Reggie said only franchises that are not represented by Smash will be in after the Joker reveal. Using this info, we can safely assume all characters will be 3rd party similar to the newcomers of Smash Wii U. There aren’t any Nintendo franchises that are unrepresented to my knowledge outsid3 of the heavily forgotten Endless Ocean, so I’m going to say Nintendo franchises are off the table.
To add on to my DLC predictions, before Joker’s reveal there was an article with Sakurai where he talks about his love of the Persona series, particularly 5. He loved the style and used it for Ultimate. Using the fact that a Sakurai article hinted at a character, I will now factor those translated articles from Source Gaming into my predictions.
So here they are
1) Steve (Minecraft) - Steve was already likely, but I feel Joker’s reveal only heightened his chances. I believe we should start from the beginning though. Minecraft was fully released in 2011 and quickly became one of the biggest indie titles of all time, and the second highest selling game of all time. Steve, the Creeper, and the franchise are gaming icons at this point, being recognizable to both children and adults. During the time frame of the wake of the release of Smash 4, Steve was heavily requested by the younger Nintendo crowd on Nintendo’s social media platform, Miiverse. In 2015, Minecraft would be one of the very few triple A releases on Nintendo’s struggling Wii U console. Now to put it into perspective, Steve was a modern gaming icon, requested heavily for Smash, and one of the few to help Nintendo in their dark days (one of which being Bayonetta). Now go into the modern year, Nintendo heavily advertises Minecraft with spotlights in Switch online and a custom 3DS. To say the least, Nintendo seems to be aiding in Minecraft’s success.
Now you might say, what else? Well, similar to Joker, Minecraft was one of the very few games Sakurai talked about heavily enjoying in the translated articles. If we are to believe that Sakurai’s pieces on different titles are hints at Smash, than Minecraft should not be left out of the running. Add the Vergeben leaks, as he basically got everything right, and I’d say Steve has the most solid opportunity for Smash as Minecraft does not have any material in Smash.....yet?
2) Sans (Undertale) - Sans has been joked about for a while, but could he actually be possible? Yes...
Similar to Minecraft, Undertale was an indie that got popular overnight. Released in 2015, it took the internet by storm as many Nintendo fans and general gamers latched onto the game and its Earthbound inspired style. With Undertale’s popularity, there were requests for Smash. To add more to Undertale’s story it released on Nintendo Switch with a huge announcement in September of this year.
Other factors are Undertale’s extreme popularity in Japan playing into its viability for Smash. Japan literally has concerts for Undertale, so I’d say its popular enough for Smash.
Two factors make Undertale extremely likely though. One being Nintendo’s random take down of a fan made Smash Ultimate Undertale theme. This could be a mistake, but it’s still weird as Nintendo uploads their soundtracks to YouTube so they can strike any video with them, so Undertale shouldn’t be listed. The other factor, similar to Minecraft, is the fact that Sakurai has a full article up that details his love for the game, so maybe an Undertale rep has a chance after all.
3) Doom Slayer / Valult Boy (DOOM / Fallout) - Bethesda has now become more open with Nintendo, so I feel a character could potentially be coming our way. Bethesda has recently been loving the Switch, filling it with their games such as Fallout Shelter, Skyrim, Doom, Wolfenstein, and soon Doom Eternal. Bethesda has shown to be one of the very few companies to really back the Switch and make sure games release on it. While it is great to see Bethesda putting content on Nintendo systems, does that really equal a character? Maybe... Bethesda recently came out with an article where they went over their relationship with Nintendo. At the end of the article, the interviewer asks, “did you guys talk about Smash Bros.?” Bethesda then responds, “Hell Yes!” While this doesn’t necessarily mean a character, I think it’d be good to take note of as if the DLC is all 3rd party, than Bethesda does seem to be in the running. I would assume Doom Slayer would be the character due to Doom being the big release for Switch, but Vault Boy is more of an icon for Bethesda, so I can see it going either way.
4) Dragon Quest character / Travis Touchdown - These two characters I feel will fight for the final spot. To go over them, I’ll take them on Individually
Dragon Quest - Square is being unreasonable behind the scenes when it comes to Ultimate. From what we’ve seen they seemed like they were trying to restrict Cloud. Why would this help Dragon Quest’s chances then, well it comes down to Square wanting money. Sakurai needed to bring Cloud back, but since Cloud can’t make DLC money for Square, they want another character. This isn’t surprising seeing how Square usually throws in their characters as DLC as it makes them a quick buck, but basically Sakurai’s and Nintendo’s hands were probably tied to make Square another character so Cloud can return. Other factors are of course Verge who has already gone on record saying Dragon Quest will receive a character, so this may be our fourth DLC. As a bonus, Dragon Quest is pretty closely associated with Nintendo, or at least more so than FF or Kingdom Hearts, due to its numerous crossovers with Mario.
Travis Touchdown - Nintendo made No More Heroes a huge reveal during the indie direct, so clearly Nintendo thinks highly of the franchise. Nintendo is also fighting off the kid image, so having another M-rated character in their big crossover fighter would certainly help as we only have two at the moment. No More Heroes is also loved by Nintendo fans, and Travis has been requested for awhile. Throw in his creator wanting the character to join, and I feel that Travis may potentially have a chance to promote his new game.
