Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Michael the Spikester]

With Xenoblade 3 announced. We have an obvious frontrunner.

Poor Rex never had his chance to be playable.

 

[Chuderz]

It's nice to see the little PR push Nintendo is giving the Mother series. It has a lot of potential as a reoccurring series. I personally think the Dragon Quest 11 S game design would fit the Mother series if it ever wanted to go into the 3D space.

Considering the weirdly close relationship Nintendo has with Toby Fox, a Mother 4 might not be as improbable as it once was. While obviously not for a long time with Deltarune and all that but still maybe someday.

 

[ALongWistfulSquiggle]

With Xenoblade 3 announced. We have an obvious frontrunner.

Poor Rex never had his chance to be playable.

Unless on a more powerful system they decide Pyra/Mythra need to be redone to incorporate him. Probably not, though.

What I would like to see is if the Xenoblade 3 rep was someone other than the monado wielder. There's a lot of cool looking options there. Maybe the paper crane guy or the chakram girl. If we get into a tradition of adding people with the same weapon archetype, Xenoblade could start getting some flak in Smash for being repetitive, and I don't want to see that.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

a Mother 4 might not be as improbable as it once was.

I thought Earthbound was pretty much a finished series?

 

[chocolatejr9]

Unless on a more powerful system they decide Pyra/Mythra need to be redone to incorporate him. Probably not, though.

What I would like to see is if the Xenoblade 3 rep was someone other than the monado wielder. There's a lot of cool looking options there. Maybe the paper crane guy or the chakram girl. If we get into a tradition of adding people with the same weapon archetype, Xenoblade could start getting some flak in Smash for being repetitive, and I don't want to see that.

Eh, Xenoblade was getting flak just for adding Pyra. Pretty hypocritical, not gonna lie. As for Rex, while I AM a realist, I'm also a bit of an optimist: never say never, weirder things have happened.

Also, for future reference, the XC3 protagonists are named Noah and Mio. Need to get that out of the way.

 

[Lamperouge]

With Xenoblade 3 announced. We have an obvious frontrunner.

Poor Rex never had his chance to be playable.

Don't forget Elma.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Don't forget Elma.

What's an Elma?

(I feel bad for making that joke...)

 

[Wonder Smash]

And the collaboration history between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo continues to grow...as well as the mystery surrounding the lack of any playable Koei Tecmo character in Smash Ultimate.

 

[Ivander]

Am pretty sure the Xenoblade 3 protagonist will be playable in the new Smash. It's almost a given. Happy how much this franchise has grown.

With Xenoblade 3 announced. We have an obvious frontrunner.

Fans: "Can we have Yuri Lowell for Smash Bros.?"

Nintendo: "We have Yuri Lowell at home."

 

[Megadoomer]

It's nice to see the little PR push Nintendo is giving the Mother series. It has a lot of potential as a reoccurring series. I personally think the Dragon Quest 11 S game design would fit the Mother series if it ever wanted to go into the 3D space.

Considering the weirdly close relationship Nintendo has with Toby Fox, a Mother 4 might not be as improbable as it once was. While obviously not for a long time with Deltarune and all that but still maybe someday.

Overused reference aside, I'm glad to see that Earthbound's getting something - the absence of Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings on the Switch Online was just weird, considering that (unlike Chrono Trigger, the Final Fantasy games, or even Super Mario RPG), it's (to my knowledge) fully owned by Nintendo. (or at the very least, along the lines of Pokemon or Fire Emblem)

Plus, it will help introduce Earthbound to a wider audience, since I think the only re-releases before this were on the Wii U or New 3DS. (I had a Wii U, but I didn't see the point in upgrading to the New 3DS since I already had a 3DS)

 

[ALongWistfulSquiggle]

Fans: "Can we have Yuri Lowell for Smash Bros.?"

Nintendo: "We have Yuri Lowell at home."

Noah's outfit actually reminds me of Lloyd Irving's. They both have the red collared jacket, black pants, and double belt for the sword. The red lighting on the boot helps, too.

So Yuri at home cosplaying as Lloyd.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Overused reference aside, I'm glad to see that Earthbound's getting something - the absence of Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings on the Switch Online was just weird, considering that (unlike Chrono Trigger, the Final Fantasy games, or even Super Mario RPG), it's (to my knowledge) fully owned by Nintendo. (or at the very least, along the lines of Pokemon or Fire Emblem)

I was about to comment it's apparently co-owned with Shigesato Itoi, but then I saw your edit...

 

[Ivander]

Noah's outfit actually reminds me of Lloyd Irving's. They both have the red collared jacket, black pants, and double belt for the sword. The red lighting on the boot helps, too.

So Yuri at home cosplaying as Lloyd.

I sorta see it, but otherwise, it looks much more normal compared to Lloyd's outfit. Lloyd's outfit is just bizarre. Like, it's trying to decide whether it's akin more to a normal shirt-like outfit or a jacket-like outfit, but looks bizarrely irregular.

Noah's design looks like Yuri Lowell who got Shulk's vest and added sleeves to it. But because it's still looks noticeable that it's a jacket over a shirt, it looks much more normal compared to Lloyd's outfit.

 

[Yamat08]

Fair, but Radical Dreamers is not really canon so I did not count it. It was at best a super rough early pitch for the story.

Canon to what? A single entry in a series that had never been touched on again since (DS Chrono Trigger port aside)? I brought up Radical Dreamers because its inclusion with the Chrono Cross remaster makes it somewhat relevant again. Keep in mind that it was an SNES download title, it could've easily been left to be erased by history if they felt like it.

Plus, it will help introduce Earthbound to a wider audience, since I think the only re-releases before this were on the Wii U or New 3DS. (I had a Wii U, but I didn't see the point in upgrading to the New 3DS since I already had a 3DS)

Both the first two games were also on the GBA...... in Japan-only. Mother 3 wasn't the only instance of the series getting screwed in the west back in the day.

 

[Delzethin]

So. Xenoblade 3 has two protagonists with equal billing.

Does this mean the fandom will be split between Noah and Mio for Smash 6?

 

[PeridotGX]

It's nice to see the little PR push Nintendo is giving the Mother series. It has a lot of potential as a reoccurring series. I personally think the Dragon Quest 11 S game design would fit the Mother series if it ever wanted to go into the 3D space.

Considering the weirdly close relationship Nintendo has with Toby Fox, a Mother 4 might not be as improbable as it once was. While obviously not for a long time with Deltarune and all that but still maybe someday.

Would Toby want to make a Mother game? Considering how both of his games deal with meta aspects of gaming (Undertale's morality and Deltarune's relation between player and character), would he be intrested in doing a "vanilla" game? Or perhaps the meta aspect could be exploring what a rebooted series without the original creator means?

 

[Isaac: Venus Adept]

So. Xenoblade 3 has two protagonists with equal billing.

Does this mean the fandom will be split between Noah and Mio for Smash 6?

Watch one of them be an assist trophy or something lol but Noah looks like he's the main character

 

[chocolatejr9]

Would Toby want to make a Mother game? Considering how both of his games deal with meta aspects of gaming (Undertale's morality and Deltarune's relation between player and character), would he be intrested in doing a "vanilla" game? Or perhaps the meta aspect could be exploring what a rebooted series without the original creator means?

Ooh, that would be kinda interesting...

 

[cashregister9]

Fans: "Can we have Yuri Lowell for Smash Bros.?"

Nintendo: "We have Yuri Lowell at home."

To me he looks more like Rean from Trails Of Cold Steel

And he looks even more like a combination of Flynn from SMT and Tatsuya from Persona

 

[Swamp Sensei]

It's nice to see the little PR push Nintendo is giving the Mother series. It has a lot of potential as a reoccurring series. I personally think the Dragon Quest 11 S game design would fit the Mother series if it ever wanted to go into the 3D space.

Considering the weirdly close relationship Nintendo has with Toby Fox, a Mother 4 might not be as improbable as it once was. While obviously not for a long time with Deltarune and all that but still maybe someday.

Eh. Mother is done.

Not as in, its dead or unprofitable. It's just finished. The creator had a story he wanted to tell, and he's done.

If anything, I'd expect him to make something else than another Earthbound/Mother game.

 

[ZelDan]

The only ways I see Mother continuing is in Mother 1 and 2 ports like we saw today. Maybe if all the planets in the galaxy align a Mother 3 port or Mother collection with all 3 games. maybe even a remake of one of the games.

I think a "Mother 4" and such is not going to ever happen.

 

[dream1ng]

I don't know about the viability of Mother 4 hopes if we can't even get a western release of a game in the series fans have been clamoring for since it existed, whether as simply a localization or as a remake. Both options would be cheaper than an entirely new title.

 

[Novassidia]

So. Xenoblade 3 has two protagonists with equal billing.

Does this mean the fandom will be split between Noah and Mio for Smash 6?

they seem to be marketing noah more, so i think it's safe to assume he'll be the xbc3 character. i guess we'll just have to wait until we can play as both since that would be a better way to judge

 

[Slime Scholar]

Eh. Mother is done.

Not as in, its dead or unprofitable. It's just finished. The creator had a story he wanted to tell, and he's done.

If anything, I'd expect him to make something else than another Earthbound/Mother game.

Agreed. It was Itoi's series, and if he doesn't want to do anything with it, let it be.

 

[Chuderz]

I thought Earthbound was pretty much a finished series?

Eh. Mother is done.

Not as in, its dead or unprofitable. It's just finished. The creator had a story he wanted to tell, and he's done.

If anything, I'd expect him to make something else than another Earthbound/Mother game.

Agreed. It was Itoi's series, and if he doesn't want to do anything with it, let it be.

Shigesato Itoi’s Company Says That Mother 4 Is Still Open For Others To Make It

www.siliconera.com

They've seemingly always held the position that they'd (including Itoi) would be open to "others" making a hypothetical Mother 4 but I'm sure they'd want to make sure it was in the hands of someone they trusted.

I don't think it's any more fair to presume there'll never be a Mother 4 than it is to presume there'll definitely be one. These kinds of assumptions in regards to the dormancy of a beloved series are based on a pattern of inactivity that can only be negated by a new entry and that can happen in a single instance with Nintendo looking to do that sort of thing from time to time. For example both Cloud and Sora inclusion into Smash, Zelda going open world, Advance Wars coming back, Mario Kart 8 DX getting DLC after so many years, so on and so forth.

Here's Itoi himself not totally shooting down the idea of someone else making Mother 4 when confronted with it.

ITOI: The feeling of, “I want a MOTHER 4 to be released!” is inside me, too. Even if it’s not something I need to do, I still feel that way. Still, there isn’t someone for me to watch over from afar anymore. If there were a fourth game, I’d want to be the player.

Interviewer: In other words, you wouldn’t mind if someone other than yourself made it?

ITOI: Right.

He then goes on to rant about everything in life could potentially be a pseudo-Mother 4 after that affirmation but it's still there.

Shigesato Itoi Discusses MOTHER 4 « EarthBound Central

I’ve gone through that discussion between Itoi and Iwata that was in the BRUTUS magazine the other day. Here’s a rough translation of it, as usual it’s sometimes kind of hard to pin Itoi’s thoughts down into something that makes sense, but it should get his basic ideas across. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7...

earthboundcentral.com

Would Toby want to make a Mother game? Considering how both of his games deal with meta aspects of gaming (Undertale's morality and Deltarune's relation between player and character), would he be intrested in doing a "vanilla" game? Or perhaps the meta aspect could be exploring what a rebooted series without the original creator means?

I think you nailed his angle down. I'm sure with a hint of his own feelings nostalgia for a time so long past him being thrown in for good measure.

 

[Idon]

they seem to be marketing noah more, so i think it's safe to assume he'll be the xbc3 character. i guess we'll just have to wait until we can play as both since that would be a better way to judge

That's not safe at all tbh.
Remember, Sakurai (if Sakurai is still head for Smash 6) is more than willing to sidestep protagonists and go for characters of similar importance for the sake of moveset variety.

That said, I hope it's Noah.
I do love my laser swords.

 

[Slime Scholar]

They've seemingly always held the position that they'd (including Itoi) would be open to "others" making a hypothetical Mother 4 but I'm sure they'd want to make sure it was in the hands of someone they trusted.

Oh, I'm aware. But that doesn't actually mean I'd want to play a Mother game made by someone else. My interest in the series begins and ends with Itoi-- which probably reeks of auteurism, but I just don't see a point in a new entry.

 

[SPEN18]

I am satisfied with Mother being finished. They seem to do a good job rereleasing the first two and keeping the exposure up relatively well for a series of its size.

 

[DarthEnderX]

So. Xenoblade 3 has two protagonists with equal billing.

Does this mean the fandom will be split between Noah and Mio for Smash 6?

No. They'll be overwhelmingly in favor of the one that's not an anime swordsman.

 

[Chuderz]

Well I'd love to play a Mother 4 someday. I really love the series itself beyond Itoi even with my respect for his vision. Truth be told it's kind of incredible the games were actually made considering how lousy he was at game development but I think that's at least partially where some of the charm comes from.

Gonna kind of rant about Nintendo culture now so stop reading if you don't want to see it.

Anyway queue the normie Nintendolife readers/ Nintendo channels grumbling about a Mario Kart 9 they were never promised and quite frankly made absolutely no freaking sense whatsoever. Nintendo would literally be competing with their own best-selling game for seeming NO REASON. Just because some idiotic Nintendolife writer/editor or Nintendo content creator is trying to justify their paycheck by crafting some bull**** for a headline,/thumbnail doesn't mean you should rope your expectations with it. It's literally their job to cynically play upon your wants for money. They wouldn't do it if people didn't routinely and quite predictably respond to their bull**** little mind games.

I learned a long time ago that "insiders" might very well have partial information but oftentimes (almost always) they tend to run away with it to get to the conclusion that generates the most clicks and/or is the most failsafe nebulous generalized cold read that be garnered from that information. Mario Kart 9 fits that bill because if it was Mario Kart 9 then there you go, they got it right, wow the uber kuul insiders win the day on behalf of the entire Nintendo fandom, you're welcome Nintendofans. Oh wait it's not Mario Kart 9 but it's Mario Kart 8DX DLC? Well Mario Kart 9 is in active development so they're still correct and awesome of course. No ****ing **** Mario Kart 9 is in active development! It's probably been poked at by the internal Nintendo devs for the last almost 5 years here and there. They "predicted" nothing that wasn't absolutely obvious is basically what I'm trying to laboriously say and they do it to help generate clicks for websites that in turn give them the attention they need to boost their social status within the relevant circles get these pieces of information. It's a cycle of careerism producing a cynical formula crafted to optimize engagement.

Like I get it, I'm literally speculating about Mother 4 right now but Mario Kart 9 being released on the current Switch never made a lick of sense. The DLC we're getting was absolutely the way to go. Not only is it cheaper for us but it's more content right now AND it sets the bar for a sequel that much higher! It's also much easier for the devs to create. I look forward to this content very much. I'd love a few free updates to give battle mode some extra love if they would be so kind but I don't expect it. A lack of a Racers Pass is a missed opportunity for an extra $25. Would have helped fill the Smash void more so than this already does. Oh well.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Eh. Mother is done.

Not as in, its dead or unprofitable. It's just finished. The creator had a story he wanted to tell, and he's done.

If anything, I'd expect him to make something else than another Earthbound/Mother game.

Maybe a spiritual successor isn’t impossible though? Something that’s very much stated to be NOT EarthBound, but has much of the same style and spirit

 

[osby]

Maybe a spiritual successor isn’t impossible though? Something that’s very much stated to be NOT EarthBound, but has much of the same style and spirit

I mean, Earthbound-inspired indie RPGs practically became a genre on their own, with a Mother 4 fangame even becoming its own thing midway through development.

If you want spiritual successors, there are already a ton of them in the market.

 

[Gengar84]

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by how many games they want to play now? I already have a huge backlog of games I bought and need to play and I still want to try SMTV but there are so many games here that I’m interested in. I’m a huge fan of Xenoblade so that’s a must buy and I always love a good co-op Warriors game. Kirby looks great too and I’m even interested in quite a few of the ports. Even though I already own Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, the DLC is making me want to pick it up on the Switch now. I have no idea how I’m going to find the time to play all of these lol.

 

[RileyXY1]

MK8D's probably getting all this DLC in the first place because MK Tour means there's tons of track models to port. SSBU can't do this level of asset reuse.

Even though it runs on the same engine as Smash for Wii U, with a lot of stuff reused from that game.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by how many games they want to play now? I already have a huge backlog of games I bought and need to play and I still want to try SMTV but there are so many games here that I’m interested in. I’m a huge fan of Xenoblade so that’s a must buy and I always love a good co-op Warriors game. Kirby looks great too and I’m even interested in quite a few of the ports. Even though I already own Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, the DLC is making me want to pick it up on the Switch now. I have no idea how I’m going to find the time to play all of these lol.

Trust me, I have a HUGE backlog at the moment, and with all these releases, I know EXACTLY how you feel...

 

[ALongWistfulSquiggle]

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by how many games they want to play now? I already have a huge backlog of games I bought and need to play and I still want to try SMTV but there are so many games here that I’m interested in. I’m a huge fan of Xenoblade so that’s a must buy and I always love a good co-op Warriors game. Kirby looks great too and I’m even interested in quite a few of the ports. Even though I already own Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, the DLC is making me want to pick it up on the Switch now. I have no idea how I’m going to find the time to play all of these lol.

I think I will be there at the end of the year, since I don't tend to pick up a lot of games at launch. June is stacked, there are a bunch of games like the Shadowrun trilogy and Front Mission that are supposed to come out this year but don't have release dates, we're expecting Zelda probably in November, and I'm thinking that if a main Fire Emblem happens this year it might be in December. That's not to mention Xenoblade 3, which might be my end of summer game, and my backlog that I'm desperately trying to keep at a reasonable size.

 

[Gengar84]

I think I will be there at the end of the year, since I don't tend to pick up a lot of games at launch. June is stacked, there are a bunch of games like the Shadowrun trilogy and Front Mission that are supposed to come out this year but don't have release dates, we're expecting Zelda probably in November, and I'm thinking that if a main Fire Emblem happens this year it might be in December. That's not to mention Xenoblade 3, which might be my end of summer game, and my backlog that I'm desperately trying to keep at a reasonable size.

The bright side is that with all these new Switch games to play, there’s no rush to buy an X-Box or PS5 for now. I’ll be more than busy enough with just my Switch and PS4 for quite a while it seems.

 

[TCT~Phantom]

Shigesato Itoi’s Company Says That Mother 4 Is Still Open For Others To Make It

www.siliconera.com

They've seemingly always held the position that they'd (including Itoi) would be open to "others" making a hypothetical Mother 4 but I'm sure they'd want to make sure it was in the hands of someone they trusted.

I don't think it's any more fair to presume there'll never be a Mother 4 than it is to presume there'll definitely be one. These kinds of assumptions in regards to the dormancy of a beloved series are based on a pattern of inactivity that can only be negated by a new entry and that can happen in a single instance with Nintendo looking to do that sort of thing from time to time. For example both Cloud and Sora inclusion into Smash, Zelda going open world, Advance Wars coming back, Mario Kart 8 DX getting DLC after so many years, so on and so forth.

Here's Itoi himself not totally shooting down the idea of someone else making Mother 4 when confronted with it.

ITOI: The feeling of, “I want a MOTHER 4 to be released!” is inside me, too. Even if it’s not something I need to do, I still feel that way. Still, there isn’t someone for me to watch over from afar anymore. If there were a fourth game, I’d want to be the player.

Interviewer: In other words, you wouldn’t mind if someone other than yourself made it?

ITOI: Right.

He then goes on to rant about everything in life could potentially be a pseudo-Mother 4 after that affirmation but it's still there.

Shigesato Itoi Discusses MOTHER 4 « EarthBound Central

I’ve gone through that discussion between Itoi and Iwata that was in the BRUTUS magazine the other day. Here’s a rough translation of it, as usual it’s sometimes kind of hard to pin Itoi’s thoughts down into something that makes sense, but it should get his basic ideas across. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7...

earthboundcentral.com

I think you nailed his angle down. I'm sure with a hint of his own feelings nostalgia for a time so long past him being thrown in for good measure.

Part of me wonders if Itoi would be down for one of the teams that made one of the Mother inspired RPGs to tackle a hypothetical Mother 4. I know I loved Omori and Undertale a ton, and I would hope that that kind of creative energy would go into Mother 4 if it is ever made.

Speaking of which, please play Omori its super good oh my god yall are missing out on some amazing stuff.

 

[Perkilator]

Ever suddenly get thoughts about Kage Maru getting in Smash instead of Akira

 

[Wonder Smash]

As of right now, the only game I'm interested in getting is Kirby Fighters 2. I haven't played any of the Kirby Fighters games before but being a Smash fan, how can I not? I hope it's just as fun.