Prediction: June 14th Presentation

Smash fans got a very nice surprise yesterday when Sakurai, via Miiverse, announced there would be a presentation to present information on DLC. The DLC will also releasing soon after. The presentation will be broadcasted on June 14th at 7:40 AM Pacific time (10:40 AM Eastern time), and, currently, the only things confirmed in the upcoming update is Lucas, the Inkling and K.K Slider costumes, and the Miiverse stage. However, given the special announcement, it’s fair to say there will be some new things announced as well. Not to mention that, on the Japanese website  the presentation is included in Nintendo’s E3 presentations and the US website links to the Nintendo E3 page. As such, I wanted to take some time and discuss some of the things that I think may be in the presentation.

Characters

The most obvious inclusion will be characters. Many fans expect that a new DLC character will be announced, and I would agree with this view. Lucas was announced during a direct on April 1st; likewise, another character may be shown.  Since Lucas is relatively the same, the presentation will likely not focus solely on Lucas.

Now, with the Mewtwo update, files for Roy and Ryu were found, which suggest they will be included as new characters. However, I do not think Ryu will be shown during this presentation. This is because there is a better venue to announce Ryu: EVO. The Evolution Champion Series has become synonymous with fighting games as well as Street Fighter. Announcing new games or content at EVO is not unusual, and EVO 2015 will feature Tekken 7. As such, it will make sense to announce Ryu at this event instead.

Moreover, there likely won’t be a new character (newcomer) or one from the ballot shown off. The ballot is more a suggestion than a popularity contest. As Iwata indicated in the April direct, all suggestions will be considered.  As I’ve discussed on the site before, some characters would not be able to be added for multiple reasons. Furthermore, it would be imprudent to include a character based on the ballot as it would not be finished. Even if Sakurai decided already to add a character based on the ballot, then it would be unlikely the character would be complete in time.

So, the most likely addition would be a veteran character, as these would be the easier and quicker to implement than a new character. If we assume the data found in the last update were characters that were extensively worked on already, then Roy would be the most likely character to be included. Roy, naturally, would be further along than most other characters. However, just because the characters were included in the data does not mean they are the only ones being worked on, so there could be another character. The most likely character besides Roy would be Wolf as he is both a popular character and was in Super Smash Brothers Brawl where Roy was not.

Stages

So far, the only stage confirmed for this presentation, is the Miiverse stage on the Wii U version. However, this likely will not be the only DLC stage as data in the game points to Dreamland 64 being a playable stage, and it is very likely this stage will be included in this update as well. I don’t think those will be the only stages available. It has already been confirmed there is room for additional stages, and I expect there will be at least one additional stage for both systems. The 3DS version will likely get a new stage with the Wii U version getting a classic stage, most likely from Brawl. The most likely candidate for a Wii U stage would be New Pork City due to Lucas’s inclusion and a need for more stages for 8-player Smash. A new stage on the 3DS version would be harder to guess, but it may be a stage that was planned but never included, such as a stage from Brain Age. These stages may not be available alongside the update, but they will, at the very least, be announced and come out soon.

Now, the question remains: will players have to pay for these stages. It is unlikely that we will have to pay for the Miiverse stage as it was included in the 50 Fact Extravaganza and was not indicated to be paid DLC. I do think that stages will remain free given their nature and online play. For one, stages may be a harder sell than characters as characters natural have more utility though their use in other modes. On the other hand, because characters are such an important part of the game, fans may be more willing to purchase them even if they are not interested in the character. Also, if players had to pay for stages, they would be limited in online play as only those players who have the stage could play on it, limiting the player base. As such, it would be better to have these be free.

Modes

While it has not been discussed, the update will likely include the Tournament mode and the Tourney mode. The former will be similar to that found in Melee and Brawl. The Tourney mode will be more unique to online. It will likely be structured similar to Mario Kart 8 and Code Name: STEAM where you can compete in unique battles. Nintendo will also host official tourneys as well. While other modes will likely be included in the future, they will not be coming in this update.

Mii Fighter Costumes

One thing that will be included in this update is Wave 2 of the costumes. This will be more costumes based on Nintendo franchises. In addition to K.K. Slider and the Inklings, it will likely include costumes based on Star Fox, Fire Emblem and a power suit (Samus’s suit). There will be other non-character costumes much like the cat and monkey suit. This may include a knights armor or a futuristic suit (if Samus is not done).

In closing, the new presentation will be very interesting to see. On a final note, the video will likely be about 18 minutes long, although it has not been 100% confirmed. We will likely talk more about the presentation afterwards, so please stay tune. Jigglypuff You can find the presentation on the official website, along with any DLC announced thus far, or click here.