Super Roster Maker - Super Smash Bros. Rematch

!DISCLAIMER!

This article was written before the announcement of any of the characters in Fighters Pass Volume 2 for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and is based on the roster of the game after the end of Volume 1. The first character from Volume 2 is confirmed to be a character from the fighting game ARMS, but since the exact character has not been announced yet, they will not be a factor in this roster.

Also, just to be clear, I don’t think Smash Bros. needs a new game right now. Ultimate should last us for at least a few years with how much content it has. This is just a "What If" thought experiment.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the biggest games on the Nintendo Switch in multiple ways. A game with this much content and so many characters should last players for a good, long while, but this title has players asking a valid question; where does the series go from here? With close to 100 characters once all the DLC is done and over 100 stages (three times that if you count Battlefield and Omega forms), if a future game adds onto what Smash Ultimate already has, it could feel incredibly difficult to create and balance for developers and feel overwhelming to players, especially newcomers. So, since cutting characters from this roster seems almost inevitable for a future game, we’re going to speculate on which characters might get cut.

That is the focus on this Super Roster Maker, Super Smash Bros. Rematch.

Instead of focusing on which characters to cut, we’ll focus on which characters to save. For this list, we’ll save 40 of the characters from Ultimate, characters that most players probably can’t imagine Smash Bros. without, characters that have a high-profile status as Nintendo or gaming icons. These are characters that are mainstays in Smash itself, important parts of Nintendo franchises, third-party gaming icons, or characters that have been highly requested for years before finally making it in.

Everyone not in that 40 is getting cut, or at least, demoted from being playable with their own dedicated roster slot. To make sure no one franchise is getting too many characters, I’ll limit character selection to only 4 characters max per series. Then, because no discussion of a Smash roster is complete without some new character speculation, we’ll add 10 newcomers to this new roster to create our hypothetical game.

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Part 1: Multi-Character Series Reps

Saved Characters: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Ness, Marth, Pit, Villager, Ryu, Simon, Mii Gunner

For this first group of saved characters, we have characters representing franchises big enough to get multiple characters. If the series is large enough to have multiple characters in Ultimate, it could stand to reason they would have These series have a larger presence than other series, so it makes sense that at least one character from them, preferably the main characters, would survive the cut. Most of the characters need no explanation; they are the main playable characters or mascots of the series with the biggest presence in the roster.

Along with them, at least one of the Mii Fighters would be saved as they both represent a big piece of Nintendo as recurring player avatars, and they can work as placeholders for characters that don’t make the roster, by using Mii Fighter costumes to represent them. I chose Mii Gunner since it has so far received the most high-profile Mii Costume additions with Sans and Cuphead. (Personally, I would lump them back together as a single character slot labeled “Mii Fighter” that represents all three styles.)

Part 2: Third-Party Reps

Saved Characters: Sonic, Pac-Man, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Terry

This next group of characters includes representatives of each third-party publisher currently involved with Smash Bros. Since we already have Ryu and Simon for Capcom and Konami in Part 1, we’ll focus on the other ones here. In this section, we have one character for each outside publisher currently involved with Smash, with Sonic (Sega), Pac-Man (Bandai Namco), Banjo & Kazooie (Microsoft/Rare), and Terry (SNK). The Hero from Dragon Quest was chosen over Cloud for Square-Enix because seeing the small amount of content for Final Fantasy compared to other third-party series hints that Cloud may have some rights problems with his inclusion or some stinginess on Square-Enix’s part, making his return over Hero’s seem a bit less likely.

Part 3: Important Secondary Characters

Saved Characters: Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Zelda, Ganondorf, Ridley, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Wolf, Greninja, Robin, Byleth

In this group, we have important secondary characters from different Nintendo franchises. These along with the main characters from Group 1 represent different elements of their respective series. Most of these saved characters need no explanation due to their legacy status within Nintendo, but the last three may raise a few eyebrows.

Aside from Pikachu, Greninja is the only safe Pokemon character, chosen over fan favorites like Lucario, Charizard, or Mewtwo. This decision was brought about by the results of the recent Pokemon Day fan poll where fans voted on their favorite Pokemon. When the results came out, Greninja was #1, proving it has incredible staying power. (For the record, Lucario was 2^nd, Charizard was 4^th, and Mewtwo didn’t even make the top 30.) As for why no others made the safe slots, I figured a good way to balance the Pokemon part of the roster would be to have two cute characters and two cool characters. Pikachu and Greninja take one of each while the last two I think could be better filled with a couple of newcomers.

As for the Fire Emblem characters, Robin and Byleth were chosen because of the types of FE characters or elements they represent within Smash, with Robin representing spellcasters and Byleth (controversial reveal notwithstanding) highlighting various kinds of weapons used within the Fire Emblem series. Corrin could technically count as this too, potentially representing dragons or shapeshifting characters, but I think a different choice could be found among the newcomers here as well.

Part 4: Important Solo Series Reps

Saved Characters: Captain Falcon, Mr. Game & Watch, Wario, Mega Man, Little Mac, Duck Hunt, Inkling

To round out our 40, these last few characters are solo reps for iconic series involved with Smash. Mr. Game & Watch, Little Mac, and Duck Hunt represent big portions of the classic era of Nintendo. Inkling represents Splatoon, a recent, successful, and relevant Nintendo IP that represents the current era of Nintendo. Wario is a key part of the Mario series that successfully spun-off into his own series with Wario Land and WarioWare, and, while F-Zero hasn’t had a new entry in years, Captain Falcon has remained popular through his portrayal in Smash Bros. Finally, while Ryu from Street Fighter can already be considered a Capcom rep, few would argue against Mega Man deserving to be in this roster. Besides, it shows that other third-parties can have more than one character.

That gives us our 40 safe characters, meaning everyone who hasn’t been named at this point will be cut from the character roster. (Sorry if that includes someone you think should be safe.) But just because they don’t have their own spots within the roster doesn’t mean they have to be out of the game entirely.

Part 5: Repurposing Cut Characters

Cut Characters Made into Alternate Skins: Dr. Mario (Mario), Dark Samus (Samus), Falco (Fox), Lucas (Ness), Daisy (Peach), Lucina (Marth), Dark Pit (Pit), Isabelle (Villager), Ken (Ryu), Richter (Simon)

Echo Fighters are a bit of an iffy topic for this roster. While they do allow for more representation, they are still technically clones of existing characters. So for this roster, I decided to make them alternate skins, similar to the situations with Olimar/Alph, and Bowser Jr./the Koopalings. While that means they may lose some unique moves, they still have a way to be represented within the roster. So, they are technically there, without being separate characters.

Cut Characters Made into Stage Elements: Ice Climbers, Pokemon Trainer, Charizard, Toon Link, Wii Fit Trainer, Palutena, Bowser Jr.

With these characters, they spawned some ideas for creative new stages.

Pokemon Trainer/Red and Charizard could appear on a Pokemon League stage that could work similarly to Pyrosphere from Smash 4, where two random trainers (possibly playable characters or important NPCs from throughout the Pokemon games) battle on the stage, posing a hazard to the Smash fighters as they do, but if you defeat one trainer’s Pokemon, the other who you helped win will help fight your opponents. So, for example, if you help Red’s Charizard defeat Blue’s Blastoise, Brendan’s Sceptile, or Hilda’s Emboar, Red will direct Charizard to battle alongside you.

Other stage ideas included a Hylian Sea stage based on Wind Waker, where Toon Link will sail his boat, the King of Red Lions, to different islands and through different hazards, with the fighters along for the ride, a new version of Wii Fit Studio, where the Wii Fit Trainer will give different directions and those who follow them will gain slight, temporary buffs, a new version of Palutena’s Temple where she and other Kid Icarus characters (but mostly her) trigger different stage effects and hazards, a new version of Icicle Mountain from Melee, but now the Ice Climbers are in the background and can affect the stage or the fighters in the foreground, and a Bowser’s Castle stage, where Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings will activate different traps and hazards to attack the fighters (maybe even making a shocked “Oops!” face if they wind up hitting Bowser).

Cut Characters Made into Assist Characters: Yoshi, Jigglypuff, Sheik, Pichu, Young Link, Mewtwo, Roy, Chrom, Zero Suit Samus, Snake, Ike, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Olimar, Lucario, R.O.B., Rosalina & Luma, Shulk, Cloud, Corrin, Bayonetta, Incineroar, Piranha Plant, Joker

While these characters didn’t make the roster, they are still unique enough (and major enough since they’re currently fighters in Ultimate) that a good way to represent them in Smash 6 would be including them as Assist Trophy characters or Poke Ball Pokemon. There could even be a special item, that is basically the Assist Trophy equivalent to the Master Ball, where they summon a previous fighter cut from the roster. You can find a section at the end of this article for some ideas on how I think they might work, but for now, let’s just move on.

Part 6: New Characters

Newcomers: Impa, Eevee, Toxtricity, Tiki, Rex & Pyra, Tails, Jin, Black Mage, Master Chief, Travis

Now, we finally arrive at the part that everyone likes to speculate on for Smash, new characters.

First, we’ll round out the Legend of Zelda cast by adding the Sheikah warrior Impa. She is one of the very few Zelda characters outside the main three to appear in multiple titles and since the tribe carries a lot of association with ninjas, and due to her portrayal in Hyrule Warriors, which is my basis for her inclusion, she would basically replace Sheik. We’ll also give Fire Emblem its fourth character with Tiki. While Fire Emblem arguably isn’t big enough to warrant eight unique characters, it could stand to have four, and Tiki seems like a good fourth. She’s a legacy character who is relevant outside of just one game, thanks to games like Awakening and Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and she can represent the dragon/shapeshifting characters like Corrin does in Ultimate.

With Mario, Zelda, and Fire Emblem now at four characters each, it makes sense that Pokemon should get a similar number. With Pikachu and Greninja taking up the first two spots, we’ll look for another cute Pokemon and another cool Pokemon. For the cool one, it would have to be someone along the lines of Lucario, Greninja, or Incineroar, a tough looking creature from the most recent generation that made a big splash with fans. For that reason, I picked Toxtricity, who placed 14^th in that Pokemon Day fan poll I mentioned earlier.

For the cute Pokemon, cases could be made for adding Clefairy or Meowth, but I think a better choice for this slot would be Eevee. Eevee has remained steadily popular over the years, in no small part thanks to its mechanic of being able to evolve into several different types. It even starred alongside Pikachu for the Let’s Go games. For its moves, the Let’s Go games gave it special exclusive attacks representing the different types of the Eeveelutions. Its Psychic move Glitzy Glow can work as its grab, having it use telekinesis, its Fire move Sizzly Slide can be its Up Special, working like Fox’s Fire Fox move, and its Final Smash can be its Z-Move from Sun and Moon, Extreme Evoboost, where it calls in all the Eeveelutions for a big powerful attack.

Finally, our last first-party Nintendo character, Rex (with Pyra) from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Rex would essentially replace Shulk in representing Xenoblade, being the current face of the series with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. He would be the main fighter with Pyra providing assistance from the background.

Now, onto the third-parties. Currently in Smash, Bandai Namco only has one character despite helping develop the game. A good new character to represent them alongside Pac-Man would be a character from one of their fighting series. While some might first think of Heihachi Mishima, Jin Kazama seems like he would have more variation without edging towards being a clone of Ryu.

While there wasn’t enough room for Cloud, Bayonetta, or Joker in our safe 40, Sega and Square-Enix are still major enough that they could stand to get second characters. Before and after those three were surprisingly added, Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog and Black Mage from Final Fantasy were still highly requested picks, so adding them here would please a lot of fans.

Branching from that, with Ultimate’s three M-rated characters not making it in the safe 40 (those being Snake, Bayonetta, and Joker), some more mature representation is in order. For that, two good newcomers would be Master Chief from Halo as a second Microsoft rep alongside Banjo & Kazooie and Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes as our long-awaited indie rep. (Yes, I’m counting No More Heroes as an indie series.)

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FINAL RESULTS

The Roster: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Impa, Pikachu, Greninja, Eevee, Toxtricity, Marth, Robin, Byleth, Tiki, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Samus, Ridley, Fox, Wolf, Ness, Captain Falcon, Mr. Game & Watch, Pit, Wario, Villager, Little Mac, Rex, Duck Hunt, Inkling, Mii Fighter, Sonic, Tails, Ryu, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Jin, Hero, Black Mage, Banjo & Kazooie, Master Chief, Simon, Terry, Travis

This gives us an even roster of 50 characters from 31 different series (counting Mii Fighter as a rep for Smash Bros. itself) and 9 different publishers. Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Fire Emblem all have an even 4 characters each, Donkey Kong and Kirby have 3 characters each, Metroid, Star Fox, and Sonic the Hedgehog have 2 characters each, and all others only have one character.

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And before ending the article, here’s the part at the end I promised about how some of the cut characters might work as assist characters.

Yoshi: Runs around the stage, eating opponents and trapping them in eggs.

Jigglypuff: Floats around stage using Sing to put opponents to sleep and occasionally using Rest to try blasting opponents away.

Sheik: Disappears and reappears right next to opponents to swiftly attack them.

Pichu: Attacks opponents with various electric attacks. Easier to knock out as it damages itself with electric attacks.

Young Link: Puts on a transformation mask from Majora’s Mask and attacks as that character.

Mewtwo: Uses various psychic attacks. Eventually ends time on stage with Final Smash, Psystrike, mega-evolving, stunning opponents, and blasting them away.

Roy: Attacks opponents with sword strikes. Ends time on stage with Final Smash, Critical Hit, dashing across the stage to slash opponents away.

Chrom: Attacks opponents with sword strikes. Ends time on stage with Final Smash, Awakening Aether, slashing opponents off the stage.

Zero Suit Samus: Jumps off the stage and reappears in the background piloting her gunship. Blasts at opponents with large laser blasts.

Snake: Uses his Final Smash from Brawl, Grenade Launcher. Jumps off the stage and reappears in the foreground, hanging from a helicopter rope ladder and wielding a grenade launcher, shooting explosives at opponents.

Ike: Attacks opponents with sword strikes. Ends time on stage with Final Smash, Great Aether, Knocking opponents upward with his sword before hitting them with several strikes and slamming them down.

Squirtle: Attacks with Surf and Water Gun, pushing opponents off the stage with water attacks.

Ivysaur: Attacks with Vine Whip and Razor Leaf. Ends time on stage by charging up and firing Solarbeam.

Olimar: Throws Pikmin at opponents. The Pikmin can latch onto them for continued damage.

Lucario: Uses his Final Smash, Aura Storm, mega evolving before jumping up above the stage and firing a beam of aura energy toward opponents.

R.O.B.: Uses Final Smash, Diffusion Beam, blasting opponents with beams of energy,

Rosalina & Luma: Calls down a shower of shooting stars across the stage, a large screen-filling attack.

Shulk: Attacks opponents with sword strikes. Some attacks may be countered (Shulk seeing it coming in a vision).

Cloud: Attacks opponents with his buster sword. Ends his turn when his Limit Gauge is full and he attacks with a Limit Break.

Corrin: Uses his Final Smash, Torrential Roar, transforms into his dragon form and blasts opponents away with a whirlpool.

Bayonetta: Casts Witch Time to slow down opponents and attacks for a brief duration.

Incineroar: Attacks opponents with different fire-powered wrestling moves.

Piranha Plant: Disappears and reappears from platforms in the stage, chomping on opponents.

Joker: Attacks opponents with his dagger and gun. Taking enough damage lets him summon his Persona, Arsene, drastically increasing his attack power.

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What did you think of this roster? Who do you think should make the game in a sixth Super Smash Bros.? (Do you think I should be raked over the coals for saving Greninja and Byleth over Jigglypuff or Yoshi?) Make your voice heard in the comments below.

Thanks for coming!