Top 10 Smash Ultimate DLC Character Candidates (Take 2)

Anticipation is in the air. After what seems like a drought of news from the big N, lots of gaming fans are hoping to get a Direct video presentation from them soon, to give them info and announcements on their upcoming titles. Sure to be included among this is the reveal of the next DLC playable character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

The last time I guessed at candidates for SSBU additional characters, I managed to get two of them right. (Banjo-Kazooie was #3 on my old list and Erdrick/Arusu, my #9, was included with other main characters from Dragon Quest to create Hero.) While my other picks on that list may still be viable, my opinions on who may be likely to be announced have changed a bit.

So, with rumors saying that a Nintendo Direct might be coming soon (and a presentation dedicated to Smash just recently confirmed), it seems like a good time to update my Smash predictions. Same conditions as before, I looked at different characters being mentioned and tried to figure out their chances of making it into the roster. Also, only one character per franchise.

Let’s do this. Here are my picks for the Top 10 Smash Ultimate DLC Character Candidates (Take 2).

=

10. Ring Fit Athlete (Ring Fit Adventure) 

Nintendo is no stranger to using Smash to promote their recently released or upcoming games. Corrin’s inclusion as cross-promotion for Fire Emblem Fates had people complaining about the number of Fire Emblem characters in the roster. But another recent potential case of cross-promotion may come in the form of the Ring Fit Athlete, the main character of Nintendo’s recent motion-control fitness game Ring Fit Adventure. Playing along the lines of Wii Fit Trainer, she could use her exercise ring to perform different attacks that would make her a unique character. Her association with the color orange could even fit her into “Color Theory”, a method some Smash fans have been using to try to guess at the fifth Smash DLC newcomer. (More on that later.)

9. Dr. Coyle (ARMS)

She made the top five the last time I made a Smash DLC candidates list and despite being knocked down a few slots since then, I still think the main villain of Switch year one title ARMS has a chance of making it into Smash. With this unorthodox fighting game successfully selling over a million copies, Nintendo fans thought ARMS was a shoo-in for Smash. Then, the game came out and it turned out most of the cast were in as spirits with the game’s Mario, Spring Man, made into an assist trophy. However, there are still a few characters that haven’t been included at all, including this mad scientist who is behind most of the events that happen in game.

8. Dante (Devil May Cry)

We may already have three Capcom reps in Smash, but that isn’t stopping fans of the Devil May Cry series from getting their hopes up for their favorite demon slayer, especially thanks to recent developments. When Hideaki Itsuno, the current director for Devil May Cry, was asked in an interview about Dante’s chances for getting into Smash Bros., he said that the Devil May Cry series needs to be on Nintendo platforms first. Since then, Devil May Cry 1 and 2 have been released on the Nintendo Switch, with 3 confirmed for a Switch release with some special added content. Along with the tweet that announced the game, there were also some dates given hinting that something special would be coming in January and February before the game’s release, with a special highlight given to January 16. A Smash announcement, perhaps?

7. Doom Slayer (Doom)

One of the most highly requested western characters for entry into Smash, The Doom Slayer, also known as Doomguy, is the main character of the classic PC shooter Doom and its 2016 remake, which got ported to the Switch. The series also got some of the older games in the series ported to Nintendo’s current console and the latest game in the series, Doom: Eternal, is releasing on multiple platforms, including the Switch. With his current level of relevance with Nintendo and the series’ legacy pioneering shooters in gaming, there is a strong argument for letting this demon-hunting space marine join the roster of Smash, even if a lot of his trademark violence would have to be toned down to fit within the game’s rating.

6. Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot) 

Another western character, Crash Bandicoot also has a strong argument for why he could be included in Smash. Even before the releases of the N-Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled on the Switch, the Crash Bandicoot series has had a few games releasing on Nintendo platforms, most notably on the Wii after Activision bought the rights to the series. The character’s history with Nintendo goes back even further to when he was Sony’s platforming mascot, even outright mocking and challenging Nintendo, stating that he was going to take them down. Pulling in another of Nintendo’s former big rivals, he would fit right in alongside Sonic in fighting Mario directly.

5. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy)

By now, lots of players have noticed the lack of Final Fantasy related spirits in Ultimate. The series that brought us Cloud has brought nothing new to Smash and some think that Square-Enix is holding back on any more content unless they can charge an extra price for it. Well, a good excuse to charge for a bunch of iconic Final Fantasy songs and spirit characters would be to wrap it up with a new stage and a new playable character. Since Final Fantasy VII is the game chosen as the series’ front-runner here, then a good compliment to the game’s main hero would be the game’s main villain, the one-winged angel, Sephiroth. He would be able to use his huge sword, several kinds of Materia, and incredibly powerful attacks and transformations to battle (or at the very least, attacks that heavily reference them if you don’t want them filling the screen).

4. Arle Nadja (Puyo Puyo)

Earlier, I mentioned something called Color Theory. Some Smash fans noticed the background colors of the pictures for the game’s current downloadable characters and noticed that no one so far has used orange as their color and that the fifth character might be related to the color in some way. I mentioned earlier how Ring Fit Athlete could fit this theory under those terms and Crash could as well, but a third character who could fit this theory is Arle Nadja, an iconic character from the puzzle game series Puyo Puyo. This character has also been referenced by fans as possibly relating to pictures that Sakurai has posted of Smash Ultimate that may reference her. Also tying into her chances are the success of Puyo Puyo Tetris on the Switch and the recent release of Super Puyo Puyo 2 on the Super Nintendo section of Nintendo Switch Online.

3. KOS-MOS (Xenosaga)

The android main character of Xenosaga, the sister series to Nintendo’s Xenoblade Chronicles, has seen some theory action, similar to Arle earlier. A different character theory deals with a picture posted to Twitter by Sakurai showing Mario, all of the DLC characters so far, and Daisy posing for the picture. Daisy being the odd one out has people speculating that she is standing in for the fifth Fighters Pass character. Some believe that KOS-MOS could be the one Daisy is standing in for as the character may be a nod to KOS-MOS’s past life, Mary Magdalene. Her addition to Smash would also add a second Bandai Namco rep as well as (technically) another Xeno series rep. 

Speaking of Bandai Namco reps though…

2. Jin Kazama (Tekken)

In my last Smash Candidates countdown, I placed Heihachi Mishima, the main recurring villain from the Tekken series, as my number one most likely character, with Tekken being one of Bandai-Namco’s biggest current series. While I still think that a Tekken character is highly likely to make the roster of Smash Ultimate, Heihachi is no longer that character. That distinction now goes to his grandson, Tekken protagonist Jin Kazama. The fact that Namco doesn’t have any characters in the roster besides Pac-Man despite helping to develop the game hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans of the game and Tekken being another hand-to-hand fighting series would mean that a character from this series would fit in with characters like Ryu, Ken, and Terry. What puts Jin over Heihachi however is that Jin, especially with his Devil Jin form, would have more abilities to differentiate him from other characters rather than having just another plain martial artist.

=

Before revealing the number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Monster Hunter (Monster Hunter) – The customizable main player character of the popular Capcom series, where Rathalos already made it into the game as a boss.

Yuri Lowell (Tales of Vesperia) – The Tales of RPGs have seen successful releases on Nintendo platforms and while people are calling for Lloyd from Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia is the more currently relevant title on the Switch.

Ori (Ori and the Blind Forest) – This could possibly count as adding the long-awaited indie game rep as well as a second Microsoft rep. Plus, Ori has been used in platform fighters before, being a guest fighter in Rivals of Aether.

Master Chief (Halo) – The flagship character of Microsoft and the Xbox consoles, his inclusion would be a large sign of a partnership with Nintendo and Microsoft, as well as representing a large part of gaming history.

Steve (Minecraft) – This could possibly be the best case for an indie game rep, more than perhaps any other game series, seeing how big Minecraft is around the world and how dominant of a force it has become in gaming and pop culture.

Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You) – A cult hit RPG exclusive for Nintendo platforms that got a re-release on the Switch, with many fans hoping for a sequel.

=

1. Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes)

Whether he’s the next character or not, his major presence with Nintendo shows that Travis Touchdown, protagonist of the M-rated hack-and-slasher No More Heroes, may eventually make his way into Smash. Apart from an updated re-release of the first game on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, all past and current games in the No More Heroes series have been released on Nintendo platforms. The series is considered such an attention-grabber for Nintendo that it was included in its announcement for the Switch console and No More Heroes III is a highly anticipated title for it. With such a big brand association with Nintendo the best thing to solidify it is for the Crownless King to follow in Bayonetta’s footsteps and step into the arena with some of gaming’s greats.

=

What did you think of this list? What characters do you want to see added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Make your voice heard in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Top 10 Nintendo Predictions - January to E3 2020

A new year, a new decade, a new round of speculation. It has been a few months since the last Nintendo Direct and with the new year having started, there is very little that Nintendo fans know to be on the lookout for throughout the year. With E3 is all the way off in June, it is likely that Nintendo will make at least a few announcements and maybe a Direct or two before then, telling the public what they plan to give us this year. With a Pokemon Direct coming this Thursday and a full Nintendo Direct rumored to be coming not too long after, speculation is running high.

That is the focus of this article as we focus on our picks for the Top 10 Nintendo Direct Predictions from January to E3 2020.

Rather than focusing on specific titles, this list is focusing on more general topics Since so many Nintendo series can apply to several of these topics, some of these entries have potential announcements for different series grouped together.

10. New Amiibos or A New Experimental Project

Nintendo likes to throw experimental projects at the public from out of left field. Whether they become hits or not, things like Nintendo Labo or Ring Fit Adventure tell us to expect the unexpected when it comes to this publisher. Of course, unexpected things aren’t all when it comes to special merchandise. Although the toys-to-life fad may have come and gone, Amiibos have managed to survive by just being cool collectibles of Nintendo characters, with some third-party characters thrown in for good measure. We could get announcements of the newer Smash Bros. characters that have yet to get figures or even figures for new series coming soon.

9. A New Upgraded Switch Type

People have been asking for a Switch Pro, Switch Plus, or Super Switch for a long time now, some would even say since the Switch first came out. With the new console generation on the horizon, this seems like the perfect time to announce an upgraded version of the current Nintendo console. The PlayStation 5 and the new iteration of the Xbox will be boasting top of the line graphics and performance and while Nintendo isn’t expected to reach quite that level, they might need some kind of hardware upgrade if they want to continue to look appealing to third-parties. There have even been hints that Nintendo may be planning a hardware upgrade, so to some people, it’s not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.

8. The Last Few Wii U Ports

Nintendo has done a good job so far bringing over so many of the Wii U’s titles to the Switch, giving these quality games a second life from their overlooked first outing or even just giving them full-on sequels. However, there are still a few titles that have yet to get this attention. Games like Super Mario 3D World and The Wonderful 101 have yet to see the same success as other titles that have come to the Switch, and at this point there aren’t that many titles left for the Wii U to bring over. So, why not finish them off?

7. New First Party Minor Release or Spin-Off Game

Not all of Nintendo’s titles are big ticket releases. Sometimes, when Nintendo wants to expand the universe of one of their games or experiment with new ideas, they do it with a spin-off title of one of their biggest franchises.  Sometimes, it gives us new marquee titles like Mario Kart, but other times, it gives us Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Two of the most likely franchises to do this with are Super Mario and Pokemon, due to how versatile they have proven in the past, but Nintendo could reasonably give this attention to one of their other franchises as well.

 6. Nintendo Switch Online Update

While Nintendo has for the most part been doing things well this generation, especially compared to the Wii U or how certain publishers have been handling themselves now (cough Bethesda cough), one of the biggest sticking points about them is how they’ve handled their online services. Nintendo Switch Online has been lacking in features that other online subscription services have used, essentially being just a way for Nintendo to paywall online play for games like Splatoon and Smash. While the access to old-school Nintendo titles is great, the offerings there are a little too shallow for most people. Even if NSO is cheaper than other services, gamers want more bang for their buck.

5. New DLC Characters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

With the release of Terry Bogard in November, everyone was hoping for news of the next new fighter in December and speculation was high about who it could be. When the month came and went with not a peep from Nintendo, everyone’s wondering when they’ll be announced as much as who it is. Past the fifth character in Fighters Pass 1, there is also speculation about which characters might make it into Smash beyond that point and even how many more characters may enter the game. Exactly who might make it in is an article for another day, but hopefully, the fifth DLC fighter gets revealed soon.

4. Nintendo Music Service

Nintendo made gaming news headlines a few months ago and not in a good way.

Back in August 2019, the company took down several YouTube channels that were hosting Nintendo game music, hitting them with so many copyright claims that channels were shut down as a result. While it can be argued that Nintendo is in their right to do so, most of these games, especially older or obscure ones, don’t have their full soundtracks readily available, and so, there is no viable alternative to those who want to listen to their favorite game tracks. (No one wants to have to find an old console and work through a game just to listen to one song from it.) Also, for some, this called back a little too much to the time when Nintendo would strike down any video that even talked about Nintendo game content.

Many believed that this was leading to Nintendo announcing their very own music platform, music YouTube channel, or adding their music catalogue to a streaming service like Spotify, but so far, they haven’t announced anything. We’re hoping they still might, but until then, at least some Nintendo music channels survived the purge.

3. Big Third-Party Announcements

Nintendo first-party titles are big news, but just as big are announcements of multi-platform, or even exclusive titles from big third-party publishers. There are the usual suspects of Sega, Capcom, Square-Enix, Bandai-Namco, and even Ubisoft, but recent developments have even put Microsoft and SNK up as candidates. The success of the Switch and Nintendo’s collaboration with several of these companies make it feel like Nintendo is a couple of talks away from making something big happen, from a big, new game to a rerelease of a fan-favorite past game to a popular gaming service making its way to the Switch (looking at you, Xbox Game Pass). We’re all just waiting for it.

2. Updates on Announced Titles

While news about unannounced titles are just as hype-raising, a lot of people are ready for news about some of the games Nintendo has already announced as coming to the system. Such titles include Breath of the Wild 2, Bayonetta 3, No More Heroes 3, Metroid Prime 4, Pikmin 4, and Shin Megami Tensei 5. (All sequels, yes, but that doesn’t make them any less exciting.) These titles were all announced a long time ago and there has been next to no news about them since. Everyone wants to hear more about how the development on them is going and if they can expect any of them anytime soon.

1. New Major First Party Game Announcements

Perhaps the biggest kind of announcement we could get from a Nintendo Direct, bigger than anything else on this list, is the announcement of a brand-new game from Nintendo. Apart from the above-mentioned games that we already know about, Nintendo doesn’t really have anything else for fans to look forward to, so another big new announcement could be just what they need to keep the hype going. This could be anything from a revival of a dormant game series like F-Zero, a new entry in a beloved series yet to touch the Switch like Kid Icarus, or, if we’re really stretching it, a completely new IP. The sky’s the limit, right?

=

What did you think of this list? What are you hoping Nintendo announces in their next Direct? Sound off in the comments below. Thanks for coming!