So I've decided to write the DLC fanfiction to end all DLC fanfiction. This possible future is one where Sakurai takes an informal survey of what people are asking for and designs a DLC roadmap to please as many people as possible; a good mix of hype, surprise, fan service, and advertisement.
So first up would be Fighters Pass 2:
This has (SHOCKING) two western third party reps, two Japanese third party reps, a Pokemon, and the first full fledged indie fighter. Crash and Master Chief are probably the most requested western characters at this point (barring Doom Slayer who maybe Sakurai didn't feel like toning down or wrestling with CERO over, who knows). Similarly, Dante and Sora are probably the most requested Japanese third parties (maybe 2B is a close third?). I explained my theory about a new eeveelution being the Gen 8 Pokemon rep in a prior post, but in a nutshell, the Crown Tundra DLC seems to be focused on introducing new forms to old groups of elemental Pokemon and we're overdue for a new one (we got new ones in Gen 4 and Gen 6). As for Shantae, I truly think she either tied Shovel Knight or was right behind him in the ballot, which would explain why her and Shovel Knight were the only indies to get representation in the base game. Wayforward continues to be probably the most prolific indie developer for the Switch and they've had history with Nintendo all the way back to 2001 on GBC.
Now, to go along with Fighters Pass 2, I'm a subscriber to the "Perfect Rectangle" theory that basically states we're in for 4 additional echo fighters before development ends. This would put the total at 94 characters including 11 echo fighters which makes a perfectly rectangular character select screen with stacked and unstacked echoes. So, basically, over the next two years, sprinkled between the full fledged fighter releases, we're going to get the additional echo fighters released either stand alone or as a separate pass (forgive the low effort on this graphic, kind of got lazy, lol):
Octolings make sense because Splatoon is unbelievably popular and I can't help but think we'll get a Splatoon 3 released in 2021. The other 3 are kind of a stretch, I'll admit, but a long standing dream of mine has been to have Sakurai finally complete the Forbidden Seven, and kind of go above and beyond to make "Everyone is Here" as complete as possible. Plusle and Minun are obvious echoes of Pichu (separately selectable as alt costumes ala Olimar and Alph), and Dixie would be an echo of Diddy but with Donkey Kong's up-B as a hair twirl. I've argued in the past that Tetra could work as a Ken-esque echo of Toon Link where her normals work slightly differently due to a different sword shape. In addition, her up-B would be a grappling hook (think Joker) and her side-B would be a smaller, faster, and weaker version of Bowser Jr's cannon (a hand cannon). Admittedly, this stretches the definition of echo fighter, but Ken and Chrom already kind of do that.
In addition to all of this, it seems obvious that the response to Sans and now Cuphead would motivate Sakurai and company to keep making premium full body Mii costumes with a music track and here are the four I think make the most sense:
Steve and Hollow Knight should be pretty obvious, but I feel like Geno and Mokujin deserve a little bit of explanation. In an ideal world, Geno would be a full fledged fighter, but I can't shake the feeling that if he were going to happen, he would have happened in Fighters Pass 1 or as a Piranha Plant style bonus for Fighters Pass 2. I think if they upgrade the costume from Smash 4, changing his proportions slightly and giving him a full head replacement, he'd actually be pretty neat a Mii Gunner. Mokujin is kind of the only fighting game character I could think of that would not look really distorted as a Mii Brawler costume, plus it throws Tekken fans a bone. If anyone can think of a better full body replacement costume for Mii Brawler (one that has no facial expressions and fits the proportions at least moderately well), please feel free to chime in.
So at the end of all of this, as a mentioned above, we'd be at 94 full characters (counting Pokemon Trainer as 3). Wouldn't it be a shame to be this close to the magic number of 100 fighters on the roster and not make it? Well, Sakuai and team think so too. When Smash Ultimate gets ported to Switch 2 in 2023, 6 more fighters are added to the roster (kindly ignore the numbering, again, got lazy):
So since this is technically "base roster" for the port of Ultimate, they're mostly Nintendo characters. I don't think anyone can really complain about these four. It's important to note that, while Anna would be badass, I think it's probably more likely that we'll get whatever Lord/Avatar comes in the next mainline Fire Emblem. For the two third parties, I thought to myself, "which partners of Nintendo would be most willing to let their characters be included in a full game purchase instead of DLC?" and Koei Techmo and SEGA were near the front of my list. I also kind of selfishly just really want Hayabusa and Tails and didn't think they fit the "DLC" criteria I had laid out for Fighters Pass 2.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this as this is probably the last long form roster speculation post I'll make for a long time. I know it's weird, but I just wanted to challenge y'all to dream as big as you can, and in my mind, the biggest dream possible at this point would be pushing the roster to 100 total characters while including as many fan favorites as possible. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them, even if they're mean!
Edit: I realize now that I miscounted, and the perfect rectangle theory would actually require 92 on the roster with 11 echo fighters. Oh well, lmao. You get what I was gong for at least. Add in an extra Nintendo character and an extra third party of your choice to the Switch 2 port to get us to 100.
So first up would be Fighters Pass 2:
This has (SHOCKING) two western third party reps, two Japanese third party reps, a Pokemon, and the first full fledged indie fighter. Crash and Master Chief are probably the most requested western characters at this point (barring Doom Slayer who maybe Sakurai didn't feel like toning down or wrestling with CERO over, who knows). Similarly, Dante and Sora are probably the most requested Japanese third parties (maybe 2B is a close third?). I explained my theory about a new eeveelution being the Gen 8 Pokemon rep in a prior post, but in a nutshell, the Crown Tundra DLC seems to be focused on introducing new forms to old groups of elemental Pokemon and we're overdue for a new one (we got new ones in Gen 4 and Gen 6). As for Shantae, I truly think she either tied Shovel Knight or was right behind him in the ballot, which would explain why her and Shovel Knight were the only indies to get representation in the base game. Wayforward continues to be probably the most prolific indie developer for the Switch and they've had history with Nintendo all the way back to 2001 on GBC.
Now, to go along with Fighters Pass 2, I'm a subscriber to the "Perfect Rectangle" theory that basically states we're in for 4 additional echo fighters before development ends. This would put the total at 94 characters including 11 echo fighters which makes a perfectly rectangular character select screen with stacked and unstacked echoes. So, basically, over the next two years, sprinkled between the full fledged fighter releases, we're going to get the additional echo fighters released either stand alone or as a separate pass (forgive the low effort on this graphic, kind of got lazy, lol):
Octolings make sense because Splatoon is unbelievably popular and I can't help but think we'll get a Splatoon 3 released in 2021. The other 3 are kind of a stretch, I'll admit, but a long standing dream of mine has been to have Sakurai finally complete the Forbidden Seven, and kind of go above and beyond to make "Everyone is Here" as complete as possible. Plusle and Minun are obvious echoes of Pichu (separately selectable as alt costumes ala Olimar and Alph), and Dixie would be an echo of Diddy but with Donkey Kong's up-B as a hair twirl. I've argued in the past that Tetra could work as a Ken-esque echo of Toon Link where her normals work slightly differently due to a different sword shape. In addition, her up-B would be a grappling hook (think Joker) and her side-B would be a smaller, faster, and weaker version of Bowser Jr's cannon (a hand cannon). Admittedly, this stretches the definition of echo fighter, but Ken and Chrom already kind of do that.
In addition to all of this, it seems obvious that the response to Sans and now Cuphead would motivate Sakurai and company to keep making premium full body Mii costumes with a music track and here are the four I think make the most sense:
Steve and Hollow Knight should be pretty obvious, but I feel like Geno and Mokujin deserve a little bit of explanation. In an ideal world, Geno would be a full fledged fighter, but I can't shake the feeling that if he were going to happen, he would have happened in Fighters Pass 1 or as a Piranha Plant style bonus for Fighters Pass 2. I think if they upgrade the costume from Smash 4, changing his proportions slightly and giving him a full head replacement, he'd actually be pretty neat a Mii Gunner. Mokujin is kind of the only fighting game character I could think of that would not look really distorted as a Mii Brawler costume, plus it throws Tekken fans a bone. If anyone can think of a better full body replacement costume for Mii Brawler (one that has no facial expressions and fits the proportions at least moderately well), please feel free to chime in.
So at the end of all of this, as a mentioned above, we'd be at 94 full characters (counting Pokemon Trainer as 3). Wouldn't it be a shame to be this close to the magic number of 100 fighters on the roster and not make it? Well, Sakuai and team think so too. When Smash Ultimate gets ported to Switch 2 in 2023, 6 more fighters are added to the roster (kindly ignore the numbering, again, got lazy):
So since this is technically "base roster" for the port of Ultimate, they're mostly Nintendo characters. I don't think anyone can really complain about these four. It's important to note that, while Anna would be badass, I think it's probably more likely that we'll get whatever Lord/Avatar comes in the next mainline Fire Emblem. For the two third parties, I thought to myself, "which partners of Nintendo would be most willing to let their characters be included in a full game purchase instead of DLC?" and Koei Techmo and SEGA were near the front of my list. I also kind of selfishly just really want Hayabusa and Tails and didn't think they fit the "DLC" criteria I had laid out for Fighters Pass 2.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this as this is probably the last long form roster speculation post I'll make for a long time. I know it's weird, but I just wanted to challenge y'all to dream as big as you can, and in my mind, the biggest dream possible at this point would be pushing the roster to 100 total characters while including as many fan favorites as possible. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them, even if they're mean!
Edit: I realize now that I miscounted, and the perfect rectangle theory would actually require 92 on the roster with 11 echo fighters. Oh well, lmao. You get what I was gong for at least. Add in an extra Nintendo character and an extra third party of your choice to the Switch 2 port to get us to 100.
