Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Sucumbio]

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Who would you choose?

My picks would be: (having 7 fighters)

1. Bandana Dee (Kirby needs more than just representation from Sakurai's games)
2. Crash Bandicoot (Popular third party request)
3. Dixie Kong (The next one after K. Rool)
4. Amaterasu (More quadruped animal fighters)
5. Toxtricity (Pokémon didn't get a Gen 8 rep during Smash's DLC)
6. Dr. Eggman (Sonic needs a villain rep)
7. Master Chief (Pretty iconic to finish with)

1. Bandana Dee
2. Master Chief
3. Jill Valentine
4. Nahobino
5. Geno
6. Scorpion

 

[Gengar84]

I’ll go with a completely biased take on my ideal fighter’s pass:

1) Rash/Pimple/Zitz (Battletoads)
2) Magus (Chrono Trigger)
3) Illidan Stormrage (WarCraft)
4) Fulgore (Killer Instinct)
5) Zegram Ghart (Rogue Galaxy)
6) Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)

For a more realistic option I’d still be happy with:

1) Noah/Mio Ouroboros (Xenoblade 3)
2) Akira Howard (Astral Chain)
3) Raven Beak (Metroid Dread)
4) Hisuian Zoroark (Pokémon: Legends Arceus)
5) Rauru (LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom)
6) Zero (Mega Man X)

 

[Perkilator]

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Who would you choose?

Bonus fighter: BWD

1. Raven Beak
2. Dr. Eggman
3. Noah & Mio
4. Crash Bandicoot
5. Chun-Li
6. 2B

 

[DarthEnderX]

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Who would you choose?

I keep forgetting stage morph is a thing

It's just not that interesting, as implemented. Just switching back and forth between 2 stages isn't that dynamic.

If it was able to just keep morphing into new randomly picked stages, it would be more interesting.

 

[Sucumbio]

4) Hisuian Zoroark (Pokémon: Legends Arceus)

Yes please! Such a beautiful design...

 

[Gengar84]

Yes please! Such a beautiful design...

Definitely. My two favorites from that game were Hisuian Zoroark and Sneasler. I’d be really happy with either of them. For Zoroark, I think they could do alts between its base and Hisuian forms while drawing from each for its moveset. Weavile is pretty cool but I never liked it as much as Sneasel. I feel like Sneasler keeps what I loved about Sneasel while also doing it’s own thing.

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

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Who would you choose?

My realistic picks:

1. Dixie Kong
2. Dr. Eggman or Tails
3. Impa
4. Greavard
5. Phoenix Wright

My ideal picks:

Bonus Fighter: Bandanna Waddle Dee

1. Muddy Mole
2. Tails
3. Master Chief
4. Q*Bert
5. Mickey Mouse

 

[chinkuru]

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Who would you choose?

My picks would be: (having 7 fighters)

1. Bandana Dee (Kirby needs more than just representation from Sakurai's games)
2. Crash Bandicoot (Popular third party request)
3. Dixie Kong (The next one after K. Rool)
4. Amaterasu (More quadruped animal fighters)
5. Toxtricity (Pokémon didn't get a Gen 8 rep during Smash's DLC)
6. Dr. Eggman (Sonic needs a villain rep)
7. Master Chief (Pretty iconic to finish with)

1. Tingle
2. Agumon
3. Marco Rossi
4. Takamaru
5. Isaac
6. Skull Kid
7. Crash

 

[Jave]

Yeah, Stage Morph was probably the most meh addition IMO. I wouldn’t mind trading it for another mode like Break the Targets.

 

[Garteam]

I missed a lot of the discussion regarding stage morph, but I'd honestly be okay with losing a lot of the returning stages.

It was really cool to have stages that I thought would never come back like Brinstar Depths and Hanenbow reappear. However, I imagine programming and modelling 106 unique stages + omega variations + battlefield variations was a monumental undertaking that took a lot of development time away. I'd rather have something like in Smash for, where there were 50 to 60 stages in the base game, with a handful of fan favourites that didn't make the cut coming back in DLC.

 

[YeppersPeppers]

I almost exclusively play with Stage Morph on (turbo casual here), but I think that it suffers the same problem that stage hazard toggle does in that it should not require the player to have to go back to the rules and adjust them just to turn it on and off. That, or just picking the same stage twice on the stage select screen should make it not morph if you don't want it to without having to go back and toggle it off.

 

[CannonStreak]

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Check this out.

I post this because with this news, and while I DO doubt this will happen, I wonder if this will change anything about Playstation characters most likely not getting into a Smash Bros. game? Again, doubtful, but what do you all think?

 

[Gengar84]

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Check this out.

I post this because with this news, and while I DO doubt this will happen, I wonder if this will change anything about Playstation characters most likely not getting into a Smash Bros. game? Again, doubtful, but what do you all think?

Interesting. I’m not informed enough to make any statement whether this will affect Sony characters chances in Smash but if it does, that’s one hurdle (out of probably a million) down for getting Zegram in Smash. Still under no delusions that will ever happen but I can dream lol.

 

[Perkilator]

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Check this out.

I post this because with this news, and while I DO doubt this will happen, I wonder if this will change anything about Playstation characters most likely not getting into a Smash Bros. game? Again, doubtful, but what do you all think?

Not that I think this will affect Smash, but hopefully this means PlayStation will stop over-relying on their cinematic bullocks and veer more towards the stylistic edge they had during the 90's and 2000's.

 

[CannonStreak]

Not that I think this will affect Smash, but hopefully this means PlayStation will stop over-relying on their cinematic bullocks and veer more towards the stylistic edge they had during the 90's and 2000's.

I am hoping for that, too. It would be great to see that return.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I actually forgot stage morph was in this game.

 

[fogbadge]

I actually forgot stage morph was in this game.

that’s about three of us now

 

[chocolatejr9]

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Check this out.

I post this because with this news, and while I DO doubt this will happen, I wonder if this will change anything about Playstation characters most likely not getting into a Smash Bros. game? Again, doubtful, but what do you all think?

insert joke about him being fired for failing to stop the ActiBlizz buyout here

In all seriousness, it really depends on who takes his place. Will it be somebody who actually RESPECTS the games industry? Or will they just look for Jim Ryan 2.0?

 

[CannonStreak]

insert joke about him being fired for failing to stop the ActiBlizz buyout here

In all seriousness, it really depends on who takes his place. Will it be somebody who actually RESPECTS the games industry? Or will they just look for Jim Ryan 2.0?

I did say I had my doubts on the former, so I am leaning towards the latter, personally.

As for your joke, I was actually thinking the same thing! I wouldn't be surprised if he stepped down because of his failure in the Microsoft and Activision case. I hear though that the FTC is still making an attempt to block it.

 

[dream1ng]

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Check this out.

I post this because with this news, and while I DO doubt this will happen, I wonder if this will change anything about Playstation characters most likely not getting into a Smash Bros. game? Again, doubtful, but what do you all think?

It's less contingent on Jim Ryan leaving and more contingent on who replaces him. However, chances remain marginal; Sony and Nintendo not only have a traditional relationship between competitors (MS is the odd one out), and not only is Sony not in a fairly distant third like MS is (making compromise much less likely), but they have a history of not really getting along.

Not that I think this will affect Smash, but hopefully this means PlayStation will stop over-relying on their cinematic bullocks and veer more towards the stylistic edge they had during the 90's and 2000's.

If you look at stuff like Uncharted, TLoU, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. going in that direction has served them well financially. I think the most to hope for is their future acquisitions will be companies that do less of that kind of thing, and they are allowed to maintain that direction.

And to be fair, those are all very good games. I don't think they should stop making them, a lot of people like them. Some do push forward the boundary of ambition and narrative in video games. That's important too. They're just not my style, and I would appreciate more variety.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I love Stage Morph. Y'all are just boring.

 

[Sucumbio]

I love Stage Morph. Y'all are just boring.

I legit didn't know what it was until today. Everytime it was brought up in discussion until today I thought it was referring to stage transformers like Castle Seige. So .. heh .. whoops.

On going back to a DLC pack 3 how's about this xms with Master Chief headlining. I'd be really happy.

 

[CommanderZaktan]

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Who would you choose?

My picks would be: (having 7 fighters)

1. Bandana Dee (Kirby needs more than just representation from Sakurai's games)
2. Crash Bandicoot (Popular third party request)
3. Dixie Kong (The next one after K. Rool)
4. Amaterasu (More quadruped animal fighters)
5. Toxtricity (Pokémon didn't get a Gen 8 rep during Smash's DLC)
6. Dr. Eggman (Sonic needs a villain rep)
7. Master Chief (Pretty iconic to finish with)

1. Noah (with Mio as a free echo fighter to switch 2 weapon classes; Swordfighter and Zephyr)
2. Ryu Hayabusa
3. Crash Bandicoot
4. Urshifu
5. Dr. Eggman
6. Geno

 

[toonito]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Who would you choose?

My picks would be: (having 7 fighters)

1. Bandana Dee (Kirby needs more than just representation from Sakurai's games)
2. Crash Bandicoot (Popular third party request)
3. Dixie Kong (The next one after K. Rool)
4. Amaterasu (More quadruped animal fighters)
5. Toxtricity (Pokémon didn't get a Gen 8 rep during Smash's DLC)
6. Dr. Eggman (Sonic needs a villain rep)
7. Master Chief (Pretty iconic to finish with)

my picks

1. Crash Bandicoot
2. Dante
3. Sol Badguy
4. Impa
5. Doom Slayer
6. Ryu Hayabusa

 

[MasterCheef]

Master Chief’s Final Smash = Incineration Cannon3
Master Chief’s weapons = Z-180 Scattershot & needler
MC’s down Special = reinforce = ( damage / speed ) boost
Master Chief’s Horizontal Special = light armor shield
Master Chief‘s Neutral Special = weapon fire
Master Chief’s up Special = grapple-shot

Ahri’s side Special = deception orb
Ahri‘s Neutral Special = charm
Ahri’s up Special = spirit rush

Noah & Mio - Xenoblade 3

Protagonist - Harvard - DecaPolice

The Legend of Heroes ; Trails through daybreak – Van Arkride

 

[Lionfranky]

If you look at stuff like Uncharted, TLoU, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, etc. going in that direction has served them well financially. I think the most to hope for is their future acquisitions will be companies that do less of that kind of thing, and they are allowed to maintain that direction.

And to be fair, those are all very good games. I don't think they should stop making them, a lot of people like them. Some do push forward the boundary of ambition and narrative in video games. That's important too. They're just not my style, and I would appreciate more variety.

Xbox's Data Suggests They Might Have A Better Profit Margin Than PlayStation - Gameranx

Microsoft has explained to the FTC that they had higher profit margins than Sony, in a specific time frame last year.

gameranx.com

While this may not be concrete, it does explain why Sony is pivoting toward Gaas. They won't stop making those kinds of games. They shouldn't, but it's more complicated than that.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

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Who would you choose?

My picks would be: (having 7 fighters)

1. Bandana Dee (Kirby needs more than just representation from Sakurai's games)
2. Crash Bandicoot (Popular third party request)
3. Dixie Kong (The next one after K. Rool)
4. Amaterasu (More quadruped animal fighters)
5. Toxtricity (Pokémon didn't get a Gen 8 rep during Smash's DLC)
6. Dr. Eggman (Sonic needs a villain rep)
7. Master Chief (Pretty iconic to finish with)

Assuming we're dealing with a semi-realistic, feasible roster:

1. Octoling. Unique from Inkling, I think Octoling is more than warranted at this point considering the lack of in-game representation for Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion, not to mention the recent release of Splatoon 3 and the upcoming Side Order. I'd say their default design should resemble Agent 8's female and male forms from Octo Expansion by default, but would similarly feature uniquely modeled costumes for their alts similar to Inkling. Also, their weapons are different, though they share the Ink mechanic between them, so they otherwise play completely differently.
2. Bub/Bob. One of the biggest gaps in terms of third-party representation in Smash by far has to be Taito, and whilst Taito is owned by Square Enix, they do sort of do their own thing anyway. Now, Taito's most iconic game is Space Invaders, which would be awesome to represent here - but I wanted to keep things realistic, and besides, the Bubble Bobble series (and its spinoff series Puzzle Bobble) have been pretty long-running and successful in their own right. Plus, these little guys are adorable, they totally deserve to be here!
3. Sidon. A decently prominent side character in two Zelda games, which are the most recent and some of the best-selling in the series, as well as being playable in another spinoff already. Also the subject of tons of internet memes and such, as an indication of his popularity. On top of this, his ability to manipulate water and fight with a trident would be a very unique inclusion overall. He'd probably only bring a few little bits and bobs from TOTK though, given the proximity of its release to this hypothetical pass.
4. Kunio/Riki. I think the Kunio-kun/River City series is important enough to the history of gaming or whatever to try and represent somewhere, so this honestly kind of makes sense to me in a way. Yes, Ryu Hayabusa is the popular "NES-era" pick, and Jason & SOPHIA are my personal bias ones, but Kunio is a genuinely pretty important part of history given the ability to represent Technos through it. Also, side note, but any opportunity to get some music from River City Girls is one we should honestly take.
5. Neku. The World Ends With You got a huge promotional boost fairly recently due to the release of NEO and the anime adaptation, and adaptations of the original DS game have been made on Nintendo platforms for close to 15 years at this point. TWEWY, whilst being a somewhat cult classic series, is also seen as "prominent" enough to have been one of the few Square series to actually get represented in Kingdom Hearts. Plus, his potential use of both the Psych Pins and the different Partners he can use would work really well in a moveset, especially if there was somehow a mechanic wherein you could switch between Partners to have different effects (like maybe Beat using his skate tricks, Shiki controlling Mr. Mew, or Joshua using Psychokinesis?)
6. Geno. Given Geno's history with the Smash series and the upcoming Super Mario RPG remake, including him due to a combination of legacy and promotion should work pretty well. Admittedly, I did toy with the idea of including Mallow instead, but Geno makes a lot more sense given the sheer amount of fanfare that's surrounded him. That said, I imagine he'd end up being a solid mid-tier at best, and nobody would discuss him about three months after his inclusion due to his lack of a particular gimmick.

WHAT THREE SQUEENIX CHARACTERS WHAAAAAAAAA yeah to be fair i don't know if that'd happen but i do think this is a reasonably feasible take overall. side note, if i had seven spots then one of them would have either gone to a new kirby character (probably magolor) or a new pokemon (probably gholdengo)

 

[Wonder Smash]

Kunio/Riki. I think the Kunio-kun/River City series is important enough to the history of gaming or whatever to try and represent somewhere, so this honestly kind of makes sense to me in a way. Yes, Ryu Hayabusa is the popular "NES-era" pick, and Jason & SOPHIA are my personal bias ones, but Kunio is a genuinely pretty important part of history given the ability to represent Technos through it. Also, side note, but any opportunity to get some music from River City Girls is one we should honestly take.

Yes, it's VERY important. River City is not only important because it's the father/grandfather of the beat'em up genre but it also featured the first 4-player fighting game. It even featured what can also be considered the prototypical party fighter. So all of that is very important, even to Smash itself.

 

[dream1ng]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

Admittedly, Virtua Fighter is a franchise I would personally very much appreciate seeing in Smash given its importance to the fighting game genre and arcade history as a whole, and whilst I do think it's incredibly cool that Akira was included as an Assist Trophy I kind of wish a character from the series was included in a playable role. Given the general slight lack of relevence in recent years though, I feel like a Virtua Fighter character would probably be better recieved in something like an Ultimate Deluxe newcomer roster compared to a DLC wave, even if it could totally work for the latter. With Akira presumably out of the running, I'd recognise that either of the Bryants would probably be good picks, but I'd still put forward Kage Maru, Pai Chan, or even Dural as potentially interesting inclusions that'd be pretty neat to see. (Dural especially seems like a pick with a lot of potential, honestly, even if they'd be a bit bizarre.)

Though yeah, I don't think "importance" is the be-all and end-all of representation. Personally, I do prefer picks that have some legacy to them for the industry - but at the end of the day, the only real metric for including a character at this point boils down to the following step-by-step process:

1. Is the character from a video game?
2. Is the character going to sell well or promote something?
3. Is it physically possible to represent them in Smash?

And that's being generous tbh because I don't even think there are really "rules" for what's possible at this point beyond just vague gestures.

 

[Gengar84]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

I admit, I’m guilty of this. I don’t particularly care much about whether a character is deserving or important and tend to lean towards characters that I personally like. Sure, it’s is a nice bonus and I will bring up importance or relevance to Nintendo as something to strengthen the argument beyond just “I like this character and think they would be fun”. For example, I bring up RARE’s history with Nintendo when talking about Fulgore or the Battletoads but I don’t really like Conker so that fact isn’t really relevant to me at that point.

 

[Speed Weed]

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite

I'll change that. Starting up the Harrier for Smash support train RIGHT NOW

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

A long time ago, importance used to mean a character's importance to their own franchise. It basically meant major reoccurring characters.

It was used a lot to argue for Palutena for example. Even Palutena has virtually no importance to video games as a whole.

 

[Gengar84]

A long time ago, importance used to mean a character's importance to their own franchise. It basically meant major reoccurring characters.

It was used a lot to argue for Palutena for example. Even Palutena has virtually no importance to video games as a whole.

I’d still love to get Medusa in Smash (mostly because I think she has a cool design but I’m always up for more villains). Maybe she’d have a bit of a chance again if we ever get a Switch or Switch 2 port of Uprising.

 

[ZephyrZ]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

I think a lot of this probably comes from the "digital museum" narrative you see thrown around.

I think it comes from being seeing "celebration of gaming" and think of it as a prestegious gallery when it's more of a "Yooo Mario is throwing a BBQ/pool party in his back yard, even Cloud and Banjo will be there, y'all should come!" type of celebration.

I dunno if my anology makes any sense. I only got 2 hours of sleep last night. Gimme a break.

 

[osby]

I think Smash regularly adds Nintendo characters that are important to the video game history but not particularly popular as well, characters. Most fighters who tend to be grouped under retro or joke labels actually fit this criteria.

Third-party characters, however, are a different story imo.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I notice importance is usually a quality stressed when supporting a character one already wants. Especially if their case is otherwise a little light.

Like, Dante doesn't need his importance to the character-action genre spelled out because all you need to say is that the character is popular both generally and within the fanbase and DMC is a big, successful series. Those two points are worth enough. And actually matter. Same with Doom Slayer and the FPS.

No one's up in here talking about the importance of games/series like Ultima, Virtua Fighter, DotA, GTA, WoW, the Sims, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, Space Harrier, StarCraft, Shenmue, etc, or, frankly, rarely even Dark Souls and Fortnite.

The important **** is popularity (generally and/or in the fanbase) and the size (success-wise, not title-wise) and prevalence of the series (ideally in all crucial regions). Importance can lead to those qualities but, for Smash, it itself is less... important.

But sometimes, characters don't get a lot of requests or don't seem to get a lot of support, so importance is usually the next best thing. I look at Terry and his importance (which Sakurai has brought up like he always tend to do with characters) has basically made up for his lack of a popular request and now the Smash fanbase have accepted him like he belongs in the series. I can picture the same thing happening to Kunio and Riki.

 

[Sucumbio]

But sometimes, characters don't get a lot of requests or don't seem to get a lot of support, so importance is usually the next best thing. I look at Terry and his importance (which Sakurai has brought up like he always tend to do with characters) has basically made up for his lack of a popular request and now the Smash fanbase have accepted him like belongs in the series. I can picture the same thing happening to Kunio and Riki.

Terry in hindsight makes sense, at the time they were picking him I'd have been skeptical tho, but I suppose adding Ryu meant opening the doors to fgs in general just SNK was definitely not in my head.

Who are Kunio and Riki again?

 

[DarthEnderX]

Who are Kunio and Riki again?

River City Ransom.

 

[Laniv]

In hopefully relevant news, Sonic Frontiers update drops later today.

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Can we start rallying behind Tails for Smash now