I'll expand on this a little, since I have a lot more free time today. My goal is to have 100 numbered characters (not including echo fighters), and my current character count stands at 91 (Smash Ultimate's character selection + every character I added = 82 + 9 = 91), so I have 9 more characters I can add.
- Shovel Knight - Even before his popularity exploded during the Smash Ballot era, the idea of Shovel Knight in Smash always seemed cool to me. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about him being a fighter in this day and age, since his Assist Trophy was satisfying enough for me and I can already play as him in a more mechanically sound platform fighter (I like Smash Ultimate more than Rivals of Aether due to what it accomplishes, but RoA is significantly better in terms of balance and design), but seeing as I have 9 open slots, I don't see a reason not to add him. I considered The Knight from Hollow Knight as an indie rep due to being just as easy to translate into Smash and coming from a game that I think is better overall (that isn't an insult to Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight is just that good), but the logical part of my brain decided to go for the indie rep that has more legacy and popularity within the Smash community. Also, whether Shovel Knight is playable or not, the fact there are no songs from the game is criminal.
- Rhythm Heaven character - I think the fact Sakurai has stayed completely silent on the lack of a Rhythm Heaven character in Smash is quite jarring, seeing as he acknowledged many other characters who were on the table at one point or another. But we know a RH character was more than likely planned for Sm4sh but was scrapped for one reason or another, and if I were in the director's chair, I'd make sure to rectify that. A Rhythm Heaven character would be very similar to Mr. Game & Watch in the sense that it'd use attacks based on the many minigames from across the series' history, and would have a rhythm mechanic on top of that.
That's 93 characters so far. Now for the last 7 characters I'm not entirely sure about:
- Deku Link/Goron Link/Zora Link - Like I said earlier, I usually don't add reps for the sake of adding reps. However, it seems like the Smash community really wants another Zelda character that isn't a clone, so I decided to pull from the last Zelda game I played and just give Young Link 3 more transformations that would all play completely differently. Deku Link would be one of the lightest characters in the game with a lot of focus on aerial combat, Goron Link would be a heavyweight with many powerful attacks, and Zora Link would... exist as well, since you can't have Deku Link and Goron Link without having Zora Link. Uniquely, it wouldn't be able to drown until it hits 100%, even if I'm not sure how useful that would be. Also, all 4 forms would share a Final Smash that's similar to Young Link's current one, except he transforms into Fierce Deity Link. I know it's not the Zelda character people have in mind since it's still just 3 more forms of Link, but that's just what you get when you want another character from a series and have no clear frontrunner in mind.
- Officer Howard - Officer Howard is the protagonist of one of Nintendo's newer IPs, Astral Chain. Both male and female versions are playable, but as I haven't played Astral Chain yet, I still don't entirely know how they'd play. From what I can tell, Howard is pretty much a stand user that has a physical chain-like link to their stand. That sounds like a very cool character concept, but seeing as Sakurai couldn't make Rex and Pyra work I have some doubts as to how one can make this one work. I'm putting them here for now but they could easily get booted later.
- Crash Bandicoot - Crash seems to be one of the most popular characters in the speculation scene these days. Even before that, I thought the idea of having Crash fight Sonic and Mario was really cool, but I haven't actually played his games yet other than the first game, which I dropped because it's a horribly designed game. I hear it gets better after that, so for now Crash is in a bit of a limbo here as I wouldn't mind seeing him, but I don't really have an attachment to him.
- Sora - Apparently, I completely underestimated just how popular this character is back in the day, even though he was in Smash Flash 2 which I technically played before I ever owned a Nintendo system. I haven't played Kingdom Hearts yet either, but my friend convinced me so I guess I'll do it one day. The one concern most people seem to have is the Disney characters, but I think you can get away with only having Donald and Goofy help Sora with his Final Smash and having spirits for them and Mickey. Or, if you don't want to open that can of worms, you can exclude them altogether and few people would complain. I think it would be kinda funny if they were in, personally, and it's the most non-video game presence I can tolerate.
- Master Chief - And now for the last third-party character from a series I haven't played,. With Microsoft already having two characters in the game, I really don't see why one more wouldn't be able to make it in, and Master Chief is the biggest gaming icon they have. Not only that, but unlike Steve and Banjo, Master Chief is a true Xbox icon, which would be insane to see in Smash. It would truly make Smash the definitive gaming crossover. Like I said, I still haven't played Halo, but he has tons of sci-fi guns and a cool energy sword so I know of some moveset potential. I'll get back to you on him after I try out the Halo Infinite multiplayer once that drops, since it is free.
And that's the roster. In case you couldn't keep up:
Aaaaand it's still one of the most vanilla rosters out there. Oh well. Do note that Young Link's transfomations don't show up in the character select screen, though you can choose your default transformation when selecting your character.
There's 100 characters and 11 echo fighters, so 111 characters in total. This roster isn't grounded in reality at all, so I could totally add more if I wanted to, but I think it's a good number to cap it off. I'm already pretty content with what we have even if I think it can be improved, so adding more for the sake of adding more just doesn't feel right to me.
I should also note that this is still subject to change.
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