Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

I've also always pictured Skull Kid having a "turn you into a Deku Scrub" attack, and I don't think it would be particularly hard to balance.
Just make it so the Deku Scrub can still run, jump and shield but nothing else (think Pyra when she doesn't have her sword), and make the effect obviously last longer the higher the character's % is. Not more than 3-4 seconds at most though, and suffering heavy knockback also instantly turns you back to normal.
In this way, it wouldn't be worse than stuff like Mewtwo's Disable (you're dead for sure) or Ridley's Skewer (you have a 50% chance of being dead), and it would still be unique since it creates a brief cat and mouse sequence.

If you also give Skull Kid Majora's Wrath's spinning tops as another special (they would work kinda like ROB's Gyro I think, spinning into place for a while) he'd be able to also close some options to his Deku Scrub-ified opponent; for example to move past the spinning top he'd be forced to jump and, knowing that, Skull Kid can act accordingly.

A moveset like this also fits pretty well with his characterization as a trickster/little ****, now I'm sad again that this will probably never happen.

 

[Super Flygon]

Saw some people posting their roster hopes for the next game. With news that Sakurai's been working on his next project since April 2022, I figured I would post my hope for the next game:

Obviously I see the next game being closer to an Ultimate Deluxe than them just throwing everything out the window and starting over. I can see it releasing either in 2025 or 2026 (if Sakurai's project is Smash, then that bodes well for an early release because Ultimate kind of started in December 2015 and then started fully in February 2016, with a release in December 2018).

No cuts, and no promotions to full characters for any prior echoes. Yellow is a new base game echo (Impa for Sheik, Dixie Kong for Diddy Kong, Tails for Sonic, Octoling for Inkling and Matthew for Isaac, though you could also make the case for Felix instead of Matthew - whoever is not included would be an Assist Trophy).

Red is a new base game non-echo (everyone from Pauline to Isaac). No Waluigi because I feel they will prioritize Pauline, and at least Walu is still represented as an Assist Trophy. I don't see the next FE game releasing before Smash. Pokemon is unclear to me, but depends on when Gen 10 releases. If it's not someone from Gen 10, I'd go with either Meowscarada and Hisuian Zoroark, or maybe someone yet to be revealed from ZA. Skull Kid & Bandana Dee would scratch fan favorite itches, and Raven Beak, Oatchi and Noah are from recent Switch games. Shovel Knight would be the base game third party newcomer.

Takamaru is the Piranha Plant of the roster. Everyone from Paper Mario to Rayman is DLC, plus Zack as a Cloud Echo and Jin as a Kazuya echo. The only other DLC echo would be Jill for Leon (or vice-versa). DLC after Takamaru would be broken into 4 DLC packs. I could see them announcing the existence of two right out the gate and then revealing the existence of the third pack after the second is almost done and the fourth pack after the third is almost done. Paper Mario to Chun-Li (plus Jin) would be Pack 1. Officer Howard to Sylux (plus Zack) would be Pack 2. Crash to Spyro is Pack 3. Kratos to Rayman is Pack 4. DLC would run for about 5 years. I was initially operating on the idea that Smash on Switch 2 releases in Holiday 2026. Maybe it will be earlier assuming Sakurai's project is Smash (wasn't expecting dev to have started in April 2022).

Notable omissions like Waluigi, Krystal, Shadow, Knuckles are still represented as Assist Trophies and I'd consider them on the shortlist for the next game after this one. Also on the shortlist after this would be the likes of Captain Toad, Birdo, King Boo, Nabbit, Funky Kong, Cranky Kong, Poochy, Magolor, Hades, Medusa, Tom Nook and still a bunch of others lol.

 

[HyperSomari64]

Wasted my sleeptime on doing another roster (a pseudo expansion of the first one, but with a few changes)

Sorry for not adding a new Pokémon, but i think some traditions should be skipped from game to game.
(Maybe i should sleep more)

Edit: Bayo's slot was a bit slipped away from the CSS lol. fixed it

 

[MrMcNuts]

Heard we talking about most wanted's again so here's my top 7 I put together a while ago as a hypothetical fighters pass 3

I know Toejam & Earl and Sir Daniel don't have a chance in hell

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

It's exciting to think that the next Smash has probably been in development for 2 years and half, that's almost as long as Ultimate already.
The game is going to be packed.

 

[NintenZ]

I got a new sig!

Whatcha think?

For the sake of Smash related discussion...

This is your new newcomer lineup in a new Smash game. How do you react?

Banging taste as always! Would be up for all of these tbh.

What a weird coincidence Falcom came up.

Falcom President Toshihiro Kondo says that if Nintendo ever asked Falcom to have a character represented in Smash Bros. he would want it to be Adol from Ys.

His logic is Adol has been the main character of the Ys series for a long time. The Trails series has different main… pic.twitter.com/5kHRWQonx8

— Stealth (@Stealth40k) October 25, 2024

Huh, interesting.

Thought it would be Estelle cause she has a ****ton of merchandise and Trails in the Sky is really popular, trails in the Sky remake is a Switch exclusive(?) too.

I do question if they’ve even been approached or not.

 

[Laniv]

My top 25 most wanted characters
View attachment 395586

Toad and Tom Nook are here, excellent taste

 

[NintenZ]

Terms of characters, I’ve talked about ones I expect, ones that I think have a chance, and ones I think would make a good transition.

Terms of ones I personally want myself? Hmm, that’s a bit of a tougher call tbh. There are so many characters I think would make a great transition to Smash Bros that it’s hard to narrow it down and select just a few.

Personally at this rate? I’m game with anyone lol, I trust Sakurai to make anything he touches engaging.

(Note: there are a lot I think would be cool and appealing to me, but I’m not actively pushing for anyone, I just am pretty malleable with going with the flow)

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Couldn't think of a good 19 and 20, so I just dropped it down to 18 since it split evenly. Few things about this wish list:

• I put down Oatchi's name, but I'd be okay with the Pikmin 4 Recruit joining up with them too. I think Oatchi by himself would probably be better for uniqueness' sake, but yeah.
• Noah and Mio is an and/or situation, either both of them in one character slot or one of them, though I'd prefer the former.
• I usually put Tibby as my want for Rhythm Heaven, but honestly as long as it's not Karate Joe (I find him very boring, even if he does have perfect attendance), I'd be okay with about anyone.
• Digimon is most likely to be Agumon, I just didn't wanna put Agumon on it since I worry he'd have a lot of design overlap with T-Rex, especially if he can Digivolve into Greymon lol
• I usually pick Papyrus for Undertale since I still have a hard time imagining Sans as a full on fighter even if he is incredibly popular because his entire personality is that of a slacker who doesn't fight you unless you literally kill everyone he loves, but I put a general pick here. I would've put the Delta Rune logo--like the one in Gerson's shop in Waterfall, I mean--instead of the heart (I feel like the Delta Rune would be the series logo since it applies to both games), but I couldn't find a good transparent one.
• 2B and Isaac are in that camp of "I could see them happening, but they're mostly here to see my friends happy since I don't have experience with those games."
• Shy Guy is a super niche pipe dream pick I've had since the Smash 4 days as a second Yoshi character, and while making this I was hit with the irony of basically the entire concept behind his moveset in my head basically being how Plant works, using various types of Shy Guys from spin-offs and Yoshi games and things, originally stemming from Fly Guy as an Up Special. Maybe that's why I like Plant so much lol
• Characters are in no particular order, just the order I thought about them in, minus Bomberman who was on top row before I reduced it to 18 characters.

 

[DarthEnderX]

in order to turn Zelda into a more direct combat focused fighter Sakurai would have to get approval from ; Aonuma & Miyamoto , & that is NOT going to happen.

Right... They'd never give Sakurai permission to do something they already let Cadence of Hyrule and Hyrule Warriors(twice) do...

That thing that's already happened 3 times before is NOT going to happen!

My top 25 most wanted characters

That's a great wishlist!

Saw some people posting their roster hopes for the next game. With news that Sakurai's been working on his next project since April 2022, I figured I would post my hope for the next game:

Now this guy knows how to make a roster!

Heard we talking about most wanted's again so here's my top 7 I put together a while ago as a hypothetical fighters pass 3

 

[Idon]

Sadly, I'm too lazy to make a top 10 list of newcomers I'd want for the next game.

 

[Jave]

Makes me happy to see more prediction/want rosters that include Alear. It seems more people are warming up to the character.

 

[SneakyLink]

I have a top 10 newcomer list, ordered in no particular order:

1. Atari’s Centipede
2. A Team Fortress 2 rep
3. Ryu Hayabusa
4. Shantae
5. Otto Matic
6. Master Chief
7. Reimu Hakurei
8. KOS-MOS
9. Quaquaval
10. A Fortnite rep that isn’t Jonesy (such as Peely)

 

[CommanderZaktan]

Rate their chances to be in Smash as a fighter, Pokemon edition:
Eevee
Zoroark (Hisuian form)
Cinderace
Urshifu
Meowscarada
Tinkaton
Gholdengo
Ogerpon

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

After spending the past few days mulling over the hypothetical 2021 project proposal being Smash (which I still am highly skeptical of) and deciding to look more into Ceruledge after it was brought up as a big deal by watching clips of it in action via anime, Unite, the promotional video from earlier this year, etc.:

This thing....would be a perfect fit for Smash, it's not even funny.

Assuming the next project IS Smash, I can easily see Sakurai being drawn to this Pokémon on a conceptual level when filling out the token "new Pokémon" placeholder.

Opossum Idon
Consider me swayed.

 

[TheLamerGamer]

Makes me happy to see more prediction/want rosters that include Alear. It seems more people are warming up to the character.

I am yet to play engage (or any mainline FE, although I played heroes ages back and own three houses), but I'm one of maybe five non-fe fans who likes every character from the series in smash. Like, Byleth is among my favourite dlc characters in terms of fighting style and design, and I like all FE characters a similar amount (except Robin), so more FE designs and music is very much a good thing to me.

After spending the past few days mulling over the hypothetical 2021 project proposal being Smash (which I still am highly skeptical of) and deciding to look more into Ceruledge after it was brought up as a big deal by watching clips of it in action via anime, Unite, the promotional video from earlier this year, etc.:

This thing....would be a perfect fit for Smash, it's not even funny.

View attachment 395608

Assuming the next project IS Smash, I can easily see Sakurai being drawn to this Pokémon on a conceptual level when filling out the token "new Pokémon" placeholder.

Opossum Idon
Consider me swayed.

I think the main issue with ceruledge is that it's violet exclusive, so may not be a good advertisement for all of gen 9 - otherwise I would agree that it has a very good chance, and it could easily still be picked.

Also the trailer on the previous page has reminded me of how much I want tingle as a dark horse pick - I love tingle. Genuinely. He's a silly campy character, he's had his own super charming spinoffs, he's appeared in loads of games. The only reason he's vanished recently is because Americans don't like him for... some reason, and I've never worked out why.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

I think the main issue with ceruledge is that it's violet exclusive, so may not be a good advertisement for all of gen 9 - otherwise I would agree that it has a very good chance, and it could easily still be picked.

The item to evolve into Ceruledge is Violet exclusive.
You can however obtain it in Tera Raids in either version.

 

[chinkuru]

you put the same character in twice?

Sorry, the character next to Conker is Joanna Dark

 

[The Prankster 16]

Since other people are posting their rosters, i'll repost mine that I made, now with images. The ones with multiple characters are an either/or situation (except for aegis). Went with a size just under base Ultimate and with 15 newcomers (4 of them being echoes).

 

[MrMcNuts]

Since other people are posting their rosters, i'll repost mine that I made, now with images. The ones with multiple characters are an either/or situation (except for aegis). Went with a size just under base Ultimate and with 15 newcomers (4 of them being echoes).View attachment 395609

The Rayman and Cloud duo fighter really gives Ice Climbers a run for their money I hear

 

[Shinuto]

Hmm I was kinda hoping I'd get some feedback on my newcmers picks...

 

[The Prankster 16]

Here's my newcomer picks restrained to 24 fighters

Honesty pretty solid. Nothing too crazy, but i could definetly see each of them getting in either smash 6 or whatever comes next.

 

[fogbadge]

Sorry, the character next to Conker is Joanna Dark

oh so that's joanna

 

[DKing]

Do You guys have a predictions about the next Sakurai games( I personally hope for a Kid Icarus 2 game).

 

[Guynamednelson]

Do You guys have a predictions about the next Sakurai games( I personally hope for a Kid Icarus 2 game).

I would think there wouldn't be enough time for Smash 6 to be nearing completion, given that the devs who made FP2 were moved to Tekken 8 and they'd be busy with it all throughout 2022-23, but the credits for base SSBU don't have that much overlap with the Tekken team, they got more Ace Combat/Soulcalibur/Tales of devs to make the game instead.

 

[Louie G.]

Since other people are posting their rosters, i'll repost mine that I made, now with images. The ones with multiple characters are an either/or situation (except for aegis). Went with a size just under base Ultimate and with 15 newcomers (4 of them being echoes).View attachment 395609

I like your presentation, and this seems like a reasonable enough roster size. I think my main hangup here are your "either/or" scenarios, particularly just that a few of them don't make very much sense to me.

Isabelle vs Palutena is like... I just think they should both be here, if you're pondering that at all. But Isabelle should just not be on the chopping block, period. She's considered a core Nintendo mascot, nobody with this amount of prominence - seriously, just look at all the Nintendo Tokyo stuff - should be a question at all. And after the success of New Horizons the idea of Animal Crossing losing content is just insane. So I guess if you had to pick one it should be Isabelle. But I think Palutena may as well be here too - personally I'd exchange the "New FE" character since I think Byleth serves just fine already but that's up to you.

Rayman vs Cloud is a funny one. I think you're probably better off playing it safe with the returning character, since you removed the other western third parties on this roster I suspect DLC would focus on reinstating that. And that'd probably make Rayman a more ideal candidate for DLC, I think. Square Enix has three or four characters in the game currently, so losing ALL of that feels a bit extreme. I know they're a little more complicated than most, but I'd probably save a space for either Cloud or Hero - lately I'm backing the latter with the assumption Cloud / Sephiroth might be sold back together later.

And even before both of them, I'd expect Konami to be back in some form. They were very cooperative during Ultimate, I don't see why they wouldn't be next time around - one of a few third parties involved with base game that didn't even get a DLC newcomer / upsell.

The newcomers are fine, I'd wager you should be taking more risks on at least one of Animal Crossing, Splatoon, Pikmin seeing how these are some of the series that have grown the most since last game. While I have no problem with Raven Beak / Sylux, or Noah, I think honing in on these contemporary choices and neglecting other concurrently popular characters from recent successes like Tom Nook, Squid Sisters / Off the Hook, Oatchi is a mistake. Even one of these would probably help even the score a bit for me. I also think the lack of Ring Fit is striking but I'm wondering if you have your own hangups about that?

A couple more short thoughts, that you can take or leave - I don't think we'll lose both supplementary Star Fox characters, and I think Lucina should return as an echo fighter to maintain a more simplistic version of Marth. I commend you for keeping most of Ultimate's first party newcomers... even Incineroar, which I can't say I'm as confident in as you are but I would be extremely happy about.

 

[AreJay25]

Well, since everyone else is doing it. I figured I should be more reserved and try to limit myself to a few characters, because really, if I'm going to make a most wanted list, it should be short and concise to truly emphasize which characters would be the most exciting announcements for me in a new game.


... Anyway here's 30 characters from 30 different series I think would be cool because I can't ****ing help myself.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Hmm I was kinda hoping I'd get some feedback on my newcmers picks...

You have some cool choices. 2B, Reimu, Ayumi and Travis specially I really like.

 

[Perkilator]

I'm going to assume the upper limit for the base game's newcomer lineup in the next game is 18 newcomers; here are the newcomers themselves that I'd like to see. With this, I'm keeping the July 2021-April 2022 time frame in mind.

Waluigi​	Toad​	Dixie Kong​	Funky Kong​	Raven Beak​	Bandana Waddle Dee​
Either Meowscarada, Tinkaton or Gholdengo​	Alear​	Tom Nook​	Noah and/or Mio​	Either Octoling or Marina​	Officer Howard​
Ring Fit Trainee​	Ayumi Tachibana​	Takamaru​	Shadow​	Chun-Li​	Alucard​

How would you guys feel if this was a newcomer lineup at launch?

 

[PersonAngelo53]

I'm going to assume the upper limit for the base game's newcomer lineup in the next game is 18 newcomers; here are the newcomers themselves that I'd like to see. With this, I'm keeping the July 2021-April 2022 time frame in mind.

Waluigi​	Toad​	Dixie Kong​	Funky Kong​	Raven Beak​	Bandana Waddle Dee​
Either Meowscarada, Tinkaton or Gholdengo​	Alear​	Tom Nook​	Noah and/or Mio​	Either Octoling or Marina​	Officer Howard​
Ring Fit Trainee​	Ayumi Tachibana​	Takamaru​	Shadow​	Chun-Li​	Alucard​

How would you guys feel if this was a newcomer lineup at launch?

That’s quite the solid lineup. I be pretty cool with it.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

A lot of newcomer selections are getting posted, but in reality, as long as we got Bandana Waddle Dee in, I'd be very open to most characters.

 

[The Prankster 16]

Isabelle vs Palutena

For that one I was thinking along the lines of "recognizablity" vs "moveset diversity." Palu would be my choice in a heartbeat bc she's a wholly unique character compared to isabelle being a semi clone. Plus she's just much cooler as a character. But isabelle and animal crossing are SO much more popular and prominent that I don't think they would cut her. I would cut aler/new fe, but i don't know if nintendo or sakurai would do that, and if they had to keep only one of then it would definitley be isabelle.

Rayman vs Cloud

For that i think it comes down to when the roster was finalized. If sakurai's 2022 game is smash 6, then i thank that he could have a chance since ubisoft still was pretty close with nintendo with MvR2 coming out then. But if it was made later i think he has way less of a chance bc of MvR2's underpreformance and the firing of davide soliani, the guy who directed those games. I do agree though i should have kept cloud fully, especiallly that squeinix is looking for a more multiplatform approch now, which would include nintendo.

I also agree i should have taken more risks. Honestly, i feel i screwed myself by adhering too much to the organization of my roster slots, i should have been more lenient. Also i just don;t know what crazy stuff the smash team could be cooking up at any point.

 

[RodNutTakin]

Guess I'm posting mine again. Still pretty stonewall on these for now.

 

[MrMcNuts]

For that i think it comes down to when the roster was finalized. If sakurai's 2022 game is smash 6, then i thank that he could have a chance since ubisoft still was pretty close with nintendo with MvR2 coming out then. But if it was made later i think he has way less of a chance bc of MvR2's underpreformance and the firing of davide soliani, the guy who directed those games. I do agree though i should have kept cloud fully, especiallly that squeinix is looking for a more multiplatform approch now, which would include nintendo.

Davide was never fired he left and formed his own studio.


Also the game didn't really sell bad (around 3 mil last update months ago) it was another one of those "didn't meet expectations" cases so hard to know if it actually was a financial loss or just Ubisoft being greedy ol Ubisoft.

 

[NintenRob]

Literal goosebumps throughout all of this. Basically living out a fantasy with this video, it's so good. Skull Kid and Majora's Mask in general always seems to attract really high quality fan projects, it's absolutely nuts. I really hope a real Skull Kid trailer is able to capture that feeling of dread Majora's Mask is famous for like this trailer perfectly does. Like seriously, that sequence of Star Fox approaching the moon is perfection

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Ok this are my most wanted characters for the next smash. I know like half of this probably ain't happening for sure but a guy can dream lol. Also cause of how niche a few of my picks are i feel i should give a small explanation for a few of my picks. Pyramid head: Smash lacks a horror rep and i think he is one of the best possible characters to portray the scary factor of horror games. Monika from Doki Doki literature club: Not gonna lie i mostly just want to see how Sakurai would make her moveset work and cause she would be such an out there character choice. Gran and Djeeta from Granblue Fantasy: This two could be echos of each other thats why i have them together and i been playing a lot of the fighting game of Granblue which has made me want this series to get represented in smash. Rean Schwarzer from Trails of cold steel: After playing basically all of the Trails series i still have Rean as my favorite protagonist. At first sight he might look like another anime sword fighter but his fighting style has a lot more style than the sword fighters we currently have in smash and he has some cool potential gimmicks, like a second form he can transform in and a giant Mech he can summon etc. Rance from the Rance series: Definitely the most unlike character on my list if not from any other character choice here that comes from a video game lol. If by some miracle he got added to smash he be the first character from A rated 18+ game in smash. But as controversial as that is Rance is a character with such a huge legacy in gaming that he would fit with other characters in smash bros to represent gaming history.

 

[NintenRob]

Version exclusive Pokemon is a weird one to me. Instinctually I feel like they would be flawed additions just because they're only in one of the games, like if it was a Pokemon with Smash Bros level promotion, it'd be in both games easily available. The only exception I have is Scream Tail, and that's a special case because of Jigglypuff and I don't really see Scream Tail getting her own slot (I moreso see a Jigglypuff alt with Scream Tail face paint)

Realistically though, I guess it's not that different from choosing one starter over the others so it's probably a non issue. Still struggle to support version exclusives though

 

[cashregister9]

Version exclusive Pokemon is a weird one to me. Instinctually I feel like they would be flawed additions just because they're only in one of the games, like if it was a Pokemon with Smash Bros level promotion, it'd be in both games easily available. The only exception I have is Scream Tail, and that's a special case because of Jigglypuff and I don't really see Scream Tail getting her own slot (I moreso see a Jigglypuff alt with Scream Tail face paint)

Realistically though, I guess it's not that different from choosing one starter over the others so it's probably a non issue. Still struggle to support version exclusives though

Technically they already dealt with version exclusives with Mewtwo and Charizard's (in Smash 4) final smashes

 

[NintenRob]

Technically they already dealt with version exclusives with Mewtwo and Charizard's (in Smash 4) final smashes

True, but they did go with alternative versions there, X got Charizard mega and Y got Mewtwos. I know now we have only Y but that's mostly just carry over. And it's ultimately just the final smash

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Version exclusive Pokemon is a weird one to me. Instinctually I feel like they would be flawed additions just because they're only in one of the games, like if it was a Pokemon with Smash Bros level promotion, it'd be in both games easily available. The only exception I have is Scream Tail, and that's a special case because of Jigglypuff and I don't really see Scream Tail getting her own slot (I moreso see a Jigglypuff alt with Scream Tail face paint)

Realistically though, I guess it's not that different from choosing one starter over the others so it's probably a non issue. Still struggle to support version exclusives though

The very fact you can allow a "special case exception" shows it isn't at all an issue.

People actually made this sort of gatekeep with Starters back in the day funnily enough. Saying that a Starter could never be a solo fighter instead of being part of a Trainer lineup because "it wouldn't be fair to pick one of the Starters and not the others".
And then happened.

It's just honestly an arbitrary limitation to set up when the main thing that matters is "can this Pokémon appeal to Sakurai as a fighter on a conceptual level?".

True, but they did go with alternative versions there, X got Charizard mega and Y got Mewtwos. I know now we have only Y but that's mostly just carry over. And it's ultimately just the final smash

They didn't go with alternatives on purpose.

Charizard X and Mewtwo Y happened to be the more significant ones between the two due to Origins and the Genesect movie.