Smash Bros. Ultimate Characters Most Likely To Return In Next Smash

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate creator Masahiro Sakurai has suggested that the next Smash Bros. installment would need a smaller roster, leaving fans wondering if their main will return. Since its debut in 1999, the franchise has amassed an impressive 82 playable characters, not including echo fighters. As the roster is comprised of characters hailing from some of gaming’s most recognizable franchises, certain fighters are destined to survive a probable roster shrinkage between Ultimate and the next game.

The original Super Smash Bros. featured a total of 12 playable characters, all created by Nintendo or its second-party developers. With each subsequent installment, the roster of fighters grew and started to include third-party characters with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The diversity of fighter selection is one of the reasons the franchise has been so successful, leading to Smash Bros. getting copied by inferior games.

If Nintendo does indeed shrink the playable roster for the next Smash Bros. game, the seasoned fighters who’ve been mainstays in the franchise and newer characters providing unique playstyles are more likely to survive the cut. The Super Smash Bros. series has gathered some of gaming’s most recognizable characters in its latest entry, ranging from industry icons such as Mario and Pikachu to more recent fan-favorites including Inkling and Villager. The next Smash installment may be missing a few fighters, but some on the current roster are bound for a return.

Smash 64 Fighters Surely Will Return In Smash Ultimate’s Sequel

The original roster of 12 from 1999’s Super Smash Bros. has appeared in every installment of the franchise and they’re all destined to remain series regulars. As the last DLC fighter in Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sora brought an exciting new series into the crossover fighting game. However, the original cast of characters is still frequently chosen by players and will surely appear in every future Smash Bros. game.

Some of the original fighters continue to receive new entries in their respective franchises, ensuring their continued success in Smash Bros. and gaming in general. Three fighters in the Smash 64 line-up have yet to receive a recent game, but their popularity remains strong due to the crossover fighting series. Fox from Starfox, Ness from Mother/EarthBound, and Captain Falcon from F-Zero likely won’t receive games in their respective franchises in the near future, but many players now associate them with the Smash Bros. series which will ensure their inclusion going forward.

Most Smash Melee Characters Will Likely Return For Ultimate’s Sequel

Smash Bros. Melee included all Smash 64 fighters with some new additions. Melee‘s strength and continued popularity led to many games copying the Smash Bros. formula, and its debut fighters definitely contributed to its success. Some Melee characters have remained series regulars since their debut in 2001. Bowser and Ganondorf’s inclusion not only expanded their respective franchises’ representation in Smash Bros., but also highlighted the popularity of Nintendo’s villains. Peach, Sheik, and Zelda brought more iconic female characters in Nintendo’s roster to join Samus in the fight. The addition of Mr. Game & Watch re-introduced the character to younger gamers while paving the way for more retro fighters to appear in Smash Bros. 

Not all Melee additions are destined to return in the next Smash Bros. The Pokémon Mewtwo isn’t one of a kind, as it’s just one of multiple characters that debuted in Melee, just to be removed one game later. While Mewtwo and Roy would be added as DLC to Smash 4, Pichu and Young Link had to wait until Smash Bros. Ultimate was released 17 years later. Future installments of Smash Bros. will most certainly include the mainstay fighters added in Melee, but those who’ve been cut before may not be on the top of the list to return.

Smash Ultimate Fighters From Outside Nintendo Likely Won’t Return

Including DLC characters and echo fighters, Smash Bros. Ultimate brought a total of 22 new playable fighters, some of whom deserve to stay on the roster for the next installment. A main selling point of the series is the diverse roster of characters pulling from all corners of gaming, making Smash Bros. better than Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and other competitors. While it would be easy to exclude newer fighters from the next game, as they likely don’t have the same level of fan adoration as older characters, many of the additions in Ultimate brought new franchise representation to the crossover fighting series.

The first new character revealed for Smash Bros. Ultimate was Splatoon‘s Inkling. The half-human, half-squid’s inclusion in Ultimate brought another fan-favorite Nintendo franchise to the fighting series, and Nintendo likely will want to continue having Inkling on the roster to promote Splatoon. Castlevania’s Simon was also added to the roster and celebrates another long-standing gaming franchise. Simon’s continued inclusion isn’t set in stone, but his chances are likely higher than other new fighters as he also brings nostalgia for the games of yesterday.

As one of the best games of 2021, Metroid Dread‘s popularity bodes well for Ridley’s continued Smash Bros. inclusion, even though it’s not in the latest Metroid entry. Ridley’s also the first Metroid representative who isn’t a version of Samus, the character also brings more villains to the line-up. Another iconic foe in Nintendo’s history, King K. Rool could have a high possibility of returning to bolster the Donkey Kong representative beyond DK and Diddy Kong.

Even though the next Smash Bros. entry may pare down the playable roster, some characters are destined for continued playability. Fighters introduced in the first two games of the franchise who’ve stayed throughout its 23-year history likely would survive a shrinking roster. Newer additions to the series could also fair better than others if they’re contributing something unique either playstyle-wise or in regards to gaming representation. As Sora as DLC in Smash Bros. was greeted with celebration partly due to Kingdom Hearts being playable on most consoles fans own, Nintendo may look to which existing fighters represent gaming’s long-lasting and popular franchise when deciding who should return in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sequel.

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