The Curious Case of SSBU Guest Characters: Who’s In and Who’s for the Future?

No matter which game you play or follow competitively, you have, more than likely, heard about the Super Smash Bros. series at some point in your life. It started just as a fun crossover game between the characters from Nintendo franchises. It was released for Nintendo 64 back in 1999 and defied many long-established tropes and canons of the fighting games genre.

And while yes, the series has accrued a massive following over the years, especially the Nintendo-loving crowd, it wasn’t all for the deep and intricate mechanics. What attracts the new crowd to the crossover games like this is the inclusion of their favorite characters. And boy, did Masahiro Sakurai go above and beyond with the guest fighters over all these years. The creator of Super Smash Bros. is a fan of many video game series, his tastes not being limited to the Nintendo franchises. At this point, we even have the mascots and prominent characters like Snake, Cloud Strife, and Sonic the Hedgehog from the PlayStation and SEGA titles, something that would be thought of as impossible two decades ago, when Smash was only picking up steam.

Let’s take a collective look at the Smash Ultimate character roster, where we stand now, and where we can go in the future.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Image Source: polygon.com

Back in the nineties, SEGA was a major player on the console market, pretty much like Xbox is nowadays, albeit with much less financial stability and backing. They won the hearts of many a diehard fan with their great games and aggressive marketing: back when Nintendo almost had a monopoly on the home console market, SEGA promoted its new console with the slogan “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.” However, long gone are the days of rivalry – SEGA has been out of contention for more than two decades. Still, when Sonic the Hedgehog, an iconic SEGA character, was announced to be joining the Smash Brawl roster in 2007, it still shocked the audience. This piqued everyone’s interest in the game, even those outside of the Nintendo sphere of influence. It’s well-documented just how big the shock was.

Snake, Cloud, and Sephiroth

Most Japanese game developers and publishers have had their games on Nintendo consoles at some point – “The big N” was just here before everyone else. Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear was first released on NES, among the other platforms, back in 1987, and so were the first six Final Fantasy titles. But both series then moved on to Sony’s superior PlayStation hardware and released the following projects there. And if Snake’s inclusion in the Super Smash Bros. was at least understandable, Cloud Strife’s arrival made some questions arise. They didn’t pick a character from any prior Final Fantasy but went for the protagonist of VII, which essentially made the franchise a worldwide phenomenon. However, maybe that’s precisely what they’ve been going for. Shock factor has always been an excellent tool to turn heads, and a great example from more recent times would be Cloud’s foil Sephiroth. To say that his reveal was shocking is to say nothing. Just check out the people’s reactions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ6R8Iuy5Xo

Video Source: Gamology

Joker and Steve

Masahiro Sakurai has also been very good at capitalizing on hype. Persona 5 was one of the more popular JRPGs released in the previous decade, with its stylish art style and memorable characters. So when it was revealed that the protagonist of this game would make his way into the SSBU roster, everyone thought it logical. At that point, Atlus’s flagship title had already had collaborations with many franchises, and Joker had appeared in Granblue Fantasy, Phantasy Star Online 2,  Lord of Vermilion Re:3, Sonic Forces, Puzzle & Dragons, and many others. He proved to be a success in each, and every one of them, and the same happened with his Smash Ultimate rendition.

Steve is another example of using hype to benefit the series. Minecraft has been a worldwide gaming phenomenon for a decade already, and the blocky art style is recognizable by virtually anyone. Having a character from this title is a surefire way to boost brand recognition among the non-endemic crowd for Smash. “This game has a Minecraft character” is enough to make many kids want to try it out. And the accessibility of the gameplay formula means that those kids are there to stay. Way to go, Sakurai.

They recently announced the inclusion of Kazuya Mishima as the latest DLC fighter, and it’s a direct conversion of the fighting games crowd. But let’s think about the future for a bit. Which characters would be a good fit for the game?

Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon

Image Source: Den of Geek

Since we’ve established that iconic mascots from other platforms can find their way into Smash, having these two legendary platformer characters would be a no-brainer. Both are now owned by Activision, which could be easily persuaded to share the license if only to boost the sales of the recently released Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, and a bit older Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Having these two rascals face off against Sonic and Mario would be a childhood dream come true for millions of players. It’s more of a surprise that this hasn’t happened yet, really. And for those purists out there who complain about the characters from rival platforms – both Crash and Spyro had games on Nintendo consoles before.

Leon S. Kennedy

If the words in the industry are to be believed, however, there’s only one remaining DLC character to be released, so a Crash x Spyro double feature idea wouldn’t fly. Therefore, another great addition would be the ever-classy zombie slayer Leon from the Resident Evil franchise. The series is going as strong as ever, with many new games and other related media being released every year. Leon himself has a special connection with Nintendo – Resident Evil 4, the game that made his current look iconic, was first released on GameCube in the mid-00s. With the upcoming remake of this title coming up in the future, it would be a great idea to tie this together and make him into a Smash fighter.

Other Options

However, this being Sakurai’s passion project as much as a critically and commercially successful game, we will most likely see another character that he favors as a last addition. Many people wish for it to be Sora, or Dante, or even Doom Guy. But that’s not likely to happen. Our bet for the last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character is the sword-wielding protagonist from the upcoming and yet-to-be-announced Fire Emblem game! Sorry, Waluigi fans!