Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Soy_Man]

The director did the Maze Runner trilogy. He's also doing the new Planet of the Apes. I have not seen all those movies, but I think he's competent enough for something like this. He's at least familiar with stunt-heavy, environmental stuff. And let's be real, he's basically work-for-hire here. This isn't some auteur movie.

The writer, on the other hand, is from the new Jurassic Trilogy. And Detective Pikachu. But Detective Pikachu without the Ryan Reynolds improv. So...

Yeah, I've kinda come to accept that Nintendo simply isn't in the business of making genuinely good films.

Like, how are you supposed to turn the atmosphere-driven collecting and dungeon crawling into a movie?

Zelda has never leant itself towards a movie adaptation and I don't get why there's so much demand for it to happen.

 

[Ivander]

I'm kinda worried that the Zelda movie is going to be too straight of an adaptation of the games like the Mario movie was.

Like, how are you supposed to turn the atmosphere-driven collecting and dungeon crawling into a movie?

Referencing Sidequests and somewhat collecting stuff could be done in a montage following after Link does a sidequest/helps a person with their troubles and you could do the reasoning that Link is doing a bunch of sidequests for people or treasure hunting/selling in order to get Rupees to buy some helpful equipment from some of the stores in town before departing for an area/dungeon he is preparing for.

Dungeon crawling is going to be a much harder subject, since I don't think a montage, or showing Link going through them quickly, would work as well for something like that. The only thing I could see working is if they limit the dungeons to 3, which is normal during the early game for Zeldas, like Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, etc, and split some time evenly between them and the final dungeon/battle, with intermissions and enough details for context in between.

 

[dream1ng]

Ryan was certainly one of the best parts, but the main plot itself wasn't bad(Predictable, but not bad overall) and it did have some good moments without too much of Ryan's improv, like the Mr. Mime scene and the illegal arena scene.

That ratio of good moments to total movie is generally my concern. Especially if those good moments are in large part owing to things that involve elements apart from the script.

This screenwriter's strongest moments either in Jurassic World or Pikachu generally seem to be carried by cool vfx of dinosaurs and Pokemon or a charming lead snarker. Who is that going to be? Link? Is that Link's character?

I would also look at a scene like the arena fight in DP and consider what the special effects, direction, choreography, set design, and performances bring to it as opposed to the story beats and the written dialogue. I mean, it's not a bad scene, I agree, but... it's also a pretty action heavy scene, where the spectacle does a lot of the heavy lifting.

The Mr. Mime scene, btw, was great, but 1) part of all the attention it got was because it was considered just... better than the rest of the movie, and 2), I did a quick check: that scene was, apparently, largely improvised by the three actors (Mr. Mime played by an actual mime) during rehearsals.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I'm kinda worried that the Zelda movie is going to be too straight of an adaptation of the games like the Mario movie was.

Like, how are you supposed to turn the atmosphere-driven collecting and dungeon crawling into a movie?

I just don't get why it has to be live-action. Animation does Zelda more justice, just like with Mario.

I would definitely like to see something like this come to light nowadays:

 

[DarthEnderX]

A live-action Legend of Zelda movie is currently in development:

I do not want that...

So do we just start expecting Tom Holland as Link, Anya Taylor-Joy as Zelda, and, like, Chris Pratt (he's so cool) as Ganondorf now or what

Benedict Cumberbatch as Ganon.

 

[AlRex]

The discussion has passed, it seems, but I feel like the only way to do a drastically shortened roster with reworked characters in a way that would still have the hype factor, so to speak, is to basically do a half-Nintendo, half-third party roster. Call it "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" or something like that. Then again, 1. Still all the logistical problems. 2. Seems like something different from Smash. Also, aside from doing a creation thread on it (I fall off the wagon too much with those ), I don't usually get much response when bringing this idea up, likely for reasons I already mentioned, among others.

 

[smashkirby]

The discussion has passed, it seems, but I feel like the only way to do a drastically shortened roster with reworked characters in a way that would still have the hype factor, so to speak, is to basically do a half-Nintendo, half-third party roster. Call it "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" or something like that. Then again, 1. Still all the logistical problems. 2. Seems like something different from Smash. Also, aside from doing a creation thread on it (I fall off the wagon too much with those ), I don't usually get much response when bringing this idea up, likely for reasons I already mentioned, among others.

If it makes you feel better, I would be open to Nintendo vs. whoever myself.

 

[EarlTamm]

The discussion has passed, it seems, but I feel like the only way to do a drastically shortened roster with reworked characters in a way that would still have the hype factor, so to speak, is to basically do a half-Nintendo, half-third party roster. Call it "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" or something like that. Then again, 1. Still all the logistical problems. 2. Seems like something different from Smash. Also, aside from doing a creation thread on it (I fall off the wagon too much with those ), I don't usually get much response when bringing this idea up, likely for reasons I already mentioned, among others.

If this idea was ever to be done, it has to be Nintendo vs. Capcom. Beyond Capcom being the most iconic for their company vs. company fighting games, they also just have the most potential when it comes to the franchises they own. It being vs. Capcom would bring the slight expectation of some sort of tag element, which while hypothetically possible to make, it would likely complicate the gameplay quite a bit if it were to try and stay Smash-like. Still, the combo could be a lot of fun.

 

[AlRex]

If this idea was ever to be done, it has to be Nintendo vs. Capcom. Beyond Capcom being the most iconic for their company vs. company fighting games, they also just have the most potential when it comes to the franchises they own. It being vs. Capcom would bring the slight expectation of some sort of tag element, which while hypothetically possible to make, it would likely complicate the gameplay quite a bit if it were to try and stay Smash-like. Still, the combo could be a lot of fun.

Nintendo VS CAPCOM is semi-plausible, maybe around 25% likely, figuring out the mechanics could be fun. Maybe there's different play options and everything. But what I mean by what I said is, well, this:

Spoiler

Old roster I did, but it gets the point across, pretty much.

If it makes you feel better, I would be open to Nintendo vs. whoever myself.

As in one specific company, or the wild thing I propose w/the name "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" and that roster image?

 

[Gengar84]

The discussion has passed, it seems, but I feel like the only way to do a drastically shortened roster with reworked characters in a way that would still have the hype factor, so to speak, is to basically do a half-Nintendo, half-third party roster. Call it "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" or something like that. Then again, 1. Still all the logistical problems. 2. Seems like something different from Smash. Also, aside from doing a creation thread on it (I fall off the wagon too much with those ), I don't usually get much response when bringing this idea up, likely for reasons I already mentioned, among others.

I’ve brought the idea up myself a few times here. I honestly feel like that’s one of the only ways the next Smash isn’t going to feel like a downgrade from Ultimate if they do drastically cut the roster size. At least a “Nintendo Vs.” game would give us something different and we’d get to see characters that we likely never would have seen with the current approach. It would also presumably make licensing for characters easier since they only have to deal with one other third party company.

As for companies that could make sense for a Nintendo Vs. game, here are just a few examples that have a large amount of iconic characters that could easily fill up a roster:

Microsoft
Capcom
Square-Enix
Marvel/Disney
Shonen Jump
Universal Studios

Ideally, I’d prefer if we just kept building on top of Ultimate but I acknowledge that at some point that isn’t going to be sustainable. That might not be the next game but I don’t think they can just keep adding more and more characters forever. Finally, even if I do concede that cuts will be inevitable at some point, I still don’t really like talking about them much. I have a lot more fun looking forward to what we could add instead of worrying about what we might lose.

 

[Freduardo]

All the talk about Doc made me think someone modded Doc Louis as a Little Mac echo.

Wrong Doc, my bad.

 

[Stratos]

How about an old Nintendo vs Sega rivalry? For nostalgic reasons of course, because you will definitely remember for example that Sega made Sonic to have a character to compete with Mario.

 

[Oracle Link]

Make it canon and have link be played by a 17-20 year old blondie!
Also btw i never shared this right?
But i know of a SECRET Smash Mode!
Its called Minion Smash you pick 3-7 opponents crank their lives up and use handicaps to make them one hittable than you fighjt them and beat like 20 of them!
It Helps if you design Monster Miis as enemys i pulled of like 7 diffrent zelda monsters!

 

[Garteam]

I'd be a lot more excited for a live-action studio film based on Zelda if it was produced at any other time in Hollywood's history. There's no way that studio interference won't rule the day here. My guess is that the film will have a "collect the macguffins to engage in a CGI fight with the bad guy" plot (which I guess does fit Zelda better than most IPs but is still incredibly bland), massive tonal issues, an absence of any real arc for the protagonist, and thematic messaging that has all of the grace of the Skull Hammer. Basically, Marvel's The Legend of Zelda. Then again, Sony was able to put out two solid Spider-Man movies this year and heavy supervision from Nintendo made The Super Mario Bros Movie pretty decent, so there's some hope. I've still been conditioned to keep expectations low for franchise films and this isn't any exception.

I also don't think this will tilt the needle in terms of Zelda's Smash representation in any meaningful way. Ignoring any timing issues with when the film releases, I can't see any serious Smash candidate from the games having a major role in the film beyond the Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf trifecta. The only exception is if they choose to use Skull Kid as the villain and save Ganondorf for a sequel or if Impa has a notably active, but I still think the latter is generally too inconsistent in both the frequency and role of her appearances to justify a Smash appearance.

 

[Gengar84]

All the talk about Doc made me think someone modded Doc Louis as a Little Mac echo.

Wrong Doc, my bad.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

Well you were right about that point at least.

 

[Quillion]

If this idea was ever to be done, it has to be Nintendo vs. Capcom. Beyond Capcom being the most iconic for their company vs. company fighting games, they also just have the most potential when it comes to the franchises they own. It being vs. Capcom would bring the slight expectation of some sort of tag element, which while hypothetically possible to make, it would likely complicate the gameplay quite a bit if it were to try and stay Smash-like. Still, the combo could be a lot of fun.

I prefer that game being a separate entity in the MvC paradigm rather than a knockback platform fighter.

Still, the game could work as a "new direction" for Smash. And I do want a good tag mechanic for Squads mode.

 

[Opossum]

Honestly the funniest part about using the writing credit on Detective Pikachu to bolster the film is twofold.

1. He co-wrote the screenplay with two other people, so it wasn't a solo writing job, and...

2. As someone who enjoyed Detective Pikachu...the screenplay was by far the worst part of the movie. The movie's strengths were the CG for the Pokémon, the world design, the action scenes, the Mr. Mime scene, and the bits that were improv'd by Ryan Reynolds. The actual dialogue beyond those times was...well, it ranged from passable to not great. So this really isn't the slam dunk for the Zelda movie that some people act like it is.

 

[Stratos]

With Shigeru Miyamoto as the producer of The Legend of Zelda live-action movie, I can say that the movie is guaranteed to be good.

 

[Oracle Link]

So im only doing this once and ONLY because people here talk about the zelda movie but
I made a zelda gmod comic there are 2 chapters and if you want you can tell your own stories in that series:
Zelda The Quest for the Triforce
Also i somehow wanna see an animated link in the movie! Maybe in the credits?

 

[Speed Weed]

How about an old Nintendo vs Sega rivalry? For nostalgic reasons of course, because you will definitely remember for example that Sega made Sonic to have a character to compete with Mario.

Honestly, I know the discussion is about Nintendo matchups, but if we had to have a company crossing over with SEGA, I think Capcom would be a far better choice. Both were huge names and contemporaries on the Japanese arcade scene, both have similarly crazy and colorful casts of characters, they have plenty of properties that have thematic parallels, influenced each other or have characters that bounce off of each other much more effectively (Sonic = Mega Man, Street Fighter = Virtua Fighter, PSO influenced Monster Hunter, and so on), I just feel like the synergy and chemistry there would be a lot stronger than a matchup that, to me, just feels like catering to a played-out rivalry that doesn't have much relevance beyond each company's core mascots and one console generation.

Namco would be a good pick too

 

[DarthEnderX]

Honestly, I know the discussion is about Nintendo matchups, but if we had to have a company crossing over with SEGA, I think Capcom would be a far better choice. Both were huge names and contemporaries on the Japanese arcade scene, both have similarly crazy and colorful casts of characters, they have plenty of properties that have thematic parallels, influenced each other or have characters that bounce off of each other much more effectively (Sonic = Mega Man, Street Fighter = Virtua Fighter, PSO influenced Monster Hunter, and so on), I just feel like the synergy and chemistry there would be a lot stronger than a matchup that, to me, just feels like catering to a played-out rivalry that doesn't have much relevance beyond each company's core mascots and one console generation.

Namco would be a good pick too

Might as well just make a Project X Zone fighting game at that point.

 

[Speed Weed]

Might as well just make a Project X Zone fighting game at that point.

You say that like that's a bad thing

 

[Stratos]

If they are referring to a Metroid movie in the future and intend to make it then it would definitely be fitting that it be a live-action movie.

 

[Noipoi]

You say that like that's a bad thing

They’d really need someone like Genndy Tartakovsky if they wanted it animated.

 

[HyperSomari64]

Might as well just make a Project X Zone fighting game at that point.

And still it will not have cartoon characters.

 

[Louie G.]

Honestly, the most exciting thing about a hypothetical Nintendo vs Capcom for me would be the novelty of Nintendo characters in a traditional fighting game setting. Certain characters are such no brainers in their implementation - Captain Falcon, Ganondorf - where I'd just love to see it in action and then with other more unconventional, gimmicky choices like Kirby I'm just super curious how they decide to approach it.

Capcom does love their transformation style attacks, so maybe they'd go the extra mile like Smash does with copy abilities. I suspect Smash has games like Darkstalkers to thank for such an abstract mechanic in a fighting game to begin with.

And then of course, some character choices that never got their due in Smash but I can see being compelling to Capcom. Lip and Saki come to mind, although maybe my mind is stuck in MVC2 / 90s Capcom But I do think a different style of fighting game would be a good opportunity to go for more eccentric and unexplored options. Don't wanna derail too hard because I'm sure there are other threads abt this but it would definitely be a dream come true.

I mean come on, who wouldn't love to see Captain Falcon and Captain Commando meet?

 

[DarthEnderX]

You say that like that's a bad thing

It wasn't meant to be.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Impa will be in the Zelda movie and will solidify her presence in the next few Zelda games fully.

Am just not sure if it's gonna be an old or a young warrior version...

 

[fogbadge]

Impa will be in the Zelda movie and will solidify her presence in the next few Zelda games fully.

Am just not sure if it's gonna be an old or a young warrior version...

it’ll be a cringe movie version

 

[EarlTamm]

I mean come on, who wouldn't love to see Captain Falcon and Captain Commando meet?

Honestly, there is probably a lot of fun Nintendo vs. Capcom character combos that they could maybe lean into. I would love to see Nintendo characters fighting the Capcom cast in the style of the MvC3 trailers.

Combos that come to mind are Mario vs. Ryu, Link vs. Dante, Kirby vs. Megaman, Samus vs. any Residen Evil protag, and Pit vs. Morrigan.

 

[SPEN18]

Impa will be in the Zelda movie and will solidify her presence in the next few Zelda games fully.

Am just not sure if it's gonna be an old or a young warrior version...

I also do expect her to be in the movie in some form, too. Similarly idk whether to expect old or young Impa; probably depends on the needs of the plot (assuming there is a plot).
Maybe it could be both old and young Impa if time travel is a key component, and the Zelda team does have a propensity for time shenanigans as a theme, although the thought of them attempting a time travel plot really concerns me...
Or maybe it's old Impa in the present and we see a flashback of young Impa at some point, idk.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

They will make a girl boss Impa that will annoy people by being a girlboss

 

[Garteam]

I think Nintendo is too controlling of their IPs to allow a Western studio to make their Zelda movie about Impa gaslighting, gatekeeping, and girlbossing as the de facto protagonist. Link is too profitable of a character for Nintendo not to push him and Furukawa has been pretty open that the purpose of expanding the licensing of Nintendo's IPs is to increase brand recognition. My guess is that Impa will be in a role relatively similar to the one she holds in the games; she'll be an exposition machine as an old woman or Zelda's retainer that primarily acts off-screen and delivers exposition on screen. I do imagine Zelda herself will have a much greater role in the film than the games in the interest of having a prominent female character, though.

My guess is that the Zelda movie will stumble at the narrative elements that modern, live-action blockbusters generally struggle with that Miyamoto or some other Nintendo representative can't course correct by just saying "make it like the games". Stuff like including engaging character arcs, managing tone, making sure comic relief isn't intrusive, and keeping themes subtle enough that you don't feel constantly bombarded with the writer's opinion will be a real challenge because studios don't seem to understand that these are the sort of things that make modern movies fall flat with general audiences nowadays.

The issue probably isn't going to be that Link isn't the protagonist, the more likely problem is that something mildly fantastical will happen and Link and/or Zelda will roll their eyes and say "Um, THAT just happened" in a vain attempt to appear self-aware.

 

[smashkirby]

As in one specific company, or the wild thing I propose w/the name "Nintendo VS Everyone Else" and that roster image?

Well, moreso that I think that, similar to Capcom, Nintendo could go up against nearly any company and it wouldn't feel too odd.

How about an old Nintendo vs Sega rivalry? For nostalgic reasons of course, because you will definitely remember for example that Sega made Sonic to have a character to compete with Mario.

Oh, I'd LOVE this! Mario, Sonic, Link, Arle, Kirby, AiAi, Pikachu, Beat... fun would be infinite here!

Honestly, the most exciting thing about a hypothetical Nintendo vs Capcom for me would be the novelty of Nintendo characters in a traditional fighting game setting. Certain characters are such no brainers in their implementation - Captain Falcon, Ganondorf - where I'd just love to see it in action and then with other more unconventional, gimmicky choices like Kirby I'm just super curious how they decide to approach it.

Capcom does love their transformation style attacks, so maybe they'd go the extra mile like Smash does with copy abilities. I suspect Smash has games like Darkstalkers to thank for such an abstract mechanic in a fighting game to begin with.

And then of course, some character choices that never got their due in Smash but I can see being compelling to Capcom. Lip and Saki come to mind, although maybe my mind is stuck in MVC2 / 90s Capcom But I do think a different style of fighting game would be a good opportunity to go for more eccentric and unexplored options. Don't wanna derail too hard because I'm sure there are other threads abt this but it would definitely be a dream come true.

I mean come on, who wouldn't love to see Captain Falcon and Captain Commando meet?

Ngl, THAT'S one of the big reasons I'd love Nintendo vs. Capcom to happen. As you've said, characters like Lip and Saki don't seem likely for Smash Bros. anytime, so maybe a VS. game would be their next best bet (provided they relegate characters like them to be Assist Characters like the ones in MvC1...)

Honestly, there is probably a lot of fun Nintendo vs. Capcom character combos that they could maybe lean into. I would love to see Nintendo characters fighting the Capcom cast in the style of the MvC3 trailers.

Combos that come to mind are Mario vs. Ryu, Link vs. Dante, Kirby vs. Megaman, Samus vs. any Residen Evil protag, and Pit vs. Morrigan.

You know, I just remembered... wasn't Yoshinori Ono into the idea of Nintendo vs. Capcom pretty heavily? I know he doesn't work at Capcom anymore, but still.

 

[HyperSomari64]

You know, I just remembered... wasn't Yoshinori Ono into the idea of Nintendo vs. Capcom pretty heavily? I know he doesn't work at Capcom anymore, but still.

I remember something similar, hearing someone else that worked at Capcom jokingly expressing his illusion for a Kellogg's vs. Capcom.
And i'm on that camp unironically.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I could never get into the idea of Nintendo vs. Capcom. Just seeing Mega Man in Smash Bros was good enough for me.

SEGA, however, makes sense for both companies.

 

[dream1ng]

I would like a Nintendo vs. Capcom because... I'm a fan of Nintendo properties and vs. Capcom games.

I'm a fan of more Nintendo properties than Sega properties. But I wouldn't turn down a Sega vs. Capcom either because... why would I?

 

[Sucumbio]

Nintendo vs EA this is how we get Mario fighting Luke Skywalker.

 

[Speed Weed]

It's time to bring back the classic

 

[toonito]

i'm not really a fan of the Nintendo vs.... idea because it limits reps to only two companies. I prefer many companies coming together in Smash.