Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[HyperSomari64]

To stop talking about cuts for one goddamn second, who's one of the more sleeper pick newcomer choices, in your opinion? For me, it's Athena Asamiya.

anyone from Hyperdimension Neptunia?

 

[Gorgonzales]

I'm totally game for Nabbit, although I wonder if he's had his big break moment like Rosalina yet. You could feasibly play any of the games he's playable in without really having to bother with him, whereas Rosalina was an unavoidable part of her debut that put her in the direct spotlight. I'd really like him to start appearing in more things, maybe becoming a spinoff staple like Rosalina quickly assimilated into, but he's been lagging behind a bit there too. It does strike me as odd that if they wanted to be pushing Nabbit harder, he probably could have slotted into that final wave of MK8D characters. I was rooting for him!

But I do wanna make it clear, he has my support. He's got a great design, and a thief character would provide some really interesting building blocks. Might have to make up a lot of stuff, but truth be told Rosalina took a lot of liberties also. All you need is one strong concept behind the character to inform a compelling moveset, in Rosalina's case it was a puppeteer kit and in Nabbit's it could be a moveset centered around thievery and deception.

That analysis of Nabbit being behind Rosalina in having that big breakout moment is interesting and I will agree that he is at a slight disadvantage. I hope he becomes a spinoff staple at some point, like you said. He's not in a bad spot, but he could definitely use more.

I absolutely agree that a deceit/thief trickster character is all you would need as a basis to create a unique design off of. Have you seen Forsburn in Rivals of Aether? He's the best example I can think of a deceitful, stealthy character in a platform fighter, with him being able to create smoke that obscures vision, clone himself to throw off his opponent (especially since the clone acts on its own and does not copy the real Forsburn's inputs), and vanish into thin air. It's such a good design and the type of character I could easily see Nabbit being in Smash.

I'd like for Nabbit to make use of Mario power-ups, since it's kind of his thing to steal them. I drafted a moveset of him where he can hold the mouth of his bag open with neutral special to catch projectiles, storing them and making Nabbit heavier but also slower. He can then use down special to "redeem" an item based on how much you caught in your bag, with a higher weight corresponding to a better item. Picturing stuff like the standard Mushroom, Fire Flower, Tanooki Leaf, and Star, although they'd obviously be weaker / work differently from their Smash item counterparts.

Side special would be a Double Cherry that clones Nabbit, but unlike Forsburn the clone actually does copy Nabbit's every move and can basically serve as a relatively safe hitbox extension, although like Forsburn the clone disappears in one hit. Up Special actually places a standee of Nabbit (from Mario Wonder) wherever Nabbit is standing (as long as he's on the ground), and using Up special again teleports him to it for a sneak attack. There's added utility in that if a clone is out, you can actually hold the button to teleport the clone instead, potentially making for some scenarios where you can fake the opponent out with it. Up and Side Special comnbined would also be unique because if you put enough space between them, I'd imagine you could have the clone go really deep offstage for a risky kill while the real Nabbit safely puppets it from the stage.

His Final Smash could use a Wonder Flower he smuggled in to create chaos all over the stage, I'd love it if it did some really goofy stuff like turn Nabbit into a Spike Ball and everyone else into defenseless Goombas. Or maybe something like Konga Beat where a musical number happens on stage and you have to follow the rhythm? As long as it's literally anything other than a cutscene (which would be an incredibly tone-deaf disservice for what the Wonder Flower does in the first place) I don't mind whatever ends up happening as it's such a versatile item.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

To stop talking about cuts for one goddamn second, who's one of the more sleeper pick newcomer choices, in your opinion? For me, it's Athena Asamiya.

While I know they're relatively low in speculative lists compared to the likes of X, Zero, or the numerous other Capcom personalities, but I honestly think EXE has a better chance (albeit an outside one) than some might think. Battle Network is quite popular in Japan and sheer amount of chips gives Smash so many options in terms of moves and attributes. Given Sakurai and company's interest in fighters feeling unique the mechanics in Battle Network could make EXE feel pretty distinct if implemented right.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

While I know they're relatively low in speculative lists compared to the likes of X, Zero, or the numerous other Capcom personalities, but I honestly think EXE has a better chance (albeit an outside one) than some might think. Battle Network is quite popular in Japan and sheer amount of chips gives Smash so many options in terms of moves and attributes. Given Sakurai and company's interest in fighters feeling unique the mechanics in Battle Network could make EXE feel pretty distinct if implemented right.

I think he's perfect for smash bros tbh.

Extremely popular, but under the radar enough that his inclusion would catch people off guard.

Maybe they could bring back his and Lan's anime VA's to record some new lines of dialogue, im pretty sure both of them are still in the business, EXE's voice even came back to reprise the role in last year's legacy collection.

 

[NintenRob]

Rosalina is a very curious case. Because she actually got into Smash Bros BEFORE becoming a staple in everything.


From a development point of view, she only had Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart. Arguably maybe 3D World which was announced and released first, but she a was a bonus character there, she was part of the project plan for Smash Wii U.


Honestly, it's kinda crazy Rosalina never leaked for Smash Bros given how early the decision to add her was. It's crazy how much spotlight she was given to begin with. I love it, because Rosalina is my favourite, but it's kinda perplexing to think about. She was on the cover to Smash 3DS

 

[CommanderZaktan]

Since we're halfway done with the 5th anniversary event, I'm going to predict the last 2.
More first party spirits: Elephant Mario, Koaridon and Miraidon, Alear, and Car Mouth Kirby
Third party spirits: Live A Live, Edge (Mario and Rabbids), and Sans

 

[Louie G.]

Rosalina is a very curious case. Because she actually got into Smash Bros BEFORE becoming a staple in everything.

You're right, I actually highlighted this some time back to convey why people are too hard on Zelda one-offs. In essence, the one major thing in Rosalina's favor when the roster was decided was her role in Super Mario Galaxy.

So then I should rephrase what I said earlier, which I mostly meant in respect to Rosalina's role in Galaxy. She is an inescapable force, the most important supporting character through the game, has a compelling story, she's someone the audience will inevitably connect with. It's a very irregular role for a Mario game. So that's what I meant when suggesting Nabbit lacks this kind of "big break", their big standout role that demands the player's attention. Rosalina was a major character once, while Nabbit has been a supporting character several times. You just need to play Galaxy once for Rosalina to leave an impression, whereas you could play Mario Wonder and kinda just not confront the fact that Nabbit is in the game at all. So I think this presents more of an uphill battle... it doesn't kill his chances outright, I would just hesitate to claim he's had a display quite on that scale.

I will say though, Rosalina did come back for MK7 after MKWii... over Waluigi, at that. I think that was the moment that really solidified that she was here to stay. The role in 3D World helped convey that further down the line but wouldn't have had any influence on Smash and really, she kinda peaked there. She hasn't had a playable role like that since and she seems to have just assimilated comfortably into the spin-off gang.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Give me more divisive additions! More Wii Fit Trainers! More Piranha Plants! More Incineroars! More Ice Climbers!

who’s that might I ask?

You could. But it'd be faster to just google it.

We honestly don't really talk about cuts all that much here

We honestly do.

You know, with the new Contra game coming out, I wonder if there'll be spirits of Bill and Lance?

And complete the SNES Mini checklist? Yes please!

 

[Oracle Link]

I do think that nintendo should really consider (plattform) Fighters for their other ip!
Having for example less Zelda Characters stings less hard if theres an alternative!
Might also be a good way to allow more mario caharcters to be cut!
Like the Mario + EU Roster is almost half of a standalone fighting game!

Than theres kirby which TECHNICALLY has his own fighting game but it shouldve really had all dreamfriends + Helpers/Allies as skins for the abilitys!

For me Fighting games biggest draw is the sandbox factor! And TBH a pure zelda fighter would be more usefull to me in that regard!
Pokemon already has pokken so thats done (also making a perfect pokemon fighting game roster for everyone is impossible)
Heck do a metroid Fighter! That way good ol Kraid can be playable (like metroid 1 Kraid) And Mother Brain or Sylux!

The Cool thing about franchise specific smashes is that
a. A Smaller roster feels more complete
b. generic Bosses and enemys can be included
c. Brand new creative stages can be done!

And if you do these game similar to smash you can port some assets into both directions!
Like Lets say the Zelda smash has 20 Character just port Midna, Skullkid and yunobo into the next smash or something!

And than after you made those games just port them to the next console and add like 5 characters + maybe 5 more via dlc!
Done

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Give me more divisive additions! More Wii Fit Trainers! More Piranha Plants! More Incineroars! More Ice Climbers!

I feel like these characters are divisive for the first couple of months, then people realize they're fun.

 

[fogbadge]

Rosalina is a very curious case. Because she actually got into Smash Bros BEFORE becoming a staple in everything.


From a development point of view, she only had Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart. Arguably maybe 3D World which was announced and released first, but she a was a bonus character there, she was part of the project plan for Smash Wii U.


Honestly, it's kinda crazy Rosalina never leaked for Smash Bros given how early the decision to add her was. It's crazy how much spotlight she was given to begin with. I love it, because Rosalina is my favourite, but it's kinda perplexing to think about. She was on the cover to Smash 3DS

You're right, I actually highlighted this some time back to convey why people are too hard on Zelda one-offs. In essence, the one major thing in Rosalina's favor when the roster was decided was her role in Super Mario Galaxy.

So then I should rephrase what I said earlier, which I mostly meant in respect to Rosalina's role in Galaxy. She is an inescapable force, the most important supporting character through the game, has a compelling story, she's someone the audience will inevitably connect with. It's a very irregular role for a Mario game. So that's what I meant when suggesting Nabbit lacks this kind of "big break", their big standout role that demands the player's attention. Rosalina was a major character once, while Nabbit has been a supporting character several times. You just need to play Galaxy once for Rosalina to leave an impression, whereas you could play Mario Wonder and kinda just not confront the fact that Nabbit is in the game at all. So I think this presents more of an uphill battle... it doesn't kill his chances outright, I would just hesitate to claim he's had a display quite on that scale.

I will say though, Rosalina did come back for MK7 after MKWii... over Waluigi, at that. I think that was the moment that really solidified that she was here to stay. The role in 3D World helped convey that further down the line but wouldn't have had any influence on Smash and really, she kinda peaked there. She hasn't had a playable role like that since and she seems to have just assimilated comfortably into the spin-off gang.

i always thought it was cause of how well galaxy did

You could. But it'd be faster to just google it.

you hadn't noticed I got my answer I take it

 

[NintenRob]

always thought it was cause of how well galaxy did

That depends on your definition of doing well. Obviously it sold well due to being Mario, but as far as Mario games go, it pales in comparison to it's 2D and racing counterpart.

Where Mario galaxy really Excelled at was it ratings, being some of the highest rated games of all time.

 

[Amornal1]

To stop talking about cuts for one goddamn second, who's one of the more sleeper pick newcomer choices, in your opinion? For me, it's Athena Asamiya.

Dovahkiin from skyrim.

 

[fogbadge]

That depends on your definition of doing well. Obviously it sold well due to being Mario, but as far as Mario games go, it pales in comparison to it's 2D and racing counterpart.

Where Mario galaxy really Excelled at was it ratings, being some of the highest rated games of all time.

hmm perhaps it is the extreme critical praise I’m remembering

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

To stop talking about cuts for one goddamn second, who's one of the more sleeper pick newcomer choices, in your opinion? For me, it's Athena Asamiya.

Staying in SNK territory I'd say Marco Rossi and the rest of his squad. Metal Slug is very popular, it feels very underestimated in Smash speculation.

 

[CannonStreak]

Staying in SNK territory I'd say Marco Rossi and the rest of his squad. Metal Slug is very popular, it feels very underestimated in Smash speculation.

I would love to see Marco in Smash, especially as a playable character.

 

[AlRex]

Dark horse candidates, hmmm... Hellboy, the Mask, Usagi Miyamoto, Barb Wire, Grendel, Concrete, errr, Katy Perry, errr, here's a real list inside of my dumb jokes.

• A Hanafuda-based character
• Sheriff or Space Firebird
• Any other Punch-Out boxer currently
• Kirby characters besides the hat Goomba
• Mike Anderson (Battle Clash)
• Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness)
• The eShop Bag or the Flipnote Frog
• Space Invaders
• An Atari character of some kind (Centipede, Yorgle, Pitfall Harry who kind of counts, Chuck E. Cheese somehow)
• Axel or Blaze (Streets of Rage)
• Segata Sanshiro
• Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers)
• Captain Commando
• Amingo (Marvel VS CAPCOM 2)
• Metal Slug crew, with or without a mechanic of switching with the tank
• Karnov
• Bella Goth (The Sims)
• Peashooter (Plants VS Zombies)
• Anyone from Valve (Half-Life, Portal, or Team Fortress 2, mainly)
• Duke Nukem
• Cooking Mama
• A Boy & His Blob
• Carmen Sandiego
• Anyone from Grand Theft Auto
• Does Fortnite count at this point?
• Some borderline hardware/software case like Clippy or Miku or even odder ones like Talking Ben

I go on for too long with these...

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

That depends on your definition of doing well. Obviously it sold well due to being Mario, but as far as Mario games go, it pales in comparison to it's 2D and racing counterpart.

Where Mario galaxy really Excelled at was it ratings, being some of the highest rated games of all time.

The real notable thing about Galaxy was that it (along with a certain DS game from a year prior) really brought Mario platformers back into conversation within gaming.

It's somewhat forgotten now, but mainline Mario releases went into a hibernation for a while, with only one new big Mario release coming out between July 1996 and April 2006. Plenty of ports on GBC/GBA and quasi rereleases like Mario 64 DS, but actual new platformers just stopped for a while. And that big notable exception was Mario Sunshine, which while a solid title, simply didn't make the kind of waves that Mario 1, 3, or 64 did. I think one could make a reasonable argument that 2003-2005 might qualify as to when the series was least relevant, with Mario increasingly defined by his spin-offs more than anything else.

The one two punch of that certain DS game that was New Super Mario Bros doing crazy sales and the big scale of Galaxy (in combination with the generally inventive level design of the latter) really brought mainline Mario back in a big way, and even during the Wii U era the series never became as inactive, with games like Super Mario Maker even demonstrating how much depth was still there.

Mario could never quite dominate the gaming landscape like he did circa 1985-1996 because the hobby has gotten so much bigger, but Galaxy played a big part in the main games being big news again.

 

[RileyXY1]

And because of how they decided to rep Terry I'm not sure if we'll ever get another SNK rep, as Terry pretty much represents the entire company, with his Spirit Board coming from all kinds of SNK games rather than sticking solely to Fatal Fury, and adding a new SNK rep would diminish this.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

And because of how they decided to rep Terry I'm not sure if we'll ever get another SNK rep, as Terry pretty much represents the entire company, with his Spirit Board coming from all kinds of SNK games rather than sticking solely to Fatal Fury, and adding a new SNK rep would diminish this.

Curiously, Metal Slug is the one SNK series to not have spirits or other cameos whatsoever.
(It has a bunch of music tracks though)

 

[Nabbitfan730]

To stop talking about cuts for one goddamn second, who's one of the more sleeper pick newcomer choices, in your opinion? For me, it's Athena Asamiya.

Jack Frost, Shadow, Shovel Knight, Riku or Roxas and the Rabbids

If they did this for something as mundane as a Super Mario 64 minigame in WarioWare, they will absolutely do it for Smash. Those Charles lines are over 15 years old now, I think they really need to be recorded as a lot of that lingering Brawl sound design is starting to get stale.

Honestly I hope they use that as a springboard to consider rerecording for other characters and maybe finally bringing in Kenny James.

Ngl, I rather have the "aging" Brawl Voice Clips than Kevin. Not a fan at all with his performance so far especially Wario's. Feels like Nintendo just got the cheapest, run-of-the-mill actor they could get to make a Mario/Luigi/Wario impression instead someone really qualified

Martinet's clips are still being used for stuff like Mario RPG and MvDK remake games so it isn't so set-in stone yet

Nabbit's a rising star and arguably in a similar position to Rosalina when she was added to Smash 4. A recurring character in mainline and spinoff Mario, he's had more than 10 years to make a name for himself and I'm thinking this next game might finally be his time, assuming they don't add Waluigi.

Surreal seeing Nabbit as candidate. Imagine him as the next joke character for Smash 6

 

[Megadoomer]

And because of how they decided to rep Terry I'm not sure if we'll ever get another SNK rep, as Terry pretty much represents the entire company, with his Spirit Board coming from all kinds of SNK games rather than sticking solely to Fatal Fury, and adding a new SNK rep would diminish this.

Considering that SNK's response to "we're sending you a list of 50 potential songs - how many can we use?" was "all of them", I sincerely doubt that they'd refuse to include any other character that they own in Smash on the grounds that Terry's music choices cover a lot of SNK games. (if anything, it seems like a sign that they're an easy company to work with)

 

[Opossum]

And because of how they decided to rep Terry I'm not sure if we'll ever get another SNK rep, as Terry pretty much represents the entire company, with his Spirit Board coming from all kinds of SNK games rather than sticking solely to Fatal Fury, and adding a new SNK rep would diminish this.

Ah yes, Terry Bogard. Famous for representing Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown.

 

[Louie G.]

Ngl, I rather have the "aging" Brawl Voice Clips than Kevin. Not a fan at all with his performance so far especially Wario's. Feels like Nintendo just got the cheapest, run-of-the-mill actor they could get to make a Mario/Luigi/Wario impression instead someone really qualified

Martinet's clips are still being used for stuff like Mario RPG and MvDK remake games so it isn't so set-in stone yet

I prefer Charles too, but I'm just trying to be realistic. Something like MvDK and TTYD already have those clips from the original game, as far as I'm aware TTYD is using the old Bowser voice too. I think any remaining Charles presence past that is kind of a remnant before they make the full transition over. By the time we get a new Smash Bros I feel like they'll have fully made that jump, and it does seem like they're at least skewing that way for brand new games like Mario Wonder, WarioWare Move It and so forth. But who knows, I guess.

And the Brawl clips aren't aging because they're bad or anything, it's just that it starts to become noticeable when these characters all have the same voice clips, victory themes etc for 15 years running now. I'd like to see this aspect revitalized across the board with a new game and unfortunately that would probably just come at the cost of Charles Martinet's role. But even if we don't see a big overhaul this seems like a fair thing to expect for Mario and co.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I feel like these characters are divisive for the first couple of months, then people realize they're fun.

Any new character can be fun. Fun is a function of gameplay.

Why settle for a character that's just fun, when I can have a character that's fun AND iconic?

Ah yes, Terry Bogard. Famous for representing Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown.

I mean, very technically, he does. Because all of those games are part of King of Fighters.

 

[Opossum]

Any new character can be fun. Fun is a function of gameplay.

Why settle for a character that's just fun, when I can have a character that's fun AND iconic?

I mean, very technically, he does. Because all of those games are part of King of Fighters.

In the broadest sense, yeah. But my issue is with the claim that adding more SNK fighters would somehow be redundant or "diminish" Terry, which is a baffling claim.

 

[DarthEnderX]

In the broadest sense, yeah. But my issue is with the claim that adding more SNK fighters would somehow be redundant or "diminish" Terry, which is a baffling claim.

Agreed.

 

[Gorgonzales]

I really hope they get another guy to do Wario. Kevin's Mario & Luigi are honestly quite good, but his Wario leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Ivander]

I really hope they get another guy to do Wario. Kevin's Mario & Luigi are honestly quite good, but his Wario leaves a lot to be desired.

Give him time and he'll get better, and quite honestly, his Wario is good. It sounds alot like Charles' early Wario, during the GameCube days with Wario World and Mario Power Tennis.

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Yeah, I didn't really miss Martinet that much while playing through Wonder, but Wario doesn't really work.

 

[Louie G.]

Kevin's Wario has moments where he pretty much gets there, but several other moments that aren't working as well for me. A lot of the time he sounds like he's just kinda doing a Wario impression that I've heard a hundred other people pull off. He lacks a certain nasally quality to Wario's voice, which Charles was able to balance well alongside the gruffness that Kevin is leaning more dominantly into. I guess he just doesn't feel uniquely qualified for this role, IMO.

Personally, I wish they didn't squeeze him into this role and allowed for other people to audition for Wario rather than very obviously cast this umbrella over all the Bros. Charles has that range (I mean, he invented it), but I'm not convinced Kevin can replicate it.

And that's fine - he shouldn't be expected to have the exact vocal capacity of Charles Martinet. Rick and Morty, as a recent example, were recast as two separate people despite once upon a time being played by a single person. And like, a lot of Mel Blanc's Looney Tunes roles over the years. This is how I think Nintendo should have handled it, but at this point there's no use in me being upset over it. It is what it is and I guess I'll have to hope his Wario further improves or just get used to it.

 

[Oracle Link]

BTW lets say you had to replace toon/ young Link with another Young/ Classic link which one would you pick?
Zelda1
Zelda 1 Chibi
Gameboy Remake style (Toy link)
Oracle Artworks
A link between Worlds

Who of those would you pick?
My choice is definitly on "toy Link"

 

[cashregister9]

Kevin's Wario reminds me a bit of Thomas Spindler's Wario and that is a good thing.

I need him to do this voice line at some point.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Kevin's Wario reminds me a bit of Thomas Spindler's Wario and that is a good thing.

I need him to do this voice line at some point.

He needs to say "so ein mist" again too.
Or even just "D'oh, I missed" to acknowledge the mondegreen since Wario speaking German doesn't fit anymore lol.

 

[Gorgonzales]

He needs to say "so ein mist" again too.
Or even just "D'oh, I missed" to acknowledge the mondegreen since Wario speaking German doesn't fit anymore lol.

I think Wario being German always nicely complimented him to the main bros' Italian roots. I still headcanon him as German.

Waluigi is probably Croatian or something

 

[HyperSomari64]

I think Wario being German always nicely complimented him to the main bros' Italian roots. I still headcanon him as German.

Waluigi is probably Croatian or something

There are M&L's French, Russian, Scandinavian, Greek and/or Hispanic doppelgangers out in the wild?

 

[Noipoi]

I think Wario being German always nicely complimented him to the main bros' Italian roots. I still headcanon him as German.

Waluigi is probably Croatian or something

Waluigi's bloodline actually traces back to Spain

 

[HyperSomari64]

Waluigi's bloodline actually traces back to Spain

Now that Animaniacs parody of Smash makes sense. (There is a DK knock-off named Jack-Ass Monkey in the episode)

 

[cashregister9]

Waluigi is clearly from one of the Slavic countries

How else could he hit a legendary squat like this?

 

[NintenRob]

Waluigi is clearly an Aussie pretending to Spanish. It comes out as Italian to some