Topic: My predictions for Challenger Pack 11 (the final DLC fighter)

The presentation of Kazuya by Mr. Sakurai made me feel a lot of things. I laughed because of the mii costumes because I could imagine the reactions of the people, I was worried because Kazuya looked busted if played right and I felt sad because Masahiro himself confirmed that there will be no more fighters after Challenger Pack 11. It was since that moment were I tried to guess who was going to be the last fighter. Then i realized, that during the Kazuya presentation, Sakurai talked about how he wanted to respect the essence of the fighters and their source material, while also being creative and trying to make the "impossible" a reality with clever ideas and a lot of work and research, and I though that this could be an excelent point of research for me and I started to search someone who could put Sakurai ideals to the "Ultimate" test. But who could be that character? Any character from a 3D game doesn't work because smash is a 2D game (kazuya only works because he can't get his vision out of his rival) and a fighter that originates from a platform fighter wouldn't make something "impossible" a reality. Then I started to remember certain character that the people claimed to see on battlefield and it's variants on the ice, as well as in King K. Rool trailer in the form of a cloud, and considering that Min Min broke that fan made rule that claimed that spirits deconfirmed fighters, I think he has a chance.
That's right, I'm talking about Rayman
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BsMjLbSyIfY
Now this Link leads to a video that lasts for less that 5 minutes that shows all the moves of Rayman in the game "Rayman Legends". I saw that video like 10 times to come to the conclusion that with a bit of work and clever ideas in the middle, that moveset can work on Smash, making Rayman a Fighter that plays exactly like in his game (which at first looks impossible and also respects the character)
But what do you guys think?

Rayman, and Crash for that matter, feel too western for me. This is a game made by Japanese developers and many of the characters added have some sort of significance in Japan. It is my understanding that these kinds of western mascot games haven't really done well in the East - could be wrong on that, but from some quick web searching that appears to be the case (here's a relevant thread on this very subject, lol - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-...

Of course, the counter example to all of that is Banjo - but hey, at least Banjo was a 2nd party game on N64. I don't know if that's the reason he got in, but I think he does stick out as a bit of a sore thumb.

Personally I have a distaste for Rayman and Crash. They feel to me like products of an era when devs were just trying to rip off both Mario and Sonic. Some kind of mascot like Mario, but with an edge like Sonic. I'd rather these kinds of characters not make it into Smash personally.

As for my own prediction, I think it's either going to be something from Resident Evil, or something from Ring Fit if they go the first party route. I've thought for awhile that a new Ring Fit fighter that could somehow be controlled with the Ring Con, giving Smash a fitness mode, would be really wacky and fun.

@bpapa2020 Steve is another direct counter to this. He's the first wholly original Western character who wasn't initially associated with Nintendo to be included in Smash unlike Banjo, K. Rool, Diddy Kong and Dark Samus, and Minecraft is monolithic in popularity in Japanese markets

Call me crazy but I genuinely think DOOM Marine/Slayer has a chance

They've danced around DOOM suspiciously during the last batches of Mii costumes while Elder Scrolls and Fallout got proper representation through there, and Sakurai even dedicated a Pic of the Day segment to just Bethesda for their 35th anniversary, which means they've clearly talked already

That and DOOM as far as Western franchises go, is one of the biggest in gaming history and an icon of a genre that hasn't been represented in Smash yet but is immensely popular today, in addition to it being the one Bethesda franchise as of recently that actually has a solid history with Nintendo (though that didn't stop Persona)

@TheFrenchiestFry I disagree that FPS hasn't been represented in Smash, the Metroid Prime games are FPS so there's 3 (Samus, Dark Samus, Ridley).

@Grumblevolcano Metroid Prime isn't a shooter. It's more like a first person adventure game. Shooting and action in general isn't really the point in Prime as much as it is exploration and atmosphere with some pockets of shooting

It's also still a Nintendo IP so there's that too

SMT V's protagonist would be a cool addition, I think.

Phoenix Wright

@Grumblevolcano I agree with @TheFrenchiestFry, I haven't played it sure, but from what I have seen, Its not really a FPS game, And plus, Samus is not originally from prime, so she still wouldn't be a pure fps character bc thats not her main title of games.

I think, like Steve and Banjo, they want to make the fighter something either 1. Kind of a joke/meme and 2. Someone fans have been asking for so long

Waluigi fits both of those. The internet would go crazy.

@WhiskeyFlamingo Seeing SMT and Persona repped in the same game would literally cement this year as Atlus' best year between the Persona 25th stuff, SMTIII HD, SMT V and potentially an SMT character in Smash

Hell I'd still probably lose my crap if Demi-fiend or Flynn got in instead

I would like to see Smash end the way it started, with a Nintendo character. Waluigi to me is the character to end off Smash Ultimate, but if Sakurai and his team don't want to go in that direction I hope they just continue to go down the line of new characters from Nintendo's Switch era. Min Min, Pyra and Mythra are my favorite newcomers in Ultimate, and I would love for Ring Fit Trainer to join them. I think it would be interesting and a challenge if they implement the Ring-Con as an option within the character's move set, especially for Trainer's Final Smash.

I personally would like the champions from BOTW, either like a pokemon trainer style deal where terrako teleports them in or as separate fighters.

@JohnStan786 @I-U agreed, Ring Fitness Trainer would be today's Wii Fit Trainer and would be cool. However, as stated, Waluigi would blow the doors off. FINALLY, Waluigi!

I think it will be a Nintendo character 100%. They won't end this with a 3rd party fighter.

In all honesty despite being an Assist Trophy Shadow the Hedgehog would make for an excellent and unique fighter given his Chaos abilities. A lot of people seem to think that he'd be an Echo of Sonic but that couldn't be further from the truth. They're just too different.

Despite being an AT I still think he has a chance at making it in the game. I really don't understand this obsession with having Waluigi be in the game but I agree with @I-U. Having a first party character like the Ring Fitness Trainer would be a great way to round out the pass.

Shadow would be a Wolf situation

He'd have specific abilties (mostly his specials being his Chaos powers) that would seperate him from Sonic in addition to his animations like him skating across the ground, but in most of Shadow's playable appearances he was straight up Sonic but slightly different, and where they tried to do more with him, he sucked.

@TheFrenchiestFry Plus it would be another game with a SMT character featuring Dante from Devil May Cry

The only ways I can see Nintendo pulling this off are:

1. With an "unexpected" (in quotation marks because nothing is really unexpected anymore) third party character. So I totally see this being something Microsoft-owned (e.g. Master Chief), or otherwise something primarily Western but hugely popular (e.g. Crash or Rayman). I don't see this being a new character in a series that is already represented (sorry Eggman...)

2. A Nintendo character that is either (i) very current [e.g. something Metroid Dread or BotW sequel related], (ii) long forgotten [e.g....actually, I don't know about this one], or (iii) highly requested [e.g. Waluigi, Dixie Kong]. Hopefully nothing from the Pokemon or Fire Emblem franchises though - there's only so much these can offer at this point IMO.

If Sakurai got to make the final call, Waluigi.
If Nintendo execs made the final call, some Fire Emblem or Pokemon character.
If I made the call, Dante.

+5 for Doomguy (legendary)
+5 for Phoenix Wright (charismatic)
+5 for Shadow / Dr. Eggman (cool and iconic)
+1 for Ring Fit Trainer (if she can actually be controlled with the Ring Fit controller)
+1 for Nahobino (he seems so obvious, I will definately give SMTV a try when it's out)

I'm ok with all of these, they feature in really good games.

Considering that Mii Costumes, Assist Trophys, and post-game Spirits will not be promoted to playable fighters in this game (so unfortunately no chance for Resident Evil, Waluigi, or my personal favourites Chibi-Robo and Sin&Punishment), I would love to see Andy from Advance Wars, the Chorus Kids from Rhythm Paradise, or any other great underrated/overlooked Nintendo IP that has not yet received a single playable fighter.

The reason I'm not for Rayman is I think there are better platformer icons out there. Retro classics like Bubble Bobble and Wonder Boy were just some of the best games of the 80ies. Conker and Dixie Kong performed in two of the best platformers of all time. And then there are also platformer sidekicks like Bandana Waddle Dee and Kamek that are just too adorable to dismiss. At least Rayman games are much better than Crash Bandicoot games, I'll give it that.

Since it's the final DLC character, this has to be more or less a showstopper so...I got five selections on who can make it in.

#1 Boyfriend from Friday Night Funkin', more or less the rep for Flash games. Why him? Because that game basically revived the Newgrounds site. The breeding grounds of flash classics and also indies like Super Meat Boy, Hollow Knight, The Binding of Issac... the Newgrounds mascots if not the indies can make for excellent spirits. Yes, he's pretty recent but anything is possible.

#2 Flandre Scarlet from Touhou because not only Touhou is infamous for creating the bullet-hell genre but the series is just as well versed in tackling multiple game genres like Mario if not more.

#3 Mike Jones from Startropics because there is no sighting of Startropics anywhere. No music, spirits, nothing. This has to be the time to let Startropics be known.

#4 Klonoa from ...Klonoa because Square, Capcom, and Sega has three reps in their roster. Namco only has two. In terms of fan popularity, Klonoa seems like the best bet.

and the last one....

Nestor from Nintendo Power

He's been on Nestor's Funky Bowling.