (though certainly not all!) were expected but even for those, it's good to be able to cite recent and objective measures to support any hunches.
Big thanks to Swamp Sensei Swamp Sensei and crew for running it.
 

Diddy Kong

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I’d love for any or all three of them to get in Smash. HW Impa is my favorite of the three but Skull Kid and Midna are both really cool too, especially if Midna rides Wolf Link like she did in HW.
At some point I was supporter of both Midna and Skull Kid too. Skull Kid for Smash 4 and Ultimate even, Midna for Brawl. Having either would have made more sense than having Sheik retrospectively.

But not only did Impa grow on me since Skyward Sword, she has been a steady mainstay. And will continue to appear even if her design and role and even capability of self defense change in every other role. That just means the roles she has had in which she is a capable fighter outweighed her elderly defenseless roles, like we got in BotW and TotK for example. Luckily we have a battle ready old Impa coming in with Echoes of Wisdom but that's not where she got her votes from.

Impa was always disregarded as "the easy choice" or a simple Echo. But this proofs she's downright popular. The same goes with Dixie and Bandana Dee. Naysayers don't have a thing to say anymore. And it's glorious.
 

NintenZ

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Wow! Been a while since you've been here! Honestly, I'd say your first-party picks are pretty spot-on. Not saying they're ALL guaranteed, but it's still striking to me that Ayumi in particular could be a legitimate prediction in this day and age.
The only ones I flat out expect are Noah/Mio, Pauline, and Octolings, rest are a bit of a toss-up though I do think it’s crazy nowadays how Ayumi is like a legitimate prediction after being an underground sorta thing for many years, I do really enjoy Famicom Detective Club.

As for your 3rd party picks, I'm personally still hoping for Lloyd myself, but do you really think Cress is possible? Not saying I don't want him, but I haven't followed Tales for a while now...
Yup! There is a new project called the Tales Remaster project. This is for the 30th anniversary and it’s almost entirely certain Phantasia will be one of them. Seeing as how Vesperia and Symphonia have had remasters already, I think that gives him an advantage due to recency, but hey who knows? Pyra and Mythra got in when XBDE was most relevant, so anything is possible, but I feel like it would be cress because of Phantasia’s general impact.

Regarding another SNK character, I'm leaning towards either Mai, Rock, or Athena myself.
All good picks! I actually think Rock would make for a perfect Echo Fighter for Terry, and it helps the new Fatal Fury game is coming out as well.

And just to throw a shout-out to Sakura really quick, I'm still hoping Shinguji and Amamiya appear as an Captain Olimar/Alph-situation...
Hoping for this as well, I also rescind the comment about recent games, Mega Man and Simon and Richter got in when there were no recent games out for either, I think what matters above all else is general impact. I recently played through all the Sakura Wars games and lemme tell you, a lot of narrative text based games, particularly visual novels (Tokemeki Memorial is also another one to thank) and JRPGs would be in a very different position without them. I definitely think it’s earned it’s place in a game like Smash Bros but it’s all up to Sakurai.

I also forgot to mention Aigis as a potential SEGA character but I don’t think she would be base game.
 
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