Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Ivander]

I never got the chance to play Smash Run since I only played the Wii U version. The mode did seem fun but it lacks the character interaction I’m looking for in a story mode.

Because it wasn't a story mode. It's a character you choose, competing with 3 other players, going around and defeating enemies from many different Nintendo franchises from Goombas and Shy Guys from Mario, to Stalfos and Darknuts from Zelda, to Kremling Kritters and Kihunters from Donkey Kong and Metroid, to Plasma Wisp and Bonkers from Kirby, to Clubberskulls and Reapers from Kid Icarus, to Chandelure and Koffing from Pokemon, to Eggrobos, Mettaurs and Pookas from Sonic, Megaman and Dig Dug, to the Polar Bear and Sneaky Spirit from Ice Climber and Rhythm Heaven. Making the enemy list in Smash Run 10x better than Subspace's enemy list, and Smash Run even has a few enemies from Subspace return.
And Smash Run was much more fun to replay, between fighting all the different enemies, going around on a gigantic map finding secrets and bonus areas, having unexpected events happen during the match like heavy winds blowing the players around, or sudden bounties or doors appearing and you having to reach them and defeat or open them before the other players do, and being able to listen to any music of your choice while playing.

They tried to make it more like City Trial with the players being able to interact and sabotage each other, but because of console issues, couldn't. This could easily be fixed with the Switch 2 and as mentioned, all it just needs is an expanded map, new enemies from franchises without enemies, like Fire Emblem and Xenoblade, and from newer franchises like Castlevania, Dragon Quest and Minecraft, and an options menu like City Trial to allow you to set how long you can play the main Smash Run part for and which Final Battle you do after the main part. A new sudden Event where the Bounty is an Assist Trophy or Boss enemy like Rathalos or Galleom would be great too.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I'm seeing single player talk again, so might as well put my weird opinion (don't wanna call it a hot take because I don't know if it is):

I really don't need a big over the top story mode or anything. Single player is not what I play Smash Bros. for.

Would I like Classic to be good and for us to have an actual All-Star mode instead of whatever Ultimate had? Sure. But I don't NEED it to enjoy Smash because it's not what I play it for.

If it's there, neat, if it's not, I don't really care. That's probably why I'm just like "Yeah WoL was okay" and "Yeah Subspace was okay" lol

 

[mynameisBlade]

I'd be surprised if we got anything similar to Subspace in the next game seeing as how mad Sakurai was with all the cinematics getting leaked.. Just give me the trophies back...

 

[Guynamednelson]

Would I like Classic to be good

I thought SSBU's was okay, it just needed a couple improvements:

1. After clearing classic mode once with a fighter once, unlock some options for repeat playthroughs with that fighter: Either a randomizer and/or the option to mix and match classic mode routes with other fighters whose routes you've cleared
2. More stage layouts for the bonus stage.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I thought SSBU's was okay, it just needed a couple improvements:

1. After clearing classic mode once with a fighter once, unlock some options for repeat playthroughs with that fighter: Either a randomizer and/or the option to mix and match classic mode routes with other fighters whose routes you've cleared
2. More stage layouts for the bonus stage.

Yeah this is basically where I'm at with Classic. All-Star too, I hate how Smash 4 and Ultimate have done this like set order based on release, and I didn't like Brawl grouping them by series. Melee's is still the best All-Star because it was random outside of G&W at the end, so it felt really replayable.

 

[ninjahmos]

Just give me the trophies back...

As nice as that would be, they'd probably take up too much of the resources. I still think Spirit Cards would be a good compromise between Trophies and Spirits.

 

[Diddy Kong]

My problem is this: We know that the next game is highly likely to not reach Ultimate's roster count or 69. We know that even doing both versions of SSB4, they still got 49 characters, so assuming they're not doing anything like that, it's likely we'll get more than this. Given that, somewhere between 50-60 sounds the most reasonable. Factor in the general amount of newcomers being ~15 though, and one of the complaints for Ultimate being its base roster newcomers, and it's likely that we'll get at least twelve. This means our veteran roster is going from 82 to 35-48. That's at minimum, 34 cuts; over a third of the roster.

I guess I'm just now realizing that I actually do expect heavy cuts. In fact, unless we're porting Ultimate, there really isn't a scenario in which we don't.

There isn't a scenario in which we don't find heavy cuts you say?

Well I disagree. Heavily.

Both Smash Ultimate and the Switch have been the most successful Smash game and Nintendo system up to date. Both made huge money. There's likely a similar or even greater budget for this next Smash.

Ultimate had everyone ever in. Ultimate sets a great base therefore for this next Smash game. There's a lot of groundwork already been done with Ultimate and its likely they're building off from it. There's still work to be done of course, but this seems logical to me.

And this is the longest time yet we've been without a new Smash. Sakurai has been working on something "mysterious" since 2022. Am 99,999% certain this is Smash. So it's been in development quite a while.

So with that in mind am quite confident in there being very little cuts. If any at all.

 

[Slime Scholar]

IDK why people talk about Smash Run like it's intended to be single player content. It's just as much a multiplayer mode as anything else, and it's exclusive to 3DS presumably because each player has their own screen. It was neat, but I dunno if they'd be interested in doing again it if they couldn't make it work in couch multiplayer somehow.

 

[Guynamednelson]

There's likely a similar budget for this next Smash.

Emphasis on similar. Nintendo doesn't like how much AAA budgets have ballooned in the past decade and they want to avoid it happening with their own games. You can kind of tell from how Xenoblade games can be considered successes without selling over 2 million, while a bunch of PS5-era AAA games are still considered flops by their publishers even when they sell 10 million.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

IDK why people talk about Smash Run like it's intended to be single player content. It's just as much a multiplayer mode as anything else, and it's exclusive to 3DS presumably because each player has their own screen. It was neat, but I dunno if they'd be interested in doing again it if they couldn't make it work in couch multiplayer somehow.

I'd like for Smash Run to come back because if Air Ride can do it in 2003 with City Trial, Smash can definitely do it in 2026 on something presumably much stronger than the Gamecube lol

 

[RodNutTakin]

just don't have a ******* story mode this time, how about that.
I'm going to kick over the flaming bucket and say that SSE was a waste of time and resources that could've gone into more characters and stages for Brawl and WoL was a waste of time and resources that could've gone into more modes for Ultimate.
Story Mode is just not a feasible idea whatsoever and should never be done again so that the time and resources can go into more worthwhile things

 

[ninjahmos]

IDK why people talk about Smash Run like it's intended to be single player content. It's just as much a multiplayer mode as anything else, and it's exclusive to 3DS presumably because each player has their own screen. It was neat, but I dunno if they'd be interested in doing again it if they couldn't make it work in couch multiplayer somehow.

If anything, I'd like Smash Run to be an offline and online mode, with more elements from Kirby Air Ride's City Trial mode.

 

[Gengar84]

Because it wasn't a story mode. It's a character you choose, competing with 3 other players, going around and defeating enemies from many different Nintendo franchises from Goombas and Shy Guys from Mario, to Stalfos and Darknuts from Zelda, to Kremling Kritters and Kihunters from Donkey Kong and Metroid, to Plasma Wisp and Bonkers from Kirby, to Clubberskulls and Reapers from Kid Icarus, to Chandelure and Koffing from Pokemon, to Eggrobos, Mettaurs and Pookas from Sonic, Megaman and Dig Dug, to the Polar Bear and Sneaky Spirit from Ice Climber and Rhythm Heaven. Making the enemy list in Smash Run 10x better than Subspace's enemy list, and Smash Run even has a few enemies from Subspace return.
And Smash Run was much more fun to replay, between fighting all the different enemies, going around on a gigantic map finding secrets and bonus areas, having unexpected events happen during the match like heavy winds blowing the players around, or sudden bounties or doors appearing and you having to reach them and defeat or open them before the other players do, and being able to listen to any music of your choice while playing.

They tried to make it more like City Trial with the players being able to interact and sabotage each other, but because of console issues, couldn't. This could easily be fixed with the Switch 2 and as mentioned, all it just needs is an expanded map, new enemies from franchises without enemies, like Fire Emblem and Xenoblade, and from newer franchises like Castlevania, Dragon Quest and Minecraft, and an options menu like City Trial to allow you to set how long you can play the main Smash Run part for and which Final Battle you do after the main part. A new sudden Event where the Bounty is an Assist Trophy or Boss enemy like Rathalos or Galleom would be great too.

Yeah, that’s what I meant but I worded it poorly. I know it’s not a story mode but it is the replacement for one as the main single player mode. I was just commenting that I miss the character interaction that would have come with a story mode. I did really enjoy City Trial in Kirby Air Ride so Smash Run could still be fun even if it’s not ideally what I’d be looking for in a single player mode.

 

[MBRedboy31]

The thing that personally really annoyed me about Ultimate’s Classic Mode is that you can’t play as Miis in it. You could play as Miis in Classic Mode in both versions of Smash 4, why not in Ultimate?

 

[McSpanker]

Might be unpopular idk but I think it's insane to have this many iconic characters in the same game and not have a story mode. SSE was the best thing in any smash game for me. I honestly wish they would try the smash format with other genres. Imagine a fully fledged RPG where your characters are different Nintendo characters. Obviously Mario kart is trending in this direction at least but it honestly blows my mind more huge crossover games don't happen.

 

[Chuderz]

Dedicating a significant amount of resources to a single-player mode in game genre that is multiplayer at its core will always be a misuse of said resources in practical terms no matter how you slice it. Okay we bring a new souped-up version of Subspace back. The overwhelming majority of players play it once and then never touch it again. Great could have had more actual content people regularly would engage with but instead we have a dead mode.

I believe Sakurai was in the right to feel disenchanted by the Subspace cutscenes being leaked. What he potentially doesn't understand is that even if they hadn't leaked it's still a waste of time to make them because you watch them like every now and again and after the first time it's not novel anymore so it has diminishing returns right out the gate and on top of all of that Smash is just not the kind of game that requires cutscenes. A game like Final Fantasy with the narrative it's telling being the driving force of the game requires this. Smash doesn't as a game and it's "universe" doesn't even lend itself to tell a narrative.

As far as single-player goes I think they nailed it with Ultimate concerning resources. I think World of Light and spirits are the extent a single-player mode should receive in a game like Smash. World of Light was Event mode reaching its full potential. If they could expand upon it I would try adding elements of Melee's Adventure mode to the in between the spaces because the traversal of across the WoL board would be a nice parrel contrasted with the traversal across the Adventure mode inspired obstacle courses.

I like that spirits didn't take resources away from content that actually matters and how they added the power-ups to them that make them actually engaging with playing the actual game versus a completely pointless gallery dedicated to reading trivia you could just find online anyways. People don't play Smash to read trivia about other games and I don't understand why there's this vocal online sect of the community that keeps pushing it so hard. Nostalgia? Idk but I hate nostalgia anyways.

So I really hope they don't bring back trophies or go all in on some kind of Subspace successor because it'd be such a waste of time and energy for borderline nothing. Smash is not a collect-a-thon and shouldn't aspire to be. Smash is also not a suitable setting to tell some kind of narrative and shouldn't try to be. I'm concerned the loud minority online could influence Nintendo/Smash-team to go in this direction and I'm hoping Sakurai knows better. Smash is a multiplayer platform fighter crossover game with enough tech and simplicity to be enjoyed by both casual and hardcore gamers alike. Thus the true content of this game will always been Characters, Stages, Items and Cosmetics coupled with core mechanics and the number of options in the cast's movesets.

 

[Watuna4343]

Might be unpopular idk but I think it's insane to have this many iconic characters in the same game and not have a story mode. SSE was the best thing in any smash game for me. I honestly wish they would try the smash format with other genres. Imagine a fully fledged RPG where your characters are different Nintendo characters. Obviously Mario kart is trending in this direction at least but it honestly blows my mind more huge crossover games don't happen.

Woah, there... the insane thing is to imagine such a story mode even being feasible in the first place! Subspace Emissary took infamously A LOT of effort and time to get together and that was a story mode with like 32 characters. A story mode with freaking 75 or so characters? More than double basically? Either Nintendo would've gone bankrupt or we'd still be waiting for Smash Ultimate to come out.

 

[MagnesD3]

I'm seeing single player talk again, so might as well put my weird opinion (don't wanna call it a hot take because I don't know if it is):

I really don't need a big over the top story mode or anything. Single player is not what I play Smash Bros. for.

Would I like Classic to be good and for us to have an actual All-Star mode instead of whatever Ultimate had? Sure. But I don't NEED it to enjoy Smash because it's not what I play it for.

If it's there, neat, if it's not, I don't really care. That's probably why I'm just like "Yeah WoL was okay" and "Yeah Subspace was okay" lol

I still say Melee had the best single player, the adventure mode is the perfect way to do single player in smash. There is no story just themed stages with enemies blended together with secrets along the way. Id also kill for every character getting their own break the targets and platform mini games from smash 64. I miss the days when you had to unlock characters in unique ways too.

 

[BrawlX10]

Some posts ago i talked about items and how i'd like the next game to have plenty of new items, here's some ideas i have for the new items:



Double Cherry (Mario Bros.): This item essentially gives each character a temporary "Ice Climbers" mechanic.

Drill Shell (Mario Bros.): An unusual item choice, but one that could be fun. It allows you to jump high into the air and then rapidly slam the ground with multiple hits.

Tri-Rod (The Legend of Zelda): From Echoes of Wisdom, this item summons various everyday objects with different effects. I've seen suggestions for a Zelda rework based on Echoes, but I think an item like this would work just as well.

Clawshot (The Legend of Zelda): This item would grant every character the ability to use a grab similar to Brawl/Smash 4 Link’s Clawshot.

Spinner (The Legend of Zelda): A very unique item. It grants high speed, though it can be a bit slippery, and you can also perform powerful dash attacks while using it.

Shock Bomb (ARMS): Similar to how it functions in ARMS, this item is dropped by a flying drone and bounces around the stage until it explodes. The explosion shocks characters for a few seconds.

Silver Bow (Fire Emblem): A fairly basic bow item.

Seraph's Robe (Fire Emblem): This item absorbs elemental projectiles.

Rocky Helmet (Pokémon): The character equips this classic Pokémon item on their head. It damages characters that attack you with physical attacks, like a recoil effect.

Vaulting Pole (Animal Crossing): This item allows you to attack with it or use it to jump long distances.

Eject Button (Pokémon): Similar to Bayonetta’s Bat Within, this item is activated when you receive a smash attack or powerful attack at over 65%. It negates the knockback and halves the damage, and you’ll also teleport backwards with a puff of smoke!

Reefslider (Splatoon): Replaces the Bullet Bill item. It works similarly, but it functions better on the ground and is a multi-hit attack like the Pokémon Oshawott in the Pokéball.

Ink Wall (Splatoon): This item stays in one spot and deals damage to anyone who touches the ink.

Riki’s Biter (Xenoblade): At first glance, this item might seem weak, but it can buff you, debuff your opponents, or cause random effects on them.

Drill Shield (Xenoblade): Based on Tora's, this item lets you defend or counter attacks for a period of time before it breaks.

Ring (Sonic): Having at least one of these makes you immune to all damage. However, you will lose your ring when hit, and it will disappear faster each time someone picks it up.

Kupo Coin (Kingdom Hearts): A rare item. Any character who grabs it will respawn on the revival platform without losing a stock or score point, but with 70% damage instead of 0%.

Falcon Blade (Dragon Quest): This item allows the character to perform two slashes in quick succession, or four if charged.