Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best-selling fighting game of all time, beating out Street Fighter 2’s cumulative sales by almost ten million. It is the third best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch, and it’s easy to see why. Smash Ultimate’s commitment to having every character and almost every stage the series has seen is a herculean effort, not seen since Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 compiled the rosters of every Capcom-made Marvel fighting game up to that point. With the guest character-filled Fighters Pass DLC selling like wildfire, it seems like not even poor online during a pandemic can slow Super Smash Bros. Ultimate down. So, what comes next?
The answer to that has been puzzling fans for a little while now. Ultimate takes its name from its “Everyone Is Here” approach to a roster, and by being the most polished version of Super Smash Bros. to date. However, Fighters Pass 2 has not been definitively declared the last DLC by director Masahiro Sakurai or Nintendo, but full development may cease following Fighter Pass 2’s conclusion. Smash is too lucrative for Nintendo to leave it alone for more than a console generation, but what can it possibly do with a new entry that makes it feel appealing to an audience that already owns Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?
There’s really only one thing Nintendo can do going forward, and that’s reset the Smash franchise. 2021 might be the end of Smash Bros. as it is currently known. Keeping the current roster full of licensed characters is simply not sustainable. It would be painful, and it would make the new title lose much of its value in the eyes of fans, but it is a necessity if a new title is to be made. The launch roster would need to scale back to between 20 and 30 characters (the usual 12-16 in traditional fighters would not be accepted by fans after Ultimate), and the gameplay would need to undergo large revisions.
The fundamental Super Smash Bros. gameplay formula being changed is a prospect so bizarre and far off, drastic changes would likely take years to implement into a new Smash game. It would likely remain a 2D platform fighter, but that genre doesn’t allow for many obvious mechanical alterations that would set it apart from past games, at least in the eyes of casual players. Still, Smash was made different to sidestep the typical concerns with fighting games of being inaccessible to the average player. Making a traditional 2D fighter out of Smash would cause it to lose that identity, no matter how well it could help players get better at playing fighting games.
Another much more risky direction that would keep the franchise from becoming a traditional fighter could be turning Super Smash Bros. into a 3D arena fighter. There is a massive non-competitive stigma attached to the subgenre, and Nintendo would need to continue walking the fine line between accessibility and mechanical depth. Still, as fans of CyberConnect2’s licensed arena fighters would tell you, arena fighters aren’t a dead-end genre. They can be done right, and if there’s anyone who could, it would be Nintendo (or the Bandai Namco team developing Ultimate), but the prospects are terrifying nonetheless.
Fortunately, Super Smash Bros. has a built-in attribute to smooth over rough edges and please fans: its characters. Smash is a crossover series that has been commonly referred to as a “celebration of gaming” in recent years. With third-party guests pulled from across the industry, it’s easy to see why. Six of the nine revealed Fighters Pass characters have been guests, with both American and Japanese companies having representation in Smash.
That’s not even getting into the third-party fighters present in the roster, like Sonic, Pac-man, Megaman, and Simon Belmont. A new Smash game likely would not be able to bring these characters forward, but even getting two guests in the base roster and a couple more as DLC would accrue massive goodwill.
With this new roster comes new opportunities for a variety of modes and game content. Even with fewer stages, there could be crossovers happening in the backgrounds between games in the same series, or even between different ones. Assist trophies could be packed with guests, and the item roster doesn’t need to go anywhere. And, perhaps most notably, a singleplayer equivalent to the Subspace Emissary and World of Light could be implemented. This mode could be designed around the capabilities and series of the smaller roster, and offer more bespoke, game-themed content. There are plenty of ways to make a new, more condensed Smash game appealing.
Finally, a new Super Smash Bros. gives Nintendo a chance to breathe life into the competitive scene. If top players are happy, good word of mouth will spread throughout the community. First and foremost, the next Super Smash Bros. should focus on implementing good rollback netcode. There have been no in-person tournaments during the pandemic, which demonstrated to the fighting game community at large the overwhelming importance of good netcode. Smash Ultimate in particular has such poor online, that tier lists have been made separating online and offline characters into separate rankings. A new Smash with good netcode would be monstrously popular.
In addition, Nintendo could focus on connecting with and fostering good relationships with the new game’s competitive scene. It could ask for feedback and advice on tournaments, and inject some of the game’s profits back into tournament prize pools. Nintendo has felt at odds with the Super Smash Bros. scene for too long, and once again, having community leaders say good things about Nintendo and Smash could lead to success. The reset point that a new Super Smash Bros. game offers could be something the series and its fans have been in desperate need of, without necessarily even knowing it.
The runaway success of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has left the series’ future uncertain, and with an expected end to Smash Ultimate’s official support, the question of “what comes next” will be on everyone’s minds. Still, although the unknown future is intimidating, it offers a chance for Super Smash Bros. to reinvent itself for a whole new generation of fans, and give the old ones something new to try. There’s no telling where Smash is headed, but the corner it’s backed itself into might not be the dead end it looks like from 2021.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on the Nintendo Switch.
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