Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is confirmed to be the next game
in Nintendo’s all-star fighting series. After taking up a large portion of
Nintendo’s E3 presentation this June, we have a lot of details about the next upcoming
Smash game; the most prominent fact being that every character from previous
games in the series is returning for this game, even third-party guest
characters like Solid Snake.
Don’t underestimate Nintendo. Even Konami listens when they
speak.
A few days before the presentation, I posted an article
about how I thought the Smash 5 roster might look. Now that the new game has
been revealed, I’ll compare the currently revealed roster against my
predictions. I said that the game may have about 15 newcomers, so I will go
over each of them, one by one. Keep in mind, as big as the roster is now, it is still
likely not fully revealed, so things may change and some characters may still
have a chance at making it in.
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Captain Toad (Super Mario)
Chance of Inclusion: Low
People have been asking for Toad to be added to Smash as he
is one of the big mainstay Mario characters, but while a generic Toad is
already incorporated into Peach’s moveset as a special move, Captain Toad may
be distinct enough to justify becoming a character. However, it seems Toad is
going to play a more prominent and visible role in Peach’s moveset in Ultimate,
so the inclusion of another separate Toad alongside that seems less likely.
Fawful (Mario & Luigi)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderate
As a prominent and popular character from the Mario &
Luigi RPG series, Fawful would be a good way to represent the Mario spin-off
games along with Yoshi and Wario. However, he is not as major of a character as
may that are already included in the roster, so there is a chance the
developers may not see him as that high of a priority.
King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country)
Chance of Inclusion: High
As a main villain of the Donkey Kong series, which some
would say might be underrepresented, King K. Rool has been a highly requested
character for a long time. With Sakurai and the Smash team finally deciding to
make Ridley a playable character, it seems they may be more willing to try to
make highly requested characters work, which means odds are higher for the king
of the Kremlins.
Takamaru (Mysterious Murasame Castle)
Chance of Inclusion: None
As a character from a series yet to be released outside of
Japan, adding Takamaru to the next Smash Bros. would have been a good way to
kick off a new series for Western Nintendo fans. However, with Takamaru
confirmed to remain as an assist trophy, the developers don’t seem to see it
that way. Seems Mysterious Murasame Castle will remain a Japan-only series for
now.
Impa (The Legend of Zelda)
Chance of Inclusion: (as Echo Fighter) Moderately High/ (as
completely new character) Low
I previously said that Impa would replace Shiek in the
roster for Smash 5, since she is a character who has appeared in multiple
Legend of Zelda games (and as a fighter in some of them) while Shiek only appeared
in one, and being a Shiekah fighter who could plausibly use similar techniques, she could serve as an effective replacement. But with every previous character returning for Ultimate and the reveal
of Echo Fighters as a confirmed term, Impa now seems more likely as an Echo
Fighter than a completely new character.
Decidueye (Pokemon)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderate
As one of the more popular Pokemon from Sun and Moon, the
most recent generation of the Pokemon franchise, the grass and ghost owl
Decidueye still has a good shot at making the playable roster for Smash
Ultimate. He was even featured as a playable fighter in Pokken Tournament DX.
However, other popular Pokemon that might take a potential slot are Lycanroc
and Zeraora, so there may be some competition.
Jeff or Loid (EarthBound)
Chance of Inclusion: (for Jeff) None/ (for Loid) Moderately
Low
While it is nice that the EarthBound series is getting more
attention, with Paula and Poo added to Ness’s Final Smash and Kumatora and
Boney added to Lucas’s Final Smash, Jeff however was confirmed to still be an
assist trophy. While this may be a bit of wishful thinking on my part, I still
think that Loid from EarthBound Beginnings/Mother 1 may have a small shot at
making the roster by being different enough from Ness and Lucas to stand out, as a gadget using party member instead of the PSI using main hero.
Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Chance of Inclusion: (as Echo Fighter) Moderate/ (as completely
new character) Moderately Low
Rex is in the same boat as Impa. While I still think he may
be different enough to function as his own character, it is also likely that he
may become an Echo Fighter for Shulk. Despite the differences in how both
characters function within their own universes, he could be seen as similar
enough to Shulk to justify making him an Echo Fighter, but with how prominent
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is for the Switch right now, we’ll just have to wait and
see.
Inkling Girl (Splatoon)
Chance of Inclusion: Confirmed
We already knew this was happening long before the direct
came out, but it’s nice to see her in action. No longer just a Mii Fighter
costume, the Inklings from Splatoon are now officially playable characters.
They have eight different costumes, they use different weapons from the games
as smash and special attacks, and the series has its own stage (Moray Towers)
and assist trophy (The Squid Sisters). This is how you know Splatoon has become
a mainstay Nintendo series.
Inkling Boy (Splatoon)
Chance of Inclusion: Confirmed (but not as separate
character)
In my previous Smash article, I stated that here was enough
material between Splatoon 1 and 2 to possibly make two characters from, an
Inkling Boy and an Inkling Girl, but it seems Nintendo didn’t see them the same
way and saw fit to just include it all as one character. Not much lot,
especially considering how many other characters are in the game.
Spring Man (ARMS)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderately High
ARMS is an all-new fighting game IP that was promoted
heavily for the Switch and did reasonably well in terms of sales, so it would
stand to reason that a character from it can make the roster. With plenty of
time between now and December, there is still a good chance for it, and the
most likely character would probably be Spring Man as he is the standard
character of the game and one of the poster characters (the other one, Ribbon
Girl, likely serving as his Echo Fighter).
Dr. Coyle (ARMS)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderate
While it is unclear how big fan demand is for inclusion of
ARMS main antagonist Dr. Coyle, she is a prominent character within the series
responsible for many elements, including characters in the playable roster. She
could be seen as similar enough to Spring Man and the other ARMS characters
that adding her after Spring Man may be redundant, but she could also be seen
as functioning differently enough from him to be a unique, workable character.
Heihachi Mishima (Tekken)
Chance of Inclusion: Low
My original prediction was for Street Fighter’s Ryu to be
dropped from the roster and for Heihachi Mishima from Tekken to take his place
so the players could have a similar playstyle to work with, but with Ryu now
confirmed to be staying, adding Heihachi may just complicate things with
another potential clone clogging up the roster. At most, he might make it in as
Ryu’s Echo Fighter, but even that is kind of a stretch.
Monster Rider (Monster Hunter)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderately Low
This selection was, once again, counting on Ryu being cut
from the roster for Smash 5, but that’s now gone out the window now that Ryu is
definitely staying. This character’s chances of entering the roster have gone
down considerably, because otherwise, Capcom would have 3 characters in the
game, but Monster Hunter is still a popular and prominent game series from
Capcom, so there is still a slim chance that Nintendo and Capcom may still work
something out.
Shovel Knight (Shovel Knight)
Chance of Inclusion: Moderate
The number of third-party guest characters is already high
for a predominately Nintendo game, but Shovel Knight has been a strong
supported for Nintendo in the indie scene and would make a very good choice if
Nintendo decides to put an indie game character in the Smash roster. With his
magical relics and several different moves with his shovel, he’s not lacking
for moveset potential and fans are very vocal in requesting him, so it is very
possible that it can happen.
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With so many characters chances for Smash roster inclusion
now in question and Sakurai himself stating that we shouldn’t be expecting too
many new characters, one has to wonder just who he may be considering. Just who
would be reasonable candidates for new Smash characters? That could possibly be
an article for another day.
My condolences to Waluigi fans.
What did you think of this article? What characters do you
want to see in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Did any of your favorites wind up as assist trophies instead? Make your voice heard in the
comments below. Thanks for coming!
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