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What if Smash Ultimate was the very first in the series? Design a roster!

How big do you think the roster would be?

  • Less than 15 fighters

  • 16 - 25

  • 26 - 35

  • 36 - 45

  • 46 - 55

  • More than 56 fighters


Results are only viewable after voting.

WertQuadNine

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
478
Location
Yoshi's egg

Today I pose an interesting question: What if Smash Ultimate was the very first game in the series?

By that, I mean what if Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, Smash Wii U, and Smash 3DS NEVER existed? What if E3 2018 was our first glance at a unique fighting game that brought together Nintendo's most iconic characters into an all-out free for all battle? There would obviously be quite a lot of differences, but I think we should just focus on the roster itself. So with that, let's design what we think the roster would look like!

A few "rules"
- Just pretend every other Nintendo game has been released without any differences. Smash has definitely influenced behind the door discussions on other games, but let's just ignore that and pretend everything else has been the same. (Ex: Fire Emblem still came to the west, Link, Inkling, and Animal Crossing characters still came to MK8, etc.)
- Pretend the "the development plans finished in 2015" comment doesn't exist and just think any game release could be represented
- Don't just make a wishlist, attempt to think like Nintendo Execs would while designing
- Besides that, everything is free reign, go nuts!!!​


My own roster

I know most people probably came to this thread with the idea to create their own, but for now, I'll start with mine to get things going.
So the basic theme I went with was that they would want to include as many franchises as possible. With that note...

Mario Series
With the franchise being so iconic, I think they'd want to include more for Mario than anything else. I think the Brawl roster (minus Wario) is the ideal way to have a large number of reps while still only including iconic characters. Mario is Mario. Luigi is THE player 2 in gaming, Peach is THE princess, and Bowser is THE iconic villain. Also, Yoshi is his own franchise so ofc he would be there too.

Zelda Series
The main 3 is likely all we'd see. No Shiek and no toon/young link. I think they'd keep the fighters all their same iterations from Smash Ultimate so they each cover a segment of Zelda history.

Metroid Series
Likely a weird choice to include Dark Samus, but I think it makes sense if this was the first game. Nintendo treats Metroid like a major franchise so they would probably want 2 reps. Ridley would be deemed "too big" (until fans beg enough that they add him), and Dark Samus would probably be an easy clone.

Kirby Series
Probably would ditch Meta Knight to keep each series smaller. Maybe even Dedede too, but I think he deserves a spot.

Pokemon Series
This one is super hard. SOOO many choices, but I think Pikachu, Poke Trainer, and Mewtwo are the most likely. I know this only includes gen 1, but maybe the trainer would use starters from other generations or something. Maybe Lucario too, but idk

Fire Emblem
This one was hard too. Marth has a legacy in Fire Emblem games so I think he'd still be added, but the other rep is pretty hard. I put Corrin since it's the newest game, but maybe Chrom since Awakening re-vitalized the series. Tough one.

Star Fox
Just Fox. I think Star Fox is a pretty important series, but I don't think Falco or Wolf would be added due to Zero's recent failure.

Donkey Kong
Probably no Diddy. I mean he's an obvious addition for a sequel, but not sure about the base game.

Earthbound / F-Zero
I really doubt Captain Falcon or Ness would appear despite being in Smash 64. They were relevant at the time, but now no one would know who Captain Falcon is. As for Earthbound, I think most of those fans came from Smash, so they just wouldn't exist in this alternate timeline.

I'll work on the rest later. :)
 
Last edited:

justPUNT3R

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 6, 2018
Messages
75
Location
Narnia
I'd take out Rex, the chorus kids, Dark Samus, and Exitebike racer, and yeah, maybe add Falco and Charizard
 

osby

Smash Obsessed
Joined
Apr 25, 2018
Messages
23,460
I don't think we'd get Ganondorf if Ultimate was the first game. He's been absent from the franchise for a good decade.
 

OhMyBanana54

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 26, 2018
Messages
78
Switch FC
SW-1628-5145-3801
Here’s what I think the starting roster would look like:
:ultmario::ultdk::ultlink::ultkirby::ultpikachu::ultshulk::ultlucina::ultinkling:
And here’s what I think the entire roster would look like:
:ultmario::ultdk::ultlink::ultyoshi::ultkirby::ultpikachu::ultshulk::ultlucina::ultinkling:
:ultluigi::ultduckhunt::ultlittlemac::ultpeach::ultbowser::ultzelda::ultganondorf::ultlucario::ultgreninja:
:ultsamus::ultpit::ultkingdedede::ultfox::ultwario::ultmetaknight::ultdiddy::ultpokemontrainer::ultolimar:

Each row is sorted by age order and my default roster is what I imagine an original eight would be like now.

Making this made me realize how glad I am that everyone is here finally.
 

Grizzexploder

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
148
rip Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff
rip all the obscure characters and some of the third parties
 
Last edited:

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
The problem with that is those original characters aren't the mascots of Nintendo anymore
They never were mascots of Nintendo, except for Mario, hence his title as "Mr. Nintendo". When was the last time Ice Climbers was relevant? Mr. Game & Watch? R.O.B.? What about Fire Emblem? It only became popular in the U.S. because Marth and Roy were introduced in SSBM. Prior to SSBM, FE wasn't released outside of Japan. If anyone wouldn't appear in SSBU if it was the first game, it'd probably be Fox, Captain Falcon, and Ness. Who they'd be replaced with is unknown. But clearly one doesn't need to be relevant in order to be introduced.
 

OhMyBanana54

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 26, 2018
Messages
78
Switch FC
SW-1628-5145-3801
rip Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff
rip all the obscure characters and some of the third parties
It sucks don't get me wrong but I feel like those three would not have been chosen if the game were made today.
 

Impa4Smash

Smash Lord
Joined
Jun 22, 2018
Messages
1,630
I’m gonna say a more conventional fighting game roster, reflecting popular and relevant franchises now.

:ultmario::ultluigi::ultyoshi::ultpeach::ultbowser::ultdk::ultdiddy::ultlink::ultzelda::ultganondorf::ultkirby::ultkingdedede::ultmarth::ultrobin:ultpit::ultolimar::ultfox::ultpikachu::ultlucario::ultpokemontrainer::ultsamus::ultridley::ultwario::ultvillager::ultshulk::ultinkling:
 

Cetus

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Messages
190
:ultmario::ultluigi::ultbowser::ultpeach::ultyoshi::ultfox::ultpikachu::ultpokemontrainer::ultlink::ultzelda::ultkirby::ultmarth::ultshulk::ultvillager::ultsamus::ultinkling:

I'd see it more centered around the most iconic poster boys to their series. With maybe a wrench thrown into the mix like Jigglypuff for 64 was.
 

KMDP

Smash Legend
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
12,199
Well, the answer is actually quite easy. What are the best selling (and contemporary) Nintendo franchises?

With that in mind, I think it would look something like this.
Reboot Roster.png
 
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