This morning's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct confirmed not only that Fire Emblem: Three Houses' Byleth would be coming to the game, but that fans would have an additional six characters to look forward to over the course of the next year and a half. The immense popularity of Nintendo's fighter (which may not even be a fighter) is just too much for a single season pass to contain.
Who else could you possibly add to the roster, though? Ultimate brought back every character from past iterations and somehow managed to pack in new ones. The first fighter pass included a ton of unexpected third-party representatives that introduced some diverse playstyles. What is possibly left for the series?
We at TheGamer have some ideas. Barring some totally outrageous and crazy crossover -imagine a Sony character joining the fray - we feel these six fighters are likely to be included in Ultimate's second fighters pass. It's either this or six more Fire Emblem characters, so here's hoping!
6 Kiryu Kazuma
This is more of a personal choice than a reality, but Kiryu from the Yakuza series absolutely deserves a spot in Smash Bros. Working his way up from relative obscurity to one of Sega's most popular stars, Kiryu is perfect for a fighting game. His moves from the Yakuza titles is all about mixed martial arts and he even has access to a bunch of reality defining special attacks.
If that wasn’t enough, one of the core gameplay mechanics in Yakuza is picking up items to smack foes with. Smash Bros. is basically that to a tee. Kiryu might be a little more mature than the fighters already included (Yakuza producer Kazuki Hosokawa even told me this at E3 2019, saying Kiryu would raise the age rating), but he makes a ton of sense.
5 Dante
Heavily rumored to be the inclusion for today's direct, Dante from Devil May Cry would fit nicely among Smash's cast of eclectic stars. A veritable hero in his own right, the sheer variety of moves available to the character would make for some hugely diverse gameplay. Dante could switch styles on the fly and even have access to his various different weapons, which would prevent him from being "yet another sword user." He might be a bit foul-mouthed for Nintendo's party game, but Dante could easily tone it down to mingle with Mario, Link, Samus, and Kirby.
4 Sora
Why hasn't Sora from Kingdom Hearts wound up in Smash Bros. yet? Kingdom Hearts may not have that big of a presence on Nintendo's hardware, but Joker from Persona 5 doesn't either. Being previously on a Nintendo system is clearly not a prerequisite. Sora is even more popular than Joker, so he'd likely turn more heads than Atlus' surprise inclusion.
Despite the keyblade functioning like "yet another sword," Sora also houses some magical powers that could give him a ton of ranged potential. Mix in the ability to call on Donald and Goofy for combo attacks and we could even include the whole trio in Smash. Disney and Nintendo working together? Imagine how insane that would be!
3 Lara Croft
Before Bayonetta got into Smash Bros., many would have balked at the idea of someone like Lara Croft joining the roster. During the 90s, Eidos marketed the character almost purely on her sex appeal, though the most recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy under Crystal Dynamics has changed her image considerably. Whichever version you went with, she's still one of the most recognizable and iconic female characters in the industry.
Her moves could also make great use of her various adventures. Give her some guns, martial arts techniques, quick speed, tons of acrobatics, and even a grappling hook. Her fighting style practically creates itself here. Honestly, why isn't Ms. Croft in Smash already?
2 Crash Bandicoot
Once a PlayStation icon, Crash Bandicoot has made something of a resurgence in recent years thanks to his recent HD trilogy and CTR remakes. Activision has a verifiable hit on its hands and would be silly to deny letting him into Smash. The character would fill the role of Sony hopeful and tug on the heartstrings of old-school gamers the world over.
Better still, his moveset wouldn't have to be based around gimmicks. Crash was always a pretty physical character and he used his own body as a weapon during each of his games. A spin attack, jump stomp, body slam: these would all be perfect for Smash. You could even throw in his wumpa cannon, or simply the fruits, as projectile weapons. His final smash could reference CTR. Let's make this happen, Activision!
1 The Doom Slayer
This is probably the least likely of the bunch, but getting the Doom Slayer from id Software's Doom would be totally awesome. He's definitely more violent than anyone else on the list, but the recent reboot of the series has given him a lot more viability as a character in a fighting game.
For starters, his glory kills actually utilize more than just weapons (often his fists). Second, his weapons are wildly different from one other, which would make for a versatile moveset. He's also one of the most metal characters around, meaning we could get some heavy metal in Smash's soundtrack.
Doom and Nintendo even have a history together. The game's legendary SNES port - which isn't all that great, in retrospect - brought the shooter to a much wider audience than anyone could have anticipated. Why not even reference that with a horribly pixelated stage?