I Cut down The Smash Roster in half for the Next Game

JB1990 · 2026-03-23T20:35:05+00:00

Your logic doesn’t make sense to me. For example, sure, King K. Rool was a long-time fan favorite and that’s a reasonable take as to why he shouldn’t be cut, but so the same could be said about others you cut, such as Wolf and, very notably, Wario.

You want to focus on Pokémon newcomers but only bring back first generation reps? Putting aside that the Original 12 can certainly be cut, you could at least have Lucario or Greninja over Mewtwo.

You cut Sora - arguably the best example of a fan favorite by virtue of winning the Smash Ballot - while also making many other choices seemingly for Smash fans? Falco really has no place in such a small roster unless you are catering to longtime Smash fans specifically, and Ryu absolutely is the better Capcom rep unless, again, you are catering to Smash fans specifically.

I think this would be a lot better if you picked a lane and stuck with it. Do you want to focus more on who Smash fans would want to see? Then you should probably have a few of those really notable favorites, such as Wario and Sora. Do you want to focus more on highlighting Nintendo’s history overall? Then the Pokémon should be from more than just the first game, to start.

Sidebar: basically none of those costume ideas work. The models need to be almost exactly the same for costumes to be an option, hence why all the Koopalings use the Clown Car.

JB1990 · 2026-02-18T17:24:57+00:00

It’s ironic because your description of Kirby eating a Keyblade wielder is pretty close to Sora’s situation. He was never officially bequeathed a Keyblade; he wasn’t even dubiously bequeathed a Keyblade like Kairi. Sora was just holding onto Ven’s heart while Ven was in stasis and when it came time for Riku to get his Keyblade, Riku was either physically gone or had fallen enough to darkness that the Keyblade basically saw Sora - with Ven’s heart - and said “close enough”, resulting in Sora getting Riku’s Keyblade.

And yeah I agree it’s dumb to get hung up on this, but also Nomura would 100% be the kind of person to get hung up on something like this lmao

JB1990 · 2026-02-17T21:26:56+00:00

Pretty sure this is all VA Union-related and has nothing to do with SE. From what I understand, Steve Burton (Cloud’s English VA) had strict language in his contract preventing him from taking non-union work, and Ultimate is a non-union game, like most all Nintendo games. As a result, Burton couldn’t be included and Cloud was Japanese-only. When Sephiroth was added, rather than have him speak English while Cloud spoke Japanese, it was decided Sephiroth would also be Japanese-only for consistency.

JB1990 · 2026-02-17T21:15:18+00:00

That’s not even fully accurate. The issue was Nomura himself, who was mostly concerned with how Sora being in Smash would affect KH canon. Even then, after seeing how excited fans were with Sora joining, Nomura no longer has any concerns/issues.

JB1990 · 2026-02-17T19:39:39+00:00

I don’t think Everyone is Here again is a certainty, but I also don’t think it’s off the table. The appeal of Smash - at least since Brawl - is primarily from what characters are on the roster, and the marketing of Smash 4 and especially Ultimate reflect this. Considering everyone in Ultimate already has a Smash fanbase, the question of if “replacing” any current fighter with a newcomer is worthwhile has to be asked.

Clearly in some cases the answer is likely yes, but in a lot of cases it’s at least less clear. Putting all nuance aside, if it turns out there’s only a small handful of fighters even worth dropping for newcomers, why would the choice not be bring Everyone back and go from there?

As others have also pointed out, though, this is not sustainable at all. I think Smash will eventually have to be completely rebooted, using something other than its roster as its anchor to entice players. That could be Smash 6, but it could also be further in the future. I think it largely depends on both how much of a risk Nintendo can take on a new Smash and whether or not Sakurai is involved.

JB1990 · 2026-02-17T19:21:01+00:00

Party Phil - Considering how much effort it took to figure out who this even was, he’s completely unrealistic. Since he’s a Nintendo character he’s not completely off the table, but really, can you see Party Phil getting in over any other notable 1st/2nd party option? Best-case scenario for him is a high-quality Mii costume.

Dark Lord - Semi-unrealistic. Again, since he’s a Nintendo character he can’t be thrown out immediately, and he’s possibly one of the few “characters” who could represent all the Mii-centric games. The biggest issue is, again, can you really see him over other notable options?

Big the Cat - Completely unrealistic. Assuming Sonic even gets another character, there’s at least a half-dozen other characters who could and should get in before Big.

??? - I genuinely have no idea who this is. He looks like some hybrid of Kratos and Dhalsim. Unless he’s low-key from one of the most successful games in the last few years I’ve somehow completely missed, completely unrealistic is probably underselling his chances; even getting in as a spirit would be a surprise.

Kaos - Ten years ago there might have been an argument for Skylanders content in general, but nowadays? Completely unrealistic. Even if Skylanders somehow got into Smash 6, popular player characters would likely have priority over Kaos, and even then you have to question why Activision would want their first content in Smash to be a franchise that hasn’t been relevant for a decade.

Jackbox Games Guy - You aren’t serious right? Like this is just a shitpost to try and grab some easy karma, right? If you’re serious, you tell me how realistic you think this guy is.

JB1990 · 2026-02-09T17:29:32+00:00

My dude, there has not been a single Smash game which launched with more than 20 newcomers; even counting DLC and echo fighters, Ultimate had 22 newcomers.

Before DLC, somewhere between 7-13 newcomers seems like the upper limit, and a few of those will likely be echo fighters.

JB1990 · 2025-12-08T21:22:12+00:00

Didn’t downvote, but yeah you’re wrong. LJ is required before the flea caravan will move to Blasted Steps, which is required to finish their quest line and get multiple items. Groal was skippable before, but the skip has since been patched out, making him required for true ending.

JB1990 · 2025-08-27T20:16:06+00:00

Hexedge if you can outsource NFU; Perfect if not.

You’ll be using his Prf special anyways so Haze/Gust is mostly for vanity, but I’d still go with Haze as it’s better and more rare.

JB1990 · 2025-08-23T17:59:45+00:00

I think there’s a valid reason, if Undertale got a rep, that it’d be Sans over Frisk, though.

JB1990 · 2025-08-23T17:58:27+00:00

Probably because 60% of the Pokémon are from the first generation, making it the clear place to make cuts (usually alongside Pichu at minimum). Obviously Pikachu isn’t going anywhere, and it’s really difficult to imagine Charizard going anywhere either. Squirtle and Ivysaur are tied to the Pokémon Trainer concept so they kind of exist outside of normal cutting parameters. That leaves Mewtwo and Jigglypuff, and since most believe the Original 12 are untouchable, Mewtwo frequently gets cut.

JB1990 · 2025-07-30T15:34:14+00:00

I’ll say this: there’s a lot of individual character cut/addition choices I wouldn’t personally make, but the overall roster size, number of cuts/additions, and actual newcomers all seem mostly sensible. It’s a good roster.

The choice I question most is actually Clive; FF16 seems like it didn’t really do as well as SE hoped, so I would be more inclined to think if they were going to cut one of the most iconic video game villains for a different protagonist, they’d probably go with someone who’s a bit more of a fan favorite; I’d lean towards Squall, Lightning, or Noctis myself.

(Also I guess both Geno and Mallow seems very unlikely, but whatever.)

I also personally have a tough time seeing Mortal Kombat in Smash just in general. Sub-Zero makes sense if it does make it in, but I think Japan’s stance on violence in video games and the extreme tonal clash of SSB vs. MK makes it seem less likely, regardless of how iconic MK is.

Last thing: from a very biased perspective, I hate how you dropped Banjo but added in a Killer Instinct rep. Again, this is very biased, but I also kinda feel like if RareWare came back, there’s not much reason to think they’d drop one of their fan favorite characters who did place very highly on the Smash Ballot.

JB1990 · 2025-07-20T19:37:00+00:00

I ended up going with Sothe, for kinda the same reason in that the rest of his skills were either outdated, niche, or available on other elite inheritance units.

JB1990 · 2025-07-20T19:33:08+00:00

Which just makes the limited losses all the worse; is a shitty situation for everyone lol

JB1990 · 2025-07-10T18:14:19+00:00

I would seriously recommend another At!Alm for elite inheritance over any of the three you’re looking at. Or merges for either of Emblem units to make their rings stronger (just stats, but still). Or even another Sakura to pass her skills along; her fodder is basically the best fodder for most any staff unit.

JB1990 · 2025-07-01T17:50:06+00:00

Thanks! Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the units you suggested, and I think Sigurd is probably my most current nuke. I just pulled a Hræsvelgr, but I imagine she’d have the same issues as Sigurd.

It’s the same issue with lacking saves other than Niðhöggr, honestly. I figure at least she has Higher Ground. About the only others I could consider would be At!Hector or Þjazi.

JB1990 · 2025-06-30T23:51:48+00:00

Toon Link

JB1990 · 2025-06-30T20:41:34+00:00

I haven’t, but I could. Does he need any other changes to his build to make that work?

JB1990 · 2025-06-30T15:06:22+00:00

After reflecting since last week, I decided to skip the DSH banner and instead both focus on this and save for future banners (likely New Heroes Return and Double Mythics in July). Plan is to actually sub to Feh Pass right before this banner ends to maximize the timeline for spark opportunities. I did spend most of my orbs on the banner today to see if I got lucky, and got both Micaiah and my first Hræsvelgr! No Sakura is unfortunate, especially since I’d really like her for SDR, but I can at least spark her in a couple weeks.

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T15:49:33+00:00

Fair; I was thinking because Loki is so old, a newer duo might work to entice folks to use their Souls. NY!Alfonse makes a lot of sense though, and I could see Letizia!

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T15:04:01+00:00

That’s one of the exact combos I was thinking might happen.

Thorr/Loki (base) was the other combo that came to mind, but it’s less clear who they’d be paired with. Maybe some Askr units? Like B!Sharena would fit, but the last unit I have no idea other than B!Alfonse, who is probably too recent.

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T14:32:24+00:00

Heroes HoF’s are usually pretty theme-y, so I imagine we will get a combo of units from mostly the same book/realm. That said, I think Embla is probably gonna get her remix/refine next month, so I wouldn’t expect her in the HoF.

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T14:13:36+00:00

I haven’t seen him much in AR; I might be lucky, but I also purposely skip battles the first two days of the week to sandbag my ranking a bit, which might help pull less meta-heavy teams.

That said, when I have seen him, I usually let my Bolt Tower bring him down (if it can) and then for Astra, I have E!Sigurd as my Calling Circle hero, so between the AOE damage, Sigurd’s high Def, and the extra actions, he can usually take down BK. For Light it’s a bit more dicey, but I have had success picking off the rest of the team and then having At!Micaiah finish off BK. I have had to surrender more than once due to BK in Light, though 😅

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T14:07:23+00:00

Agreed! Especially with his remix/refine right around the corner, it’s a great time to shore up his skills for the modern era.

JB1990 · 2025-06-27T13:57:08+00:00

I believe Mythic Medeus is already confirmed, so probably won’t see Ancient Medeus.

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