Gaming NEW CHALLENGERS APPROACHING: Super Smash Bros. [Ultimate]

And now a whole bunch of people will be figuring out how to type an epsilon symbol.

 

I think any 3rd party characters would have a vastly reduced chance of appearing if they were licensed properties like Star Wars (think of the licensing hoops that making an amiibo for that character would entail). I also don't see a Pokemon rival/clone getting added. Especially when there are other fighting game, classic Nintendo, classic 3rd party, indie, etc characters they could go for instead.

If we assume there'll ultimately be an even number of player selections (not necessarily a guarantee), we have 68 so far and presumably a Random option, so 69 slots. 8x9=72, so that leaves 3 open slots under that theory. But as Sakurai said not to expect too many new fighters, 3 more sounds reasonable to tease between now and release date, especially if at least one of them is a new Echo fighter. Maybe we'll get Bayo 3 and Protoman as a costume change option like the inklings/Koopalings/Villagers/etc.

I'm kinda hoping we get Ken as an Echo fighter- really play into that Ryu-always-faces-opponent-1-on-1 addition. And it would be rather sweet to get some MK or Tekken representation by a character, but MK is probably unlikely. One more new playable Pokemon wouldn't be a surprise, either (say, from Sun/Moon or Eevee for a Let's Go connection), even though there's already a ton of them in the game.

But, if there's only 3 more, I wouldn't expect more than 1 of them to be a third party character.

 

Too obscure. I've heard of Digimon but I've never heard of the character and can't recall actually ever seeing him before after I looked him up.

Now, that could just be my experience, but how many people would appreciate his inclusion over, say, Shovel Knight, Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Ken (or any other notable Capcom fighter), Robotnik/Eggman (or any other notable Sega character), Scorpion (or any other notable MK character), Rayman (or another Ubi character like one of the Assassins), King K. Rool (or other 1st party characters like Dixie Kong, Birdo), etc?

With only 3 theoretical slots (and probably, again, only one going 3rd party at most; with the others going Echo or 1st-party), they're going to want maximum impact.

Like Ramza pointed out, if there was a SW character, Disney would be pushing a non-EU character like Vader, Maul, Fett, Kylo, Rey, Ahsoka, etc that would tie into a current film, recent TV series or product like Forces of Destiny. But Nintendo would want a character associated with gaming and all of the major ones are EU currently. There is no NU equivalent of Starkiller or Katarn yet- and the BF2 character isn't at a level where her inclusion would be worth the expense.

But I think the SW license would be much more problematic. Nintendo would have to negotiate with EA and Disney for the game content (not to mention potentially further if they ever did a "Smash Ultimate 2" in 10 years in order to reinclude the character on a new platform/in a new game), then deal with Hasbro over the amiibo, etc.

But I think it comes down to the gaming factor. And, again as Ramza pointed out, things would probably be easier with a Japanese-owned property as well (or, at the very least, a character owned by a company with a strong collaborative relationship with Nintendo- and not a rival property like Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh, etc).

 

I'm curious how they'll be handling outfits for the Mii fighters. There were so many notable character ones in Smash 4, like Protoman, X, Zero, Geno, KK Slider, Akira, Chrom, etc. Be a shame if they weren't brought back, since they kinda filled the void for certain characters in place of them actually being added to the roster/alt-costumes.

 

Sega developed a strong collaborative relationship with Nintendo across several games in the years prior to his inclusion in Smash, and Sonic was never considered a Mario clone. Sonic also has strong association with gaming as a mascot in general.

 

Simon would be my dream pick, simply because it would finally allow me my Captain N match-up between him, Mega Man, Pit and Link and, as a stand-in, the Duck Hunt dog.

 

I second all of the above. Not to mention all 60+ will not be available at the start- you'll have a starting lineup to begin with and add/unlock characters as you play more. So that'll help narrow things down initially for your "not Mario" options to a couple heavy hitters like Bowser or more floaty characters like Peach or Kirby, etc and use them as the trunks you spread out from as you unlock others.

 

No freaking kidding! Simon monkeyfighting Belmont! THE CAPTAIN N SUPPORTING CAST BRAWL WILL BE A THING! AT LONG LAST!!!!



They even gave Simon's mullet its own closeup! That Castlevania stage looks outstanding too. And the music! The one thing missing from the Netflix series is the damn music and they have 34 tracks! Amongst 800-900 tracks in total with a non-gameplay music mode!



And all the new play modes sound amazing (the charged final smashes, the one that eliminates the previously played fighters, hazards off, etc), plus so many new assist trophies (Zero!!!) and Pokemon (creepy Mimikyu, the Aloha Exeguttor, etc).

And we get Chrom as an Echo Fighter, so the main three Awakening characters are all represented! An azure-haired brawl shall be a thing!



Dark Samus moves pretty cool too- I love the texture work on her there. And K.Rool is a welcome villain roster addition i think that puts us at 11 regular/echo fighters plus the 7 Koopalings for 19 total so far...).

Pretty funny that the Ridley reveal trailer killed Mario and the Simon reveal trailer killed Luigi. I was afraid for DK there at the end...

 

I've never played a Castlevania game, maybe I should change that. I have Harmony of Dissonance lying around, though I guess Simon isn't the player character in that.

 

Yeah, Simon is only playable, for the most part, in the first two NES games.

I've had a Castlevania 2-pack with Aria of Sorrow & Harmony of Dissponance in my GBA or DS GBA port since it came out, but only made some progress through the first of the two games on it. Still have the two DS games waiting for me to start them, heh. I might have to abandon that save file and just move on. Then again, I've never beaten any Castlevania game before so I probably shouldn't be so motivated to be a completist for those now, heh.

EDIT- So, what do we think is the green mystery mode? Could it actually be a story mode? For it to be such a prominent option on the main menu, it would seem likely. It's also pretty much the only remaining thing that fans have been demanding since Smash 4.

 

I really want to but I suspect I'll give each a partial play just to get a taste of the differences between them. I've been wandering through Aria (I think? i might have chosen to play them in chrono order rather than the order they're on the cart in) forever and recall the last few playthroughs not really making much progress. It also had this kinda complicated spirit equiping RPG-like system that was kinda turning me off a little (though I'm unsure how much I utilized it).

Although, of course, this new trailer really makes me want to unrealistically marathon as many of the games as possible. But by time i get to them the new season will be on Netflix and my Castlemania will be satiated.


EDIT- the mystery Castleania character may have been figured out (for real)...
(warning: language)

Spoiler