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.

 

[ninjahmos]

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.

I like these ideas. I actually posted a few item ideas here awhile back:

- snip -

Another cool item would be the Chaos Emeralds. Every time you collect one of them, this sound effect will play. Who knows? If you collect all seven of them, you could turn into a Super version of yourself.

…Just an idea.

 

[maf91186]

Quick question for you guys:

Which is your preferred method of unlocking characters in Smash? Through single-player modes or certain numbers of VS matches?

Single player hands down. It's what I loved most about SSE and WoL

 

[Dukefire]

It's probably a good thing World of Light didn't try to do a story.

Spoiler

Most people playing probably would've died of dehydration from the amount of tears of emotion and laughter they would've unleashed.

Better that Sakurai did leave the story up to the player's imagination. Save the time and allow creativity.

 

[NotGenerico]

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.

This is something that's been on my mind lately. Ultimate is the best selling fighting game of all time and has sold around 36 million units. The Switch is also 10 million units away from surpassing the PS2.

Here's hoping some of that goes into the next Smash Bros's budget, lol. A Smash Bros with a big budget and the longest development of the series sounds very intriguing to me.

 

[Perkilator]

I’m currently considering whether or not the next Smash game should prioritize new remixes and remastered arrangements of remixes from Melee and Brawl. What do you guys think?

 

[ninjahmos]

I’m currently considering whether or not the next Smash game should prioritize new remixes and remastered arrangements of remixes from Melee and Brawl. What do you guys think?

I'd be all for that.

 

[Gengar84]

I’m currently considering whether or not the next Smash game should prioritize new remixes and remastered arrangements of remixes from Melee and Brawl. What do you guys think?

I think I’d aim for about 3/4ths of the Smash soundtrack to be directly taken from the source material and 1/4th new remixes. Smash remixes can be kind of hit or miss. Some can be awesome but others are much worse than the source material. Keeping the original songs also saves a lot of work compared to wall new arrangements. Still cool to hear new versions of songs though.

 

[ninjahmos]

I think I’d aim for about 3/4ths of the Smash soundtrack to be directly taken from the source material and 1/4th new remixes. Smash remixes can be kind of hit or miss. Some can be awesome but others are much worse than the source material. Keeping the original songs also saves a lot of work compared to wall new arrangements. Still cool to hear new versions of songs though.

I actually think, if done right, half of the Smash soundtrack could be taken from the source material and the other half could consist of new remixes, but I don't want them to be limited to one specific feeling (loud and fast-paced). That may be the problem with a lot of Smash remixes, or at least one of them. There should be more variety, especially with genres, musical styles and atmosphere.

I still think the next game's music direction could go a long way if they mainly changed it to rock and jazz-funk.

 

[smashkirby]

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.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my thoughts on whether or not we should get a new story in the future. If nothing else, Smash Ultimate was THE game that made me realize that the crossover aspect of Smash is still lacking in certain areas.

Hot take, but the various aspects of Subspace (platforming, the locations, the OC enemies, etc.) didn't bug me as much as it did other people. Don't get me wrong, a future game like Subspace absolutely could improve on what was given to us, but honestly? I'd LOVE for the next Smash to have a Subspace-like story overall.

Maybe with voice acting this time around, given that WoL proved that they'll allow folks like Princess Zelda(!) to speak outright. If not that, then dialogue boxes would be just as good for me.

 

[fogbadge]

I think we should just get Yoko to do the lot

 

[RileyXY1]

This is something that's been on my mind lately. Ultimate is the best selling fighting game of all time and has sold around 36 million units. The Switch is also 10 million units away from surpassing the PS2.

Here's hoping some of that goes into the next Smash Bros's budget, lol. A Smash Bros with a big budget and the longest development of the series sounds very intriguing to me.

This assumes that the game Sakurai mentioned in his final video actually is Smash.

 

[Gengar84]

All I know is that if I’m getting a drastically scaled back roster, we darn well better get an ambitious story mode to make up for it. I can live with either a much smaller roster or a lack of great single player and character interaction but not both at once. That’s one reason Smash 4 is by far my least favorite game in the series factoring in the time it released.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Honestly, I'd be okay if we got a big game where a ton of Nintendo characters from all sorts of franchises interact and team up against a villain or villains, but I'm like, why not just make that its own thing instead of bolting it into Smash's multiplayer framework and using up a ton of its resources that could be used for everything else in the game for something people will play once and a lot of people think is mid anyway in WoL's case.

Like Monolith Soft developed the Project X Zone games, so it's not like Nintendo doesn't have someone that could make a game like that outside of Sakurai.

 

[Gengar84]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

 

[Ivander]

Honestly, I'd be okay if we got a big game where a ton of Nintendo characters from all sorts of franchises interact and team up against a villain or villains, but I'm like, why not just make that its own thing instead of bolting it into Smash's multiplayer framework and using up a ton of its resources that could be used for everything else in the game for something people will play once and a lot of people think is mid anyway in WoL's case.

Like Monolith Soft developed the Project X Zone games, so it's not like Nintendo doesn't have someone that could make a game like that outside of Sakurai.

They also have worked with Koei Tecmo, a company that has done Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3(which was funded by Nintendo like Bayonetta 2 & 3), so they could probably do a Nintendo All-Stars Alliance or whatnot.

 

[maf91186]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

Yes

 

[ninjahmos]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

Maybe. I think it would depend on what it would have to offer.

 

[Kirbeh]

Re: Single Player

I've said this before but just make it even more of an unapologetic Kirby game. Ditch GCO as a stage and just make it a proper game mode. In fact, go full Sakurai bias and just make it like Kirby Super Star. Just make a handful of Kirby levels themed after the different Nintendo properties.

Since there's a pretty wide gap in characters mobility, make these levels more exploration focused rather than straight up platforming (though there should still be some.) Don't lock players into mook fights like SSE either, mid-bosses and bosses serve better for combat anyway. Fill the levels with extra paths and secrets This could serve as a potential unlock method for some characters and stages too. Imagine you're exploring a level and enter a door that leads to a secret character like the post-game SSE doors for . Or it leads to a fight on a stage that then unlocks for VS mode after clearing it. Plus, the standard chests and whatnot filled with music CDs and other collectibles.

If there has to be some kind of story involved, go the Kirby route too. I don't want another Tabuu or Galeem/Dharkon, give me some goofy looking creature/character that actually feels like it came out of Kirby/Mario/Zelda. Keep things simple and less abstract. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I don't think Ultimate succeeded in its efforts to make WoL seem "grand."

Little to no CGI cut scenes, just brief in-engine stuff. Little to no dialogue either. Limit to textboxes instead of VOs.

I know most fans want a proper story and more character interaction, but I honestly feel like you need another game with a more limited/focused scope to do that. Either that or Sakurai would have to willingly choose to do something like SSE again and Nintendo gives him the biggest budget increase he's ever gotten.

 

[MBRedboy31]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

Splatoon 2 and 3 have that and it seemed to work out alright for them (although IDK the actual sales numbers,) although both of those games already also have a base game singleplayer campaign.

Both of those Splatoon DLCs also include cosmetics that can be used in multiplayer. Putting extra skins in the singleplayer DLC would probably be a practical idea to get more people to buy it.

 

[Gorgonzales]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

I totally would.

 

[Kirbeh]

What if the big story mode is sold separately as DLC down the line for like $30? Would anyone here buy a standalone story DLC for that price if it was good?

On paper yes, but there's a big emphasis on the "if it was good" part. I enjoyed SSE for what it was but neither it nor WoL have what I would really qualify as a "story." At least not the kind that most people seem to want from Smash; something with more of an actual plot and dialogue. A "proper" story is also much easier to mess up though, especially when juggling so many different characters and IP.

If it were anything like WoL again I'd probably pass.