In mere hours we’ll be watching nearly an hour long Nintendo Direct. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate information is already promised, which means we may know the next character of Fighters Pass 2 before the end of the day.
With so many game universes already included in Smash, it’s hard to believe there are some corners that haven’t been pulled from. Yet here are seven characters we’d love to see, who all have a reasonable shot. They’re hardly the only ones, and there’s just a good a chance all of them will be wrong, but join us in trying to guess who’s next for Smash Ultimate DLC!
Lloyd Irving (Tales of series)
Until we see his Mii Costume, we’re keeping the dream alive.
The fact Bandai Namco has yet to get a character beyond Pac-Man is baffling to me, considering just how integral they are to the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Granted, there’s really no topping the yellow one in their or anyone’s ranks, but the Tales of series has at least gotten some attention in Smash previously.
From a western perspective, Tales of Symphonia’s Lloyd Irving makes the most sense. He also hears your complaints of more swordsmen and says “but there’s two”. I’m not worried about him (or any Tales of protagonist) feeling unique in Smash, with plenty of Artes to pull from and unique aspects of the trademark Linear Motion Battle System to accentuate them.
As Tales of continues to celebrate its 25th Anniversary, there’s no better time for Lloyd to try his Exsphere enhanced hand at another guest appearance.
Bandana Waddle Dee or Rex & Pyra
I like to think that Nintendo learned a lesson after closing out the first Fighters Pass with Byleth. With four guest characters, a couple of which shattered expectations, ending on another Fire Emblem representative may’ve seemed underwhelming (and I love Fire Emblem/Three Houses). Min Min leading off the second pass made sense, but if we’re getting another of Nintendo’s own characters I’d guess these.
Bandana Waddle Dee comes from Masahiro Sakurai’s own baby, the Kirby series. That may actually work against him, as the Bandana Dee we know wasn’t fully realized until Sakurai left the series behind. Still, his spear based moveset has potential and I’d say we’re overdue for a deliberately “cute” character. Then again, it’s not the first time these hopes have gone unheard…
Rex, likely with Pyra along for the fight, has a bit more weight though. It was stated Rex wasn’t considered due to the timing of Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s development relative to Smash’s, a line of reasoning that kept an ARMS character out of the base roster. Without such a restriction and even more recognition of Xenoblade thanks to last year’s Definitive Edition of the first game, there’s a chance he could show us a thing or three yet.
Dante
Capcom’s already gotten a pretty good amount of love in Smash. Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Monster Hunter have all been represented in one way or another and Resident Evil got some post launch spirits. If Capsule Computers has one more card in their hand, I’d expect it to be their stylish demon hunter with seemingly infinite combo potential.
Devil May Cry had a hell of an upswing thanks to the fifth entry in the series coming out to rave reviews. The dream match between him and Bayonetta is too tempting to pass up too, not to mention she shows that this kind of flashy and versatile character can be made to fit Smash’s own gameplay. Capcom did it themselves for Marvel vs. Capcom, basing him most on his younger self from Devil May Cry 3, but seeing DMC5 Dante dual wield motorcycle chainsaw clubs in Smash would signal that the party has, in fact, gotten crazy.
Dr. Eggman
On the same note of Bandai and Capcom potentially getting just a little more in Smash, enter Sega. This involves some splitting hairs on the matter of if Joker “counts”, being more an Atlus creation than parent company Sega’s. A similar statement could be made on Bayonetta with respect to Platinum. So why not take a page from Sephiroth’s playbook and have an iconic villain make their return?
Sonic’s arch enemy Dr. Eggman would be a fine fit, flying in with an Eggmobile full of 30 years of gadgetry. It may overlap with Bowser Jr. somewhat, but I’ve no doubt that Robotnik would be distinct and true to his gloriously mustached self. This could also boost the amount of Sonic the Hedgehog content in the game, adding in more music in particular. After all, you know what they say: the more the merrier!
Sora
I’ll be the first to admit Sora would be overkill from a Square Enix perspective. We just received Sephiroth, and before that Dragon Quest’s Hero and Cloud. But there’s just something about Sora that says “this character could be in Super Smash Bros.” that can only possibly be topped by the following character on this list. Any potential Disney hurdle aside, Kingdom Hearts should be next in line.
There’s plenty to pull from, with nearly a dozen games with convoluted titles under his belt. The Keyblade’s standard combos as well as the series’ later, more acrobatic techniques with blinding levels of particle effects could make Sora a quick and flashy fighter. Best of all, series composer Yoko Shimomura has been regularly arranging music for Challenger Packs. If she gets a chance to revisit some of her most popular work, that alone would be worth wishing for this character.
Crash Bandicoot
Here we are at the last, real, meta hurdle for Smash. Crash Bandicoot, a character so synonymous with the original Sony Playstation that his inclusion could make Banjo-Kazooie level waves. Now a free agent as far as consoles go and owned by Activision, there’s nothing holding back this marsupial from flying in from the new ruins level.
Crash wouldn’t be out of place at all, and while there are plenty of techniques to pull from across all of his games the must have would be his spin. Past that expect Wumpa Fruits, Nitro Crates, Aku Aku Masks, and some great animations for this cartoony mascot character. And hey, his latest game is coming to Switch real soon…
Written by Ricky Berg
When he isn’t writing for Nintendo Wire, Ricky’s anticipating the next Kirby, Fire Emblem, or if the stars ever align, Mother 3 to be released. Till then he’ll have the warm comfort of Super Smash Bros. to keep him going.
