Re: Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo Switch
I'm just going to give general thoughts about the character roster for this game. Like I said earlier I'm really leaning towards just about everybody from Smash 4 coming back. Even some of the potentially iffy ones like a few of the 3rd Parties, the clones, and the Mii Fighters (Because we don't know the fate of Custom moves yet).
Because I expect most of everybody coming back though, I don't think the newcomer pool will be all that huge. It will be the first time the newcomer pool is much smaller in a new game in the series. (Or at least it'd be absolutely maddening to expect Smash Switch to have more newcomers then Smash 4 did. There was a total of 19 (21 if you include the Mii Fighters as seperate) newcomers. That's crazy). I'd say my expectations would be at about 5 new 1st party characters including the Inklings in that number and maybe 1 or 2 more 3rd parties added in the main game. With obviously more characters later on as DLC.
I'm going to break down by each franchise what I generally expect and/or think would see if they get an addition.
Mario: If Mario gets a new Character. It'll likely be Captain Toad. If not though they might keep it the same. I think no new Mario characters are actually more likely then Paper Mario, Waluigi, Daisy, etc. Captain Toad I feel is the only real possibility at the moment
Yoshi: No new characters
Wario: No new characters
Donkey Kong: Gotta have King K. Rool at the very least. But I also think K. Rool might not be alone. I could potentially see Dixie join as well.
Zelda: A little hard to say at the moment. I actually think there are more questions on whether with Link being BOTW style if he'll have some revamps to his moveset. And whether or not Zelda will be able to transform into Shiek again. New characters I'm just not so sure about right now.
Metroid: Obviously Ridley will be back in the speculation spotlight. But a dark horse (No pun intended) candidate could be Dark Samus given Prime 4 is coming up. No doubt people would be kinda miffed if a 2nd dark version of a known character made it. But I think Dark Samus would be received much better then Dark Pit was.
Kid Icarus: No new characters
Fire Emblem: No new characters (Corrin basically was an early bird, otherwise I think he'd/she'd probably have gotten in here)
Kirby: No new characters (Maybe a slight chance for Bandanna Dee, but otherwise I'm not confident in a new Kirby character)
Punch-Out!!: No new characters
Star Fox: Maybe a return of Wolf somewhere. But that's about it.
Pokemon: I could see Decidueye being a strong possibility. While character patterns do kinda get overrated at times and I don't always agree they're necessary. It would be nice to have a grass starter to complete the Starter triangle that Charizard and Greninja could make 2/3rds of. That is unless Charizard returns to being with the Pokemon Trainer with 3DS processing no longer a problem. But I feel Charizard alone is more likely at the moment.
Retro: I'm lumping Game and Watch, ROB, Duck Hunt together even through they're individual franchises. But anyway Ice Climbers will be an obvious want. Though it may depend on if 8 Player Smash makes a return. I actually really like 8 Player Smash. But if the team prioritizes bringing back the Ice Climbers. Either they remove 8 Player Smash altogether if the Switch cannot handle 16 Ice Climbers at once. Or perhaps they make Ice Climbers the only character you can't use in 8-Player Smash and have the game explicitly tell why you can't use them in that mode. As for newcomer possibilities there is Takamaru. But other then that I don't know what else could be added. Though watch Sakurai completely blindside us with someone we don't expect from an old game.
MOTHER/Earthbound: No new characters
F-Zero: No new characters
Animal Crossing: No new characters
Pikmin: No new characters (It was already basically 2 characters in one slot with the Alph alts)
Wii Fit: If there's any chance that for the first time a franchise gets cut outside of technical issues (Ice Climbers) and 3rd Party kerfluffles (Metal Gear). Wii Fit Trainer would be the most likely one. But I won't be shocked to see her return.
Xenoblade: I highly expect Shulk to return with the chance Rex joins him.
Mii Fighters: I do think they return but I'm not sure yet if they come back the exact same way they did in Smash 4. It depends what happens with Custom Moves. The Switch still can use Miis, it's just they're not as front and center on the console as they were with the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U. Being there's no plaza. What is cool is the ability to actually have more color for hair for the Miis. I do think the Mii Fighters are kinda important to include because it allows younger fans (Or young-at-heart at least) to have those "Close enough" stuff to characters that are impossible where either they're real people, or characters that don't quite make the cut through the Mii costumes. The different color hairstyles will even allow people to include close enough versions of some of their favorite anime characters. Have any blue or pink haired Waifu's? You could be able to make a Mii of them in this game now without being restricted to natural hair colors.
I won't cover 3rd Party 2nd reps since
I kinda already mentioned that in a question in the merit thread. But overall I think it's very unlikely anyhow. And if it did happen it'd be just Tails or Knuckles for Sonic. Sonic's the only 3rd party with a realistic (But still very slim) chance of having a 2nd rep. The only 3rd Party character I could see have a strong chance at making it in immediately is Rayman. Maybe a mystery 2nd character gets in too. But Rayman's the most likely new 3rd Party I think. And who knows what comes out of the DLC later on. Ryu, Cloud, and Bayonetta were all mind blowing in one way or another. The skies the limit once we reach 3rd party DLCs.
So the pool of characters I could see coming in from the Main Game are as follows (This is not including the already confirmed Inklings):
Captain Toad, King K. Rool and/or Dixie Kong, Ridley or Dark Samus, Wolf, Decidueye, Ice Climbers, Takamaru, Rex, and Rayman
I am not saying all of them are certain or anything, in fact I think it's entirely possible less then half of this list actually makes it. But if you think that's small, that's because I'm not accounting for the inevitable surprise addition or two we'll probably get and I'm only accounting (for the exception of Retro and 3rd Parties) for franchises that have already been in the game. Plus I'm sure there will be a healthy amount of DLC characters. Either way, it should be an exciting time.
(If there are any new franchise possibilities that are on the top of my head now though. Spring Man from ARMS and/or a Rhythm Heaven rep is really all I've got at the moment)