Smash Ultimate Fighters Pass: Staff Predictions

With Nintendo's E3 conference nearby and speculation abound for the next fighters pass, we thought it would be time to get in on the action and make some predictions for the next Fighter Pass characters. We did the same thing last year, too.

This time, we made some ground rules:

• No guessing Steve, Banjo, or Erdrick (or else all the guesses were going to be those. We think all of those have a good shot)
• We were focused on guessing the overall fighters pass and not just this direct
• We'll be revisiting this article once the current Fighter's Pass is over

Scribe
Managing Editor | @ScribeAwoken
Bandanna Waddle Dee - Kirby

While most people are expecting to see some huge third-party reveal that will wow the audience, I'm expecting something a bit more low-key. Unlike last year, Nintendo has plenty of other games to show off, and I don't think they'd want to let Smash steal the spotlight this year. I'm expecting something like Waddle Dee, or maybe a niche pick like Chibi-Robo. Someone with plenty of fans who'd be glad to see them make it in, but who won't break the internet and distract from Nintendo's other big announcements.

Thirdkoopa
Content Manager | @Thirdkoopa
Dark Souls Character - Dark Souls

I was going to throw my name in the pot for either Rayman or any Namco Bandai character. The only reason it came down to choosing Dark Souls over Rayman is because we have yet to get a Third-Party that's originated in the west. Namco Bandai's specific ties to this game help, too - When Sega, Capcom, and Konami all have three characters and Namco are the ones helping develop this game, it's hard not to see a choice like this. The Souls series has garnered a lot of popularity and would be a very 'Hype' choice. I can't really think of many reasons to rule the possibility out. So, bring me Solaire, Great Grey Wolf Sif, or whatever other Souls character you all have.

PlayerOneTyler
Editor & Media Team Coordinator | @PlayerOneTyler
Leon Kennedy - Resident Evil

Since everyone pretty much expects Banjo, Erdrick, and the likes, I'm throwing my hat in the Leon Kennedy ring. The horror genre has hardly any representation in Smash up to this point, and Resident Evil 4 was HUGE back in the Gamecube era. On top of that, Joker showed us that the Smash team isn't concerned about real-looking guns, so it just seems like an easy choice with all of the "blockers" removed. As a sweet bonus, let's get Jill Valentine in there as an alternate costume or Echo fighter, too!

ZeroSoul
Editor & Content Manager Assistant | @JigglySoul
Dark Matter - Kirby

I’m going with Dark Matter from Kirby. The main reason why Dark Matter seems plausible are the datamined stats for “Brave”. The character is supposed to be somewhat heavy, floaty and has a trait where they continue sliding for a bit after they turn. Dark Matter in both the blade and orb forms fit that description perfectly. There's also a bunch of characters that’d make sense for a Dark Matter spirit pack that aren’t already spirits. I'm talking about characters like Zero, 0², Dark Nebula, Adeleine, Miracle Matter and even the final boss of Kirby: Star Allies, Void. Between all that and Void’s heavily implied relationship to Dark Matter, I feel like they’re a very viable dark horse candidate.

Fenriraga
Contributor | @kyle_darkaura64
Crash Bandicoot - Crash Bandicoot

The one character I've always felt was a lock for the fighters pass is Crash Bandicoot.

While I've never been personally invested in him, the circumstances surrounding him just feel too perfect. The bitter, anthropomorphic rival of Mario gone multi-platform, with his own games showing up on Nintendo systems? Sounds awfully familiar to me.

Crash's revival was too late for Ultimate's initial roster, but he was likely at the height of his popularity by the time planning for the Fighters Pass began. If he does make the cut, you won't catch me letting out a surprised whoa.

And no, I will not apologize for that joke.

NonSpecificGuy
Contributor | @NonSpecificGuy
Ryu Hayabusa - Ninja Gaiden

Mario, Link, Samus, Pit, Mega Man, Simon Belmont, Pac-Man, Ice Climbers. What do all of these characters have in common? They're all NES Legacy Characters! One of the few NES Legacy characters left to not be in Smash is none other than Ninja Gaiden's own Ryu Hayabusa. Seeing the addition of Simon Belmont in Ultimate and Mega Man and Pac-Man in Smash For makes me confident in the inclusion of the NES Ninja himself. Of all the old school NES characters that are left to be added, I feel like Hayabusa is a stunning omission that will be rectified this Fighter's Pass.

Uhmuzing
Contributor | @Zoologicwoo
Tracer - Overwatch

My sheerly optimistic pick is Tracer from Overwatch, though she may not be too unlikely – Blizzard’s port of Diablo 3 for the Switch was a success, and the company has indicated interest in collaborating further with Nintendo. Overwatch has been a massive critical, commercial and competitive success, and its cartoonish art style and Tracer’s spunky personality would be a great fit for Nintendo. Tracer would be another gunner-type fighter, but her hyper-mobility and Blink abilities to teleport forwards and travel backwards in time would make her a wholly unique character in Smash. Tracer versus ZSS is also too fun a match-up to not include.

Rocket Raccoon
Contributor | @RocketRacoon27
Doomguy - Doom

I believe that Doomguy is going to be part of the Fighter's Pass. I think that it's about high time a Western company (other than Microsoft) gets a character into Smash. Who better than Bethesda? Smash has gotten a lot of title characters from genres over the years. Mario for platforming, Samus/Simon/Richter for Metroidvanias. Snake for sneaking games and much more. One of the biggest genres that Smash is missing is FPS. We're not gonna get that one FPS Nintendo made on the GameCube. DoomGuy is the father of the FPS genre. We need FPS representation in Smash and it's time that Doomguy tears Mario's skull off.

Scoliosis Jones
Contributor | @Scoliosis_Jones
Leon Kennedy - Resident Evil

I think it could be a Resident Evil character, like Leon Kennedy or Jill Valentine. Resident Evil is a huge series, one of the biggest not currently in Smash, and could provide a sort of “survivalist” moveset. Throw in a Raccoon City stage, and you could have all the iconic monsters in Smash along with them!

Author's Note: Only 15 hours to go. So, what do you think about our choices? How wrong are we? Who do you think will show up in the Fighter's Pass? We'd love to chat with each of you. Let us know in the comments below!

 

Leon Kennedy and Tracer are just dumb.

 

These are all interesting guesses from the staff, regardless of being an unpopular opinion or not. Some of these guesses were very interesting including Tracer from Overwatch, and Leon from Resident Evil, which I haven’t even heard of anyone suggesting him nor Tracer as a playable character in smash. I do favor NonSpecificGuy and his guess because Ryu is one of my favorite classic NES characters from the era. All and all these guesses were interesting to see from the staff.

One final thing is the Google Theory, which has been suggested and talked about during its initiation in May, and it would be cool to see if the theory is true or not. Even if the theory is debunked at e3 with a completely different character from the list, it’ll still be interesting to see.

 

Leon Kennedy and Tracer are just dumb.

I'll agree on Tracer. Leon might have a shot though imo; Resident Evil popularized, if not pioneered the survival horror and third-person shooter genres; Leon was a major character in at least one of each (RE2 and RE4). If Snake, Cloud and Joker could get in despite their franchises being mostly Playstation mainstays, I don't see why Leon couldn't, especially since RE4 was a huge hit on Gamecube and Wii.

 

I'm hoping it's Banjo or Crash tomorrow

 

Leon Kennedy and Tracer are just dumb.

Explain your reasoning behind that statement, please, why is Leon dumb?

 

These are all interesting guesses from the staff, regardless of being an unpopular opinion or not. Some of these guesses were very interesting including Tracer from Overwatch, and Leon from Resident Evil, which I haven’t even heard of anyone suggesting him nor Tracer as a playable character in smash. I do favor NonSpecificGuy and his guess because Ryu is one of my favorite classic NES characters from the era. All and all these guesses were interesting to see from the staff.

One final thing is the Google Theory, which has been suggested and talked about during its initiation in May, and it would be cool to see if the theory is true or not. Even if the theory is debunked at e3 with a completely different character from the list, it’ll still be interesting to see.

Thank you! My goal was to make it an interesting prediction list. I feel all of these have a pretty good shot (Okay... Tracer is a bit of a stretch) so I'm excited to see the rest of the fighter's pass article

Even if none of these get in, our postmortem articles touching on this will be fun.

 

Explain your reasoning behind that statement, please, why is Leon dumb?

Bayonetta and Snake can be put next to him, but they were requested. Not many people do I see asking for Leon(at least not as much as Steve or Banjo), and if I want any RE character, Jill, who has an equally low chance of making it. I, along with many other people, can't and don't see that happenin'.

 

Can’t wait for Vegeta to be revealed in about 9 hours for Smash.

 

I really could see Tracer, Doom Slayer and Leon happening.

 

hmm dont think any of them terribly likely, but i guess you never know

 

imagine how mad everyone would be if it's another FE sword character xD

 

imagine how mad everyone would be if it's another FE sword character xD

Imagine if the real reason Nintendo is doing a direct instead of a live conference is because they think a Fire Emblem sword character reveal would make the audience attack Sakurai out of rage lol

 

I'm expecting that with all the "leaks" and stuff lately, we are getting a Microsoft related character (Banjo, Master Chief, John Minecraft, etc...)
However, deep inside my heart I know we'll get another Fire Emblem rep, because new game needs advertising.

 

Imagine if the real reason Nintendo is doing a direct instead of a live conference is because they think a Fire Emblem sword character reveal would make the audience attack Sakurai out of rage lol

As a fe fan, i can also say that I think smash has enough fe reps, even if they add a character that doesnt use a sword, (hector or ephraim) it would still be vv unfair for other game groups that either deserve representation or existing series that need more representation

 

The Bandana Dee and Dark Matter I'm pretty sure are deconfirmed given there was talk of the devs saying no more represenation from franchises already on the roster (RIP Tifa and Hector), though Doom Guy and Ryu aren't too farfetched and are definitely possible. Leon... well, Resident Evil 4 was a thing on the Gamecube and the Wii so it's not impossible. Tracer I don't think will get in unless Overwatch comes to the Switch, same deal with Crash Bandicoot.

If you ask me, I think being on a Nintendo console before is a huge part of what can allow them in.

 

The Bandana Dee and Dark Matter I'm pretty sure are deconfirmed given there was talk of the devs saying no more represenation from franchises already on the roster (RIP Tifa and Hector), though Doom Guy and Ryu aren't too farfetched and are definitely possible. Leon... well, Resident Evil 4 was a thing on the Gamecube and the Wii so it's not impossible. Tracer I don't think will get in unless Overwatch comes to the Switch, same deal with Crash Bandicoot.

If you ask me, I think being on a Nintendo console before is a huge part of what can allow them in.

Any source on that? Just curious.

 

Opinions on suggestions:

Spoiler

Bandana Dee - Fan favorite ever since Return to Dreamland he has been placed with Meta Knight, Dedede and Kirby which is significant. He'd be fun to play and fight against. For some reason I feel Nintendo won't add him though.
Dark matter - I would love to play as Dark Matter if we got his sword version. I doubt it'll happen, but Dark Matter did make a rather big appearance in Star Allies, but that game was kinda fan servicey (well. Kirby is always like that. but this one felt more fan-servicey than usual). Inb4 Magolor gets in before Bandana Dee or Dark matter.

Leon - Resident Evil is huge, but is it big enough? I don't see it happening, but if he got in he better have his suplex as his back throw!

Dark Souls rep - I could see it happening. Solaire would be awesome (and a better choice than the player character imo), I haven't heard someone say Sif as a choice before but I would play the heck out of Sif if he got in. Artorias seems like a pretty likely character to see as well since he pretty much sums up what dark souls is about just glancing at him and he has a whole dlc named after him and is a fan favorite.

Crash Bandicoot - The Mario of the older Playstation era. I could see it happening, but at the same time I don't think he has a strong chance because Crash isn't anywhere near as popular as he used to be and didn't quite change the gaming world like some other reps.

Ryu Hayabusa - One of the popular old NES series. Though we already got the Belmonts so I don't know if they'll go get another old series already. However he is still popular with newer series, just not as much as the NES days. Still a solid pick and I would love it if he got in.

Tracer - While Overwatch is incredibly popular, I don't see why Nintendo would choose Tracer over many other characters... But hey maybe popularity is all you need?

Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer - ID Software really kicked off the 3D shooter genre and is really important to gaming's history. Definitely sounds worthy to add into smash with a legacy like. Also Doom is rather popular. So I could totally see him getting in the game.

 

I guess everyone wants to be tracer

 

I really want my Doom Boi to unleash hell in Smash!

 

Dagnabbit, I woke up early. : (

 

Whoa that wasn't surprising

 

i predicted him from the start..i literall;y said to others awhile ago ''it's probably gonna be Luminary'' and omg i was RIGHT! not that i wanted him i just was suprised i was right for once xD

 

If it is third party based then my predictions would be a Bandai Namco character and perhaps another Japanese third party character.

 

Well Banjo Kazooie is official and confirmed. The trailer is already live online. Honestly, I think the next person to be revealed will be Ryu Hayabusa. He would probably be a Cloud type character with his Dragon Sword and will use speed and power in tandem with combo ability and a projectile (probably his shuriken). I expect that his trademark Izuna Drop will probably be either a side or up special or probably a combination of the two and his final smash will probably be the "Art of True Inferno" or some sort of ninpo attack. He would definitely be an interesting character to play with and probably high tier (if you believe in tiers) and the stage will mostly likely be the Dragon Village.

 

Banjo made it in, but please be Ryu Hayabusa. He’s another classic NES character that deserves a spot. Mega man, Simon, and Pac-Man made it in, so it’s good for Ryu to be in as well.

 

I guess, by the rules, all of you had to be wrong.

I think one of the last two will be a Resident Evil character, though. Possibly even two (echo).

 

There is only one pick left because of pupNapoleon

 

Whoa that wasn't surprising

this is why i didn't put them on the guess list, haha.

(Though if anyone put their chips on a Microsoft or Square-Enix character they would've had points in the final article)

 

Doomed to fail from the start...

I think that at least one of the last ones will be a Microsoft character... So either Minecraft Steve (I hope not) or Master Chief.

 

I bet Doomslayer is going in, i can just feel it!

I still REALLY hope Steve is not coming.

 

In my opinion: Crash, Spyro, Rayman, Monster Hunter and Dante

they are the most possible

The most logical is: Crash/Monster Hunter

 

i bet its either cuphead or crash bandicoot

 

Banjo made it in, but please be Ryu Hayabusa. He’s another classic NES character that deserves a spot. Mega man, Simon, and Pac-Man made it in, so it’s good for Ryu to be in as well.

We already have a Ryu. Roy and Roy get a pass because Roy is an alternate costume and Roy isn't.

 

I want Sharena from Fire Emblem Heroes

 

We already have a Ryu. Roy and Roy get a pass because Roy is an alternate costume and Roy isn't.

Leave this website.

 

My bets on the last two fighters are Crash Bandicoot/Jill Valentine or Crash Bandicoot/Namco rep (Agumon, Klonoa or Lloyd).