Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[HyperSomari64]

Protoman is a bit of a stretch, but Wily would be a perfect MODOK.

Now i want to imagine his new Wily Flying Machine being a Skull with tiny, stubby arms and legs, if you want a full MODOK reference

 

[Gengar84]

A lot of the same stuff I brought up the other day, really - there are a fair bit of sleeper hit western picks I can see slipping in while the community is generally fixated on scrimblos and shooty men. Assassin's Creed, maybe Elder Scrolls / Skyrim (Dovahkiin was among the 'popular' characters who were revealed in that second to last Mii costume wave), Hades, Portal...

I think it'll finally be time to let FromSoft in on the fun too, and Dark Souls at least gets some mentions every now and again, but they could subvert the typical protagonist / avatar expectation or jump over to Elden Ring instead. The prospect of a character from some Chinese developer, like from League or Genshin, is pretty a compelling case too but I'm definitely not quite sold on it yet.

Puyo Puyo used to get a good amount of talk as well but feels like it's fallen by the wayside recently. The IP is still massive in Japan reaching or potentially surpassing the brand recognition of Sonic out there - I think the appeal overlaps with Smash fans quite a bit, but it's a lapse of knowledge for fans whose perspective is western centric. Sega discussion is now dominated by a second Sonic character and Yakuza often gets the newcomer nod... which is another series that I think matches a Joker level of excitement, but given Kiryu's pretty public crossover barriers I can't be too confident in it.

Yeah, there’s definitely a ton of western characters that could bring a ton to Smash beyond just platforming mascots and FPS characters. Not that those couldn’t be cool too, just that I think Western characters offer a lot more genre variety than they’re usually given credit for.

For example, I’m kind of amazed by how influential Blizzard has been when it comes to popularizing big gaming trends. The RTS WarCraft games inspired MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA. World of WarCraft was pretty instrumental in popularizing MMO RPGs, which might have indirectly led to Xenoblade and Final Fantasy XII with their MMO inspired combat systems. StarCraft was a huge part in popularizing esports. Overwatch led to a bunch of other games like Marvel Rivals or Valorant borrowing its style (let’s not talk about Concord). Hearthstone popularized digital trading card games which led to MtG: Arena. I believe Diablo might have inspired Rogue-Likes like Hades but I’m less confident on that one. With new ownership under Microsoft, hopefully they can address all their internal issues and be a better place to work. I think their influence in gaming often goes underappreciated.

 

[SharkLord]

A lot of the same stuff I brought up the other day, really - there are a fair bit of sleeper hit western picks I can see slipping in while the community is generally fixated on scrimblos and shooty men. Assassin's Creed, maybe Elder Scrolls / Skyrim (Dovahkiin was among the 'popular' characters who were revealed in that second to last Mii costume wave), Hades, Portal...

I think it'll finally be time to let FromSoft in on the fun too, and Dark Souls at least gets some mentions every now and again, but they could subvert the typical protagonist / avatar expectation or jump over to Elden Ring instead. The prospect of a character from some Chinese developer, like from League or Genshin, is pretty a compelling case too but I'm definitely not quite sold on it yet.

Puyo Puyo used to get a good amount of talk as well but feels like it's fallen by the wayside recently. The IP is still massive in Japan reaching or potentially surpassing the brand recognition of Sonic out there - I think the appeal overlaps with Smash fans quite a bit, but it's a lapse of knowledge for fans whose perspective is western centric. Sega discussion is now dominated by a second Sonic character and Yakuza often gets the newcomer nod... which is another series that I think matches a Joker level of excitement, but given Kiryu's pretty public crossover barriers I can't be too confident in it.

Actually, Riot's an American company. I believe they're owned by Tencent, but the devs themselves are based in the US. But I get your intent.

I'm iffy on anyone from MiHoYo just because they've yet to put any game on Nintendo systems, to my knowledge. There were talks of a Switch port for Genshin a while back, so I'm sure there's been some discussions, but it just doesn't seem like they have any major ties to Nintendo that would facilitate talks for Smash. That said, the Switch 2 being rumored to be much stronger means Genshin might be able to run on it better, so that could bridge the gap, much like how Minecraft allowed negotiations between Nintendo and Microsoft that led to Banjo and Steve. But that's all just speculation for now.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

He's genuinely who I would want the most too, so no complaints at all if they're cool enough to do it.

Feel like his dynamic with the rest of the cast would just be hilarious, would love to know which characters people would gravitate toward drawing him with.

Perhaps K. Rool while both of them are in pirate garb?
"K. ROOL-CHAN~"

 

[Guynamednelson]

Perhaps K. Rool while both of them are in pirate garb?
"K. ROOL-CHAN~"

Unfortunately he can't be a Pirate in Hawaii when Not-Hawaii didn't get a stage.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

A bit late but on the topic of Icies....

Yeah if there's extensive cuts happening I will be questioning the logic of the director keeping them while other characters that are popular get the boot. Let me explain a bit, in terms of a "duo fighter" mechanic, we already kind of have that mechanic represented with Rosalina, sure it's not a 1:1 to how the Icies treat the concept but the concept remains. If the Icies are cut then there will still be a character to represent that archetype, and this is just my opinion speaking but honestly Rosalina and Luma executed the duo fighter mechanic way better than the Icies have ever done, just look at the three times we had Icies playable in Smash.

In Melee and Brawl they were given their tools and were massively obnoxious to fight, they were an overtuned and broken character that wasn't fun to fight against with their death grabs. Now let's look at how they're implemented in Ultimate after they were properly toned down and balanced, practically no one plays this character except for a couple of few loyal fans. This isn't a diss on the people who like the character and play them, but without the broken OP **** the character previously had the play rate became low compared to the rest of the cast.

People have already talked about how the Icies are completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things what with them having one forgotten game from the days of the NES and is only popular because of Smash, but we have to look at the gameplay point of view as well. Adding this character back brings baggage with the dev team, if they give them a slight inch with buffing them to not be bad then that brings the risk of completely breaking the game like previous installments, but if they keep them toned down and neutered then this character becomes unplayable and is ignored by the majority of the player base. It makes me question the reasoning for bringing back this character with all this in mind and how tight the cuts could be in the next game.

Counterpoint: Rosalina & Luma won't necessarily stay either.

Even disregarding this though, their low use rate makes a ton of sense regardless of their mechanical issues as they are high skill floor mid-tier-at-best characters. Nobody's gonna want to pick them up if their bnbs break your fingers and the character's kit as a whole is kinda eh. In terms of being balancing nightmares that are either broken or pretty meh, the entire grappler and zoner archetypes often find themselves here, yet the devs see value in their continued inclusion, so I don't think this is a super convincing argument either, especially with the game mostly being balanced for casual play where desyncs aren't even necessary.

EDIT: I also get the feeling that the devs don't want desyncs as a mechanic to exist in the first place, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[Ivander]

If only there was a fan favorite character who has also been given some spotlight that could work as a substitute....
View attachment 397213

If he doesn't have a unique entrance per stage, like popping out of a ? Block in a Mario stage, driving and getting off a Kart on a Mario Kart stage, appearing from a DK tag barrel(with the letters MG on it instead) in a Donkey Kong stage, dressing up as a Substitute Doll and getting out of it on a Pokemon stage, breaking out of a capsule in a Sonic stage, arriving on a Rocket belt in the Pilotwings stage, and whatnot, it's just not worth it.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

If he doesn't have a unique entrance per stage, like popping out of a ? Block in a Mario stage, driving and getting off a Kart on a Mario Kart stage, appearing from a DK tag barrel(with the letters MG on it instead) in a Donkey Kong stage, dressing up as a Substitute Doll and getting out of it on a Pokemon stage, breaking out of a capsule in a Sonic stage, arriving on a Rocket belt in the Pilotwings stage, and whatnot, it's just not worth it.

His trailer would feature moments of just him appearing out of nowhere to fight people.

 

[CardiganBoy]

Speaking of Ice Climbers and Rosalina, I’d love to see a beast tamer style character that worked in a similar way to either of them fighting both physically themselves and with an animal companion. Here’s a few options that I feel could work for that gimmick:

H’aanit and Linde (Octopath Traveller)
Clive and Torgal (Fantasy XVI)
Nia and Dromarch (Xenoblade 2)
Yuri and Repede (Tales of Vesperia)

I think that could make for a really cool and unique Smash character either way a similar concept as what we’ve had but in a new way.

Beast tamer sounds like a cool concept, I immediately thought of Monster Hunter Stories, since those games are more rpg/story focused the "rule" of not wanting to use a regular hunter as the rep of the franchise might not apply to the MH Stories sub-series (?)

 

[Perkilator]

I really wish we’d stop talking about cuts at least until the next Smash game is properly revealed.

 

[Gengar84]

I really wish we’d stop talking about cuts at least until the next Smash game is properly revealed.

Same here. I keep trying to bring up other characters and topics but I don’t think many people seem to care about the characters I talk about lol.

 

[Perkilator]

I really wish we’d stop talking about cuts at least until the next Smash game is properly revealed.

Anyway, time for a new topic: let’s say the reveal trailer showed five newcomers. Three of them would be first party, and the other two would be third party. What characters within that criteria would be best suited for that reveal trailer?

 

[Louie G.]

Counterpoint: Rosalina & Luma won't necessarily stay either.

I think Rosalina could definitely stick around, but I do consider her one of the more overstated characters.

She's very popular, but not so abundantly popular that she's been impossible to ignore lately or anything (see: Isabelle). She hasn't had a whole lot going on outside of being a Mario spinoff mainstay and that seems to be her designated role in the meantime. Compared to Bowser Jr, a character often dismissed before her, who has been in a multitude of mainline titles since Ultimate's release. Rosalina's biggest moment is a decade in the rear view now.

As unique as she is, she is a very specialized character which means she's not a super popular pick-up-and-play choice. I'd wager she is one of the least played characters on the roster. One of these picks where external series popularity does not immediately correlate with player retention in Smash Bros - I would rather keep a lot of these really distinct specialized characters around, nobody else is playing like Rosalina. But we have dozens and dozens of strikingly unique characters and some of them may fall to the wayside all the same. I've argued in favor of Incineroar for his valuable archetypical role and fresh moveset but most are in agreement that may not be enough to save him among such a fruitful series lineup already. It means we lose our designated grappler, which would suck, but many believe it's likely to happen. All of this can apply to Ice Climbers too, to be fair.

She stays over Dr. Mario and Piranha Plant, pretty handily, but if Mario needs to experience cuts any deeper than that she's gonna be in the danger zone. We've been talking about these sort of "Mewtwo-esque" characters who may be kind of a rug-pull omission next game and I think somebody like Rosalina is a potential suspect... not saying she will or won't, just believe it's more plausible than some believe it to be.

Not very frequently played, has kind of settled into a lull in series activity over the last few years, is part of a fruitful series that will inevitably see cuts and will always be getting new blood added... if she's cut I think Rosalina would be a key veteran to return as DLC, but she's not essential to the base roster.

 

[SharkLord]

Beast tamer sounds like a cool concept, I immediately thought of Monster Hunter Stories, since those games are more rpg/story focused the "rule" of not wanting to use a regular hunter as the rep of the franchise might not apply to the MH Stories sub-series (?)

For clarification, the idea that Hunters can't be in fighting games came from a 2013 interview for MvC3, where they said a Monster Hunter was considered for the roster but were declined by the Monster Hunter devs. That sounds pretty concrete... Except four years later, a Monster Hunter is playable in MvC:I. There's been some rumors that they did it behind the backs of the MH devs, or that Infinite's dissapointing reception scared them away from putting Hunters in fighting games again, but it's been like seven years since then and there's been no actual evidence for these rumors.

It's admittedly hard to gauge because there hasn't been any big Capcom crossover fighters since MvC:I, but as far as we know, the only concrete claim we have for the "rule" has been directly contradicted, so until we find any proof the MH devs were betrayed or changed their minds, I think Hunters are back on the table. Especially worth noting that Monster Hunter World turned the franchise into a global moneymaker the year after MvC:I released, so now Capcom and Nintendo have a much larger incentive to push Monster Hunter content in crossovers, which would potentially include a Hunter in Smash.

 

[Gengar84]

Anyway, time for a new topic: let’s say the reveal trailer showed five newcomers. Three of them would be first party, and the other two would be third party. What characters within that criteria would be best suited for that reveal trailer?

I’m going to try to keep this semi-realistic but still something I’d be excited for. So my predictions for first party characters for the initial reveal based on that are Waluigi, Officer Howard, and DJ Octavio. Waluigi is a long time fan requests that would excite a lot of people. Officer Howard is a rep from a new franchise to Smash in Astral Chain with a really exciting fighting style. DJ Octavio is the main villain from Nintendo’s most successful recent series in Splatoon.

For third party, I’ll go with Shadow the Hedgehog and Alphen/Shionne. Shadow is self explanatory since he’s a long time fan favorite who is currently experiencing a huge boom in popularity thanks to the movie and Generations. Alphen and Shionne give us a modern third party tag duo character from a beloved series. Tales of Arise was still pretty big at the time the roster might have been finalized and even got a big DLC story expansion last year.

I might as well add my prediction for the first revealed DLC character. I know my bias is probably clouding my judgement here a bit but I’m going to go with Jinx for this spot. She’s currently at the peak of her popularity thanks to Arcane and has been a generally popular character even before that with League of Legends being one of the most played games in the world. I think she’ll fill the same spot as Joker with both being characters currently popular in pop culture but with weak ties to Nintendo, which means neither were really widely discussed in speculation. That’s the perfect kind of character for a huge surprise reveal that makes a lot of sense in hindsight.

 

[CardiganBoy]

For clarification, the idea that Hunters can't be in fighting games came from a 2013 interview for MvC3, where they said a Monster Hunter was considered for the roster but were declined by the Monster Hunter devs. That sounds pretty concrete... Except four years later, a Monster Hunter is playable in MvC:I. There's been some rumors that they did it behind the backs of the MH devs, or that Infinite's dissapointing reception scared them away from putting Hunters in fighting games again, but it's been like seven years since then and there's been no actual evidence for these rumors.

It's admittedly hard to gauge because there hasn't been any big Capcom crossover fighters since MvC:I, but as far as we know, the only concrete claim we have for the "rule" has been directly contradicted, so until we find any proof the MH devs were betrayed or changed their minds, I think Hunters are back on the table. Especially worth noting that Monster Hunter World turned the franchise into a global moneymaker the year after MvC:I released, so now Capcom and Nintendo have a much larger incentive to push Monster Hunter content in crossovers, which would potentially include a Hunter in Smash.

Yeah that's why I don't feel so confident calling it a rule, for all we know they could give Nintendo / Sakurai's Team the special permission to use a Hunter as the main rep.
Smash is full is exceptions like that, let's not forget that Square Enix and the other parties involved with Dragon Quest gave them their blessings to use several Heroes and allowed them to fight each other which is something that was prohibited even in SE developed games.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

Ultimate surprising doesn’t really have a new one in the traditional sense. Likely because new characters weren’t as important compared to characters from the previous games.

 

[fogbadge]

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

Ultimate surprising doesn’t really have a new one in the traditional sense. Likely because new characters weren’t as important compared to characters from the previous games.

my picks would be Urban Champion and Balloon Fighter

I mean Toad and Tails did debut in the 80s and 90s but no one counts them as retro

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Smash is full is exceptions like that, let's not forget that Square Enix and the other parties involved with Dragon Quest gave them their blessings to use several Heroes and allowed them to fight each other which is something that was prohibited even in SE developed games.

Also just them in general is rare because generally crossovers and some spinoffs from what I have seen rarely feature the protagonists in the past like the western release of Fortune Street for example where the human DQ characters are just the party members.

 

[HyperSomari64]

I mean Toad and Tails did debut in the 80s and 90s but no one counts them as retro

These days, the 2000's are now considered "retro" by a few people
And with the Xbox 360 turning 20 the next November, the barrier will be even blurrier.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Sega discussion is now dominated by a second Sonic character and Yakuza often gets the newcomer nod... which is another series that I think matches a Joker level of excitement, but given Kiryu's pretty public crossover barriers I can't be too confident in it.

While I agree with you and Golden that Majima would work really well, I can't help but want Ichiban because of possible interactions with Hero at least in his trailer (since I think Hero could be base game) and just because I think it'd be hilarious for his Final Smash to be something like Essence of Orbital Laser lmao

 

[fogbadge]

These days, the 2000's are now considered "retro" by a few people
And with the Xbox 360 turning 20 the next November, the barrier will be even blurrier.

well that’s chibi-robo a retro character

 

[Wonder Smash]

Joker’s inclusion is making me think of what other characters we could get in the same vein where they’re generally popular outside of Nintendo’s fandom but are rarely if ever speculated for Smash. I think we could see another unexpected but popular character like that as the first DLC character to mirror Joker. I suspect that the final DLC character could mirror Sora’s situation in that they’re very popular and requested but people might think they’re impossible for one reason or another. I have a few suggestions for who these could be but people are probably tired of me talking about them right now. So what do you all think we could see if we keep the same general pattern as Ultimate’s DLC?

The easiest way to do that is look for characters from games that were more popular other consoles than on Nintendo's. Joker was like this and so was Cloud before Smash 4.

My guess is Kiryu Kazuma, since most of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games are on other consoles and it's not exactly a Nintendo-style series for obvious reasons. Or maybe a Phantasy Star character, since that series was more known on SEGA's consoles when it first started and has never been known for just one console since, now that it's a multiplatform franchise.

 

[CardiganBoy]

Also just them in general is rare because generally crossovers and some spinoffs from what I have seen rarely feature the protagonists in the past like the western release of Fortune Street for example where the human DQ characters are just the party members.

Yep they don't want to have the protagonists to compete or fight against each other or their fellow party members, which is why they opt to feature other popular characters like Alena, Terry, Jessica, etc.
But I don't know if this has changed with more recent spin-offs, there's so many that I lost track, hehe.

 

[NotGenerico]

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

Ultimate surprising doesn’t really have a new one in the traditional sense. Likely because new characters weren’t as important compared to characters from the previous games.

I don't think it'll happen, but I'd love to see a character from the NES game Pro Wrestling. In particular, I think Star Man could have a cool moveset as a high flying luchador.

 

[Gengar84]

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

Ultimate surprising doesn’t really have a new one in the traditional sense. Likely because new characters weren’t as important compared to characters from the previous games.

There’s quite a few with a lot of potential depending on what you classify as retro. My top most wanted are Rash/Pimple/Zitz (Battletoads), Magus (Chrono Trigger), Zero (Mega Man X), Bill Rizer (Contra), Fulgore (Killer Instinct). There’s plenty more that debuted around the same time but have maintained their relevance over the years so I’m not sure they’d qualify as retro (characters like Scorpion and Sub-Zero from Mortsl Kombat for example).

 

[Thegameandwatch]

The easiest way to do that is look for characters that were more popular other consoles than on Nintendo's. Joker was like this and so was Cloud before Smash 4.

The association reason is why Cloud wasn’t that common in many fan made rosters or even predictions.

An example is how Black Mage (the generic one from FF1 and spin-offs not Vivi) was the most common FF character in those types of posts to the point of being in SSF2 over Cloud who was in the original fan game.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

Ultimate surprising doesn’t really have a new one in the traditional sense. Likely because new characters weren’t as important compared to characters from the previous games.

I am once again mentioning my "never gonna happen" character, they debuted in 1991 and i'm pretty sure were the starting point of the lore surrounding the original characters that star in Bandai Namco's crossover games. The "Sora" of that verse

 

[DarthEnderX]

Now i want to imagine his new Wily Flying Machine being a Skull with tiny, stubby arms and legs, if you want a full MODOK reference

Eh. His arms and legs don't enter into his moveset at all, so they're not necessary for replacing him.

is there any potential retro characters (80s/90s) that could be in Smash 6?

...yeah.

 

[Speed Weed]

Puyo Puyo used to get a good amount of talk as well but feels like it's fallen by the wayside recently. The IP is still massive in Japan reaching or potentially surpassing the brand recognition of Sonic out there - I think the appeal overlaps with Smash fans quite a bit, but it's a lapse of knowledge for fans whose perspective is western centric. Sega discussion is now dominated by a second Sonic character and Yakuza often gets the newcomer nod... which is another series that I think matches a Joker level of excitement, but given Kiryu's pretty public crossover barriers I can't be too confident in it.

I think part of it owes itself to the series'.....kind of bizarre state at the moment. So PPT2 happens, time goes on, and while the series is still active in terms of stuff like competitive play, it's kind of radio silent in terms of actual new games - at least compared to the incredibly rapid growth other major SEGA franchises were seeing at the time. Come 2024, we finally get a new game, and it actually looks to have plenty of things fans wanted.......and then they make the utterly bizarre decision of making it Apple Arcade-exclusive, immediately kneecapping its potential reach. So now we're in a sort of limbo, where we did finally get a new game, but with a massive catch. We actually have seen a renowned push for Puyo on SEGA's part lately, with it being featured in marketing, social media, etc more often than it had been in a while, as well as special streams, interviews, and the like, but it's all centered around a game almost nobody is playing. It's a weird situation all around. Meanwhile, Yakuza has been constantly pumping out games, seeing bigger and bigger success, and SEGA higher-ups, especially international ones, proudly tout the series as one of their major pillars along with Sonic and Persona. It is probably the non-Sonic SEGA series that has grown the most in the past 5 or so years, and when you take that into consideration, I think it becomes clear why it's pulled ahead in the discussion. It hurts me to say it because I would much rather have Arle, but at this point I think it's clear what series SEGA values more at the moment.

 

[Louie G.]

I think it becomes clear why it's pulled ahead in the discussion. It hurts me to say it because I would much rather have Arle, but at this point I think it's clear what series SEGA values more at the moment.

Yeah, I can't say I don't understand it unfortunately. The Apple Arcade game is somewhat encouraging in the way Sega feels compelled to market it that much in the first place, and designate development to its western division at that. A Puyo game developed by Sega of America should kind of be a means to celebrate, since the question has always been how much confidence Sega has in Puyo overseas. I hope they don't take the wrong messages from its inevitable failure, seeing how niche of a demographic Apple Arcade is. I'd still like to give it a try sometime though, being a big fan. But the series is definitely in a bit of a strange limbo right now and not too visible to the average person.

I do however think Yakuza / Like a Dragon is in an... odd role in speculation where its series growth makes it a serious contender to keep an eye on (and it's even on Switch now!) but whose main protagonist has been shot down for participation in fighting games multiple times and as recently as this year. We could see Ichiban, we could see Majima, but Kiryu is hands down the face of the series and its most popular character so it's a bit of a weird place to be. If this wasn't a factor then I would pretty definitively be keeping my eye on the series. There's also the question of whether the subject matter feels appropriate for Smash, but I think it would be fine. I do have Ichiban and Majima in my peripheral but I'm not confident.

My main hope for Arle is that legacy pulls through. The desire to incorporate a puzzle game character, the desire for someone with rich arcade or classic Nintendo history, etc. There's usually a good amount of space for someone like that and Puyo being absent from Smash altogether (not even spirits, costume, etc) feels decidedly wrong. But I'm not sure how I feel about her right now. Still probably circling top three Sega candidates outside of Sonic or something but it's kind of a crapshoot. I do think if we got anyone new from Sega it would be one of the Sonic gang first, for what it's worth.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Given how well the Puyo/Tetris crossovers have gone, it'd be cool to see something like that with Nintendo at some point. I know that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games are a bit of a distinct one off (and are now done) but seeing a Puyo/Puzzle League mix title (maybe even just do a full blown Puyo/Panel De Pon crossover given the charm of both universes) would make for a solid game on Switch and give the former IP even more spotlight.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I mentioned this a few pages ago but it would be funny if were completely off the mark on what Sega character gets in next and the next Sega character in Smash is one of the 13 Sentinel's protagonists.

They were made into a spirit at the end of Ultimate's life so it's something the Smash team took note of.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

but whose main protagonist has been shot down for participation in fighting games multiple times and as recently as this year.

Wait, the subject of Kiryu in a fighter had officially come up more recently?

I know the Tekken 7 thing, but nothing past.

 

[Speed Weed]

Yeah, I can't say I don't understand it unfortunately. The Apple Arcade game is somewhat encouraging in the way Sega feels compelled to market it that much in the first place, and designate development to its western division at that. A Puyo game developed by Sega of America should kind of be a means to celebrate, since the question has always been how much confidence Sega has in Puyo overseas. I hope they don't take the wrong messages from its inevitable failure, seeing how niche of a demographic Apple Arcade is. I'd still like to give it a try sometime though, being a big fan. But the series is definitely in a bit of a strange limbo right now and not too visible to the average person.

I do however think Yakuza / Like a Dragon is in an... odd role in speculation where its series growth makes it a serious contender to keep an eye on (and it's even on Switch now!) but whose main protagonist has been shot down for participation in fighting games multiple times and as recently as this year. We could see Ichiban, we could see Majima, but Kiryu is hands down the face of the series and its most popular character so it's a bit of a weird place to be. If this wasn't a factor then I would pretty definitively be keeping my eye on the series. There's also the question of whether the subject matter feels appropriate for Smash, but I think it would be fine. I do have Ichiban and Majima in my peripheral but I'm not confident.

My main hope for Arle is that legacy pulls through. The desire to incorporate a puzzle game character, the desire for someone with rich arcade or classic Nintendo history, etc. There's usually a good amount of space for someone like that and Puyo being absent from Smash altogether (not even spirits, costume, etc) feels decidedly wrong. But I'm not sure how I feel about her right now. Still probably circling top three Sega candidates outside of Sonic or something but it's kind of a crapshoot. I do think if we got anyone new from Sega it would be one of the Sonic gang first, for what it's worth.

Yeah, I hope so too. Arle would be absolutely lovely to see.

Btw, I'm seconding Yuiitusin here - I don't think I've heard of Kiryu getting shot down again this year. I'd like to see it if possible, it might better inform our conversation.

I mentioned this a few pages ago but it would be funny if were completely off the mark on what Sega character gets in next and the next Sega character in Smash is one of the 13 Sentinel's protagonists.

They were made into a spirit at the end of Ultimate's life so it's something the Smash team took note of.

If we got a new SEGA character and it was a new franchise but they somehow went out of their way to add another completely different Atlus series I think I'd cry

 

[Louie G.]

Wait, the subject of Kiryu in a fighter had officially come up more recently?

I know the Tekken 7 thing, but nothing past.

I looked back into it and according to this article the most recent sentiment is more along the lines of "we want to go bigger" and continue multimedia growth rather than crossing over with other video games. Sounds less definitive than the last one, but to me just reads as disinterest / 'don't get your hopes up'. They even allude to the fact that they have gotten requests for Kiryu to appear in other games but have never really pursued it further.

“I think it’s better to say that going across mediums like how we did with [the Like A Dragon: Yakuza TV] series is better, rather than just going to another game,” Yokoyama said. “We receive all kind of invitations to appear in other games, but we never actually went over to their doorstep and said ‘let us in.’ I think going cross-medium is the better way to go about it.”

With this I feel like you can make of it what you will - it doesn't sound encouraging but it's not a 100% no. Seeing how Yakuza would probably be more of a DLC affair than anything for Smash they probably haven't quite had that conversation yet (although I wonder if it's ever come up in passing?).

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Wait, the subject of Kiryu in a fighter had officially come up more recently?

I know the Tekken 7 thing, but nothing past.

I found something about the current producer and writer saying "I think it's better to say that going across mediums like how we did with [the Like A Dragon: Yakuza TV] series is better, rather than just going to another game. We receive all kind of invitations to appear in other games, but we never actually went over to their doorstep and said 'let us in.' I think going cross-medium is the better way to go about it."

Dunno if it's the same thing being discussed but that's what I found, apparently after they were asked directly about things like a crossover with Tekken 8.

EDIT: 'd

 

[Hadokeyblade]

They got Kiryu to be a party member in Project X Zone 2 and im pretty sure he was in some random golf game at one point.

They arent against guest spots and im sure in the Smash team walked up to them and asked they would go for it.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Y

I mentioned this a few pages ago but it would be funny if were completely off the mark on what Sega character gets in next and the next Sega character in Smash is one of the 13 Sentinel's protagonists.

They were made into a spirit at the end of Ultimate's life so it's something the Smash team took note of.

You know what. Call me crazy but a side of me can weirdly enough see it happening. Sakurai gave that game a lot of praise when it came out and literally even saying their won’t ever be another game quite like it. Also the fact that they got some spirits at the end of smash ultimate so randomly is pretty suspicious if you ask me. And this situation almost reminds me of how much Sakurai praised Persona 5 and its UI etc before we got Joker in smash too.

Tho am curious how a moveset for 13 sentinels even work? Would it be our first truly giant character just being a whole Mech? Or would Sakurai make a character with all 13 protagonists somehow? No clue but it sure makes me think how that even work.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I looked back into it and according to this article the most recent sentiment is more along the lines of "we want to go bigger" and continue multimedia growth rather than crossing over with other video games. Sounds less definitive than the last one, but to me just reads as disinterest / 'don't get your hopes up'. They even allude to the fact that they have gotten requests for Kiryu to appear in other games but have never really pursued it further.



With this I feel like you can make of it what you will - it doesn't sound encouraging but it's not a 100% no. Seeing how Yakuza would probably be more of a DLC affair than anything for Smash they probably haven't quite had that conversation yet (although I wonder if it's ever come up in passing?).

This doesn't just shut down Kiryu in Smash but effectively ANYONE from that franchise.

Dang... Majima nowhere