Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Potential Assist Trophy Promotions

Let's face it. Assist Trophies are second class citizens in the Smash universe. While for some characters it's probably the only way to be present on the battlefield at all, for others it's a missed chance of becoming a playable character.

But it doesn't have to be that way forever. Little Mac showed everyone that you actually can move up the ladder from being an Assist Trophy to a playable fighter, after he used to be an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and then became playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.

Now the same has happened for Dark Samus, who got promoted to an Echo Fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. And with that it makes sense to take a look at the list of Assist Trophies, who are still missing in action:

• Barbara*
• Chain Chomp
• Devil
• Dillon
• Elec Man
• Excitebikes*
• Helirin*
• Infantry & Tanks
• Isaac*
• Isabelle
• Jill*
• Kat & Ana
• Lakitu & Spinies
• Magnus
• Mr. Resetti*
• Nightmare
• Phosphora
• Ray MK III
• Sablé Prince
• Saki Amamiya
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Skull Kid
• Tingle

We are going to discuss the ones in bold. The ones marked with an asterisk used to be in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but didn't return in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. While this might reduce their chances, this doesn't have to mean anything, since with Ultimate they might try to bring back them all, unless there are technical hurdles or the characters became playable.

And the latter might the reason, why some of the missing Assist Trophies haven't been shown yet. A big factor might also be the ballot, where people could have voted for some of these characters, despite them being Assist Trophies. The top contenders are currently Skull Kid, Isaac, Shadow and Isabelle, who all have evidence that they might become playable.

Skull Kid is easily the favorite here. His reveal was teased in Sakurai's room decoration during the last Direct (the same was done for Donkey Kong during E3), the Moon is now there as a new Assist Trophy without the Skull Kid and we haven't seen Young Link's Final Smash yet, which might be revealed to be Fierce Deity to fight off Majora in some form, which could be Skull Kid's Final Smash (since the Moon is an Assist Trophy). There are many good reasons, why Skull Kid may become playable, which was already discussed in this post.

Of course there is also Tingle, but he does re-appear in the Great Bay stage, which might be a reason, why he doesn't return as an Assist Trophy. And between Tingle and Skull Kid there isn't really a contest. Aonuma was even originally against including Tingle to Hyrule Warriors, because he knew that he is really unpopular in the West.

Isaac from Golden Sun was completely absent in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, which doesn't really bode well for him. But Golden Sun has its fans and supporters, where the ballot might have changed things, much like for King K. Rool. Now, Sakurai hinted at a special screenshot on Twitter, where you have Link and Marth standing before Rathalos. Thing is that this shot has a very similar arrangement to the fighting screen in Golden Sun, where Isaac would stand to the right of them. So, he might have a solid shot this time. Felix could also be his Echo Fighter.

Shadow and Isabelle both haven't been shown yet, while new Assist Trophies from their respective franchise were introduced: Knuckles and Kapp'n. This doesn't have to mean anything, since one franchise can have more than just one Assist Trophy, but both would also be popular characters and make easy Echo Fighters, which speaks for their inclusion. Isabelle was also leaked by the same guy, who said that Ridley and Simon Belmont would be in.

Dillon is in a similar position to Isaac, where his inclusion would bring an entire franchise to Smash. But he probably lacks the same popularity that Golden Sun has. The only reason to push Dillon would be to promote his game series on the eShop, where in an interview with Kotaku Kensuke Tanabe even admitted that he is afraid that Dillon simply lacks the awareness... It's possible, but probably not as likely as Isaac.

While the Excitebiker often gets mentioned as the possible obscure retro rep, it's really the Sablé Prince from For the Frog the Bell Tolls, who could take this spot. Since the game has ties to Link's Awakening, I personally would enjoy this quite a bit, but his representation as an Assist Trophy was already quite clever (he does fight in dust clouds), where there's no real need to do more than this.

The focus should be on the fan favorites, where Skull Kid, Isaac, Shadow and Isabelle certainly are the most popular choices. Well, other than characters like Waluigi, Ashley, Midna or Bomberman, who were already deconfirmed as playable fighters, because they are (still) Assist Trophies.