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Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

DarthEnderX

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Regardless of whether this news is actually related to Smash, it would make sense for development on Smash to be kicking off around now, that is, if they want to release the next game within the first 2 years or so of the next system's launch.
It would make sense for development on Smash to have kicked off, like, 2 years ago.

Releasing Smash in the first year of the Switch was a brilliant move. And one they should aim for again.

Hell, Smash and Mario Kart should be launch titles for any new console, that go on to get DLC support for the life of the console.

I really think it might be better for Smash to start coming out later in a system's life than earlier, after seeing how releasing within the first 2 years affected Melee and Ultimate.
How was Ultimate's release a negative for it?
 
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Louie G.

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Right? Its always been weird to me that the Smash game of any given console celebrates the previous console more than the console it was made for.

Ultimate mitigates this a bit with it's DLC sure, but still.
That's why it feels like we're kind of in a weird spot - I don't think it would influence when the next game is produced, but we already got dealt a pretty solid lineup of "Switch characters" through DLC. There are only a few currently present series that I think feel like they've fallen behind a bit due to further development: Animal Crossing, Splatoon, Pokemon mostly. Particularly the latter two, but AC is a bigger ticket item than ever after New Horizons.

Which is to say I feel like Min Min, Pyra / Mythra and to a lesser extent Byleth are pretty safe to return. Whatever new blood Ultimate has introduced is probably a valuable asset to keep around to make sure the roster feels fresh. (I only single out Byleth because Pokemon / FE are probably gonna have to go through the most drastic vetting process next game.)

Switch IPs also include Ring Fit and Astral Chain, but Nintendo really didn't put too much into making brand new hit IPs as much as they did expand on their existing properties and make them into household names. It'll be interesting to see how that manifests itself on a future roster, outside of giving AC and Splatoon its remaining key players. Probably just a lot of really dope new stages - that was sorely missed in the base Ultimate roster.
 
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RodNutTakin

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Right? Its always been weird to me that the Smash game of any given console celebrates the previous console more than the console it was made for.

Ultimate mitigates this a bit with it's DLC sure, but still.
It's not that aspect I'm necessarily focusing on here, more that I feel that both of those games had to make noticable sacrifices to come out so early. Brawl would've been somewhat of a similar case had it not been delayed to early '08, I feel.
How was Ultimate's release a negative for it?
I feel that Ultimate coming out so early is what left the game without much side content to chew on if you didn't care for World of Light. Remember, Stage Builder and Home Run Contest weren't in the game on release day. I'd wager this also affected the base game newcomer count, too, and I imagine that both of these wouldn't be much of an issue had the game gotten one more year of development before release IMO.
 

SPEN18

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I have voiced this opinion multiple times, but honestly I really think it might be better for Smash to start coming out later in a system's life than earlier, after seeing how releasing within the first 2 years affected Melee and Ultimate. Heck, they probably could've gotten away with Brawl being a 2009 game since Mario Kart Wii was already a big enough game for 2008.
Honestly I'd also love for them to be able to take their time with Smash and would be fine with them putting it out later in the system's lifecycle.
But history shows that Nintendo wants Smash out early to help sell consoles, and there's probably not much way around that.

Of course, it would probably make even more sense for development to start as soon as now if they were planning on deliberately taking longer on it, though I don't think that's what's happening here.

It would make sense for development on Smash to have kicked off, like, 2 years ago.
But we know that it didn't. Also Ult wasn't technically in the first year of the Switch, over a year and a half in.
 
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Ivander

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Looks like Bandai Namco has set up a dedicated studio for their collaborations with Nintendo


This studio is hiring for a 2d and a 3d action game and they clarify how it is specifically commissioned by Nintendo
Well, this will be interesting to speculate. But that aside, while other companies doing games for Nintendo is cool and all, remember when Nintendo made games for other companies?

It's still bizarre learning that the first 3 games that Nintendo Software Technology first made for Nintendo and that Nintendo themselves published were actually games for IPs from 3 other companies. They wouldn't be the last games(Project X Zone 1 and 2 were done by Monolith Soft after they were bought by Nintendo, and then there's some of that case with Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes), but imagine how wild it would be today if one day, Nintendo announced one of their own big developers were making a title for a big IP from another company.
 

RodNutTakin

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Honestly I'd also love for them to be able to take their time with Smash and would be fine with them putting it out later in the system's lifecycle.
But history shows that Nintendo wants Smash out early to help sell consoles, and there's probably not much way around that.

Of course, it would probably make even more sense for development to start as soon as now if they were planning on deliberately taking longer on it, though I don't think that's what's happening here.
My main holdup is that they don't need to have it out early when Mario Kart already fulfills that purpose rather well on its own. 8 Deluxe sold gangbusters for the Switch, and I couldn't see any harm in letting Mario Kart 9/X frontline the next system right away while Nintendo lets the next Smash bake in the oven for longer than they've done previously.
 

toonito

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RE: Namco job listings

my speculation below:

I wonder if Sakurai drafts the project plan for a Smash game first before the development team is assembled or vice versa (assuming he hasnt submitted one yet)

if the project plan is drafted first for the alleged Smash 6 job listings then the base roster characters have likely already been decided.

say sakurai hasnt drafted the plan yet but does so next year then we may be potentially looking at Smash 6 in 2026 or 2027. (Im using Ultimate's project plan timeline which we know was completed in december 2016 and ultimate was released 2 years later)

Switch 2 allegedly is to be announced next year to be released in 2024 or 2025. The alleged timing between Nintendo's new console and a Smash 6 seems consistent with past console and game releases.
 

Gorgonzales

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i am assuming the namco thing is for the next smash so i have to kick myself into gear and make videos and artwork detailing why Olimar deserves to have his actual personality and emotions in Smash

wouldn't want these japanese game developers on the other end of the planet who speak a completely different language than me to get too far into development without taking my insignificant thoughts into consideration now would we
 

DarthEnderX

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Given Sakurai's post-DLC comments I think it's pretty safe to assume that did not happen.
Unless he either A. Isn't working on it himself. Or B. Isn't allowed to talk about it.

Both are possible.

i am assuming the namco thing is for the next smash so i have to kick myself into gear and make videos and artwork detailing why Olimar deserves to have his actual personality and emotions in Smash
I can just point to my old wishlist video and say "You can ignore #5."
 
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Arcanir

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I feel that Ultimate coming out so early is what left the game without much side content to chew on if you didn't care for World of Light. Remember, Stage Builder and Home Run Contest weren't in the game on release day. I'd wager this also affected the base game newcomer count, too, and I imagine that both of these wouldn't be much of an issue had the game gotten one more year of development before release IMO.
I feel this is more a consequence of the game's focus then when it came out. In the recent video Sakurai put out about Ultimate he said the amount of legacy content that the game required took away from things like an SSE-esque mode or trophies, and the same is (probably) true for newcomers. I doubt the increased time between releases would've changed that drastically, it was always going to be a sacrifice we had to make for Ultimate to be the game it was.
 
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fogbadge

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i am assuming the namco thing is for the next smash so i have to kick myself into gear and make videos and artwork detailing why Olimar deserves to have his actual personality and emotions in Smash
do you have any idea how they should do this?
 

Opossum

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And Bowser and the Kongs having stock animal and monster noises instead of their actual voices.
At least in those cases it's just a case of being outdated, since those voices were more in line with earlier depictions of the characters (hell, outside of Smash, DK made realistic gorilla noises as late as Mario Party 4).

With Olimar, and Isabelle by extension, there's really like...no reason for it. Pikmin 2 had already established Olimar's voice by the time he was added to Brawl. And any argument about it being due to Olimar and Isabelle's voices being heavily synthesized gets debunked pretty quickly when you realize the Inklings DID get their voices.

It's just weird all around.
 

Gorgonzales

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do you have any idea how they should do this?
There's obvious changes to be made, like giving him his voice and making him able to properly emote (his eyes tilt downward when frustrated or angry, upward when disappointed or worried, etc). There's also a lot more subtle things you could do to his animations to make him less of a bumbling astronaut and more... Olimar. For example, his current idle animations would be perfect to have on Louie since they're better fitting for him, but on Olimar they don't really convey much of anything. I'd make his idle animations convey more of his personality, like him looking ahead for potential dangers for one, and him doing some stretches for the other. A lot of animations could be made more distinct from one another like f-smash from side-b from grab, which are all currently very similar; at this point, changing them would be a QoL feature.

Give him this victory animation too, instead of the absolute handful of nothing his current victory animations are.



In my opinion they should have a complete overhaul of his moveset (right now it incentivizes the killing of Pikmin / using them as meat shields instead of their preservation which is just.... so backwards to what Pikmin is as a concept), but if we had to build off Ultimate then these changes are the absolute least I would want.

I have a whole moveset rework for him drafted, I just need to make art for it. Easier said than done, but it'll be more than worth it in the end becuase I'll know that at the very least I did my part.
 
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fogbadge

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There's obvious changes to be made, like giving him his voice and making him able to properly emote (his eyes tilt downward when frustrated or angry, upward when disappointed or worried, etc). There's also a lot more subtle things you could do to his animations to make him less of a bumbling astronaut and more... Olimar. For example, his current idle animations would be perfect to have on Louie since they're better fitting for him, but on Olimar they don't really convey much of anything. I'd make his idle animations convey more of his personality, like him looking ahead for potential dangers for one, and him doing some stretches for the other. A lot of animations could be made more distinct from one another like f-smash from side-b from grab, which are all currently very similar; at this point, changing them would be a QoL feature.

Give him this victory animation too, instead of the absolute handful of nothing his current victory animations are.



In my opinion they should have a complete overhaul of his moveset (right now it incentivizes the killing of Pikmin / using them as meat shields instead of their preservation which is just.... so backwards to what Pikmin is as a concept), but if we had to build off Ultimate then these changes are the absolute least I would want.

I have a whole moveset rework for him drafted, I just need to make art for it. Easier said than done, but it'll be more than worth it in the end becuase I'll know that at the very least I did my part.
that would be a good victory pose. certainly a few characters who could use a victory pose update
 

Gorgonzales

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Yeah, I’d love to see Diddy Kong’s boombox victory animation from DKC2 with his own custom victory theme. I’d like to see the same for Dixie with her electric guitar if she makes it in.
On that note, I feel that there's been a notable shift in how victory themes are composed since Brawl. Earlier victory themes usually went for a softer, more orchestral arrangement, while newer victory themes are more energetic and bombastic.

These old victory themes, while some of them are nice, I feel have overstayed their welcome and just don't fit Smash's current tone. Especially DK's, because I really feel that it's too peaceful of a theme for a giant, powerful ape winning. I'd much rather it be something like this next game:


Oh, and give Bowser and the DK crew their actual voices. If you ask me, the animal grunts are an ancient relic from this series's early days that should have been dropped since Smash 4.
 

Gengar84

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On that note, I feel that there's been a notable shift in how victory themes are composed since Brawl. Earlier victory themes usually went for a softer, more orchestral arrangement, while newer victory themes are more energetic and bombastic.

These old victory themes, while some of them are nice, I feel have overstayed their welcome and just don't fit Smash's current tone. Especially DK's, because I really feel that it's too peaceful of a theme for a giant, powerful ape winning. I'd much rather it be something like this next game:


Oh, and give Bowser and the DK crew their actual voices. If you ask me, the animal grunts are an ancient relic from this series's early days that should have been dropped since Smash 4.
Yeah, I think that works really well for a general DK series victory theme. For the specific victory animations, it would be cool if they replaced that theme with these:

 

fogbadge

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Oh, and give Bowser and the DK crew their actual voices. If you ask me, the animal grunts are an ancient relic from this series's early days that should have been dropped since Smash 4.
agreed

on the subject of victory poses Mario’s the main one is like reworked. ideally I’d like him grabbing the flagpole and sliding down it while waving his hat but that’s probably too elaborate. so just combine his side and up taunts
 

Opossum

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There's obvious changes to be made, like giving him his voice and making him able to properly emote (his eyes tilt downward when frustrated or angry, upward when disappointed or worried, etc). There's also a lot more subtle things you could do to his animations to make him less of a bumbling astronaut and more... Olimar. For example, his current idle animations would be perfect to have on Louie since they're better fitting for him, but on Olimar they don't really convey much of anything. I'd make his idle animations convey more of his personality, like him looking ahead for potential dangers for one, and him doing some stretches for the other. A lot of animations could be made more distinct from one another like f-smash from side-b from grab, which are all currently very similar; at this point, changing them would be a QoL feature.

Give him this victory animation too, instead of the absolute handful of nothing his current victory animations are.



In my opinion they should have a complete overhaul of his moveset (right now it incentivizes the killing of Pikmin / using them as meat shields instead of their preservation which is just.... so backwards to what Pikmin is as a concept), but if we had to build off Ultimate then these changes are the absolute least I would want.

I have a whole moveset rework for him drafted, I just need to make art for it. Easier said than done, but it'll be more than worth it in the end becuase I'll know that at the very least I did my part.
Honestly yeah, the biggest thing (besides the lack of voice) that I'd like to see change about Olimar is the fact that the Pikmin are, by nature, disposable. And honestly, I think you could do this with a single change.

Make it so flowering is no longer just an aesthetic thing.

When you use Pikmin Order when you have at least one flowered Pikmin, they get the Ultra Spicy Spray applied to them, giving them significantly more speed and attack power, and much better frame data. When Olimar does his pummel and throws while all three Pikmin are sprayed, they swarm the foe for significantly more damage than they normally do.

It's a simple change that immediately incentivizes keeping your Pikmin alive.
 

RileyXY1

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On that note, I feel that there's been a notable shift in how victory themes are composed since Brawl. Earlier victory themes usually went for a softer, more orchestral arrangement, while newer victory themes are more energetic and bombastic.

These old victory themes, while some of them are nice, I feel have overstayed their welcome and just don't fit Smash's current tone. Especially DK's, because I really feel that it's too peaceful of a theme for a giant, powerful ape winning. I'd much rather it be something like this next game:


Oh, and give Bowser and the DK crew their actual voices. If you ask me, the animal grunts are an ancient relic from this series's early days that should have been dropped since Smash 4.
And for Bowser and DK specifically it makes it feel more like you're playing Godzilla and King Kong respectively instead of Bowser and Donkey Kong.
 

RileyXY1

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More like Gamera and King Kong. I like to think that King K. Rool is Godzilla.
I liken Bowser moreso to Godzilla, especially considering that Melee had an event match that referenced Godzilla vs. Kong that notably featured the player playing as Bowser as the Godzilla stand in and the opponent being DK to serve as a stand in for King Kong. It also took place on Fourside, referencing that those big fight scenes in monster movies often take place in large urban areas.
 

CannonStreak

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I liken Bowser moreso to Godzilla, especially considering that Melee had an event match that referenced Godzilla vs. Kong that notably featured the player playing as Bowser as the Godzilla stand in and the opponent being DK to serve as a stand in for King Kong. It also took place on Fourside, referencing that those big fight scenes in monster movies often take place in large urban areas.
Yeah, I know. Still, King K. Rool was not playable in Melee, and though K. Rool may not have atomic breath, let alone fire breath like Bowser, he looks more like a lizard or whatever like Godzilla while Bowser is more of a turtle like Gamera. Hence why I thought that way.
 

Hadokeyblade

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On that note, I feel that there's been a notable shift in how victory themes are composed since Brawl. Earlier victory themes usually went for a softer, more orchestral arrangement, while newer victory themes are more energetic and bombastic.

These old victory themes, while some of them are nice, I feel have overstayed their welcome and just don't fit Smash's current tone. Especially DK's, because I really feel that it's too peaceful of a theme for a giant, powerful ape winning. I'd much rather it be something like this next game:


Oh, and give Bowser and the DK crew their actual voices. If you ask me, the animal grunts are an ancient relic from this series's early days that should have been dropped since Smash 4.
Yes, DK should say "Banana slama!" in a taunt.
 

Louie G.

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I'd much rather it be something like this next game:
Personally I really like this one, but suggesting ANOTHER version of Jungle Hijinxs replace a unique DKC theme pre-Ultimate would have gotten you burnt at the stake LOL

It’s nice that we live in a world with K. Rool in Smash and some really fantastic new DKC arrangements. The song selection was always a sticking point and it really feels like they targeted that directly. Even some random tracks pulled directly from the games like Ice Cave Chant and Funky’s Fugue.
 
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Gengar84

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Personally I really like this one, but suggesting ANOTHER version of Jungle Hijinxs replace a unique DKC theme pre-Ultimate would have gotten you burnt at the stake LOL

It’s nice that we live in a world with K. Rool in Smash and some really fantastic new DKC arrangements. The song selection was always a sticking point and it really feels like they targeted that directly. Even some random tracks pulled directly from the games like Ice Cave Chant and Funky’s Fugue.
There’s definitely a lot more songs I want in Smash, particularly from DKC2 and Tropical Freeze but Ultimate was a big improvement overall.
 

Stratos

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The issue is whether Nintendo will make a new Donkey Kong Country game and whether they will finally release Metroid Prime 4 on the next Nintendo console and as it is known these two series are developed by Retro Studios which is one of the subsidiary companies of Nintendo, although that's for sure they will eventually.
 
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Quillion

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You know, as much as I want Bowser and DK to have their canon voices, I think this obsession with making the characters "less outdated" is misplaced and could easily lead to new changes being outdated in themselves.

Seriously, these "outdated" things are usually more iconic than the more "current" things since they at least get time to make recurrent appearances.
 

fogbadge

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You know, as much as I want Bowser and DK to have their canon voices, I think this obsession with making the characters "less outdated" is misplaced and could easily lead to new changes being outdated in themselves.

Seriously, these "outdated" things are usually more iconic than the more "current" things since they at least get time to make recurrent appearances.
would you be in favour of a healthy balance between the two?
 
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