There are only two challengers remaining for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Based on what Masahiro Sakurai has previously said, these next two DLC characters could very well be the last ones for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. “There are only five more DLC fighters,” declared Sakurai back in July 2020, following the release of Min Min. “After they have been released, the continuous Smash development from Smash for the 3DS and the Wii U will finally come to an end.”
As is typical with the wait for the next character, fans have been speculating on who the next two characters could be. To narrow it down, it feels like it’s possible to eliminate certain possibilities from the pool of candidates. We’ve managed to come up with 5 characters that are very unlikely to be joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s massive roster via the Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
At one point, Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series felt like one of the frontrunners for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC. Of course, Disney having a say with regards to Sora did appear to hurt his chances. Still, Sakurai has been known to work miracles into the roster before.
However, Sephiroth’s surprise reveal at The Game Awards 2020 presentation has seemingly put a damper on the idea of Sora becoming playable. Since then, it feels like Sora has been completely removed from the conversation.
Like Sora, Sephiroth hails from one of Square Enix’s intellectual properties. If the first Fighters Pass is anything to go by, then it means that we probably shouldn’t expect two characters from the same third party developer within the Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
Geno was seemingly disconfirmed during the “Mr. Sakurai Presents Sephiroth” demonstration when the Geno Mii costume set was revealed. This is considered to be a “fan rule,” but there’s never been a case where a character became DLC in Super Smash Bros. despite previously being referenced as Mii costume parts.
It was revealed some time ago that Masahiro Sakurai actually wanted Geno to be playable since Super Smash Bros. Brawl — the Super Smash Bros. entry released over 13 years ago on the Nintendo Wii.
“Geno was actually a character I wanted to include as a fighter. He has a gun for an arm, and just seems like he’d fit absolutely perfectly into Smash,” noted Sakurai. “I was hoping I’d be able to put him in as far back as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but unfortunately that never ended up materializing.”
Considering that Geno has only ever been playable in Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars, it’s quite interesting how Geno is so popular among fans. Back during the days of Smash 4, Sakurai wanted to give Geno representation as a Mii costume so “fans would at least feel that they got something.” This is likely what happened in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well.
During Super Smash Bros. 4’s development, Gematsu’s Sal Romano leaked that Little Mac, Pac-Man, Animal Crossing Guy, Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Mii, Palutena, Shulk, Chrom, a Pokémon from X and Y and the Chorus Kids would become playable.
Out of all these characters, only Chrom and Chorus Kids didn’t make it into Super Smash Bros. 4’s roster. However, it was later revealed by Masahiro Sakurai that Chrom was at one point considered before he ultimately settled on Robin.
After Smash 4 was released, it was pointed out by data-miners that there were references to the Rhythm Heaven series within the “fighters section” of the game’s code. Based on all this information, it seems highly likely that the Chorus Kids were actually considered for Smash 4.
At this point, the Chorus Kids are the only “Gematsu leak” characters that are currently not playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For better or worse, it’s probably going to stay that way due to the difficulty of getting another character like the Ice Climbers to work.
“During development, we did consider having Rex fight alongside Pyra & Mythra. However, getting a simple duo like Ice Climbers to work was already pushing the boundaries of what we could do in this game,” said Sakurai in Famitsu Column 624. “If everyone uses Ice Climbers, a battle with 8 fighters becomes a battle with 16 fighters. We had to make a lot of sacrifices to get them to work, and Pyra & Mythra probably have the most complex designs in the game.”
Chorus Kids as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. would probably work like the Ice Climbers, except with a trio of controllable characters instead of a duo. For 8-player Smash, this would mean 24 fighters on screen at once. As such, this scenario seems unlikely.
After it was revealed that Waluigi would be reprising his role as an Assist Trophy for the third game in a row, fans began to meme about Waluigi’s exclusion from the playable roster.
At one point, Nintendo even commented on Waluigi’s support for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but declared that it would ultimately be Masahiro Sakurai’s decision to make.
“We look at all of the feedback and share with the devs and certainly Mr. Sakurai will be aware of the groundswell of support that appeared for a Waluigi,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, the then President of Nintendo of America. “And in the end it’s his decision to make.”
However, there’s never been an instance of an Assist Trophy becoming a playable character via DLC within the same Super Smash Bros. title. Though this is merely a “fan rule,” it’s one that’s remained constant. As such, Waluigi will just have to wallow in his sadness until the next entry.
While Dragon Ball Z’s Goku doesn’t originate from a video game series, there are plenty of fans that unironically still want him to be playable in Super Smash Bros.
However, it seems that Masahiro Sakurai doesn’t feel like this will ever happen. In Sakurai’s book, he specifically commented that characters like Iron Man and Goku (non-video game characters) will probably never get into Super Smash Bros.
Notably, it was a rule that a 3rd party character had to originate from a video game franchise for them to be seriously considered by Masahiro Sakurai during the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For better or worse, Goku does not fit this criteria.
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