Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct was full of surprise reveals, key among them that Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont and none other than fan-favorite King K. Rool will be joining the fight. Smash fans are thrilled after the presentation, and rightfully so.
Personally, although the announcements mentioned above are exciting in their own right, I think the best thing right now is how many possibilities have been opened up. Let’s take a look, shall we?
King K. Who?
I’m not going to lie: King K. Rool’s announcement surprised me. As someone who has never owned a SNES, let alone played Donkey Kong Country, I barely know the character. The only reason I recognize him is because I’ve seen his trophy in past Smash games. I wasn’t exactly displeased with his announcement; he seems like a fun, bulky character with a goofy moveset.
His reveal did get me thinking though. Nintendo seems to be bolstering some of their lesser (in terms of sales) franchises with this new roster. Don’t get me wrong, Donkey Kong isn’t bad by any means, but it comes nowhere near the gargantuan sales of Pokemon, Super Mario or Zelda. Usually, character representation in Smash correlates with the franchise’s sales (see: Fire Emblem).
Just look at him. His face practically screams “goof”
What does this mean? It means that, hopefully, some of Nintendo’s overlooked franchises might get some more character representation. I’m looking at you, Xenoblade Chronicles.
Echo Fighters
The fact that three Echo Fighters were revealed yesterday says a lot about Ultimate. Dark Samus and Chrom have been two characters that fans have been clamoring for years now. As is the case with Simon Belmont and King K. Rool, the addition of these fighters reveals that Sakurai and co. are most likely listening to fan feedback. Most importantly, however, it shows that they’re not afraid to release clone characters.
Some people have not been too thrilled about the amount of Echo fighters, stating that they eat up roster spots. But I would argue that it’s better for these characters to be included this way rather than not at all. And, if that’s not enough for you, you can always change the roster so that the Echo Fighters don’t show up.
“This is for the haters.” Sakurai, 2018
Who could be an Echo Fighter next? I think that the biggest bet would be Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow would be pretty easy to incorporate, mostly due to how similar he and Sonic are. Of course, the black-and-red hedgehog could have some personal flairs added in. For example, Chrom’s Up-B is similar to Ike’s, but the rest of his moveset is more akin to Marth’s or Lucina’s. Perhaps something similar could be done with Shadow.
Another option is releasing a Ken to Ryu. Seems pretty obvious to me.
A leaker by the name of Vergeben accurately stated that Simon Belmont and Solid Snake would be in Ultimate. Hell, he even predicted that the game would be called Ultimate. Another statement of his suggests that Isabelle – of Animal Crossing: New Leaf fame – will be a playable fighter. Who knows, maybe she’ll be an original character or maybe Villager’s Echo Fighter.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
There is one thing that still perplexes me about this morning’s Direct. Sakurai nonchalantly announced that Rathalos will be an Assist Trophy and a boss. The Monster Hunter alum is a bit of a mystery still, mostly because Sakurai was so vague.
Computer: Zoom In. Let’s enhance.
What does being a boss mean? Is he a boss in his stage, much like Ridley was in previous games? Is he showing up in a yet-undisclosed game mode, specifically the one that was blurred out from the Main Menu? We’ll let our experts pore over this image for ridiculous amounts of time. Look forward to the 44-minute analysis video we will put out to cash in on this unexpected development (date TBD). Hint, hint.
Who’s Next?
Okay, I’m about to get real silly. So if you’re a Smash purist that thinks the only fighters that belong in the game are video-game characters, go ahead and stop reading here.
Suspend your disbelief for a moment, and join me in a journey of childhood fantasies. This E3, Nintendo announced that critically acclaimed fighting game Dragon Ball FighterZ is coming to the Switch (I suggest you play the open beta this weekend). Although DBFZ was not developed by Bandai Namco, it is published by them. And as we all know, Bandai Namco helped in the development of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Now, hear me out for a moment. What if. What if?
Goku will be in Ultimate.
Think that’s outlandish? Check out this tweet by a hawk-eyed fan who is definitely not grasping for straws.
— Alz ?️? @ Embracing Death (@AlzarathEX) August 8, 2018
That’s none other than Goku fighting with Android 17, by the way.
There is clearly no such thing as coincidence, folks.
Three months ago, the idea that Ridley would be in the game was absurd. Now he’s in it. Don’t let your dreams be dreams, friends.
Note: The possibility of Goku being in Smash is very slim. A man can dream, can’t he? The point I’m making is that at this point, anything is possible and that’s the beauty of Smash.
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