One of the best things the DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate could achieve is creating a proper representation for the current generation, the era of the Nintendo Switch. The games in the Super Smash Bros. series usually fail to properly represent their generation, because they get released early and therefore focus on major games from the previous system.
So, for example Super Smash Bros. Brawl mostly added contents based on GameCube games like Super Mario Sunshine, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess or Metroid Prime. Only Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS did a good job here with contents from many 3DS games, mainly because it had three years to work with.
But it's not really much better with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it might even be the worst so far. Only Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild got properly represented with new stages and updated versions of Mario and Link. The other new Nintendo entry was Splatoon, but this was already from the Wii U era, while many other later Wii U and 3DS games got skipped entirely.
This makes the upcoming Challenger Pack 5 so much more important. With Fire Emblem: Three Houses finally another Nintendo Switch game gets some real presentation outside of Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and it feels right, despite the fact that Fire Emblem got so many fighters already. But there are many more great Nintendo Switch games, where it should be the job of the DLC to offer contents for these games in Ultimate.
And if a fighter is out of the question or already on the roster, a stage can still be a very good representation for some of the newer games. So, here are some examples for potential DLC stages based on various Nintendo Switch titles:
- Spring Stadium or Sky Arena
- Crafted World
- Labo
- Eagle's Tower
- Last Resort
While ARMS probably won't get a fighter at this point, it's still possible for it to receive a stage and to get some more presentation next to the Spring Man Assist Trophy. It's a pretty fun game and it's a shame that it's so overlooked when compared to Splatoon. The Sky Arena would be the perfect addition without a fighter, where it could feature Max Brass as a stage boss. He is not a Spirit yet, where this would be the best way of adding the great ARMS champion to Smash.
Alternatively, the Spring Stadium could make for a fun stage with special rules, similar to the King of Fighters Stadium. It's also the most "iconic" place in ARMS, which gets used for lots of promotional material.
The Woolly World stage from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is one of the few stages that didn't return in Ultimate, but Sakurai's team can make up for it by adding Crafted World. The Unreal Engine 4 powered Yoshi's Crafted World is a charming Switch game with worlds made out of cardboard and other scraps, where the game literally begs to be turned into a new Smash stage.
Speaking of cardboard, Nintendo Labo is certainly a weird experiment, but it's recognizable and could lead to another curious stage. This is even the perfect example for a stage without a fighter, where like PictoChat or R.O.B. it's just something that exists in the vast world of Nintendo without a big fictional universe behind it.
This wouldn't be Hyrule Blog, if it didn't have at least one stage idea based on Zelda, where this comes from the newest title, Link's Awakening. The Eagle's Tower always has been one of the most memorable places of the entire game and its top would make for a great Super Smash Bros. stage. It could even turn around, so the view changes to the Wind Fish's Egg in the background, or it could sink for one floor, so that instead of an abyss you get spikes. And the infamous Evil Eagle could swoop down as a stage boss.
Last but not least, Luigi's Mansion 3 should be featured as well with its haunted hotel, the Last Resort. There are lots possibilities for stages here thanks to its many different hotel floors with different themes, where the stage might even change between areas somehow, like via an elevator. It could also place to combatants on top of the hotel.
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Of course these are not all major Nintendo Switch games and this doesn't cover any upcoming games. If there were a new 2D Metroid coming in the near future, it certainly should get a stage as well. And of course this should mention Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze again. It's a crime that nothing from this excellent platformer was used for a stage in Ultimate.
In addition the DLC could offer some of the missing past stages, like Rainbow Road or Woolly World. Like the Mii costumes, the additional DLC stages are sold separately, but Nintendo could also offer a pack with all stages.
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