Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Thegameandwatch]

Watch some people call characters like Popular Character from Genshin Impact, Malenia from Elden Ring, Claptrap from Boderlands, Yasuo from League of Legends or Sylvanas from World of Warcraft "literally who" if they get in lol, simply because they're not as promient in Nintendo consoles.

Also already happened with characters that are already in the game like Kazuya.

 

[Gengar84]

Watch some people call characters like Popular Character from Genshin Impact, Malenia from Elden Ring, Claptrap from Boderlands, Yasuo from League of Legends or Sylvanas from World of Warcraft "literally who" if they get in lol, simply because they're not as promient in Nintendo consoles.

In all fairness, I don’t have any knowledge of Genshin Impact characters and I only know Malenia because of this board. I’d never trash any of them by calling them “literal who” just because I’m not familiar with them. Like I said, it’s fun to discover characters through Smash and this would be the first time since Lucas where I’d have no prior knowledge of the character.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Anyways, lack of recent appearances in games didn’t stop characters like Banjo, K. Rool, Pit, Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, or others.

Pit, Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers are 1P.

Banjo and KRool presumably had the Ballot working for them.

 

[Dukefire]

If Blizzard's starcraft has a choice...I can say about these mechanics.
Zerg like Kerrigan: utilizing Creep to increase movement and damage like inkling. Control the terrain.
Protoss: Shields to mitigate some damages. Can be recharged by avoid combat or certain abilities.
Terrain: idk since they are human, but firepower and enhancements with risks.

 

[Gengar84]

If Blizzard's starcraft has a choice...I can say about these mechanics.
Zerg like Kerrigan: utilizing Creep to increase movement and damage like inkling. Control the terrain.
Protoss: Shields to mitigate some damages. Can be recharged by avoid combat or certain abilities.
Terrain: idk since they are human, but firepower and enhancements with risks.

I like those ideas. I thought about giving Kerrigan some kind of creep mechanic but I figured she was already complex enough with an MP like resource system for summoning Zerg units. Here’s what I came up with for Kerrigan:

Spoiler

Special Traits / Other:
Kerrigan would be the first true summoner character in Smash. All of her special attacks other than Psionic Shift summon various Zerg units to aid her in battle. In order to balance this, I decided to incorporate an element of resource management similar to her home series.

Vespian Gas - As the battle goes on, Kerrigan builds up resources that she can spend to use all of her special attacks minus Psionic Shift (which doesn’t cost anything since it is her recovery move). Being a simple attack, Zergling Rush attack uses the least amount of gas while the Hydralisk/Defiler/Mutalisk uses the most.

Weak Attacks:
A Combo – Chain Reaction
Kerrigan attacks with a flow of electricity. Like Megaman’s A combo, this is a projectile attack and deals no knockback. In multiplayer, the electricity can flow to other nearby enemies if they are close enough.

Forward Tilt – Kinetic Blast
A small short range explosion from her hand

Up Tilt – Razor Swarm
Kerrigan sends out several mini shockwaves diagonally upwards

Down Tilt
A low claw swipe

Running A
A running double claw swipe

Smash Attacks:
Forward Smash – Leaping Strike
Kerrigan lunges forward and stabs the opponent with her wings

Up Smash
Kerrigan thrusts her wings upward and stabs above her

Down Smash – Impaling Blades
Kerrigan slams the ground causing spikes to rise from the ground on both sides

Specials:
Neutral B – Hydralisk /Defiler / Mutalisk
Similar to Dedede’s original side B that summoned Waddle Dees, Kerrigan summons one of a variety of Zerg units that wander along the battlefield and attack opponents. The hydralisk is the most basic of these. They travel along the ground and attack any opponent nearby. The defiler doesn’t actively attack but instead inflicts various status effects on anyone that gets too close with a cloud of poisonous gas. Finally, the mutalisk flies through the air and attacks any airborne opponents in its range.

Forward B (Grounded) – Zergling Rush
Kerrigan summons a pair of Zerglings to rise from the ground and charge forward for a bit before diving back into the ground.

Forward B (Aerial) – Scourge
If performed in the air, Kerrigan hatches a pair of Scourge who fly forward and explode into any opponent they touch.

Up B – Psionic Shift
Kerrigan surrounds herself in energy then dashes in the chosen direction, damaging anyone she touches

Down B - Lurker
Similar to Snake’s mine attack, Kerrigan summons a Lurker to burrow in the ground right next to her. Anyone who walks over this location is attacked with a rising spike attack for a short while. Like the Hydralisk, only one Lurker can be summoned at a time.

Grabs:
Grab
Kerrigan impales the opponent with her wings

Pummel
Kerrigan grabs the opponent’s face and shocks it with energy

Forward Throw
Kerrigan kicks her opponent forward

Back Throw
A simple toss backward

Up Throw
Kerrigan throws her opponent upwards followed by a quick lightning attack

Down Throw
Kerrigan slams her opponent into the ground

Aerial Attacks:
Neutral A
Kerrigan surrounds herself with electric energy and attacks around her, much like Mewtwo

Forward A
A forward claw swipe

Back A
A backward thrust kick

Up A
A somersault kick

Down A – Quantum Ray
Shoots a beam of energy diagonally downward

Final Smash: Apocalypse
Kerrigan surrounds herself in a radius of energy. Any opponent that comes within range is struck by an explosion which triggers a cinematic cutscene. This scene mimics the final few seconds of the Betrayal on Kerrigan scene. After landing the initial strike, the opponent is transported to a ruined planet where he or she is surrounded by zergs on all sides. As they reach the target, the screen turns to black. It then returns to the normal battle screen and the opponent takes massive damage and knockback.

 

[Ivander]

Watch some people call characters like Popular Character from Genshin Impact, "literally who" if they get in lol, simply because they're not as promient in Nintendo consoles.

I'd be pretty envious of those people. Not because Genshin Impact is bad or anything, but people certainly like to catagorize that game in the same league as Overwatch.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

I almost feel like it's the opposite. With games like Ghosts N' Goblins Resurrection, Contra: Operation Galuga or Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, it almost seems like other companies are reviving very old IPs in an attempt to get them into Smash.

Capcom has Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Ace Attorney, all relevant and larger franchises with characters who have much more fan demand to be in Smash than Arthur. Why wouldn’t Capcom just push for characters from those series rather than take the time and resources to make a brand new Ghosts ‘n Goblins game in the hopes that when the next Smash comes along years later Arthur will be seriously considered?

In recent years Konami has been bringing back a lot of their franchises that they’ve been doing nothing with beyond pachinko machines and collections. Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Suikoden are getting/just got from the ground up remakes, and Silent Hill is getting a brand new game soon, it’s not like Contra is a unique case.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound likely started development after Ninja Gaiden 4, do you think they made a new AAA game in an attempt to get Ryu Hayabusa into Smash?

If we got a Blizzard rep, which one do you think it's more likely: Diablo, Starcraft, World of Warcraft or Overwatch?

Probably Overwatch, mainly due to its stand out cast of characters.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

If companies are reviving old franchises just so Nintendo-Senpai notices them and adds their characters into Smash, they're in for a rude awakening when they get no return on the investment.

 

[Dukefire]

The problem with Genshin Impact, League of Legends and Overwatch to name a few, is that there are SO MANY characters to choose from as the representative for the home series. Although, Tracer may be the mascot for Overwatch.

 

[Gengar84]

Probably Overwatch, mainly due to its stand out cast of characters.

I think you’re right about Overwatch being the most likely but I’d say pretty much every Blizzard IP has a stand out cast of characters. There’s quite a few really cool WarCraft and StarCraft characters too. For Overwatch, I’d say Tracer is far and away the most likely but you could make a solid argument for who the best StarCraft and WarCraft character could be.

For League of Legends, there’s a ton of great options but I’d argue that Arcane puts Jinx at the head of the pack for most iconic character. I feel like they’d want to capitalize on Arcane’s success and add a character like Jinx who can appeal to far more people than actually played the main game.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Regarding Falcom, I have to mention that Rean Schwarzer is a pick I could see happening over Estelle or Adol. He's still the most popular Trails protagonist in Japan, had 4 games focusing on him as a protagonist (5 if you count Reverie) and Falcom made a big deal of him returning in Kai. He's also got the most obvious Final Smash I have seen in a while with Valimar, lol.

Yes Rean is certainly a possibility since he has the most games in his arc of the series and he still wins in a lot of popularity polls at number 1.

Nonetheless tho he has quite a competing with Adol and Estelle now with her remake coming.

And on a side note I have to disagree with Valimar being his final smash. Knowing Sakurai he probably use one of his super crafts, and he has like 5 not counting the variations with different effects so a lot of potential with that. Not many characters can say they have more than 5 potential final smashes.

Honestky I feel like with how Sakurai likes to add unique gimmicks to characters he would probably make his Mech Valimar into a gimmick. Like something he can summon from time to time at certain conditions. Helps that we don’t have a character with a giant mech in smash yet so it would make Rean stand out even more with that gimmick.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

I think you’re right about Overwatch being the most likely but I’d say pretty much every Blizzard IP has a stand out cast of characters. There’s quite a few really cool WarCraft and StarCraft characters too. For Overwatch, I’d say Tracer is far and away the most likely but you could make a solid argument for who the best StarCraft and WarCraft character could be.

Overwatch is probably the biggest contender to me, but I do feel Diablo might be not too far behind due to how Nintendo was willing to do a Loot Goblin amiibo and a Ganondorf costume for the Switch release, showing at least some kind of personal interest. And the developers have expressed interest in the idea of Diablo himself joining the Smash roster as well.


Doesn't mean it's likely to happen, but something to consider.

 

[Gengar84]

Overwatch is probably the biggest contender to me, but I do feel Diablo might be not too far behind due to how Nintendo was willing to do a Loot Goblin amiibo and a Ganondorf costume for the Switch release, showing at least some kind of personal interest. And the developers have expressed interest in the idea of Diablo himself joining the Smash roster as well.


Doesn't mean it's likely to happen, but something to consider.

The question is which version of Diablo would they go with? My favorite design is from Diablo 3, which is the one on Switch so that helps. Diablo has looked very different between games (although I think they look roughly the same in the first two games if memory serves).

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

The question is which version of Diablo would they go with? My favorite design is from Diablo 3, which is the one on Switch so that helps. Diablo has looked very different between games (although I think they look roughly the same in the first two games if memory serves).

Whichever one is the most feasible, I'd assume.

 

[Gengar84]

Whichever one is the most feasible, I'd assume.

I think they could all work. Diablo from the first two games is big and bulky like Bowser. Diablo’s design in 3 is more sleek like Ridley and Diablo looks a lot more humanoid in Diablo 4. I’d say 3 has the coolest and most unique design.

 

[NotGenerico]

Yes Rean is certainly a possibility since he has the most games in his arc of the series and he still wins in a lot of popularity polls at number 1.

Nonetheless tho he has quite a competing with Adol and Estelle now with her remake coming.

And on a side note I have to disagree with Valimar being his final smash. Knowing Sakurai he probably use one of his super crafts, and he has like 5 not counting the variations with different effects so a lot of potential with that. Not many characters can say they have more than 5 potential final smashes.

Honestky I feel like with how Sakurai likes to add unique gimmicks to characters he would probably make his Mech Valimar into a gimmick. Like something he can summon from time to time at certain conditions. Helps that we don’t have a character with a giant mech in smash yet so it would make Rean stand out even more with that gimmick.

Regarding Rean's possible gimmick, I feel like Sakurai would go with Spirit Unification. He likes his comeback mechanics after all, lol.

A part of me does want Rean to be the Falcom pick mostly because of how many parallels he shares with Byleth. I mean come on, Ashen Demon vs Ashen Chevalier? A trailer involving both could be pretty cool.

 

[Gengar84]

Knowing pretty much nothing about any of them, I’d say my preferences lean towards Estelle because she gives us another female fighter and she’d be our first dedicated polearm user. I’m just guessing but my hunch is that Rean uses a sword. Is that right?

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Regarding Rean's possible gimmick, I feel like Sakurai would go with Spirit Unification. He likes his comeback mechanics after all, lol.

A part of me does want Rean to be the Falcom pick mostly because of how many parallels he shares with Byleth. I mean come on, Ashen Demon vs Ashen Chevalier? A trailer involving both could be pretty cool.

Who said both spirit unification and Valimar can’t be his gimmick .

Jokes aside is not unheard of to give two gimmicks to a character in smash. Like Terry with a back special and his Go meter mechanic.

And yeah he does have a few similarities to Byleth in a way. Someone even made a Death battle music theme of their battle.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Is there any archetype that doesn’t exist yet or examples of ones not common as you would think?

 

[Gengar84]

Is there any archetype that doesn’t exist yet or examples of ones not common as you would think?

Yeah, I don’t think Smash really has a summoner of any kind. Brawl Dedede probably would have counted but the Gordos he has now are more standard projectiles than summons like the Waddle Dee’s and Doos. There aren’t any true healers either. Yuna and Garnet could fill both of those roles in one.

 

[DarthEnderX]

If companies are reviving old franchises just so Nintendo-Senpai notices them and adds their characters into Smash, they're in for a rude awakening when they get no return on the investment.

Unless they do.

Lookin' at you Terry!

Yeah, I don’t think Smash really has a summoner of any kind.

I mean, I don't know what else you'd call Pokemon Trainer.

 

[Gengar84]

Unless they do.

Lookin' at you Terry!

I mean, I don't know what else you'd call Pokemon Trainer.

Flavorfully sure but not really mechanically in Smash. I’m talking about something more like my Kerrigan moveset (similar to Brawl Dedede) or how Yuna functions in Dissidia (which is different from how she does in X).

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I mean, I don't know what else you'd call Pokemon Trainer.

A transformation character, because summoner in terms of fighting game archetypes is someone like Jack-O in Guilty Gear or Gargos in Killer Instinct, and Pokemon Trainer definitely doesn't play like that lol

 

[Shinuto]

I think people are underestimating Shantae here.

 

[Louie G.]

Is there any archetype that doesn’t exist yet or examples of ones not common as you would think?

We still don't have a Musician character, despite a plethora of viable options. This has been my most wanted archetype... or perhaps "theme" is the better way to describe this... but I've wanted this for a while now. Fortunately I feel like we may be closing in on this next game and finally getting one. Chorus Kids, Squid Sisters / Off the Hook, KK Slider, Pauline, Don Chan or Parappa the damn Rapper, whoever you want.

Another "theme" that I'm surprised hasn't been fulfilled yet is some kind of "Ghost" character. The fact of the matter is probably just that the right character hasn't come along yet, but someone like King Boo or Gengar would be really fresh. Going hand in hand with this we have a surprising lack of characters who inflict status effects. I think either of these could inflict some sort of shock / fear state.

 

[PersonAngelo53]

Is there any archetype that doesn’t exist yet or examples of ones not common as you would think?

We don’t have a monster that feels like he came from a horror work. Tho you could argue that Ridley gets somehow close to that but I mean something more like this. Like the character even in how it moves feels creepy. This is a character from the fighting game Under night in birth that has a pretty cool mod being worked on for smash bros project m.

 

[NotGenerico]

Knowing pretty much nothing about any of them, I’d say my preferences lean towards Estelle because she gives us another female fighter and she’d be our first dedicated polearm user. I’m just guessing but my hunch is that Rean uses a sword. Is that right?

Yeah, Rean fights using a sword. To be more specific, he uses a Tachi. He fights using swift and precise strikes. He's even got some moves where he sheathes his sword before attacking, just like an iaijutsu practitioner.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

Another "theme" that I'm surprised hasn't been fulfilled yet is some kind of "Ghost" character. The fact of the matter is probably just that the right character hasn't come along yet, but someone like King Boo or Gengar would be really fresh.

Another option is Chandelure but there hasn’t really been any character that levitates without it being an input or move.

 

[Noipoi]

It’s so crazy how the Switch 2 direct is only two weeks away. They announced it back in January, but the days are going by quick.

In comparison, the wait for this year’s Pokemon Day felt unbearable. At least for me. But that’s probably because I’m a super hyper Pokemon fan, perhaps to an unhealthy degree.

 

[Ivander]

Another "theme" that I'm surprised hasn't been fulfilled yet is some kind of "Ghost" character. The fact of the matter is probably just that the right character hasn't come along yet, but someone like King Boo or Gengar would be really fresh. Going hand in hand with this we have a surprising lack of characters who inflict status effects. I think either of these could inflict some sort of shock / fear state.

King Boo would be the obvious one. Ceruledge is another popular recently new choice. Gengar is easily the most popular Ghost Pokemon. Decidueye's not so much a Ghost archetype, but they are Ghost-typing.

You could also give Marth/Roy/Ike/Chrom/Robin/Lucina/Corrin/Byleth an Emblem-themed alternate as Emblems are spirits.

And then you have The Ghosts.

 

[Gengar84]

We still don't have a Musician character, despite a plethora of viable options. This has been my most wanted archetype... or perhaps "theme" is the better way to describe this... but I've wanted this for a while now. Fortunately I feel like we may be closing in on this next game and finally getting one. Chorus Kids, Squid Sisters / Off the Hook, KK Slider, Pauline, Don Chan or Parappa the damn Rapper, whoever you want.

Another "theme" that I'm surprised hasn't been fulfilled yet is some kind of "Ghost" character. The fact of the matter is probably just that the right character hasn't come along yet, but someone like King Boo or Gengar would be really fresh. Going hand in hand with this we have a surprising lack of characters who inflict status effects. I think either of these could inflict some sort of shock / fear state.

Sheik had the potential to be a musician character. I don’t know if you’ve seen her Hyrule Warriors moveset but her harp is a big part of her moveset in that game.

Ghost is one of my two favorite Pokemon types along with Bug. I’d love to see Gengar, Cofagrigus, Hisuian Zoroark or Ceruledge in Smash. I seem to be the only fan of Cofagrigus so you can probably scratch that one off the list lol.

 

[Noipoi]

My unlikely ghost choice would have to be Dragapult. It’s a ghost, it’s a dragon, and it’s a stealth jet that uses its offspring as ammo. What’s not to like?

I know it never would’ve happened though. If we got a Galar Pokemon it’d just be Cinderace or Inteleon or something. Hopefully they’ll consider it for a pokeball summon.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

A ghost Pokémon would be very cool and there's so many good option. I think realistically, the most likely is probably Gholdengo with how "important" it was for Gen 9 marketing. And I've got to say, I used to not really like Gholdengo but it's design grew into me over time (part of the reason is because you see so much the damn thing in competitive). If I had to choose personally, I'd probably go with Golurk or Gengar.

Speaking of, the unused Pokémon types in Smash right now aside from ghost are ground, dragon, ice, bug and rock. What idea do we have for those type? Baxcalibur could be pretty interesting and would cover dragon and ice. For bug I would go with Scizor.

 

[RileyXY1]

In fact Ultimate is the first Smash game not to debut a new Pokémon type.

Smash 64: Electric, Normal, Fairy (retroactively)
Melee: Psychic
Brawl: Grass, Poison, Fire, Flying, Water, Fighting, Steel
Smash 4: Dark

Had they gone for Decidueye instead of Incineroar, they would've taken Ghost off the list of unrepped types.

 

[Noipoi]

A ghost Pokémon would be very cool and there's so many good option. I think realistically, the most likely is probably Gholdengo with how "important" it was for Gen 9 marketing.

Gholdengo

Welcome back, Coin Battle.

Speaking of, the unused Pokémon types in Smash right now aside from ghost are ground, dragon, ice, bug and rock. What idea do we have for those type? Baxcalibur could be pretty interesting and would cover dragon and ice. For bug I would go with Scizor.

Dragon is my favorite type, so I’ve wanted a dragon type in Smash for a while. From the current generation I’d pick Koraidon, who’s become one of my favorite legendaries period. But really I’d take any dragon.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

My choice for a ghost character is this:

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Smash gets its first ghostly character via the Ghost from the Avenging Spirit Game Boy game by Jaleco becoming a fighter for European and Japanese players.

American players by contrast will instead get this guy as a playable fighter.

Just think of it as extension of some places using Bowser as a name and others using Koopa.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

It will never happen, but I need an Oregon Trail stage.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

It will never happen, but I need an Oregon Trail stage.

Finally, the stage where nobody wins because we all get dysentery.

 

[BrawlX10]

In all fairness, I don’t have any knowledge of Genshin Impact characters and I only know Malenia because of this board. I’d never trash any of them by calling them “literal who” just because I’m not familiar with them. Like I said, it’s fun to discover characters through Smash and this would be the first time since Lucas where I’d have no prior knowledge of the character.

Not having knoweldge of a character or franchise is completely fine, the problem is people who say "LITERALLY WHO?" to dimiss a character they don't know about, calling a character from Elden Ring and League of Legends a "literal who" in this scenario would be even double stupid because those games are very popular and i'm sure it will happen if they get in, since as Thegameandwatch said there were people calling Kazuya one and i even saw people call Sepiroth a literal who.
Also in some cases people know the character, but still use "LITERALLY WHO?" to be obnoxious and toxic, i really dislike the term lol.

Another option is Chandelure but there hasn’t really been any character that levitates without it being an input or move.

Chandelure was my main in Pokken DX, so i would welcome Chandelure as a fighter.
Not just Chandelure, but i really want more characters with unusual body types (Like Chandelure in this case, Pokemon is a gold mine for this.) I think however, items and ledges might make certain characters with unusual body types hard to implement, like Chandelure might still work with grabing the items and ledges with it's flames, but certain characters like idk Eldegoss?....that have no arms would be a bit harder to find a work around with.

I'd really like to see more fighters with really unique fighting styles, gimmicks and propieties as well, ading to my previous subject, a character that might not be able to grab the ledge or maybe even equip items would be very interesting to see, altrough not sure how they could balance it without feeling messy.