Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[NintenRob]

Unless the 2022 game isn't Smash Bros

 

[Dukefire]

I'd say it's highly likely that Gen 10 wasn't even in pre-production by that point since the DLC was releasing late the following year. They'd have to wait at least one whole year, possibly somewhere around 2 years for designs to be finalized, which is a big difference from including designs from a game releasing about a year after the project plan was finalized. In that latter case they were probably waiting more like months.

Assuming this is the timeline, I'd say it confirms Gen 9.

Which Gen 9 pokemon has the possibility of joining?

 

[Laniv]

Please not Smash Bros anything but Smash Bros

I'd much rather Sakurai work on something original than being tied to Smash Bros all the time every day forever

Cue the Playstation All-Star Battle Royale 2 trailer

That said, a Sakurai-led PlayStation All-Stars game would be cool

 

[SneakyLink]

Which Gen 9 pokemon has the possibility of joining?

The one I see the most support for is Meowscarada, the final evolution of the Grass starter.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Ultimate only had 6 months between its reveal and release, but its fighter videos were arguably more successful than Smash for Wii U's.

Nintendo games aren't announced far in advance anymore. Big pre-release periods are a thing of the past, unfortunately.

Dunno what you mean by unfortunately. Games getting announced years before they are actually released is a BAD thing. And Nintendo's current method is a huge improvement.

Personally I hope it's more Kid Icarus.

I'd rather just get an Uprising remake on a modern system with modern controls.

Ideally, that's a project Sakurai doesn't have to oversee personally, so it can be made while he's still working on a new Smash.

Oof, Shadow's chance actually most likely are screwed considering Sega's big push for him only started happening a year or two afterwards.

I wouldn't worry too much. Since we know DLC doesn't necessarily get planned out the same time as the base roster.

 

[Dukefire]

The one I see the most support for is Meowscrarada, the final evolution of the Grass starter.

A magician Dark/Grass dual typing that is fast and a trickster.....
Plus, the second grass type starter other then Ivysaur.

 

[ScrubReborn]

Oof, Shadow's chance actually most likely are screwed considering Sega's big push for him only started happening a year or two afterwards.

Assuming this is Smash at all (kinda doubtful), I wouldn't say that. Sure it weakens his case somewhat, but Shadow still had massive popularity from most of Ult's base game cycle, and I'm sure the dev team pays attention to that type of stuff.

 

[RileyXY1]

Which Gen 9 pokemon has the possibility of joining?

I'm thinking it's gonna be Quaquaval because I think of the three starters I think that Sakurai would see the most moveset potential for it.

 

[Gengar84]

Please not Smash Bros anything but Smash Bros

I'd much rather Sakurai work on something original than being tied to Smash Bros all the time every day forever


That said, a Sakurai-led PlayStation All-Stars game would be cool

I think it totally depends on what he personally wants to do. If he’s happy exclusively working on Smash then that’s cool with me. If he’s burnt out and would rather work on something else instead for a change then I totally agree. In that event, I think they should get someone else to take up the mantle for Smash until Sakurai is ready to come back.

 

[Eldrake]

So it began in April 2022

Metroid Dread released in October 2021

All I am hearing is that this can happen

 

[Dukefire]

Assuming this is Smash at all (kinda doubtful), I wouldn't say that. Sure it weakens his case somewhat, but Shadow still had massive popularity from most of Ult's base game cycle, and I'm sure the dev team pays attention to that type of stuff.

You think some of the characters that gotten Mii costumes during Fighters Pass 1&2 might have a shot again?

 

[PersonAngelo53]

If I'm being perfectly honest, while FE exacerbates the issue, I don't think a smaller selection of FE characters would have significantly improved Hero's western reception or any character with an "anime" look.

There will always be exceptions of course, , but generally speaking, any character without a huge hold in the west will be criticized by the west. It's the Goku problem or perk if you're an FF or KH character. Loads of people in the west dislike anime/anime style games but will swear by DBZ or Pokémon because it's among of the few they tried/were exposed to and it helps in DBZ's case that Toriyama's art is so distinct (Pokémon's got a pretty distinct look too actually and there's the benefit of you know, the Pokémon.)

I've no doubt that any series like Phantasy Star, Ys, Trails, Disgaea, Bravely, even Tales etc. would all get negative to mixed reception in the west.

As for the FE lineup itself, it's- difficult imo.

On the one hand, people complain about Marth clones, but Roy is a fan favorite among Smash players and both Chrom and Lucina are very popular and significant characters from one of the most popular and significant games in the series. And if the base character is there, there's little reason to not include them again. If you're cutting characters not to save on dev time/costs and instead just to appease western fans who want to see "number go down" I don't really see the point. It's not like these characters/series don't have established and growing western audiences of their own either.

While I do think they're fun to play, Corrin really is the only one I see as having more genuinely going against them if they want to trim things down, and even then, that more than likely comes with a new FE character getting brought in anyway.

As someone that has a Trails character as like his most wanted character for smash I can agree it probably get mixed or bad reception if it does happen unfortunately. I just hope we get like 50 or more music tracks from a Nihon Falcom character to somewhat soften the blow of the reaction of some people. The cool thing is that I can totally see that happen with how Nihon Falcom is so nice with sharing their music.

 

[Dan Quixote]

Yeah, unless GF is gonna force Sakurai to scrap the planned Gen 9 fighter to force a Gen 10 fighter instead, it's clear that Gen 10 is not getting a rep. In fact I don't know what they're gonna do about Pokémon.

They could always go the DLC route, like how Corrin and Byleth got in. In fact, I'm kinda surprised they didn't do that already.

I'd rather just get an Uprising remake on a modern system with modern controls.

Ideally, that's a project Sakurai doesn't have to oversee personally, so it can be made while he's still working on a new Smash.

Knowing Sakurai's personality, he would probably want to personally oversee even that.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I found the post on what I was looking for. Jave says not to quote them on it because it is a lot of speculation, but the dates at least should be factual, and that's really what I care about here. Adding the new info to the timeline:

1. July 2021: Project Plan created
2. October 2021: Sora's release
3. December 2021: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's final balance patch.
4. April 2022: Dev Team Assembled
5. November 2023: Namco Studio 2 and Namco Studio S revealed
6. December 2023: Final Spirit Event revealed
7. March 2024: End of Spirit Event
8. February 2024: Final Version update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, allowing for compatibility with the Sora Amiibo

If we were to assume that Namco Studio S is the new Smash team (and that they had no reason to wait an entire year to reveal the new teams), that would confirm that Sakurai's next game is not Smash. Though...Unless the game is being held off (which is a possibility, as it could be a Switch Successor title which would mean that it literally can't come out this year) it would mean that Sakurai isn't working on the next Smash game currently.

EDIT: More relevantly, unless the game had a 1 year dev cycle, he wasn't present at the start, or at all, of next Smash's development.

 

[Noipoi]

On the one hand, I feel like we’re jumping to conclusions immediately assuming it’s a new Smash.

On the other hand, when does Nintendo approach Sakurai for anything but Smash?

I highly doubt they’d pull up like “Hey man, I know it’s been a while but we really need a new Meteos.”

 

[SneakyLink]

On the one hand, I feel like we’re jumping to conclusions immediately assuming it’s a new Smash.

On the other hand, when does Nintendo approach Sakurai for anything but Smash?

I highly doubt they’d pull up like “Hey man, I know it’s been a while but we really need a new Meteos.”

Especially considering there have been Meteos games without Sakurai’s involvement (such as Disney Meteos)

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I can see a scenario where Sakurai's secret project he was referring to is NOT a Smash game and that the next Smash game is now the current project.

After all, isn't the one he referred to far along in development that he teased an announcement would come "sooner or later"? I think that would imply it can't be Smash unless Nintendo holds it hostage to make it around the Switch 2's time.

Sakurai also admitted to some usual overlaps between his projects so maybe we faced one of those transition states without knowing?

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Perfect reveal trailer music for the guy

I don't know what version of the game you were playing but three houses had loads of lovable characters. and a few hateable

Im pretty sure you misread my post because thats is exactly what i said there.

 

[Shinuto]

If next smash was finalized in early 2022 (which is a big if considering sakurai didn't say it was smash specifically)... I don't necessarily know if that makes gen 9 any more likely over gen 10. Like, the assumption is that the pick would be made to promote the newest gen, would you really stick to gen 9 knowing that gen X could very well be revealed or even release by the time the 3/4 years of smash dev are done? It'd be weird to call it a recent pick a t that point. Maybe this is cope because I don't really like the gen 9 hopefuls that much but I feel like they'd account for the possibility that timing would most likely bunch them right up between generations of pokemon, especially when I feel like that gen X will be something GF will really want to push due to round number bias and all that

Dude if next Smash started in April of 2022 how in the hell would it gen pokemon from a game not even revealed yet let alone the pokemon gen just recently revealed earlier in February of that year? What are you gen 10ers on?

 

[Shinuto]

The one I see the most support for is Meowscarada, the final evolution of the Grass starter.

What a boring as usual pick

 

[Dukefire]

Perfect reveal trailer music for the guy

Im pretty sure you misread my post because thats is exactly what i said there.

It would make Shadow's moveset more interesting after he embraced his new alien doom powers.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Dude if next Smash started in April of 2022 how in the hell would it gen pokemon from a game not even revealed yet let alone the pokemon gen just recently revealed earlier in February of that year?

Gen 9 would actually make sense because iirc, X/Y started being conceptualized while Black and White 2 were in its final months of work.

Gen 10 is absolutely out of the question but if this project is Smash, April 2022 is actually the ideal time period for Gen 9 to get something.

EDIT: Misread, that's literally what you said lmao

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I'm thinking it's gonna be Quaquaval because I think of the three starters I think that Sakurai would see the most moveset potential for it.

For once i agree with something you say.

This sounds exactly like something he'd do

 

[CommanderZaktan]

If the next game is Smash, will it be a Deluxe port of Ultimate with all of the DLC with new content, or a brand new Smash game?

 

[SneakyLink]

Something I’ve been thinking about: How would a future Smash game handle reveals from characters in franchises rated T or M by the ESRB?

With Ultimate, starting from the Byleth update, characters that received a Mii costume from a M rated game had “Smash Ultimate x Character name” instead of the franchise name like the rest (and for games rated T, there was a disclaimer stating so). However they could still be referenced in game… but the last spirit event had it so games rated T could not be referenced even in game (The line that displays where a spirit is from does not exist for three spirits: 13 Sentinels, Zagreus, and Noah & Mio (the last one still has the franchise symbol)).

So assuming a future Smash has characters from typical T or M franchises, how would they advertise the character?

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I can see a scenario where Sakurai's secret project he was referring to is NOT a Smash game and that the next Smash game is now the current project.

After all, isn't the one he referred to far along in development that he teased an announcement would come "sooner or later"? I think that would imply it can't be Smash unless Nintendo holds it hostage to make it around the Switch 2's time.

Sakurai also admitted to some usual overlaps between his projects so maybe we faced one of those transition states without knowing?

Or "sooner or later" is early next year?

Also, the game being held hostage would make sense if it was a Switch 2 game, but was finished this year since the Switch 2 itself was delayed.

 

[Perkilator]

If the next game is Smash, will it be a Deluxe port of Ultimate with all of the DLC with new content, or a brand new Smash game?

Probably a new game, since the Switch 2 (likely) being backwards compatible probably means there would be no point in a Smash Ultimate Deluxe.

 

[Shinuto]

For once i agree with something you say.

This sounds exactly like something he'd do

Why can't we get a non starter to rep a gen, the only ones that break it are the easy to make Jigglypuff and Pichu Mewtwo....who's Mewtwo, and Lucario the big marketing push mon from Gen 4. Can't we get a fan favorite?

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Something I’ve been thinking about: How would a future Smash game handle reveals from characters in franchises rated T or M by the ESRB?

With Ultimate, starting from the Byleth update, characters that received a Mii costume from a M rated game had “Smash Ultimate x Character name” instead of the franchise name like the rest (and for games rated T, there was a disclaimer stating so). However they could still be referenced in game… but the last spirit event had it so games rated T could not be referenced even in game (The line that displays where a spirit is from does not exist for three spirits: 13 Sentinels, Zagreus, and Noah & Mio (the last one still has the franchise symbol)).

So assuming a future Smash has characters from typical T or M franchises, how would they advertise the character?

I think they would go the opposite direction and nuke every mention of every game ever.

It's the only way to make things fair with the ESRB's current guidelines.

 

[Perkilator]

Something I’ve been thinking about: How would a future Smash game handle reveals from characters in franchises rated T or M by the ESRB?

With Ultimate, starting from the Byleth update, characters that received a Mii costume from a M rated game had “Smash Ultimate x Character name” instead of the franchise name like the rest (and for games rated T, there was a disclaimer stating so). However they could still be referenced in game… but the last spirit event had it so games rated T could not be referenced even in game (The line that displays where a spirit is from does not exist for three spirits: 13 Sentinels, Zagreus, and Noah & Mio (the last one still has the franchise symbol)).

So assuming a future Smash has characters from typical T or M franchises, how would they advertise the character?

At this point, I'd prefer if the next Smash was rated T for teen if ESRB and CERO are still going to be tightwds about this.

 

[Shinuto]

I think they would go the opposite direction and nuke every mention of every game ever.

It's the only way to make things fair with the ESRB's current guidelines.

If that's the case then ESRB just needs to die.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Something I’ve been thinking about: How would a future Smash game handle reveals from characters in franchises rated T or M by the ESRB?

With Ultimate, starting from the Byleth update, characters that received a Mii costume from a M rated game had “Smash Ultimate x Character name” instead of the franchise name like the rest (and for games rated T, there was a disclaimer stating so). However they could still be referenced in game… but the last spirit event had it so games rated T could not be referenced even in game (The line that displays where a spirit is from does not exist for three spirits: 13 Sentinels, Zagreus, and Noah & Mio (the last one still has the franchise symbol)).

So assuming a future Smash has characters from typical T or M franchises, how would they advertise the character?

My thinking is that they'll just go back to how they did it in SSB4, which to my knowledge never had the Smash X [SERIES] tagline.

 

[fogbadge]

Perfect reveal trailer music for the guy

Im pretty sure you misread my post because thats is exactly what i said there.

you said they were canon fodder

 

[BuckleyTim]

I feel like I just kinda have to preemptively accept that whatever pokemon gets chosen is not gonna be on I actively want or even like all that much. Sucks for it to be the way it is but I guess that's what happens when every Gen brings at least half a dozen mons that could have some shot of being promoted in that fashion.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Oof, Shadow's chance actually most likely are screwed considering Sega's big push for him only started happening a year or two afterwards.

He could just come way later as dlc or something.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

My thinking is that they'll just go back to how they did it in SSB4, which to my knowledge never had the Smash X [SERIES] tagline.

It actually did. Cloud's trailer had that.

 

[SneakyLink]

My thinking is that they'll just go back to how they did it in SSB4, which to my knowledge never had the Smash X [SERIES] tagline.

For characters, I think Smash 4 did use the Smash X SERIES tagline twice, for Ryu and Cloud.

Mii costumes used it for every costume.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

you said they were canon fodder

I said the three houses cast were actual characters and the games that came before them were basically cannon fodder.

My thinking is that they'll just go back to how they did it in SSB4, which to my knowledge never had the Smash X [SERIES] tagline.

It did with the DLC stuff

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

you said they were canon fodder

He said the cast OTHER GAMES were canon fodder, something I disagree with but already voiced my opinion on that.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Knowing Sakurai's personality, he would probably want to personally oversee even that.

I'm sure he would. But Nintendo would stab him with a pitchfork.

On the one hand, I feel like we’re jumping to conclusions immediately assuming it’s a new Smash.

Yes we are. What are ya gonna do about it?!