• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

Why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Should Be Re-Released

ssbu.jpg

Disclaimer: This piece is purely the opinion of its author, and does not reflect the position of Smashboards or its affiliates.

Last week, I talked about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the last game in the series. For those who haven't read yet, read that article to preface this one first. For those who have read it, strap in and check out part two.

I have one answer: Re-release Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but keep expanding upon its ridiculous amount of content. The only problem in bringing all the content back and adding new content is the third-party content, but beyond those negotiations, I believe the rest of this should be doable.

1. Updated ports and DLC.

Legal problems are possible, but beyond that, the game could easily keep expanding through Downloadable Content. For fans currently satisfied by the new Super Smash Bros. content, this could be the ticket in. Nintendo could make a killing through doing this as well. Imagine, say, five characters and 10 stages charged at 30 U.S. Dollars / 25.6 Euro / 3350 Yen / Google for your country of choice.

Like every company, Nintendo doesn’t do DLC perfectly, but they’ve yet to disappoint in many cases. The Downloadable Content for Fire Emblem Warriors, Pokken Tournament, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, and even the most recent Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 gave a very good run for its money.

The DLC wouldn’t have to be restricted to just new multiplayer content either; it could entail new single player content or new modes such as a physics mode replicating the other games. There’s a lot of possibilities, and they all look exciting.

2. This model has been proven to work with other games and sports.

World of Warcraft subsists on expansions with no sequel in sight. League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, and even StarCraft releases are typically given some room to breathe. Every single Pokémon can be obtained in the Pokémon games!

Sports don’t really have sequels. Ruleset changes, sure, but tennis still plays like tennis, soccer still plays like soccer, and you don’t see anyone asking for “Football 2.” Nintendo could push this with Ultimate if there were a team dedicated to regularly updating it with new content.

3. Eventually, updates will have to end, and that’s okay.

They’ll eventually have to stop poking around with the game’s development. There’s always the dream of every single character being viable, but with 60+ characters, it’s a pipe dream at best. Even Project M had to stop updates eventually -The best way I can see these updates working is in big waves.

4. Nintendo has already proved capable of this model.

Splatoon and Splatoon 2 both updated with free content for over a year. Splatoon 2’s updates are on the horizon to end this December, which makes the lifespan of the game from launch to content complete a year and a half already. If Splatoon can succeed under this business model, why can’t Smash?

5. It’s the best compromise.

Which would you rather get? A Smash game that ends up abandoned in updates after a year and then a new one for the new console cycle, or a Smash game that flourishes as long as possible until the developers have an idea on how to reboot it (if ever)? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may be the golden ticket to Nintendo really breaking into esports, as well as attempting to create their own game stylized like other regularly-updated titles, such as World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and Dota 2.

This will (probably) be the last part in this article series.

Author's Notes: What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Would you be okay if Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just continued adding on content forever? Let us know in the comments below!
 
Lucas "Thirdkoopa" Guimaraes

Comments

Honestly? I agree. I really don’t like the idea of a “reboot” with less characters, never have. Especially if it means fan favorites will get the boot.

The Switch has proven very successful and it’s possible we’ll see DLC seasons throughout the Switch’s life span, but if the next console after Switch is a 4K capable system, I would be perfectly satisfied if Ultimate were ported, given a nice coat of 4K paint, and threw in perhaps a few more characters that weren’t in Ultimate, whether previously in non-playable form or absent altogether. Maybe some modes too.

Ultimate is the pinnacle; only thing to do from here is continue to build on the formula.
 
Last edited:
Honestly I can see Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ending up like Super Street Fighter II and it's remakes. It truly was the perfect Street fighter, and this truly is the Ultimate Smash Bros.

Honestly, I believe the first re-release would likely be Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC for the 3DS game. With a re-released version that has a backwards compatible mode with the multiplayer scene for 3DS.
 
Last edited:
People said the same thing before E3, when it was thought that the new game would be a port of the Wii U game. Since the Wii U game already had most of the characters and added new ones periodically as DLC, some people thought that they could just use Smash 4 as a platform to continually add new characters and content, without having to worry about rebalancing for a new game/cutting down the roster.

With Ultimate, that potential is even better. Now we do have all the characters, and most of the stages, so really you could just take this game and add new characters and features to it forever. Especially since the only old content to be added at this point are the handful of stages that were left behind, but any DLC characters would be totally new. My biggest excitement is for DLC alt costumes, since so many characters lack ones that they should have, so hopefully those can be worked on with ease after release.

It probably won't happen, though, because Sakurai and Nintendo would rather do something new than just keep updating the same game forever. Ultimate will probably get some more expansive DLC support than Smash 4 did, but I doubt it'll be indefinite, and I doubt Ultimate will get ported to any future systems.
 
If this truly IS the final game in the series like Sakurai is saying (And I’m sad to say this, but he sounds like he really means it this time, as opposed to Brawl and 4), then making it a game with support that lasts for god-knows-how-long is the perfect approach. We not only have characters from every character in the franchise (From top-tier terrors like Bayonetta and Diddy Kong to lower-tier underdogs like Pichu and Ganondorf), as well as fan-favorite newcomers (Inkling and K. Rool) and surprise additions (Ridley and Simon) in addition to other first-party and third-party characters from other games like ARMS, Dark Souls, Golden Sun, DOOM, etc., we also get loads of new content possibly in the form of new game modes, Trophies, items, Assist Trophies and Pokéball Pokemon. If this is Smash’s swan song, then this is the way to make it count the most!
 
People said the same thing before E3, when it was thought that the new game would be a port of the Wii U game. Since the Wii U game already had most of the characters and added new ones periodically as DLC, some people thought that they could just use Smash 4 as a platform to continually add new characters and content, without having to worry about rebalancing for a new game/cutting down the roster.

It probably won't happen, though, because Sakurai and Nintendo would rather do something new than just keep updating the same game forever. Ultimate will probably get some more expansive DLC support than Smash 4 did, but I doubt it'll be indefinite, and I doubt Ultimate will get ported to any future systems.
I'm more of a fan of Super Smash Bros Ultimate being released for the 3DS. Just subtract all the stereoscopic 3D graphics, custom moves, Ice Climbers (sadly removed) and a 60fps 400p portable version of Ultimate is playable on the 3DS consoles. And unlike Smash Ultimate, the character select escreen can include a scrolling page and have echo fighters stacked on top by default. As well as some of the character's movesets being replaced by past variants in order to provide differentiation, the desire to have both copies of the game, and for console limitations.
Just give us Daisy, Simon and Richter Belmont, Wolf, Young Link, Pichu, Squirtle and Ivysaur as separate characters, add any past stages from the 3DS and N64 versions remove any stages and characters from Ultimate that are too difficult to port. Include any DLC stages from the Smash for 3DS version, and most DLC characters free, except Bayonetta would be a Switch exclusive character due to her lag. Mii fighters would have one unique moveset, separate from Ultimate, for each class of fighter, instead of custom movesets, and would always be the game profile Mii assigned to 8 different colored outfits like all other fighters.

Also, Let's hope they can make Shovel Knight, Crash Bandicoot, Coco bandicoot, and Spyro playable in the 3DS version.
 
Last edited:
Honestly they should just keep supporting and updating Smash Ultimate as long as the Switch lives.

(And add Paper Mario to the game while they're at it)
 
so you think they should just continuously port the same game to every console they make? that would not go down well
 
so you think they should just continuously port the same game to every console they make? that would not go down well
No, just the next 3DS system. But just designing the game better than Smash for 3DS, honestly, Smash for 3DS was ruined and made impossible to beat now that they adjusted the character gameplay mechanics without adjusting the challenges to unlock characters.

It's like you literally have to pay extra to download Bayonetta just to unlock all the characters and stages and outfits.
 
Last edited:
so you think they should just continuously port the same game to every console they make? that would not go down well
Yeah sure why not.
It worked for Super Street Fighter II, did you see how popular the Switch version was, sales didn't go as far as they had hoped, but that was due to the console being new, and Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 being a primary sellpoint.

And the over-advertisement of 1, 2, Switch was annoying, which I believe 1, 2, Switch should have a re-release on the same cartridge as Nintendo Labo
 
Last edited:
It worked for Super Street Fighter II, did you see how popular the Switch version was, sales didn't go as far as they had hoped, but that was due to the console being new, and Breath of the Wild being a primary sellpoint.
surely that hits on a nostalgia factor that modern games cant recreate
 
I'm against this idea purely because my most wanteds are assist trophies/echoes and a sequential release ala Street Fighter would mean they would stay that way, forever.
 
I'm against this idea purely because my most wanteds are assist trophies/echoes and a sequential release ala Street Fighter would mean they would stay that way, forever.
What if they’re not, though? What if (at least for the AT characters) they get an upgrade solely for the 4K Remaster or whatever?

I kinda want this for some Final Smash characters too, namely Kumatora, Fiora and Bass...
 
Last edited:
What if they’re not, though? What if (at least for the AT characters) they get an upgrade solely for the 4K Remaster or whatever?
Oh yeah that'd be great...

But I doubt they're going to take out content for a game to put in even more different content. That's far too much work and wasted effort. Especially when it's basically just the same game but with an expansion pack.
The premier philosophy of Smash is if it aint broke, don't fix it.
 
Last edited:
Oh yeah that'd be great...

But I doubt they're going to take out content for a game to put in even more different content. That's far too much work. Especially when it's basically just the same game but with an expansion pack.
The premier philosophy of Smash is if it aint broke, don't fix it.
They could replace the upgraded Assist Trophies with new ones. I.e. if Ashley were upgraded for the 4K Remaster, either another Wario character or another character who could do what she did as an AT would take her AT’s place. For the latter I could see Lip doing that if Lip’s stick were removed, but on the flip side that would really suck for Lip fans...

Idk really
 
I'm against this idea purely because my most wanteds are assist trophies/echoes and a sequential release ala Street Fighter would mean they would stay that way, forever.
Not entirely, Sakurai says he's against using the term "remake" to describe any Smash game. Meaning any games in the future headed by Sakurai will indeed be new Smash Games. Even if it's a port of Ultimate to the 3DS you'd guarantee Sakurai would probably be making cuts to the characters roster and replacing them with simpler characters like Shovel Knight. And also giving other characters new movesets, for example, we may see Waluigi become Daisy's echo in full sportswear.

They could replace the upgraded Assist Trophies with new ones. I.e. if Ashley were upgraded for the 4K Remaster...

Idk really
4K... seriously, 4K... anyone with a brain knows that 4K only makes a difference in split-screen gaming that's played a large screen Television. But when everyone's sharing the same screen like in tennis and fighting games, it doesn't really add anything to the table. (Granted, the Xenoblade Chronicles stage and the Great Cave offensive stages in 8-player smash may be the only exception to the split screen rule)
 
Last edited:
4K... seriously, 4K... anyone with a brain knows that 4K only makes a difference in split-screen gaming and only when played a large screen Television, when everyone's sharing the same screen like in tennis and fighting games, it doesn't really add anything to the table. (Granted, the Xenoblade Chronicles stage and the Great Cave offensive stages in 8-player smash may be the only exception to the split screen dilema)
When I said “4K remaster” I was talking in the sense of assuming the successor to the Switch would be 4K ready, if you read my first post here you’d understand that
 
This is not going to be the final game in the series; just like your favorite band says there's no chance they'll ever get back together but do a 30-year reunion, Ultimate will not be the last "new Smash game".

I do hope there's DLC if some crazy-requested character like Geno, Bandana Dee, Dixie, Isaac or Banjo gets left out; even though this is the fanservice game, I feel like at least one of those characters is going to be left out... probably Bandana or Banjo.
 
Lol at the comment of not balancing 60+ characters. He mentions dota2 which is game with over 117 characters all of which are constantly tweaked on a two week basis to get balance. Smash can easily balance a large roster with enough play and data over a long period of time. Dota2 is something like 9 years old and they are still updating it like it was day one. But at this point they're tweaks not wholesale changes.

I agree that the dota2/ league/warcraft is the way to go for smash. 100%. Its just whether nintendo is willing to do it
 
Smash Ultimate re-release sounds good in the future. Just put Meowth/Team Rocket and Toad/Captain Toad in the game as playable fighters and I will never ask Sakurai for anything ever again.
 
Smash Ultimate re-release sounds good in the future. Just put Meowth/Team Rocket and Toad/Captain Toad in the game as playable fighters and I will never ask Sakurai for anything ever again.
Fair, seldom-requested characters (well maybe not Toad so much); I really like the idea of TR with Meowth, Arbok and Weezing a la Pokemon Trainer, and thought Captain Toad was the most likely newcomer for this game, perhaps even more likely than Inkling. There was finally a reason to put Toad in there.
 
This is definitely the most sensible route to go. Think about the controversy and backlash from Melee to Brawl, then apply that to a reboot.
 
There's one thing I'd add on top of this: a re-release may not even be necessary, at least not in the sense of a port for a new console.

It's entirely possible that the idea of discrete console generations may fall to the wayside. We're already seeing what could very well be the beginning phases of this transition happening - the PS4, Xbox 360 and even 3DS received mid-cycle hardware upgrades in the form of the PS4 Pro, Xbox One X and New 3DS, and the Switch seems to be more of a mid-generation replacement for the Wii U than a proper 9th-generation console (and a lot of Nintendo's decisions make more sense in this context, from continuing full support for the 3DS to porting many of the Wii U's best games to the Switch).

That, combined with the increasingly diminishing returns on computing hardware improvements, means we're not gonna need a ninth console generation anytime soon - one of the big driving forces behind developing 8th-generation console hardware was games starting to reach the point where they were running up against the limitations of 7th-generation console hardware. Meanwhile with where we are now, we're just starting to hit the point where a lot of major releases feel like they couldn't have been made on the previous generation's hardware, even with scaled-back graphics, and aside from a couple of Switch and New 3DS titles, we're not even close to the point where it feels like there are games that would absolutely need the mid-generation upgrade.

Of course, that just tells us why we won't see the ninth console generation for a long time, but that mid-generation upgrade cycle presents something interesting - What if the Playstation 5 or the next Xbox is just another direct upgrade to their existing hardware. Nintendo's enough of a wild card that they could have some completely different hardware gimmick, but they could very well release a New Nintendo Switch or whatever around the same time Sony and Microsoft release their next consoles. Either way, it's likely that the future of game consoles could be less a big reset button every 5 to 8 years and more a series of faster, more powerful versions of the same basic device, complete with full backwards compatibility. We could very well end up in a world where six or seven years from now, Nintendo might not even need to port Ultimate to new hardware. Just start bundling any previous paid DLC into the price of the base game every once in a while.
 
Last edited:
I'd rather see it continue to build as opposed to reboot, personally. However, I understand that this can get difficult, since it does rely on a lot of relationships with specific companies who may feel differently about Nintendo a few years down the line. Example being Cloud, but with this roster, that concern goes much wider than that with the Belmonts, Snake and God knows who else (doubly so if we end up seeing Geno and Banjo & Kazooie) coming over the next while. If the next successor to the series does not play a proper game of diplomat, we may see cuts regardless, and that would be tough seeing where we're currently at with the series, which I believe to be its pinnacle at this point.

I guess in some ways, Smash Ultimate is like a huge, medieval Empire that Sakurai has created at his peak as an Emperor, and if history has taught us one thing, big empires are hard to hold together if we consider the 3rd parties and numerous hoops and logistics of smaller IP owners as current subjects under this theoretical Smash Bros Empire.

It will be tougher to expand on what he's done with the series, both physically and figuratively if comparing it to an empire, and if there is truly a new successor to the throne since Sakurai isn't getting any younger, how can they realistically handle this situation and possibly make it better? I can certainly see it causing a divide in the fan-base, that's for sure.

Well, I went pretty deep on that one now, didn't I? I'll take my leave now.
 
Last edited:
The reboot idea that people keep talking about is stupid. Why bother cutting most of the roster (no less/most likely fan-favorite additions) for the sake of making the game feel fresh? If you want it to stay endearing while also building up on it, keeping it thriving for years to come is the best course of action. It's worked for games such as World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, most every Counter-Strike ever, the list could potentially go on.

Of course, there is still legal hurdles, but what can be done about it, really? It's beyond our control, no point in whining about it.
 
I agree that Smash should have a hiatus for at least one console generation after Ultimate. Would Nintendo really do this? Of course not. And I'm guessing highly requested characters such as Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Krystal and Waluigi got cut for a reason. They need characters left out to create hype for a follow-up. I'm certain there are more roster causalities coming up to ensure there's much to be desired so that people will be excited about the next Smash title.
 
D
Oh yeah that'd be great...

But I doubt they're going to take out content for a game to put in even more different content. That's far too much work and wasted effort. Especially when it's basically just the same game but with an expansion pack.
The premier philosophy of Smash is if it aint broke, don't fix it.
Except that they don’t have to.

Just give the AT an unique palette or program the “off button” for the AT once said character (let’s say Bomberman) become playable. Sakurai has never ruled out the possibility of ATs being playable as DLC, let alone re-releases.
I agree that Smash should have a hiatus for at least one console generation after Ultimate. Would Nintendo really do this? Of course not. And I'm guessing highly requested characters such as Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Krystal and Waluigi got cut for a reason. They need characters left out to create hype for a follow-up. I'm certain there are more roster causalities coming up to ensure there's much to be desired so that people will be excited about the next Smash title.
That’s not how Smash works. Each game functions as if they’re the last if we go by Sakurai’s philosophy. Characters aren’t “saved” for the next game, else K. Rool would have been added in Brawl, not Ultimate.
 
Sakurai has never ruled out the possibility of ATs being playable as DLC, let alone re-releases.
Obviously not. That's a ridiculously specific thing for him to confirm or deny.
It's like saying "Well, he never said he wouldn't put Hollywood Actors in the game..." when it should be plainly obvious that's never going to happen.

Especially when he posts things like this:


That paints a pretty clear picture of Sakurai's design philosophy regarding Assist trophies, one that he hasn't mentioned being changed at all within the past 4 years.
 
That’s not how Smash works. Each game functions as if they’re the last if we go by Sakurai’s philosophy. Characters aren’t “saved” for the next game, else K. Rool would have been added in Brawl, not Ultimate.
I disagree. Nothing about Smash 4 seemed like it was a finale. 6 FE fighters and only 2 Star Fox fighters, 2 DKC fighters, 2 Metroid fighters? That would be absurd. And them waiting this long to add K. Rool actually supports the idea that they're indeed saving characters. I would not be surprised at all if they waited until Smash 6 to add Banjo (if they're willing and able to add him at all).

Obviously not. That's a ridiculously specific thing for him to confirm or deny.
It's like saying "Well, he never said he wouldn't put Hollywood Actors in the game..." when it should be plainly obvious that's never going to happen.

Especially when he posts things like this:


That paints a pretty clear picture of Sakurai's design philosophy regarding Assist trophies, one that he hasn't mentioned being changed at all within the past 4 years.
Conflating the addition of non-video game characters with the replacement of ATs with playable versions is honestly a bit of a leap. The latter is by no means absurd. And didn't he say Ridley was too big at one point?
 
Last edited:
D
Obviously not. That's a ridiculously specific thing for him to confirm or deny.
It's like saying "Well, he never said he wouldn't put Hollywood Actors in the game..." when it should be plainly obvious that's never going to happen.

Especially when he posts things like this:


That paints a pretty clear picture of Sakurai's design philosophy regarding Assist trophies, one that he hasn't mentioned being changed at all within the past 4 years.
Getting a Hollywood character in is far more complicated for reasons that should be obvious than upgrading a character they already have a license to playable status.

Also people need to stop treating ATs like they are an immovable rock that Sakurai will never change. Little Mac disproves this as does Dark Samus and Isabelle when she gets in.
I disagree. Nothing about Smash 4 seemed like it was a finale. 6 FE fighters and only 2 Star Fox fighters, 2 DKC fighters, 2 Metroid fighters? That would be absurd. And them waiting this long to add K. Rool actually supports the idea that they're indeed saving characters. I would not be surprised at all if they waited until Smash 6 to add Banjo (if they're willing and able to add him at all).
That’s Sakurai’s own word and I’ll paraphrase, “each game is made as if it is the last”. Just because K. Rool and Ridley weren’t in Smash 4 doesn’t mean Sakurai didn’t believe he did his best for that game. He could have walked away and considered Smash 4 his definitive game and no one would have blamed him. He came back because he believe he could do better with Ultimate and it shows with the product we’re getting. Along with DLC likely being a thing and the likelihood of the ballot affecting the game onto DLC and you’d be hard press to believe that Sakurai is deliberately holding characters back to hype the next game. Ultimate is being made as if it is the last game in the series.

How is a new game supposed to top Ultimate? People can argue for a reboot but right now you’ll be hard press to hype a straight sequel more than the Ultimate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Getting a Hollywood character in is far more complicated for reasons that should be obvious than upgrading a character they already have a license to playable status.
That's missing the point.
The point's that some things are obvious, comfirmed or not.
I could make an infinte amount of analogies, but you should get the point.

Little Mac disproves this as does Dark Samus and Isabelle when she gets in.
Yeah and Little Mac was release for an entirely new game that released 6 years later while Dark Samus is a low-investment echo.
And they only got changed from AT status in big sequels, aka the thing this article is explicitly not wanting.

A supposed smash ultimate "re-release" would keep the existing content the same, not change existing content. We simply don't have precedence for ATs changing status during the course of a game's lifetime so I doubt Sakurai's one to change things that aren't broken.
 
Last edited:
That’s Sakurai’s own word and I’ll paraphrase, “each game is made as if it is the last”. Just because K. Rool and Ridley weren’t in Smash 4 doesn’t mean Sakurai didn’t believe he did his best for that game. He could have walked away and considered Smash 4 his definitive game and no one would have blamed him. He came back because he believe he could do better with Ultimate and it shows with the product we’re getting. Along with DLC likely being a thing and the likelihood of the ballot affecting the game onto DLC and you’d be hard press to believe that Sakurai is deliberately holding characters back to hype the next game. Ultimate is being made as if it is the last game in the series.

How is a new game supposed to top Ultimate? People can argue for a reboot but right now you’ll be hard press to hype a straight sequel more than the Ultimate.
If they actually honestly thought that adding Corrin as a sixth FE rep was a better idea than adding K. Rool then Nintendo is laughably out of touch. Thank God for the ballot, I guess. Personally, I agree that Ultimate is untoppable and that Nintendo should give the series a rest after Ultimate, but it just doesn't sound like something they'd do.
 
D
That's missing the point.
The point's that some things are obvious, comfirmed or not.
I could make an infinte amount of analogies, but you should get the point.

---

Yeah and Little Mac was release for an entirely new game that released 6 years later while Dark Samus is a low-investment echo.
And they only got changed from AT status in big sequels, aka the thing this article is explicitly not wanting.

A supposed smash ultimate "re-release" would keep the existing content the same, not change existing content. We simply don't have precedence for ATs changing status during the course of a game's lifetime so I doubt Sakurai's one to change things that aren't broken.
How is it "obvious" that Assist Trophies can't be upgraded within the same game, even with re-releases? We've only had one case in that ATs weren't upgraded to playable status in the same game, Smash 4. Even then, you have to take into account the Smash Ballot was going to be used for next game and that the Wii U was a dumpster fire they had to move on from. There was no time to consider upgrading an ATs role.

Ultimate's circumstance is entirely different. It's being released on a successful platform and they don't have to rush their contents to prepare for the next game right away. The Switch will be the longest lasting platform for Nintendo which alone allows for the possibility of years of contents. Factor in that the playable characters were decided by early 2016, if the design document in December 2015 is any indication, and Sakurai has a few years to decide if he changes his mind on a character. That's plenty of time for him to add one or two ATs as DLC or in a full re-release. He's not forced to wait for nearly a decade before reconsidering them.

So what if Little Mac got a new game and Dark Samus is an echo? They still got upgraded so they still count. Just because there aren't a million examples doesn't mean they don't happen. We're obviously not getting ten AT promotions in a game, but a few aren't that hard to see as Ultimate will demonstrate. We can't use the past game to say it won't happen this time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'll be honest here, I didn't agree with your first article, so naturally I'm not going to agree with this one either. I see why you, and many others think the game can't possibly go bigger, but the idea of "what else can the game add" has been said for many series for many years and there's always somewhere each series can go. I'm also just being realistic here, we all know there's only one game in the series that's playerbase has stayed strong for over 10 years. For Ultimate to be the last game in the series, it's going to take people being satisfied enough with it's style to keep people from calling for a new one. I get the newer fans tend to feel victimized by the fans of older games that refuse to move on, but if the gameplay doesn't catch/keep people's interest, people are naturally going to want a new game, that's just how it works. For Ultimate to truly be the final Smash game, on top of the massive amount of content, it's going to have to have timeless gameplay, which no one can claim it has just yet.

If it is decided Ultimate is the final game, re-releasing it with some extra content over time is really the only way I expect it to go. Smash is too valuable a franchise for Nintendo to lay it to rest; whenever they decide to move on to the next console Smash is almost sure to follow unless they decide to take a huge risk. As someone who believes the gameplay of each individual game should be more valued, I think at some point Nintendo should make something like the Street Fighter's 30th Anniversary Edition, where each Smash game is available on one disc (or whatever). While it surely won't be an easy task, it's better than just continuing the same version of the game over 10+ years. It satisfies multiple factions of the fanbase, and still makes the game with the mass of content developed that sells it for most people. Seems like an unreasonably large project right now, but so does Ultimate if we're being honest.

All this being said, looking to the future of this series all seems a bit unnecessary as Ultimate hasn't even been released yet, and I know I'm not breaking any new ground by saying this but maybe we should let the game release before crowning it the future of the series. I think people are drinking the new game's Kool-Aid a bit too much, and trying to name it the end-all be-all of the series without even playing it, at least not in any real depth.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom