Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Golden Icarus]

...also, unrelated, but while I guess y'all have been asked this before, what would you argue your "dark-horse" picks for the next Smash would be? That is to say, picks you think would be feasible or realistic, but go massively underdiscussed across the board for one reason or another.

Mine would be Nakoruru (Samurai Shodown). It seems unlikely to me that SNK wouldn't want to be involved in Smash going forward, and while I've seen a lot of people suggest that Iori or Kyo would be better-suited as representitives of the King of Fighters series, I think Nakoruru's prolonged popularity as a sort of second face of the SNK brand (alongside Terry, such as in the Nakoruru & Terry Club), as well as her actual moveset when taking into account Mamahaha, would really lend to her being an almost obvious second pick from their lineup. Plus, Samurai Shodown was a pretty big deal back in the day as weapon-fighters go.

With how well Terry was received and how generous SNK was with additional content, I have to imagine a second SNK character is far more likely than people give it credit for. Especially after Terry appearing in everything over the past few years. I think he’s an extremely likely returning guest and having him come along with a new fighter feels totally possible. People argue that it wouldn’t be a priority, but those same people likely doubted we would even get one SNK rep. Given Sakurai’s outward enthusiasm towards KoF, it’s quite easy to picture him jumping on the chance to design another character from his favorite fighting game franchise. Also helps that Terry’s stage is representative of KoF, rather than Fatal Fury, so any newcomer shouldn’t require designing a new one.

I think Nakoruru is a strong choice. Being a female fighter and representing SamSho makes her stand out and appear more enticing than most other iconic SNK characters. I think Rock makes a lot of sense, especially if Fatal Fury’s revival is as successful as I expect it to be. But I think Mai is still the most likely choice. She’s proven to be the secondary face of the company having almost as many crossover appearances as Terry.

Mai’s also about to be playable in the unbelievably successful SF6, which is doing jaw dropping numbers in Japan. Speaking of, Chun-Li riding the success of this game, after being heavily considered for Ultimate and possibly the most popular fighting game character ever puts her in a great position for the next game. And forget Ryu vs Terry, Ryu vs Scorpion, or what have you - Chun-Li vs Mai is probably the most fan service-y matchup in all of fighting games. Imagine a joint trailer that reveals both of them in Smash. That would absolutely dominate fighting game discourse indefinitely.

Obviously you have the whole “being too sexy” thing, but her CotW appearance seems totally fine and there’s no reason they couldn’t alter her attire like they did with Mythra. Though I will admit that her sexiness is very much a core aspect of her character and many of her attacks are meant to accentuate this. Still, if they wanted to make it work they could.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

If Snake makes it into the next game, I still think it'd be pretty cool if they added Big Boss/Naked Snake as an alt, especially with Metal Gear Solid Delta coming out.

Makes sense because Snake in Smash is a partial composite character despite being primarily based on Solid Snake.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Look, I like Isabelle and all, but there's no universe where she has enough 'X factor' while Toad, Dixie or Bandana Dee don't.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Spoiler: Regarding Switch 2 hardware rumors

So uh

There's now doomposting about the Switch 2's rumored specs, saying that it won't be THAT much more powerful than the PS4 or even on par with it.

Regarding Smash, this should at least warrant not throwing away all the models made for SSBU.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Spoiler: Regarding Switch 2 hardware rumors

So uh

There's now doomposting about the Switch 2's rumored specs, saying that it won't be THAT much more powerful than the PS4 or even on par with it.

Regarding Smash, this should at least warrant not throwing away all the models made for SSBU.

I think its better to wait until the official specs are confirmed since they are still rumors so it could be inaccurate.

 

[Golden Icarus]

Look, I like Isabelle and all, but there's no universe where she has enough 'X factor' while Toad, Dixie or Bandana Dee don't.

Her X factor is being the face of Animal Crossing. Bandana Dee and Dixie are important and all, but they aren’t the first character you associate with their series.

Isabelle’s fighting potential was never her main draw. It’s that she was being pushed by Nintendo at a rate Dixie Kong could only dream of.

 

[Ivander]

Look, I like Isabelle and all, but there's no universe where she has enough 'X factor' while Toad, Dixie or Bandana Dee don't.

Dixie and Bandana Dee wish they were as popular as Toad and Isabelle.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Isabelle had the good fortune of being the arguable public face of a franchise that became mega-popular in the years between 4 and Ultimate (and which had only one character in Smash), on top of her very nature making her a novelty as a fighter in something like SSB.

Dixie and BWD have lacked both that kind of cultural spotlight and having consistent games in the former case. Luck and timing so often plays a part in these, and many of the on the bubble fighters like those two have had iffy dice rolls in both categories.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Spoiler: Regarding Switch 2 hardware rumors

So uh

There's now doomposting about the Switch 2's rumored specs, saying that it won't be THAT much more powerful than the PS4 or even on par with it.

Regarding Smash, this should at least warrant not throwing away all the models made for SSBU.

Spoiler

I think a lot of the posts I've seen doomposting about it are super funny because I've seen people saying "that's 2018 tech, this system is gonna be super underpowered and terrible" as if the PS4 Pro didn't come out in like 2016 and as if there aren't STILL games coming out on the PS4 even though it came out literally more than a decade ago lol

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Spoiler

I think a lot of the posts I've seen doomposting about it are super funny because I've seen people saying "that's 2018 tech, this system is gonna be super underpowered and terrible" as if the PS4 Pro didn't come out in like 2016 and as if there aren't STILL games coming out on the PS4 even though it came out literally more than a decade ago lol

Spoiler: Switch 2 Performance

The likes of John Linneman at Digital Foundry have also have pointed out that the overall hardware situation is a bit more nuanced than mere horsepower:

That is funny because it’s likely to be quite superior in many ways due to using modern Nvidia architecture with access to features the PS4 Pro does not. As a portable device, though, it’ll be limited in other, different areas.

— John Linneman @dark1x.bsky.social (@dark1x) January 1, 2025

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Isabelle’s fighting potential was never her main draw.

That's my point. I already knew she's Animal Crossing's mascotte.

 

[Golden Icarus]

That's my point. I already knew she's Animal Crossing's mascotte.

Well doesn't x factor just refer to any sort of quality that makes someone exceptional? Isabelle has that. That's all I'm saying. If x factor = moveset potential, then I do kind of agree with you.

 

[Gengar84]

Do you all remember the old rumor/leak about Katalina (from Granblue Fantasy) supposedly being one of the Fighter’s Pass characters? Obviously, that rumor proved untrue but I’m curious if she has much a chance for the next Smash. At the time, I had only seen the anime and thought it was pretty decent. Now, I’m playing through Granblue Fantasy: Relink on the PS4 and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s an action RPG like Tales but you move from location to location on an airship like Final Fantasy X instead of a larger explorable world. Anyway, Katalina is my favorite character in the game and I love characters with ice powers, which Smash is currently lacking besides Ice Climbers. I personally find her to be much more interesting than Gran, who is a bit of a generic typical hero. Nobody really ever brings her up anymore. Do you think her time has passed?

 

[Golden Icarus]

Spoiler: Regarding Switch 2 hardware rumors

So uh

There's now doomposting about the Switch 2's rumored specs, saying that it won't be THAT much more powerful than the PS4 or even on par with it.

Regarding Smash, this should at least warrant not throwing away all the models made for SSBU.

Spoiler

I haven't looked into Switch 2 rumors at all, but a portable console as powerful as a PS4 sounds...totally fine? Maybe even better than I expected. I'm somewhat ignorant to the exact strength of console hardware, but the PS4 had RDR2, God of War, graphically insane games that ran at 60 fps with all kinds of bull**** on screen.

Since the Wii, Nintendo's specs always seem to be at least one generation behind and that probably matters less now than ever because the PS4 and PS5 seem to be capable of damn near the same things. Even now the majority of PS5 games have a PS4 port that people can barely distinguish from the PS5 version.

 

[MBRedboy31]

If you ever look through the posts on the official @Kirby_JP Twitter account, there’s a whole lot of merchandise of Waddle Dee (the generic mook species,) such that it seems that Waddle Dee (species) is the series’ secondary mascot in Japan. (Kirby himself still gets the most merch.) There’s quite a bit less of BWD specifically, though, but there still is some.

Naturally, this leaves open the possibility that Regular Waddle Dee is a more important character than BWD. Star Allies’ pause screen descriptions do tout BWD as kinda being the rep for Waddle Dees in general though.

Although IMO, there’s one thing that makes BWD (or Regular Waddle Dee) even an option in a game that’s likely to have a smaller roster than Ultimate: it is that he shares Kirby’s proportions and skeleton and can be partially derivative of him, kinda like how Jigglypuff is. Obviously Kirby doesn’t use a spear in Smash and BWD’s attacks would need to be original, but BWD could steal a bunch of Kirby’s miscellaneous animations, just like he does in actual Kirby games. Even merely reusing Kirby’s taking-damage animations would save a ton of animation work.

 

[Guynamednelson]

View attachment 397353
Dixie and Bandana Dee wish they were as popular as Toad and Isabelle.

Yes, but would you care to find evidence that Nintendo wants to market Isabelle alongside Mario/Zelda characters if that was someone else as fighter 68?

Not trying to downplay Isabelle here, I just know that some people love to go out of their way to make every single inclusion and exclusion seem 9999% justifiable.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Well doesn't x factor just refer to any sort of quality that makes someone exceptional? Isabelle has that. That's all I'm saying. If x factor = moveset potential, then I do kind of agree with you.

Yes, that's what I thought people were referring to with "sauce" a little earlier in the discussion. What the character brings to the table beyond how much they're used in marketing materials.
Isabelle does bring something beyond that, of course (I'm not sure she'd be playable otherwise), the appeal of playing as this hilariously cute little dog doll - which they totally leaned into with details like the swing, the tingling sound when she runs and her little dance taunt - is unique to her. But still, she didn't really have much to work with in terms of actual abilities, contrary to the other obvious next-in-liners for their respective series.

 

[HyperSomari64]

View attachment 397353
Dixie and Bandana Dee wish they were as popular as Toad and Isabelle.

Seeing a red circle without a Goku seems wrong.

 

[Louie G.]

Isabelle's notoriety as Animal Crossing's up-and-comer mascot is the big reason she needed to be in Smash, but her "x-factor" is her personality. I don't feel like taking a side on Toad, Dixie Kong or Waddle Dee right now but I think Isabelle's unique identity shines brighter. She's someone you spend a lot of time talking to and getting to know in the game - and even if you hadn't, her dynamic personality projects through everything she does. This helped her a breakout star who climbed the ranks to being one of Nintendo's most popular characters and most prominent mascots, period.

And as pointed out above, she's cartoonishly cute and innocent to a degree that makes matchups more dynamic and fun. Being able to stance her up with Ridley and Snake adds a great amount of flavor to the game... "rule of cute" can go as far as "rule of cool", I suppose. I think that could totally work in Toad or Waddle Dee's favor individually, but I think there's a lot to unwrap and discuss there.

When talking about other personality-driven characters who have "the sauce", my mind jumps to someone like Waluigi. His moveset potential and appeal would be drawn mostly by who he is, rather than what he does. And he is a wonderfully dynamic, goofy character where that's enough to excite people on its own.

Yes, but would you care to find evidence that Nintendo wants to market Isabelle alongside Mario/Zelda characters if that was someone else as fighter 68?

Yeah, just as I've been pushing for Tom Nook this game for a lot of the same reasons. And just as I believed Isabelle was second to Inkling as the most essential new addition to the series. It was pretty clear at the time and has only gotten more true since then... like, idk, would it not be striking if Isabelle was excluded from Nintendo's mascot game and then went on to stand next to Mario, Link and Inkling as the company's go-to faces at Nintendo Tokyo? I think it would.

 

[cashregister9]

Do you all remember the old rumor/leak about Katalina (from Granblue Fantasy) supposedly being one of the Fighter’s Pass characters? Obviously, that rumor proved untrue but I’m curious if she has much a chance for the next Smash. At the time, I had only seen the anime and thought it was pretty decent. Now, I’m playing through Granblue Fantasy: Relink on the PS4 and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s an action RPG like Tales but you move from location to location on an airship like Final Fantasy X instead of a larger explorable world. Anyway, Katalina is my favorite character in the game and I love characters with ice powers, which Smash is currently lacking besides Ice Climbers. I personally find her to be much more interesting than Gran, who is a bit of a generic typical hero. Nobody really ever brings her up anymore. Do you think her time has passed?

Katalina is in such a weird spot, she is very much main story relevant and present everytime they do main story stuff, but that does not really translate to non-story content.

She rarely appear in events and she is decently popular, but not nearly on the same scale as characters like Narmaya or Sandalphon. I'd argue that even Gran and Djeeta are more popular in the grand scheme of things.

Katalina's time I think has passed simply because as Granblue has gone on, more characters have risen to prominence in the fanbase. (but stranger things have happened.)

 

[DarthEnderX]

The only thing I have to say about character sauce is, if you have to base a characters entire moveset on a Dynasty Warriors game, then there might be some issues in that department.

We have characters whose moves were made up out of nothing.

Are you calling Captain Falcon and Fox sauceless?

With how well Terry was received and how generous SNK was with additional content, I have to imagine a second SNK character is far more likely than people give it credit for.

Metal Slug time!

 

[Idon]

We have characters whose moves were made up out of nothing.

Are you calling Captain Falcon and Fox sauceless?

Nakoruru time!

I believe the implication is the opposite as Musou games are known for being incredibly flashy with huge army destroying attacks.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I believe the implication is the opposite as Musou games are known for being incredibly flashy with huge army destroying attacks.

I thought the implication was "if those characters had any sauce, they wouldn't have to rely on Musou spinoffs for their moveset".

 

[cashregister9]

I believe the implication is the opposite as Musou games are known for being incredibly flashy with huge army destroying attacks.

I thought the implication was "if those characters had any sauce, they wouldn't have to rely on Musou spinoffs for their moveset".

My initial intent was mostly "If a character's moveset has to rely entirely on a Warriors game to have any sort of viable moveset, then they might be lacking in sauce. (Think Impa concepts that are just the Hyrule Warriors movesets with no real changes, not necessarily a bad moveset, but just kind of uninspired)" but the inverse is also very much true, being able to have a whole warriors moveset implies a certain level of sauce.

 

[Ivander]

Yes, but would you care to find evidence that Nintendo wants to market Isabelle alongside Mario/Zelda characters if that was someone else as fighter 68?

I think they would keep marketing her even if she wasn't Fighter 68. Cause let's see:

• Appears with Villager and Link as DLC for Mario Kart 8. She was also chosen to represent Animal Crossing in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as she appears next to Link and the Inkling Girl in images and backgrounds compared to either Villager.
• Is one of three characters in the Nintendo Badge Arcade to get the Cosplay/Dress-Up treatment where she gets a ton of badges of her in different outfits, including Link's outfit and Samus' outfit.
• Has Three different Amiibo and is not only the only Animal Crossing character to have more than one Amiibo, but is one of the very few characters outside of Mario and Zelda characters to have different Amiibos.
• Would you believe she appeared in Monster Hunter? Alongside Mr. Resetti?
  
  
  
  Why yes, Doom Slayer, Isabelle does have experience with helping against monsters.
• When they revealed Nintendo music, Isabelle is one of the characters shown and she(and Tom Nook) is in the middle 3 alongside Mario and Link.
  
  
• And last but not least, when they opened the Nintendo Tokyo store, Isabelle, alongside the female Villager, is right behind Mario and the Inkling Girl and in front of Link. And not just that, a statue set was released with the box having Mario, Inkling Girl, F!Villager and Isabelle and Link on the cover, but when opened:
  
  
  
  The Female Villager is nowhere to be seen and the Animal Crossing statue is Isabelle with Timmy and Tommy behind her. Isabelle got top priority. That said, besides the four, there was also a Pikmin Statue set with the Red, Blue and Yellow Pikmin.
• Edit: Oh, and besides the small statue set, there are the giant statues in the Tokyo store too.
  
  

So she is still very clearly getting marketed alongside the top Nintendo characters. And some of those marketings were before her appearance in Smash Bros. So I'm confident in saying that even if she didn't get in Smash Bros, she would still be heavily marketed.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

So she is still very clearly getting marketed alongside the top Nintendo characters. And some of those marketings were before her appearance in Smash Bros. So I'm confident in saying that even if she didn't get in Smash Bros, she would still be heavily marketed.

She also got one of the big tiles on the Nintendo Museum character wall alongside Kirby, Inkling, Link, Mario, Pikachu, and the Pikmin.

 

[NintenRob]

There's a solid chance that if Isabelle was introduced earlier, she would've been our first animal crossing character. Similarly, if for whatever reason Animal crossing is cut down to one character, Isabelle will likely be the one who sticks around

 

[Diddy Kong]

Isabelle isn't going anywhere. Major Nintendo mascot indeed. But she isn't flashy or saucy or any of these things. Her insane popularity and marketability helped her a lot though. This is a thing that Dixie and Impa might lack in comparison.

Toad, Bandana Dee and Kamek might not suffer the same, they're generally more well known. Dixie might be too, but she's an unfortunate case, shes only marketed when things are DK related. Impa wouldn't have much recognisability beyond Zelda fans in comparison.

Yet I think the fact they're from hugely popular series who lack a different better option benefits them a lot. However , with Dixie specifically I am often "worried" she might not be favored over the hugely popular Funky Kong or the ever present Cranky Kong, especially with the them being so popular amongst Mario Kart fans in the case of Funky and Cranky having that major role in the Mario Movie and being the only suggested character to specifically be brought back for DKC Returns by suggestion of Miyamoto. Impa could similarly not be chosen in favor of someone from the BotW and TotK saga.

 

[dream1ng]

I feel like anyone putting Dixie and BWD above Isabelle hasn't been paying attention to how Nintendo has been marketing itself for like the last ten years.

Not to mention she's like the co-mascot of AC, those other two are like the fourth banana of their respective, smaller (per game) series.

I don't think she's the most interesting character for a game like Smash, but she's definitely has the edge in modern Nintendo.

I mean she even got in Mario Kart before Dixie did.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Isabelle is definitely an example of an inclusion who was based around who she is rather than what she could bring to the table.
Especially when from the onset the vision for her fighting style was "a variation on Villager".

 

[Diddy Kong]

I feel like anyone putting Dixie and BWD above Isabelle hasn't been paying attention to how Nintendo has been marketing itself for like the last ten years.

Not to mention she's like the co-mascot of AC, those other two are like the fourth banana of their respective, smaller (per game) series.

I don't think she's the most interesting character for a game like Smash, but she's definitely has the edge in modern Nintendo.

I mean she even got in Mario Kart before Dixie did.

All of it kinda comes down to Nintendo not getting Donkey Kong right in their priorities. It shouldn't have been like this but it do.

I remember a brief period in time where Diddy was more marketable than even DK. Long gone are those days.

I also don't think anyone put Dixie above Isabelle, someone just made a comparison that Isabelle lacks sauce and therefore not all newcomers have to be the most hype. Anyway, Isabelle is a major Nintendo mascot now and for a good reason. So her place in Smash is 100% deserved (using this word is risky regarding character inclusion here lol).

However Funky made it in Mario Kart before Isabelle so maybe ....?

 

[Kirby Dragons]

Do you all remember the old rumor/leak about Katalina (from Granblue Fantasy) supposedly being one of the Fighter’s Pass characters? Obviously, that rumor proved untrue but I’m curious if she has much a chance for the next Smash. At the time, I had only seen the anime and thought it was pretty decent. Now, I’m playing through Granblue Fantasy: Relink on the PS4 and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s an action RPG like Tales but you move from location to location on an airship like Final Fantasy X instead of a larger explorable world. Anyway, Katalina is my favorite character in the game and I love characters with ice powers, which Smash is currently lacking besides Ice Climbers. I personally find her to be much more interesting than Gran, who is a bit of a generic typical hero. Nobody really ever brings her up anymore. Do you think her time has passed?

Granblue is continuing to expand, and Nintendo has worked with Cygames before, so I could easily see Granblue content in Smash. A playable character is possible, but IDK if it would be Katalina.

 

[Diddy Kong]

My initial intent was mostly "If a character's moveset has to rely entirely on a Warriors game to have any sort of viable moveset, then they might be lacking in sauce. (Think Impa concepts that are just the Hyrule Warriors movesets with no real changes, not necessarily a bad moveset, but just kind of uninspired)" but the inverse is also very much true, being able to have a whole warriors moveset implies a certain level of sauce.

Might be.

Buy then again, literally the whole Zelda cast in Smash would have more sauce if they'd just have their Hyrule Warriors move set in Smash, at least whatever moves are possible of course.

It was an especially popular idea for Ganondorf back in the day. "If only" was the whole premise about the potential. But I think literally all the Zelda characters would be better off having move sets inspired from Hyrule Warriors. Link being so dynamic and fast, Zelda having the rapier and light magic and Light Arrows, Sheik with the Goddess Harp and music and elemental attacks / buffs, Young Link with the Majora's Mask, Toon Link doing actual Wind Waker things, Ganondorf with dual great swords , dark magic and semi transformations or the Trident?

Count me in for all of that.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Especially when from the onset the vision for her fighting style was "a variation on Villager".

At least that means that she was planned from the start since Lucas in Brawl is the only other character from the clone archetype that was planned from the start.

The rest were added later in development when they were introduced in Smash.

 

[BuckleyTim]

You know what? Im just gonna say it; I don't respect the inclusion of Dixie Kong in the Sauceless Pentagon. We're one game out from the dk fanbase essentially congealing around k rool as a dual message to both retro and sora Ltd, I think that same fanbase would say "oh yeah Dixie makes sense next" when questioned about it (funky would also do numbers but that's because this franchise is just sauced in general). If we go another game without her, then sure I can start buying the argument that sakurai doesn't see a reason to explore her again but not now.

In summary, DixieGuitarVictoryAnimation.png . Does toad have that? I think not.

 

[RodNutTakin]

You know what? Im just gonna say it; I don't respect the inclusion of Dixie Kong in the Sauceless Pentagon. We're one game out from the dk fanbase essentially congealing around k rool as a dual message to both retro and sora Ltd, I think that same fanbase would say "oh yeah Dixie makes sense next" when questioned about it (funky would also do numbers but that's because this franchise is just sauced in general). If we go another game without her, then sure I can start buying the argument that sakurai doesn't see a reason to explore her again but not now.

In summary, DixieGuitarVictoryAnimation.png . Does toad have that? I think not.

As I said, it's definitely a matter of timing. Whether you meant to or not, you hit the nail there regarding the general consensus rapidly weakening the longer Smash goes without her playable, and I'd argue K. Rool coming in first definitely took some wind out of the sails already.
I like Isabelle's inclusion in Ultimate, but I cannot deny that revealing her by herself at the end of a Direct like they did wasn't a smart move marketing-wise, or at least, not without the announcement that NH was in development bootstrapped to the reveal. I can see some shade being thrown Dixie's way if she closes a Direct--much less so, however, if she shares a presentation with other fighter reveals. Because as I've also said...I do not expect the devs to take her anywhere beyond modern Falco in terms of being distinct from Diddy in a best-case scenario.
I'm definitely more open to her compared to Toad as well, though. I've already stated who I think my "Dull Triangle" consists of currently.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Do you all remember the old rumor/leak about Katalina (from Granblue Fantasy) supposedly being one of the Fighter’s Pass characters? Obviously, that rumor proved untrue but I’m curious if she has much a chance for the next Smash. At the time, I had only seen the anime and thought it was pretty decent. Now, I’m playing through Granblue Fantasy: Relink on the PS4 and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s an action RPG like Tales but you move from location to location on an airship like Final Fantasy X instead of a larger explorable world. Anyway, Katalina is my favorite character in the game and I love characters with ice powers, which Smash is currently lacking besides Ice Climbers. I personally find her to be much more interesting than Gran, who is a bit of a generic typical hero. Nobody really ever brings her up anymore. Do you think her time has passed?

If we got a Granblue character in smash my most wanted choice would personally be Vira which is katalina’s sister funnily enough. Tho am bias since she is my main on Granblue fantasy versus rising. Her crazy personality and install transformation which gives her a spear and axe for a few attacks and spirit summons would make her stand out in the smash roster. https://youtu.be/dnXr756snPI?si=okHBwPNMcs_6Rk_4

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

At least that means that she was planned from the start since Lucas in Brawl is the only other character from the clone archetype that was planned from the start.

The rest were added later in development when they were introduced in Smash.

That's not true, though. Ultimate also had this for every single Echo. Every single base-game character was planned from the start. Nobody was added later in development as a plan(we don't know the exact order of creation, but that's a different thing from plans).

Brawl also had the entire roster, including the characters who didn't make it in, planned from the start. That includes Wolf and Toon Link, who are among the clone archtypes too. As well as Toon Zelda intended(and what is labeled as Toon Sheik), plus Dr. Mario and Roy.

 

[Gengar84]

If we got a Granblue character in smash my most wanted choice would personally be Vira which is katalina’s sister funnily enough. Tho am bias since she is my main on Granblue fantasy versus rising. Her crazy personality and install transformation which gives her a spear and axe for a few attacks and spirit summons would make her stand out in the smash roster. https://youtu.be/dnXr756snPI?si=okHBwPNMcs_6Rk_4

I’m still relatively early in Relink, which is my first time ever playing a Granblue game. I like a lot of the characters so far. I think my favorites of the story relevant characters are Katalina, Rackam, and Rosetta. I’ve only used one Crewmate card to get a side character and that was Vaseraga. He’s got a cool design and I’m always a fan of scythes and shadow element users. I’ve mostly been alternating between him and Katalina for the controllable character. I do kind of wish I could take Gran out of my party though. I don’t dislike him at all but he feels kind of plain compared to everyone else. That seems to be the case for most main protagonists.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

You know what? Im just gonna say it; I don't respect the inclusion of Dixie Kong in the Sauceless Pentagon. We're one game out from the dk fanbase essentially congealing around k rool as a dual message to both retro and sora Ltd, I think that same fanbase would say "oh yeah Dixie makes sense next" when questioned about it (funky would also do numbers but that's because this franchise is just sauced in general). If we go another game without her, then sure I can start buying the argument that sakurai doesn't see a reason to explore her again but not now.

In summary, DixieGuitarVictoryAnimation.png . Does toad have that? I think not.

The DK fanbase clearly loves Dixie. Generally, it's those outside the fanbase that find her too plain, so... Eh. Not much we can do about it.

Unfortunately the Nintendo higher-ups don't really seem to be all that much into DK either.