With the recent confirmation that the next Nintendo console will be announced soon, which will very likely be an upgraded Nintendo Switch, there has been a lot of conversation about what games will be released for the system. While we won’t know about any specific titles until the consoles reveal, one that has been bounced around by fans is Smash Brothers. As someone who has been a Nintendo fan for most of my life, Smash is one of my favorite series, and a new installment will likely be coming with the new system. The buildup to a new Smash game is one of the most exciting periods for me of any gaming generation due to the immense speculation and hype. However, with the next game, I feel that there should be a different sort of direction than most would expect or want.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the last game in the series, was a huge undertaking. Bringing back all the characters who had ever been in the series alongside a lot of requested newcomers was a great experience. With this large roster though, comes the reality that the next game in the series is going to have to downsize. Masahiro Sakurai, the creator, and director of the series, has already stated that this is going to be the case since getting all the characters in one game was a huge undertaking and one that had everything go right. However, rather than simply making a smaller Smash game that follows in Ultimate’s footsteps in terms of gameplay and style, I believe that the series should undergo a reboot of sorts.
With a series that has gone on as long as Smash, there’s always a sense of each subsequent game building on top of the last. Every Smash game has its fingerprints on the ones after it and it’s apparent that this helps create a great sense of cohesion and development for the franchise. With Ultimate being this sort of culmination of the past 20 or so years, however, we’ve gotten to a point where the current state of Smash has grown so large in one direction that I feel altering some elements for the next game would be necessary. It wouldn’t have to be a hard reset per se, but rather, keeping what makes the series work and making changes in areas that need it at this point.
One of the biggest changes I think should happen is how some of the older characters play. While recent additions to the series are heavily layered both in design and reverence to their series, many characters introduced in the original Nintendo 64 game and Melee still feel like they were created decades ago. Characters like Donkey Kong, Samus, and even Mario have so much new material to take from that it makes their current move sets feel barebones and obsolete by comparison. The fact that Mario still uses the cape from Super Mario World and that Donkey Kong doesn’t use barrels in any of his moves indicate the limitations they were created with and still hold onto. Link getting some changes related to Breath of the Wild in Ultimate showed that simply changing a few elements could reinvent a character into something different. There is also the fact that giving older characters huge makeovers could also compensate for a smaller roster since they would play like new ones with the right changes. Of all the things in the series, the mainstay characters have remained mostly the same and at this point, I think some shakeups are more than necessary.
There’s also the factor of single-player content. For as great as Ultimate was, the element that was lacking was the options for non-multiplayer play. Yes, the classic mode was probably the best in the series and World of Light is a fun compromise for a story mode. However, people are craving a return to something like the Adventure Mode in Melee and Subspace Emissary in Brawl. Not to mention that Ultimate didn’t have events or trophies and added Home Run Contest in a patch. While it’s excusable that this area was lesser since a lot of work went into the staggering number of characters and stages, a reorientation into new and revitalized single-player modes is something that is needed. We’ve already fine-tuned the fighting, so why not the other aspects of the series that feel like they haven’t been given their time of day in a while? A more deliberate story mode that leans into the crossover element of the series would be welcome and is something that fans have been craving for a while. Not to mention that single-player content helps make Smash games more complete in terms of things to do and gives the new game a distinctive sense of identity.
The aspect of single-player content leads to my final point here and that is how I believe it is time for Smash to add new elements of gameplay and modes that are completely new. While I don’t know what exactly I would want to bring, I do feel that Smash Bros has been running in place a bit ever since Brawl. The mechanics and aesthetics have been altered from game to game and a new game-specific mode has been highlighted for each new entry. In general, though, there hasn’t been much in terms of new series staples that have still stuck around. A reboot with a fresh slate could wager to bring a new angle to the table either in terms of the basic fighting or in a mode that could stay around for future installments. I feel it’s time to find either a new angle for the series or take the current mold and shape it differently.
The future for Smash Bros, while uncertain, is an interesting one. After Ultimate, there are plenty of directions to take the series. I feel that just making an expanded version of Ultimate or a follow-up similar in many ways to it would be a bit redundant. The series has been around for 25 years and at this point, while I have loved all the games in the series and have played them to death, it’s time to bring something new to the table. Whether that would be in new designs for the characters, modes, or even something completely unexpected is up to Nintendo at this point. However, I will still be as excited as ever for what this franchise has in store.
