Despite Nintendo and Sora Ltd. ceasing to release major updates for the game quite some time ago,Super Smash Bros. Ultimateremains a bright jewel in the crown of the Switch, sitting in the top five best-selling Nintendo Switch games with a comfortable lead of 31 million units sold over the competition. The game remains popular with casual fans and competitive players alike, but both groups still hope for aSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatesequel someday.Smash Ultimate’s design philosophy makes its scale a tough act to follow, but if its developers go all in on reworking the playable characters,Smash 6could still stand out.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis defined by its “Everyone is here!” slogan. When the game was first announced, few could’ve guessed that Sora Ltd. intended to include every fighter to date, but it managed to do pack in dozens of playable characters anyhow. That puts pressure onthe nextSmashgameto do something special with its characters too, and dramatic reworks might just be the best way forward.Smashhas changed a lot over the years, but in many ways its fighters are still echoes of their earliest iterations, so a total overhaul could be exactly what the cast needs to feel fresh again.
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Successor Needs a Hard Reset for its Fighters
ASmash Ultimatesequel will probably still feature all kinds of familiar characters – Mario, Link, Samus, Pikachu, and a variety of other Nintendo stars. However, they could feel like entirely new characters if they have completely different movesets. Many of these Nintendo stars have seen adjustments inSmash, like Link’s use of the Remote Bomb fromZelda: Breath of the WildinSmash Ultimate,but they still retain a lot of basic moves from their past selves. That makes these characters easier for players to pick up when moving from oneSmashgame to another, but it also means they risk feeling stale.
There’s a case to be made that a lot ofSmashcharacters aren’t representative of their franchises these days. Some characters likeDonkey Konghave rather generic kits that don’t pay much homage to the games they come from, in part because they’ve preserved a lot of their game design from olderSmashentries likeSmash 64. A couple characters have grown, but there’s still a ways to go. For instance, Ganondorf started to distance himself from being a Captain Falcon clone inSmash Ultimate, but his kit still doesn’t fully capture the skills and moments that he’s known for inThe Legend of Zelda.
A slow pace of change is excusable for rare characters with only a couple iconic appearances, like Sheik, but it shouldn’t be the norm for the entire cast. A lot of Nintendo characters have picked up new abilities, gone through major character arcs, and even dabbled in new genres since their earliestSmashdays, soSmash Ultimate’s sequel ought to put a little more care into capturing the key modern qualities of Nintendo’s mascots. Link’sBotWandTotKabilities,Mario’s friend Cappy fromSuper Mario Odyssey,Pokemon’s ever-expanding list of gimmicks, and other iconic features of Nintendo’s current era can inspire wholly new movesets forSmash’s oldest fighters.
Luckily there’s hope for such character-driven reworks in a newSmashgame. Competitive players may have balance questions concerningSmash UltimateDLC fighters likeMinecraft’s Steve, but the DLCs generally do an excellent job drawing from their source material. Byleth wields the unique properties ofFire Emblem: Three Houses' most iconic weapons, Steve taps into a multitude ofMinecraftmechanics, Min Min brings a striking imitation ofArmsgameplay, and so on. Even the Inkling in theUltimatebase game makes rich use ofSplatoon’s central ink system. The nextSmashgame can apply that same design philosophy to Nintendo’s biggest mascot characters in order to start a new generation for the franchise.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis available now for Nintendo Switch.
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