Now that I finally got a single prediction for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate right, I'm going to pretend like I know it all and make a list of what I feel like are the likeliest candidates for the four remaining spots of the second Fighters Pass, the "Final Four". Of course there still could be more fighters beyond or next to this, where I'm personally still expecting a couple of Echo Fighters, maybe even a small "Echo Fighters Pass", but for now we should assume that that's it.
Also, now that I've gotten two of my "most wanteds", I try to be as unbiased as I can be, where most of the characters that I view as likely are from games that I haven't even played yet and that aren't of major interest to me. While games like Metroid Prime 4 and the sequel to Breath of the Wild felt like a possibility at the beginning, now these games seem too far away to be represented in the same fashion as Byleth. Even if they come out in late 2021, the 2nd Fighters Pass will already conclude by then.
That being said, let's get right to it. These are the chosen ones. Or not, we'll see...
- Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)
- Agnés Oblige (Bravely Default)
- Hunter (Monster Hunter Rise)
- Rex & Pyra / Mythra (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
All of these will be released throughout 2021, where it's possible that we get the first announcement at the Video Game Awards again, similar to Joker in 2018. Last year they didn't do this, but Byleth probably wasn't the most spectacular announcement and this really depends on whether we'll be looking at another guest characters or not.
But when it comes to third parties, Ryu Hayabusa is arguably one of the biggest omissions with ties to Nintendo. Now that Simon Belmont is on the roster, Hayabusa is one of the few missing NES Legends, probably the most important one. And not only would he represent Ninja Gaiden, but also the Dead or Alive series, where it would be lovely to get Spirits for Kasumi or Helena...
In any case it's weird how we haven't really gotten anything from Koei Tecmo yet, despite their very healthy and friendly relationship with Nintendo. I mean, they are currently developing Nintendo's big Christmas hit, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, but they only have a single Assist Trophy in Smash? That needs to change!
Also, Vergeben, the German leaker who predicted a huge part of the base roster and also heard rumors about both Dragon Quest and Minecraft in Smash before the DLC even was announced, only has one other clue at the moment and that's Hayabusa. So, if I had to put money on any of these characters, I would put it on Ryu Hayabusa.
Anyway, speaking of third parties, it's of note how five of the third party Mii costumes that used to be DLC for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U haven't returned in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate yet:
- Chocobo
- Geno
- Llyod
- Hunter
- Rathalos
Well, by now this list gets smaller and smaller with every DLC release, where we got Heihachi's costume back with Min Min and now also Gil. And it's likely that we will get the rest of them back as well, where I don't really expect any of them to be upgraded to playable fighters. Well, except maybe one of them...
While the Mii costume waves don't necessarily need to have anything to do with the concurrent Challenger Pack, it's still possible that they saved some of these to go hand in hand with a fitting DLC fighter, similar to how they gave us Heihachi with another fighting game character. And it's kind of weird how Square Enix still has their Mii costumes out in the open, mainly because they had focused on Dragon Quest Mii outfits that came together with Hero. But it's possible that the Chocobo and Geno outfits were saved for a second Square Enix fighter in the DLC...
And when it comes to Square Enix, I don't see Geno or Sora as the likeliest candidates, also not another Final Fantasy fighter, but someone very close to Nintendo: Agnés Oblige, the protagonist of Bravely Default. The Bravely series has been exclusive to Nintendo systems and we're actually supposed to get Bravely Default II on Nintendo Switch still this year. So, the timing for Agnés as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. couldn't be any better.
Then there's Monster Hunter. It's already represented in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via Rathalos, who is a Spirit, a boss and an Assist Trophy, as well as two music tracks... But that's very little considering how successful this franchise has been and how Capcom kept putting exclusive Monster Hunter games on Nintendo's systems, like the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise.
This could even tie in with the new game, where the protagonist from Rise could use the "Wirebugs" for his recovery and so on. Obviously, they would also bring back the Mii costumes for the Hunter and Rathalos armors with this.
People keep quoting that the producer of Monster Hunter was originally against putting the "Hunter" into Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which happened later anyway, and that this might also the reason why they put only Rathalos in Smash over a playable fighter. The series is mainly about the monsters.
And this is understandable, but naturally a Challenger Pack would also come with a stage, where there are other changes of showcasing different monsters from the series on that stage. And the combat of Monster Hunter can only be represented via fighter. You really want the whole package of this and all of that good music, where the Monster Hunter franchise seems to be in the exact same spot as ARMS used to be before the 2nd Fighters Pass in terms of representation...
Speaking of ARMS, there certainly is going to be at least another 1st party addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and I wouldn't be surprised if it's the last Challenger Pack. This would be similar to the first season of DLC, if you also count Piranha Plant as the first DLC fighter. Here four third party additions were sandwitched between two 1st party newcomers and history could repeat itself with the 2nd Fighters Pass.
And with that in mind, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with Rex & Pyra feels like the best fit to end things on a different note again. Sakurai even has expressed his regret that they couldn't consider Rex as a fighter for the base game, because like with ARMS the timing was simply bad. And they've added his Mii costume as a bonus for the first Fighters Pass as some sort of consolation.
People claim that his has effectively has disconfirmed Rex as a possible fighter, like all DLC Mii costumes seemingly do, but it's a different story here. First of all, the costume is just a bonus and not sold separately. And even if someone took it as an incentive to buy the first Fighters Pass, then they probably wouldn't complain about getting the real deal later on. Plus, if we're going with the last Challenger Pack, it will have been three years since the Rex costume got available... Three years!
And the Rex Mii costume is just for Rex himself, while the fighter certainly would end up being a duo of Driver and Blade, so Rex and Pyra fighting together. Mythra could even become an alt or it's possible that there is a mechanic that allows you to switch between Blades, which could even include the infamous KOS-MOS (though, she probably should become a fighter of her own at some point).
The Runner-Ups
Honorable mentions go to Dante from Devil May Cry and Crash Bandicoot as two of the most requested 3rd party newcomers out there. But there's nothing that I can say about them that makes them seem more or less likely at this point. If Capcom is getting yet another fighter in Smash, Monster Hunter still feels like the more important choice... But you never know.
My "most wanted" 3rd party newcomer would probably be the Doom Slayer, but he had been effectively disconfirmed by Marty Stratton from id Software in an interview with Metro earlier this year, so I'm not holding my breath. As for first person shooters, the Master Chief is also one of the most iconic figures here, but it feels somewhat less likely after already getting two reps from Microsoft with Banjo and Steve. But then again, the Master Chief is the biggest original Microsoft character...
Otherwise there is also the Tales Of franchise on the table with various protagonists to choose from. Llyod Irving will most likely return as a Mii costume, as already said, but this might happen together with a Tales Of Challenger Pack.
Also, we can't dismiss the possibility of getting another Pokémon from Sword & Shield. In general they could do more 1st party additions this time, where I like to think that Dixie Kong or anyone from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is still on the table, because that game needs more love in Smash...
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