Topic: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

My predictions are:

• Newcomers: King K Rool and Dixie Kong, new stages based on DKC2 and Tropical Freeze
• Announce some Echo Fighters (e.g. Shadow, Alm, Celica, Isabelle, Dark Samus)
• Announce which stages are returning (something like "everything but Miiverse")
• Details about local modes including a new story mode (only discussed if no dedicated October/November Smash Direct)
• Details about online modes, stability and how Smash integrates with the mobile app
• Demo available exclusively for paid online subscribers coming in September
• Newcomer: Simon Belmont and Castlevania stage

Make that Yoshimitsu, or even better not a Tekken but a Soul Calibur character, like Mitsurugi, Voldo, or Ivy. It would be a nice throwback to fight some Soul Calibur II characters with Link, like we did back on the Gamecube.
Also: Soul Calibur stage and music! Much better than anything from Tekken.

@Mrtoad Well, they were in the original Splatoon and planned to be implemented playable characters. I know some hackers managed to actually play as them online. Plus, as echoes, they didn't need to be in the original project plan necessarily.

@ReaderRagfish I actually am rather curious about if the grass item is returning, but I still wouldn't want the whole direct to be dedicated to that.

@SKTTR The only Tekken character I'd actually WANT is King. Other than that, Soul Calibur for me anyways. Hachi is japanese for Eight however, so I was making a triple pun with Heihachi, Octoling and Gen 8.

@DarthNocturnal And then we end up with Shrek

Predictions

• Isabelle being playable.
• some new original stages.
• i doubt this will happen in a smash game. but abilty to make costumes for characters.
• Stage Builder and better improvements from it's Wii U version. i like the drawing from Wii U. but i do hope they give us more variety. also allow us to share them with friends. (i don't think that was something that we can do in brawl or Wii U, i know would could play with them online with friends.)
• buying trophies again from Melee.
• The Subspace Emissary returns.
• Stickers improvement
• if anything from 3DS/Wii U modes return, please bring back Smash Run. it was one of the best things that the 3DS version had that Wii U didnt. (all WIi U got was a party mini game for it's replacement. )
• Break the Targets returns. Target Blast could also be optional.
• Nintendo. we gotta talk. you remember Board the Platforms from Smash 64 right? can that come back too?

I just want them to reveal more than one single player mode. Smash 4 was lacking in that part.

We're multiple Smash games in and we don't have a Tetris stage.

Why. That's like the one stage I've wanted for years.

Funny thing is that most people are awaiting for new fighters and stages, while I'm from the minority that wants a better single player mode. Wii U's Smash Bros. single player wasn't as compelling as the Brawl's, so it would be smart to return to the roots.

@Azooooz I've been wanting a mix of Adventure Mode from Melee, Subspace Emissary from Brawl, and actually Kid Icarus: Uprising for the longest time. There's around 25+ franchises represented in Smash right now, just like how there's 25 chapters in Uprising. Each "chapter" in Ultimate will correspond with a certain franchise. Stage 1 is Mario, Stage 2 is Zelda, Stage 3 is Metroid, Stage 23 is Xenoblade, Stage 14 is Mother/EarthBound, etc. Then each stage will have a boss of some sort, be it just a normal Smash fight, a full-blown boss like you'd see in Brawl, or a specifically-buffed character fight like in Event Modes or Classic.

That would be my dream single-player mode honestly, but it might be a bit too ambitious to have that AND a robust multiplayer, since Uprising's multiplayer wasn't really that fun compared to the single-player and even Melee/Brawl's single-player was nothing compared to the actual fighting in multiplayer.

If anything people probably realized how boring the game gets when there's a lack of meaningful single player content. "you don't know what you've got till its gone" type of situation. I think that's how people view Subspace Emissary after realizing the alternative is just no adventure mode at all with 8 player smash and smash tour filling in as the bonus modes. After those disappointments, doesn't surprise me to see a bigger clamoring for SE type of gameplay

@EvilLucario To be honest the big thing I'd imagine most people want regarding Smash multiplayer is good connection quality. Achieve that and the online multiplayer experience is straight away much better than Brawl, 3DS and Wii U.

That's really where the paid online service succeeds or fails as a paid online service. How often are players disconnecting in Splatoon 2 Splatfests? Are Smash Ultimate matches still very slideshow-like? Does the infamous "A communication error has occurred" message appear often in MK8 Deluxe? Do Mario Tennis Aces matches still have input lag?

...etc.

Of course the unfortunate reality is that Nintendo locking VC and the only way to back up your saves behind the paid online service gives them an advantage for subscription sales even if the actual online is garbage.

@Grumblevolcano And people will pay anyway, just because they're used to being able to play online.

The problem is that the online for Nintendo's games is Peer 2 Peer, meaning the quality of the connection is dependent on the people playing. Nintendo can't do much of anything - if anything - to improve upon these problems, unless they create their own servers for Nintendo games. And I sincerely doubt that's going to happen. The connection issues will remain the same, you'll just be paying for it. Even though you're already paying for your internet service - which is what really runs P2P - to begin with!

Nintendo's really having you pay for cloud saves and NES games, while locking online play behind it to MAKE you pay for it. Really lovely for the company that's supposed to be better than the rest.

Yeah, I always giggle a bit to myself to people who think the Online sub is going to actually improve the online capabilities. Unless they announce dedicated servers for all their current games, it's not going to have any noticeable improvement on our ends.

@MisterPi Please no. Dedicated servers would be the worst for Mario Tennis or Smash Bros or Pokken or Mario Party or Pokemon Let's Go. Splatoon MIGHT be improved by them, big MIGHT there though. Mario Kart already has them, and... I think that's all their online games, right?

Dedicated servers improve online quality when there's lots of people by synchronizing everyone. If there's only two people, they literally serve no point other than to add additional lag. They aren't some magic lag eliminating device you can throw on any game.

If you want better online, you need better netcode, plain and simple. Smash 4's netcode was entirely delay based for example, which combined with low quality matchmaking made online awful. Same thing happened to Mario Tennis on the demo, and look how much better it's become since they updated the netcode?

Yeah I mean, both Brawl and Smash 4 were P2P. But Smash 4 was tons better than Brawl was despite also being P2P.

@EvilLucario Exactly. That's because Brawl's netcode was absolutely awful (though, I blame Wii's lack of proper online support as well, only a couple games managed to implement it well). And Smash 4's was far more stable, but still delay based instead of predictive. Hopefully we'll see proper predictive netcode, and ping based matchmaking introduced this time around. That'd bring it in line with other fighters being released.

@link3710 Thanks for the info. It's good to know for sure that the online subscription is definitively pointless, haha

Crossing my fingers.

Welp someone messed up

Spoilers my dude. Although I already spoiled myself lel.