E3 PREDICTIONS
- First and foremost, a new WarioWare. It feels like a matter of time really, the Switch is the perfect console for some wacky gimmick involving the Joycons. I would be surprised if this didn't pan out by the end of the year.
- It seems very very likely that we'll see that new Donkey Kong as well. My bold prediction? It will be a 3D game - Grant Kirkhope recently teased that he's got one more notable announcement on the way, and putting those pieces together leads me to believe he's doing the soundtrack on this game. I could be wrong but it makes total sense to me, especially since the Odyssey team is working on it apparently.
- A new Kirby game seems like a no-brainer too... I'm not as convinced as some other people seem to be, but this is one of the potential announcements I'm looking forward to the most. If I had to bet I don't think it'll be like, a 3D Kirby or anything yet though. Maybe a weird spinoff akin to Epic Yarn or Mass Attack.
- The long rumored 2D Metroid game. I think it's due time that we see this come to fruition, with various sources having been backing this up for years now. and being a nice buffer to kill time while we wait at least another year to see anything from Prime 4.
- Animal Crossing Updates. Pretty standard stuff, but maybe they'll have something really cool to show off. I haven't played New Horizons in a while so it would be nice if they could catch my interest again.
- Zelda Anniversary stuff, another really safe bet. As to what that content would be though, I don't really know. Obviously some focus on Skyward Sword HD, maybe some sort of Zelda collection akin to 3D All-Stars too. BOTW2 is the big one everyone will be hoping for and... not gonna lie, I can see it just being completely absent lmao. But I do think it's more likely that it will show up in some capacity.
- Shin Megami Tensei V information. Seeing how this is one of the big ticket third party exclusives for the console this year I'd be surprised to see them ignore it... seems about as close to a surefire bet as any third party game can be right now.
- Big collaborations with Microsoft. Either xCloud, a Master Chief Collection port, or both. Seeing how we didn't get any news of that during the Xbox presentation and Phil has been dropping hints about more Switch related endeavors... it's gonna be something. To what extent is kind of hard to say but I think it will be a pretty big deal.
And now the big guns... Smash talk. I'll give a few possibilities that are on my radar. I'm not really sure whether we're getting one character or both, but I'll specify under what conditions I can see these characters being revealed under.
General stuff first, I genuinely do believe that we're just sticking with the companies that were involved in FP2, using that pool that is already available to Nintendo. That's the trend we've followed so far and I honestly don't see us getting anymore big new companies on board for this reason. Maybe a smaller Japanese company, but I'm standing by this for now.
And a bit of a hot take, I really just don't see us getting anymore Nintendo characters either. With the current standard heavily favoring major Switch games and that pool of options growing ever smaller, I really believe we're gonna end on two third party characters. Hold me at gunpoint I would probably bring up Gen 8 and Octoling, but they run into their own share of issues and I can't confidently back any individual first party. But here's who I do think has a good shot:
MASTER CHIEF - Yup, this is my most confident Smash prediction going into E3 and it ties in pretty heavily with that Microsoft stuff I talked about. I can absolutely see them revealing some major Microsoft / Nintendo team-ups and following up with Master Chief's debut in Smash. I know some people are still hesitant over double dipping, but I think Microsoft is the one that can get away with it. Halo and Minecraft target such drastically different demographics and it feels silly to think Nintendo would limit themselves like that over what... the feelings of their other partners? The community cares about this way more than I imagine Nintendo does.
Anyway, I anticipate we're getting one more big character. It's just a gut feeling... not a necessity, but I do think they'll have saved one more crowdpleaser for E3 and I think it will be Master Chief, ideally to tie in with MCC on Switch or at least xCloud. It makes a lot of sense to me. Can't really go off too much more than gut feeling at this rate but yeah.
A SEGA Character - Sega is in the perfect position to get someone new right now. Like I said before, we've been retreading ground from FP1 and collaborating with the companies that have already been on board with Smash DLC. Meanwhile, Sega stands as one of the only two companies without any content to their name in FP2... SNK being the other one, which is unlikely for fairly self explanatory reasons. So to me Sega is geared up perfectly to receive new content in some capacity. Will it be at E3? Well, it depends kinda, I think one of the characters on my radar could be revealed at E3 solo while the other one moreso relies on a double reveal.
ARLE - I don't give up so easily... I think Arle is genuinely in a great spot right now. As I alluded to before I don't think she would be a standalone E3 reveal, but consider the character I mentioned before. Master Chief for the west, and Arle for Japan - I hesitate to back this confidently but I think it would be a really great balance to strike between two massively influential and iconic characters largely obscured in their opposite region. Anyway, Arle has plenty of merits of her own that IMO put her in a great spot.
Have you noticed we haven't really had a Hero / Terry esque "retro" legacy pick yet? I think Puyo would be a great choice for this, as one of the longest running and most successful Japanese franchises absent from Smash in any capacity and Sega's distant second most successful IP. Puyo Puyo Tsu was pretty much toe to toe with SF2 in Japanese arcades back in the 90s, cementing the series as a phenomenon that almost got a damn theme park and still thrives off brand recognition to this day... according to the series director, Puyo Puyo is the most widely recognized Sega IP in Japan across age levels and it is barely even close. He compares Puyo's brand to that of Nintendo or Sanrio.
I don't want to back Arle too hard because like... I don't wanna get burned, she's pretty much my MW right now. But I'm feeling great about the odds of another Sega character and I genuinely do believe that Puyo Puyo is next on that chopping block. Although there's always a chance of a furry blue rodent getting another slice of the pie.
TAILS - Yeah, as much as I believe Puyo has every reason in the world to be in Smash I would be silly not to recognize that Sonic's brand is stronger than any other Sega property worldwide. People have wanted a new Sonic character for years and I wouldn't be surprised to see another series get a second character via DLC... not just because of Sephiroth but Pythra too, and ARMS already had content in the game in some form. Expanding on Sonic would be easy and it would make a lot of people happy. If we get only one character and it happens to be from Sega at E3, Tails would be my bet.
So why Tails? Honestly I just don't see Eggman happening after Sephiroth, they really drilled in this idea that Sephiroth was a big boss villain and I'm just convinced that's his unique role within this pass. Tails has a Mii Costume which I imagine casts some doubt over his chances, but I'm trying to be on the cutting edge here and predict a major upset (not in a bad way) before it happens. Like, Tails was a returning Mii Costume that came out over two years ago as part of the very first DLC pack. For all we know, and I'd wager it's even likely that this is the case, FP2 was probably not 100% locked in yet and saw finalization closer to E3 (and post Joker's success).
So I think this creates a notable grey area that still allows Tails to be properly discussed. And I think if not Arle, we'll double down on Sonic. It's a little pessimistic on my end honestly, because I really want Arle so I want to have this balance as not to get my hopes too high, but also because I've noticed that Steve / Sephiroth appeal to such a general wide audience compared to FP1's more experimental choices at large. Tails fits right into that as Sonic is about as mainstream as you can get. We'll see what happens.
So that's what I think. I'm gonna abstain on the noms for now because for all I know, they could be worthless tomorrow.
