Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Sucumbio]

So in the past there's been some criticism regarding stages representing their series and they being.. bland for lack of a better word. I've just been thinking about Joker's stage and how it may compare to say, Shadow Moses in regards to representing its game.

So for Snake we have the iconic scene where Sniper Wolf is hiding out on the Communication Tower, with its 2 story design, walls... In order to bring even more MGS tropes into the mix we have the searchlight and ! Thing, the MGRay, so yeah canonically it's kind of a mess, but it obviously was tying in as much as could make sense without being too silly...

Now onto Joker. ?? I've never played his game but are the elements of his stage equally as representing of his game or is it less so? There's the sin city esque animation, the train or whatever at the bottom, the wacky walls and platforms that show up,...

And this lead me to think about other series and representation. Look at Metroid for instance. Definitely feels like a Metroid environment. Lava seems to be the common element in at least 2 stages and the there's the very iconic stage taking place during the first boss from Prime which I love that level though I'm not sure where they got the idea to flip the stage every few.

What do you think? Does any other stages do a "good" job? Who needs improvement? What sort of things would improve stage design in general??

 

[DarthEnderX]

They’ve matured now, and can handle adult relationships.

Which is why they just let AlphaDream die, despite all the games they made for Nintendo over the years, right?

 

[Speed Weed]

So in the past there's been some criticism regarding stages representing their series and they being.. bland for lack of a better word. I've just been thinking about Joker's stage and how it may compare to say, Shadow Moses in regards to representing its game.

So for Snake we have the iconic scene where Sniper Wolf is hiding out on the Communication Tower, with its 2 story design, walls... In order to bring even more MGS tropes into the mix we have the searchlight and ! Thing, the MGRay, so yeah canonically it's kind of a mess, but it obviously was tying in as much as could make sense without being too silly...

Now onto Joker. ?? I've never played his game but are the elements of his stage equally as representing of his game or is it less so? There's the sin city esque animation, the train or whatever at the bottom, the wacky walls and platforms that show up,...

And this lead me to think about other series and representation. Look at Metroid for instance. Definitely feels like a Metroid environment. Lava seems to be the common element in at least 2 stages and the there's the very iconic stage taking place during the first boss from Prime which I love that level though I'm not sure where they got the idea to flip the stage every few.

What do you think? Does any other stages do a "good" job? Who needs improvement? What sort of things would improve stage design in general??

The thing with Mementos in Smash is the original Mementos is very visually uninteresting so Sakurai opted for the looser more abstract option of basing it off of P5's UI, which is undoubtedly one of the most iconic parts of the game. I think it was the right call

 

[Amornal1]

I think that if a third western rep enters in Smash Bros, it would be between fortnite or Crash Bandicoot.

 

[Noipoi]

I think that if a third western rep enters in Smash Bros, it would be between fortnite or Crash Bandicoot.

Por que no los dos?

 

[Amornal1]

Por que no los dos?

I hope so.

 

[MasterCheef]

What do you think? Does any other stages do a "good" job? Who needs improvement? What sort of things would improve stage design in general??

.

being able to traverse the stages better ; no 90 degree angles , bottom platforms connect , more variety in hovering & floating platforms
.

I think that if a third western rep enters in Smash Bros, it would be between fortnite or Crash Bandicoot.

.
Master Chief , is the most likely new western character period. He still has the highest support out of all 3rd party new western characters

 

[Gengar84]

I think that if a third western rep enters in Smash Bros, it would be between fortnite or Crash Bandicoot.

I think they’re a ton of solid contenders for Western reps that it’s really hard to narrow down to just a few. For example, League of Legends has now had multiple side games on Nintendo consoles, had an extremely successful show and is still huge for the mainline game. There’s also other Microsoft characters that rival Crash’s popularity like Kerrigan, Diablo, Doom Slayer, and Master Chief among many others. If they can work around the potential hurdles, Mortal Kombat is a huge property and Ed Boon has expressed interest in seeing an MK character in Smash.

As for stages, what I most want to see are more stages that have interesting layouts and feel like you’re fighting in an actual environment and not a Battlefield-esque floating platform in front of it. Mementos, while not really fitting my ideal criteria is alright because the environment at least changes with floating walls and stuff. Mementos in Persona 5 was pretty abstract already so it’s fine for Smash. I think the biggest offenders are Hollow Bastion and Northern Crater.

 

[fogbadge]

So in the past there's been some criticism regarding stages representing their series and they being.. bland for lack of a better word. I've just been thinking about Joker's stage and how it may compare to say, Shadow Moses in regards to representing its game.

So for Snake we have the iconic scene where Sniper Wolf is hiding out on the Communication Tower, with its 2 story design, walls... In order to bring even more MGS tropes into the mix we have the searchlight and ! Thing, the MGRay, so yeah canonically it's kind of a mess, but it obviously was tying in as much as could make sense without being too silly...

Now onto Joker. ?? I've never played his game but are the elements of his stage equally as representing of his game or is it less so? There's the sin city esque animation, the train or whatever at the bottom, the wacky walls and platforms that show up,...

And this lead me to think about other series and representation. Look at Metroid for instance. Definitely feels like a Metroid environment. Lava seems to be the common element in at least 2 stages and the there's the very iconic stage taking place during the first boss from Prime which I love that level though I'm not sure where they got the idea to flip the stage every few.

What do you think? Does any other stages do a "good" job? Who needs improvement? What sort of things would improve stage design in general??

well they took a section of the mementos from the game, placed it on top of the menu and hung it in front the map screen from when you're going from one are to an other. the trains are a prominent feature of mementos and you pass by them all the time. so the fact that the background is the map screen kind of ruins the idea that we're fighting in mementos

there's some other stages that give me this sense that we're fighting adjacent to the area it's named for. the main that springs to mind being hollow bastion. we just tour around it and then warp to dive to the heart at the end. think it would have been better if it had been done like delfino plaza or if it had just been dive to the heart all the time

 

[Sucumbio]

.

snip
.

being able to traverse the stages better ;

As a platformer, Smash can be fairly difficult, admittedly, especially in free for alls lol. Even during SSE some characters got by swiftly while others actually died and you had to go to your backup, and one team I don't recall why but it was only characters that both sucked at jumping puzzles.

no 90 degree angles ,

? Why ?

bottom platforms connect ,

? Huh ?

more variety in hovering & floating platforms .

Sure!

 

[SPEN18]

I'd like a stage based on Dolphin Park from Wave Race. I'm not going to elaborate because the fact that it has dolphins should already be enough to convince you.

 

[Gengar84]

I’m curious if an underwater stage would be possible. We already have stages with different physics like the wind in Pokémon Stadium so it would be pretty interesting. I’d think it would probably be closer to Sonic’s underwater mechanics where the characters are just a lot more floaty than Mario’s where the characters actually swim around since that would probably be a lot harder. If it’s too much for a full stage, it would at least be cool to see a stage with underwater sections.

 

[Perkilator]

I’m curious if an underwater stage would be possible. We already have stages with different physics like the wind in Pokémon Stadium so it would be pretty interesting. I’d think it would probably be closer to Sonic’s underwater mechanics where the characters are just a lot more floaty than Mario’s where the characters actually swim around since that would probably be a lot harder.

The Steel Diver stage in Smash Flash 2 actually works like this.

 

[SPEN18]

I’m curious if an underwater stage would be possible. We already have stages with different physics like the wind in Pokémon Stadium so it would be pretty interesting. I’d think it would probably be closer to Sonic’s underwater mechanics where the characters are just a lot more floaty than Mario’s where the characters actually swim around since that would probably be a lot harder. If it’s too much for a full stage, it would at least be cool to see a stage with underwater sections.

some non-serious ideas would be an underwater level from Super Mario Bros. or Maridia from Super Metroid

 

[fogbadge]

I'd like a stage based on Dolphin Park from Wave Race. I'm not going to elaborate because the fact that it has dolphins should already be enough to convince you.

would the dolphins be stage hazards or would we be fighting on top of them?

I’m curious if an underwater stage would be possible. We already have stages with different physics like the wind in Pokémon Stadium so it would be pretty interesting. I’d think it would probably be closer to Sonic’s underwater mechanics where the characters are just a lot more floaty than Mario’s where the characters actually swim around since that would probably be a lot harder. If it’s too much for a full stage, it would at least be cool to see a stage with underwater sections.

I’d take it

 

[chocolatejr9]

Which is why they just let AlphaDream die, despite all the games they made for Nintendo over the years, right?

Wasn't AlphaDream in serious debt or something?

 

[Mamboo07]

Wasn't AlphaDream in serious debt or something?

Yes, bankruptcy after the remakes I think...

 

[RileyXY1]

Yes, bankruptcy after the remakes I think...

Yeah. They chose to release a 3DS game in 2019 that was a remake of a game you could already play on the 3DS through backwards compatibility. No wonder it flopped.

 

[SPEN18]

would the dolphins be stage hazards or would we be fighting on top of them?

well in the original game you can ride them
I don't think they'd be hazardous

 

[fogbadge]

well in the original game you can ride them
I don't think they'd be hazardous

no you’re talking

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Now onto Joker. ?? I've never played his game but are the elements of his stage equally as representing of his game or is it less so? There's the sin city esque animation, the train or whatever at the bottom, the wacky walls and platforms that show up,...

Joker's stage is kinda weird, it's based more on the games UI than an actual location in the game, that flashy asthetic is sen in all the games menus, the background that shows the underground going deeper and deeper is basically a loading screen in the actual game.

The closest comparison to something in the actual game is the title screen of the original release of P5, which is the phantom thieves standing on a train station with the fancy UI elements around them.

 

[smashkirby]

I'd like a stage based on Dolphin Park from Wave Race. I'm not going to elaborate because the fact that it has dolphins should already be enough to convince you.

Honestly, I'd LOVE this! At least it'd give Smash Bros. a reason to (finally) add some ACTUAL Wave Race music. I'd give anything for either a remix of or straight-up rip of Port Royal in Smash Bros.

Out of curiosity (and somewhat related), do you think a stage taken from 1080 (preferably Golden Forest) would be feasible in Smash, or would it be redundant due to the Summit (from Ice Climber) already being a thing?

 

[Ivander]

Out of curiosity (and somewhat related), do you think a stage taken from 1080 (preferably Golden Forest) would be feasible in Smash, or would it be redundant due to the Summit (from Ice Climber) already being a thing?

I think it might be a bit redundant because of Summit. I mean, if you did a stage based on 1080, wouldn't it somewhat be the same in terms of concept? A stage that is continually going downhill before stopping around the bottom and then being transported back to the top? Like sure, you could choose an area that is different visually from the Summit, but we are also some of the same people who complain about there being too many first world grassy areas.

 

[SPEN18]

Honestly, I'd LOVE this! At least it'd give Smash Bros. a reason to (finally) add some ACTUAL Wave Race music.

It does have a pretty addicting soundtrack.

Out of curiosity (and somewhat related), do you think a stage taken from 1080 (preferably Golden Forest) would be feasible in Smash, or would it be redundant due to the Summit (from Ice Climber) already being a thing?

I think it might be a bit redundant because of Summit. I mean, if you did a stage based on 1080, wouldn't it somewhat be the same in terms of concept? A stage that is continually going downhill before stopping around the bottom and then being transported back to the top? Like sure, you could choose an area that is different visually from the Summit, but we are also some of the same people who complain about there being too many first world grassy areas.

No, I don't think it would be redundant due to Summit. A total of (2) downhill-type stages wouldn't really be that much. But even if it was, honestly the whole downhill thing fits 1080 better than Ice Climber itself. So if we were to only have one downhill-type stage I'd actually prefer to have the 1080 one and then rework Summit, possibly into something vertically scrolling more like the actual IC game.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I think it might be a bit redundant because of Summit. I mean, if you did a stage based on 1080, wouldn't it somewhat be the same in terms of concept? A stage that is continually going downhill before stopping around the bottom and then being transported back to the top? Like sure, you could choose an area that is different visually from the Summit, but we are also some of the same people who complain about there being too many first world grassy areas.

This is why the only song i really play on that stage is the 1080 one.

 

[Sucumbio]

....and then rework Summit, possibly into something vertically scrolling more like the actual IC game.

There's one they could adapt from Brawl isn't there? It was a donkey Kong stage iirc...

 

[Opossum]

Every few years, humanity accidentally reinvents Icicle Mountain.

 

[Perkilator]

If Smash had MvC-style assist attacks, which special moves would be each character’s assist attack?

 

[SPEN18]

There's one they could adapt from Brawl isn't there? It was a donkey Kong stage iirc...

Rumble Falls? Gotta admit, that one has gotta be one of the most forgettable ones for me, couldn't tell you why

Every few years, humanity accidentally reinvents Icicle Mountain.

Oops, you got me. Totally forgot about that one. Tbh I would still prefer keeping/altering Summit or making something completely new over re-doing that one, though

 

[chocolatejr9]

Every few years, humanity accidentally reinvents Icicle Mountain.

Best Melee stage, don't @ me.

 

[SneakyLink]

Quick update: shares for Activision Blizzard have frozen, I believe the sale to MS is imminent.

Those of you wanting to put Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft on your wishlists as MS reps, it looks like it may be official soon.

 

[dream1ng]

Every few years, humanity accidentally reinvents Icicle Mountain.

This is why the aliens won't talk with us

 

[Arcanir]

So in the past there's been some criticism regarding stages representing their series and they being.. bland for lack of a better word. I've just been thinking about Joker's stage and how it may compare to say, Shadow Moses in regards to representing its game.

So for Snake we have the iconic scene where Sniper Wolf is hiding out on the Communication Tower, with its 2 story design, walls... In order to bring even more MGS tropes into the mix we have the searchlight and ! Thing, the MGRay, so yeah canonically it's kind of a mess, but it obviously was tying in as much as could make sense without being too silly...

Now onto Joker. ?? I've never played his game but are the elements of his stage equally as representing of his game or is it less so? There's the sin city esque animation, the train or whatever at the bottom, the wacky walls and platforms that show up,...

And this lead me to think about other series and representation. Look at Metroid for instance. Definitely feels like a Metroid environment. Lava seems to be the common element in at least 2 stages and the there's the very iconic stage taking place during the first boss from Prime which I love that level though I'm not sure where they got the idea to flip the stage every few.

What do you think? Does any other stages do a "good" job? Who needs improvement? What sort of things would improve stage design in general??

I'd say the aesthetic of the stages of Metroid are a mixed bag, particularly in how they're used. The lava aesthetic does fit the series, but most of them have that aesthetic and half of the stages (both in Ultimate and historically) use the acid/lava in the same way (a large hazard that rises/falls and takes over a part of the stage). It makes the stages overlap with each other and come across as bland, especially in a series like Metroid which has more varied locales that can still feel alien without being similar.

While Dread's area designs aren't that popular, I hope they avoid defaulting to Cataris and instead experiment with the other locales. Burenia in particular would be nice as it would serve as a nice underwater world that still feels alien in appearance.

 

[Perkilator]

While Dread's area designs aren't that popular, I hope they avoid defaulting to Cataris and instead experiment with the other locales. Burenia in particular would be nice as it would serve as a nice underwater world that still feels alien in appearance.

I think the Dread stage could be the white areas where you encounter EMMI, who would be a stage hazard.

 

[Ivander]

While Dread's area designs aren't that popular, I hope they avoid defaulting to Cataris and instead experiment with the other locales. Burenia in particular would be nice as it would serve as a nice underwater world that still feels alien in appearance.

I hope we get Ferenia. A underground Chozo Temple-like area with Chozo murals, Chozo statues and technology with parts of it in ruins from the initial X-Parasite infestation.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Quick update: shares for Activision Blizzard have frozen, I believe the sale to MS is imminent.

Those of you wanting to put Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft on your wishlists as MS reps, it looks like it may be official soon.

To think it may go through on Friday the 13th. I find that weirdly funny...

 

[Diddy Kong]

Nintendo was just really afraid of commitment.

They’ve matured now, and can handle adult relationships. But with Rare, it’s too late. That ship has sailed…

Well yknow Timmy, when a Nintendo exec and a Rare exec love each other very much,

We get Banjo in Smash!

I don't know where I'm going with this...

No, that was Nintendo finally making good with their Ex.

See, they lost Banjo in the divorce. But after Rare’s new partner Microsoft convinced them to give it a chance, Nintendo got to see their son again.

IDC what nobody says. This is a love story

 

[dream1ng]

No, that was Nintendo finally making good with their Ex.

See, they lost Banjo in the divorce. But after Rare’s new partner Microsoft convinced them to give it a chance, Nintendo got to see their son again.

Well they may have gotten to see their favorite child, but hopefully one day Nintendo will also get to see the more mature younger daughter who always says she's working on something though you're still waiting to see whatever the hell it is and the overlooked redhead who didn't get any attention until he became a foul-mouthed delinquent.

 

[Lionfranky]

https://x.com/tomwarren/status/1712710540504510700?s=20

Finally... it's over... Activision acquisition is finished! Time to discuss Microsoft rep like Master Chief, Crash, Doom Slayer and on...

 

[Speed Weed]

Sakurai's Youtube collab was announced. It is, indeed, with Game Center CX. Sakurai's gonna be playing games with Arino. This rules