Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[RileyXY1]

Pokémon Trainer.

Just imagine each alt being a different playable trainer. There are enough enough generations for each Trainer to be from a unique region.

And if they chose to replace them with the Kalos, Alola, or Galar trainer, there's enough alternate outfits (due to those games having character customization) that they can make eight alts consisting of just alternate outfits from those games.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Why am against a new Trainer myself is that such a character would easily bloat the already gigantic Pokemon roster singlehandedly. I don't think we want that, even if it's one of the most justifiable IPs in Smash to have over represented. One more Pokemon alongside all the veterans would be okay (even counting Pichu, Squirtle and Ivysaur) but 3 wouldn't be.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Unless you mean Phase Shift which is something else entirely.

They're both functionally teleport dodges.

 

[RileyXY1]

Why am against a new Trainer myself is that such a character would easily bloat the already gigantic Pokemon roster singlehandedly. I don't think we want that, even if it's one of the most justifiable IPs in Smash to have over represented. One more Pokemon alongside all the veterans would be okay (even counting Pichu, Squirtle and Ivysaur) but 3 wouldn't be.

I'm talking about replacing the one we already have with a new one and not adding a new one on top of the one we already have.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

On the topic of Pokemon Trainer, while I don't think we'll get another one that's not just an alt, I think it'd be cool to have a distinct, named trainer with three of their own Pokémon. Like, imagine Cynthia using Garchomp, Spiritomb, and Roserade. Or Nemona using Pawmot, Goodra and a starter.

 

[fogbadge]

On the topic of Pokemon Trainer, while I don't think we'll get another one that's not just an alt, I think it'd be cool to have a distinct, named trainer with three of their own Pokémon. Like, imagine Cynthia using Garchomp, Spiritomb, and Roserade. Or Nemona using Pawmot, Goodra and a starter.

id much rather imagine nemona getting hit by a truck

 

[ninjahmos]

You guys know how with NASB, the characters were only allowed to have official alternate appearances as alternate costumes? Honestly, I think that might serve to the benefit of Noah and Mio, since Xenoblade 3 has plenty of alternate outfits for them. What other characters (be they newcomer or veteran) do you think would benefit from their alts consisting entirely of official alternate appearances?

I've said this before (and I'm not sure if this counts), but I think Snake could probably benefit from using his designs from other games (MGS1, Shirtless (MGS1), MGS2, Iroquois Pliskin, Big Boss/Naked Snake (MGS3), one of Big Boss' Sneaking Suits, Tuxedo, Old Snake (MGS4) and the Suit from MGS4) if he makes it into the next game.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Why am against a new Trainer myself is that such a character would easily bloat the already gigantic Pokemon roster singlehandedly. I don't think we want that, even if it's one of the most justifiable IPs in Smash to have over represented. One more Pokemon alongside all the veterans would be okay (even counting Pichu, Squirtle and Ivysaur) but 3 wouldn't be.

Good thing we're likely to not have everyone come back then.

 

[ninjahmos]

Also, if Kazuya makes it into the next game, I think they should add in his purple suit from Tekken 2 and his casual outfit from Tekken 4.

On a further note, if Jin gets in, they should include his alt outfit from Tekken 3, his school uniform and his sweatsuit from Tekken 4.

 

[Perkilator]

Here’s how I’d change the Final Smash Meter in the next game:

• Only fills by dealing damage
• Slowly decreases when no damage is dealt for a while
• Final Smashes activated via the Final Smash meter now deal 4/5 of their usual damage

 

[Arcanir]

Here’s how I’d change the Final Smash Meter in the next game:

• Only fills by dealing damage
• Slowly decreases when no damage is dealt for a while
• Final Smashes activated via the Final Smash meter now deal 4/5 of their usual damage

There would also need to be adjustments for FS like Zelda's or Peach/Daisy. For the former insta-kill FS already have an advantage since they just have to reach a certain percentage for the kill and then set up, but Zelda can functionally activate it from across most stages and win, decreasing the range would have to be a necessity there. Similarly, some sort of limitation on Peach/Daisy's is also necessary since they can immobilize you on most of the stage while healing themselves, which means getting their FS is a free damage set-up/KO on top of recovering over half of their health.

 

[Gorgonzales]

Here’s how I’d change the Final Smash Meter in the next game:

• Only fills by dealing damage
• Slowly decreases when no damage is dealt for a while
• Final Smashes activated via the Final Smash meter now deal 4/5 of their usual damage

These are good changes that'd definitely make FS Meter less spammy. I'd still prefer if FS Meter was axed entirely next game since the idea is novel but not worth reworking almost every FS into a less interesting version of itself for.

 

[Ivander]

Here’s how I’d change the Final Smash Meter in the next game:

• Only fills by dealing damage
• Slowly decreases when no damage is dealt for a while
• Final Smashes activated via the Final Smash meter now deal 4/5 of their usual damage

I would say keep the damage, but for any instant-kill at 100% moves, simply remove the instant kill and increase the knockback accordingly. It doesn't quite stop some Final Smashes from being better than others, but it does stop the most notable ones, like Zelda's, from getting very cheap kills and gives a potential opportunity at surviving them. Meanwhile, Final Smashes gotten with a Smash Ball keep the instant-kill at 100%.

Also, Peach's and Daisy's Final Smashes if gotten through meter isn't as potent compared to gotten from a Smash Ball. Basically, a person at 100% wakes up quicker from the former than the latter and there are less peaches/daisies that spawn and they disappear quicker if used from the former than the latter, so that it forces the Peach or Daisy player to really make that decision of either attacking the sleeping person or getting the peaches/daisies to heal. RNG can still play a factor in that peaches/daisies can potentially spawn near the sleeping opponents.

 

[cashregister9]

Part of me wonders if Smash should go for a Traditional Fighting Game style super meter, **** it, give everyone 3 different supers and ****, it could be fun

 

[Diddy Kong]

Part of me wonders if Smash should go for a Traditional Fighting Game style super meter, ** it, give everyone 3 different supers and **, it could be fun

I'm all for this. Makes the matches more offense based, which hasn't really been a thing since Melee. This is also why I'd love to see more grounded combat options, like allowing more strings with tilts and Smash attacks for example.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Part of me wonders if Smash should go for a Traditional Fighting Game style super meter, ** it, give everyone 3 different supers and **, it could be fun

I also like this idea.

Because of Smash's simple control system, I don't think having more than one bar would make sense (it's not intuitive as to why down super is 1 bar, but up super is 3 for example), but just omitting the multiple bar stuff would work pretty well. You could alternatively do what Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 did and have one segmented bar for EX moves and Roman Cancels and stuff. There are a few characters on the roster who kinda don't play well with EX moves though (Joker, Cloud, Steve, etc) so I don't think they'd implement those.

 

[Wonder Smash]

This is what I found within a past interview with the late Michael Latham in an old article which kind of correlates what you mentioned:

"Is it true that an Eternal Champions game was being developed for the SEGA Saturn, and if so, why was it cancelled and how close was it to completion?

Yes, if you look at the original Saturn box it’s listed as a coming game. The short answer on the cancellation was SOJ was very frustrated that EC was getting more market attention than the Virtua Fighter series in the US and Europe. So, they decided to kill the EC Saturn game and focus all fighting efforts on VF. Even to this day you won’t see any EC characters appearing in Sega games where they have characters from a variety of other games. The ban still holds (what?? – Ed).

I wrote a 30-page treatment and there was a Saturn demo of the fighting but sadly both have been lost to time. My treatment being lost isn’t a bad thing, I have the full thing still in my head. The main concept was you have the Eternals and the Infernals facing off against each other in fights through time. Depending on the fight outcomes a time ripple would then change the story, alter dynamic backgrounds, even the characters. To win you must correct the time-line and defeat the ultimate enemy which is Chaos. That end fight would have been epic. Unlike the prior end fight you would be morphing between time-variants of your character and Chaos morphs between his."

Source: https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/michael-latham/

Other than that, I do feel that what Michael Latham's concept for the cancelled third Eternal Champions entry would had been interesting.

Speaking of other fighting games, it was also hinted that current Street Fighter 6 producer Takayuki Nakayama did work upon a new entry for the Darkstalkers series which apparently ended up being cancelled.

Whilst I am still to this day awaiting for a new entry on the Darkstalkers series, I really do hope that the series will get one eventually within the future (even though this is wishful thinking.)

It's very unfortunate how the EC series was treated so badly. So much to the point that the characters don't even appear with other SEGA characters. That's just crazy.

Even more crazy, I don't even see characters like Sketch Turner or Kid Chameleon appear with other SEGA characters either. I mean, it's good that they still re-release these games but it wouldn't hurt to have these characters appear in games that they obviously belong in.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Super Ideas:

Spoiler

 

[Opossum]

id much rather imagine nemona getting hit by a truck

You're really not beating the "incredibly weird about female characters" allegations.

 

[CommanderZaktan]

Here’s how I’d change the Final Smash Meter in the next game:

• Only fills by dealing damage
• Slowly decreases when no damage is dealt for a while
• Final Smashes activated via the Final Smash meter now deal 4/5 of their usual damage

also add in Team Final Smashes for 2 fighters, and some have their own unique Team Final Smashes.

 

[fogbadge]

You're really not beating the "incredibly weird about female characters" allegations.

I’d have said the same thing about kakui, blue or louie

and shadow, revali, Dante, waluigi

honestly I can’t remember the last time someone said such a thing to me so you bringing this up out of nowhere is weird

 

[SharkLord]

Part of me wonders if Smash should go for a Traditional Fighting Game style super meter, ** it, give everyone 3 different supers and **, it could be fun

Honestly I think that's the optimal option. Maybe just two supers instead of one, maybe just go the full hog of two supers and an ultimate. Either way, cinematics kinda grind the pacing to a halt when everyone starts popping them in free-for-alls, and there's a big divide between simple Mario Finale-type moves and the flashy cutcenes. Splitting things into simpler Supers and flashier but costlier Ultimates should help smooth things over pretty well.

 

[Deleted member]

On the topic of girl characters, I would really love to see Pauline and Lara Croft in the next Smash Bros game, now that people are more knowledgeable in a way about the former and the latter seems to be on less legal hell nowadays.

Both really feel like no-brainers from the gaming history side of things: the first gaming girl if we don't count the stuck-in-legal hell Ms.Pac-Man, and one of the biggest Western videogame icons from the 90s.

Lara Croft's moveset is easy to imagine, as for Pauline I would really love It if she took stuff from both Odyssey and the Mario VS Donkey Kong titles. I feel there's potential as with Rosalina to make a special moveset for her.

Another girl I would like to see in Smash Bros is Brite Bomber from Fortnite, but sadly I believe she's unlikely due to the Samus in Fortnite conflict Epic and Nintendo had. But hey, the Smash team has gotten away with a lot of things already so who knows.

 

[MasterCheef]

On the topic of girl characters,

Why Not ; Ahri , or, Lux , or Yumia ?

 

[Deleted member]

Why Not ; Ahri , or, Lux , or Yumia ?

Sadly their names don't sound familiar to me, but unless they happen to be problematic or something like that, I'm sure they are very valid additions.

 

[MasterCheef]

Ahri , & , Lux = major ( League of Legend ) reps

Yumia = Atelier rep

I bring these up because we are sorely lacking with mage reps

 

[Deleted member]

Ahri , & , Lux = major ( League of Legend ) reps

Yumia = Atelier rep

I bring these up because we are sorely lacking with mage reps

Ooooooooh, yeah they would be neat.

From League Of Legends I could also see Arcane (I think that's her name) or Vi, with the popularity of the Netflix show and all.

And Atelier surely has its fandom and niche, I'm sure they would be a very welcomed addition.

 

[Perkilator]

Obviously I want Chun-Li as one of the video game women, but some of my more niche MW’s include Aigis and Estelle Bright.

 

[Deleted member]

Obviously I want Chun-Li as one of the video game women, but some of my more niche MW’s include Aigis and Estelle Bright.

Don't know who Aigis and Estelle Bright are, but I'm sure they are quite cool characters ^^

Chun-Li does feel as a matter of when rather than if doh, she is basically in every Street Fighter collaborations alongside Ryu. Even in the Power Rangers ones. I'm sure she's happening in some way.

As for a niche girl character I would love to see in Smash Bros... I'd probably want Ibuki or any of the River City Girls. Ideally I would really like to see Marian from Double Dragon for personal reasons polyamorous representation, but both Misako and Kyōko would be really awesome as well.
Another cool one would be Alena from Dragon Quest, would be a fun brawler.

 

[HyperSomari64]

I’d have said the same thing about kakui, blue or louie

and shadow, revali, Dante, waluigi

honestly I can’t remember the last time someone said such a thing to me so you bringing this up out of nowhere is weird

Just because you don't like a character, it doesn't mean you want to see it being hit by a truck.

 

[Laniv]

On the topic of girl characters

Well, aside from the mention Pauline, Chun-Li, I wanna see Dixie Kong, Mona, Tiki, and Lip

 

[Perkilator]

Don't know who Aigis and Estelle Bright are, but I'm sure they are quite cool characters ^^

They are! Aigis is from Persona 3 and its remake (Persona 3 Reload) and Estelle Bright is from the Trails in the Sky series (the first game of which is getting a remake in 2025).

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

They're both functionally teleport dodges.

Foresight is not a teleport though. It's more like a mini-Witch Time.

There are a few characters on the roster who kinda don't play well with EX moves though (Joker, Cloud, Steve, etc) so I don't think they'd implement those.

I don't see why they wouldn't work. After all, KoF manages to have both traditional supers and its own universal Max Mode install, the latter of which being very comparable to something like Cloud's Limit Breaks.

 

[fogbadge]

Just because you don't like a character, it doesn't mean you want to see it being hit by a truck.

what's your point?

 

[PersonAngelo53]

also add in Team Final Smashes for 2 fighters, and some have their own unique Team Final Smashes.

I had the same idea before. Like for example this super animation would be perfect for chrom and Lucina’s team super. https://youtu.be/4lHfM1XMdd4?si=HVABgyGzXUC1qbt3

Also a few others just make to much sense like Mario and Luigi using one of their team supers in the Mario and Luigi games etc.

 

[ninjahmos]

I'd definitely love to see Chun-Li and Lara Croft in Smash, along with Pauline, Dixie Kong, either Mona or Ashley, Ayumi Tachibana, Lip, Jill Valentine and Mai Shiranui. I think some of my most niche MW's might be Morrigan (Darkstalkers) and Joanna Dark.

 

[Gorgonzales]

Just because you don't like a character, it doesn't mean you want to see it being hit by a truck.

we're literally talking about a game where wario can run people over with his motorcycle and captain falcon's super move involves him committing vehicular manslaughter, it's not that serious

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I don't see why they wouldn't work. After all, KoF manages to have both traditional supers and its own universal Max Mode install, the latter of which being very comparable to something like Cloud's Limit Breaks.

I was more thinking that Joker and Cloud technically already have EX moves as a part of their kit, so it's a question of what the EX mechanic would do for them. Steve has similar issues with Minecart, but what I'm more stumped by is what the heck EX Mine/Craft/Place Block would do.

I suppose Joker and Cloud could just ignore the EX mechanic entirely in favor of what they already have going on, but that feels kind of underwhelming to me.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I was more thinking that Joker and Cloud technically already have EX moves as a part of their kit, so it's a question of what the EX mechanic would do for them. Steve has similar issues with Minecart, but what I'm more stumped by is what the heck EX Mine/Craft/Place Block would do.

I suppose Joker and Cloud could just ignore the EX mechanic entirely in favor of what they already have going on, but that feels kind of underwhelming to me.

Well, that's what could be interesting, actually...

• For Joker, that's easy. Since Arsene is an install that lasts a few seconds, having the EX specials be the Arsene moves is an interesting idea all on its own since you'd be able to spend meter on a single Arsene special at any point (assuming you have meter). Perhaps they could be weaker as a tradeoff but I think it'd be an interesting idea nonetheless.
• The same could apply for Cloud, giving him the same threatening aura he had with Limit in Smash 4 but without the increased movement. Like with Joker, the EX specials could be weaker too.
• EX Mine could mine faster, EX Craft could craft faster and EX Place Block would last longer. As a tradeoff, the blocks will break faster in a game with this mechanic than they do in Ultimate when you're not using the EX variant, forcing Steve to rely a lot on meter to just do his usual stuff so that's a good way to heavily nerf him too without necessarily gutting every single move (although let's be honest, his kit is so overtuned every single move SHOULD be nerfed regardless).

 

[SharkLord]

I was more thinking that Joker and Cloud technically already have EX moves as a part of their kit, so it's a question of what the EX mechanic would do for them. Steve has similar issues with Minecart, but what I'm more stumped by is what the heck EX Mine/Craft/Place Block would do.

I suppose Joker and Cloud could just ignore the EX mechanic entirely in favor of what they already have going on, but that feels kind of underwhelming to me.

Honestly, with how many characters have a meter nowadays we might as well fold them into the FS Meter as part of unique mechanics or something. For Steve, it might be busted as hell but we could make him automatically get Iron/Gold/Diamonds instead of crappy Dirt and Wood for a bit in exchange for spending meter