Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Swamp Sensei]

I'm just saying. People had these discussions about Meta Knight and Bayonetta back in the day.

A character being OP is not a reason to cut them when they can just be tweaked instead.

 

[Gengar84]

Smash fans when the moat successful game of all time is in Smash

View attachment 394785

Lol, I wouldn’t go that far for myself. He was my least wanted but it makes sense why he was chosen so I was cool with it. My brother and friend were more bothered by Steve but I defended his inclusion and tried to explain why they added him.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I'm just saying. People had these discussions about Meta Knight and Bayonetta back in the day.

A character being OP is not a reason to cut them when they can just be tweaked instead.

Especially Bayo, I remember watching reactions to Everyone is Here when it came out and it felt like half of them were like "NOOOOO" when Bayonetta was shown even though they knew it was happening lmao

 

[MeteoRain]

Steve's inclusion in Smash Brothers relatively recently has been a quite a contravesial topic especially in terms of balance, the amount of complexity getting him in and his competitive placement. Being the best character in-game according to tier-list to being busted and causing ires and for bans.

Do you think it's possible for him to return next game especially the difficulty implementing him with stages and mechanics?

Do you event want to return next-game or should get cut or even replace with other Microsoft reps like Crash or Master Chief?

Should Steve's moveset should be entirely revamped next game or should stay as is?

He's not getting replaced by Crash or Master Chief

I'm not an oracle but if he gets cut it would probably be because all Microsoft IPs didn't return to Smash

 

[Gengar84]

I could be wrong but I feel like Crash’s chances are a bit overestimated. If we’re just going by historical impact, I feel like other Activision/Blizzard series were bigger like StarCraft, WarCraft, and Diablo. Microsoft also has Halo and DOOM for huge iconic series. There is a strong argument that Crash’s rival mascot status on the PS1 could be enough though. I think a second RARE character has a strong case for a similar reason due to their connection to Nintendo. Crash also has fan support, which helps. Crash certainly still has a chance, I just don’t see him as the default most likely Microsoft rep.

 

[Guynamednelson]

I feel like other Activision/Blizzard series were bigger like StarCraft

Well at least in Japan Crash wasn't so unpopular that they never localized patches for the game nor the Brood War expansion, I'll give him that.

 

[Gengar84]

Well at least in Japan Crash wasn't so unpopular that they never localized patches for the game nor the Brood War expansion, I'll give him that.

Weird how a game can be so unpopular in one country and a huge cultural phenomenon in another. Not sure why Japan never took to StarCraft in the same way South Korea did.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Weird how a game can be so unpopular in one country and a huge cultural phenomenon in another. Not sure why Japan never took to StarCraft in the same way South Korea did.

PC gaming was always super-niche in Japan until recently.

Ironically despite this, SC actually got a Japanese dub on day 1, unlike Korea which had to wait until the remaster:

Starcraft quotes - Japanese version

Share your videos with friends, family and the world

www.youtube.com

 

[SharkLord]

I could be wrong but I feel like Crash’s chances are a bit overestimated. If we’re just going by historical impact, I feel like other Activision/Blizzard series were bigger like StarCraft, WarCraft, and Diablo. Microsoft also has Halo and DOOM for huge iconic series. There is a strong argument that Crash’s rival mascot status on the PS1 could be enough though. I think a second RARE character has a strong case for a similar reason due to their connection to Nintendo. Crash also has fan support, which helps. Crash certainly still has a chance, I just don’t see him as the default most likely Microsoft rep.

It definitely helps that Crash has outstanding fan support; Hell, I think he even got first place in the last SourceGaming megapoll. That said, you're also correct in that much of Microsoft's other IPs that they bought out are very impactful in the general sphere of pop culture. I think it'd be something of a Banjo situation, where Crash would be chosen for his ties to Nintendo (albeit as a former rival and not a former 64 exclusive) and fan support than hard sales.

Truth be told, though, I don't know if Crash would be chosen over another Microsoft character; As in, I don't think characters from the same company are necessarily mutually exclusive. Nintendo managed to negotiate Simon and Richter together on top of getting Snake back, and assuming they weren't negotiated for in advance during Smash 4's DLC cycle, they probably had to negotiate to get Mega Man AND Ryu back at the same time, on top of getting the rights to Ken. I don't think it's likely that we'd Crash and, say, Doomguy in the same DLC wave, but I don't think it's necessarily impossible. If Nintendo sees two popular, influential characters from the same company who would both make a big impact, I think they'd go for 'em regardless.

Unless their owners say no, obviously. Maybe Microsoft would attach too big a price tag on both. But still, we got Banjo and Steve just fine on top of Cuphead, Fallout, Dragonborn, and Doomguy Miis, so I don't think MS is that hard to work with.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I totally agree. Hyrule Warriors was also the first playable appearance for almost all of these characters so it makes sense to pull from that game even if it is a spinoff. I agree HW has a lot of awesome designs for the characters. They’re probably my second favorite for almost every character behind OoT Link, Ultimate Ganondorf, and TP Zelda. HW Impa is actually my favorite version of the character.

I get the sentiment that spin offs shouldn't be taken as much into account but... this is literally a fighting game ? Why shouldn't they take things in account ? Not fully comprehending this. HW did the most in terms of creating fitting move sets for the Smash Zelda cast. Better than Smash itself.

If an exception should be made, its very much this one. Especially for Age of Calamity since Nintendo promoted it as a true BOTW sequel, and is the best selling Warriors game.

However yeah, copyright might be an issue. Sure wish it wasn't though! But this doesn't seem as hard to manage as getting Sora, or **** even Cloud and Sephiroth or even Snake to get into Smash. But yeah I won't get into this.

Hyrule Warriors and its sequel shouldn't be overlooked is all am saying. Cause I even think the support of Midna and Skull Kid still lives because of this very game.

 

[dream1ng]

Even if rebalancing somehow wasn't an option consider that cutting Steve means you're giving up on that Minecraft money.

 

[cashregister9]

Monolith has a 25th anniversary site up

モノリスソフト設立25周年記念特設ページ| SPECIAL | モノリスソフト

皆さまに支えられて設立25周年を迎えました。

www.monolithsoft.co.jp

Not much new info but there are some wallpapers

If you want to stretch it could also be a decent indicator of what characters could be considered for smash? or some **** like that IDK

 

[dream1ng]

I could be wrong but I feel like Crash’s chances are a bit overestimated. If we’re just going by historical impact, I feel like other Activision/Blizzard series were bigger like StarCraft, WarCraft, and Diablo. Microsoft also has Halo and DOOM for huge iconic series. There is a strong argument that Crash’s rival mascot status on the PS1 could be enough though. I think a second RARE character has a strong case for a similar reason due to their connection to Nintendo. Crash also has fan support, which helps. Crash certainly still has a chance, I just don’t see him as the default most likely Microsoft rep.

I think Crash getting in would be due to demand, not the heights reached by his series, nor his (tenuous) connection to Nintendo. Third-parties aren't really included on that latter basis. It's just that having a connection can lend them demand, and that demand can get them included.

That's how Sonic, and Mega Man and Banjo did it. Because there are plenty of third-parties with some connection to Nintendo. That in an of itself isn't really enough, it needs to be leveraged into popularity. Look at the remaining Rare characters. They have a Nintendo connection, but let's be real, the chance of any of them being fighters is pretty small, as none really have much demand.

It definitely helps that Crash has outstanding fan support; Hell, I think he even got first place in the last SourceGaming megapoll. That said, you're also correct in that much of Microsoft's other IPs that they bought out are very impactful in the general sphere of pop culture. I think it'd be something of a Banjo situation, where Crash would be chosen for his ties to Nintendo (albeit as a former rival and not a former 64 exclusive) and fan support than hard sales.

Truth be told, though, I don't know if Crash would be chosen over another Microsoft character; As in, I don't think characters from the same company are necessarily mutually exclusive. Nintendo managed to negotiate Simon and Richter together on top of getting Snake back, and assuming they weren't negotiated for in advance during Smash 4's DLC cycle, they probably had to negotiate to get Mega Man AND Ryu back at the same time, on top of getting the rights to Ken. I don't think it's likely that we'd Crash and, say, Doomguy in the same DLC wave, but I don't think it's necessarily impossible. If Nintendo sees two popular, influential characters from the same company who would both make a big impact, I think they'd go for 'em regardless.

Unless their owners say no, obviously. Maybe Microsoft would attach too big a price tag on both. But still, we got Banjo and Steve just fine on top of Cuphead, Fallout, Dragonborn, and Doomguy Miis, so I don't think MS is that hard to work with.

No, characters from the same company aren't mutually exclusive, and it seems entirely possible we get multiple Microsoft newcomers, they have a wealth to choose from.

But also, whether they are licensed at the same time or not is probably going to be on a case by case basis. Like, for base, I would agree that, like, Snake and Simon were probably licensed at the same time. But I think, based on how the content was distributed, Cloud and Sephiroth may have also been licensed at the same time, with one just being held. And then, even though they were in the same wave, I think Sephiroth and Sora were not licensed at the same time (I know Disney owns the license, but Square was obviously involved). You also have to wonder if a character like Bayonetta was licensed for both Smash 4 DLC and Ultimate simultaneously.

I think some characters are licensed further in advance of when they show than others, and also that they will be licensed in waves, potentially returning to the same companies later on. I think it's pretty highly variable, and maybe Crash would be licensed at the same time as Banjo and Steve... or maybe it'd be much later. It depends on the rollout and the unique deals between the companies. There's no one pattern, imo.

Also I agree MS probably will be amenable to cooperation, but of that list only Banjo and Steve were (probably) involving MS. Cuphead the IP isn't owned by them, and Vault Boy, Dovahkiin and Doom Slayer were, I would guess, licensed at the same time, prior to the Bethesda buyout.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Monolith has a 25th anniversary site up

モノリスソフト設立25周年記念特設ページ| SPECIAL | モノリスソフト

皆さまに支えられて設立25周年を迎えました。

www.monolithsoft.co.jp

Not much new info but there are some wallpapers

If you want to stretch it could also be a decent indicator of what characters could be considered for smash? or some **** like that IDK

Having watched their 25th anniversary video, gotta say I didn't expect Raymond Bryce from Disaster: Day of Crisis to show up for a little bit in it lmao

 

[Diddy Kong]

I'm just saying. People had these discussions about Meta Knight and Bayonetta back in the day.

A character being OP is not a reason to cut them when they can just be tweaked instead.

Maybe. But Bayonetta and Meta Knight turned out to be fine in later installments. I seriously think Steve by design is over tuned. He shouldn't be able to do all that. And doing all that is his whole design.

Or just make every block easily breakable and nerf the **** out of the foraging stuff especially diamond stuff. And maybe he's fine?

I just think / suspect he will at worst end up like Min Min.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

But still, we got Banjo and Steve just fine on top of Cuphead, Fallout, Dragonborn, and Doomguy Miis, so I don't think MS is that hard to work with.

Cuphead is not owned by Microsoft and Bethesda was not owned by Microsoft at the time the costumes happened. They are irrelevant to the point.

Correction; I am misinformed as I believed Bethesda was acquired in 2022.

Still applies to Fallout.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Maybe. But Bayonetta and Meta Knight turned out to be fine in later installments. I seriously think Steve by design is over tuned. He shouldn't be able to do all that. And doing all that is his whole design.

People said that about Meta Knight and Bayonetta too.

Especially Bayonetta.