Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[MBRedboy31]

Plot twist: Sakurai’s next project isn’t Smash 6 but something different (Kid Icarus Uprising 2/New IP) but then it’s revealed that Studio 2 and Studio S ARE still developing the next Smash title, it’s just getting a new director.

How would you react to this news?

Regarding Smash, I'd probably think something similar to "Oh, huh, that's interesting. I wonder how that'll turn out."
My reaction to Sakurai's other project depends on what that project is. It could potentially be super hype, or it could be something that has me only mildly curious.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

The team that was working on Lost Crown was moved onto the Rayman project.

Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisof...ayman-game-with-creator-michel-ancel-involved

That article (which is the same one I found) says they're in the exploration phase, which I assume means pre-production but I have no clue, and also says the team was split three ways to work on Ghost Recon, Beyond Good and Evil 2 (which had its initial reveal 17 years ago btw), and a Rayman remake.

Given Ubisoft's reputation, I'm not gonna believe anything until I actually see it lol

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Donkey Kong is still pretty much a gorilla and animal-like in practice. Animal noises work fine.

Diddy Kong was somewhat between animal and more humanoid, so it could go either way.

Bowser worked fine with it till Smash 4, when he went a more humanoid-like route. A voice change would fit his style better. He's the only one to outright evolve past his animalistic state too of the three noted. That said, King K. Rool went straight into an animal route in both voice and design, so it's most likely they're sticking with the animal style for a looooong time for the DKC characters(bar a human like Pauline/Lady, or Stanley the Bugman, where it obviously doesn't fit at any point).

Speaking of, how likely do you all think that Sakurai could still be the director for the next Smash Bros.?

Fairly good. We don't have anything to suggest he'd retire anyway, and even then, most of the time it's a "this is my thought now, but I can be convinced".

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Donkey Kong is still pretty much a gorilla and animal-like in practice. Animal noises work fine.

Diddy Kong was somewhat between animal and more humanoid, so it could go either way.

Bowser worked fine with it till Smash 4, when he went a more humanoid-like route. A voice change would fit his style better. He's the only one to outright evolve past his animalistic state too of the three noted. That said, King K. Rool went straight into an animal route in both voice and design, so it's most likely they're sticking with the animal style for a looooong time for the DKC characters(bar a human like Pauline/Lady, or Stanley the Bugman, where it obviously doesn't fit at any point).

I'm honestly kind of okay with the animal noises for the DK cast because they're at least all consistent with each other. If Funky got added and they used clips from Mario Kart Wii or something, then I'd start to have a problem.

For Bowser, I think his continued use of animal noises is weird because Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings don't, plus Bowser has had a consistent voice actor in Kenny James since 2005 with Mario Strikers and ESPECIALLY the Galaxy games. Frankly I'm shocked that change wasn't mandated in Smash 4 with the addition of Rosalina.

 

[CannonStreak]

Donkey Kong is still pretty much a gorilla and animal-like in practice. Animal noises work fine.

Diddy Kong was somewhat between animal and more humanoid, so it could go either way.

Bowser worked fine with it till Smash 4, when he went a more humanoid-like route. A voice change would fit his style better. He's the only one to outright evolve past his animalistic state too of the three noted. That said, King K. Rool went straight into an animal route in both voice and design, so it's most likely they're sticking with the animal style for a looooong time for the DKC characters(bar a human like Pauline/Lady, or Stanley the Bugman, where it obviously doesn't fit at any point).


Fairly good. We don't have anything to suggest he'd retire anyway, and even then, most of the time it's a "this is my thought now, but I can be convinced".

Okay. I asked because when the Wii U came along, Sakurai said he would work on Smash 4 after he finished with Kid Icarus Uprising. I wonder if that will apply with his new project, too?

 

[Noipoi]

Bowser absolutely needs his modern voice, the old noises just don't fit anymore.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I'm honestly kind of okay with the animal noises for the DK cast because they're at least all consistent with each other. If Funky got added and they used clips from Mario Kart Wii or something, then I'd start to have a problem.

For Bowser, I think his continued use of animal noises is weird because Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings don't, plus Bowser has had a consistent voice actor in Kenny James since 2005 with Mario Strikers and ESPECIALLY the Galaxy games. Frankly I'm shocked that change wasn't mandated in Smash 4 with the addition of Rosalina.

Bowser felt fine until he stopped being a Kaiju-style character. He's now actually different. He doesn't need to be consistent with the others. He just has to make sense with his own design, which, well... he doesn't.

And yeah, true. Only the humans among the DK stuff would be downright weird. That said, if they all changed among the DK characters, that's fine too. Since they're more like that in some games as well. If they want to move away more from the Rareware design, that could be a good way to do so.

Okay. I asked because when the Wii U came along, Sakurai said he would work on Smash 4 after he finished with Kid Icarus Uprising. I wonder if that will apply with his new project, too?

It could be. We know nothing really about his latest project beyond "existing". Could be Smash, could be anything else, heh.

 

[Dee Dude]

Look, 64 and Melee I can understand because DK and Bowser did have animal sound in Mario games at the time, Brawl I can understand because it was going for a gritty realistic vibe.

But by 4 and Ultimate? I really don’t know why Nintendo has been okay with the realistic sounds for two games where they clearly DON’T fit anymore, wouldn’t it be logical to put their foot down on Sakurai and strictly mandate him to properly use Takashi Nagasako, Kenny James and Kazumi Suzuki?

Why was alternating Mario species for Paper Mario a problem for them yet this isn’t?

 

[CannonStreak]

Bowser felt fine until he stopped being a Kaiju-style character. He's now actually different. He doesn't need to be consistent with the others. He just has to make sense with his own design, which, well... he doesn't.

And yeah, true. Only the humans among the DK stuff would be downright weird. That said, if they all changed among the DK characters, that's fine too. Since they're more like that in some games as well. If they want to move away more from the Rareware design, that could be a good way to do so.


It could be. We know nothing really about his latest project beyond "existing". Could be Smash, could be anything else, heh.

Yeah, I know. It was just a thought I had under the assumption that his next project was not Smash. But yeah, it could be anything.

 

[Dee Dude]

At the very least I hope will stop having those dated chain smoker Brawl voices now that Charles Martinet sadly retired from the roles and Kevin Afghani is their new voice now.

But if those are still kept in Smash 6 then something is up.

 

[Perkilator]

bro I just want character support threads opened back up I can’t take another 3+ years of this thread

(And yes, this is official Street Fighter artwork)

 

[ninjahmos]

Pretty much all of us waiting for character support threads to open back up:

 

[AreJay25]

View attachment 398248
bro I just want character support threads opened back up I can’t take another 3+ years of this thread

(And yes, this is official Street Fighter artwork)

You just got me thinking of what it would be like if Urien showed up in Smash.

Maaaan Aegis Reflector would be absolutely MESSED UP in a platform fighter lmao.

 

[Kirbeh]

You just got me thinking of what it would be like if Urien showed up in Smash.

Maaaan Aegis Reflector would be absolutely MESSED UP in a platform fighter lmao.

Wouldn't it be less effective given the greater freedom of movement and stages not being boxed in? Plus. DI and all that. It'd be harder to pin opponents between the reflector and Urien with opponents getting launched away.

It'd need some adjusting but I do still want to see that kind of move get implemented on a character at some point. I just wish Urien had an actual chance of getting in but he's waaay down the priority list of SF characters.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

At the very least I hope will stop having those dated chain smoker Brawl voices now that Charles Martinet sadly retired from the roles and Kevin Afghani is their new vocie now.

But those are still kept in Smash 6 then something is up.

At least Mario can say stuff outside of just 3 words: Let's-a go (Entrance), Yahoo (dair), Oh yeah (Final Smash).

Although I feel like there is a chance that they will simply just reuse voices. With the exception of Peach in Melee, Brawl was the only game where Mario characters had newly recorded dialogue.

 

[NotGenerico]

Decided to watch that video Hungrybox did about that fake 4chan leak and he's claiming he's got a source that told him the next Smash is coming out on March 2026 and that Waluigi and Geno are newcomers.

Smash speculation is truly back, lol

 

[DarthEnderX]

I kinda feel like if Hero comes back Erdrick WILL be the default because they treated him as such after Hero got in.

Especially now that Erdrick is the most current DQ Hero again.

Speaking of, how likely do you all think that Sakurai could still be the director for the next Smash Bros.?

Well, we haven't received word if his death. So 100%.

(And yes, this is official Street Fighter artwork)

Izzat Urien?

 

[AreJay25]

Wouldn't it be less effective given the greater freedom of movement and stages not being boxed in? Plus. DI and all that. It'd be harder to pin opponents between the reflector and Urien with opponents getting launched away.

It'd need some adjusting but I do still want to see that kind of move get implemented on a character at some point. I just wish Urien had an actual chance of getting in but he's waaay down the priority list of SF characters.

I imagine it'd be really strong at the ledge specifically. Knock someone off stage, set it up for ledgetraps, profit. Could also be really good at lower percents since the knockback would be a bit more combo friendly.

But yeah, it'd probably be weaker outside of those circumstances, especially in neutral. Still, fun to think about!

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Decided to watch that video Hungrybox did about that fake 4chan leak and he's claiming he's got a source that told him the next Smash is coming out on March 2026 and that Waluigi and Geno are newcomers.

Smash speculation is truly back, lol

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

To me, them not changing voices just means it's low priority and nothing else. There's nothing suspicious or odd about it. It's just basic "we have a budget, we spend it where we find it most necessary". Changing veteran voices entirely is costly. Especially as many deal with alternate languages, heh. So that needs to be taken into account(this is a good reason why Mario might not get a new voice change. It's more to spend to change it than to keep it. Though do see down below on how there's more to it than that).

It's going to always be variable anyway. Mario and co. getting new voice actors is a good reason, since that's new royalties to give them so the person actually gets paid more for their new work. On the other hand, retired voice actors don't just stop receiving royalties either. It's not that black and white. So if Mario etc. keep the same voice? Shrug. It's not a big deal. Among the entire extended Mario cast, only Bowser starts to stick out(though he isn't entirely a non-Kaiju, but they changed his personality to better fit his new one, mostly so he can act more like a humanoid due to having a son he takes care of. He can't be a regular monster at that point. He has to speak considerably and stand up on his legs straight more). Smash didn't fully encompass this either, though that's justified too. I mean, entirely changing a moveset never happens, so he's now a Kaiju with some humanoid traits. This is most likely why his voice is still like that. I don't think he needs dialogue, just a tad more things like less roaring and more evil chuckling. So a bit between both lines. A Kaiju with humanoid traits, befitting more like he is now.

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

Hey all! Been a few years since I was in one of these threads, nice to see the gears start turning for the next cycle of Smash speculation.

I don't know how hot a take this is, but something I pretty commonly hear is that a new roster should have 20-30 characters at most, and I honestly have a hard time sitting with this notion.

Even if new movesets are made for all characters, I feel like the roster would be taken up by necessary veterans players don't really find surprising. The core 4 Mario reps, Triforce, Kirby Trio, Samus and Ridley, Spacies, Falcon. That's 15 characters, about half the hypothetical roster, without mentioning characters like Pit, Inkling, Marth, Olimar, and entire series like DK.

It's hard to say it without sounding spoiled, but coming off of the 89 characters Ultimate had (76 Base), I think a roster with 50 something characters is the hypothetical sweet spot. Probably been asked a lot before, but how many characters do you think will end up in Smash 6?

 

[Noipoi]

Hey all! Been a few years since I was in one of these threads, nice to see the gears start turning for the next cycle of Smash speculation.

I don't know how hot a take this is, but something I pretty commonly hear is that a new roster should have 20-30 characters at most, and I honestly have a hard time sitting with this notion.

Even if new movesets are made for all characters, I feel like the roster would be taken up by necessary veterans players don't really find surprising. The core 4 Mario reps, Triforce, Kirby Trio, Samus and Ridley, Spacies. That's 15 characters, about half the hypothetical roster, without mentioning characters like Pit, Inkling, Marth, Olimar, and entire series like DK.

It's hard to say it without sounding spoiled, but coming off of the 89 characters Ultimate had (76 Base), I think a roster with 50 something characters is the hypothetical sweet spot. Probably been asked a lot before, but how many characters do you think will end up in Smash 6?

Somewhere between 60-75.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I personally doubt that the Mario brothers will go without a rerecording of their voice lines simply to keep consistency with Kevin as their voice actor. Subjectively though, Mario and Luigi had a really peculiar voice direction in Brawl, so I think they would benefit greatly from a new portrayal.

Wario I think is about the same, even with the new VA, so they could probably get away with reusing the voice clips.

Bowser absolutely needs some voice clips.

 

[Kirbeh]

While I would like new VOs, if the next game is mostly built off of Ult. then I'm fine with them making minimal changes (in general) to keep the focus on new content. When we do reach the inevitable breaking point where 90+ characters are finally seen as unsustainable and things get majorly trimmed down, then that's where I see no excuse for not going all in on new models, new VOs, revamped kits, etc.

The next game can be Ult. 2 on the Switch 2. After that, give me something truly new.

 

[Noipoi]

The next game can be Ult. 2 on the Switch 2. After that, give me something truly new.

Scooby Dooby Doo.

Y'know, since we're rhyming

 

[Kirbeh]

Scooby Dooby Doo.

Y'know, since we're rhyming

Scooby isn't coming to MVS, Sakurai's gonna break his rule to bring Scooby to Smash.

 

[SPEN18]

Probably been asked a lot before, but how many characters do you think will end up in Smash 6?

This question has indeed been discussed at length in here, but to elaborate my personal thoughts a bit:

Base Ult had 69 characters, but it only had that many because of convenient circumstances, namely the similar system architectures between the Wii U and the Switch, which allowed greater- and easier-than-normal asset reuse from Smash 4, and the quick turnaround from working on Smash 4 to working on Ult, which allowed much of the team to remain and allowed a smoother-than-normal transition. These and other quotes from Sakurai on the difficulty of pulling off Ult's roster means it's unlikely that the next base game will exceed what Ult had at launch.

However, there's really no reason to expect they wouldn't be able to top what they gave us in Smash 4, the last game that was made from the ground up and also a game that had development complicated by working on two systems simultaneously.

So we're likely looking at a roster somewhere in the 50s or 60s (leaning towards 60s).

 

[Jave]

View attachment 398248
bro I just want character support threads opened back up I can’t take another 3+ years of this thread

(And yes, this is official Street Fighter artwork)

I'm putting all my retirement money on April 2.

Just say it, Furukawa. "We are making Smash Bros. for Switch 2".

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

 

[Ivander]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

Considering it happened shortly after the Switch 2 reveal, it's probably rumor fishers and news sites trying to get traction from the Switch 2 hype.

 

[Dee Dude]

Smash 6’s roster number should go around the 50s-60s for me, a standard direct sequel that trims down a bit of fat but plenty of beefy new fighters to go around.

It’s not gonna be a reboot with only 20-30 characters because marketing your game about having less is a godawful idea on a business standpoint and it’s not a Deluxe port no matter how many people online keep coping it will despite all the clear evidence that it’s not happening.

Everyone just assumes Smash works the same way as Mario Kart and I dunno why, it’s the same cycle of 2017-2018 where people expected Ultimate to be a 4 port.

 

[MBRedboy31]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

I can't really blame people for jumping on it due to the lack of any actual Smash news, as fake as it is.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Surprised Takamaru didn’t get a trophy in Melee, I wonder why.

Weirdest trophy omission was Diddy. Even if Dixie and K.Rool where present. And always found it curious that Diddy was named in the DK character bio since 64, and also in the description of Dixie in Melee, but otherwise nowhere seen in Melee. I also found it very suspicious that Event Match 2, Troube King , had a bigger regular brown colored DK as opponent and a smaller sized red DK alongside that. That's a Diddy reference probably.

I think Diddy was planned at one point for Melee at least.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

I think it's pretty much because it's the first one that's really spreading around post Switch 2 announcement lol

That said, I can't wait for Smash to not be mentioned at the Switch 2 Direct and the cacophonous cries shouting "THAT'S IT??? NO SMASH???" once more... It'll feel almost nostalgic at this point, in a way.

 

[dream1ng]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

Them boys parched for Smash news

Switch 2 presentation proximity also brings more people who want to believe

 

[Dee Dude]

I don't know why that one obvious fake leak is getting so much traction.

People are bored and itching for some sort of discussion (especially Smash) since the Direct is still 3 months away.

A fake leak is a fake leak but I do think it couldve warranted more speculation if they didn’t put in such an obvious fake newcomer that made no sense (Toon Zelda) and replaced it with someone more anticipated.

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

Surprised to see some minor consensus on a higher roster count, though it remains to be seen how much of that would be new characters or echoes. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how the series one ups itself without being able to point to a bigger roster as a selling point.

The Switch 2 being a jump forward in power will be an especially big deal for the series, since Ultimate had to deal with upscaling so many aspects of the game whilst the hardware was a side grade in many cases (and even a downgrade in one considering Wii U discs hold more information than Switch Cartridges). With Smash 4 being two games and Ultimate succeeding in making 70 characters in 2.5 years, I have very high hopes that whatever the next game focuses on will keep the scope at Smashes usual insanity, even if it's in a new way.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

but how many characters do you think will end up in Smash 6?

Probably 50 to 65 range

I think bigger then Smash 4 but less then base Ultimate.

 

[Diddy Kong]

People are bored and itching for some sort of discussion (especially Smash) since the Direct is still 3 months away.

A fake leak is a fake leak but I do think it couldve warranted more speculation if they didn’t put in such an obvious fake newcomer that made no sense (Toon Zelda) and replaced it with someone more anticipated.

Wait did this happen with Toon Zelda ? Who did they replace her with ?

Also I don't necessarily think she is that much out of the question if every character came back. They could use her similarly in function as Toon Link. To preserve a classic move set while the original gets revamped.

But she's hardly worth the hype for a much anticipated Zelda newcomer. Unless they also throw in Impa and another newcomer maybe.

As for how many characters I expect next Smash? Am gonna be bold and say 80+. At least.

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Also Nintendo preferring to have 2 Microsoft characters in favor of any Ubisoft character does not put Rayman in a favorable position.

This sounds a bit dishonest. Are we saying here that Nintendo gravitated towards Banjo-Kazooie and Steve because they're owned by Microsoft? That would kinda be ignoring the merits those characters have by themselves with Banjo being a long time fan request and Minecraft being the best selling game on earth, Microsoft owned or not. It's likely not the case that Ubisoft was deliberately passed up on in favor of Microsoft either, they simply failed to get the priority for a DLC slot like many other third-parties. Don't think there was a conference meeting where Nintendo executives were saying "Ugh, those frenchies? Hard pass! Let us speak to Phil-sama again"