With today’s announcement of a Nintendo Direct for Feb. 17 and confirmation that news about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be featured in the 50-minute presentation, fans have kicked their DLC speculation into overdrive.
From consistent names to new challengers, social media has been buzzing with guesses as to who might join the Ultimate roster as the fourth Fighters Pass Vol. Two character.
There are three main options that seem to be making the rounds in most conversations about the DLC, with one of them being more likely than the others based on other games that are dropping over the next several months. That being some kind of Monster Hunter representative from Capcom’s massively popular series.
Capcom is set to have a big year in Nintendo’s ecosystem, which all starts with the release of Monster Hunter Rise on March 26, which will be exclusive to the Switch. Because of this, releasing some variant of hunter character or maybe a Palico to rep the series and draw attention to it ahead of or around the new game’s release makes way too much sense.
Even if Monster Hunter isn’t the franchise to get a rep, Capcom might still be involved, as Dante from Devil May Cry is another character that has long been rumored to be coming to Smash. To a lesser extent, Phoenix Wright, Viewtiful Joe, and a few Street Fighter characters have also been tossed around by fans as potential inclusions, too.
Stepping away form Capcom and ignoring the more joke heavy picks like Dragon Ball Z’s Goku that are always mentioned, arguably the two biggest names being constantly thrown out are Sora from Kingdom Hearts and Crash Bandicoot.
Sora would be a bigger get and add to the insanity of Smash Ultimate’s crossover list, but a few factors make it a little less likely than some of the other characters mentioned.
The legal aspect of partnering with Disney along with Square Enix to work with the IP was actually more daunting when Ultimate first launched in 2018, as Disney has been more open with some of its characters being used, at least when it comes to video games. He would be yet another “anime swordfighter” joining the roster, however, which fans have been complaining about since the DLC started rolling out, including characters like Hero, Byleth, and most recently, Sephiroth.
That doesn’t mean Sora can’t eventually be added as one of the remaining two slots that will be open in Fighters Pass Vol. 2 after this announcement, but putting some distance between sword users seems like a safe play.
With all that said… Doctor Eggman, anybody?
You can probably expect whatever character is announced to drop within the next month, though there isn’t a guarantee that will be the case.
