How to Reboot Smash Bros.

If there's one thing I'd like to see in the next Smash? Character interaction. We have all these characters from all these different fictional worlds and they never say anything to each other, never acknowledge each other except as 'opponents that must be defeated'. It would be a lot of work to handle well but could give a reboot a lot more identity. Multiverses already proved with its in-battle banter that this can work, all that game needed was to let players tweak the frequency of the banter.

I think the best part about this? Is that Sakurai DEFINITELY understands this needs to happen. The idea of 'Everyone is here' only works once so having a reboot would be the most beneficial for the health of the series.

I think your reboot roster is mostly pretty solid, but not having Diddy Kong and/or Meta Knight seems incredibly unrealistic to me. About the latter, even though I'm a massive Bandana Dee supporter, I don't see a world where he gets in over Meta Knight whatsoever.

Let's be honest, in this reboot, Ganondorf needs a move change. Many people want Ganandorf to play like Ganondorf.

After the Ultimate crossover that was Ultimate, a reboot would likely be somewhat necessary to make a hypothetical Smash 6 stand out among the other titles in the series. Excellent video!

I like the idea of cutting down the fire emblem roster and using the new protagonist to summon the cut fighters so they are still technically in the game.

One idea that needs to be implemented in the next Smash should Miis return: Bring in the level of Mii customization that Miitopia gave us That would MORE than make up for any favorites being axed

My hope for a reboot would be to go hard on the interactions and single-player stuff. In fact I would want them to go for a focus on crossing over important Nintendo franchises (Mario, Pokémon, Zelda, Kirby, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Metroid, Pikmin, Bayonetta) with franchises it would be awesome to see them colliding with. Imagine having the worlds actually colliding to give us some swanky crossover stages. Mario and Sonic, Metroid and Castlevania, Xenoblade and Final Fantasy all seem really good for crossover material... - but how about Bayonetta and Devil May Cry, Pokémon and Digimon, or Zelda and Dark Souls? My major concern with your roster is that I don't see Konami stuff happening again; and I really don't see Bayonetta being cut when they have to negotiate for Sonic anyway.

I love hearing these fresh opinions rather than just another “make the next smash game an updated port”. I want to experience something new. Give me new mechanics, elemental damage, air grabs, modes, remade veterans. I’m so excited for the new.

I agree with all this. Smash Ultimate is perfect way to end an era and set up for a reboot that can stand on it’s own with characters getting updated moves,voices,and better costumes. Let’s hope the team takes inspiration from some of the mods for the costumes. Excellent video!

The transparency with the DLC is probably one of the best ideas I’ve heard in regards to solving the problem! Yes, some people will still be angry just on principle of us not getting big third parties every time, and even more will simply just not feel excited and want to just skip to the third parties, but hey, I’ll take ambivalence and grumbling over explosive overreactions.

How about bringing back Smash Run, except this time you can play online and actually interact with other players on the game map. Multiple stages to play on would help too. I can imagine sinking a lot of time into a mode like that.

I think a nice addition could be a "traditional/arcade" mode, where the game could play like street fighter. Since ultimate has a parry, I think this direction would fit well. Reduced knockback, limited jumps and wider stages would be implemented but likely wouldn't be too much work.

It's hard for me to find the right words to say about this video essay, and a Smash reboot as a whole. There are plenty of ideas tossed around, and I think you presented a healthy mixture of ideas, even if I didn't agree with all of them. Everyone has their 'Dream Version' of what any Smash game could look like, roster or otherwise. But I think we can all agree on one thing: Smash is a celebration of gaming that can be enjoyed by anyone, whether they know a character and their franchise or not.

I wouldn't have cut Palutena. She has a unique playstyle. It would feel weird seeing a new game without her and Pit together. Can definitely go without Dark Pit though. Also having Fox as the only Starfox rep feels wrong. I don't know but it just doesn't feel right. Having at least someone else would be nice. Like Krystal mabey because she has a different way of fighting besides with a pistol.

Deciding who and what is going to be in the next Smash is not easy, but it is interesting. I have been more willing towards a Smash reboot as of late, and have thrown a few ideas around myself. More notable Single Player content is one major point, and I think one way to do that would be to revamp Classic Mode a bit. In addition to Ultimate's character specific classic routes, you could add in a traditional, more random style of classic mode like Melee and Brawl, as well as constantly changing routes with specific conditions released over the internet. Speaking of internet, have a classic route maker! Let you create a challenging or unique route of your own, send it to the web, and take on other player's classic routes. You could even do the same with Event Matches! I also had an idea for All-Star, which would become mixed with Crazy Orders, allowing you to chose who you face each round, and letting you tap out early to face the final boss, which would probably be a mirror match. In terms of new characters, one frontrunner you didn't mention was Dante, since I feel like he'd probably be the K. Rool of this game, the character who was hyped to get in last game, but couldn't quite make the cut. Most of your First-Party newcomer picks seem likely, save for the two time-sensitive ones. I do feel most reboot rosters hang around the 50-60 character range, which I do worry might be a bit of a highball, since Ultimate had a bit more then that in it's starting roster (not counting Echoes), which was mostly returners.

One more thing I’d hope to see in a reboot are either trophies, or spirits fleshed out enough to be decent successors to them this time

So many of the older fighters desperately need a touch-up with more modern inclusions into their move set. A reboot that basically gave a lot of old roster members a DLC level of polish would be SO cool. Ganon’s the poster child for this. Remaking his moveset from the ground up would be so welcomed.

Custom colors would be impossible. The smash team needs to get permission for basically everything for every character, especially 3rd parties. If Sonic and Pac-Man can't be anything but their default colors. I don't think custom colors would ever fly.

This is probably the most generously realistic and “respectful” approach to the smash reboot of seen. So many videos and posts I’ve seen and read before this all unfortunately reek of “I’m a Nintendo purist that hates jrpg’s, and pokemon doesn’t count as one.” As a big fan of franchises like Xenoblade and FE, this is incredibly frustrating because (especially in Xenoblade’s case) these are franchises that are really making a name for themselves and deserve to be recognized so that more people can experience them. I appreciate your take on it because it’s realistic with its cuts, giving respectful size to Mario and pokemon for good reason (despite my personal grievances with the latter, I agree with that conclusion), and allowing for newcomers for most if not all major franchises. Your take on dlc inclusions is also something I agree with a lot, allowing for less dev time and less licensing stress as well as allowing for previous veterans to return with little to no hassle