Smash Switch Speculation: Super Mario Bros

Note: These articles are more for discussion purposes before E3. They'll be short, sweet, and to the point for a brief recap and looking into possible characters/stages for each series in Smash Bros. These also go by a "Don't expect too much" philosophy. Please remember to be civil in the comments discussion.

The Super Mario Bros series has always had an interesting gigantic presence in the Smash Bros. series. Without even including Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario, Mario has always had more content. With Smash 64, Mario was one of the two franchises with two characters (Mario and Luigi), and the only franchise with two stages. Melee made the series have five characters (added Dr. Mario, Bowser, and Peach) and four stages. Brawl made the series have six stages, even with taking away a character to give the series four (Dr. Mario removed). Smash 4 gave the series seven characters (brought back Dr. Mario, added Bowser Jr/The Koopalings and Rosalina) and, including downloadable content, a grand total of thirteen stages across both games.

So, what can we expect this time?

Returning Characters: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach will all return at some point in Smash Bros. for Switch - that's pretty certain. Beyond that? Rosalina and Bowser Jr. definitely both make good cases to stay - Both with unique movesets for Smash Bros and Bowser Jr.'s inclusion allowing the Koopalings to be playable. If one was to be cut, it would be anyone's game to guess that. Dr. Mario could be considered a safe bet too since clones are relatively easy to be put in, but, it's possible he's changed to be a costume.

New Characters: The Mario series already has a lot of characters, so it's honestly hard to say. Mario Odyssey doesn't introduce any likely contenders, either, and Nabbit has faded into obscurity. Toad is the only one that comes straight up to most minds, and while the species argument might be valid, Toad is practically a staple of the Mario universe - Even the Mario logo is based around Toad's. Waluigi is another possibility, although, I wouldn't hold any breath for that. After receiving two new games, Paper Mario is definitely a possibility, but more as another character that would be too nice to have.

Returning Stages: Keeping it down to three, Delfino Plaza, Mario Galaxy, and any one of the Mario kart stages all feel like safe bets.

New Stages: Captain Toad, Super Mario 3D World, and Mario Odyssey all come to mind.

What are your thoughts on the Mario franchise? What Mario related content would you like to see in Smash for Switch? Let us know in the comments below!

 

I can honestly bet Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings will return, they have a huge placement in most Mario games. That being said, considering how Nintendo's been adding more Mario characters each time a new Smash comes out, I'm honestly putting my bets on the obvious -- either Toad or Waluigi. Toad's honestly kind of obvious, though as far as Waluigi goes, he could easily receive the Assist Trophy-to-character treatment like Little Mac had. (Plus, he's such a beautiful creature)

If Paper Mario does get in, I'd have to have at least SOME reference to the classic Paper Mario games, if he's not gonna be entirely based off of them. Maybe a B-Move that lets him have a partner ala Ice Climbers or Rosalina.

To be honest though, as for new stages, we're obviously gonna get some Mario Odyssey stuff. The question is -- which? New Donk City seems pretty obvious to me, and it could easily replace that other city stage from Pokemon X and Y (forgot the same) from Smash 3DS

 

Well, I certainly wouldn't have called Rosalina or Bowser Jr. safe bets during Smash 4 speculation, and yet we got both of them. (Which I thought was fantastic.)

Really, I'm just hoping our current lineup stays, and we get Captain Toad, who I think at this point has proven to be enough of a standout mainstay and hopefully different enough from a standard Toad in Sakurai's eyes to warrant inclusion.

Would like Delfino and Comet Observatory to stay, Rainbow Road to come to the big screen, and for a traveling Odyssey stage to get added.

 

honestly, if anything, I suspect the Mario Roster might not get any new fighters, but instead a couple new Assist Trophies... if anyone's going to get demand for being shoved into the roster, the memes indicate that way too many people want Waluigi, who, if you recall, Debuted in Mario Tennis as Luigi's counterpart for Wario and... basically nothing else beyond that (unless you count the extremely obscure "DanceDanceRevolution Mario Mix" where Waluigi was the focus villain until Bowser predictably stole the spotlight from under him.)

Toad by himself certainly sounds like a pretty good idea for an Assist Trophy, particularly in the Super Mario USA remake on GBA where Toad plucked giant veggies the fastest of the four characters.

 

I'm really looking forward to the Odyssey content in this game. I'm really hoping to see an interesting stage/music choices. It'd be neat if they gave Mario an alt with cappy, but that's not as important to me.

I feel like between the three mentioned, Toad (or Captain Toad) is the most likely newcomer. Honestly any of the three would make me pretty happy, although I feel like Toad is the most iconic of the three, and Paper Mario seems the most interesting (G&W can finally have a 2D friend)

 

I would personally like a new Mario stage based off of the Super Mario RPG series (SS, PiT, BiS, etc.). It is kinda likely, since Nintendo is reviving the older entries of the franchise to the 3DS.

I don't really think Toad will be in the roster. One: what will be his moveset? There are fangames like Smash Crusade that make them up. But a lot of what he is known for (or pictured to use), Peach already can do it, with plucking veggies being the example. Two: Peach. They would have to come up with a new neutral special for her, and considering that move has been a series staple for her...

Waluigi, I feel like he has a better chance, but it really up to Sakurai at this point.

 

They would have to come up with a new neutral special for her, and considering that move has been a series staple for her...

they could simply replace Toad with her umbrella. or a mario kart gold mushroom.

Toad is the only one that comes straight up to most minds, and while the species argument might be valid, Toad is practically a staple of the Mario universe

yoshi is a species too

 

I'm really hoping they cast an eye on the M&L series for this one and add Fawful as an assist trophy at least, but I'm hoping for playable. Waluigi and Paper Mario are also ones I want. Sorry but I don't want Toad. Like at all, in fact I'd be a bit salty if he was the only Mario newcomer, though I could tolerate him if some of my wanted also got in.

 

New Donk City will certainly be the stage from Super Mario Odyssey. I'm still hoping for a Bowser's Castle stage, though.

 

Okay, seeing as how Mario is like, the most popular gaming franchise of all time, it could be pretty safe in avoiding cuts. If many characters were getting cut in this installment though, I think that Rosalina will be the one to go; as of late, her popularity in the mainstream Mario series has dipped (she was nowhere to be found at all in Odyssey, for example), and if the Ice Climbers are returning, well, that makes Rosalina and Luma's special gimmick a little less special, plus, Bowser Junior is a more unique character overall, IMO.

In terms of new characters....... I don't really know if Mario is going to get anyone new. Pretty much every important character from the series is here, and I really can't think of much besides the obvious suggestions like Toad. (Of course, I do want Waluigi in... LIKE CRAZY-but assuming Sakurai's willing to put him in this time, something tells me he'll add him in as a Wario representative)

 

Captain Toad I feel has the best shot. I'm biased as hell, but the guy has had a fairly successful spinoff on the previous gens console and that game only came about through fans reuqesting a full game after enjoying the levels in 3D World. He's very much the Wii U breakout star.

Working on a move set of Captain Toad to showcase how a fighter who can't jump could work. Will post when done.

Outside Captain Toad, we have Nabbit who debuted on the Wii U, Paper Mario who had several games during that period(although all were pretty panned), the wacky Waluigi and Daisy who has Super Mario Run under her belt appearing finally as a playable character in a Mario platformer(apparently Nintendo of Japan consider Run a mainline game). Both Waluigi and Daisy put in a lot of spinoff appearances, but so did regular Toad and Toadette(whilst also appearing in Odyssey and the like).

Overall my money would be on Captain Toad or Toad, with a Toadette alt but I'm not ruling out the fan demand for Waluigi or Paper Mario either.

 

The Mario series is of course one of the most popular video game series in the world, if not the most. So I am expecting all veterans from the Mario series to stay and it is very likely that we will see at least 1 Mario newcomer for 5mash, and I believe that it will be Paper Mario or (biased maybe but who else is there) Captain Toad. Both characters have their own series and are very relevant. Captain Toad who has now been around for only 11 years now and has already been in 4 mainline Mario games and like I said his own series and Sakurai when it comes to choosing Mario characters, it seems like he chooses them based on mainline Mario games and the most recent one is of course Super Mario Odyssey and Captain Toad has a pretty big role in that game and helps you by giving you Power Moons which is critical to the games progression. These reasons make me think that he is the most likely character to get in, and the arguments about him not being able to jump is more than a positive than a negative imo. Sakurai likes characters who can bring something different to Smash and Captain Toad would bring that as he could use a unique weight gimmick with his bag pack or having propeller platforms as his jumps making him the first character to be assisted when it comes to jumps. I think there is a lot of potential with this character and if there is a time to include him, it will be now. Paper Mario however, has been around for a lot longer and has had his series more established despite going downhill and actually selling worse than CT: TT by almost double on Wii U. His popularity I think has went down a bit and is getting more and more unlikely to get in Smash now. There is also an argument of him being “another Mario” and I agree with it in all honesty, I don’t want a third Mario and would be a waste of a character slot imo. These two are the most likely and characters like Waluigi despite his popularity is unlikely to get in because he is not even important to the series he’s in as he only appears in spin-offs and I don’t think that Sakurai wants to represent them especially when Super Mario Odyssey has been a massive success and would want to represent that as much as possible.

Stages I would like to see are the obvious Odyssey stages similar to Delfino Square where you can travel to every kingdom or just have New Donk City in as a stage. I fully expect a Captain Toad stage as well IF Captain Toad gets in as a playable character, it would be a missed opportunity if the series didn’t get one. I don’t think 3D World will get a stage because of Odyssey but I could be wrong, and I think the Paper Mario stage will either get ported onto the new Smash or simply just removed. I don’t think we’ll see one based off of Colour Splash because of how underwhelming the game was based on reviews and sales. I think it’s also likely that Delfino Square, the Galaxy stage and the Kart stages will return as well.

 

In terms of Mario stages, I'm hoping for a Paper Mario stage that isn't biased towards modern Paper Mario like the 3DS one was. I loved the TTYD segment of that stage, but the fact that it only had 3 sections and both of the others were dedicated to Sticker Star was downright sinful. They could've even used the Paper Mario 64 Bowser's Castle design and not much in terms of layout would need to change, but nope gotta promote the terrible newest installment. Since I don't care for CS either and just want the older games referenced, I just want a stage that takes elements from Paper Mario 64 and Super Paper Mario in addition to TTYD. Maybe one more section for Color Splash just so that game gets at least something, but really the original trilogy deserves more than it. Also let's get a Dimentio assist trophy. Playable would be better but I simply can't foresee any circumstance where they add a Paper Mario character that's not Paper Mario. So assist trophy would still be very satisfying (and if Fawful's not playable I'd hope he's an assist as well. Waluigi better be promoted though, it's time he moves up)

 

I just really want Peach and Rosalina back and a new Smash Brothers game that doesn't play anything like trash 4