DMurr’s Smash 4 DLC Predictions

Hello! My name is Dave, also known as dmurr/djmurr.  For my first blog post ever (or, you know, really any writing of any kind), I am going to give my predictions for DLC fighters for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.  Naturally, this will be very opinion-based.  Being a life-long fan of Nintendo, if there is one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that they can’t be easily predicted.  I will note in advance that I consider the Roy and Ryu leak to be solid fact.  Also, my personal bias is towards RPG-style characters, but I’ve tried to keep it as realistic as possible.

April 2015:

Finally not the 50-facts render.

 Mewtwo has finally struck back! The very first Smash Bros. downloadable add-on character has now officially joined the roster, and if that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is (NSFW, volume warning!).

June 2015:

Lucas amiibo? American Mother 3 content distribution hype!

 Adding on that, in just two months time, the second DLC character, Brawl veteran Lucas will come out of Nowhere (Islands) to return to Smash!  Lucas’s official release date is unconfirmed, but is currently slated for June, the same month as E3.  Without a doubt, Lucas will show up somehow, possibly in conjunction with the reveal of more fighters, similar to his own reveal.  For the past two years in a row, three separate characters have had their reveal at E3: two in the presentation, and one revealed later.  I expect this year to make it a trend.

My first predicted character is Roy, of Super Smash Bros. Melee fame.  He will be shown at the opening of the Nintendo Direct presentation, in a short trailer showcasing his moveset.  At the end of the presentation, there will be another trailer à la Palutena, but this time showing Ryu, of Street Fighter fame. A third fighter will be shown, Wolf, who will also be returning from Super Smash Bros. Brawl along with Lucas, but he will be revealed outside of their main presentation, and possibly in the same manner that Mewtwo was revealed: without a trailer.

Also, who knows, maybe this will be the year Nintendo finally caves and releases Mother 3 on the Wii U Virtual Console.

July 2015:

Classic Roy? Or Awakening DLC Roy?

 As a fan, I have actually been calling for and predicting the return of Roy since way before we had any indication he was in development.  This is despite him being a full clone of a character with an existing clone, from a series with an overabundance of reps, another character already on the roster owning his name, and possibly even another character using his gimmick.  While he’s not exactly the definition of a unique, once Mewtwo was announced for DLC, I have been convinced that Roy would soon follow.  I credit his inclusion in Melee moreso than Marth for creating a Fire Emblem fan out of me.

 What helped convince me, prior to the leak, that Roy was a solid prediction was amount of vocal fans that are still calling for his return. He was also originally planned for Brawl, but didn’t make the cut, along with Mewtwo and Dr. Mario. Project M, the dedicated fan mod of that game, added Roy back to the game as the first clone engine character, but that was only the most major of many other mods adding him in, such as this one.  Regardless of all that though, Roy makes sense because of being a throwback to the game in the series with the longest lasting legacy.  He is not coming to balance out the roster but because he’s easier to make and sell for the developers.  Also, who could forget that Roy has T3H PHIR3!!

 Similar to Dr. Mario, I fully expect Roy to have the same moveset he had in Melee.  This will make him a complete clone with the exception of his neutral-B, which will be an overhead slash instead of a stab.  They might differentiate his Final Smash from Marth’s, but I don’t expect them to go too far from it.  Due to this, he will take less time to create, enabling Nintendo to keep the hype ball rolling by having his release in July, one month after Lucas and one month before Ryu.

August 2015:

Yup.

 Honestly, there’s not much to say here.  I didn’t see this coming at all, which is typical Sakurai fashion.  Ryu, however, has completely earned his spot.  For me, even though I am unfamiliar with the series, when I think of old school or arcade fighting games, I picture Ryu and Street Fighter.  I expect a stage to come with him, probably this one, with SNES graphics, for both Smash versions, along with the stage music and victory theme from the leak, and possibly even an Assist Trophy and regular trophies bundled into a pack. The victory theme is a almost certainly a placeholder and will be remixed for the final version, but I think we will get both the original stage music and possibly a remix of it, along with other music ripped from other Street Fighter games. There’s plenty here to work with when it comes to his moveset too.  Prepare yourself to hear “HADOUKEN!” many times over.

October 2015:

DLC without Wolf? Can’t let you do that, Sakurai!

 Now that Lucas is confirmed, I imagine that Wolf is not that far off either.  If memory serves me, prior to Lucas’s reveal, Wolf was neck and neck with Lucas on the fan polls, with the latter having the edge in Japan.  I think that says that he’s popular enough to get in by himself, but with the tentatively-titled Star Fox Wii U coming up and that likely to finally see its full reveal at E3, I would be surprised if we didn’t see Wolf making his Smash 4 debut alongside it.

 Yoshi’s Woolly World is the only game currently slated for release on Wii U in the fall.  I expect this could be sometime in August or September, with Star Fox coming a month or two after. This lines up well with Wolf being available in October, as Nintendo could do a cross-promotion between the two games. It could be something like “purchase Wolf DLC for Smash Bros. and unlock a Wolfen-colored Arwing for Star Fox Wii U” or a discount on one or both.

His moveset, along with Mewtwo and seemingly Lucas, will likely be largely unchanged from previous versions.  If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get a different Final Smash, but a third Landmaster tank is probably the likeliest outcome.  I suspect that Lucas has been in development about as long as Mewtwo, and it would not surprise me if Wolf is the same.  I expect Wolf to be the last DLC veteran character, though.

December 2015:

Good ol’ Rare-made IP, right here.

 My final prediction for Smash DLC is a one-two punch of King K. Rool and Dixie Kong.  There’s almost no doubt that K. Rool is the top requested newcomer worldwide among the Smash internet fanbase for this game.  It is also high time that we got a new Donkey Kong character. I’ve seen many-an-argument that Dixie Kong is more deserving, but I feel as if it would be a stronger sale for the two of them if they had a combined pack, especially going into the holiday season.

 The best way to keep the development time down is to form Dixie as a derivative of either DK, Diddy, or both. Doing so not only makes her quicker to make, but is also true to the character.  She needs to have her obvious moves such as her hair twirl and bubblegum popgun, though.  King K. Rool has more than enough to work with in regards to moveset potential.  A Gangplank Galleon stage could also be made as part of a Donkey Kong pack, along with perhaps Congo Jungle 64 getting ported to the 3DS version.

 Unless sales are wildly exceeding expectations, I expect this to be the final DLC: 4 veterans, 3 newcomers. By December 2015, the 3DS game will have been out for 1 year, 2 months.  For comparison, Mario Kart 8’s recent DLC pack came out one year after the release of the game, and it is largely expected to be the conclusion of that games downloadable content.  While this may seem like “that’s all?,” it’s good not to forget that more stages, music, game modes, etc. may all be also coming.

ALTERNATES

 Too many veterans would start to feel cheap from a customer perspective, so I still think after Wolf, we won’t get any more of them (despite my complete desire for a Pichu amiibo).  It is possible we don’t get the above, or we get more, as I said, pending sales and the drive of Sakurai and the development team.  Here’s other characters I think are possibilities:

Inklings:

mariotehplumber’s favorite character.

 Ever since the reveal of Splatoon, Nintendo has seemingly shown off the game in every place they can. They are so confident in this untested IP that they are jumping the gun and making a set of amiibo. On top of that, Inklings are popular suggestions for Smash Bros. characters and are seemingly performing well on all of the fan polls, despite the game not even being released yet.  The characters could splash temporary ink on the stage that would give them a boost in stats when they’re on it or change their run to moving as a squid. The female Inkling would obviously be the primary, but they could have a male alt, similar to the Wii Fit Trainer.  It’s an opportunity for Nintendo to continue to capitalize the fan excitement that surrounds the game that might finally be the new IP that everyone has been talking about for years.

Isaac:

My personal most-wanted.

 Often regarded higher than he maybe should be, Isaac and Golden Sun have been fan-favorites among the (at least North American) Smash crowd since the pre-Brawl days, with Isaac being an Assist Trophy in that game.  Sure, he is also a blond, psychic, sword-wielding, JRPG protagonist along similar to Wii U/3DS newcomer Shulk, but their similarities stop pretty much there, and Isaac could use many different abilities such as earthquakes and vine growing in order to help him stand out.  Golden Sun’s latest game, Dark Dawn, came out in 2010 after Brawl’s release but did not perform as desired and has not seen a follow-up, despite ending in a cliffhanger.  Despite that, Isaac has continued to be a popular suggestion for Smash Bros, and is noticeably absent from the Assist Trophy roster for Smash 4. It seems unlikely for him to make it in over any of the above characters, but maybe if there’s more DLC than I expect, he’ll get the chance to join the roster.

CONCLUSION

 The Ballot is more of an assistance for choosing the next game’s content than this DLC, and that usage was even indicated in the direct when it was announced.  I think at most we will see 2-3 characters originating there, with popularity being a significant factor (but not the deciding one).  Everyone has their favorites and is hoping that they all make it.  I could be completely wrong with my selections, but that’s the fun of it.  Here’s to whatever future twists and turns Sakurai and gang have in store for us!

For more of our thoughts on DLC, check out Spazzy_D’s articles on The Case for Snake, or even the Case for Rayman.  While you’re at it, make sure to get the scoop on whether DLC was always planned, and details about the Roy and Ryu files that were found after the update!