Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Noipoi]

I understand why people in the Next Smash thread are chomping at the bit for the next Smash. But personally I’m alright with waiting a year or two.

Give the new generation a little time to get settled. Let some big, new, system defining launch titles come out. It’d be a shame if they were so quick to push out a new Smash Bros it ended up having no content from other Switch 2 games.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Yeah but a game planned in late June/early July 2021 means that a lot of stuff from 2022 and 2023 can get a hit.

Wanted Wonder content? You're lucky if we get a stage from this late 2023 game.

Wanted a Pikmin 4 newcomer like Oatchi? Sorry, 2023.

Wanted Alear using Emblems and potential fist fights for a fresh take on a FE rep? **** you, it's a 2023 game.

Wanted someone from TotK? Nope. It's a 2023 game so you'll get minor changes to Link at best.

Wanted something from Echoes of Widsom? Best you'll get from this 2024 game is Zelda's down B getting reskinned.

Wanted new Metroid characters? Too bad, Prime 4 was basically unknown and Dread... actually, Dread might have barely made it since it'd come out 4 months after the project plan. But it wouldn't be Raven Beak in that scenario, it'd be E.M.M.I. or nothing.

Characters from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Bayonetta 3 (assuming Bayo comes back and brings a newcomer like Viola) might also miss their shot due to coming out about a year or more after the project plan would be written.

It would also mean Geno missed his only possible shot due to the SMRPG Remake being a 2023 game.

That's the way things go. Smash by its own nature needs to look backwards, and its own development time ballooning from 2 years during the Wii days to 3+ years today makes the gap of games it's going to miss wider and wider.
Smash 7 will have even more trouble being up to date, and so on and so on.

Also, I'm not sure why those 2022-2024 games have so much more inherent value than those from 2019-2021 or 2025-2027 that they need to release the game in the perfect year to include all of them as their top priority...

 

[Dinoman96]

My incredibly toxic opinion is that I'd be fine with stuff from 2022-2024 being left for dlc if it meant I could get more of the legacy picks I've been pining for in the base game. It won't happen because even if things were pre-planned as early as possible they most likely didn't kick things into serious production until studio s was publicly announced to exist, but you're threatening me with a better time than you think.

That's honestly how I feel hahahaha, would be a nice way to force them to look back at older characters (i.e Isaac, Dixie, etc) as opposed to just relying on the usual flavor of the month stuff.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I understand why people in the Next Smash thread are chomping at the bit for the next Smash. But personally I’m alright with waiting a year or two.

Give the new generation a little time to get settled. Let some big, new, system defining launch titles come out. It’d be a shame if they were so quick to push out a new Smash Bros it ended up having no content from other Switch 2 games.

thats what the dlc fighters are for isnt it?

 

[Gengar84]

That's honestly how I feel hahahaha, would be a nice way to force them to look back at older characters (i.e Isaac, Dixie, etc) as opposed to just relying on the usual flavor of the month stuff.

Same here. Pretty much all of my most wanted characters come from before 2022. I’m cool with newer characters too but from a purely selfish standpoint, I have a higher chance of seeing some of my most wanted with an earlier development start time.

 

[Opossum]

Yeah but a game planned in late June/early July 2021 means that a lot of stuff from 2022 and 2023 can get a hit.

Wanted Wonder content? You're lucky if we get a stage from this late 2023 game.

Wanted a Pikmin 4 newcomer like Oatchi? Sorry, 2023.

Wanted Alear using Emblems and potential fist fights for a fresh take on a FE rep? **** you, it's a 2023 game.

Wanted someone from TotK? Nope. It's a 2023 game so you'll get minor changes to Link at best.

Wanted something from Echoes of Widsom? Best you'll get from this 2024 game is Zelda's down B getting reskinned.

Wanted new Metroid characters? Too bad, Prime 4 was basically unknown and Dread... actually, Dread might have barely made it since it'd come out 4 months after the project plan. But it wouldn't be Raven Beak in that scenario, it'd be E.M.M.I. or nothing.

Characters from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Bayonetta 3 (assuming Bayo comes back and brings a newcomer like Viola) might also miss their shot due to coming out about a year or more after the project plan would be written.

It would also mean Geno missed his only possible shot due to the SMRPG Remake being a 2023 game.

Pokemon would very much get its dibs as usual and get a Gen 9 rep though, while the current consensus is that if Gen X comes out before the next Smash, Paldea's screwed out of getting anything so this situation is actually beneficial for characters like Meowscarada.

The irony that the biggest loss of all is one that wasn't even listed...

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

That's the way things go. Smash by its own nature needs to look backwards, and its own development time ballooning from 2 years during the Wii days to 3+ years today makes the gap of games it's going to miss wider and wider.
Smash 7 will have even more trouble being up to date, and so on and so on.

Also, I'm not sure why those 2022-2024 games have so much more inherent value than those from 2019-2021 or 2025-2027 that they need to release the game in the perfect year to include all of them as their top priority...

It's not that they're the most highly-valued games.

It's that since Brawl, Smash did what I said earlier today; starting off early in a console's life but just last enough that everything the previous console did is up for grabs when it comes to representation.

Combine that with the fact that historically, first-party DLC additions were, whether intentionally so or not, always marketing a game of the current generation as of their addition (Corrin being explicitly stated to be marketing a then-upcoming release while Byleth, Min Min and Pythra all debuted in Switch games), means that if we miss a good chunk of the Switch's life because the game was planned in 2021, all those games I listed pretty much are **** out of luck for new characters, be it for base game or for DLC.

It's not that I think 2022-2024 is a golden era for Switch games (that'll always be 2017-2019 to me), it's more of a matter of making sure nothing from the previous generation is left behind, something that again, Smash has historically done for three games in a row by now.

And you can see from all the games I listed that skipping this era removes a pretty substantial amount of new options for newcomer additions. That's probably a worst case scenario given that EIH2, which might have been a good crutch in a situation where first-party offerings are slimmed down, is only achievable in DarthEnder's dreams, so getting substantial cuts on both the amount of veterans and newcomer options from recent games is just an incredibly bad spot for Smash to be on. It's why I don't think it's the 2021 project.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

It would also mean Geno missed his only possible shot due to the SMRPG Remake being a 2023 game.

I wouldn't say his only shot. He'd still be an option for DLC.

He just wouldn't have the remake in his favor for base.

 

[Perkilator]

Here's my updated list of characters that I'm supporting for Smash 6:

Spoiler: Base game

Assuming Sakurai's next project is Smash and the cutoff point is July 2021-April 2022, which is when the project began development (* denotes a character after that point that Sakurai could've potentially seen prior to their game's official release, like he did with Byleth)

• Waluigi & Toad
• Funky Kong
• A decloned Ganondorf based on TotK*
• Raven Beak
• Bandana Waddle Dee
• Meowscarada, Tinkaton, and Gholdengo
• Alear*
• Tom Nook
• Noah & Mio*
• Octoling as a semi-clone
• Officer Howard
• Ring Fit Trainee
• Ayumi Tachibana
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Chun-Li
• Alucard
• Iori Yagami
• Nakoruru
• Valkyrie

Spoiler: DLC

Basically, any character who had a major appearance any time after July 2021-April 2022 is fair game for DLC

• Geno
• Sylux
• Gen 10 Pokémon
• Aigis
• Roxas
• Will (Metaphor)
• Estelle Bright

 

[Gorgonzales]

I want them to wait a little on Smash.
Mainly because I don't want another FP2 situation where they put all the new-console characters that missed the boat into half of the pass again.

 

[Gengar84]

Here’s a few of my most wanted characters I’d love to see in Smash 6 (limiting it to one character per series):

First Party

1) Gengar (Pokémon)
2) Goomba (Mario)
3) Bugzzy (Kirby)
4) Impa (Legend of Zelda)
5) Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong)
6) EMMI (Metroid)
7) Officer Howard (Astral Chain)
8) Nia (Xenoblade)
9) The Black Knight (Fire Emblem)
10) Isaac (Golden Sun)

Third Party

1) Rash/Pimple/Zitz (Battletoads)
2) Magus (Chrono Trigger)
3) Jinx (League of Legends)
4) Fulgore (Killer Instinct)
5) Illidan Stormrage (WarCraft)
6) Alphen/Shionne (Tales of Arise)
7) Zero (Mega Man)
8) Lu Bu (Dynasty Warriors)
9) Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)
10) Bill Rizer/Lance Bean (Contra)

There are a ton more third party characters I’d love to see but I’ll limit the lists to just my top 10 at the moment.

 

[Royaru]

Even if Smash had actually started development in 2021, I'd find it very reasonable for Sakurai and Nintendo to leave several slots for series that were in growth or similar, not to mention franchises that had games already in very advanced development (Xeno3, Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, Kirby FL, Zelda TotK), or had just started development (FDC: Emio). In fact, FE Engage was finished as of 2021.

Anyway; I see it impossible for Smash to be released this year. They need a strong promotion campaign, and it would overlap too much with Switch 2. If this year they release Pokemon ZA, Prime 4, a new 3d Mario, a new Mario Kart, a new Animal Crossing, some revival of some forgotten IP or a new IP it is enough. 2026 can also be a very active year with Pokemon Gen10, FE, Splatoon, Kirby, Luigi's Mansion 4, a new 2d Metroid, and more.
The more I think about it, the more I think that the next Smash will go to the first months of 2027 in order to cover the entire Switch era and perhaps the beginning of Switch 2 and so we don't have another case like ARMS and Xeno2.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

I really don't want the next Smash to be too soon. Hopefully things developed a bit more in Nintendo, and gaming in general, before they started development.

 

[BritishGuy54]

Personally i'd prefer if Smash 6 is a 3 year release title for the Switch 2. Sometimes it surprises me how much content base Smash Bros. games had despite their relative short development time. Makes me wonder how would a Smash game look like if it had many years of development.

It’s not a terrible idea.

With 2027, the only major stuff that’s likely coming is Splatoon 4, Fire Emblem, 2D Metroid, Mario Party… this year does feel like it’s lacking a big hook.

After all, 2026 will likely have Pokémon Gen 10, and 2028 may be stirring up to be another 2023 with 2D Mario and 3D Zelda returning, plus new entries for Paper Mario, Xenoblade, and Pokémon remakes turning up here at the latest.

 

[Garteam]

Nintendo will probably also want a new Mario Kart and a new Animal Crossing out that year, so even if a new Smash is ready in 2025, they’ll probably still want to release it in 2026.

I keep seeing people assert that we’re getting an Animal Crossing this year, but is there any proof/rumours behind that?

Mario Kart makes sense due to consistently being a launch title and it having been 11 years since the last one, but Animal Crossing is generally a year 2 or 3 title with about 6 or 7 years between entries.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Oh, I decided to order my favorite series represented in Smash’s roster, just the mainline entries

Hmm...



I'm not really invested in the rest.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Hmm...



I'm not really invested in the rest.

I listed this as a top 10 going from 1 to 10.

 

[DarthEnderX]

My incredibly toxic opinion is that I'd be fine with stuff from 2022-2024 being left for dlc if it meant I could get more of the legacy picks I've been pining for in the base game.

My incredibly based opinion is that I'd be fine with stuff from 2022-2024 being left out entirely if it meant I could get more of the legacy picks I've been pining for in the base game and DLC.

I understand why people in the Next Smash thread are chomping at the bit for the next Smash. But personally I’m alright with waiting a year or two.

Give the new generation a little time to get settled.

Nah. Smash and Mario Kart should both release early in the console's life, and then release DLC throughout the life of the console.

 

[Noipoi]

Nah. Smash and Mario Kart should both release early in the console's life, and then release DLC throughout the life of the console.

Nah. Space em out a bit.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Here’s a few of my most wanted characters I’d love to see in Smash 6

1. Ryu Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden]
2. Bill Rizer/Lance Bean [Contra]
3. Arthur [Ghosts ‘n Goblins]
4. Kunio/Riki [River City]
5. SV-001 Metal Slug [Metal Slug]
6. Bub/Bob [Bubble Bobble]
7. Jill Valentine [Resident Evil]
8. Morrigan [Darkstalkers]
9. Nightmare [Soulcalibur]
10. Kazuma Kiryu [Like a Dragon]
11. Nakoruru [Samurai Shodown]
12. Dante [Devil May Cry]
13. Phoenix Wright [Ace Attorney]
14. Viewtiful Joe [Viewtiful Joe]
15. Amaterasu [Okami]
16. Mike Haggar [Final Fight]
17. Strider Hiryu [Strider]
18. Goemon/Ebisumaru [Legend of the Mystical Ninja]
19. Crono [Chrono Trigger]
20. Nathan Spencer [Bionic Commando]
21. Rash/Zitz [Battletoads]
22. Bomberman [Bomberman]
23. Estelle Bright [Legend of Heroes]
24. Firebrand [Gargoyle’s Quest]
25. Zero [Mega Man X]
26. Alucard [Castlevania]
27. Raiden [Metal Gear]
28. Captain Toad/Toadette [Treasure Tracker]
29. King Hippo [Punch-Out]
30. Mii Mage

 

[Royaru]

I keep seeing people assert that we’re getting an Animal Crossing this year, but is there any proof/rumours behind that?

Mario Kart makes sense due to consistently being a launch title and it having been 11 years since the last one, but Animal Crossing is generally a year 2 or 3 title with about 6 or 7 years between entries.

As seen in the credits of Splatoon 3, there is hardly any overlap between the Splatoon and Animal Crossing teams anymore. Therefore, we can assume that they have been working on the next installment of Animal Crossing since 2021.
If Nintendo wants to repeat 2017 and certainly won't have Zelda, Animal Crossing is a good substitute.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

It's not that they're the most highly-valued games.

It's that since Brawl, Smash did what I said earlier today; starting off early in a console's life but just last enough that everything the previous console did is up for grabs when it comes to representation.

Combine that with the fact that historically, first-party DLC additions were, whether intentionally so or not, always marketing a game of the current generation as of their addition (Corrin being explicitly stated to be marketing a then-upcoming release while Byleth, Min Min and Pythra all debuted in Switch games), means that if we miss a good chunk of the Switch's life because the game was planned in 2021, all those games I listed pretty much are **** out of luck for new characters, be it for base game or for DLC.

It's not that I think 2022-2024 is a golden era for Switch games (that'll always be 2017-2019 to me), it's more of a matter of making sure nothing from the previous generation is left behind, something that again, Smash has historically done for three games in a row by now.

And you can see from all the games I listed that skipping this era removes a pretty substantial amount of new options for newcomer additions. That's probably a worst case scenario given that EIH2, which might have been a good crutch in a situation where first-party offerings are slimmed down, is only achievable in DarthEnder's dreams, so getting substantial cuts on both the amount of veterans and newcomer options from recent games is just an incredibly bad spot for Smash to be on. It's why I don't think it's the 2021 project.

I feel like you're vastly overestimating how much of the previous generation gets into a Smash game. Ultimate barely has anything from Wii U and late 3DS.
Brawl and Smash 4 fare slightly better but they're hardly as comprehensive as you expect the next game to be. Most games get a stage or an assist at best.
And who said that newcomers have to come specifically from those three years? They have 40+ years of gaming to pull from.

I feel like most of you guys among the thread's regulars have gaslighted each other into being dead sure that the next Smash must be a standard Smash game that cuts most of the more exotic 3rd party characters and adds a representative from all the late Switch-era games, but that's... One extremely specific outcome among the many, many possible ones.

 

[Gengar84]

I’m of the opinion that Smash is at its best when there’s an even balance among all of Nintendo’s and gaming’s history at large. Focusing too much on just the newest characters risks the series just feeling like an advertisement rather than a celebration. Conversely, ignoring newer characters and focusing only on legacy characters risks the series becoming too stale and outdated feeling. I do agree that most people focus a bit too much on the marketing side of Smash and forget that it’s meant to be a tribute to gaming as a whole.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Man imagine the alternate universe where we had a good moveset for Sonic but at the expense of Toon Link.

...Man i dont know if i prefer that or not.

There's two things about this: The first is that the outcomes were more likely to be an asset reusey Sonic and Wolf, Jigglypuff, and Toon Link, or an asset reusey Sonic and that's it. If they didn't scramble as hard to get Sonic out the door, we'd probably have gotten some of the clone Forbidden 7 members like Roy or Doc in addition to Toon Link, Jigglypuff, and Wolf.

The second is that I think Sonic was always going to be a pixie character, and Spin Dash was always going to be designed the way it is currently whether or not Spin Charge would also have existed in the moveset, and both aforementioned moves are kind of the basis on everyone's problem with his kit/playstyle.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I’m of the opinion that Smash is at its best when there’s an even balance among all of Nintendo’s and gaming’s history at large.

Nah. The older the better.

 

[Sucumbio]

Hatsune Miku in Fortnite made me remember Hatsune Miku now I want her in Smash except if Fortnite were an indicator we'd have _____ by now

 

[PersonAngelo53]

I would play as magnamite a lot

• Enough to know I can't stand her
• Can't stand her
• Can't stand her
• Nothing of value
• Not worth bothering with
• No

Jeez what did Bayonetta do to you? So much hatred woah.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

No but really, just throwing out names that pop out pretty often: Waluigi, Paper Mario, any form of Toad, Geno, Dixie, Funky and Cranky Kong, Skull Kid, Midna, Impa, Bandana Dee, Marx, Magolor, Krystal, any Pokémon and Fire Emblem lord you can think of, the Black Knight, Isaac, an Advance Wars character, the Octolings, the Splatoon villain and the idol sisters, Tom Nook, KK Slider, Porky, Black Shadow... None of these characters is from 2022-2024. You can build a couple of newcomer rosters just from this, and don't even get me started on characters not owned by Nintendo.

It's mostly just Xenoblade 3 and Pikmin (and that's assuming that they'd be willing to add Oatchi as a fighter which feels like a somewhat long shot in any case) that get screwed over. And there's DLC for that.
TotK can easily get a character since the game was first shown after the Banjo and Kazooie trailer, a lifetime ago.

 

[Gengar84]

Nah. The older the better.
View attachment 397723

My personal preferences tend to lean towards characters that are 20+ years old too but there are also plenty of newer characters I’d be excited for too. The reason I lean towards older characters myself is mostly nostalgia from when I was growing up but plenty of younger people play Smash too and have nostalgia for much more recent characters comparatively. Plus, there’s some new characters that are just cool and could be fun to play.

 

[Garteam]

As seen in the credits of Splatoon 3, there is hardly any overlap between the Splatoon and Animal Crossing teams anymore. Therefore, we can assume that they have been working on the next installment of Animal Crossing since 2021.
If Nintendo wants to repeat 2017 and certainly won't have Zelda, Animal Crossing is a good substitute.

I don’t really support the premise that you can presume the Animal Crossing staff must be working on another Animal Crossing if they aren’t working on Splatoon. If members were removed from EPD5, couldn’t they have just been moved to other teams rather than forming a new, dedicated Animal Crossing studio?

 

[BuckleyTim]

Also do you really want a new animal crossing this soon? That's a recipe for another new horizons situation where every hardcore fan I know complains about the lack of content and then because Nintendo doesn't do traditional live service well it leads to the updates being an underwhelming dripfeed as well.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I don't know about Animal Crossing since New Horizon's final biggish update for patches at least was in February 2022. It had a new patch in November 2022, but it was just a "Improves general gameplay experience" update.

I think it's probably in development at least since New Horizons sold like hotcakes and is the number 2 highest selling Switch game, and it has been like 2 years plus at this point, but I dunno if it'll come out this year or anything like that.

 

[Zerp]

On the topic of the launch period, they should randomly release the next Smash in a couple weeks with minimal marketing. But it's still for the Switch 2, and the Switch 2 isn't out yet. You know, so it just stares at you in your collection, unable to be played for months. Make sure the boxart and advertising is also super vague so nobody has any idea who even made it into the game, you just have to wait to figure it out. The wait would be so agonizing it'd inspire people to get the Switch 2 the moment it comes out and therefore boost the launch numbers and create a FoMO effect, truly the perfect business strategy. /s

 

[fogbadge]

Jeez what did Bayonetta do to you? So much hatred woah.

murdered my parents forcing me to become a super hero

 

[Gengar84]

murdered my parents forcing me to become a super hero

I hate when that happens.

 

[pitchfulprocessing]

I feel like you're vastly overestimating how much of the previous generation gets into a Smash game. Ultimate barely has anything from Wii U and late 3DS.
Brawl and Smash 4 fare slightly better but they're hardly as comprehensive as you expect the next game to be. Most games get a stage or an assist at best.
And who said that newcomers have to come specifically from those three years? They have 40+ years of gaming to pull from.

I feel like most of you guys among the thread's regulars have gaslighted each other into being dead sure that the next Smash must be a standard Smash game that cuts most of the more exotic 3rd party characters and adds a representative from all the late Switch-era games, but that's... One extremely specific outcome among the many, many possible ones.

Yeah I would argue Ultimate is the first Smash game that was actually able to represent its own console by the time its dev cycle wrapped up through DLC. By 2021, Xenoblade 2, Arms, and Fire Emblem Three Houses basically are three of the most notable first party Nintendo games of the Switch era that are not otherwise already represented in playable form.

 

[fogbadge]

I hate when that happens.

don’t even get me started on what happened to my uncle ben

 

[Gengar84]

don’t even get me started on what happened to my uncle ben

That one was kind of on you. You probably should have stopped that guy when you had the chance.

Back on topic, are there any characters you’d like to see that were particularly relevant around 2021, assuming that’s when Smash 6’s roster was being decided? Two big ones for me are Jinx and Alphen/Shionne as both Arcane and Tales of Arise came out that year.

 

[Wonder Smash]

The last conversation got me thinking...

Throwing away any thoughts of likeliness aside..

• How much experience do you have with the Bayonetta franchise?
• How do you like Bayonetta as a character outside of Smash?
• How do you like Bayonetta as a character in Smash?
• How much do you think Bayonetta adds to Smash?
• What do you think of the Bayonetta franchise (not the character) content in Smash?
• Would you be sad to see her go?

• I never played any of the games. Just heard about them and seen gameplay videos of them.
• I don't think she's a bad character but I never really had much interest in the character.
• I don't pay much attention to her character in Smash.
• I don't give it much thought.
• It's nice addition to Smash and I have nothing against it.
• It wouldn't be sad but it wouldn't be right either.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

That one was kind of on you. You probably should have stopped that guy when you had the chance.

Back on topic, are there any characters you’d like to see that were particularly relevant around 2021, assuming that’s when Smash 6’s roster was being decided? Two big ones for me are Jinx and Alphen/Shionne as both Arcane and Tales of Arise came out that year.

Not to get back on my bull****, but I wouldn't write off a Sunsoft character, actually. I still think Jason & SOPHIA (Blaster Master Zero) would be a really good pick mechanically, but also one that'd make a lot of sense given the decent popularity of the BMZ trilogy - and Sunsoft specifically have a pretty extensive history with Nintendo that'd lend to Jason being a pretty decent "retro" pick on top of that. Not dissimilar to people's arguments for Hayabusa, actually.

Beyond that, I still think E.M.M.I's a pretty plausible (albeit underdiscussed) character for the next title, if only because of its prominence in the marketing for Dread compared to Raven Beak, the game's final boss who essentially didn't feature in any of the marketing in comparison. Nothing against Raven Beak or anything, but E.M.M.I was pretty much concieved as a major draw for the game, and essentially acts as the main source of the game's namesake.