Inspired by
@Polarthief's list, I have decided to write-up our very own list of circumstantial evidence that may point to Crash Bandicoot getting included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as I feel a lot of substantial evidence has cropped up in the past few weeks, so I decided that now would be a great time to make this list. Everything included in this list will include anything with an unconfirmed status, or something that has yet to be disproven.
I just wanna iterate quickly that I am well aware none of the stuff on this List could mean anything, and obviously nothing is gonna point to Crash being 100% in until he's confirmed, but I'm making this list to have all this stuff all in one place instead of people misremembering a leak or piece of information.
With all that said and done, here is the list:
- N. Sane Trilogy/Nitro-Fueled is on Switch!: Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled are available on the Nintendo Switch. While "new games" never usually mean a character is coming to Smash, it DOES mean that this is a franchise that is fresh on Nintendo's minds, and it could be great third-party promotion for the Switch.
- Additionally, when they announced the N. Sane Trilogy in the March 2018 Direct, the tagline reads, GAMING ICON CRASHES NINTENDO SWITCH (Thanks to @mynameisBlade for mentioning this). This shows that even Nintendo is aware of just how iconic and important Crash was back in the 90's, and Nintendo may wanna capitalize off of that in the biggest video game crossover ever.
- Also, on January 18, 2021, Nintendo uploaded a video detailing some of the major franchises on the Nintendo Switch. The only third party franchises that made it in to that video were Crash, Spyro, and to a somewhat lesser extent Sonic, though he only appears during the Mario & Sonic segment. This proves yet again that Nintendo acknowledges Crash is a huge iconic franchise, and it would be such a missed opportunity to not include him in Smash.
- Crash 4 Leaked For Switch: Crash Bandicoot 4 has been leaked for the Nintendo Switch. Using inspect element, their is leftover code that can be found for the inevitable Switch version. Again, this doesn't necessarily means Crash is confirmed for Smash, but it does mean that Crash is becoming a big third-party franchise for the Switch.
- Activision Pushing Crash As A Gaming Icon Again: Activision has been going all-out with trying to bring Crash back in to the spotlight again. We have been getting LOADS of games and merchandise ever since the N. Sane Trilogy and its very likely that Activision will use this opportunity to bring Crash in to the one and only video game hall of fame to duke it out with the many other gaming icons and legends.
- Mii Costume Leak: Someone leaked a bunch of Mii Costumes that have come in to fruition. This list includes:
- Goemon
- Chocobo
- Mallow\Smithy
- Protoman
- Team Rocket Grunt
- As you can see, this leak has correctly leaked three Mii Costumes, and Goemon and Team Rocket Grunt seem like near impossible predictions to make. What's even more interesting, however, is that this leaker also leaked Crash as Challenger Pack 5. Now obviously that didn't happen as Byleth took that spot, but as Steve proves, leaks can take a long time until they come in to fruition, as TONS of leaks existed for Steve ever since base game, until Steve was finally added to the game, and the same case could apply here, and this leaker must have gotten the timing wrong. Also apparently, this leaker later claimed that Crash is not CP5 and he is in fact coming later on, which greatly strengthens the idea that leaks can take a long time until they pan out.
- Leaked Activision Document: According to the leak, Activision has a five-year plan for the Crash franchise, including the company's plans for the marsupial. In the document, it claims that Activision plans on getting Crash in Smash by 2021. I've seen some people wary about this leak, but I'm actually inclined to believe that this leak is real considering how bad Activision is at securing leaks (And besides, Crash just makes so much sense to include). However, here is the full list of Activision's plans:
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017)
- Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (2019)
- Crash On The Run (Mobile Game)
- Crash Bandicoot 4 (2020)
- Crash In Smash (2021)
- Japanese Popularity: Canadian Guy Eh made a pretty good video detailing Crash's Japanese popularity. For a Western character, his popularity in Japan is a pretty big deal and considering Smash is a game made by Japanese developers, this means that Japan will have no issue recognizing who Crash is. Here is a few noteworthy things in favor of Crash's Japanese Popularity:
- Smash 2 Poll: I did a huge write-up about this quite some time ago. Their was a poll Nintendo held in 1999 for potential characters the fans wanted to see in a potential sequel for Smash. In that poll, Crash managed to make it to the list. As I pointed out in that write-up, Crash is the only video game character to not have any sort of presence in Ultimate, and considering this poll proved that Crash was a popular request even back then, maybe the goal here is to finally wrap up that poll by including the last remaining video game character in their.
- Sakurai Crash References: On October 14, Sakurai tweeted a picture of two timers with certain times on them. Naturally, the community goes wild and reads in to Sakurai's post to see if its a hint towards something. Originally people have thought that the clock hands were supposed to tell us dates for when our next updates could fall on, until people have been beginning to notice that the times in Sakurai's photo are the exact same times on both male and female N. Tropy's heads in Crash 4. Sakurai also made another potential Crash reference on November 7 showcasing Fox running away from a crate with an exploding Creeper on top of it, which looks very reminiscent to Crash running away from a crate with a Nitro crate on top of it. Obviously, I do realize these are probably just innocent references and nothing more, but I still decided to throw these on here because Sakurai has teased things in the past and its always possible that these could be a tease. We just need to wait and see for this one.
- Activision's Approval Of Crash In Smash: This is probably something that has been slept on for a while, but Activision have actually gave the greenlight for Crash being in Smash. In an Activision live stream, a fan asked them if they would allow Crash to be in Super Smash Bros., and they said that it is completely okay. Now, I'm not sure of the position of these two specific individuals and if they would have any say on Crash actually getting in, but this is something I'm throwing on here anyways.
- Donkey Kong And Bowser Are In Skylanders: Donkey Kong and Bowser are playable characters in Skylanders Superchargers. That also means that we have Nintendo-owned characters in an Activision published game. This shows that Nintendo and Activision have a fairly decent relationship than most people give them credit for, and since Nintendo allowed Activision to put their characters in their game, it only makes sense for Activision to allow Nintendo to add their characters in to Smash, including Crash. (Thank you to @magiciandude for reminding me about this).
- Charles Zembillas' "Something New on the Way": Charles Zembillas, a concept artist for the Crash Bandicoot series, recently wrote in a blog post that Activision has striked up a deal with another "heavyweight" for a new Crash project that is in the works. Now obviously, this could mean a number of different things, but the way the post was worded seems to me like Activision is working with another company, and what other company would Activision team up with other than with Nintendo to get Crash in Smash? We may need to wait and see for this one, but Crash being in Smash is a huge possibility for that unknown Crash project.
- Crash Bandicoot Nintendo Switch Controllers: As pointed out by
ChunkySlugger72
, [thank you!], Nintendo released Crash Bandicoot-themed Nintendo Switch controllers as promotion for the Crash N-Sane Trilogy. This is important to note because Nintendo rarely manufactures literal products to promote third-party games, and even some of the biggest gaming icons don't even get this treatment. To me, this sounds like Crash Bandicoot is a franchise Nintendo wants to promote the heck out of, and it could very well all lead to Crash getting included in Smash.
- Concert Leak: On January 9, 2021, an anonymous user on 4Chan posted a leak containing information on an upcoming orchestra event Nintendo plans on hosting in 2022. In the leak, it contains a list of music that they plan on orchestrating along with three songs that are supposed to coincide with the last few fighters. What's interesting about this leak, however, is that this appears to be the only leak to correctly predict Xenoblade 2 characters (Pyra and Mythra) as Fighter #9, as Counterattack - Xenoblade 2 is listed as a song right under One-Winged Angel. However, N. Sanity Beach from Crash Bandicoot is also listed as a song, suggesting that Crash is in Smash and that he is even planned to be next. I would personally take this leak with a grain of salt as it could just be a lucky guess, but this is an interesting leak nonetheless and it could very well mean good news for Crash's chances of appearing in Smash.
In my opinion, Crash has such an absolutely amazing chance of getting in this game. He is one of the last remaining icons from the 90's to have yet to get included, and he feels missing from the roster. This is easily the best chance Crash has ever had and I am 99% sure Crash is coming and I'll be devastated if he isn't coming because I am that sure. Mark my words.
CRASH WILL BE IN SMASH.
Also, feel free to let me know if I missed something by tagging me or simply telling me. I plan on continuing to add to this list whenever new information or evidence pops up so I will always be happy to do so.