Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Dinoman96]

I wonder how many third-party characters in Smash are more associated with PlayStation than with Nintendo? Because the only examples I can think of are Snake and Cloud

I'd say

 

[Thegameandwatch]

We reached 2025

I'd say

Especially Kazuya because he is the only character whose series doesn’t have game on the Switch.

The closest thing to a Tekken game on Switch is Pokken which was made by lot of the same developers but that’s something else.

Tag Tournament 2 was on Wii U.

 

[Pupp135]

Well now that unlockables have been brough up.


Asuming that Smash 6 has a similar number of unlocks as Brawl/Melee relatively to the Smash 6 base game roster of course. What characters do you think they could end up begin unlockable?


Those are theSmash 4 vets and Ult vets i could see as unlockable if they return base game.

I think this question is hard to truly answer as we don’t know the size of the roster next game, and that would affect my judgement on who’s a secret character. For now, I think I could see these fighters as secret fighters if they returned (this excludes echos, but derivative fighters are typically unlockable, so I’ll just bunch them here).

What do you think of the Find Mii stage and Find Mii content in Smash?

I don’t play this stage much, but it has a few gimmicks that make things interesting with one of the platforms dropping, the cage platform, and the boss fight. I think it’s a decent stage overall, and I’d welcome it back.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Stage Reviews (Brawl):

Spoiler

Want

• Mushroomy Kingdom: It's just OK as a stage, but I remember having fun with the 1-2 version for its pseudo fight club, and also it's just a really fun Easter Egg. Bring it back! Justice for Mushroomy Kingdom!
• Luigi's Mansion: One of the most unique stages in the game tone wise. I like it.
• Rumble Falls: I probably won't care for it now, but I remember not hating this stage as a kid, and would like to see it return at least once.
• Halberd: I'd kinda like to see it without Brawl's grit filter, but also it's just a cool location for a stage.
• Port Town Aero Dive: It's a fun stage, though the AI needs to be fixed so they aren't dodging invisible cars on hazards off mode.
• New Pork City: It's not the greatest stage, but it's necessary for the good EarthBound songs that really don't fit on Onett. I suppose we could make do with Fourside, but eh.
• Castle Siege: Fire Emblem should keep it's quintessential stage.
• Shadow Moses Island: It's got a cool vibe, and I like the color shift when Metal Gear Rex bursts through the back wall.

Like, but Don't Necesserilly Want

• Yoshi's Island: It's a vibe. Wouldn't mind if they shook it up with something new though.

Indifferent

• Delfino Plaza: It's OK. The transformations can be fun but it's not a stage I come back to often.
• Figure-8 Circuit: I never really cared for this stage. It's just kinda forgettable.
• Pirate Ship: It's a neat stage, and should probably stick around, but I'm not attached to it.
• Norfair: It should probably also stay, but it's such an awkward layout.
• Frigate Orpheon: Another just OK stage that I'm not super into.
• Summit: I don't like how it feels really campy and claustrophobic at the same time. It is a fun idea though.
• Skyworld: I don't like the gimmick, but I don't hate the layout. I think it would be a fun stage if the top platforms were semi-solid with hazards off.
• WarioWare, Inc.: Don't like the aesthetic, but do like the layout and gimmick.
• Smashville: It's pretty boring, but I do like playing on it for 1v1s soooo...

No Thanks

• Mario Bros.: I sometimes have an almost contrarian taste when it comes to stages everyone hates, but while I don't hate this stage, I don't really like it either, and there's really no salvaging the gimmick.
• 75m: I don't hate this stage either, but I'm OK if we never see it again. Literally any other stage in Donkey Kong would have fit better I think.
• Bridge of Eldin: I like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but we've gotten a lot more interesting flat stages since this one so this one is kinda redundant. If they kept it, I hope they keep the bug where Jigglypuff can maker itself massive.
• Lylat Cruise: It's so boring and the music here is always so blah. Yes I know that's my fault in Ultimate. Shut up.
• Pokémon Stadium 2: I want to see a sequel.
• Spear Pillar: I'm not a fan of the layout because it promotes circle camping even in casual play, but it is pretty.
• Flat Zone 2: Just keep Flat Zone X.
• Distant Planet: This stage is awkward, and Garden of Hope is much better.
• PictoChat: Gimme PictoChat X.
• Hanenbow: I used to quite like this stage, but Ultimate's implementation of it ruined it, as it is no longer musical, and just devolves into a cacophony of random notes, and heaven forbid you play an actual song on this stage.

 

[Will]

The closest thing to a Tekken game on Switch is Pokken which was made by lot of the same developers but that’s something else.

Maybe in name only. Pokken is an arena fighter.

 

[BrawlX10]

I think this question is hard to truly answer as we don’t know the size of the roster next game, and that would affect my judgement on who’s a secret character. For now, I think I could see these fighters as secret fighters if they returned (this excludes echos, but derivative fighters are typically unlockable, so I’ll just bunch them here).





I don’t play this stage much, but it has a few gimmicks that make things interesting with one of the platforms dropping, the cage platform, and the boss fight. I think it’s a decent stage overall, and I’d welcome it back.

Thinking about it, i think Shulk could be unlockable too and have Pyra/Mythra and Noah as starters. I could see Simon begin unlockable over Snake too.

 

[Opossum]

What do you think of the Find Mii stage and Find Mii content in Smash?

I love the StreetPass Mii Plaza games. Find Mii makes total sense to represent these games as a stage, and I'm glad they got something.

But then we get to the stage itself.

The thing is that I mostly like the Find Mii stage, but there's one massive thing holding it back for me. It's a stage element that I really hate, but because it shows up less often than scrolling stages it rarely comes up: the giant death pit in the middle. Everything else is great for a casual stage. The Dark Emperor boss fight? Fun gimmick! The swinging cage with the King Mii that can be swung around and eventually broken? Wonderful; it's literally just a better version of the Garreg Mach Reception Hall chandeliers. But then the giant death pit comes along and ruins everything. Remove the death pit and it would be one of my favorite casual stages, up there with Temple, King of Fighters Stadium, and Hazards On Wuhu Island.

I don't necessarily expect it to come back, but I would like to at least keep a StreetPass stage around if possible, especially since they offer interesting options for more casual (but non-intrusive) stages. Hobbiville could be a fun stage where you fight off an invading zombie horde, while Monster Manor could have multiple layouts to choose from to reflect its gimmick. Even a Market Crashers stage could be fun, with stock prices listed for each of the fighters going up and down in the background depending on who's winning, which in turn changes the stage somehow.

In general I feel like two stages, at the very least, are necessary to fully represent Miis: Wuhu Island and a stage from StreetPass Mii Plaza. The exact stage for the latter can vary.

 

[BritishGuy54]

Unlockables?

Let me get my list in order for characters I can see being unlockable, whilst also generally adhering to my veterans.

 

[Watuna4343]

Any echo fighter that comes back is imo a shoe-in to be unlockable. But if we are talking non-echo fighters, then:
Jigglypuff, Falco and Mr. Game & Watch are imo the 'faces' of unlockable characters. They are unlockable in every single one of the Smash games that they appear in with the sole exception being Jigglypuff for like... half a game, so imo they are very, very likely to be unlockable in the next game as well. Luigi, Ness and Captain Falcon are more inconsistent in that regard but out of the 3 I'd say Ness has the best chance of being unlockable again. Ganondorf is also more often unlockable than not. He has about the same track record as Falco and Mr. Game & Watch except he was a starter for the one half of Smash 4, I'd say he's probably unlockable next game.
From Brawl, the only character I am confident will be unlockable will be ROB as technically the more surprising characters/curveballs tend to be unlockable. After that, I think actually the majority of Brawl is starter-material. Toon Link and Wolf would also be obvious picks for unlockables but I am not particularly high on their chances to come back in the first place.
With the rest of the characters (Smash 4 and Ultimate) I think if they come back, Duck Hunt and Wii Fit Trainer will probably be unlockable. Probably Ridley/King K. Rool/Byleth will be unlockable too, I'm higher on their chances but I can see them being either starters or unlockable (out of these, I think Byleth has the biggest chance of being unlockable). I can also see Greninja go back to being unlockable unlike Smash 4. The characters of Villager, Isabelle, Inkling, Shulk, Little Mac, Mega Man, Pac-Man and Robin I just have a hard time seeing them be unlockable. They aren't particularly exciting picks which most unlockables tend to be and they generally feel like starters. I think Rosalina and Pyra/Mythra also have good chances of being starters as the more unique characters are typically starter characters. Bowser Jr. is a true 50/50. Either way would make sense.
Now for the 3rd parties... tbh I am not high on 90% of the 3rd party characters' chances, but limiting down to Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man and Ryu coming back with 1 or 2 other 3rd party characters who'd be newcomers, Ryu is easily a sensible unlockable character.
Overall out of this basically I narrowed down; Ness, Jigglypuff, Falco, Mr. Game & Watch, Ganondorf, ROB, Greninja, Ryu, Byleth and any echo that returns (let's say 3), bringing us to 12 unlockable vets and throw in 4 newcomers and I think 16 unlockable characters is a solid number for the next game.

 

[BrawlX10]

I dunno, i could see Robin begin unlockable and Byleth begin a starter those days.
I think Three Houses is more popular than Awakening in 2025.
I also wouldn't be surprised if Byleth and Robin were both starters and Alear was unlockable, either, if Alear gets added.

 

[Opossum]

For Fire Emblem characters, the four "characters" I see being locks are Marth, Ike, one of our current three Awakening characters, and a Three Houses character, whether it be Byleth or someone else. As far as a traditional starter/unlockable format is concerned:

Starters:
Marth
A Three Houses character
Robin, if they're the Awakening character that's added

Unlockables:
Ike
Chrom or Lucina, if they're the Awakening character that gets added

If there's a newcomer (who isn't a non-Byleth Three Houses character since that scenario is covered above), then the Awakening character would be unlockable even if it is Robin.

 

[RileyXY1]

Probably the same reason as Ike who was available from the start while Marth was unlockable.

I think Lucas being newer than Ness while also having a bigger role in Subspace is probably why.

Ness appears early enough for one section that he was likely planned from the start but had debates if he was going to be replaced with Lucas like in Melee.

It's weird because this is the only case of a derivative fighter debuting as a starter. Every other derivative fighter has debuted as an unlockable character.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

What I think will be unlockable for Pokemon and the 3rd Party characters

Spoiler: Pokemon

Pokemon Starters:
Pokemon Unlockables:

Spoiler: 3rd Party

3rd Party Starters:

3rd Party Unlockables:

It's weird because this is the only case of a derivative fighter debuting as a starter. Every other derivative fighter has debuted as an unlockable character.

Lucas in Brawl is also the only clone type of character by the time of Brawl that was planned or added from the start. Echoes and returning characters are the exception.

 

[Noipoi]

Pokemon Starters:

Close, but Lucario’s not a starter

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

For Fire Emblem characters, the four "characters" I see being locks are Marth, Ike, one of our current three Awakening characters, and a Three Houses character, whether it be Byleth or someone else.

I don't think it's a case of Robin, or Chrom, or Lucina so much as whether or not they're adding Robin. I'm fairly confident we'll be getting Lucina back regardless.

Chrom depends on Roy so I think that he's much less likely to be added, especially since on of Ultimate's criticisms is having Marth, and Lucina, and Roy, and Chrom despite each character being enjoyed individually.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Chrom depends on Roy

Not really? He's a clone of a clone who reuses the model from Robin's FS, so Marth and Robin would be where most of his assets come from.

 

[Perkilator]

Quoting from another thread:

I guess now's as good of a time as any to bring up my updated stage wishlist. But before I do that, I'd like to present my ideas for stage layout options.

• Normal Stages
• α Stages (Battlefield layout)
• β Stages (Small Battlefield layout)
• Δ Stages (Smashville layout, complete with a mnoving singular platform)
• Ω Stages (Final Destination layout)
• Custom Stages

And with that, my stage wishlist itself:

Spoiler: New stages

Midair Stadium​	Flower Kingdom (Super Mario Bros. Wonder)​	Bowser's Castle (Super Mario)​	Ninja Hideaway (Mario Kart Tour)​	Last Resort (Luigi's Mansion 3)​	Origami Peach Castle (Paper Mario and the Origami King)​	Gang-Plank Galleon (Donkey Kong Country)​	Crafted World (Yoshi's Crafted World)​
Golden Pyramid (Wario Land 4)​	The Depths (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)​	Tal Tal Heights (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)​	E.M.M.I. Zone (Metroid Dread)​	Chozo Temple (Metroid Prime)​	Waddle Dee Town (Kirby and the Forgotten Land)​	Mt. Dedede (Kirby's Dream Land)​	Wyndon Stadium (Pokemon Sword & Shield)​
Area Zero (Pokemon Scarlet & Violet)​	Condor's Peak (Ice Climber)​	Somniel (Fire Emblem)​	Angel Land (Kid Icarus)​	Sun-Speckled Terrace (Pikmin 4)​	Gyromite (R.O.B.)​	New Horizons (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)​	Aionios (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)​
Ramen Bowl (ARMS)​	Deepsea Metro (Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion)​	Splatlands (Splatoon 3)​	Harmony Square (Astral Chain)​	Ring Fit Temple (Ring Fit Adventure)​	Starfall Islands (Sonic Frontiers)​	Into the Stratosphere (Tekken 8)​	Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts)​

Spoiler: Past stages

Meta Crystal (64)​	Planet Zebes (64)​	Sector Z (64)​	Mushroom Kingdom (Melee)​	Temple (Melee)​	Poke Floats (Melee)​
Onett (Melee)​	Mute City (Melee)​	Halberd (Brawl)​	WarioWare, Inc. (Brawl)​	Rainbow Road (3DS)​	Pac-Maze (3DS)​
Jungle Hijinx (Wii U)​	Woolly World (Wii U)​	Orbital Gate Assault (Wii U)​	Flat Zone X (Wii U)​	Boxing Ring (3DS / Wii U)​	Spiral Mountain (Ultimate)​

 

[Watuna4343]

Fire Emblem in Smash 6 for many people is seen as complex to analyze, but imo it's actually rather clear cut. Marth, Ike, Robin and Byleth from OG Fighters are coming back and Lucina from the clones is coming back too. That's 5. I see the chances of a Fire Emblem newcomer debuting as less and less the more time goes so I think these 5 as the Fire Emblem characters to represent the face of the series, the most popular character, 2 reps as special attention to the game that saved the series and a rep from the biggest name of the series as perfect representation pretty much.

 

[RileyXY1]

Fire Emblem in Smash 6 for many people is seen as complex to analyze, but imo it's actually rather clear cut. Marth, Ike, Robin and Byleth from OG Fighters are coming back and Lucina from the clones is coming back too. That's 5. I see the chances of a Fire Emblem newcomer debuting as less and less the more time goes so I think these 5 as the Fire Emblem characters to represent the face of the series, the most popular character, 2 reps as special attention to the game that saved the series and a rep from the biggest name of the series as perfect representation pretty much.

Especially considering that rumors are pointing towards the next game in the series being a remake (specifically of the fourth game, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War) instead of a new title.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Roy will be DLC again most likely.

 

[Noipoi]

Fire Emblem in Smash 6 for many people is seen as complex to analyze, but imo it's actually rather clear cut. Marth, Ike, Robin and Byleth from OG Fighters are coming back and Lucina from the clones is coming back too. That's 5. I see the chances of a Fire Emblem newcomer debuting as less and less the more time goes so I think these 5 as the Fire Emblem characters to represent the face of the series, the most popular character, 2 reps as special attention to the game that saved the series and a rep from the biggest name of the series as perfect representation pretty much.

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

 

[Perkilator]

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

Probably not, let's be real.

 

[fogbadge]

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

nope. you could cut FE completely from smash 6 or even reduce it down to just Marth and people will still say it’s too much

 

[Gengar84]

My only issue with Fire Emblem representation in Smash is that they tend to go with some of the least interesting characters just because they’re the main avatar. The series has tons of great characters I’d love to see. I do actually like Robin as a character but Corrin and Byleth are whatever. It’s just hard to get hyped about newcomers when that’s the direction they seem to be headed. It doesn’t really have much to do with how many character we have for me.

 

[DynamicSmasher]

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

Old grudges die hard. So not really.

For Fire Emblem characters, the four "characters" I see being locks are Marth, Ike, one of our current three Awakening characters, and a Three Houses character, whether it be Byleth or someone else. As far as a traditional starter/unlockable format is concerned:

Starters:
Marth
A Three Houses character
Robin, if they're the Awakening character that's added

Unlockables:
Ike
Chrom or Lucina, if they're the Awakening character that gets added

If there's a newcomer (who isn't a non-Byleth Three Houses character since that scenario is covered above), then the Awakening character would be unlockable even if it is Robin.

I have to say, I don't see them cutting Byleth to add another 3H character(and when people say 'another 3H character', they inevitably mean Edelgard.) Like yeah, Edelgard is more popular(and controversial) within the FE fanbase. But Byleth is still a very popular character, the game's main protagonist, a neutral character who doesn't favour one route over another, and is already in smash, so they don't have to make a new moveset.

 

[RileyXY1]

And now here's my own analysis about what characters will be starters and which ones will be unlockables, assuming that they return.

Guaranteed to be Starters:



The original eight themselves. These characters and Ultimate's DLC characters are currently the only characters to never be unlockable, and safe to say they will keep this status in Smash 6. They even made a point in Ultimate of these characters being the only ones players have at the start if they haven't bought any DLC characters.

Likely to be Starters:



These characters have been starters for all of their appearances aside from Ultimate due to it being a special exception. Since unlockable to starter conversions are much more common than the inverse, which has only happened once outside of Ultimate, safe to say they'll be starters once more.

50-50:



These are the characters whose statuses have changed between games. This category also includes the three veterans who returned as DLC in Smash 4, those being Mewtwo, Roy, and Lucas. Some like Jigglypuff, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Roy, and Bowser Jr. are probably gonna be unlockable again as these characters have either only been starters in the Wii U version of Smash 4 or never, while I can go either way with Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, Marth, Wario, Lucas, Lucario, Sonic, and Toon Link.

Likely to be Unlockable:



These are the characters that have appeared in multiple games and have always been unlockable. It's very likely that they will be unlockables again, but with a small chance of them being on the default roster. I still don't count on that.

Smash 4 DLC Onwards Characters:



These characters have either never been in the base roster or have only been in the base roster in Ultimate, a game that specifically desired to make every character unlockable aside from the starters of the OG Super Smash Bros. So it's unclear where these characters will fit into a normal roster's starter/unlockable system. Inkling and Isabelle are very likely to be starters, but the rest I'm iffy on. Some of the DLC characters might even be DLC once again.

Also, the Mii Fighters are listed because they exist outside the realm of starters and unlockables. They're their own special thing.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

The only way the vitriol would end is if one of the haters invented a time machine to make sure Awakening never does well, thus killing the franchise.

Until then, people hating on the FE content in Smash will always be one of the loudest things in the Smash community.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

My only issue with Fire Emblem representation in Smash is that they tend to go with some of the least interesting characters just because they’re the main avatar. The series has tons of great characters I’d love to see. I do actually like Robin as a character but Corrin and Byleth are whatever. It’s just hard to get hyped about newcomers when that’s the direction they seem to be headed. It doesn’t really have much to do with how many character we have for me.

Well considering we got MinMin and Pyra in Ultimate it's entirely possible we could get a non protagonist FE character in the future.

 

[Noipoi]

The only way the vitriol would end is if one of the haters invented a time machine to make sure Awakening never does well, thus killing the franchise.

Until then, people hating on the FE content in Smash will always be one of the loudest things in the Smash community.

We’re going back in time to the 3DS era to get Fire Emblem Awakening OFF the menu

 

[BritishGuy54]

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

Probably not. It’ll still be a punching bag.

Likelihood is, a new FE gets into DLC.

Otherwise, Xenoblade is the new Fire Emblem.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Quoting from another thread:

α Stages should be the normal stage.
β Stages stages should be normal stage with no hazards.
Then go on from there to the Battlefields.

If the next Smash cut down the Fire Emblem characters to around 5, and didn’t add a new one…would that be enough? Could we finally end the vitriol against FE in Smash?

FE should not be a 'new character every Smash' series. And the fact that Smash 4 added 3 is INSANE.

Cuts aren't needed. But FE needs to skip at least 2 games to balance the scales.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

My only issue with Fire Emblem representation in Smash is that they tend to go with some of the least interesting characters just because they’re the main avatar. The series has tons of great characters I’d love to see. I do actually like Robin as a character but Corrin and Byleth are whatever. It’s just hard to get hyped about newcomers when that’s the direction they seem to be headed. It doesn’t really have much to do with how many character we have for me.

It's the "direction that they seem to be heading" because they're promoting a new title through the DLC.

And you don't promote an upcoming release (internationally in the case of Fates) with a secondary character.

 

[Gengar84]

It's the "direction that they seem to be heading" because they're promoting a new title through the DLC.

And you don't promote an upcoming release (internationally in the case of Fates) with a secondary character.

I didn’t say it wasn’t logical, just that I find it hard to get excited about personally. I actually really liked Three Houses as a game even if I don’t care about Byleth as a character.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I didn’t say it wasn’t logical, just that I find it hard to get excited about personally. I actually really liked Three Houses as a game even if I don’t care about Byleth as a character.

What are your thoughts on Alear?

 

[DarthEnderX]

It's the "direction that they seem to be heading" because they're promoting a new title through the DLC.

Which they shouldn't be doing. Because it leads to us being stuck with characters nobody likes, or from games nobody likes, being part of Smash forever. Like Corrin.

Just let games come out first. Let the players decide they actually like a character, THEN add them to Smash.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Not really? He's a clone of a clone who reuses the model from Robin's FS, so Marth and Robin would be where most of his assets come from.

I suppose he could use Marth as a starting point, but Roy is much closer. I still think it's super unlikely for us to see him without Roy for this reason.

 

[Gengar84]

What are your thoughts on Alear?

I’ve never played Engage so I can’t really give a fair assessment on that. From what I saw of the trailer, the general tone of the game didn’t really appeal to me so I skipped it. I started with Path of Radiance and from there played Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses but that’s the extent of my experience with the franchise besides the two Warriors games.

 

[BrawlX10]

If Sans is in the base game, i think it would be fitting if he was unlockable even if he's revealed officially way before release, like he's to lazy to show up in time, kind of thing.
The unlock method could be defeating the Papyrus Assist Trophy, whenever it shows up on a match....or i guess clearning all-star mode once or defeating all the starter characters could at least once also work for him.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I’ve never played Engage so I can’t really give a fair assessment on that. From what I saw of the trailer, the general tone of the game didn’t really appeal to me so I skipped it. I started with Path of Radiance and from there played Radiant Dawn, Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses but that’s the extent of my experience with the franchise besides the two Warriors games.

Fair enough. I personally liked what it did but it's also a very silly lighthearted game so I can't in good conscience recommend it to someone who's enjoyed the games you did since you'd expect things Engage simply does not have.

 

[Ivander]

View attachment 399251

We’re going back in time to the 3DS era to get Fire Emblem Awakening OFF the menu

You don't need to get Fire Emblem Awakening off the menu if you disappear the haters instead.

Maximum memory erasure activated leaves copies of all the Fire Emblem games for the once haters