WMG / Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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The SSB on Switch will do away with the realistic voices.

And will once more be replaced by their canonical voices — it's high time Bowser finally gets a glass of water to ease his throat.

• Jossed.

Smash Bros. on Switch is Darker and Edgier due to new ownership.

In the reveal trailer, the whole area is covered in darkness that is only illuminated by a massive, hellfire Smash Bros. logo, with embers flying around. Why is it so dark and fiery? Well... in Smash for 3DS/Wii U, Master Hand was Killed Off for Real when Master Core violently burst out of him. You remember how Crazy Hand flees once Master Core appears? Several years later, Crazy proceeded to take over the whole Smash Bros. thing from the late Master Hand. Since Crazy is known for his impulsive and destructive personality compared to Master, this has resulted in a Darker and Edgier Crapsack World under his new rule, hence the darkness and hellfire logo presentation.

• Jossed if for the story mode (World of Light) and goes very much differently, aside from it's light vs dark portions.

Smash Bros. Switch Story Mode

• Unlike Subspace Emissary, this will be an actual crossover where the characters meet up because of something allowing the worlds they live in to interact with one another.
• Said something will be the Master Core, who will turn out to be a case of Dark Is Not Evil while acting as a Big Good for the story. It will turn out that he is responsible for the Smash Bros. tournament to begin with by holding it
• The story will start out with a dialogue about how amazing and wondrous the worlds and characters that will be seen are and end with ominous dialogue along the lines of, "Where the greatest light shines, the darkest shadows are cast."
• After the dialogue, it will show Master Core starting the next tournament with gorgeous visuals showing all of the worlds and characters that are involved.
• The very first fight of the tournament will be Mario vs Bowser. After a typical match where Mario wins, things start going wrong when Bowser turns into a Sore Loser and attacks Mario after his defeat while summoning his army.
• Master Core is incensed by Bowser's conduct and tries to intervene, only for the villain of the story to show up. Said villain will be a humanoid figure like Tabuu, but diametrically opposite. Where Tabuu represented the hindering and outright prevention of creativity, the new villain represents the dangers of untempered innovation. For aesthetic purposes, their color scheme is dark red or dark purple.
• The new villain will be a mix of Loony Fan, Mad Artist, and It Amused Me who's doing what they're doing because of an obsession with stories and thinks that Master Core is squandering his potential by just holding a friendly tournament every so often.
• The villain defeats Master Core and binds him in chains of darkness, calling back to Tabuu's chains of light, and declares his intention to Take Over the World with all of the worlds that Master Core has reached out to while revealing his alliance with other villains.
• Mario tries to help Master Core and after a brief fight, manages to land a fireball right to the face, only for the villain to No-Sell the attack and trap Mario in dark crystal to make him a trophy.
• Master Core uses the last of his power to create a fragment of its very essence to save Mario by spiriting him away and freeing him from trophy form.
• There will be full voice acting for the cast and usual silent protagonists will remain as such or also be fully voiced. Mario especially will fall under this, as either he won't be voiced or Nintendo will have him fully voiced in order to ease audiences into it for his upcoming movie.
• This mode is where Dracula and the Rathalos will be fought. The scenes showing the fight with Dracula, while having a similar background to the Dracula's Castle Smash Stage, is also completely flat. Likewise, the Rathalos Boss fight is shown in a flat area that resembles the Ancestral Steppe from the 4th Generation Monster Hunter games, which so far at least does not have a Smash stage.
  • Jossed badly, and how. The World of Light is nothing like that.

The new Link for Smash Bros. Switch

• Since the trailer revealed the fact that Link will have the Breath of the Wild look, one of the probable changes to his character might be an "equipment durability" mechanic. It would be similar to Robin's, except that where Robin always loses a durability point regardless of whether or not he/she hits something, Link's equipment will only lose a durability point if he scores a hit on an object or opponent.
  • And if this were to be the case, then the last hit before a weapon becomes broken will always inflict bonus damage and Link will then have to wait 10-15 seconds before he automatically gets a new one. So if Link's sword breaks, then he becomes unable to use the A Button. And if Link's bow breaks, then he becomes unable to use the Neutral B Special Attack.
  • Jossed. Link's weapons do not have a durability mechanic.
• Another probable and major change is that Link might be given a "weapon switching" mechanic which would result in his regular and aerial moveset being changed accordingly. So instead of using the traditional Sword-and-Shield combination, Link can switch to a two-handed Greatsword (Strong damage and knockback but slow frame data) or a Spear (Long reach, fast frame data, but weak damage and knockback).
  • Jossed. Link uses the same Sword-and-Shield moveset he had in previous games. The only big changes are that he no longer has the Clawshot for grabs and his Bombs must be detonated with the Sheikah Slate.

The reveal trailers for newcomers in Smash Switch will be just like the initial teaser revealing the Inklings.

They will all start out like a trailer for a brand new game in said newcomer's series. The entire video then dims almost completely to black, and the character turns around to see a giant flaming Smash logo and a mob of returning veterans only seen in silhouette (with a couple closer shots of certain characters like Mario and Link, as a way of confirming their return as well).

• Jossed. It's the same as Smash 4's, albeit with a different slash animation.

The Inklings will have Smash Taunts on their home stage.

This time they will be communications like those in the single-player campaigns of the Splatoon games, featuring Callie, Marie, and Cuttlefish among others.

• Jossed.

Link won't be the only character that's redesigned for the Switch iteration of Smash Bros.

• Zelda will more than likely also be her BOTW design so they match. It calls into question whether Sheik would be updated to a BOTW-esque design (inspired by the Sheikah Armor set, or the robes the NPCs wear in Kakariko). And if Ganondorf might get an original design, or unesed concept art design which is what gave us "Twilight Princess" Sheik.
  • Zigzagged for Zelda, described as being more of a scholar BOTW Zelda won't be appearing, so instead Zelda is designed after her look in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
• Another character who could be redesigned for the Switch game could be the Villager from Animal Crossing. Currently, they're represented by looking like their Wild World/City Folk appearances (with "stubby" proportions). The new versions of these characters could end up looking more like their New Leaf versions, as many spin-off games like Mario Kart 8, Happy Home Designer and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp all use the New Leaf design. This may also mean some gameplay changes (though not as drastic as Link's, just changing their hitboxes to account for their new proportions).
  • Mostly jossed: Villager looks mostly the same and just higher detail besides some misc changes like the absence of socks.
• Depending on how far along development on Metroid Prime 4 is, Samus and Zero suit could be updated to those designs instead of Other M. Or even their Metroid Samus Returns designs.
  • Jossed. Both reuse their Smash 4 designs.
• The Star Fox cast could be changed from their Smash unique designs, to their Star Fox Zero look.
  • Confirmed.

The final character to get own trailer or title splash in the Switch Smash Bros will be Dark Pit.

He will finally get his own trailer, just one game late, and in it he will be the Butt-Monkey.

• Jossed. One of the big things confirmed for Ultimate is that "Everyone is here", and Dark Pit appears right after Pit a decent ways into the trailer. The last veterans shown to come back were Luigi and Yoshi, the former of whom ends up being the Butt-Monkey.

Wavedashing will return in Ultimate.

Given that Directional Air-Dodging is back, it's pretty safe to assume that this popular competitive tech will return along with it.

• Jossed. Sakurai has explicitly stated that there will be no wavedashing, and will indeed punish players for overusing the dodge mechanic. May be because wavedashing is a Scrappy Mechanic among non-competitive players, and the game is aimed toward a casual audience.
  • Sakurai never said that.
  • Unjossed. Wavedashing is technically back, but is heavily nerfed from Melee.

The Snake's Codec and Palutena's Guidance mechanics will reference each other.

Two different characters with taunts based around the same exposition gimmick are now going to be in the same game together? The Smash team would be missing out by not hanging that lampshade.

• Addition: if one taunt is activated when the other is already playing, the second one will interrupt the first and cause an argument between the support characters (with variations depending on who interrupted who).
  • Sadly this can't happen unless the mechanics are changed, since Codecs and Guidances only work on the stages specific to each character.
  • With the addition of the Stage Morphing, this has been moved back to the "maybe" pile.
    • Palutena referencing the Codec is still a "maybe", but Snake's Codec returning the favor is jossed. While the feature is returning, it's only doing so for characters from Brawl.
    • Fully jossed.

Echo Fighter character predictions

• Dark Bowser, Midbus or Dry Bowser for Bowser
• Funky Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, or Cranky Kong as the first Donkey Kong for Donkey Kong
• Dixie Kong for Diddy Kong
• Impa for Sheik
• Twili Midna/Toon Zelda for Zelda
  • Hilda could also be potential Echo, especially due to Zelda's design being based on her appearance in A Link Between Worlds.
• Sylux or Dark Samus for Samus
  • Dark Samus confirmed!
• Galacta Knight, Dark Meta Knight, or Morpho Knight for Meta Knight
  • This one is likely Jossed. The official website heavily implies Galacta Knight will be an Alternate Costume for Meta Knight.
  • Then Morpho Knight? He's technically Galacta Knight.
• Sword Lords for Roy — Alm, Leif, etc.
  • Confirmed. Chrom is Roy's Echo Fighter.
• Sword Lords for Marth/Lucina — Eirika, Celica, Eliwood, etc.
  • Eliwood is much more likely for Roy, being his dad and all...
• Sword Lords and Mercenaries for Ike — Chrom, any "Ogma", etc.
  • Chrom jossed; he appears as Roy's Echo Fighter.
• Any Pikmin Captain besides Alph for Olimar
• Malos over Shulk, since both actually use Monado Arts.
• Shadow for Sonic. They've apparently replaced his Assist Trophy with Knuckles for some reason.
  • Alternatively, Classic Sonic, Boom Sonic, Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic or Silver Sonic. Classic Sonic or Mecha Sonic will have their Super forms as a final smash, Metal Sonic will have his Neo Metal Sonic as his final smash.
    • Mecha and Silver Sonic are too clunky and slow to serve as Echos for the real Sonic, and they are far more obscure than Metal Sonic, so they're pretty much Jossed.
  • Double Alternatively, Blaze the Cat, with the main difference being that her Spin Attacks are pirouettes, and most if not all of her attacks deal fire damage. Her normal attacks could have a Tipper-like mechanic as well. She'd use her Burning form for her Final Smash, which would function like Super Sonic, but again deals fire damage.
  • Jossed. Shadow's still an Assist Trophy — he was just unveiled later.
• Ms. Pac-Man for Pac-Man
• Ken for Ryu. Ken is the ur-example of a Moveset Clone and the premier example of a Shotoclone.
  • Alternatively, Akuma, with completely different animations like Dark Samus and the Shun Goku Satsu as his Final Smash.
  • Ken confirmed!
• Jeanne or Rosa for Bayonetta
• Octoling for Inkling
• Blood Falcon for Captain Falcon. Since Ganondorf is too derived to be considered a clone character, It would make sense to have an actual clone of Captain Falcon to be included.
• Leon Powalski for Falco. It makes sense, considering Leon's been on Star Wolf the longest.
  • Alternatively, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad or James McCloud for Fox or Falco
• Ninten for Ness
  • Alternatively, Paula for Ness
• Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Solidus Snake or Ocelot for Solid Snake.
• Viridi/Medusa for Palutena.
• Birdo for Yoshi, she'll have a long-range vacuum (that also auto-use food), but her eggs functions as projectiles. Turning what she eats into eggs would reference the Popple fight in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, has a 2nd jump that's more inline with Yoshi's flutterjump from his own series, but unlocking her also unlocks Mushroom Kingdom II, retroactively removing her from the stage due to the change in philosophy involving KO'able bosses that hands out points. She's not much of a threat compared to stage bosses introduced in the 4th installment.
  • The second half is Jossed. All stages are available from the get go.
• Raichu or Detective Pikachu for Pikachu.
• Igglybuff, Wigglytuff or Clefairy for Jigglypuff.
• Shadow Mewtwo for Mewtwo.
  • Jossed
• Mega Charizard X/Y or Flygon for Charizard. Any of them could essentially function as Smash 4 Charizard, with the Rock Smash down special and buffed stats to compensate for the lack of Squirtle and Ivysaur.
• Wartortle for Squirtle.
• Bulbasaur or Venusaur for Ivysaur.
• Zoroark for Lucario.
• Frogadier for Greninja.
• Isabelle for Villager.
  • Isabelle jossed. She is confirmed to be a standalone fighter.
• Quint, Elec Man or Roll for Mega Man.
• Klump for King K. Rool.
• The Broodals or Baby Bowser for Bowser Jr.
• Saria or Kafei for Young Link.
• Doctor Luigi for Doctor Mario.
• Ridley Robot or Meta Ridley for Ridley.
• Togedemaru for Pichu.
  • Jossed. Togedemaru is a Poké Ball summon.
• Shadow Dedede or King D-Mind for King Dedede.
• Porky for Lucas.
• Metal Mario for Mario.
• Metal Luigi or Mr L. for Luigi.
  • With the Metal Box and Metal option in Custom Smash, Metal Mario and Luigi would be extremely redundant.
• Validar for Robin.
• Hero's Shade or Ravio for Link.
• Demise, Agahnim, Yuga or Phantom Ganon for Ganondorf with The Imprisoned as Demise's final smash.
• Zack Fair or Angeal Hewley for Cloud
• Foreman Spike for Wario
• Fighting Polygon Team, Fighting Wire Frames or Fighting Alloy Team for the Mii fighters.
  • Wouldn't be possible. They are fully customizable, not an NPC team.
• Vaati or Linebeck for Toon Link
• Blue but called Pokemon Rival for Pokemon Trainer.
• Digby for Isabelle

Every fighter will either have an Echo, or an alternate costume.

We haven't seen anyone with both yet...

• It seems as if Peach, Marth, Roy, Pit, Ryu, and Simon will be the only ones with an echo (considering Sakurai won't make an echo DLC), so jossed for the echo part.
  • Add Samus to that list.

Inkling Taunts

The "Woomy!/Ngyes!" soundbite and fist pump, the weapon firing animation from the E3 2018 trailer, and as an Ascended Meme, a quick squidbagging animation. Remember this is the younger Splatoon 1 squids, who are known for their less-than-sportsmanlike mannerisms.

• Adding to my own post here, Octo Expansion features Agent 3 actually squidbagging you during their boss battle if you die, so it's even more possible now.
• The fist pump and weapon firing animations are confirmed. The other one, however, is the jumping "C'mon/This way!" animation, as seen in the Inkling character trailer.

This game will be the Grand Finale of the series.

While Sakurai did say that Brawl and 3DS and Wii U would be the last ones, this time he seems to have taken the series to its utmost extremes after E3, featuring every playable character up until this point plus more. It may not be too likely that Sakurai can make an installment more groundbreaking than this; that and combined with it releasing 20 years after 64, it's very likely that he may indeed make this the very, very final game of the series.

• What's more likely to happen is that the series will continue without Sakurai's involvement. Much like a number of other IPs, it's too profitable for the parent company to just end, even if its creator feels like the series ran its course. The Kirby series is in a similar position. Sakurai no longer works on it, but Nintendo still makes new games for it.
• Best-case scenario — in the next 5-10 years Nintendo produces a new Smash on whatever hardware they're currently using, without Sakurai's involvement (he's such a perfectionist I doubt he'd take on a hands-off role like executive producer if asked), but with some fresh blood in the team trying their best to do well by the series and reflect Nintendo's current status, even if it means a trimmed-down roster and phasing out some older characters for new. Worst-case scenario — Nintendo never follows the Switch, console gaming more or less dies, and the best we get is a mobile Smash where you just rapidly tap your phone screen to win. Either way, the series will continue, but I doubt the series will ever have an epically huge game like this again.
• Jossed. Sakurai has already discussed the potential next game.

Ultimate will receive DLC like Smash 4.

The previous game's DLC was very profitable and well-received, so even if the entire roster has been revealed already, there's still the possibility of more characters and third-party representatives (aside from Bomberman, who's out of the running) being added later after the December release.

• Confirmed in the November 1st, 2018 Direct.
  • And hoo boy, we never saw it ''coming!''

Not counting Echo Fighters, there will only be 12 newcomers in Ultimate.

Sakurai went on record saying that we shouldn't expect too many newcomers in the game. Melee introduced 14 newcomers, while Brawl and Wii U/3DS introduced 18 and 19, respectively. 12 is probably a good number because it's the perfect balance — just enough newcomers, but not too many — unless DLC is included.

• Counting DLC and not counting Echo Fighters, this number turns out to be exactly right.
  • Jossed with the advent of Fighters Pass 2, which will bring 6 more characters to the fold, bringing the total of newcomers up to 18. Taking into account that they've been announced to be the final wave of DLC, plus the five newcomers who are Echo Fighters (and shouldn't be discounted because of that), we have a grand total of 23 newcomers.

Master Core will return in Ultimate, along with a potential Crazy Core.

While Master Core could have even more forms in its disposal, it is likely that Crazy Core will be different; either taking on entirely different, harder forms or just being one Marathon Boss staying in one form until its source is exposed. Or of course, something very much different.

And with enough misfortune, the player could possibly end up in an even worse scenario. Fighting both at once.

• I could also see the Master Core fight having some Anti-Frustration Features, like more time added and a bunch of small recovery items appearing between phases — but it would be no less challenging, as it would compensate with higher HP per phase, greater damage output, and tougher-to-dodge attacks (via some combination of larger hurtboxes, faster execution speed, and reduced telegraphing).
  • Master Core returns, but as a Spirit.

• If Galeem is kinda like the Master Core, then this is confirmed, as there's another one attuned with darkness... And uses Crazy Hand instead of Master Hand.
  • Confirmed, Dharkon fills this role.

Sheik in this game isn't actually Zelda but a random Sheikah from Breath of the Wild who changed their skin, hair, and eye color

It explains their outfit and would make more sense than "Sheik from a game they didn't appear in with a Zelda that wasn't in that same game".

• Maybe it's Granté? He's got the exact same hair as Sheik already.

The Ganondorf in Ultimate is the Fallen Hero Timeline Ganondorf.

His appearance in Ultimate is what he looks like after he got sealed away with the power, considering this Ganon can switch into a human form as seen with Agahnim. This is why he looks a bit different than how he looked in Ocarina of Time.

The Single Player Mode is going to be something ambitious

This is the first game in the series where development isn't held back by anything major. (64 had No Budget, Melee was developed in the span of 13 months, Brawl had the Subspace Emissary, and Smash 4 had both versions developed at the same time, with one of the versions being on the 3DS.) The game also uses a lot of the assets from the fourth game, which allows them to focus on retooling old stuff while adding new stuff. It's hard to say what it could be, but it could be a unique Adventure Mode for each character or a Metroidvania-like mode where you unlock characters.

• How could The Subspace Emissary hold back development on the single-player mode?
• Confirmed with the addition of Spirits, which certainly looks like a complex Adventure Mode.
  • Mostly confirmed. World of Light is a huge expansive overworld with hundreds of spirits, puzzles and roadblocks/switches, among other gimmicks.

There actually will be lots of new additions to the roster, Sakurai's just being a Trolling Creator utilizing Exact Words

Unlikely, I will admit, but I haven't been able to get over Sakurai's choice of phrase. "We're sort of hoping you aren't expecting too many new fighters." Technically, nothing in the phrase directly states there will be fewer new characters, and it would be the mother of all surprises if the fanbase were left thinking that and, because of the nature of unlocks, discover there were a ton more new characters than first expected.

Playable characters can also show up as Assist Trophies/Poké Ball Pokémon.

And when this is revealed, it's also revealed that Waluigi is still just an Assist Trophy.

• Jossed.

Doomguy will be a playable character.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes out just three days before the 25th anniversary of the Doom franchise, which would make it a perfect opportunity to celebrate the Milestone Celebration. Plus, Bethesda and id Software have gone above and beyond to port games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Doom (2016), and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus to the Nintendo Switch compared with most other third-party companies, so this could be a good way to showcase their new ties to Nintendo. We might see the Doomguy reveal at Quakecon 2018 alongside the gameplay reveal of Doom Eternal.

• Considering that Snake was from a game that was believed to be too violent for Smash Bros at first, but he got included by making his moves themed around explosives, maybe perhaps they'll include Doomguy by having him wield a variety of energy and explosive weapons to get around the violent aspects — the Gauss Gun, Rocket Launcher, and Plasma Rifle could easily act as 3 of his main moves, they could include one of the new weapons from Eternal as his 4th move, and the BFG 9000 could be his final smash.
  • Jossed for now, but still a chance as DLC
    • And now, fully jossed as he ended up being a costume for Mii Gunner.

Bonus Room Blitz will be part of a medley

Bonus Room Blitz (the song that plays during Diddy Kong's trailer) in and of itself is simply far too short that it will feel repetitive for a fighting game. It stands to reason that what we heard is part of a medley and Bonus Room Blitz is a part of it. And it would be strange for Diddy to have a trailer where we heard the complete remix already when we haven't heard complete remixes for others (i.e. Jump Up, Super Star for Mario).

• Semi-confirmed: It is a Simian Segue/Bonus Room Blitz mashup.

Wario won't be voiced in English only in the final game

In WarioWare Gold, Wario not only talks in full sentences, but is somehow dubbed into other languages, like Japanese, Italian, and somehow, both American and European Spanish. All of these VAs will reprise their role in Ultimate as a Call-Back... I hope.

• Jossed.

There will be Downloadable Echo Fighters

However, unlike DLC characters with unique movesets, these characters will be available in free updates.

Rex (with Pyra, possibly) and Spring Man will be DLC characters

• Spring Man is jossed due to his inclusion as an Assist Trophy.
  • As of March 26th, 2020, there's an ARMS character that'll join the fight in Challenger Pack 6. So while unconfirmed as of yet, this is promptly un-jossed and back in the air as to whether or not Spring Man will be promoted!
    • The ARMS character ended up being Min Min. Incidentally, Pyra also joined Smash Bros. alongside Mythra in Challenger Pack 9, with Rex merely being an Assist Character

There will be another Zelda that is based on the one from Breath of the Wild

Unlike the Links, her moveset will be more unique, possibly focusing on the Sheikah Slate's abilities.

Bowser will finally be voiced by Kenny James.

Please.

Dear God please, make this happen.

• Jossed.

Ganondorf's design change was because he succeeded in reincarnating from the Calamity Ganon.

Jossed. He's returned to his popular design from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

If Simon Belmont is in the game.

One of the songs in his home stage will be FLOWER.

• Jossed.

Mii Fighter customization will be greatly expanded to include content from Miitopia and Tomodachi Life.

In addition to adding attire and weapons skins from two Mii-centric games, there could also be added options to choose specific articles to give Mii characters (tops, leggings, footwear, weapon skins, etc.) to make each one a bit more unique.

• Semi-confirmed: there are unlockable/purchasable head, leg, etc Mii Fighter parts, references both series representation such as Mario and Fire Emblem but also Mii in general.

Sheik is Zelda from Breath of the Wild.

Sheik's armor is based on the Sheikah Set from that game, and BoTW's Zelda wasn't used for the roster because she's more into research. Maybe this Sheik is actually her? It helps that they still take up separate spots on the roster.

Xander Mobus returning as the announcer is actually a hint that Master Core is coming back.

It could just be that it was easy to get him back on board, but remember that Master Hand always has the same voice actor as the announcer. Considering that Master Core was never explained, he might have a bigger role this time.

• Maybe confirmed, if you consider Galeem as the Master Core?
  • Jossed, is a spirit

12 Characters, 12 Stages

Making you start with the original roster and earn the rest of the 60+ (70+?) characters one by one is a genius move, so why not earn most of the 80+ stages the same way? The game will come with the original 12 characters and a "sampler pack" of stages associated with them.^note Mario Odyssey, Kongo Falls, Great Plateau Tower, Brinstar, Yoshi's Story, Dream Land, Corneria, Prism Tower, Saffron City, Big Blue, Onett, Luigi's Mansion Each character you unlock will come with an associated stage as a package deal, and the rest of the stages will be unlocked through various other means, like in previous games. In a throwback to Melee, Battlefield and Final Destination will be the last stages you unlock.

• Jossed. All stages are unlocked from the start. Also, you only have the eight Smash 64 starters unlocked from the start (plus any Mii Fighter that might have been made).

Carlos Lobo will be replaced for the Latin American release, but Jean Faure won't be in Quebec.

They're the Spanish and French announcers, respectively, starting in the PAL version of Brawl before being used in both American and European versions of 4 (with some lines being different across the pond). However, if Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Warioware Gold, and even Star Fox 64 3D are anything to consider, Nintendo's been paying more attention to Latin America, but not as much Quebec. This trend will likely continue with someone from Mexico becoming the new announcer for Latino Spanish, whereas the announcers will stay the same elsewhere.

• Semi-confirmed; both return, with similar America-Europe differences (King K. Rool being the best example.)

One of Knuckles' soundbites upon being KO'd will be "Oh no."

• It will probably be re-voiced by Travis Willingham to avoid logistical issues (read: royalty fees) associated with using the original voice clip.

The game's Downloadable Content will include alternate costumes for characters besides the Mii Fighters

Some characters like Mario, Link, Olimar, Little Mac, Cloud, and Bayonetta already have one or two alternate costumes. The DLC could be used to give costumes to the other characters, such as a Dry Bowser costume for Bowser, Mr. L for Luigi, or Zelda getting a Breath of the Wild costume.

The Small Fry Corps. from the previous games will also return

The Fighting Polygon Team, Fighting Wire Frames, Fighting Alloys, and Fighting Mii Team will all return as a part of Ultimate's Classic Mode. They weren't kidding when they said "Everyone is Here".

• Mostly jossed. Multi-Man Mode seems to have been replaced by Century Smash, which features the Fighting Mii Team once again.

Heihachi will be a newcomer.

3DS/Wii U and this game were both worked on by Bandai Namco, and the last game had a Mii outfit based on Heihachi, so adding Heihachi for real this time would be logical and easy.

• Bonus points if they used the initial teaser of Pokkén Tournament where they had Lucario standing across from Blaziken, just with Pikachu in place of Blaziken. Within Pokken, the Ferrum League is fought by having trainers mindmeld with their Pokemon, so it kinda works in context considering that the Pokken version of Pikachu has some of his mannerisms. Having Incineroar tagging out for Lucario would just be gravy if they're really trying to rock the boat. They already repurposed the Splatoon reveal to reveal Ultimate as well as announcing them as characters.
• This is going to be dated within a matter of days, but here goes: there's a bit of a Contrived Coincidence with the first major Smash Direct's date — August 8, 2018. Not only is that date plastered all over the Arena stage in Tekken 7^* While this was noted by Smash pro Gimr during EVO 2018, the banners which have "August 8" in that stage have been there since launch, contrary to popular belief that they were added recently., but the Japanese word for the number 8 is "hachi", like Heihachi.
• If Heihachi does make the cut, he will be the first character to appear in both Smash and Playstation All Stars Battle Royale.
  • Jossed for the main game. DLC is still possible. So far all we have is the Mii Brawler costume.
    • And ultimately Jossed. They went with Kazuya, who was better workable into the Smash gameplay.

At least one newcomer will be from a series originally exclusive to Sony consoles.

Much like how Cloud's appearance as a DLC fighter took people by surprise because he was from a Playstation-exclusive game, another newcomer could exploit that same surprise to emphasize that any game character can be in Smash (and possibly as a Take That! toward Sony's resistance to online crossplay). Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon seem likely choices due to them getting recent remasters of their debut games.

• After the inclusions of Snake and Cloud, it would be quite amusing for one Playstation newcomer per game to become an official Smash tradition, especially since Playstation All Stars Battle Royale 2 is becoming increasingly unlikely.
  • Semi-confirmed with Joker — while a spin-off he's in (Persona Q2) is on a Nintendo Console, the main Persona games are currently exclusive to the Playstation.

An Event Match will feature Samus and Ridley teaming up.

This will not stop Ridley from occasionally attempting to attack Samus.

• Jossed, event matches do not exist; the replacement is the Spirit mode

The reason there aren't Hilda, Chrom, and Dark Samus colors

It doesn't confirm they are playable, but is more so IN CASE they decide to make the characters Echo fighters.

• Confirmed for Chrom and Dark Samus, jossed for Hilda.
  • Hilda may be still possible as DLC, however

There will be playable characters that also appear as Assist Trophies.

With the inclusion of Dark Samus, what's not to say that she'll still appear as an Assist as in SSB4? Not to mention fan-favorite requests like Waluigi, Zero, Bomberman, and Shovel Knight are all Assists. There's also the fact that Chrom is also playable, despite appearing in Robin's Final Smash, and the Rathalos appears as a boss and Assist.

• Robin's Final Smash hasn't been revealed yet, and even so, it's highly ruled out that Chrom takes part in it now. Same can go to Dark Samus. No need to jump to conclusions just yet.
  • As much as I would love for Bomberman and Krystal to be playable, I highly doubt this.
  • Surprisingly, Chrom still appears in Robin's Final Smash, although there's no sign if he only appears in matches that don't feature Chrom, or he's there regardless.
  • There is now a Bomberman costume for Mii Fighters, if it helps alleviate this concern. And you can choose its color, so you can make Shirobon, Kurobon or what have you.

There will be an Event Match called "Three Trouble Kings"

It will have Mario, Kirby, and Donkey Kong fighting against Bowser, King Dedede, and King K. Rool.

• Jossed, event matches do not exist; the replacement is the Spirit mode

Rathalos will not be the only boss of the Monster Hunter stage

While they showed off Rathalos' Boss status on the Direct, they were surprisingly mum about the stage itself, which resembles the Ancient Steppe, but also seems suspiciously bare. The stage is still under construction, and when finished will feature different monsters as the Stage Boss. Either randomly chosen or by another criteria.

• Jossed: Rathalos is just a major NPC/boss on the overworld.

All those deaths? They may have meaning...

Mario, Mega Man, Luigi, possibly Dedede — all of them have died in the character reveal trailers. And from what we can make out, the pixelated section on the menu screen says "Spirits". Spirits, in popular media, is a fancy word for ghosts. Coincidence? I don't think so.

• Confirmed as part of the new Spirits mode. It is not clear if the "deaths" in the trailers were explicitly hinting to it, though.

Robin's new Final Smash will involve Fell Dragon Grima.

If you go back over the showcase videos for old characters, you'll notice that the Final Smash demonstration was conspicuous in its absence in Robin's video (whereas the rest still have theirs), and Robin themself wasn't in any stage demos of the game. Ostensibly, this was done to hide that Chrom had been Promoted to Playable and would thus no longer show up in Robin's Final Smash, but begs the question of what Robin's new Final Smash is.

Thus the theory: most Final Smashes incorporate something that heavily represents the character, and if in Robin's case this is no longer Pair Up, then it would have to be something else that represents them and is powerful enough to be used as a Limit Break. And one of the biggest plot points in Awakening, to the point of being a Late-Arrival Spoiler in Heroes and Shadows of Valentia, was Robin's connection to the Big Bad, Grima the Fell Dragon. So it's highly likely that Robin's new Final Smash will involve Grima doing some classic Demonic Possession and nuking the battlefield.

• Jossed. Robin's Final Smash is still Pair Up and it still uses Chrom. Though, we don't know if it's changed if Chrom is in the match.
  • It doesn't. You can actually hit Chrom with Robin's Pair Up, and nothing of it changes. All that matters now is that Chrom is battling himself to death.

Shadow the Hedgehog will be an Echo for Sonic

Several factors lead to this possibility:

1. Shadow has been a highly demanded character like Ridley, Simon, and K.Rool, the latter three actually being added to the game. Characters like Krystal and Shovel Knight, however, were also demanded but made into Assist Trophies instead.//2. In some games like Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic Forces, Shadow can play exactly like Sonic, making him a viable candidate.//3. The obvious fact that Knuckles is an Assist Trophy with no sign of Shadow.//4. With Richter being revealed, it outright shows that even 3rd party characters can get Echo Fighters. //and 5. On the large collective artwork of the roster, there is a gap near Sonic.

• Jossed. Shadow the Hedgehog remains as an Assist Trophy.

Robin's Pair Up Final Smash partner will be changed

Rather than the massive spoiler to the ending of their original game suggested above, Chrom will simply be replaced with a different partner for Robin to gang up on their target with. The most likely candidate: Morgan, whose gender is the opposite of the Robin who summons them and sports the same coloration. And on that note...

• Other potential Pair Up partners include Lissa, Frederick, Cordelia, Owain, Olivia, Alfonzo^* "Leave it to me!", and Tharja, all of which were playable in Fire Emblem Warriors... except for Alfonzo.
  • These partners are significantly less likely to replace Chrom than Morgan is for one simple, if verbose, reason: Chrom and Robin are canonically best friends, with their friendship with each other only being surpassed by their relationships with their respective spouses and children (well, when they aren't married to each other, that is). However, Robin is a Launcher of a Thousand Ships and can marry almost literally any other character in the game if their genders are compatible; thus, in order to avoid fan outcry due to implications of unpopular relationships, the most likely choice is Robin's own fixed offspring.
• Alternatively, Robin's new Final Smash will simply be Ignis instead of Pair Up.
  • Rather unlikely (in the opinion of the WMG's original poster) due to being less fitting to Robin's character; Robin, in their home game, is a tactician, and thus their job is literally to outsmart their enemies — a role best represented by Pair Up (ganging up on individual targets to maximize odds of success, combined with guarding each other's backs when under attack). Ignis, on the other hand, is a Spell Blade and thus more of a brute-force approach to combat than they prefer.

• All of this is Jossed, Robin's Final Smash is still pair up with Chrom. It's still Chrom even if Chrom is in the match.

Morgan will be an Echo Fighter for Robin

In their game of origin, Morgan is extremely similar to Robin, both in character and classes, but statistically different due to being a child character. While it's unclear at this point how they would differ, that at least seems to provide enough reason to Echo-fy them.

• Jossed. Incineroar was revealed as the last non-DLC fighter and none of Robin's alts resemble Morgan.

Giga Bowser will return as a Secret Boss character

Because while he's technically still a part of Bowser's Final Smash, he's no longer traditionally playable through it like in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U.

• Giga Bowser does return... As a normal boss in World of Light. So partly Jossed.

If Shadow is in as Sonic's Echo Fighter, Chaos Control will appear as a special move

Chrom shows that Echo Fighters can have a unique Special Move. Chaos Control is Shadow's Signature Move. It would appear in one of these forms:

• An Up Special that is similar to Zelda's, warping a short distance.
• A Down Special similar to Bayonetta's, acting as a counter that slows the opponent down instead of hurting them. Instead of Bat Within, Shadow would use the warping abilities of Chaos Control.
  • Jossed. Shadow is not an Echo Fighter, just an Assist Trophy.

Boss predictions

More bosses in a secluded fight sounds like something this game needs, in addition to the few that already exist. Some of these bosses may even grow tired of being stage hazards and Assist Trophies, and feel like challenging you directly. Let's see how many bosses we can come up with.

• Master Hand for Final Destination (obviously)
• Big Bob-omb for Peach's Castle
• Very Gnawty for Kongo Jungle
• Baby Bowser for Super Happy Tree
• Whispy Woods for Dream Land and Green Greens
• Army Dillo for either Kongo Falls or Jungle Japes
• Nightmare for Fountain of Dreams
• Androsa for Corneria^note Attack Carrier may also be an acceptable choice, since it was also fought in Corneria, but Androsa would better match the new look of the stage styled after Star Fox Zero
• Andross for Venom
• Wart for Mushroom Kingdom II (aka Subcon)
• Kraid for Brinstar Depths
• Polluted Piranha Plant or Shadow Mario for Delfino Plaza
• Burt the Bashful for Yoshi's Island (Brawl)
• Heavy Lobster for Halberd
• Porky Minch for New Pork City
• The Nitpicker for Summit
• King Boo for Luigi's Mansion
• Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik for Green Hill Zone and Windy Hill Zone
• Boom Boom and Pom Pom for 3D Land
• Reznor for Golden Plains
• A Boss Rush between Whispy Woods, Lololo & Lalala, Kaboola, Kracko, and 8-bit King Dedede for Dream Land GB
• Kamek for Mushroom Kingdom U
• Dino Piranha for Mario Galaxy
• Wham Bam Rock for Great Cave Offensive
• Mugly for Jungle Hijinx (should it appear)
• 5-Volt for Gamer
• Foreman Spike for Wrecking Crew
• Mechawiggler for New Donk City Hall
• DJ Octavio for Moray Towers
• The Hierophant for Arena Ferox.
• Fortitudo for Umbran Clock Tower
  • All jossed except for Nightmare, Whispy Woods, Kraid, Wart, Andross, Boom Boom/Pom Pom, Kracko, Eggman, and Kamek; which are represented by spirits and Master Hand (fought once, twice optionally). Whispy Woods, Kraid and Kamek are still only background characters in the stages they appear in, and Nightmare and Andross are still Assist Trophies.

The mysterious green mode guesses

• A new Adventure Mode, whether it be a linear one like Melee or a full-on followup to The Subspace Emissary.
  • Confirmed as the new Spirits story mode.

Peach is going to be the next character killed in a reveal trailer.

If not her, then other candidates include:

• Link
• Marth
• Ike
• Zelda
• Sonic
• Wario
• Snake
• Captain Falcon
• Ryu
• Bayonetta
• Robin
• Mewtwo
• Lucario

Regardless, someone is going to die in the next trailer.

• Jossed, nobody died in the next trailer for Isabelle's Smash entrance.
• In the trailer after that Little Mac and Ken were K.O..
• However, EVERYONE 'died' in the following trailer, except Kirby.
• And Marth and Captain Falcon did end up getting killed in the Kazuya trailer (as well as Ganondorf, Pit and Min Min).

When a playable villain gets revealed, the "heroes fighting villains" montage will appear like in King K. Rool's reveal trailer

• Mostly now jossed for non-DLC characters.
  • Jossed in the Sephiroth trailer. He cuts Galeem down and proceeds to fight everyone until Cloud steps up.
  • Also the montage (with DK vs. K. Rool added) was used in the Banjo & Kazooie trailer to serve as a sequel to K. Rool's.

There will be another Smash game after Ultimate, a reboot of the series with a brand new director.

The story mode will have character deaths not unlike the newcomer trailers, ending with only a handful of characters surviving, thus implying that the dead characters may not be returning immediately (or at all) post reboot.

• Semi-confirmed. Sakurai did detail plans for the next game already.

If Snake's codec calls return, Master Miller will replace Colonel Campbell, since Campbell's Japanese actor died in 2012.

Alternatively, he will use spliced archived audio, and there will be implications that he's actually an A.I..

• Jossed — Snake's Codecs do return, but only for characters who appeared in Brawl.

The reason the Moon is an assist trophy is because Skull Kid is going to be Promoted to Playable

• Jossed; Skull Kid returns as an Assist Trophy

Lloyd Irving will be introduced as a new playable fighter or assist trophy.

• There are a few reasons this can happen. First, Lloyd was a Mii costume in the previous game's DLC. As of August 8, five other characters have gotten such a promotion (Inkling, Chrom, and K. Rool as fighters, Zero and Knuckles as assist trophies), six if you count the Rathalos armor. Lloyd may not be as popular a request as some of these, but the possibility to make the jump is at least there. Second, Capcom and Konami each now have two franchises represented in Ultimate's fighter roster, while Namco still has only one, despite their heavy involvement in the previous game. It would only be fair for them to get a second rep.
• Jossed so far.

Isaac from Golden Sun will become a playable character.

• There is a thread all the way back during the Brawl Speculation Era regarding to six particular characters. King K. Rool, Ridley, Mewtwo, Wolf, Ike, and Isaac. Out of those six characters, five of them are already been confirmed to be playable in Smash Ultimate; the only one that has yet to be confirmed is Isaac.
• Also, there is the removal of his assist trophy in Smash 4, yet it added two Golden Sun music tracks.
• Another reason is this particular post that Sakurai himself posted. It may possibly hint at Golden Sun, because Sakurai doesn't just post Smash related stuff that frequently.
  • Jossed; he's an Assist Trophy.

There will be precisely one DLC character.

As Sakurai said, there will not be many newcomers, though to make up for it, all newcomers so far have been among the most legendarily-demanded. The singular DLC character will either be among that rank as well, or a major, major wild card that virtually nobody would see coming.

• Jossed. It's been confirmed that the game will have 6 DLC fighters but because of the sales, there will be more, especially with Unexpected Character(s) showing up.
  • Fighters Pass 2 added 6 more, bringing the total of DLC fighters to 12.

Kamek will be a playable character.

What with the reveal of Ridley and King K. Rool, Yoshi is now the only one of the original eight to not have an antagonist from his series. This could even work into the theoretical story mode, with the story being about a Big Bad Ensemble of all of the villains, with them ultimately facing off against their counterparts (Mario vs. Bowser, Donkey Kong vs. King K. Rool, Link vs. Ganondorf, Samus vs. Ridley, Kirby vs. King Dedede, Fox vs. Wolf, Pikachu vs. Mewtwo, and now Yoshi vs. Kamek). Either that, or Bowser Jr. will be made into Yoshi's arch-nemesis, since he's essentially an Expy of Baby Bowser.

• Or Baby Bowser will be in as an echo fighter of Bowser Jr, and he will be Yoshi's arch-nemesis.
  • Jossed for both, Kamek is a spirit. The biggest involvement he has is repeating his function of changing the Mushroom Kingdom U environment.

This will be the last Smash game to be made by Sakurai.

It's pretty obvious that Sakurai intends for Ultimate to be his Magnum Opus, so big and packed with content that no one could possibly ask him for anything more... But Melee was also intended to be his last game in the series, and then Sakurai decided to return once he heard that Brawl was going to be made with or without him. Well, a similar thing is going to happen here. Sakurai's going to decide he's done with the series, only to hear that Nintendo plans on making another one, since it's just too big of a Cash-Cow Franchise for them to retire. He'll be offered the directing role again, but this time, Sakurai will finally decide that he's satisfied with his creation, and willingly pass the torch onto someone else.

• Looks to be jossed; Sakurai states he'll keep making more Smash games as long as there's demand for it.

Arle Nadja from Puyo Puyo will feature as at least an Assist Trophy.

Monster Hunter is the third Capcom universe, and Castlevania is the third Konami universe. SEGA and Namco can both get a third (and for Namco a second, presumably Tales and Tekken but that's not the point), and SEGA's third will be Puyo Puyo with Arle as either an Assist Trophy or an outright fighter (the first character to be from a third party company with two fighters). Arle is a pretty big face in Japan and has budding western popularity as well, making perfect sense for the role of Assist. However, playable isn't out of the cards yet either: no unique fighters represent puzzle games first (Dr. Mario is not an Echo but still a Moveset Clone of Mario) and has a massive history in gaming, let alone Konami having three playable fighters.

• Jossed, Arle is neither an assist trophy or spirit
  • DLC is still a possibility, though.

The significance of the purple and yellow chairs

Here's a wild, completely out there theory: the chairs signify that they are chairs. Which you can sit on. And nothing else.

• Confirmed.

The remaining playable characters have mostly been hinted at

My predictions are://Because of how many hints they dropped and the set up of Smashdown, meaning that there will be 3, 7, 11, or 15, more characters before it starts getting crazy. There will be 11 more characters:

Unique: Issac, Shantae, Skull Kid, Gardevoir, Geno, and Incineroar//Echoes: Dixie (Diddy), Shadow (Sonic), Isabelle (Villager), Impa (Shiek), and Gothitelle (Gardevoir)

• Gothitelle is debunked. More details here.
• Isabelle confirmed!
  • All jossed except for Isabelle and Incineroar. Isaac and Shadow are still Assist Trophies.

Sakurai hasn't been adding characters JUST because they're popular, but using popular characters to fill common complaints about the roster from the past (more villains, more heavyweights, more representation for underdeveloped franchises, less sword fighters (we have only had one revealed at this point, and there will only be one unique one)). Completing all the Pokémon generations would fall into this and would only be possible through 1 moveset with these 2 Pokémon. Popularity has only gotten characters assist trophies like Shovel Knight, Ashley, Zero, Lyn, Bomberman, and Waluigi.

This is also why I'm 90% positive Shantae will be playable, as not only does she represent over 10 years of indie gaming rather than Shovel Knight's one, she serves as a western fighter, is by far the most requested 3rd party female character from any region (more of which being something else people complain about), and all but 1 of her appearances start as Nintendo exclusives.

• Shantae does show up as a Spirit, but that alone doesn't deconfirm her, as proven by Min Min. DLC is still a possibility.

The real reason Waluigi hasn't been seen since the E3 presentation...

Sure, it's POSSIBLE that Sakurai is pulling a fast one and he's actually going to be playable, but there's a much simpler answer as well. More assist trophies are being added to Ultimate that defy the whole "one-trick pony" shtick they had in Brawl, such as Knuckles, Alucard, and Shovel Knight. In addition, even some returning assists have gotten revamps, like Gray Fox receiving a built-in reflector.

It may be that Waluigi is simply getting an upgrade and isn't quite finished yet. Given that he was one of the less threatening, easy-to-avoid assists in Smash 4, it would make sense. Notice that he didn't even get a chance to attack in the E3 Direct before he got KO'd — was it just to insult his fans, or did it have a more practical purpose?

• Or it is mostly likely to showcase that KOing Assist Trophies racks up a player's score during a match, and Waluigi just happens to be the butt of the joke.

If Shadow makes it into the game in any form, his reveal trailer song will be one of these three picks.

1. I Am... All of Me from Shadow the Hedgehog

2. For True Story from Sonic Adventure 2

3. All Hail Shadow also from Shadow the Hedgehog

• Jossed. None of these are in the game's Sonicplaylist, either.

The Dracula's Castle stage either shifts as you play or has a different layout each time you play on it.

After all, the castle itself is the Trope Namer for Chaos Architecture.

• Jossed.

Hades is going to be the Big Bad of Spirits.

From what we've seen as well as speculation, this new mode is most likely an Adventure Mode with a story that focuses on the IPs of Nintendo and otherwise rather than original characters and locations. The Mode will focus on the villains overpowering the heroes and taking their spirits. Hades is going to be behind everything given that he is essentially, one of Nintendo's versions of the devil. He's stealing their spirits and trying to take over the world.

• If this was the case, he'd have to end up being a twist villain, and to an extent. Galeem is already established as the Big Bad, described as the "ultimate enemy" in the "World of Light" adventure mode.
  • Jossed. But there is still a twist. It doesn't involve Hades though; he appears only as a Spirit.

The mysterious icon on the dashboard has nothing to do with the green section of the main menu.

Rather, it's the new means to post Miiverse-esque drawings, ala Splatoon 2. Why else would they go through the trouble of pixellation unless the Miiverse stage from for Wii U is returning?

• Jossed: It is the Spirits Collection for the Spirits Mode.

All of the original twelve will have a either a rival or an arch-nemesis.

Some of the fighters already have one or the other so the rest of the twelve will get one or the other. Mario has Bowser, Donkey Kong and Wario as his enemies. Donkey Kong has his arch-nemesis King K. Rool. Link has his arch-nemesis Ganondorf. Samus has Ridley and Dark Samus as her enemies. Kirby has King Dedede and Meta Knight as his rivals. Fox has Wolf as his rival. Pikachu and Jigglypuff have Mewtwo as their enemy. So Yoshi will either get his arch-nemesis Kamek or Baby Bowser who will be an echo fighter of Bowser Jr. Luigi will have his arch-nemesis King Boo who will glide but not fly to make it fair. Ness will have his arch-nemesis Porky as either a echo fighter of Ness or of Lucas. Captain Falcon will have his rival Blood Falcon as an echo character.

• Jossed

If Heihachi is revealed...

... his reveal trailer will be dedicated to his late voice actor, Unshō Ishizuka.

• Zigzagged. While he didn't, Sakurai made a dedicated tweet to Ishizuka... regarding the ACTUAL fighter he voiced before death, Incineroar. He showed up as a Sprite for one of Pac-Man's gimmicks, however. And his Mii Fighter costume from 4 returned when Min Min was released.

Alternatively in order to keep Mr. Sakurai a Man of Respect

Maybe Jin Kazama would show up (probably as a DLC Fighter) in place of Heihachi.

Dracula will hypnotize the princesses to fight for him.

Princess Peach, Daisy, and Zelda will be forced to fight Mario, Luigi, and Link, respectively. Or really, just anyone.

• Peach, Daisy, and Zelda can fight Mario, Luigi, and Link, but it has nothing to do with Dracula.

The Palutena's Guidance for Chrom will have him take jabs at Viridi.

She mocked him in Smash 4 for not being playable, so he'll most likely return the favor (assuming she stays disconfirmed as playable). Bonus points if he specifically says that a playable Viridi would be pointless because she'd just be a carbon copy of Palutena without one of her specials.

• Jossed. The only characters who speak in the guidences are Pit, Viridi, Palutaina, Dark Pit... and Alucard. The Guidance on Robin was re-recorded.

The final character introduced will be the fighter from Dragon King: The Fighting Game.

One of these guys◊. It would be pretty awesome to see the final fighter being someone with whom this whole series began. Also, he would probably be named Dragon King now and keep the low polygon model.

Reveal trailers

Let's see how creative we can be in playing out future reveal trailers in our heads. NOTE: This will only apply to potential newcomers, as echo fighters haven't received reveal trailers. Though these echo fighters could be given potential new attacks to differentiate them from their copies, similar to what they did with Isabelle.

• Captain Toad Treasures a Good Fight!
  • While the good captain fights his adversary at New Donk City Hall, Master Hand and Crazy Hand are using a giant music stand that's even bigger than they are to conduct Mayor Pauline and her band, as they sing for Captain Toad and cheer him on. The adversary in question is Wario, as a Call-Back to their rivalry in Wario's Woods. Bonus points if Toadette's arrival prompts a key change.

• Bandanna Waddle Dee Sticks To his Guns!
  • King Dedede is doing battle with Dracula's monsters, but the fight with them was a losing battle. Then, when all hope seems lost, Bandanna Waddle Dee leaps into the picture to save his king and help him fight the monsters off.

• Kamek Works his Magic!
  • In a Call-Back to the final battle of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Bowser Jr.'s defeat will prompt Kamek to swoop in and assist the young Koopa prince in battle. Bonus points if that game's speech pattern via chalkboard will make an appearance in the trailer too.

• Waluigi Changes His Fate!
  • Wario is seen fighting Bowser on a stage of some sorts, and Wario gets his hands on an Assist Trophy. He lifts it up as the trophy's casing shatters, only to have absolutely nothing come out. Wario panics for a bit while Bowser just laughs at him, before they both see someone crash into the stage laughing maniacally. "Thought you were looking for assistance? Too bad! Waluigi time!"

• Skull Kid Unleashes a Terrible Fate!
  • In a classic scene of the Night of the Final Day, we see Young Link rushing to the Clock Tower to stop the moon from falling and destroying Termina. When he finally arrives however, there's no one else there until Skull Kid strikes him from behind and prepares to finish the job before being stopped by the other Links who get their younger self back on his feet, giving him the Fierce Deity mask (which is also Young Link's new Final Smash) and ready for a final battle.

• Geno Hits the Road!
  • Peach and Bowser are backed into a corner by Culex (an optional boss from Super Mario RPG) and they don't have Mario to help them out since Ridley already killed him. Culex prepares to strike down Peach before Bowser of all characters takes the bullet, leaving the princess both surprised and saddened over the Koopa king's Heroic Sacrifice. As Culex decides to shrug this off and return to taking out Peach, Geno pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment and enlists his aid.

• Garland Will Knock You All Down! & The Dragon Warrior Draws Near!
  • In the Dragonlord's castle, Cloud, Zelda, Ryu, and Robin (standing in for the Fighter, White Mage, Black Belt, and Black Mage) are all shown fighting an offscreen opponent, who blows everyone but Cloud away with a single attack. The opponent is then revealed to be Garland, who declares that he will "knock them all down". Cloud prepares to counterattack but is struck away as well, and Garland prepares to finish them all off. Before he can though, his attack is intercepted and countered by the Dragon Warrior in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • You got Hero's tagline right. Except he comes to help Link, not Cloud.

• Reggie's Body is Ready!

• Dixie Kong Swings Into Action!
  • Continuing where K. Rool's reveal trailer left off, DK and Diddy's fight with him is a losing battle. Then Dixie Kong joins the battle and helps fight K. Rool off. Bonus points if she delivers the finishing blow.

• Sora Sheds Some Light!
  • Link is fighting against mysterious creatures covered in shadows (later revealed to be Shadow Heartless) on a beach or riverbed. (location from Breath of the Wild meant to evoke Destiny Islands) After struggling for a bit, he blasts them away with an Ancient Arrow, only for a blood moon to appear and bring them back. As Link slumps his shoulders in annoyance, a massive black figure slowly rises up behind him. He turns around, and the figure is revealed to be Darkside. Link braces himself, but Darkside delivers a Megaton Punch that sends Link flying into a cliff wall, knocking him unconscious. Darkside then attempts to extract Link's heart, but Sora pulls a Big Damn Heroes and stops him. However, you can still see Link's heart floating away if you look closely, and after Sora's gameplay and the logo is shown, Sora is suddenly attacked by a Heartless version of Link.

• Elma Takes Command!
  • A little while after the World of Light intro, we see Elma looking over a cliff towards Galeem with the Verus Cain on standby next to her. After narrating a quick recap of what happened and sadly noting that she doesn't know if anyone else survived, she takes off in the Verus on an apparent Suicide Mission to take Galeem on by herself. Naturally, she gets shot down, but ejects just before the Verus is obliterated by Galeem's lasers. Landing in a nearby ravine, Elma is suddenly confronted by Spirit-possessed versions of Shulk, Pit, and Bayonetta as "Black Tar" kicks in. A stray Galeem laser suddenly flies overhead, and seemingly bears straight down on Elma... only for her to evade it using Ghostwalker. Elma then draws her guns on the shadows and opens fire.

• Itsuki takes the stage!
  • Lucina is in a fight against Ridley and Bowser, and getting overwhelmed. Cue the arrival of... an Ordinary High-School Student carrying a mike stand. Everyone, including Lucina, is confused. Then Mirage Chrom appears behind him, gives Lucina a reassuring nod, and Itsuki goes into Carnage form. He gives a cry into the microphone and releases a blast of electricity, like his Backing Vocals Ad Lib.
• 'Carl shoots the Arena with Power!!! (albeit potentially appearing as a DLC Fighter, although all of GTA's Nintendo releases so far are on Handhelds)
  • Just like for Michael's trailer to promote Grand Theft Auto V, a Queen song (We Will Rock You) would be used (albeit in the beginning) when he is saying some dialogues being prepared first and then shows up in a City-based stage (since you can't have a Grand Theft Auto game without a City setting). Later on (using some licensed Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk Rock and Glam Metal songs (especially with Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name and Europe's The Final Countdown) for much of his trailer showing his Badass Boast moments of the trailer). His final parts of the trailer takes place within Final Destination where he defeats Galeem with a Rocket Launcher. He says one of his victory lines with one mild Precision F-Strike. ("I had one hell of a good match to save San Andreas.")

• Agumon shows his brave heart!
  • Red is wandering through a forest and is suddenly attacked by what he thinks is a giant Bug Pokemon he doesn't recognize. As he summons his party to fight it off, he tries scanning it but his Pokedex also fails to recognize the monster. The giant bug continues to manhandle Red's party when it gets broadsided by a fireball. Cue "Brave Heart" from Digimon Adventure as Agumon jumps onscreen, telling the Trainer that he's actually fighting a Kuwagamon. He then launches another "Pepper Breath!" at Kuwagamon, which gives Red's part an opening to help defeat the giant beetle Digimon. Realizing the situation, Red smiles and says he's been looking forward to fighting Agumon for a while now, only for Agumon to agree with him.

• The reveal trailer for Joker from Persona 5 throws this one in a loop, since he had a trailer that was completely different (no Smash characters).

The reason Echo Fighters were introduced is because the game will have one for EVERY main fighter.

EVERY character will have an echo fighter! And HERE are my predictions for EVERYONE. And since Custom moves haven't been mentioned to be returning, some echoes will have former custom moves!

This probably will not come to pass, but it's fun to pretend...

Extremely long list hidden behind folder

• 'Orig.' -> 'Echo' (possible mechanical differences in parenthesis, when I can think of them)
• Mario -> Nabbit (Stronger attacks, but no projectile moves, just swinging loot bag around instead)
• DK -> Funky Kong (better air game in general)
• Link -> Urbosa (faster, weaker, maybe some custom moves from SSB 4 moved over.)
• Samus -> Dark Samus
  • Confirmed!
• Yoshi -> Poochy
• Kirby -> Bandana Waddle Dee (Better stat-wise in every way than Kirby, but no inhale/power copy)
• Fox -> Peppy (slower, stronger, jumping animation involves performing a barrel roll, as does final smash)
• Pikachu -> Raichu (slower, stronger)
• Luigi -> Mr. L (faster, smoother, less awkward moves. Maybe former Custom moves.)
• Ness -> Ninten (move physics altered)
• Captain Falcon -> Dr. Stewart (even FASTER than Falcon, but considerably weaker, and his... let's say "Doctor Punch"... is still unwieldy and not even strong)
• Jigglypuff -> Igglybuff (faster, less powerful, but Sleep lasts less long and is less crippling if you screw up)

• Peach -> Daisy
  • Confirmed!
• Bowser -> Bowletta (Former custom moves: Fire Shot, Dash Slash, Sliding Fortress, Slip Bomb)
• Ice Climbers -> Balloon Fighters (weaker and slower, but with Pit- or Kirby-like multijumping)
• Sheik -> Impa (slower/stronger, has former custom moves: Penetrating Needles, Gravity Grenade, Abyss, Jellyfish)
• Zelda -> Mipha (water-element moves instead of FW and DF, healing instead of NL. Also, longer reach due to trident)
• Dr. Mario -> Waluigi (throws tennis balls instead of fireballs or megavitamins, tennis racket instead of doctor sheet, discarded moves from Mario, Luigi, Dr, and Wario)
• Pichu -> Clefairy (Slower than Pichu, abilities don't self-harm, but extremely strong shield)
• Falco -> Slippy (Former Custom Moves: Explosive Blaster, Falco Phase, Distant Firebird, Accelle-Reflector)
• Marth -> Lucina
  • Confirmed!
• Young Link -> Revali ("Bow" fires three arrows, "Boomerang" fires one shock arrow, "Spin Attack" launches two ice arrows at either side of him, "Bomb" fires a bomb arrow)
• Ganondorf -> Daruk (Former Custom Moves: Warlock Blade, Flame Chain, Dark Fists, Wizard's Assault)
• Mewtwo -> Deoxys
• Roy -> Chrom
  • Confirmed!
• Game & Watch -> Gallery Game & Watch? (uses sprites from the Gameboy game & watch collections)
• Meta Knight -> Marx
• Pit -> Dark Pit
  • Confirmed!
• Zero Suit Samus -> Space Pirate
• Wario -> Rudy The Clown
• Snake -> Venom Snake
• Ike -> Zelgius
• Pokemon Trainer -> Newer Pokemon Trainer with Latest Starters
• Diddy -> Dixie Kong
• Lucas -> Mike Jones
• Sonic -> Shadow
• Dedede -> Adeleine (lighter, faster, smaller, but shorter range, weaker)
• Olimar -> Brittany
• Lucario -> Riolu
• ROB -> Professor Hector
• Toon Link -> Tetra
• Wolf -> Pigma
• Villager -> K.K. Slider
• Mega Man -> Proto Man (Weaker, lighter, but faster, stronger shield. Former Customs: Hyper Bomb, Ice Slasher, Tornado Hold, Plant Barrier)
• Wii Fit Trainer -> Balance Board
• Rosalina -> Count Bleck & Tippi
• Little Mac -> King Hippo (Slower, but stronger, ridiculously resistant to knockback, Bowser-like heavy-weight)
• Grninja -> Blacephalon
• Palutena -> Viridi
• Pac-Man -> Ms Pac-Man
• Robin -> Morgan
• Shulk -> Rex
• Bowser Jr. -> Broodals (ride in a miniature version of their mecha from the game)
• Duck Hunt -> Mole Patrol
• Ryu -> Ken (obvious changes to Hadouken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku)
  • Confirmed!
• Cloud -> Noctis
• Corrin -> Medeus
• Bayo -> Jeanne
• Inkling -> Octoling
• Ridley -> Meta-Ridley (THAT'S why there's no alt costume options in the demo builds!!)
• Simon -> Richter
  • Confirmed!
• K. Rool -> Lanky Kong
• Mii Fighters -> Uhh... okay, maybe they don't get an echo, but... y'know... if stat modification returns, it wouldn't be hard to make one's own echo fighters. Perhaps alterations could be made to the way a mii fighter is choosen from a list to accomodate such a thing.

• With the exception of Ken being Ryu's echo being correct and other confirmed echo fighters for their respective characters, the rest are jossed for now.

There will be an equal amount of newcomers and Echo Fighters

The E3 2018 Direct revealed one newcomer, revealed gameplay for the Inkling, and one Echo Fighter. The 8/8/18 Direct revealed two newcomers and three Echo Fighters (the third one making up for the lack of an Echo Fighter reveal when revealing the inclusion of Inkling). So far, that amounts to four newcomers and four Echo Fighters. Future Directs will keep the ratio the same, revealing one Echo Fighter for every one newcomer.

• Jossed. There are 6 new fighters, and 5 new Echo Fighters.

Mother Brain will be a boss in the new mode

We already know of one Assist Trophy that will double as a boss (Rathalos), so it's not out of the question that Mother Brain could be another example. The Mother Brain boss fight could have two forms (like Dracula), with the first being the brain in a jar (i.e. the Assist Trophy) and the second being her One-Winged Angel form from Super Metroid.

• Jossed.

The "mistake" made with "Bloody Tears/Monster Dance" was actually deliberate.

Those who paid attention to the official Super Smash Bros. YouTube account noticed on August 7th, 2018 that the Galaga medley was briefly renamed "Bloody Tears/Monster Dance" before being quickly corrected. Most people assumed that this was a mistake as Nintendo was preparing to add the Castlevania content to the channel. However, it's possible that the brief change was actually done deliberately in order to hype fans up for the Nintendo Direct the next day that would reveal the much anticipated and expected Simon as a playable character. Plus, it may have been a bit of obfuscation from the fact that the Direct would also reveal new fighters (Richter and King K. Rool) that people didn't expect to make it into Ultimate.

The final total character count will be 80.

Meaning that, if this theory is true, there will be one more direct containing three more characters and four more Echo Fighters; thus the result would be seventy regular characters, and ten Echoes.

• Jossed. The final count is sixty-nine regular fighters (counting each of Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon) and seven Echoes, for a total of seventy-eight fighters (again, counting each of Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon.)
  • Double-Jossed: While the roster within the game at launch will not include 80 characters, with Pirahna Plant and the five characters in the Fighter Pass the final roster will reach eighty.
    • Triple-Jossed: by the game's character numbering system (which counts separately each of Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon in lieu of the Trainers themselves, one number for each Mii Fighter type, and numbering Echo Fighters with the same number as their counterpart with an ᵋ sign added) the final DLC character number will be 81. Separating the Echo Fighters, it goes up to 88.

If the "Spirits" mode happens to be a new Adventure Mode, The Hero will ultimately be...

Bowser. Since King Dedede, resident Anti-Villain from Kirby, was the hero of the Subspace Emissary, it would be a surprise to see everyone's favorite Koopa King of all fighters, to somehow be the big centerpiece of the story, giving him the same spotlight as he had back in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

• Apparently jossed — it's Kirby.

We're getting both Skull Kid and Tingle as playable characters.

While Sakurai did once say he doesn't plan to add Tingle as playable because America hates him, anything can change with Sakurai. We have neither seen Tingle nor Skull Kid's assist trophy, so both have a good chance right now. Tingle is incredibly popular in Japan while Skull Kid is incredibly popular in the west. Having both will appease both audiences.

Also, both characters will be revealed in the same trailer and have a fakeout like with K Rool. Everything builds up to Skull Kid being revealed but then it's Tingle, though, unlike Dedede, Tingle will have a splash card for Tingle. Then, just when everyone thinks the trailer is over, Skull Kid appears and kills Tingle.

• Jossed for Skull Kid, who returns as an assist.

Both the 3DS game's Smash Run and the Wii U game's Smash Tour will return as part of Ultimate's "Games & More" features.

• Jossed.

My Music will either not be usable or will be limited for New Donk City Hall

Just like Hanenbow, New Donk City Hall seems to be a music-based stage. However, the main gimmick probably wouldn't work for most other songs.

Perhaps, just like Hanenbow in Brawl and presumably this game, the stage will not allow selectable music like most stages.

Alternatively, My Music will be allowed, but will be limited to Jump Up Superstar, Break Free, and their Japanese versions.

• Jossed. Normal stage music mechanics for NDCH, as well as all other stages. And as of Update 8.0, you can play any song on the Battlefields and Final Destination, regardless of origin series.

The DLC characters will include Assist Trophies that have been Promoted to Playable

Bonus points if they're highly requested characters like Waluigi, Ashley, and Isaac.

• The first two were already shown as Assist Trophies, Assist Trophy behavior included.
  • This guess includes characters that have already been confirmed to be Assist Trophies at launch, like the first two, hence why they're DLC.
• Don't think this is the case: Reggie specifically stated that the DLC fighters are characters never featured in a Smash game before. Waluigi, Ashley, and Isaac HAVE been in a Smash game, which could potentially spell trouble for them being DLC content.
  • And Isaac returned as an Assist Trophy too.

The final pre-release direct will be at the last possible moment before December 7th.

To be specific, 21:30 JST, so that if you watch it in Tonga (the closest country to the International Date Line) somehow, it'll be the 7th by the time the direct ends.

• Jossed. The last pre-release direct's date is November 1st, 2018, at 07:00 PDT.

Ganondorf has accidentally created a paradox.

Chronologically, Ultimate is his FIRST Smash Tournament. Every game before that, starting with Melee, is his future self. (Whether you interpret Melee Ganondorf as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Ganondorf is up to you. Preferably the latter, though, to screw with people.) Come Brawl, he already knew who would be best to target for Tabuu because he'd heard the Smashers discussing the Subspace Emissary in the future! (He didn't hear a lot, which is why Tabuu managed to defeat him, but the point still stands.)

There will be no Snake Codec Calls this time around.

David Hayter confirmed at the Boston Fan Expo in 2018 that he wasn't asked to voice any new or returning Codec Calls. This most likely means we're not getting new Codecs and possibly due to the complication of Colonel's Japanese voice actor dying and Kojima retiring the character.

• Alternatively: they simply have not started recording them and, as a WMG above says, Colonel will be replaced with Kazuhari Miller.
  • There's no new ones, although he does reuse the existing ones from Brawl.

Yo Kai Watch will receive representation

It's not the first time that a franchise that isn't very popular outside of Japan gets into Smash.

• Jossed.

Ridley Came Back Wrong.

His smaller size and decayed appearance can easily be explained by the Space Pirate science team bringing him back to life — again — but bungling the process, as they are wont to do. It probably doesn't help that he's left very little genetic material to work with after his many deaths. It likely took an ungodly amount of time just scooping up enough microbes to make a clone of him. Of course, he's still capable of shredding his victims and relishing in their pain, so it's not all bad... for him.

The total amount of fighters (both newcomers and Echo Fighters) will be 83

As noted on the Fridge page for Ultimate, Inkling is the 64th newcomer, with 64 being one of the most significant numbers in Nintendo's history. By release, the roster will have enough characters to amount to 83, another significant number in Nintendo's history, because it was in 1983 that Nintendo released one of the most important video game consoles of both Nintendo's history and the history of gaming overall.

And as for the potential spots remaining, here are the general consensus options since Isabelle from Animal Crossing is confirmed to be a unique fighter.

• Jossed — the total is 76 (counting Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard). With DLC, it'll go up to 88.

Unique Fighters

• Incineroar
• Isaac
• Bandanna Dee
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Geno
• Karate Joe
• Skull Kid
  • Incineroar: confirmed. Everyone else: jossed.
  • Post-launch: Banjo & Kazooie confirmed. The rest remain Jossed.

Echo Fighters

• Shadow the Hedgehog
  • Jossed.

• Ken Masters
  • Confirmed.

If a Monster Hunter character joins the roster, it will be a Felyne.

Felynes as a whole are already quite used to the sort of slapstick seen in the Smash series, surprisingly competent battlers and cute as buttons too, so it'd make sense if one of these cats made it in. Alternate costumes could easily be various fur patterns, as well as some of the nicer types of weapons and gear they've worn across the franchise.

Pokemon will get three new playable characters. Either as newcomers or DLC.

They will be characters from the three generations that haven't got fighters already. So there will be one from generation three (for example Gardevoir), one from generation five (for example Zoroark), and one from generation seven (for example Midnight Lycanroc).

• Gen 7 got Incineroar as it's representative, but unless they turn up as DLC, gens 3 and 5 still don't have representatives.

Almost all the characters will have at least one or two alternate costumes

Either revealed before launch, or as DLC. They would be reserved primarily for references to the characters' appearances in other games, or for different characters who would share gameplay and animations to the point that being an Echo Fighter would be unnecessary.

• Donkey Kong — Boxing gloves and a white leotard with a J
  • Jossed, although DK Jr. does appear as a Spirit
• Samus — Fusion suit
  • Jossed, although it's still one of her color schemes
• Dark Samus — Prime 2: Echoes appearance
  • Jossed
• Kirby — Chef Kirby cook hat
  • Jossed
• Fox — Star Fox: Assault appearance, James McCloud
  • Jossed, although the latter (the Star Fox one) does appear as a Spirit
• Luigi — Mr. L
  • Jossed, although he does appear as a Spirit
• Ness — Ninten
  • Jossed
• Captain Falcon — Any F-Zero character with Falcon's general body shape
  • Jossed, unless you count Blood Falcon
• Jigglypuff — Elaine's hat
  • Jossed
• Peach — Mario Kart biker suit
  • Jossed
• Daisy — Mario Kart biker suit
  • Jossed
• Bowser — Dry Bowser
  • Jossed
• Ice Climbers — Polar bear and Yeti costumes
  • Jossed
• Sheik — Hyrule Warriors appearance
  • Jossed
• Zelda — Twilight Princess appearance, Hyrule Warriors appearance
  • Jossed
• Dr. Mario — Dr. Luigi
  • Jossed
• Pichu — Combination of the Pichu Brothers and Spiky-eared Pichu
  • Semi-confirmed; Spiky-eared Pichu is an alternate costume.
• Falco — Star Fox: Assault appearance
  • Jossed
• Marth — Shadow Dragon Famicom artwork◊
  • Confirmed, his 8th skin's color scheme
• Young Link — Fierce Deity
  • Jossed
• Ganondorf — Twilight Princess appearance, Hyrule Warriors appearance
  • Confirmed, his 8th skin's color scheme is based on Twilight Princess
• Mewtwo — Shadow Mewtwo aura
  • Jossed
• Roy — Binding Blade appearance
  • Confirmed, also his main color scheme
• Mr. Game & Watch — Labo cardboard
  • Jossed
• Meta Knight — Samurai Kirby costume
  • Jossed
• Pit — Of Myths and Monsters appearance
  • Jossed
• Snake — Old Snake
  • Jossed
• Diddy Kong — Mario Strikers Charged appearance
  • Jossed
• Lucas — Pajamas
  • Jossed
• Sonic — Sonic Riders appearance
  • Semi-jossed: The cuffs on his fourth alt resemble the Ark of the Cosmos
• King Dedede — Samurai Kirby costume
  • Jossed
• Olimar — Louie
  • Jossed; there is an alternate costume, but it's Alph.
• Lucario — Mega Lucario
  • Jossed
• R.O.B. — Ancient Minister
  • Jossed
• Toon Link — Breath of the Wild-inspired costume
  • Jossed
• Wolf — Brawl appearance
  • Jossed
• Mega Man — Proto Man (Mega Man appears in his original place when performing his Final Smash)
  • Jossed
• Rosalina — Mario Kart biker costume
  • Jossed
• Greninja — Ash-Greninja
  • Jossed as a costume, confirmed as a Final Smash.
• Palutena — Kid Icarus NES artwork◊
  • Jossed, however, there is an alt resembling her appearance from the instruction booklet
• Pac-Man — Ms. Pac-Man
  • Jossed
• Ryu — Evil Ryu
  • Jossed
• Simon Belmont — Trevor Belmont (specifically his appearance in the Netflix animated adaptation), John Morris
  • Jossed, although Trevor is represented by Simon as a Spirit
• King K. Rool — Kaptain K. Rool
  • Jossed
• Link — Adult Link from Smash 64 and Melee, Twilight Link from Brawl and Smash 4, as DLC.
  • Adult Link has an alternate costume, but it's one of his in-game costume sets from Breath of the Wild.

Non-Smash amiibo of characters not in the roster will be compatible

While it won't be as significant as a Smash amiibo, scanning them will do things such as give you extra currency or unlock collectible trophies and music tracks (i.e. scanning a K.K. Slider amiibo will unlock either his collectible trophy, the "Go K.K. Rider!" music track, or both).

• Confirmed. Scanning certain "non-Smash" amiibo will yield you their Spirit to used in the Spirit Board or World of Light instead.

Masterpieces predictions

• Mario Bros. (NES)
• Metroid (NES)
• Castlevania (NES)
• Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
• Street Fighter II (SNES)
• Star Fox (SNES)
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
• Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)
• F-Zero X (N64)
• Super Smash Bros. 64 (N64)
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
  • Jossed. There are no Masterpieces.

The censored green mode is actually a full remake/expansion of The Subspace Emissary

• The basic story itself (Tabuu trying to plunge the world into subspace) will generally remain the same.
• The newcomers from Smash 4 and Ultimate will be incorporated, with some scenes and stages reworked to fit them in (Example: The Midair Stadium will now be a 4-way fight between Mario, Kirby, Little Mac, and Inkling).
• Some additional scenes will be added, whether to fix up plot holes in the original (such as why Wario is working with the Subspace Army, or how King Dedede knew about the Subspace Army's plans), or to also add in the newcomers (the Subspace Army invade and terrorize Smashville, prompting the Villager and Isabelle to fight back).
• There will be voice acting, though only for characters who normally speak in their home series. Certain characters like Mario, Kirby, and Link will remain Heroic Mimes.
• Stage bosses in Smash 4 (Yellow Devil, Metal Face, and Dark Emperor) and Ultimate (Dracula and Rathalos) will also be present along with the other bosses (Petey Piranha, Rayquaza, Galleom, Duon, etc.)
• Along with Original Generation and Super Mario Bros. enemies, there will also be enemies from other series such as Octoroks, Poppy Bros., Kremlings, Mechon, Angels, and Mummies, among many others.
• Co-op play will be bumped from two players up to four.
• As with the original, this mode will serve as a way to unlock characters.
  • Semi-jossed: The green menu-part is a completely different mode named World of Light.

The following Music Pieces will be renamed

The game seems to be renaming some music pieces to be more accurate, possibly due to how they are not linked to stages. An example is Venom being renamed Star Fox 64 Main Theme. Here are more potential music pieces receiving renames (some will be explained if they're not as obvious). Music pieces already confirmed to be renamed or renamed in Wii U / 3DS will be excluded:

• Peach's Castle
  • Ground Theme — Super Mario Bros. (64)
• Hyrule Castle
  • Overworld Theme — The Legend of Zelda (64)
• Planet Zebes
  • Brinstar (64)
• Dream Land
  • Gourmet Race (64)
• Saffron City
  • Main Theme — Pokémon Red & Blue (64)
• Peach's Castle — Ground Theme / Underground Theme
  • Ground Theme — Super Mario Bros. (Melee)
• Rainbow Cruise — Slide / Underwater Theme
  • Slide (Melee)
• Jungle Japes
  • Jungle Level (Melee)
• Brinstar — Metroid Medley (while it starts off with Brinstar's theme, it's more of a medley)
  • Brinstar (Melee)
• Yoshi's Island (Melee)
  • Athletic Theme — Super Mario World
• Fountain of Dreams
  • Gourmet Race (Melee)
• Poké Floats — Battle Medley
  • Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue Medley
• Onett — EarthBound Beginnings Medley
  • Bein' Friends

The first DLC character will be revealed at the Game Awards 2018

The event is set to take place literally the day before the release of Ultimate, and it isn't like Nintendo has not had any presence at the Game Awards before.

• Josse d— it was confirmed in the final Ultimate direct.
  • Well, technically, it's more of a bonus DLC than a proper one. Meaning that the first proper one can still get at least a peak in the Game Awards.
    • If you meant paid DLC, then confirmed.

The infamous two track listing for Final Fantasy VII music is a diversion to hide another FF newcomer not from VII.

Literally every other icon that the cursor passed over showed the header "<Game Title> Series", until it crossed over the FF logo and it just read "FINAL FANTASY VII". Sakurai said that any music which only comes from one game is put into the "Other" category, with even Ice Climber and Duck Hunt music being relegated to that folder. When the next FF series character is announced^note my money is on Terra, personally, since she and Bartz were the original intention, the sound test screen will be edited so the franchise will have a new "Final Fantasy Series" header.

• Jossed — the second Final Fantasy rep to come, Sephiroth as part of the second Fighters Pass, also hails from VII.

There will be Final Fantasy representation from every mainline game (and a few spin-offs for good measure) besides VII

• One additional unique newcomer from one of the more well-regarded games besides VII (most likely the earlier ones on Nintendo systems)
  • Garland
  • Cecil
  • Bartz
  • Terra
• One Echo Fighter from those same games
  • Squall as a Cloud echo
  • Celes as a Terra echo
• Two or three Assist Trophies, consisting of secondary characters, main characters from the less popular but still liked mainline games, or spin-off games
  • Black Mage
  • Edgar
  • Ramza
  • Ashley
  • Tifa
  • Zidane
  • Noctis
• A boss character or two, from popular main antagonists to recurring enemies/monsters
  • Chaos
  • Cloud of Darkness
  • Gilgamesh
  • Kefka
  • Sephiroth
• At least one music track and collectible trophy for each game
  • Pretty much jossed (although DLC is still a possibility in addition to having Cody Christian reprising as Cloud in the future for an update or so)... one spirit and two music tracks.
    • With Sephiroth being added as DLC, it's possible that we might be seeing more spirits and music tracks.
    • And we did! 13 spirits and 9 tracks, to be exact.

Ash Ketchum will appear in some form

With Ash-Greninja appearing as a final smash, it's caused this troper to believe the other half of the anime's star duo will appear in some form. The female Pokémon Trainer's voice clips also sound a bit similar to Veronica Taylor, increasing belief. Possibilities:

• For Greninja's Final Smash, Ash will briefly appear similar to the EarthBound characters during Ness and Lucas' Final Smashes.
• A costume or (more unlikely) Echo for Pokémon Trainer. Veronica Taylor could reprise the role of Ash, similar to the case for Lucario in the last game.

If Advent Children Cloud can be in the game, I don't see why Red's anime universe counterpart can't be in either.

Isaac was originally supposed to be revealed in the September Nintendo Direct alongside Isabelle.

However, due to the then-recent earthquake in Japan, Nintendo deemed it inappropriate to reveal a new fighter with earthquake powers at that time.

• Jossed; he's an Assist Trophy, using the same action from Brawl.

Giygas will appear as a stage hazard.

Thus showing his nightmarish form now rendered in HD glory.

• Jossed.

Alternatively, Giygas could appear as an Assist Trophy.

The game is already capable of temporary replacing the stage background for Final Smashes and the Boss Galaga item, so there's no reason that Giygas can't appear as an Assist Trophy as well. Bonus points if a "You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!" text box pops up as well.

• Jossed.

There will be an option to toggle between different sets of voice clips, like Melee.

In Melee, one could switch the language from English to Japanese. This could repeat in Ultimate, where one can toggle between English and Japanese voices, as well as other miscellaneous settings (Bowser, King Dedede, the Kongs and K. Rool can be toggled between their realistic voices and their canonical voices, veterans can use their voice clips from previous games, etc.).

• Confirmed. But those characters' voices don't change, regardles of language.

The final pre release direct will show off ALL of the remaining newcomers

Then after the last reveal trailer, it'll be announced that there will be a global testfire-type demo for the game.

• Confirmed for the first part, Jossed for the testfire

Shulk saved Kirby

Shulk used Monado Speed after getting the vision, and that's why Kirby outsped the beams, we see the Monado glow the color of Speed so it couldn't be Shield unless it was offscreen and Shulk didn't get hit immediately.

Ultra Necrozma will be a boss in the Adventure Mode

The Adventure Mode seems to be setting up a mysterious malevolent Light-based entity as the main enemy. It thus seems appropriate that, as the heroes near their final confrontation with this new enemy, it brings in the heaviest hitter it can find to try to fend them off: another super-powerful hostile Light-based being, the "Blinding One" that is Ultra-Necrozma.

• Jossed.

Tabuu was the Subspace Emissary for Galeem

An "emissary" is someone who is sent on a special mission. One can logically make the argument that it was R.O.B. who was Tabuu's emissary in the game, but Galeem has the same ability as Tabuu to turn characters into trophies (and then some) and has control over an entire army of Master Hands while Tabuu was puppeteering only one. In other words, Tabuu was only the forward scout for Galeem.

• Look at the cliff the attack takes place on. It's the same cliff that Subspace Emissary ended with. The fighters appeared there after defeating Tabuu and getting rid of the Subspace portals that were taking over the world, including the absolutely huge one where the floating island used to be... which is the portal that was used for the big attack and which was visible from that cliff! If reality is still weak at that spot, then it only makes sense for Galeem to use it as the location for the full attack.
• Maybe, but Galeem doesn't seem to be an extradimensional entity like Tabuu.

Galeem is the true creator of both the Smash Bros universe and the Hands

Master Hand may have performed a Heel–Face Turn while Crazy Hand is a defect.

I believe Galeem's evil plan is to reclaim the universe for himself. He's angry at seeing all these mortals from distinct universes trespassing on his own creation and wants to turn them into his servants as a way of payback. And he's definitely not stopping there, as he's learned about these multiple universes and wishes to conquer them, which would explain the spirits from different franchises.

• Jossed. Galeem was manipulating Master Hand like everyone else, and used him as a template for his army of Master Hands, with Dharkon doing the same for Crazy Hand.

The Ultimate Choice or something similar will be the game's Boss Rush mode.

The Ultimate Choice would be a good template for the Boss Rush mode for this game assuming the Intensity Meter from Smash 4 returns. The Meter was already inspired by the one in Kid Icarus Uprising, so throwing in a few more Call Backs to other HAL games won't look out of place. I'd imagine the player choosing their fighter before deciding the intensity, and fight a set amount of bosses depending on how high the intensity is. Maybe at the highest levels we'll see a Secret Boss or even a True Final Boss.

• Semi-jossed: the intensity meter is used for Classic Mode and it is not a straight up "boss rush", features lineups of bosses and/or characters based on a fighter's history.

There will be a post credits scene when you beat Adventure Mode

It'll feature the boy from the first game all grown up as he passes down his toys to his son.

• Jossed.

Nintendo will bring back the Smash Ballot

It'll be for the final character, just like before.

• Jossed. It's been stated that all DLC had been chosen by Nintendo beforehand.

Galeem is...

Here's a few guesses as to what Galeem could be.

• A resurrected Void Termina at full power (though not resurrected by Hyness). Considering that it looks the part of a Kirby series antagonist and even has some angelic motifs on its outer section that Void Termina's outer shell did, with a glowing core inside of it much like Void Soul. Not to mention, the only survivor of its initial assault was Kirby... perhaps it remembers its prior defeat and wants to break Kirby worse than everyone else?
  • On one hand, Void Termina does not factor into the story at all. On the other, Wave 3 of Star Allies confirmed that Void exists in every dimension and can reincarnate in different forms (though Dharkon probably fits the bill more due to sharing a motif with Void's implied spawn/reincarnations)...
• A more sentient form of Giygas, having gone from being completely mindless to having the mind of a child and now wanting to turn the universe into its own set of toys and play games with them for his own amusement.
• Navi out for revenge. Maybe you'll listen NOW...
  • Also fits in line with turning the other characters into spirit "partners"
• An entirely artificial creature... built/controlled by none other than Doctor Eggman. This one is the least likely scenario (and a stretch even by WMG standards), but considering the increased emphasis on villains in Ultimate, with Mario, Samus, Link, Donkey Kong, the Belmonts, and even Mega Man (through an assist trophy) being able to fight their greatest nemeses, it seems odd that the Blue Blur's equally iconic antagonist was left out... unless, of course, Galeem is actually some sort of machine or Cyborg controlled by the good Doctor. It wouldn't be Eggman's first success with controlling unfathomable horrors, after all.
  • Jossed: The website confirms that Eggman is one of the collectible spirits◊, meaning he was one of the victims of Galeem's attack.
• The Man Behind the Man of Tabuu, which is further aided by Galleom's surprise return. It is possible that after Tabuu and Subspace's end, Galeem decided to lay low and prepare for the ultimate revenge. It took 10 years, but after so long of waiting, Galeem's revenge scheme had been completed. For now.
• A reincarnation of the Dream Stone. Considering that the stone is all but shards, it is possible that an unknown evil (not Antasma, as he is a Spirit) rebuilt the stone and gave it a sentient mind which only knows the desire of one thing: the end of the omniverse.
• Alex from Golden Sun, after getting the rest of the Sun back from Isaac: Why not? The colors are right, the core is a sun, and it attacks with giant lasers.
• Waluigi. He's been banned from the fighting rooster for the last time.
• a completely original character unconnected to any franchises.

Tabuu and Master Core will be bosses in World of Light (Adventure Mode)

What story can be told in said mode may even provide an Arc Welding of sorts to bring the lore of these bosses together.

• Jossed. Both appear as spirits.

Roy will have his current English VA, Ray Chase.

• This one kind of seems like a no brainer, he should be in the same situation as Marth where he's now been featured in games that feature English voice acting (or at least one, Fire Emblem Heroes), but there hasn't been any word yet.
• Confirmed. Roy now uses his English VA in the English versions of the game instead of the Japanese one.

There will be a Stage Builder mode.

• It'll function on a grid just like in Brawl.
  • Jossed.
  • Stage Builder was added back in 3.0, but it functions more like an expansion of Smash 4's, not Brawl's, since the Switch also has touchscreen features.

Fighter Pass Character Predictions

Feel free to post your sets below.

• Squashini Kun's Predictions:
  • Joker (Persona 5)
    • Are you psychic? Because Confirmed!
  • Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven)
  • Outer (Daemon X Machina)
  • Marx (Kirby Super Star)
  • Sora (Kingdom Hearts) CONFIRMED, as the very last DLC character!
• Andy Mouse's Predictions:
  • Shantae (Shantae)
  • Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie) Confirmed!
  • Geno (Super Mario RPG)
  • Rayman (Rayman)
  • Mach Rider (Mach Rider)
• X Vanitas' Predictions:
  • Jack Frost (Shin Megami Tensei)
  • Tails (Sonic The Hedgehog)
  • Edelgard (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) *** Jossed, she's not playable but she's an alternate color for female Byleth.
  • Hades (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
  • Neku (The World Ends with You)
• Luigisan 98's predictions (Should it be the first season):
  • Geno (Super Mario RPG)
  • Banjo & Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie) ***Confirmed!
  • Mach Rider (Mach Rider)
  • Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven)
  • Elma (Xenoblade Chronicles X)
• Superior Kaminari's Predictions:
  • Arle Nadja (Puyo Puyo)
  • Bandana Dee (Kirby)
  • Edelgard (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) ***Jossed, she's not playable but she's an alternate color for female Byleth.
  • Elma (Xenoblade Chronicles X)
  • Impa (The Legendof Zelda)
• MOARPYLONZ's Predictions 1 (Theme: Blast from the Past):
  • Mach Rider (Mach Rider) (Retro + HAL rep)
  • Arle Nadja (Puyo Puyo) (Retro + Sega Rep)
  • Lip (Panel de Pon) (a "Rival" to Arle)
  • Geno (Super Mario RPG) (Retro + Square Enix rep)
  • Bomberman (Bomberman) (Retro + Konami rep)
• MOARPYLONZ's Predictions 2 (Theme: A Day in the Limelight)
  • Waluigi (Mario Tennis)
  • Saki Amamiya (Sin and Punishment)
  • Isaac (Golden Sun)
  • Takamaru (The Mysterious Murasame Castle)
  • Zero (Mega Man X)
• MOARPYLONZ's Predictions 3 (Theme: Mook Promotion)
  • Egg Robo (Sonic 3 & Knuckles)
  • Bandana Dee (Kirby Super Star)
  • Guardian Robot (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)
• Neoamon's Predictions
  • Miles "Tails" Prowler from (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
  • Bandana Waddle Dee from (Kirby Super Star)
  • King Boo from (Luigi's Mansion)
  • Geno from (Super Mario RPG)
  • Randi from (Secret of Mana)
• MOARPYLONZ's Predictions 4 (Theme:
• Eldrake's Predictions
  • Erdrick (Dragon Quest III)
    • Confirmed as one of the four incarnations of Hero.
  • Steve (Minecraft)
    • Confirmed.
  • Karate Joe (Rhythm Heaven)
  • Sylux (Metroid)
  • A Gen 8 Pokémon (Pokémon)
• Gemidori's Predictions
  • Bomberman (Bomberman)
  • Bandanna Waddle Dee (Kirby Super Star)
  • Chibi-Robo (Chibi-Robo!)
  • Mach Rider (Excitebike)
  • Waluigi (Mario Tennis)
• waddledeelover29's predictions
  • Saki Amamiya (Sin and Punishment, mainly due to how strange it is that he's not an assist throphy)
  • Sora (Kingdom Hearts) CONFIRMED!
  • Frisk (Undertale with Chara as a pallete option)
  • Ib (Ib, with Mary as a pallete option)
  • Susie (Kirby: Planet Robobot)
• Vampfish 100's Predictions
  • Necrozma (Pokémon Sun and Moon)
  • Dr Coyle (''Video Game/ARMS)
  • Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby Super Star)
  • Rayman (Rayman Origins)
  • Octoling (Splatoon 2)
• K-Star 700's Predictions
  • Shantae (Shantae)
  • Magnus (Kid Icarus: Uprising)
  • Geno (Super Mario RPG)
  • Rayman (Rayman)
  • Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby Star Allies)
• SCP Ihpkmn's Predictions:
  • Crono (Chrono Trigger)
  • Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia) or Klonoa
  • Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot)
  • Spyro (Spyro the Dragon)
  • Amaterasu (Ōkami)
• Captain Crit's Predictions:
  • Crash Bandicoot (Video Game/Crash Bandicoot)
  • Porky Minch (Mother 3)
  • Jibanyan (Yo-Kai Watch)
  • DON-CHAN (Taiko no Tatsujin)
• Killer Clown's approximate predictions (made after Joker's release)
  • Dataleaks at time of writing mention Codename Brave: Smart money is on a JRPG protagonist, likely from Dragon Quest or the Bravely Default series.
  • Someone from a major Western series with a decent Japanese following; a character like (but not necessarily) the Dovahkiin.
  • Someone from a major indie game — if the indie game is Western, Undertale, Minecraft, or (especially given the recent crossover announced) Crypt Of The Necrodancer are likely contributors if a spirit or assist trophy isn't "promoted".
  • A truly obscure character who has not appeared as more than a cameo (e.g. Smash Bros. trophies/stickers) in a video game made in the 21st Century. If not maybe, something else.

The ending credits will be a Triumphant Reprise of Lifelight

The one featured in the "World of Light" trailer has some pretty somber lyrics which detail the struggle Kirby now faces. Of course, being Kirby, he'll manage to succeed and the ending credits will feature a Triumphant Reprise version of Lifelight.

• If the reprise is anything like the orchestral themes of Melee and Brawl, they may just sneak a chorus in to make the reprise a triumphant Theme Music Power-Up.
  • Confirmed for the true ending!

If Assist Trophies become playable DLC...

They'll have different appearances to differentiate themselves from their NPC counterparts. Examples: Waluigi wears his garb from Mario Tennis Aces, Bomberman's has a determined look in his eyes instead of neutral, Zero and Shovel Knight's textures become more detailed and realistic, etc.

• Or, if a character that is already an Assist Trophy is present in a fight, then that particular Assist Trophy is removed from the pool (eg. You can't have both a playable Waluigi & and his Assist Trophy counterpart at the same time)
• Alternatively, after being made playable, the Assist Trophy will be swapped out with a different character performing the same functions and moves (such as Shadow becoming playable and Silver becoming the Assist Trophy in his place, Shovel Knight being swapped out for Black Knight, or Spring Man being swapped out for Springtron)

Break The Targets will be present in some capacity

• Jossed.

The number of Spirits in the game could probably number in the Thousands

And it certainly doesn't have to be limited to Nintendo-owned properties, virtually any video game property with png images of their characters could be in Ultimate. Both Japanese and Western developers and even ones that never had a game on a Nintendo console is eligible (as long as they're both okay for the game's family-friendly image, though some Unexpected Character(s) from more Darker and Edgier fare are invetiable) for an appearance as a Spirit.

• Confirmed. We're at 1,400+ and counting.

Galeem will be revealed to be a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds

Maybe the reason why he took everyone's soul is because he's lonely.

Snake is still alive

It turns out that he was never in the box at all. While everyone was distracted he placed a box down and used his stealth camouflage to make a stealthy getaway. However, there is a body in the box, which will be Solidus, Naked or Venom Snake whose body will be used to create the "evil" Snake that Kirby and co. will fight later. The spirit possessing the body will turn out to be Liquid Snake (as he's already been shown as a spirit and this isn't the first time he's possessed someone else). My theory is that while on the Shadow Moses Island stage, the "evil" Snake with Liquid's intelligence, determination and familiarity with the environment will prove a formidable challenge to Kirby and Co. almost defeating them only for the real Snake to show up and save the day mirroring the twist in Metal Gear Solid 2.

• Even if Snake did manage to trick Galeem by setting up his box as a Bait-and-Switch in some fashion, there's no conceivable way that he would've survived Galeem spreading across the entire universe. He may be a master of hiding, but he's still only human.

Before the final battle with Galeem, there will be a Big Damn Heroes moment...

Not by any of the fighters, but by the non-fighter Spirits you collected, who will all come together to prevent Galeem from using his light beams again. This would end up being a reference to Sonic weakening Tabuu in The Subspace Emissary, and may also end up being similar to the ultimate attack on Kirby Star Allies' final boss.

• Jossed. You defeat Galeem...only to find that isn't the end of the fight.

DLC will be "season"-based like other contemporary fighting games

The five DLC characters teased in the November 1st 2018 Direct were just Season 1.

• And with the implication that the Switch may last for even more than 5 years, unless Sakurai would like to work on something more or to have a break, he would work up to a 5th Season in 2024.
  • For the ones who would like more, post here as well:
• Emman's Predictions:
  • Fighter's Pass #2 (apart with the ARMS rep): 2020-2021
    • Chun-Li
    • Jin Kazama
    • Sol Badguy
    • Isaac
    • Fighter Hayabusa
  • Fighter's Pass 3: 2021-2022
    • Ezio Auditore da Firenze, with Altaïr, Connor and Edward as his alternates
    • Both Jesse(s), although [[Video Game/Minecraft multiple versions of Steve and Alex]] would appear in their Final Smash
    • Jossed. Steve appeared as his own character, with Alex as an alternate costume and little-to-no references to Minecraft Story Mode.
    • Lyndis
• Luigisan 98's Predictions (Season "1" already stated)
• DLC Pack #2: 2020-2021
  • Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)/Heihachi Mishima (Tekken)
  • Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot)
  • Gen 8 Pokemon
  • Monster Hunter (Monster Hunter)/Leon S.Kennedy (Resident Evil)/Dante (Devil May Cry)
  • Edelgard (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
    • Bonus: Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby)
• DLC Pack #3: 2021-2022
  • Shantae (Shantae)
  • Paper Mario (Paper Mario)
  • Wonder Red (The Wonderful 101)
  • Rayman (Rayman)
  • Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
    • Bonus: Egg Pawn (Sonic The Hedgehog)
• DLC Pack #4: 2022-2023
  • Jibyanyan (Yo-kai Watch)
  • Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)
  • Arle Nadja (Puyo Puyo)
  • Doomguy (Doom)
  • Sami (Nintendo Wars)
    • Bonus: Space Pirate (Metroid)
• DLC Pack #5: 2023-2024
  • Two scenarios:
    • 1: Normal
  • Professor Layton (Professor Layton)
  • Felix/Matthew (Golden Sun)
  • Saki (Sin and Punishment)
  • Klonoa (Klonoa)
  • Quote (Cave Story)
    • 2: AT promotion:
  • Shadow (Sonic The Hedgehog)
  • Midna (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
  • Zero (Mega Man X)
  • Isaac (Golden Sun)
  • Skull Kid (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)
    • Bonus: Guardian Robot (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

To save the fighters from the previous games, Kirby will have to travel the worlds searching for newcomers, then recruit them to his aid.

This includes such characters as Ridley.

• Potentially Jossed: At least three of Ultimate's newcomers (Inklings, Simon Belmont, and King K. Rool) are seen with the characters on the cliff in the World of Light trailer, potentially indicating that the newcomers were all a part of the initial attack and that they were then turned into spirits.

The finale will have the main cast channeling their power through Kirby

Considering Kirby's capabilities, combined with the spirits ability to channel their power through other beings, this seems to be likely.

• Jossed. It's just a simple battle against Galeem... Or is it?

If more bonus characters are included with future DLC seasons, they'll all be mook-based

Characters like the Egg-Pawn, the Space Pirate, the Guardian from Breath of The Wild or even Waddle Dee can be prominent choices if Sakurai wants to.

• Or alternatively all the bonus characters will be just as weird and out of left field as Piranha Plant.

Father Balder will be a boss, and if there's much of a plot, he'll be significant in it.

Balder was first noticed in the Adventure Mode menu art, beneath Galeem and Rathalos (already known to be bosses) and above a number of other characters who would make probable bosses. But let's focus on Balder. Clearly, he's in the World of Light in some capacity. Three possibilities:

• The likeliest is the simplest; he got lucky in his placement but is just another, Legendary at best spirit who will be possessing a Bayonetta clone. (But as long as he brings "You May Call Me Father" with him, even that would be cool.)
• He serves as a unique boss fight, but the plot is either sparse or he's not all that important in it and serves as effectively a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
• The third possibility: that he's a comparatively important lieutenant to Galeem, a role he fits perfectly. In Bayonetta he canonically serves Paradisio, and its malevolent, alien angels of light. And Galeem is... a malevolent, alien angel of light. Furthering the parallels (with spoilers for the first Bayonetta), the Audito seek to awaken Jubelius and destroy the world, remaking a World of Light in their image. Galeem has the very same goal, and the game begins with his success.
  • Jossed — or rather, the first, most minimal option confirmed.
  • He only appears as a Spirit.

The five planned DLC characters were already shown in the "World of Light" trailer.

They happened to be obliterated in Galeem's light blast and show up as Spirits in the aftermath. They are:

• Darknut (The Legend of Zelda)
  • He's mostly straightforward as a Mighty Glacier swordfighter... Except that the more he's damaged, the lighter and faster he becomes. Once he's been K.Oed though, he'll respawn with all his weighty armor. His Final Smash transforms his sword into a giant Iron Knuckle axe and slams it onto the opponents.
• Pigma Dengar (Star Fox)
  • He's a semi-clone of Fox or Wolf, but he's a lot heavier, basically the opposite of Falco. His Final Smash calls on Star Wolf and airbombs the stage.
• Annie and Moe (Splatoon)
  • They function as a cross between the Inklings and Rosalina and Luma. Moe can be sent out of Annie's hair to shoot ink at opponents. Their final Smash is a well-place Inkstrike.
• Zinger (Donkey Kong Country)
  • He's somewhat unique as a fighter in that its always floating off the ground (although its not real flight as he can still fall off the stage. Also attacking him from behind will damage you a little. He can also shoot needles as a projectile. His final Smash has him transform into the giant invincible King Zing and shoot needles in all directions.
• Joan (Animal Crossing)
  • A semi-clone of Villager and Isabelle but almost all of her attacks revolve around turnips and her moves do random damage. She also has Peach's down special where she can pull turnips and other items out of the ground. Her final Smash, Turnip Profit carpet bombs the stage with turnips.
    • Alternatively, they could be the bonus characters in the other DLC seasons if there are more.
  • All jossed and the chances of them being future DLC are slim to non-existent at best.
    • Jossed. Their appearance is meant to show that Galeem's soul-stealing wasn't restricted to the fighters, but to the entire universes they inhabited.

Speculation for Spirit Battles

• Venom Snake: Pallet-swapped Snake fighting alongside Wolf, who serves as a stand-in for D-Dog. Fought in Mushroomy Kingdom 1-1, which is similar to the deserts of Afghanistan.
  • Jossed.
• Metal Sonic: Sonic with the Metal Box effect, natch.
  • Semi-confirmed: Metal Sonic's spirit battle is a stamina battle: metal Sonic with a rocket belt.
• Or Silver Sonic Since Silver Sonic is already grey.
  • Silver: A Sonic easily distracted by items, Sonic starts with a Black Hole and only throwing items spawn.
  • Semi-confirmed: He does not get distracted by items, but he has increased throwing strength.
• Trevor Belmont: Pallet-swapped Simon fighting with Alucard, as well as Zelda and Shiek as stand-ins for Sypha and Grant, respectively.
  • Semi-confirmed: Alucard hostile assist trophy with a fight with a giant Simon, Shiek (Grant) and Palutena (Sypha).
• Big The Cat: Purple Incineroar with a small green Greninja. The Greninja keeps hopping around evasively while the Incineroar keeps following it. Takes place on Distant Planet (which resembles Mystic Ruins).

  • Semi-confirmed. Just a giant Incineroar on the Windy Hill Zone stage and a slumber floor hazard.

• E-102 Gamma: Red R.O.B. accompanied by other R.O.B.s colored blue, yellow, black, and purple to represent the rest of the E-Series robots.
  • Semi-confirmed: it's only the red R.O.B, and he's carrying a powered-up Ray Gun.
• Miltank: A giant Jigglypuff who spams rollout and gradually heals.
  • Semi-confirmed. A Jigglypuff that favors side-specials and has increased power for neutral specials.
• M. Bison: Red Ganondorf who spams Wizard Foot. Accompanied by two Zero Suit Samuses as stand-ins for Juli and Juni.
  • Semi-confirmed: Stamina battle with Ganon, reduced jump power, Ganon reflects projectiles and his special moves have increased power.
• Annie & Moe: Two Inklings, one male and one female. The small male Inkling fights very aggressively. The female Inkling, not so much.
  • Semi-confirmed: Peach that is easily distracted by items.
• Pheromosa: Zero Suit Samus with increased speed, increased jumping, increased attack but decreased defenses.
  • Jossed.
• Galacta Knight and Dark Meta Knight: A purple Meta Knight and a grey Meta Knight with better stats. It also helps that Meta Knight has those two as two of his alts.
  • Semi-confirmed: Galacta Knight is in, but he can't be fought, only summoned. Dark Meta Knight isn't in.
• Dark Bowser: Blue Bowser with all of his attacks having a darkness effect to them.
  • With a small Kirby in his Meta Knight colour as Dark Core.
  • Jossed.
• The Boss: Green Shiek who moves by sneaking along the ground and fights primarily with grab attacks, in reference to The Boss' mastery of CQC.
  • Semi-confirmed: The Boss does appear as a spirit but it is a stamina battle with a Zero Suit Samus with a poison floor hazard.
• Amy Rose: Red Sonic with a hammer.
  • Semi-confirmed: Inkling with hammer and increased move speed, Inkling can swing hammer for a long time and Hammers/Golden Hammers constantly spawn
• Calamity Ganon: Big red Ganondorf with increased strength.
  • Semi-confirmed: Giant Ganondorf on the Great Plateau Tower with the player teamed up with Zelda.
• Quiet: Zero Suit Samus in one of her skin-exposing pallets with intermittent cloaking, increased speed, and a Super Scope.
  • Jossed.
• Grima: Robin accompanied by a bigger, stronger Ridley.
  • Jossed.
• Goro Majima: Yellow Wolf with a Homerun Bat.
  • Jossed.
• Waluigi: Purple Luigi with respawning Waluigi Assist Trophies.
  • Confirmed!
• Ashley: Zelda (maybe the Hilda Alt) and respawning Ashley Assist Trophies.
  • Semi-confirmed: magic-resistant Mii Swordfighter with an Ashley costume, reversed controls and a hostile Ashley assist trophy
• Dry Bowser: Grey Bowser with increased strength and air mobility, but is much more lightweight.
  • Semi-confirmed: gray Bowser with infinite-spicy curry, increased defense and lava floor hazards
• Shadow the Hedgehog: Black Sonic with respawning Shadow assist trophy and rapidly-spawning stopwatches.
  • Semi-confirmed: Sonic is in his third color (light blue with cyan wristbands and shoes) and always goes for the Timers. The rest is right. Oh, and his dash attacks are buffed.
• Hades: Giant Ganondorf on Reset Bomb Forest.
  • Semi-confirmed: Giant Ganondorf with increased strength on Final Destination
• Ms. Pac-Man: Pac-Man, but faster, stronger, and hardier in reference to the game she originates from being harder than the original. Accompanied by respawning Ghosts.
  • Jossed.
• Neo Ridley: A blue coloured Ridley that constantly flies around.
  • Jossed. There's Meta Ridley (which is a Fighter Spirit, as it's an alternate model for Ridley) and Mecha Ridley, but no Neo Ridley.
• Jeanne: Bayonetta's red alt.
  • Confirmed
• Baby Bowser: A small version of Bowser that is quicker.
  • Semi-confirmed: it starts with a small Bowser, but once he's beaten, a giant Bowser with super armor appears. Plus, the floor is on fire.
• Aeris/Aerith: A Zelda in her red alt that can heal herself.
  • Eventually semi-confirmed: she's in her purple alt (because it has the same hair color of Aerith's) and Cloud fights with her, therefore, she can heal both herself and him.
• Kraid: A bigger version of King K. Rool with Ridley as backup.
  • Semi-confirmed: No Ridley though.
• Zack Fair: Cloud's blue alt on the Midgar stage.
  • Jossed.
• Ganon: Ganondorf's blue costume.
  • Jossed. Ganon's Spirit can only be obtained by defeating the Sacred Land boss in World of Light.
• Skull Kid: Young Link's red alt on Termina Bay with only Moon and Skull Kid assist trophies.
  • Semi-confirmed. A Skull Kid appears as a hostile assist trophy, but the fighters and stage are jossed. It's a Mii Brawler dressed as a Skull Kid and two Meta Knights (representing his fairies Tatl and Tael) on Distant Planet. Also, the Moon can't appear as an Assist Trophy in Great Bay because it's already in the background.
• Slime: a blue Kirby who just hops around harmlessly. May also include She-Slime for a red Kirby who fight more aggressively, Metal Slimes for Metal Kirby who is hard to KO, and King Slime for Giant Kirby who fights the hardest of the entire Slime family.
  • Confirmed. Slime Spirit Battle is a team of blue Kirbies followed by a giant one, who represents King Slime. And there's a separate Liquid Metal Slime Spirit Battle.
• Dragonlord: Purple Ganondorf in a stamina battle. After being defeated, is replaced with a stronger purple Ridley, in reference to the Dragonlord's One-Winged Angel form.
  • Jossed. The closese there is is the final boss of Hero's Classic Mode, which is a purple Robin who gets replaced with a giant purple Charizard upon defeat.
• Gruntilda: Female Robin fought on Spiral Mountain.
  • Jossed. Gruntilda is a green Dedede with three Dr. Marios (each being one of the Klungo boss fights on Tooie) on the Find Mii stage.
• Steve: Male blue shirt Villager that randomly gains a Final Smash.
  • Jossed. Steve is a playable DLC character
• Sephiroth: Corrin equipped with a Beam Sword.
  • Jossed. Sephiroth is a playable DLC character.
• Lora: Zero Suit Samus in her red alt and Isabelle. Defeat main fighter and enemy heals over time clauses active.
• Addam: White alt Chrom and default female Corrin with Beam Sword. Defeat main fighter and electrified floor clauses active.
• Hugo: Metal default Marth with blue alt Palutena. Defeat main fighter clause active.
• Jin: White alt Marth with a Killing Edge. Ice floor, enemy has increased attack and random tripping clauses active.
• Minoth: Stamina match against Bayonetta.
• Brighid: Blue alt Palutena with a Fire Bar and floor is lava clause active.
• Aegaeon: White alt Chrom with a Killing Edge with increased speed and random critical hit clause active.
• Malos: Ganondorf with a beam sword that is randomly invincible.
  • All these are Jossed. There aren't many XC2 spirits aside from those in the game.
• Edelgard: Red alt Lucina or female Byleth with her red alt with increased attack power and super armor clauses active assisted by a Ganondorf who represents Hubert.
  • Confirmed as red alt female Byleth. Jossed in that the conditions are different and she doesn't have any reinforcement.
• Dimitri: Stamina match against a blue Ganondorf that doesn't jump and has increased defense.
  • Stamina and blue Ganondorf are confirmed. But the Ganondorf in the battle is a stand in for Dimitri's retainer Dedue, Dimitri is instead represented by a blue alt male Byleth.
• Claude: Yellow Pit that prefers neutral specials and has random critical hits.
  • Jossed. Claude is a yellow alt male Byleth that is fought on a poison field and reverses the controls.
• Sothis: Female Corrin or Tiki/Nowi alt Lucina with sudden control reverse clause active.
  • Jossed. Sothis is a female Byleth with sudden Final Smashes (and also instant healing at a certain percentage, but nothing in this prediction mirrors that particular condition in the real fight).
• Kasumi Yoshizawa: Black alt Zero Suit Samus or Lucina and blue Zelda. Defeat main fighter clause and enemy has extra midair jump clause active.
  • Jossed.
• Goro Akechi (Crow): Stamina match on Mementos against Wolf and black alt Chrom with increased attack power, followed by black alt Marth/blue alt Corrin that randomly gains a Final Smash.
  • Semi-confirmed. Akechi is represented by a white Marth assisted by Pit (who is Robin Hood in this fight) with no sudden Final Smashes, but with reversible controls.
• Takuto Maruki: Dr. Mario with frequently appearing food and sudden reversed controls clause active.
  • Jossed.
• Gooigi: Default color Luigi and hostile Pokemon (Ditto) on Luigi's Mansion.
  • Jossed.

The reason why Galleom is in the game

Galleom is shown as a boss in Ultimate's World of Light Adventure Mode, despite being destroyed during the events of Brawl's Subspace Emissary. However, as trophies are not present in Ultimate, and all games from at least Melee through Smash 4 are said to take place in The World of Trophies, perhaps Ultimate takes pace in an alternate world from the World of Trophies.

• Semi-jossed: Galleom is a spirit/boss in the World of Light mode.

There will will be several original bosses based on various angels

More importantly the angels Micheal, Gabriel, Raphael, & Uriel.

• Jossed.

Video Game characters who will show up as spirits.

Who do you want to see appear in the game in this capacity? Considering that all you need now is a png or jpg image of the character to appear as a spirit, this should be a relatively low bar to clear compared to previous games.

• Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)
• Professor Hershel Layton (Professor Layton)
• Cooking Mama (Cooking Mama)
• Sissel (Ghost Trick)
• Henry Hatsworth (Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure)
• Jibanyan (Yo-kai Watch)
• Madeline (Celeste)
• Undyne (Undertale)
• someone from the Kingdom Hearts franchise
• Alex Kidd (Alex Kidd)
• Billy Hatcher (Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg)
• NiGHTS (NiGHTS into Dreams…)
• Aiai (Super Monkey Ball)
• Ristar (Ristar)
• Ulala (Space Channel 5)
• Toejam and Earl (ToeJam & Earl)
• Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue)
• Vanellope (Wreck-It Ralph.^note hey, the film relates to video games at least.)
• Mimi & Nyami (Popn Music)
  • All jossed due to the spirit list from the data mine (except for the Kingdom Hearts characters, which were released along with Sora).
  • Also, we have a set of dedicated pages for that now.

One of the DLC characters is from a brand new IP that'll make its debut in Smash Bros..

Since Nintendo has already chosen who the DLC characters are and know the value Smash has for their brands. They would definitely use it to promote a new series that'll later be released on its own. They've done it before with Fire Emblem for the West (Twice even), but this time it'll be a worldwide debut.

• Bonus points if the game the character is from is Sakurai's next big project.
  • Jossed. At the time of release, Nintendo's newest IP was ARMS (represented by Spring Man as an Assist Trophy, and later Min Min as a fighter), which had been released before Ultimate.

DLC characters will play a part in story mode once added into the game.

DLC fighters will be a bonus to the story mode.

• Jossed. They can be used in World of Light, but don't factor in the story (unless you imagine they were with the others whom Galeem captured — Sakurai does enforce the use of imagination, after all).

A number of Spirits will be exclusive to certain regions.

For example a Spirit who is based on a character who only appears in a game that's exclusive to Japan will be replaced by a character whose game is exclusive to North America or Europe. Their effects are still the same, but the character is different.

• Jossed. Just as the system and the game are region-free, so are the spirits. Including those from games that never left Japan.

Classic Mode boss speculation

Since it appears that Classic Mode will have multiple bosses depending on the Intensity or character (Galleom and Giga Bowser in particular), add any candidates below.

• Galleom for Mega Man. It's speculated it could be a boss version of the Wily Capsule Assist Trophy, but his version of the mode being "The Mystery of Dr. Mario" while a nod to his second game, gives me doubts. Galleom would be an option for the sake of a mecha fight.
  • Confirmed. Mega Man fights Galleom, but as a penultimate boss.
• Duon for Lucario. It looks like Dialga and Palkia, the mascots of Lucario's debut games, and it was one of two Original Generation bosses in Subspace Emissary besides Tabuu, the other being Galleom, which we've already seen in the game.
  • Jossed. Duon only appears as a Spirit. Lucario fights Master Hand (along with Crazy Hand on higher difficulties) like most fighters.

The barrier to get to Galeem is made of the energy from the captured fighters.

Part of the reason he holds them captive instead of having had them turned into spirits like with everyone else, is to maintain himself safe from any potential threat that would try to face him by drawing energy from them. The puppet fighters aren't what he wanted to be his world's inhabitants, but are rather a defense mechanism to fend off the puffball that survived while he finishes his new world.

Only once the player frees every single fighter, will the path to Galeem be opened and he can be fought.

• Jossed. Galeem is fightable once one of the Master Hands are defeated in the World of Light, and after the player defeats Rathalos, Galleom, and Giga Bowser.

Galeem is a Ba'al.

One of the reasons why he turned hundreds of characters into spirits was so Lord Providence could feed on their despair and anger from losing their physical forms and being forced to puppeteer the hollow shells of fighters.

Galeem and story plot guesses

Internally within the game's plot, logically the game's direction would be open ended. you first get to the crossroads and decide which path to take, one of them being Sheik. in her route, presumably to avoid having the plot redundancy of there also being a Zelda, would only be unlocked on her path. Pokemon trainer would be a 2-tiered unlock, maybe one to unlock Ivysaur, and another to get Squirtle. endgame, everyone makes one massive attack on Galeem whilst he's still weak from reconstructing a new universe, but you only fight a fragment of his power, causing his form to smash open, revealing that it's actually larger on the inside.

Inside Galeem would be the World of Darkness, basically a Great Maze-type area that resembles the characters' worlds more closely. maybe with 4 greater versions of existing bosses to reach his core. in Japan, Galeem is called Kiira (キーラ,), which is a stark contrast of the Light Is Not Good kind, he is actually a combined duality god (not unlike Master/Crazy Hand) with his dark side called Aakira/Akira/Akiraa. his existing name is almost similar to Killer (キラー). Akira means "the light coming from sun" (あきら, アキラ), if they call the inner core Akirā, maybe it'll be named after Rā, the egyptian god of the sun or Ra Moon from Super Adventure Rockman. bonus points being that if you reverse the katakana sylables for Kiira, you get Raaki (ラーキ), or it can be corrupted due to being breached, suddenly keeping the same name, just with an extra A (or an extended vowel) added somewhere.

As for progression, the 3 paths would be split into general unlocks. with characters like Pokemon Trainer gaining access to side routes like summoning Lapras. you'll probably need Samus (or Zero Suit Samus) to quell Rathalos. the Inklings' path would be semi-generic, but i could likely see their path unlocking Snake and fighting Galleom. Fox's path would just be in space, maybe Ridley will have survived his death in Brawl, considering he doesn't appear in the group shot, whilst characters like K Rool did? anyone else missing from the group shot could just be slotted in with next to no context or introduction required. Castlevania will probably be one of the few newly-debuted series to have a sizable representation, maybe the actual castle is near the volcano from the reveal trailer?

• Boss/characters/locations mostly jossed: Lapras acts as an useable obstacle spirit like the Pico and conductor Link spirits and Lapras leads to the section that has the portal to the Rathalos boss. Snake is found in the Base area with Galleom as one of the three bosses while the castle serves as the location of Bowser/Giga Bowser. Fox was a close guess as a Slippy Toad spirit is needed to access the Space area to the left of Galeem and said area is where Falco is. Ridley is however in The Dark Realm after Galeem's defeat.
• Mostly jossed, story wise: the World of Light somewhat mirrors A Link to the Past quite a bit in the aspect of major antagonists and plot twists (so much that it may be overtly intended) with Galeem is seen as a posing villain like Aghanim only for his defeat to reveal a new villain contrasting Galeem's element and role: Dharkhon, as the barrier between the World of Light cracks and breaks after Galeem's defeat, revealing him and his opposing The Dark Realm spreading into the World of Light. The whole ordeal reveals that Galeem was perhaps not absolutely evil in a strange way, i.e a Light Is Not Good villain.

How would the DLC characters be playable in World of Light

• The one I think is most likely is that if you own any of them, they will be playable from the get go, could go either that you need to complete the mode first or that even if not, they can be played as anyway, since they would have no impact in the overall story.
• If they are bought, they will also appear as captured fighters in the map that have to be awakened. Some spirit battles could be introduced regarding them or not, perhaps even new section in the map could be implemented.
• Last is a mix of the two above, in that they could be here what Jigglypuff, Toon Link and Wolf were to the Subspace Emissary, you need to complete the mode first for them to appear as captured fighters.
  • All Jossed. All DLC characters you own get unlocked automatically once you unlock 10 fighters within World of Light.

There will be free content updates to Ultimate that will include more spirits and bosses

Alongside the patches for balancing, these updates would allow for more replay value by increasing the size of the World of Light map and adding in more spirits with different powers and bosses to fight. Also, the new bosses could replace Master Hand at the end of Classic Mode for certain characters, as they would keep things from getting repetitive and fit in more with the character's theme.

• There's a strange lack of a separate Boss Rush mode. Most games developed by Sakurai contain an unlockable boss rush, so it's rather suspicious that Ultimate doesn't have one.
• This part should be taken with a grain of salt, but Vergeben has stated that there will be a boss related to Minecraft, even though Minecraft has yet to be represented. And he's apparently gotten that information from the same source that revealed correct aspects such as the inclusion of Simon Belmont and Isabelle.
  • Semi-confirmed. There are weekly events that alternate between Spirit Board events and Online Tourney events, and some of those Spirit Board events add new Spirits to the game, usually to promote a new Switch release. No new bosses, though.

The 5 DLC characters that Nintendo chose will be...

• 1. 2B (Nier Automata): Vergeben & Hitagi said that there will be a new SE character & Nier Automata is an extremely popular game.
  • It's also something that's not on a Nintendo system. All other characters that have appeared have been in at least one game that was released on a Nintendo console, either as the main character or a supporting character, and if SE planned on releasing a Switch port, they would've announced so when they announced the Xbox and PC ports. If Nintendo decided to allow characters who haven't appeared on games released on Nintendo platforms whatsoever, they might as well include Arthur Morgan.
    • Jossed — Joker from Persona 5 was revealed. However, Reggie said that the characters are ones you wouldn't expect for Smash, so that does possibly mean that 2B could be later on down the line.
• 2. Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2): Just because he didn't make into the base roster, that doesn't mean he can make it in as DLC, also Sakurai is a fan of Xenoblade Chronicles.
  • Jossed. The second fighter is Hero from Dragon Quest.
• 3. Steve (Minecraft): same reasons as 2B just replace SE & Nier Automata Character with Minecraft.
  • Jossed. The Microsoft character is Banjo and Kazooie.
    • Double-Jossed. Steve eventually became DLC, but that wasn't until the next Fighter's Pass.
• 4. Edelgard (Fire Emblem Three Houses): Promotional character (Bonus points if they do what they did with Corrin and release her before her game comes out.)
  • While there's a chance Edelgard could get in later with the announcement that more DLC characters beyond the Fighter Pass are in the works, her being the fourth pass character is jossed. The fourth character is Terry.
• 5. Gen 8 Pokemon: Same reasons as Edelgard
  • Jossed. The fifth character is Byleth.

  • One spot has already been taken by Joker from Persona 5, so not looking good for any of these fighters.

Corrin's Classic Mode Final Boss will initially be Master Hand, then either Pit or Dark Pit.

You know, to reference the Anankos-possessed Takumi in Fates Conquest's Endgame.

• Jossed.

Ultimate is caught up in a Cosmic Horror Story.

Galeem and Dharkon are opposing forces, and have likely been fighting for millions, if not billions, of years. They are Lovecraftian in every sense of the word. They entered Smash without caring about the destruction they bring. In true Lovecraftian fashion, they care nothing for the lives within the Smash Universe, seeing them as nuisances at worst, and resources for their army at best. In the end, them working together was a momentary distraction, like how two warring people might take a break to get rid of a minor nuisance before resuming their fight.

• That might be possible, except for the part of Galeem and Dharkon working together — they never do that. In the True Final Boss fight against them, they fight each other as much as they fight your character.

DLC characters will be revealed quite early.

Since there appears to be no gameplay footage of Joker yet, it's safe to assume that the devs have just started working on him along with Piranha Plant. While the DLC characters are expected to be done by early 2020, they could also be revealed much sooner; likely over the next few months.

• There's a steady rhythm to the reveals (a gap of about 2-3 months between them). By early 2020, the first Fighters Pass had finished with Byleth. Fast forwarding to late 2020, we're already halfway into Fighters Pass 2.

The Big Bad Ensemble was a Sealed Evil in a Can, and Tabuu's existence was keeping them at bay.

Upon Tabuu's destruction, his seal on Galeem and Dharkon broke, letting the two of them wreak havoc on each other, threatening to destroy the universe with either light or dark.

Joker's inclusion is hinting at a Persona 5 port or re-release on Switch.

Persona 5 is a fairly popular series, but it's not on the same level as the rest of the third-party series (with the possible exception of Bayonetta), which are generally classic series with a lot of nostalgia value. Atlus and Nintendo have worked together before, with multiple SMT titles being on Nintendo consoles. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine that Persona 5 may in some form be coming to Switch, and his inclusion in Smash is partly an advertisement for that, to get non-Persona fans interested in buying Persona 5 when it comes out on a console they own. After all, it worked for Marth and Roy, so why not Joker?

• Jossed. Mainline Persona games, including Persona 5, are Sony-exclusive.
  • Well, in addition to that Japan-only PC port of the first game from the 90's, Persona 4 Golden was recently ported to PC. While they have yet to be ported to the Switch, the possibility exists.
    • So far, there's only Persona 5 Strikers, which is a spin-off.

The invite Joker stole was meant to be for an Etrian Odyssey character.

Outside of the Megaten franchise, Atlus' most well known series on Nintendo consoles is Etrian Odyssey. Considering the previous Persona game he was in was explicitly based on the series, it wouldn't be out of the question to think Joker was one dimension hop away from the EO universe — and while some poor adventurer was struggling with mapmaking and fending off FOEs, Joker scored a five finger discount to Smash.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand are the last of their kind.

Galeem and Dharkon are always accompanied by their army of Master Hands and Crazy Hands, respectively. If these were not artificially created/cloned from the well-known hand duo shown throughout the series, another option could be that Galeem and Dharkon were the originator of Master Hand and Crazy Hand, and they were individuals of entire species which, due to their birth creatures' waging war against each other, always fought each other. Since they are usually depicted as the heads of Smash, Master Hand and Crazy Hand had evolved to something more; links between the Nintendo world and whatever lies beyond. A balance between order and chaos, essentially; distancing themselves from being just another one of Galeem and Dharkon's disciples, destroying each other. This is coupled by the fact that, at the start of the ending, the Master Hand and Crazy Hand clones disintegrate into black mist, with yellow and purple surges within; which no doubt looks identical to Master Core's matter. After the destruction of Galeem and Dharkon, it's very possible that Master Hand and Crazy Hand just helped purge the entire rest of their species, and that they are, technically, the last ones.

• Or maybe they were supposed to be the only ones? Don't forget Galeem has the power to create copies of those it captures. It's possible it saw the power Master Hand holds and got to it first, like Tabuu did before, then went on to mass-produce puppet Master Hands. Then either Dharkon did the same to Crazy Hand, or Galeem captured Crazy Hand as well until Dharkon stole it to produce its own Crazy Hand puppets, or even Galeem itself made the Crazy Hand puppets which were then stolen by Dharkon — as it is pointed out, when Dharkon makes its appearance, that he stole puppets and captured fighters that were still under Galeem's control.

Assist Trophies will be Promoted to Playable via DLC.

When they were first shown in Brawl, the basic consensus was that Assist Trophies cannot be playable. However, come Smash 4, and requests for Assist Trophies to become playable in the series increased, along with other fan favorite requests like Midna and Ashley being Assist Trophies as well. And now, the demands for playable Assist Trophies are more apparent than ever — the support for Waluigi speaks for itself.

However, I still understand why these certain characters became Assist Trophies in the first place — these characters have unique characteristics that aren't suited for a playable purpose, but for a helpful one. Only Shadow can slow down time, while Issac is the only one I've seen forcibly move people to otherparts of the stage. Despite that, the fans still want these particular characters to be playable.

And now, it's possible that Sakurai and Nintendo will overturn the "no playable Assist Trophies" rule and allow these fan-favorites to join the battle — while also performing their special duties as Assist Trophies. When being played as, these characters won't appear in the pool of Assist Trophies during battle, for obvious reasons. But when not being playable, they can appear as support as Assist Trophies. It's like how the Moon and Kapp'n don't appear as Assists on Great Bay and Tortimer Island, respectively, due to being background characters.

There's also the fact that if any of the Assist Trophies aren't DLC, then everyone will have to wait 7-10 years to get their hopes up again. That's a very long time, and I think that it'll be a real pain for those fanbases. So it's possible that these characters will be DLC so they don't have to wait some few years for them.

Lastly, there have been some teasing moments from Sakurai regarding some fan-favorite requests. Both Waluigi and Shovel Knight being KO'd in demonstrations, Sakurai teasing us about Bomberman being an Assist Trophy, and waiting until the last possible moment to reveal Shadow and Issac as them? Not to mention that Sakurai specifically revealed that Piranha Plant wouldn't be an Assist Trophy. I think the five mentioned above will be playable due to all the popularity surrounding them, should there be future DLC.

That, and I think they shouldn't squander Zero's potential as a fighter.

• I'm sorry to say, but Jossed.

The opening will be updated to include DLC characters upon their releases.

The game's opening manages to give each playable character at least one shot where they're in primary focus. This helps to underline the vast cast that's arguably the game's main selling point, but it would be a bit awkward if later DLC characters were left out. (Then again, Smash 4's DLC characters were all relegated to a single generic Palutena's Guidance conversation, so who knows?)

• Jossed, unless they decide to do that for Update 13.0.0, which is when the last fighter from Fighters Pass 2 will be released.

Should there be more Fighter Passes, they will each have a certain theme.

Reggie Fils-Aime went on record saying that the 6 DLC fighters of the first Fighter Pass (Piranha Plant included) would be completely unexpected in a game like Smash. Thus, more wild cards could be considered the hypothetical first Fighter Pass theme.

• Jossed when you think about it, at least in Banjo and Kazooie's case as people have been wanting them in Smash as far back as the N64.

To let Joker be playable in World of Light, they'll update the map with a Mementos themed dungeon.

It could be a great way to introduce Persona spirits into the mix, plus given how various other characters had dungeons that were themed around their series before unlocking them, it could be a great way to let him be part of the gang.

• Given that Piranha Plant is unlocked in the mode simply by saving a couple of fighters, it seems more likely that Nintendo would do something similar with the rest.
• And indeed, come Joker's release, he's simply unlocked after saving 10 fighters. Jossed.

On that note, Joker's classic mode will be themed after the various bosses encountered during the game, and each one being a Stamina Battle.

With everyone's Classic Routes tailor made for them, it would make sense to let his be one big homage to the game as a whole. The battles could be as follows:

• Bowser as Kamoshida (They're both rulers of a castle with an eye for a certain blonde) in Dracula's Castle.
  • Alternately, male Wii Fit Trainer since they are both connected to sports and fitness.
• Vincent Mii Gunner as Madarame (They're both old looking artists) with either a Blue Inkling or Fox as an ally to represent Yusuke.
  • Um, the Vince outfit is for the Mii Swordfighter, not the Gunner.
• Wario as Kaneshiro (They both represent Gluttony with a love for money) in Warioware joined by a metal Jigglypuff as the Piggytron with Zero Suit Samus as an ally to represent Makoto.
  • Alternately, King Dedede since gluttony is a character trait associated with him.
• Giant Ridley as The Sphinx (Gigantic winged creatures with a penchant for downward slams) in Gerudo Desert allied with an Inkling as a stand-in for Futaba.
• Dark Samus or Giant Olimar as Okumura (They both have a space-theme to them) with ROBs of different colors to represent the MDL Robots in his boss fight.
• Bayonetta as Sae (They're both tall and attractive with a penchant for revealing outfits, at least in Shadow Sae's case) allied with Roy as a stand-in for Akechi.
  • Alternately, Zero Suit Samus for the same reasons.
• The final boss would be Ganondorf as Shido (they're both ambitious leaders with borderline tyrannical visions of how to rule) where he transforms into Ganon after beating him (not unlike what happens during Shido's battle) with Rivers in the Desert as the theme.
  • Alternately, the final boss is Galeem (representing Yaldabaoth as tyrannical order). Bonus points if Dharkon is your ally for the fight as a stand-in for Satanael.
    • All of these are jossed, with the possible exception of Shido, who is represented by a large purple Incineroar. The stages are all against black palette swaps of characters (except Game and Watch, who's black by default), with the next fight having them by your side to reflect how Shadows are recruited into Personas in the game.

The remaining Phantom Thieves

• Skull will be a support spirit, giving you a baseball bat at the beginning (since it's very similar to his weapon in Persona 5)
  • Ryuji is a primary spirit, and boosts the power of battering items.
• Panther will be a support spirit, make your fire-based attacks stronger (since her skills are fire based)
  • Ann is a primary spirit, but her effect is confirmed.
• Queen will be a support spirit, making your fist attacks stronger (since she fights with her fists in Persona 5)
  • Effect is confirmed.
• Fox will be an Assist Trophy creating items for the fighter, similar to his painting a blank card skill in Persona 5 (he stays in the background and can not be beaten)
  • Jossed. Yusuke is a primary spirit with no effect.
• Noir is an Assist Trophy, attacking the enemy with her axe (she can be beaten)
  • Jossed. Haru is a primary spirit with no effect.
• Shadow Futaba is a primary spirit with 3 slots for support spirits
  • She can be evolved into Oracle
    • Shadow Futaba is jossed. Futaba is a support spirit with a critical health attack boost.
  • What about Mona and Crow?
    • Morgana is a primary spirit that boosts sword attacks, and Akechi is a support spirit with an item gravitation effect.
    • By the way, they all appear as their civilian selves, not as Phantom Thieves (except on the one Spirit where they all appear together).

The Phantom Thieves will have something akin to the Codecs/Guidances

They did bother to get their V.A's for their trailer, and with the Codec's not updated due to the Colonel's death they could fill a void. They could have some pretty fun reactions to the other smashes, and possibly bring in some guests of their own like Slippy, Chrom, and Alucard.

• Sadly jossed. They do offer some quips, but not as a Smash Taunt.

Joker's Final Smash will be the All-Out Attack

It's one of the most iconic (and stylish) mechanics in Persona 5, and having it be his Final Smash would be fitting and less spoilerific than Satanael's Sinful Shell. It will work in the following ways:

• It'll be a cinematic-type attack, like Shulk's Chain Attack, Incineroar's Max Malicious Moonsault, etc.
• The attack starts with Aresene unleashing a wide-spreading Curse spell, which knocks the target(s) into their tripping animation, like knocking down enemies in the original game.
• The scene immediately cuts to Joker initiating the All-Out Attack alongside Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann. As the founding members of the Thieves, they're the most likely to be picked to be in the attack.
• The attack is similar to Zelda's and Bayonetta's in that it instantly KOs foes who are at 100% damage or higher. If every foe caught in the attack meets this condition, Joker's "finishing touch" splash card will occur, High-Pressure Blood and all, before the battle resumes to normal.
  • Confirmed. It's a cinematic attack, and with the exceptions of Futaba and Akechi, the three Thieves who take part in the attack alongside Joker are chosen at random. It instantly KOs foes with 100% + damage, and the animation is basically the same as in P5, but the High-Pressure Blood is swapped out for sparkles for rating reasons.

If Fire Emblem: Three Houses is represented in the game, Byleth will be the playable fighter.

A lot of people are hoping for Edelgard to be playable instead, but both Awakening and Fates used the Avatar characters instead of the other main hero (Chrom and Azura). That being said, Edelgard could still join the battle as an Echo Fighter, much like how Chrom became an Echo of Roy.

• Confirmed.

If there's a Fire Emblem newcomer at all (not counting Echo Fighters), it will be Celica, Byleth, Lyndis or a Heroes representative.

Celica is a good choice because Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was released (they usually have the main hero from the most recent Fire Emblem game as a mewcomer), and Celica is the more popular out of the two main heroes (Alm could still appear as an Echo Fighter — potentially of Ike).

Byleth is mentioned above on why he could represent Three Houses.

As for Heroes, there are some options — Alfonse, Sharena, Fjorm, Veronica, Bruno, etc. Having a Heroes representative could be another landmark — making them the first character from a mobile game to join Smash Bros.

• In the end, Byleth was confirmed to join the battle. Also, Lyn is still an Assist Trophy.

If there has to be a mobile representative, it will be from Dragalia Lost.

While Nintendo's other mobile outings have proved successful, Dragalia Lost is the first to be a completely original IP. It also follows the theme of promoting a recent or upcoming game with a new character (as Roy, Snake, and the Corrins before them had done), while also leaving open possibilities for the game's dragon transformation mechanic.

If Waluigi does become DLC, his reveal trailer will have him use his Final Smash on Marth.

After all, Marth was the one who KO'd Waluigi at E3. It could be a sweet ode of payback for him.

• And what would Waluigi's Final Smash be? The Negative Zone! Previously used by Luigi in Brawl, it alluded to Luigi always being in Mario's shadow. Well, Waluigi's been in everyone's shadows for the longest time — to the point where his continual exclusion from Smash has heightened support from fans and made him a sort of cult underdog icon of Nintendo. Waluigi's Negative Zone would essentially be a more powerful version of Luigi's, emitting a purple orb instead of green.

One of the DLC fighters will be an Assist Trophy.

Reggie himself said that these fighters will be ones people wouldn't associate with Smash. And since Assist Trophies were initially shown to be NPCs, one of them as DLC would surely catch everyone off guard and expand the horizons for newcomers.

A Hint from Hideki Kamiya?

Hideki Kamiya, which many people already know as the director of PlatinumGames, started up a Twitter poll on 12/17/2018 asking people who they'd like to see on Ultimate. The results so far:

• 36%: Dante (Devil May Cry)
• 28%: Amaterasu (Okami)
• 21%: Viewtiful Joe (Viewtiful Joe)
• 16%: Wonder-Red (The Wonderful 101)

Despite the fact that Sakurai already decided who the five Newcomers in the Fighters Pass DLC would be, it might be possible that one of these candidates is already in it.

• So far, there's only a Wonder Red spirit out of these four.
• And Dante made it in... as a Mii Swordfighter outfit.

What Galeem and Dharkon represent

They're meant to be two siblings, squabbling over their favorite toys. Certainly fits the theme set by the previous games.

• Here's a darker elaboration on that theory: As Master Hand & Crazy Hand represent the two sides of a child playing with their toys, Galeem and Dharkon represent the elder sibling(s) of that child, who are so jealous of the world that their younger sibling has created that they either want to take it by force and control it for themselves (Galeem) or destroy it all out of sheer spite (Dharkon).

Bowser escaped Galeem's control.

While Bowser is fought (in his Giga form) in World of Light like any other fighter, you can see that he does not bear Glowing Eyes of Doom at all, retaining his normal red eye color in both his regular and Giga forms. While this could be an oversight, it can also be speculated that Bowser was powerful enough to somehow release himself from Galeem's control, capture Peach, and essentially become an antagonist of his own until he is unlocked.

• Beating Giga Bowser hurts Galeem's shield, the same thing that happens when you beat Rathalos and Galleom. And it's shown during the final battle that all three have been working for Galeem.
• One does unlock Ganondorf before facing Dark Beast Ganon, and the intro animation there does show another Ganondorf who also does have normal eyes. That can't be the real Ganondorf, for obvious reasons, so it's probably just an oversight.

There's going to be Dark Souls representation in Ultimate.

With Solaire of Astora getting an amiibo, Dark Souls Remastered being ported to the Switch and the massive love Castlevania's been getting in Ultimate despite being a dark medieval fantasy series that's not really expected to get representation from Nintendo, I think there's going to be some kind of content related to Dark Souls that'll get added in either the DLC or a free update. Whether it's a music track, a spirit, an assist trophy, a fighter or even a boss.

One of the DLC fighters will be fighter #0, Master Hand

With all the attention that numbers have been given in this game, I thought it would be cool if they would add a fighter 0. This fighter would be someone who technically started fighting before Mario. This fighter would be Master Hand. For starters, he's already playable in the World of Light, so there's already a moveset there. He may need to be nerfed down, though. His size is certainly a problem, so he would need to be scaled down a little. Since Classic Mode has unique bosses, he doesn't need to be the only boss, and there are other playable characters who are bosses. His story mode could have him fight one of the story mode bosses. Plus, in-story, he's supposed to represent the player, someone who has been "playing"/fighting with these characters before even Smash started.

The World of Light Adventure is an allegory to Sakurai's relation to the Smash franchise.

...with Galeem representing the company he works for and Dharkon representing the toxic fanbase.

Further details in this theory video. I don't trust myself to properly cover all of it down in text.

Ultimate was meant to be a Milestone Celebration all along.

Look at it this way: All fighters return for this game, and it was released one month before the series' 20th anniversary.

A future Direct reveals that Waluigi will be getting his own spin-off game — and he also gets confirmed to be playable in Ultimate to promote it.

Sakurai's reason for the Piranha Plant was that he wanted to stray away from using entirely heroes in the roster and wanted to use a character that was well-known. Where am I going with this?

As Waluigi appears to be growing in popularity as Nintendo's black sheep, it could be that the company may use this to establish a personality and origin story for this character, earning him a long-awaited game of his own. It will involve Waluigi going on a heroic (or anti-heroic) quest to finally gain the recognition that his friends receive.

One of the DLC characters will be from an indie game.

CommanderVideo appearing as a trophy in Smash 4 and now Shovel Knight and Shantae characters appearing as spirits indicates that Smash may be easing towards the idea of adding an indie fighter.

• If that's the case, Madeline from Celeste might be a good choice as it was nominated for Game of the Year alongside God of War (PS4) and a few other games in December of 2018 and was the only indie game to achieve this feat.
• Other potential candidates could include the aforementioned CommanderVideo (previously established Smash presence) and Quote (Cave Story is one of the first hugely successful indie games, and has a significant presence on Nintendo platforms). Then there's the highly speculated Steve, who has potential for a unique set of moves and other Minecraftian elements. Alex could serve as an alternate skin like in the original game.
  • Alternatively, for a Minecraft rep, we might have both Jesses instead, since we have yet to get a Graphic Adventure game rep in Smash.
  • Indeed, we ended up getting Steve as a DLC fighter. And Alex is not one, but three of his alternative skins, while Steve also gets three — the other two are a Zombie and an Enderman.

New assist trophies will be announced via DLC

They will be even more powerful than the 59 current assists and are worth more points if KO'd. Candidates could include Kamek, Birdo, Waddle Dees, Tails, Funky Kong, Viridi and even some associated with the DLC fighters (such as Mumbo Jumbo if Banjo-Kazooie is confirmed).

• Some of them may even be playable — and be called Tag Team Assists. They will appear very sparingly in items that look similar to normal trophies but colored differently. When released, the TTA will serve as an extra life for the player who summoned them, bearing their own special moves and Final Smashes. These will be characters that Sakurai and/or Nintendo saw potential in but set aside for more significant fighters so the roster wouldn't be too overcrowded.

In a shocking turn of events, Scorpion will get in.

While the idea itself seems ridiculous at first, given Mortal Kombat lives and breathes Gorn and that Smash Bros. would be no place for it, not to mention that MK was never even released in Japan, keep in mind that Mortal Kombat has been done bloodlessly before, and that M-rated characters like Snake and Bayonetta managed to get in SSB and fit in greatly (not to mention that they have big fanbases in both Japan and the U.S.), while Ridley and K. Rool got in due to high western audience demand. Compounded by the fact that Ryu, a character from another third-party fighter, got in SSB 4 and has returned for Ultimate, it would be remarkable to represent Street Fighter's rivaling franchise.

Scorpion's alternate colors will represent the other ninjas such as Sub-Zero, Ermac, Reptile, Noob Saibot, Rain, Smoke and perhaps even Chameleon (or Tremor if Chameleon is too difficult), although they would only have different visual effects (Scorpion uses fire, Sub-Zero uses ice, Reptile uses acid, etc.) and unique name calls much like the Koopalings. Much like Ryu, Scorpion's attacks will be more powerful if a certain button combination is used (back, back, B for his spear move). His Final Smash will be a combo between his original Mortal Kombat (1992) fatality and his new MK11 one; unmasking himself to unveil his burning skull, to fry the skin off of the opponent. Then, he would remask himself and use his red hot spear to loop over the opponent's skeleton, and slice it in half.

• It should be noted that Mortal Kombat 11 is being ported in Nintendo Switch, which does help the likelihood of Scorpion appearing in Smash (the last time a Mortal Kombat game was ported in a Nintendo console was Armageddon). However, the Mortal Kombat franchise is mostly infamously unpopular in Japan (so much so that an average Japanese gamer may not know who Scorpion is, see the respective page on this matter), mostly due to the excessive blood and gore in the Mortal Kombat franchise. That being said, Ed Boon wouldn't mind having Scorpion in Smash (although the problem is, Scorpion is a Swordsman just like everyone else).
• If that ever happens, they will have to tone him down like NRS did for Injustice, since this game is rated T too. So, one way or another, you can forget your bloody fantasies of murdering the Duck Hunt dog...

Alternatively to Scorpion, Grand Theft Auto's Carl Johnson from San Andreas

Unlike Scorpion, the GTA games are really popular in Japan (albeit with some elements being Bowlderised to make them more accessible to Japanese gamers). After all, not only it would be fantastic to see a Cool vs. Awesome match between Gunners with fantastical elements (Examples: Fox, Bayonetta, the Inklings and Samus) against a more Realistic yet Down to Earth one who is a Street Criminal, but also to include an African-American Playable Character in a Smash game. Bonus points for Young Maylay voicing him again (or alternatively, Phil LaMarr for budgeting reasons) and to have a Match between CJ and Galeem. It would be shocking to see a very Badass Normal Gangster against a gigantic Monstrous being who wanted to take over the Gaming Omniverse. If Nintendo is no stranger to making some M-rated games, then Carl Johnson would be a very surprising Unexpected Character to show up in the game. He would represent Capcom as well.

The Mii fighter costumes are in fact teasing new DLC fighters

Geno, Waluigi, Toad, Tails, Viridi, Isaac, Skull Kid and Ashley are a few of the non-playable characters represented in some form by the Mii fighter costumes, along with costumes of existing fighters. Do these outfits mean something more than simply the developers trying to make up for crushed dreams?

• The Tails costume from 4 was cut.
• And then 3.0 added it back.

A Disney character will make it in

If the DLC fighters are going to be as "surprising and unexpected" as Nintendo claims, they might even step outside their video game boundaries and throw the biggest curveball ever. While it's a safe bet that Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are off limits, there is a considerate amount of hope for Sora making the cut, considering his video game roots, his few Nintendo console appearances, and the fact that he's no stranger to crossovers. That being said, there is one more candidate that's even more unexpected. How about an In-Universe video game character who has already crossed paths with Bowser, Sonic and Pac-Man?

• Very unlikely. Sakurai has made it clear that one of the criteria for eligibility for Smash is that the character be video game-first.
  • Confirmed in the form of Sora, albeit with very little Disney coming with him outside of that Mickey Mouse ensigna.

At least one of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts will appear in Joker's Palutena's Guidance

Just like Chrom in the last game and Alucard in this game, a character will tell Pit and Palutena more about joker (probably Morgana).

• Jossed — like in the previous game, none of the DLC fighters will have their own Guidances. (Piranha Plant was an exception, presumably because it was planned out early enough that it could be recorded along with the others.)

Waluigi is being teased subliminally

With so many other highly-requested characters (and a few nobody saw coming) finally getting the spotlight and the one near, if not at the top of the list having a long history of "lurking in the shadows", cheating and hacking other games, it makes you wonder.

• Piranha Plant as a fighter is an Unexpected Character in and of itself — but then consider that the piranha plants have often been associated with Waluigi in a number of Mario spinoff games, right down to being both his partners in the Duel Map and prominent elements of Waluigi's Island in Mario Party 3.
• Both Sakurai and Nintendo as a whole have made it apparent that they are well aware of the outcry from Waluigi's fanbase. Sakurai has stated that Waluigi's involvement in the game would ultimately be "his decision". More recently, Nintendo of Canada's Andre Collins had this to say in an interview regarding the outcry:
  "I think it's great when something builds naturally because, you know, as a marketer, when you have something that goes viral like that it's brilliant. You can't buy that. You can't create it. And when the fans do something like that, it's amazing. But it's so good to see from a passionate side of things. And let's face it, it's funny."
• Even as early as the "Everyone Is Here!" trailer, there's a scene featuring Wario and Little Mac, the former being the common partner and inspiration behind Waluigi and the latter being the first assist trophy ever to be Promoted to Playable. Coincidence?

The 3.0.0 update will include more bosses for Classic Mode.

While they will not be incorporated into World of Light, more unique bosses could be added into Classic Mode to make it less 75% Master Hand/Crazy Hand. For example, Samus would have Kraid or Mother Brain, Ness and Lucas get Porky or Giygas, Captain Falcon gets Black Shadow, and other Mario characters such as Wario or Peach would get something like King Boo. In fact, perhaps other characters such as Mr. Game and Watch and R.O.B. would get Duon, while the truly wicked ones like Ridley or Ganondorf get to face Tabuu.

• Jossed. The no bosses were added nor were any of the Classic Mode routes changed. In fact, this update added another fighter to take on the Hands. (At least it sort of works in the Actor Allusion sort of way.)

Joker Alternate Color Predictions

Joker's alt. colors will be:

• Joker: Default, Skull, Fox, Crow
• Joker (female): Default, Panther, Queen, Oracle

Either way, two of the 9 Phantom Thieves will not be represented by Joker's alternate colors. My picks are Morgana since he's not a human and color-wise a Morgana alt color would look too similar to Fox, and Noir since she's the least popular of the Phantom Thieves.

• Joker's only Phantom Thief palette is Crow. His other palettes are Arsene, ones that reference the first game, 3 and 4, his school uniform, and a white alt for his school uniform. Female Joker in Smash is jossed. Unless there is a Echo Fighter of Joker planned or Royal girl was planned as an alternate costume a la Olimar and Alph before being scrapped, "jane" was likely referring to Ann, since "jane" can be interpreted as shorthand for joker_anne.
  • The models for the Phantom Thieves are referred to as "p_character" internally, and there's doubt that the "jane" line actually existed. If it was in the game, it's likely that the "jane" alternate costume was scrapped early on.

Erdrick will be announced in May

• Likely on the 27th to tie in with Dragon Quest I's release date in Japan.
  • Jossed. Hero (who has an Erdrick alt; the main skin is the Dragon Quest XI protagonist, promoting the game's Updated Re-release on the Switch) was announced during Nintendo's E3 2019 stream.

Galeem and Dharkon used to be far more powerful, but wore each other down through eons of conflict.

Spirits will be "resurrected" into playable Spirit Fighters

Similar to the theories on playable assist trophies (and they can definitely overlap), they will be chosen based on a combination of move set potential and fan popularity. There's hope for Shantae and Geno yet.

• Especially now that more DLCs after the five Fighters Passes are confirmed to be in development.
  • Min Min has made it in the game, although that doesn't eliminate the Spirit or her Spirit Battle.

The remaining 4 DLC characters will be complete blindsides of frequent rumors

• Expected Erdrick because of the "brave" DLC file leak? Have Bandana Waddle Dee instead!
  • Or if they're really wanting to go nuts? GingerBrave.
    • Jossed. "brave" was actually Hero (who has an Erdrick alt) from Dragon Quest all along ("brave" is another way to translate yuusha, which is how Hero is called in Japan).
• Expected Ryu Hayabusa because of rumors about a Koei Tecmo character? Have Mio and Mayu Amakura instead!
  • Or maybe even Zhao Yun or Lu Bu.
  • Or Bomb Jack if they want to do a throwback to Tecmo's roots.
  • The Amakura sisters are a spirit in the game. Dynasty Warriors are improbable because the characters are in the historical domain.
• Expected Steve because of rumors about a Microsoft character? Have Banjo and Kazooie instead!
  • Ironically confirmed. Banjo and Kazooie were announced during E3 2019.
    • And then Steve got in anyway, just to spite the idea of mutual exclusivity.
• Expected Doom Guy because of rumors about a character from a M-rated game? Have Scorpion instead!
  • All of these except Banjo and Kazooie have been jossed. A Doom Guy outfit for Mii Gunners was released as of the final update, though.

More blindsides for Round Two:

• Instead of any of the existing ARMS characters for Challenger #6, a character from a possible ARMS 2 will be introduced as the newcomer.
  • Jossed, it's Min Min, not anyone from the hypothetical ARMS 2.
• Instead of Sora representing Square Enix, have Geno because he also represents the Mario series.
  • Jossed, we got Sephiroth, and with him, the so-desired expansion of Final Fantasy content in Smash.
    • Incidentally, Sora actually did make it in later on.
• Instead of Shadow the Hedgehog as Sonic's echo fighter, have Tails with a more unique move set.

Each DLC Pack's Music won't be limited to the character's franchise

There will also be new tracks added to franchises already existing in Smash that aren't planned to have DLC.

• Semi-confirmed: only Terry's Challenger Pack includes music from outside his home series, while fighters from franchises that were already in the game (Byleth, Sephiroth, and Pyra and Myhtra) bring new songs to their home series' catalog.

The aftermath of the Subspace Emissary is what caused Galeem and Dharkon to invade the world of Smash

At the end of Subspace Emissary, once Tabuu is defeated, the Subspace bubbles disappear, reverting the damage done to the land. However, the Isle of the Ancients disappears, on account of so many Subspace Bombs detonating at once. In it's place, a cross of light remains.

This cross of light was a dimensional rift, leading to an alternate universe, one where Tabuu wasn't as successful: the fighters were able to stop him much sooner than in the home dimension. Once the world was saved, the abundance of light led to the creation of Galeem. From there, Galeem poured into the world, and began to gather it's strength. It bypassed turning everyone into trophies, because it wasn't a being from this dimension.

Dharkon's arrival is a similar explanation. It came from a universe where Tabuu was entirely successful. By covering the world in Subspace, Dharkon was born, where it overtook Tabuu, and transversed through dimensions via brute force, as opposed to Galeem, which arrived by waiting until the time was right.

Essentially, Galeem came from a reality where Tabuu wasn't successful at all, and Dharkon came from a world where Tabuu was too successful.

The direct that introduces Banjo-Kazooie will also promote a new game involving them

Rumor has it that Banjo-Kazooie were actually considered for Super Smash Bros. Melee, but didn't make the cut due to copyright issues at the time. Now, however, the rules have shifted and third-party boundaries have become easier to access (Joker being the biggest example), and especially with Nintendo and Xbox's crossplay partnership, odds are that the bear-bird duo could be getting a second chance at life.

It would feel a bit odd for BK to simply reemerge in Smash after disappearing for a decade, even though King K. Rool — another iconic Rare-owned character — has accomplished exactly that after a decade-long absence. This is because K. Rool is associated with Donkey Kong and made trophy appearances in Smash before, but BK is a whole other ballgame. And then there's the newer generation of gamers who may not be as familiar with these characters as the group who grew up with them.

All this can be solved with the teasing of a brand-new BK game that could not only revive the franchise, but draw in new fans while respecting its roots and keeping its original audience (not like the general failure that was Nuts and Bolts).

• Jossed. Banjo and Kazooie were announced as Fighters Pass characters, but there's no announcement of a new Banjo-Kazooie game. The first game was added to the Switch Online's N64 app, though (which even the Virtual Console couldn't get before).

One of the planned DLC fighters is a Xenoblade character

Xenoblade 2 was announced too late for Rex or any other character make the initial roster, but with the announcement of more DLC fighters beyond the Fighter Pass in the works and the reveal of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition during the same Nintendo Direct, it's likely that one of these unnanounced characters is from Xenoblade. Adding to this is there's also a suspicious lack of any songs from Xenoblade Chronicles X^Note although this is more likely for licensing reasons, as well as no spirits for Torna: The Golden Country.

• In terms of probability, Mecha-Fiora seems the most likely. Although Rex himself, Pyra (with Mythra as an alt costume), Mumkhar, Elma and Lora are also possible.
• Confirmed! Pyra and Mythra are joining the game as Challenger Pack 9.

One of the planned DLC fighters is another Persona representative

It will most likely be either Akechi or Kasumi, since they're the only Phantom Thieves to not appear in Joker's Final Smash or Mementos (with the latter not having any sort of appearance), and the Persona 3/4 protagonists having Mii costumes. It would also conveniently explain why neither of them appear in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts spirit^Note Although this is downplayed by Kasumi not appearing alongside the rest of the Thieves in most promotional art as well as being revealed as a Phantom Thief after Challenger Pack 1 was released. This new character would probably also bring along some sort of representation for iconic MegaTen demon Jack Frost, who strangely enough doesn't appear in Smash despite being Atlus' mascot.

It's also likely that Take Over (the battle theme from Royal) will be added to Smash at some point regardless.

One of the planned DLC fighters is either Byleth or Edelgard

Possibly announced around the same time as the last character for the Fighter Pass a subtle callback to Corrin being announced alongside the winner of the Smash Ballot for Smash 4. There's a lot of potential candidates for a DLC Spirit Board with Three Houses characters as well, with Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude and Sothis being no-brainers.

• As far as play style goes, it's very likely Byleth will use a durability mechanic similar to Robin. Their Final Smash will likely be Gambit, based on the mechanic from their home game, with the House Leaders (and possibly the other students) joining in.
• Alternately, the Three Houses representative will be Edelgard, since she primarily uses an axe which would make her stand out compared to the other Fire Emblem fighters.
  • Confirmed! Byleth is the fifth Fighter Pass character and Edelgard is one of the female's alt colors (as well as a Spirit). They don't have a durability mechanic and instead use Dimitri, Claude and Edelgard's weapons alongside their own sword. Their Final Smash is based on Ruptured Heaven and not Gambit.

If we get another Sonic representative

Mario and Sonic are among the most recognizable video game mascots in history and their respective companies seem to be growing closer; characters from both games competing together at the Olympic games and the eponymous blue hedgehog being a member of the Smash roster along with the majority of Mario's gang. It's only fair that another character from the franchise be added to the roster as DLC.

While Shadow is a popular choice for an echo fighter, Tails would make more sense given that he is Sonic's sidekick and overall the second most iconic character in the franchise. He'd have a similar move set to Sonic with the addition of his blaster and tail-based moved. Even though he is a background character in Green Hill Zone, he could easily be replaced by another character if selected (as done with Toon Link in Spirit Train). And as several examples have shown, Mii costumes don't automatically deconfirm fighters.

There will be a sixth Fighters Pass character.

Joker stole that invitation from the Metaverse, not the real world, which means there are still five characters with invitations out there. This means that one of the remaining packs will have to have two characters, so Nintendo had to have been lying about each pack only having one character.

• Partially confirmed in terms of more DLC characters beyond the five in the Fighter Pass being announced, although partially jossed since said characters are not part of the Fighter Pass.
  • And Fighters Pass 2 does have six characters.

Post-launch Echo Fighters will come bundled in game updates.

While Sakurai made it clear that Echoes would not be present in the Fighters Pass, there is hardly much stopping him from throwing in a few final Echo Fighters as part of new version updates.

Banjo and Kazooie's reveal trailer

• It opens with the racers of Diddy Kong Racing... racing. It appears to be a trailer for a remake of the original game or a sequel. Out of the blue, a character who wasn't in DKR joins the race: Mario. He is followed by other Mario Kart racers and the track transitions into Mario Circuit. Link and Isabelle then join the race. The Smash characters get into an item fight with Diddy Kong and Banjo until all of their karts are destroyed. Banjo and Kazooie look on as the other characters beckon them to continue the fight on foot. They take the challenge and pose as their tagline shows up. In case it's given away too early, then alternatively, the Smash characters don't appear until the karts are destroyed and there is no transition to Mario Circuit.
• The trailer is similar to the above, except the games are reversed. It opens with the Mario Kart racers on Mario Circuit, leading the viewers to believe that it's a trailer for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC. Diddy Kong is getting overwhelmed, so he pulls out a phone and calls an old friend for help. Of course, it's Banjo.
  • Jossed. With Banjo and Kazooie officially confirmed, we can see that it's a sequel to the King K. Rool trailer, playing out in a very similar way but with Duck Hunt playing the part Dedede played.

Puff Up will be retconned to involve Dynamaxing.

• It's not like this hasn't happened to other FSs.
  • Jigglypuff isn't in Sword & Shield at all, so jossed?

Loki manipulated Galeem and Dharkon in World of Light, and is the mastermind responsible for turning everyone into Spirits.

• As for why? For the Evulz, as always.

Explanation for Spirits who are versions of the player characters or inanimate objects

They were various characters we don't have visible spirits of (such as Iris, Menat, Tikal, etc) transmogrified by Dharkon's sheer power into objects and clones of the fighters. Or maybe for the ones that are versions of the Fighters, these aspects were sucked away from them to keep the fighters weak and easy to control for Galleom?

Adding onto that; there exist sub-Spirit particles, which much of the World of Light's population were turned into

These particles are known as "Eidolons", and each of these Eidolons are much like the Gem Shards from Steven Universe, desperately seeking each other and unity. These ultimately clump together into the object-based Spirits, lacking the ability to become their original forms. This may also explain the Spirits of deceased characters; perhaps these Eidolons are capable of bringing forth the dead, or maybe Galleom's strong enough to rip Spirits out of the afterlife? Eidolons may also be the cause of "minion" fighters created by certain Spirits, such as the Benimaru minion in Kyo's battle. The Tetra Crew Eidolons must be especially strong, good enough to move inanimate spirits around, though not always enough to show their personalities.

Dragon Quest will get Spirit battles.

During the trailer for the Dragon Quest Hero, the Hero fights a Spirit battle with Ganondorf, Ridley and Robin. The thing is no Spirit battle pre-E3 2019 has those three on the same team. In fact, there's a noticeable focus on Spirits during this specific trailer. Together, these details imply that unlike the other Square Enix franchise in Ultimate, Dragon Quest will get Spirit battles.

• Not to mention the fact that Joker came with Spirit battles too...
  • Wasn't it confirmed that every Fighter Pass character would get their own Spirit Board?
    • Not really confirmed so much as it was always guaranteed.
    • And ultimately confirmed.

There will be a new World of Light area with all DLC Spirit battles.

• Jossed.

The last Fighters Pass character will fight all DLC characters in their Classic Mode route.

• Jossed.

The unrevealed Fighter Pass character will be female

All the Fighters Pass characters revealed so far have been male, so something like this would probably balance things out, even if it was just as an alternate costume for another character.

• Confirmed in the sense that Byleth has a female alternate costume.

The final fighter pass character will not be from a video game.

I mean think about it, how do you top a character that has broken so many rules for a character to be in smash? Add in a character that would break the biggest rule of them all!

• Which character? The only thing disqualifying a character from being considered for Smash was if they didn't debut in a video game, the console their game first appeared on is irrelevant. The chances of the final Fighter Pass character not debuting in a video game are pretty much 0%.
  • Jossed. Sakurai reiterated at the Japan Game Awards that Smash will only ever have content from video games. So, stop trying to make Goku happen, because he's a manga/anime character, so it won't happen.
    • Jossed x2. The fifth character is Byleth.

One of Banjo's alt colors will be based on Conker

Because why not.

• Possibly confirmed? Banjo has a color that gives him red fur and blue shorts like Conker's jacket.

Steve and Master Chief will be avaliable as DLC Spirits

Which will be available as part of Banjo's DLC Spirit Board, alongside Spirits based on characters from his home game(s).

• While the jury's out on them showing up in general, they're jossed for being part of Banjo's spirit board. Only characters from Banjo-Kazooie, the original game, appear.
  • The Steve part, at least, is jossed, seeing as he became a playable character in his own right.

One or both of the unrevealed Fighter Pass characters will be first-party

Tying into the theory above. Every other Fighter Pass character revealed so far has been a third-party, and that there are plenty of first-party characters that have potential for unique play styles.

• Confirmed with Byleth. And then later came Min Min.

The first four Fighters Passes are organized in a specific pattern

Joker is from a modern RPG and the Dragon Quest heroes are from a classic RPG. Since Banjo & Kazooie are from a classic platformer, the fourth Fighters Pass will be a character from a modern platformer — maybe Shantae to fill the slot for a female DLC as well as some Indie Game representation.

But what about the last Fighters Pass, the odd number five? This fighter will be the most unexpected of all; one who doesn't fit with any other category...

• Jossed. Terry Bogard has nothing in common with Banjo.

The last DLC fighter is Waluigi

All along, Sakurai and Nintendo have been purposefully building up the demand for Waluigi in order to save his reveal for the Grand Finale. How else could they top Banjo-Kazooie's comeback? By bringing in the one character who has been making rounds online since day one; who was infamously cursed to never be in Smash; who was so heavily demanded to ridiculous extremes.

SSBU marks Piranha Plant's debut as a playable character. Adding Waluigi would break his "spin-off games only" streak. Plus, literally every other central Mario character is already in. Piranha Plant's reveal will be retold for him in a similar way K. Rool's was for Banjo & Kazooie.

Representing the Mario spinoff games, he will come with a moveset that integrates his tennis racket, moonwalks, racing karts, "air swimming" and dice blocks. And when the time comes to add him into the mural, he will be placed next to Luigi — headbutted by Luigi's side special.

• Very unlikely, since Waluigi is an assist trophy. And the final DLC character of Ultimate, ever, turned out to be Sora (who was another highly requested character, so not a complete loss).

Yooka and Laylee will appear as Mii Costumes.

Grunty and Mumbo also have great potential for Mii costumes.

Music from Conker's Bad Fur Day will be part of Challenger Pack 3

Specifically, the overworld theme 'Windy' will make an appearance. It's a game with a similar aesthetic to Banjo-Kazooie (though with VERY different, much more mature themes) and owned by Rare, and Nintendo's not opposed to including more mature characters in Smash, as seen with Bayonetta and Snake. Though, they probably won't put in the Great Mighty Poo's theme song with lyrics.

• Jossed. No Conker songs unfortunately.

Characters having 16 color options will return in a future update

Like before, only certain characters will get the luxury, like Little Mac regaining all the colors he lost. Certain newcomers, like Inkling, will get more colors based on releases for their series that have come out since the original 2015 project plan, like Splatoon 2. Upcoming newcomers like The Hero from Dragon Quest will have extra colors for the currently absent female Erdrick from Dragon Quest III and Sofia from Dragon Quest IV.

• Jossed. Besides, aren't eight colors enough? The only way the game could handle 16-Player Smash is if everyone picked Ice Climbers.

The final DLC Fighter is going to be Riesz

The final DLC is set to be released on February 2020 and the Trials of Mana Remake is set to be released in early 2020, so a fighter from that game would be great to promote it.

And not only is Riesz the most popular among the 6 playable characters, she also fights with a spear, a weapon, that hasn't been used in Smash yet.

• Jossed. The fifth Fighter Pass character is Byleth. Riesz does appear in Spirit form, though.

Upcoming games that will have Spirits added via updates

• Luigi's Mansion 3
  • Gooigi, the new Portrait Ghosts
    • Jossed.
• Fire Emblem Three Houses
  • Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude
    • Confirmed. All three will be receiving Spirits via Byleth's DLC Spirit Board.
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
  • Skateboarding, Surfing, Karate
    • Jossed.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (It seems the lack of spirits is from the artist owning them instead of Square Enix, so perhaps they could use artwork from the remake)
  • Tifa, Aerith, Barret
    • Confirmed through Sephiroth's DLC Spirit Board. However, they use the classic Tetsuya Nomura artwork; the only spirits that use artwork from the remake are those who aren't FFVII-specific, plus Bahamut ZERO.

Banjo & Kazooie's palette swaps

Time for some speculation on what alts the bear and bird will bring with 'em.

• Default (Not much to say here.)
• Pink Banjo/Orange Kazooie (Already confirmed; based off of Mumbo)
• Blue Banjo/Green Kazooie (Based off of one of the duo's possible colors in Banjo-Tooie's multiplayer mode)
• Green Banjo/Purple Kazooie (Ditto)
• Yellow Banjo/Pink Kazooie (The last one from Tooie's multiplayer mode. Kazooie also looks like a chained breegull from Grunty's Revenge)
• White Banjo/White Kazooie (Based off of Boggy the Polar Bear and an NPC breegull from Grunty's Revenge, respectively)
• Black Banjo/Dragon Kazooie (The former is based off of Bottles)
• Tuxedo Top Banjo/Bowtie Kazooie (Clothes the duo wear in the ending cutscene for Nuts & Bolts and unlock and wear after beating the final Grunty mission)
  • Any alternates for Banjo and Kazooie beyond simple recolors are Jossed.
    • From third, the other colors are: Black Banjo/Blue Kazooie, Maroon Banjo/Purple Kazooie, White Banjo/Black Kazooie, Yellow Banjo/Brown Kazooie, Blue Banjo/Red Kazooie, and Green Banjo/Purple Kazooie (based on Grunty).

Kirby freed the DLC characters before World of Light started.

It's well within the realm of possibility that Galeem sent some possessed fighters to ambush Kirby while he was surveying what was left after the light god's assault: we just didn't get to play as him while he defeated and freed them. The Hero's trailer puts this theory in a weird place, but there's nothing indicating that both characters weren't rescued from brainwashing before this.

Banjo and Kazooie were supposed to show up with the base roster newcomers, but they had to get in shape without the Lord of Games' help.

They went to seed after eight years of inaction. Eleven years definitely left them in an even worse state. As for why L.O.G. didn't zap them into fighting shape this time, he obviously hasn't had any plans for them in a while. If there's anyone who can sneak around his unquestioned authority over video games, it's most likely the giant glove that somehow plucks famous characters from different universes and makes them fight for the amusement of him and others.

Of course, given every Smash game has done gangbusters, they probably could have just asked him instead of working out all that time.

Banjo and Kazooie's final boss in classic mode will be Galleom.

Galleom will serve as a counterpart to Grunty's Hag-1.

• Jossed. It's Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

Alternate boss variants will be added as DLC

These would be harder variants of the pre-existing bosses accessible on harder difficulties. For example, Marx Soul could replace Marx, and Somacula could replace Dracula.

• Jossed. DLC doesn't alter base content like that.

Cloud will finally receive English voice acting in a future update

When Cloud was included in Smash 4 as DLC, he was entirely voiced in Japanese, and even when Smash Ultimate gave Japanese-speaking characters like Marth and Roy English voices, Cloud didn't receive anything like that. This was due to contractual issues between Square Enix and Cloud's main english voice actor at the time, Steve Burton, which essentially meant that Burton couldn't reprise the role^note Burton is a union voice actor and Smash 4 and Ultimate are non-union projects, and while union actors can get around this via using a pseudonym, Burton's contract specifies that he must be credited with his actual name and no one else could take over for him^note his contract also specifies that he and he alone can only voice Cloud in English.

However, at E3 2019, it was revealed that Final Fantasy VII Remake would be recasting its main characters, with the new English voice actor for Cloud being Cody Christian. While it's currently unknown what this could mean going forward, it's possible that now the contractual issues with Steve Burton are no longer a problem, and that Smash Ultimate is free to finally give Cloud an English voice in a future update (whether through getting Burton back to voice new lines, possibly getting Cody Christian to voice him, or just recycling Burton's voice samples from other games similar to how Sonic's voice is handled).

• Jossed. He still only has his Japanese voice — and so does Sephiroth. Square Enix might have red-taped both Christian and Tyler Hoechlin as well.

At least one of the Fighters Pass characters will be female.

• Confirmed, Byleth has his female counterpart as an alternate costume. And now with the addition of Min Min, we have our first standalone female DLC fighter.

When Banjo & Kazooie are released, the accompanying Mii Fighter costume pack will include other Rare and Microsoft characters

When Joker was released, the Mii Fighter costume pack that came with him included not just Persona-themed costumes, but also a couple of Sonic-themed costumes. Banjo & Kazooie will follow this with Mii Fighter costumes based on characters from Rare and Microsoft, some of which could be no-brainers (Master Chief and Joanna Dark for the Gunner, Steve and Alex for the Swordfighter, Rash, Pimple, and Zitz for the Brawler, Mii hats based on Ori and Lucky), others could be really deep cuts (Cooper for the Brawler, Kuros, Blinx, and Senua for the Swordfighter, Juno and Vela for the Gunner)

• Jossed. Among the Mii Costumes confirmed with 5.0.0 (Goemon, Team Rocket, Proto Man, Zero, and Sans) none of them are from Microsoft. However, we might get a chance to see Microsoft Mii Costumes in the future.
  • Steve and Alex being costumes are super jossed, due to being playable characters, though they brought along three Mii costumes based off of Minecraft.

The last two Fighters Pass characters and their reveal will be a repeat of Hero and Banjo-Kazooie

Essentially, just like how the Hero and Banjo-Kazooie were revealed during the E3 2019 Direct, the last two characters for the current Fighters Pass will be revealed during a Nintendo Direct again (either a Smash-dedicated Direct or just a general one), one at the start and one at the end. The character revealed at the start will be someone like Hero, who is generally expected to be included eventually, and thus only mildly exciting even if plenty of fans want them in (examples: Heihachi, Ryu Hayabusa). The character revealed at the end will be someone like Banjo, who has been requested by many, many fans for inclusion in Smash but has the odds stacked against them, so their announcement will make fans go insane with excitement (examples: Geno, Doom Slayer).

• Jossed. The September 4, 2019 Direct introduced Terry to Smash, but that was it.

Banjo & Kazooie are going to have an item collecting gimmick.

First there was Joker with his Persona-assisted Super Mode, and then came the Heroes with their bevy of RPG-related shenanigans. We could very well see Banjo & Kazooie rely on collecting items to access the strongest versions of their moves, given they're the most famous Collectathon Platformer mascots whose names aren't Mario. We've even got a possible sample in their Wonderwing's golden feather count. As another example, their egg-shooting moves might use blue eggs by default, and they pick up grenade eggs scattered around the stage to add more firepower.

• Jossed. The closest thing Banjo & Kazooie have to a gimmick is having a limited use for Wonderwing.

The final two Fighters Pass characters are all female.

Jossed. The fourth Fighter Pass character is Terry Bogard, who is male.

To tie-in with Dead or Alive 6 being released on the Switch, there will be an upcoming DLC for the Dead or Alive series.

Kasumi will be a DLC fighter, while many others are spirits.

• Alternatively, Ayane could be added instead of Kasumi, seeing as they're both equally as iconic to the series as each other. The sister we don't get could be added as an Echo Fighter during Season 2.
• Adding onto this, Ryu Hayabusa will appear as the next fight alongside either character, except he'll represent Ninja Gaiden.
  • Jossed.

The next DLC character reveal trailer will be a sequel to a previous trailer

Just like how Banjo-Kazooie's trailer was a sequel to King K. Rool's trailer.

• Jossed. Terry's trailer referenced other SNK characters, like Geese Howard and Nakoruru, failing to get the Smash Invitation.

Copious amounts of time travel were used during World of Light

To be exact, time travel was being used by Galleom to push his assassins into the past to destroy the originals and collect their bodies earlier. This would explain why stages that by all rights should have been utterly cleaned of sentient life are still populated, and how Assist Trophies and Pokeballs are usable even when it doesn't appear that the corresponding Spirits can activate them unlike the bosses.

• Don't you mean Galeem?

There will be two more Fighter Passes containing five characters each

Given there's 10 empty slots in the game's data for playable characters on the character select screen and World of Light after the currently unannounced fifth Fighter Pass character. Since the first one contains third-party characters who have never appeared in Smash before, perhaps the second Fighter Pass will focus on new characters from series already represented in Smash?

• That'll give us a grand total of 90 fighters. Talk about a milestone!
  • Wave 2 has six characters announced, which brings the roster to 88 characters total.
    • Sakurai also said that there'll be no more DLC after Fighters Pass 2.

The final playable character total will be over 100

As an alternate to the above theory, although less likely. There were 30 empty character select slots in the game at launch, so it's possible that there will be four Fighter Passes. The remaining six character slots could likely go to Echo Fighters released independently of the Fighter Passes.

• Jossed. With the reveal that Fighters Pass 2 will be the last, the total will be 88. Also, there's no such thing as empty slots in the character select screen — it gets reorganized to make room for each newcomer.

The reason why Sans is a costume...

It's because Sans is The Slacker. When he received the invitation, he thought "that's too tiring. i'll just send my clothes so they can have someone standing in for me." And so he did send his clothes there, and Sakurai improvised.

• That, and the real Sans is OP.

Another assist trophy will get in before Waluigi

Ridley is too big, K. Rool and Banjo-Kazooie are irrelevant, Sans is a meme. If Piranha Plant and Byleth's inclusions are any indication, it doesn't matter how many times a franchise is represented. All these supposed "rules" have been broken one by one. The only thing standing in Waluigi's way now is that he's an assist trophy, but that rule will be broken as well. A leak will disclose big details about an upcoming fighter (he's an assist trophy, heavily demanded since Brawl, evil doppelganger, has W in his name) and to everyone's surprise it will turn out to be Shadow the Hedgehog. This would push the Waluigi memes, hype and teasing even further.

• Alternatively: If Waluigi comes first, he will later pull a fake-out for Shadow's reveal trailer (similar to King Dedede and Duck Hunt) before being K Od by the real fighter.
  • Jossed. No playable Assist Trophies for you in this game (unless you count the Bomberman outfit for the Miis).

The fifth Fighters Pass is for an Indie Game character

The game has Shantae as a spirit, Shovel Knight as an assist trophy and Sans as a costume. But who's the fighter going to be? Who will come with their own move set, stage and music track? Excluding the games already represented in Smash, the fifth DLC may be from Minecraft. Anyone's guess really.

• Cuphead? Freddy? Quote? Reimu?
  • Jossed. Byleth is a first-party character, although Cuphead was confirmed as a Mii Costume alongside their reveal.

If we get Waluigi as a DLC fighter, it won't be "normal" Waluigi

Since regular Waluigi is an assist trophy character. If we do get Waluigi, it will likely end up being Dr. Waluigi or another version of him instead and his hypothetical reveal trailer and moveset will lampshade this.

• Perhaps it could be Mario Tennis Aces Waluigi? This is the only version of him that is missing from the Spirit Board.

• Given Waluigi's bizarreness, it would actually be fitting (not to mention hilarious) if he was able to summon or KO his own assist trophy if one of his alt forms was being played. If his default form is chosen, the assist trophy is disabled. Three of his alts will resemble his default form in different colors (red — Mario, green — Luigi, Bus Driver — Mario Kart Tour) and the rest will be outfits from Mario Tennis Aces (purple — his own, yellow — Wario, pink — Peach, orange — Daisy).

The last Fighters Pass character will be from a company whose name begins with H

We got Hero from Square Enix, Banjo & Kazooie from Microsoft, Joker from Atlus, and Terry from SNK.

• Going along with this, the fifth Fighters Pass will turn out to be a first-party DLC from HAL Laboratory — Bandana Waddle Dee or a new Pokemon fighter.
• Jossed, the fifth character is Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and none of the companies involved with that game (Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, Koei Tecmo) start with H.

One reason Galeem and Dharkon hate each other's guts is because they hurt each other just by existing.

Darkness is the absence of light and all. They can't exactly exist in the same place, so it wouldn't be surprising if their respective deities got hurt just by getting a bit too close.

The fifth Fighters Pass character is from an older, classic game and/or series from the 80's or 90's

A pattern that all four of the Fighters Pass characters are following with no exceptions is that they all hail from video game series that were conceived and first started sometime in the 80's or 90's...

• The Persona series started on the original PlayStation in 1996, not to mention the greater Megami Tensei franchise starting on the Famicom in 1987
• The Dragon Quest series started on the Famicom in 1986
• Banjo-Kazooie was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998
• The Fatal Fury series started in the arcades in 1991, with The King of Fighters following in 1994

... and if the fifth Fighters Pass character follows the same pattern, it will likely be someone whose home series started somewhere around the same time frame.

• Bubblun, perhaps? The Bubble Bobble series was introduced in 1986 like Dragon Quest was, plus, it'd give us a Taito representative.
  • Arle Nadja (December 1989), Morrigan Aensland (1994), and Doom Slayer (1993) might be good candidates too.
• This seems like a very sensible guess: the best chance for it to be Jossed is if Sakurai decides to add one of his recent favorites into the mix, as the Joker pack hardly references SMT or even the first two Persona games very much.
  • Jossed in the fact the fifth character is Byleth, who is from a game released in 2019, although confirmed in that the Fire Emblem series started in the 90's.

Future DLC characters beyond the current Fighters Pass will include characters that were considered for previous games

Simply going off of the Smash Bros. What Could Have Been page, that means any of the following could be DLC...

• Ayumi Tachibana: Considered for Melee and has a trophy in the final game, but wasn't included due to lack of familiarity outside of Japan.
• Takamaru: Considered for both Melee and Smash 4, though is only an Assist Trophy in both the latter and Ultimate.
• Mach Rider: Considered for Melee.
• Balloon Fight, Urban Champion, Clu Clu Land, and Excitebike: All considered for Melee as the "token retro character" before the Ice Climbers were chosen.
• The "Forbidden Seven" who were considered for Brawl and have leftover data in the final game (some of whom are already in Ultimate)...
  • Dixie Kong
  • Toon Zelda and Toon Sheik
  • "Pra_Mai" (theorized to be Plusle and Minun)
• Blastoise: Considered as a part of Pokemon Trainer's team in Brawl, but was replaced by Squirtle.
• Krystal: Considered for Brawl, but was passed over in favor of Wolf, and is now an Assist Trophy in Ultimate.
• Geno: Considered for Brawl, but wasn't included possibly due to rights issues with Square Enix.
  • He's still a Mii Gunner outfit, released with Sephiroth.
• Rhythm Heaven: Leftover data in Smash 4 referencing a series icon implies a character from that series was intended to be included, but ultimately scrapped.
• Heihachi: Considered for Smash 4, but ultimately became a Mii Fighter costume instead due to Sakurai thinking his moveset and animations would be too difficult to translate over to Smash.
  • They ended up picking Kazuya because his Devil powers allowed the team to build a workable moveset for him.
• Bartz and Terra: Considered as possible Final Fantasy characters in Smash 4, but passed over in favor of the much more popular Cloud.
  • They chose Sephiroth instead.
• Decidueye: Actually considered for the main roster of Ultimate, but was replaced with Incineroar during development.
  • No dice for the others.

Terry will not have the SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy version as an alt.

Quite a few people seem to like the idea of this happening, but there's one big problem: proportions. His usual body is much bigger and bulkier than his female form from SNK Heroines.

• Confirmed.

In the vein of Sans, other characters will be added in as costumes

Sans stands out among other character costumes because he looks like the legitimate thing. This will be done with other characters in the future. Since Banjo & Kazooie are already representing Microsoft as fighters, chances are we will get Steve as a Swordfighter costume (complete with a music track and Minecraftian elements for stage builder).

• Perhaps extra parts for the existing costumes could also be done, such as a Goemon mask.
  • Seemingly confirmed with the Cuphead costume.
    • Steve didn't become a Mii costume, he became an actual fighter.
  • And there's also the Vault Boy costume now.

Version 6.0 Update Mii Costumes

Heihachi, Akira, and Jacky's Mii Costumes from Smash 4 will return alongside Terry's release, as those costumes were added in Smash 4 alongside the release of Ryu. As for new Mii Costumes, we will receive Haohmaru as a costume for Mii Swordfighter, probably as promotion for the upcoming Samurai Shodown game coming to the Switch, Marco will be added as a costume for the Mii Gunner, and Chun-Li will be added as a new Mii Brawler costume.

Terry's moveset and gameplay mechanics

• Like Ryu and Ken, Terry's moves can be performed with either the standard Smash Bros. tilt command inputs, or with the original command inputs from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters. However, since his moveset in those games usually shares inputs between the Punch and Kick buttons, his Smash Bros. moveset do so similarly with the Attack and Special buttons...
  • Power Wave: Neutral B / Quarter-circle forward + Attack
  • Burn Knuckle: Side B / Quarter-circle backward + Attack
  • Rising Tackle: Up B / Charge down, up + Attack
  • Crack Shoot: Down B / Quarter-circle backward + Special
  • Power Dunk: Neutral B in the air / Dragon punch motion + Special
  • Power Charge: Half-circle forward + Special
    • Confirmed, except Burn Knuckle and Crack Shoot share the side special — which one you use depends on which direction you press related to where Terry is facing (forward for Burn Knuckle, backward for Crack Shoot). Power Dunk is his down special and Power Charge is his dash attack. The QCF + Attack command was given to Burn Knuckle to accomodate it being a direction-dependant side special, so Power Wave doesn't have a command input. Neutral special in the air replaces the Power Wave with the Round Wave.
• Like Joker, Terry's gameplay will have a meter mechanic, specifically based on the Super Meter from The King of Fighters '95. The meter fills up whenever Terry gets hit, and can also be manually filled by holding both the Shield and Special buttons. When the meter is full, Terry's attacks in general will do significantly more damage, and performing the quarter-circle forward + Attack input will have Terry perform his Desperation Move, the Power Geyser, at the cost of emptying the meter. The Super Meter will also be instantly filled up if Terry's damage percentage reaches 200%.
  • He actually has an DM marker which will pop up when he reaches 100% damage (200% is a bit much considering fighters routinely get launched with less than that anyway) or 30% of his initial HP in Stamina matches. When it appears, he can use either Power Geyser (QCB, HCF + Special) or Buster Wolf (2x QCF + Special).
• Also like Ryu and Ken, Terry can perform two different Final Smashes depending on how close he is to the opponent.
  • If Terry isn't right next to an opponent, he will perform the Buster Wolf, his iconic super move from most of the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters games.
  • If Terry is right next to an opponent, he will perform the Star Dunk Volcano, his Climax Move from The King of Fighters XIV.
    • He has a completely new Final Smash called Triple Wolf, which incorporates both the Triple Geyser and the Buster Wolf.

Terry's Classic Mode path

Like Ryu's Classic Mode path, each fight is a stamina battle taking place on an Omega Form stage. However, the fights in Terry's path are also 3-vs-3 fights following the Squad Strike Tag Team system, with Terry being accompanied by Ryu and Ken, and the opponents being part of a themed team on the relevant stage.

• Battle 1 — Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi (Super Mario Bros. Team) on Yoshi's Island
  • It is a Mario team, but it's Mario, Peach and Rosalina, and they are fought on standard KOF Stadium
• Battle 2 — Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda Team) on Hyrule Temple
  • Again, right on it being a Zelda team, but it's Sheik, Link and Zelda, and they are fought on standard Prism Tower (Pokémon X/Y), but the elevator platform never rises, so the fight is all on the ground
• Battle 3 — Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede (Kirby Team) on Green Greens
  • It's actually a sort of "Trouble King" team: Bowser, Dedede and K. Rool, fought in Omega Suzaku Castle
• Battle 4 — Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Pokemon Trainer (Pokemon Team) on Pokemon Stadium
  • It's actually a Kid Icarus Team: Pit, Dark Pit and Palutena on Battlefield Palutena's Temple
• Battle 5 — Sheik, Bayonetta, and Peach (Women Fighters Team) on Mushroom Kingdom II
  • It's kind of a "Third Party Stars" Team (Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man) on standard Boxing Ring
• Battle 6 — Simon, Isabelle, and King K. Rool (New Faces Team) on Terry's currently unnamed stage
  • It's a "Dark" Team (Ridley, Ganondorf, Bayonetta) on Omega Fourside
• Boss — Dracula (the closest Smash Bros. analogue to King of Fighters' Rugal Bernstein)
  • Partially jossed. Terry does fight themed trios in Stamina battles, but he is not accompanied by any allies. The boss is Ryu, Ken, and another Terry.

Terry's accompanying music tracks

So far, a new remix of "Kurikinton", Terry's main theme in most games since Fatal Fury 2, has been confirmed (it can be heard in the 9/4/19 Nintendo Direct right after Terry's reveal trailer).

As for the rest, not only will the music selection that comes with Terry include tracks from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters (with some being remixed, and others just being ripped straight from the original games), but also tracks from other SNK games like Samurai Shodown and Metal Slug.

• Tracks that may be remixed for Ultimate
  • "A Somewhat Stylish Brawling Punk" (Fatal Fury Player vs. Player Theme)
    • No.
  • "Pasta" (Fatal Fury 2 / Special, Andy Bogard's Theme)
    • Yes!
  • "A New Poem that Southern Thailand Wants to Recite" (Fatal Fury 2 / Special, Joe Higashi's Theme)
    • No. It's a straight rip.
  • "Soy Sauce for Geese" (Fatal Fury Special, Geese Howard's Theme)
    • No. It's a straight rip.
  • "Flame Dragon God" (Fatal Fury 2 / Special, Mai Shiranui's Theme)
    • No. There's no content relating to Mai save for the KOF '94 Women Fighters' Team theme.
  • "C62 ~White Country~" (Fatal Fury 3, Ryuji Yamazaki's Theme)
    • No.
  • "Blue Mary's Blues" (Real Bout Fatal Fury, Blue Mary's Theme)
    • No.
  • "Esaka" (The King of Fighters '94, Hero Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Fist of Dragon and Tiger" (The King of Fighters '94, Art of Fighting Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Stormy Saxaphone" (The King of Fighters '95, Rivals Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Splendid Evil" (The King of Fighters 2003, "Hero Team" Theme)
    • No.

• Tracks that may just be ripped straight
  • "Spread the Wings" (Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Rock Howard's Theme)
  • "Sunrise on the Train" (Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Terry Bogard's Theme)
  • "Bad Girl" (Garou: Mark of the Wolves, B. Jenet's Theme)
  • "Matchless Mask-Man" (Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Tizoc's Theme)
    • No. Sadly there are no Mark of the Wolves songs.
  • "Follow ME (Instrumental)" (The King of Fighters XIV, Intro Theme)
    • No.
  • "Yappari ESAKA" (The King of Fighters XIV, Japan Team Theme)
    • Yes!
  • "Saxaphone Under the Moon" (The King of Fighters XIV, Yagami Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Departure from South Town" (The King of Fighters XIV, Fatal Fury Team Theme)
    • Yes!
  • "Magical Sky" (The King of Fighters XIV, Another World Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Splendid Soldier" (The King of Fighters XIV, Women Fighters Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Tiger & Dragon" (The King of Fighters XIV, Art of Fighting Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "COCO" (The King of Fighters XIV, South America Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Survivors Under the Sky" (The King of Fighters XIV, Ikari Team Theme)
    • No. They have "IKARI" though, which was used in its capacity as a cover of the original Ikari Warriors theme.
  • "Soy Sauce for Koyadofu" (The King of Fighters XIV, South Town Team Theme)
    • No.
  • "Way of the Overlord" (Samurai Shodown (2019), Haohmaru's Theme)
    • No.
  • "Waltz of Nature" (Samurai Shodown (2019), Nakoruru's Theme)
    • No. There's a remix of "Banquet of Nature" from the first game though.
  • "French Lady" (Samurai Shodown (2019), Charlotte's Theme)
    • No.
  • "Way of the Crook" (Samurai Shodown (2019), Earthquake's Theme)
    • No. There's a remix of "Gaia", his stage theme from the first game though.
  • "Seafarer's Paradise" (Samurai Shodown (2019), Darli Dagger's Theme)
    • No.
  • "Metal Slug Theme" (Metal Slug)
    • No. This one's remixed.
  • "Judgement" (Metal Slug 2 / X)
    • Yes!
  • "Ocean Blue Fangs" (Metal Slug 3)
    • Yes!
  • "Fierce Battle" (Metal Slug 5)
    • No.
  • "Psycho Soldier Theme" (Psycho Soldier)
    • No. This is remixed, and has two versions: in Japanese and in English.
  • "Theme of Ikari" (Ikari Warriors)
    • No. As stated before, this appears as "IKARI", the KOF XIV version of the song.

Terry's release will coincide with, or be used to help promote, an upcoming SNK-related release

It can be argued that the previous three DLC characters had some sort of secondary promotional purpose...

• Shortly after Joker was released in April, both the Updated Re-release Persona 5: Royal for the PS4 and spin-off game Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers for PS4 and Switch were revealed.
• One of the playable Dragon Quest Heroes, and the face of the "character" itself, is the main protagonist from Dragon Quest XI. While that game was already out on PS4, 3DS, and PC by the time of Hero's reveal, Sakurai's gameplay presentation and even Ultimate always refer to Eleven's game as "Dragon Quest XI S", the name of the then-upcoming Switch port.
• Banjo & Kazooie are a bit more iffy since there's no new release they could potentially be promoting, but Sakurai during the gameplay presentation still urges viewers to go play the original two Banjo-Kazooie games on Xbox One.

... with those in mind, it's possible that Terry's release in November will also coincide with, or be used to help promote an upcoming release related to SNK, such as...

• Switch and Xbox One ports of The King of Fighters XIV.
• A Compilation Re-release of some of SNK's fighting games (similar to the upcoming Samurai Shodown: NeoGeo Collection), whether it's the Fatal Fury games, The King of Fighters, or other miscellaneous games such as Art of Fighting and The Last Blade.
• The King of Fighters XV, which could have its first trailer released around the same time as Terry.
• A completely different, currently-unannounced new game, such as another King of Fighters spin-off like SNK Heroines, a new Metal Slug game, or even a new SNK Vs. Capcom crossover game.
• Samurai Shodown (2019) is getting a Switch port. If nothing else, Sakurai might mention the game and ask people to go play it, even if it has nothing to do with Terry other than being another SNK fighting game.
  • If a Haohmaru Mii Costume gets revealed, then Sakurai could use it as an opportunity to promote the game.
  • Jossed. There was no cross-promotion involved. Also the Samurai Shodown Mii costume is Nakoruru.

Ridley was never invited, but he ended up crashing Smash anyway.

There were a lot of good and obvious reasons as to why he never got an envelope, but the Space Pirate recon team told him about Samus' little vacation spot and he ended up sneaking into Smash and announcing his presence in his typical manner. He's probably not the first one to show up this way, given SSB's chaotic nature, but he's probably the easiest to pick out as having done so.

The final Fighters Pass character will be absolutely unexpected.

Bonus points if it's an indie game character.

• More bonus points if it's not a super popular choice among speculators like Shantae or Frisk.
• Alternatively, the character is very important to Sakurai specifically, but was painfully obscure even at the peak of their popularity. Given every DLC character so far except Banjo and Kazooie has come from a game he really enjoyed, the chances of this happening are bigger than one would expect, especially if their games had some surprisingly strong influence on video games in general.
• Whether or not Byleth josses this theory depends on your point of view.

Geese Howard became a Spirit due to him falling off his tower when he tried to get the Smash invitation.

Makes sense, really.

A future Fighters Pass DLC will be a spirit

A common saying among Smash fans is that being a trophy/spirit automatically disqualifies a character from being playable, although it has never been officially stated (Mewtwo and Lucas in SSB4 are prominent examples against this argument). Not only would choosing a spirit for the last Fighters Pass be highly unexpected, but it would broaden the potential for future DLCs to include first, second and third party characters.

• Confirmed! Min Min will appear as DLC.
  • And later on we'd have Pyra and Mythra as well.

A bonus DLC character will be announced alongside the final Fighter Pass character

To act as a teaser for the next wave of fighters.

• Jossed. Byleth's presentation had no additional new characters revealed.

The fifth Fighters Pass DLC will turn out to have been the original recipient of the first Fighters Pass...

Which, as you recall, was stolen by Joker. They have to reveal who that invite was originally for.

• Jossed, Byleth's character trailer has no call backs to Joker's trailer.

Waluigi will cheat his way into DLC

Waluigi is famous for cheating and has in fact taken over other games before. He has been repeatedly banned from Smash because of this habit, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to cheat his way in.

"Just because you try hard, doesn't mean you'll make it into battle."

If we want to take this even further, he will hijack a trailer and roster slot meant for another character. And all of this will be lampshaded by Palutena.

Downloadable Content Spirits have gone insane/feral after being deprived of their bodies

This would explain why they attack even without Galleom's influence. The other explanation would be that they voluntarily joined Galleom, which might not work for most characters.

• Again, you mean Galeem. Galleom is the sub-boss from Brawl.

Mii Costumes are made from the bodies of Spirits unable to take the strain of being made into Puppet Fighters

Effectively, their bodies dried out and came apart, becoming husks Miis can use. Some influence of the former individuals remains within the costumes.

Fighter Pass Round 2 release dates

This round contains six characters, all of whom will be revealed by December 2021. That's two years worth of guessing! The most likely thing to happen is that three are unveiled this year and three next year. But then again, nothing is likely when it comes to Smash; we could get another double reveal like Hero and Banjo for all we know. Like everything else here, take this with a grain of salt.

Byleth and the 5th round of Mii costumes will be available on January 28th. Crossing this out as our first fighter-reveal date, the next direct will probably occur in late March or early April — the perfect time for Sakurai to pull an April Fools' Day joke related to DLC.

• I'm not sure they'll just stretch out the release dates of the next Fighters Pass. Taking the release dates of the first Fighters Pass into consideration, I'm thinking:
  • Challenger Pack 6: Spring 2020
  • Challenger Pack 7: Summer 2020, reveal at E3
  • Challenger Pack 8: Late Summer or Early Fall 2020, Possible reveal at E3
  • Challenger Pack 9: Holiday 2020
  • Challenger Pack 10: Beginning of 2021
  • Challenger Pack 11: Spring 2021
  • That way, all fighters of this pack will be released before E3 2021 — way before the initial deadline of 12/31/2021!
    • Jossed for Challenger Pack 6 — it will be released in Summer 2020, although it was revealed in the spring of that year.
    • Needless to say, pretty much none of the predictions for release dates lined up.

The reason for the longer spanning deadline...

Is because there are also more bonus fighters alongside the six challengers. The Fighters Pass characters will generally be less obvious choices who are not yet represented in the game^note Apart from Banjo & Kazooie, the previous Fighters Pass characters weren't particularly popular in demand. The bonus fighters will be like Piranha Plant; characters who don't have anything new to add in terms of stages or spirits but still have enough moveset potential — even as echo fighters — that they aren't relegated to Mii Costumes. Many of the more requested characters (the spirits) seem to fit that bill.

This is apparently the last Fighters Pass round and it's being done to fulfill fan requests, so Nintendo will probably want to spruce things up. Bonus fighters could help squeeze in a few more spaces and make this round different from the previous. Here is how it might go down; keep in mind this is just opinion-based.

• Challenger 6: Rex or Pyra (starts on an underwhelming note with a first-party rep)
  • Bonus: Waluigi (First-party)
    • Challenger 6 is Min Min from ARMS, falling in line with it being first-party. No bonus yet though.
    • Coincidentally, Pyra (and Mythra) ended up being DLC, but as Challenger Pack 9. So... confirmed-ish?
• Challenger 7: Rillaboom (to fill the niche for a Gen 8 Pokemon)
  • Bonus: Dixie Kong (can work as Diddy's echo fighter)
    • Challenger 7 is Steve from Minecraft, a third-party character. No bonus character.
• Challenger 8: Crash Bandicoot (Third-party rep)
  • Bonus: Ray Man (third-party)
    • Challenger 8 is Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. Still no bonus.
• Challenger 9: Dante (rep from a mature game)
  • Bonus: Resident Evil rep (Capcom)
    • As noted above, Pyra and Mythra ended up being Challenger Pack 9. Yet again, no bonus character.
• Challenger 10: Arle Nadja (rep from a series more popular in Japan compared to the West, plus serving as a standalone female DLC)
  • Bonus: Shadow the Hedgehog (Sega, plus Shadow can work as Sonic's echo fighter)
    • Challenger 10 is Kazuya Mishima. Once again, no bonus character.
• Challenger 11: Sora (he'd fit right in with his crossover history)
  • Bonus: Geno (Square Enix)
    • While Sora was indeed confirmed as Challenger 11, there was no bonus fighter once more. What a shock.

If Steve gets added to Smash, he'll be a costume for Mii Swordfighters

In a similar situation to Sans and Cuphead, two fellow indie game characters who are costumes instead of full-fledged fighters.

• Jossed — Steve is his own character.

Most, if not all, Indie reps will be Mii Costumes

Sans and Cuphead look enough like the actual characters and Steve would be a perfect next candidate. This will happen several more times until, much to everyone's surprise, one Indie character is revealed as an actual fighter complete with a stage and spirits, who could provide a very unique move set with her shapeshifting abilities. Of course I'm talking about a certain half-genie hero whose appearance in the Spirit Board just could be a hint at something.

• Putting aside any technicalities regarding whether or not Minecraft counts as a "true" indie game, Steve did not end up being a costume, considering he ended up being an actual fighter. Shantae joining could still happen down the line, though.

If Rayman makes it as a fighter...

His reveal trailer will involve him breaking free from the ice in the Battlefield stage. The developers will play around with this fan-sourced idea, assuming it wasn't planned from the beginning. And if his appearance in the Spirit Board isn't enough of a hint, now the Rabbids are included as Mii Costumes.

• Didn't happen.

The DLC Smashers are DEAD...

And the corresponding Fighter Spirits are Transformation Trinkets used by (compatible) fighters to transform into them temporarily. This explains why they just suddenly show up in World of Light approx of nothing after you get enough characters freed. This is very similar to the Legendary Spirits, and gives the Fighter Spirits narrative weight. They remain dead until at least the end of World of Light, after which they may revive.

• Jossed. You can have the DLC fighters alongside all other base fighters.

Waluigi is either the 7th Challenger or will be revealed as a bonus DLC in 2020

Look at the symbol on his hat and you'll see the correlation. But really, July 21st 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the original Mario Tennis and Waluigi's debut appearance.

• What really adds weight to this is a Nintendo Direct rumored to be held a day before, coinciding with the Mario franchise's 35th anniversary. This could be to make up for the cancelled E3 event, which might have introduced another fighter alongside Min Min. If this indeed comes true, the more likely scenario is Waluigi will be a bonus character that comes without a stage or spirits (much like Piranha Plant).
  • Jossed. Besides, Sakurai did say it was only those six and that's final.

Fighters Pass Round 2 will be a mix of first, second and third party characters

The first Fighters Pass had mostly third party characters until Byleth broke the mold. This means that almost anything is possible for the next round.

• Confirmed, although third-parties are still the majority.

The images for the Brawl Tourney

Just as the 64 one was based on the Japanese box art and the Melee was based on the Character select screen, the Brawl one will be based on the opening of the game where everyone is looking over a cliff.

• Confirmed!

Future Mii Costumes

• Angry Birds (Hats)
• Steve (Swordfighter, Deluxe)
  • Jossed — he's a playable fighter.
• Scorpion and Sub-Zero (Swordfighter)
  • Wouldn't they make more sense for a Brawler?
• Hollow Knight (Swordfighter, Deluxe)
• Freddy Fazbear (Brawler, Deluxe)
• Mumbo-Jumbo (Swordfighter)
• Conker (Gunner)
• Cooking Mama (Swordfighter, Deluxe^note with spatula sword)
• Ori (Universal, Deluxe)
• Ray Man (Brawler, Deluxe^note the creeper and pig costumes have Floating Limbs, which puts the possibility of a Rayman costume on the table if he can't make it in as a fighter)
• Shovel Knight (Swordfighter, Deluxe)
• Shantae (Brawler)
  • Confirmed in the Mr. Sakurai Presents for Kazuya.
• Phoenix Wright (Brawler)
• Raiden (Swordfighter)
• Octoling (Gunner)
  • Confirmed in the Sora gameplay trailer.
• Tracer (Gunner)
• Sackboy (Brawler, Deluxe)
  • A PlayStation character? HERE?! Where did you get that idea?!

Galeem is actually the Devil from Cuphead.

The reason why he imprisoned the fighters and spirits was because he wanted to collect their soul contracts. Galeem is actually a machine that the Devil created to collect everyone's souls in one fell swoop.

Additionally, the Cuphead and Mugman spirits are when the Devil defeated them during the final boss battle (remember his death message during the last phase?). He eventually turned himself and King Dice into a spirit (plausible since he more or less shed his skin before the final phase of his battle) so he can go undercover and find more soul contracts that he can collect.

As for why he opposes Dharkon? He actually modeled Galeem after him, and the dark deity is none too pleased at having someone try to take over the universe before he. Thus, Galeem/Devil and Dharkon began their rivalry.

• If now there's a spirit for that Devil, does this mean it's jossed?

One of the next DLC fighters will be a Pokemon

Both Mario and Fire Emblem have had DLC reps, so why not throw in a new Pokemon as well? The roster currently includes Greninja and Incineroar as respective counterparts for Squirtle and Charizard. All that's missing is another grass Pokemon for Ivysaur. The ideal choice would be Decidueye, who almost made it into the base roster before Incineroar took the slot. Decidueye could also fill the quota for a ghost Pokemon.

• Alternatively, the Pokemon representative could be either Sceptile, who was also a highly rumored and requested character during Smash 4's life cycle due to the then recent release of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, or Rillaboom as a way of promoting Pokémon Sword and Shield. The latter is probably the most likely, as Sword and Shield have been the best selling games the series has seen in a long while.
• Jossed. The most we got were some Sword/Shield spirits.

Theories on why characters only made it in as Assist Trophies

• Shadow: Despite having great potential to be Sonic's Echo Fighter, Shadow is still among the most helpful of the Assist Trophies, slowing down and even stopping enemies so his summoner can attack more easily. I think that Sakurai didn't want that helpful ability to go to waste, so Shadow remained an Assist. Given how Twintelle exists, I think that Shadow can join the battle in a potential Smash 6 while Twintelle takes over his abilities as an Assist.
• Isaac: Despite Isaac being a really popular request, Golden Sun is still only a small franchise. Sakurai may have kept that in mind, and kept Isaac an Assist because of it. Should Golden Sun gain more recognition, or his fanbase just gets through to Sakurai, Isaac could join the battle next game.
• Shovel Knight: While Shovel Knight is a really popular request in his home country of America, he isn't that well known outside of the States. It's a similar case to Takamaru — both characters lack international recognition, and thus became Assist Trophies because of it.
• Bomberman: I'd think that Sakurai only wanted one new Konami franchise to have a playable character in Ultimate. As a result of this, Bomberman was shafted as an Assist Trophy since Castlevania is not only more recognizable, but also filled with lots of elements to draw into the game.
• Waluigi: Given the odd fact that he is the only central Mario character not yet in the roster, his exclusion could be because that's just who he is. One could argue he doesn't have enough potential due to being a Satellite Character, although he could easily represent the Mario spin-off games with a set of bizarre wildcard attacks. The massive outcry from fans makes him a surefire candidate for a hypothetical next game, unless he somehow does become DLC in Ultimate — which, again considering his character, isn't entirely implausible.
• Spring Man: Similar to Rex, Spring Man was heavily requested to join Ultimate when ARMS came out. Unfortunately, time constraints prevented him from taking a slot on the roster, instead being an Assist Trophy to compensate, similar to Rex being a Mii Costume due to the same circumstances. Should another Smash game get made, Spring Man should be a definite addition similar to how the Inkings were more or less going to join Ultimate.
• Krystal: Similar to Shadow above, she has a unique ability that made her useful as an Assist Trophy (namely her freezing ability). Given how Fire Emblem Heroes (released after the roster was decided!) introduced Fjorm, who has similar abilities, I can see Krystal join the potential next Smash game while Fjorm replaces her as an Assist Trophy.
• Knuckles: Like Shadow, he could have worked as an Echo Fighter for Sonic. But his digging ability made him more useful and unique as an Assist Trophy. He was most likely added in to be a Sonic-based Assist Trophy that can be defeated for points, a function Shadow couldn't serve. This one's more of wishful thinking, but perhaps he's there to be a backup Assist Trophy on the off chance Shadow gets Promoted to Playable.
  • Or maybe it's because they didn't have enough techniques to build a moveset around? Let's analyze Spring Man, taking into account that Min Min is a fighter. Note that she doesn't have a neutral special per se, or even a side special; this could mean that, time constraints aside, the developers couldn't think of a moveset for Spring Man that could be interesting enough to make him a playable fighter (essentially he would be a one-trick pony). Remember that one of the goals of the Smash team is to make the characters as true to their roots as possible while working them into the game (something Sakurai basically explained in the Kazuya gameplay reveal), so if a character doesn't have enough material for them to work with (like Guile, who's only ever had two special moves), being an Assist Trophy is the only alternative. That, or they may just be too broken (looking at you, Alucard).

One of, if not, the final fighters will come down to Sora or Geno

Considering that Square Enix already contributed once with the Dragon Quest heroes, chances are only one of them may be able to be a fighter while the other will become a Mii Costume. Sora is not only owned by Square Enix but he is also in the hands of a much bigger company and has appeared on Nintendo consoles in the past. However, Geno is also an interesting and heavily popular choice since he would technically classify as both first and third-party, plus this would establish his first official appearance in over 20 years and was apparently planned for Brawl. Either one of them getting in would be a huge shakeup.

Geno, much like Yoshi, DK and Wario, would represent his own game despite being part of the Mario universe. Although assuming Sora makes the cut instead, Geno's costume could easily get the deluxe treatment similar to Sans, Cuphead and Vault Boy so it at least looks like the real character^note not to mention the added meme potential of giving him Sans' head.

• Confirmed for Sora!

There will be multiple Arms characters

Similary to Bowser Jr and the Koopalings or the Dragon Quest Hero, the Arms character will be multiple characters as alts with a similar stature so they can have the same hitbox, these characters could include Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Min Min and more (Likely 4 characters with 2 colors like the Hero what matter is that they can all share the same hitboxes). The Spring Man assist trophy will be replaced by an other Arms character either definitively with an update or whenever Spring Man is fighting. Either way, it raises the chances of more assist trophies being promoted to fighters. The same goes for spirits regarding Ribbon Girl, Min Min, Ninjara or any Arms character who could be an alt.

• The way I see it, Spring Man will be the default character since he is the game's mascot. Seven others (Ribbon Girl, Min Min, Twintelle, Ninjara and three more not yet represented in Smash) will be his alts, each of having similar fighting styles in addition to their own special moves. The rest of the cast will be spirits (for instance, Mechanica will be represented by one of the Koopa Kids and Max Brass by Captain Falcon). And Springtron could easily replace Spring Man's assist trophy.
  • Giving different attacks to each alts would be very unlikely and a bad idea in my opinion. All the koopaling are carbon copy of Bowser Jr in term of gameplay (same stats and hitboxes). Richter is 99% the same as Simon but get his own slots because alts are not meant to be played differently. It would be unfair that 2 Arms player can't have the same gameplay in a duel. And I don't see Nintendo making 8 movesets for one characters. One slot, one moveset, that's how it has always been.
  • The more I think about it, it seems intangible to bring in that many ARMS characters for one slot, given some of their unique attributes. Going more on the Hero approach, the slot will consist of four characters (Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Min Min and Ninjara), each with one alternate color. Or probably the most likely scenario, the fighter will simply be Spring Man and Ribbon Girl as gender alts of each other.
• Jossed — only Min Min is playable, although the rest of the roster appear in her Final Smash.

If we only get one ARMS fighter, it will be Helix

An odd choice, but most of the other characters are already spirits. His gooey aesthetic provides a unique and potentially fun squash-and-stretch moveset. He'd be the strangest addition to Smash since Piranha Plant.

• Jossed — it's Min Min.

Hypothetical reveal trailers and taglines

• Jin Kazama and Chun-Li: Starts with Jin in the Arena from Tekken 4 where he pits against Little Mac and suddenly... Chun-Li (of all ladies as if she would be Promoted to Playable) show up there too. At the end of the trailer, Jin is about to perform his Final Smash (Hulking Out to be Devil Jin)... but is interrupted by Chun-Li's Kikosho move. The trailer ends with a Heartwarming Moment by having her with Ryu, Ken and Mega Man.
  • Jin Unleashes the Iron Fist!
  • Chun-Li Kicks the Competition!
    • We actually got a Tekken rep, but it's Kazuya (Gets Ready for the Next Battle), not his son.
• ARMS: Starts with a boxing match between Little Mac and Ken. An assist trophy appears and Little Mac picks it up. A familiar springy arm punches Ken out of the ring... then Little Mac receives the same fate. With both arms stretched around the ring, Spring Man makes his grand return. Midway through his trailer, Incineroar attacks him, only to be faced with Ribbon Girl and/or any additional ARMS characters as Spring Man's alts.
  • ARMS Stretches The Boundaries!
    • It's actually Min Min (ARMS Herself!), who rushes from her restaurant (where Captain Falcon and Kirby are having lunch) to the Spring Stadium to snatch the invitation after pretty much all other ARMS fighters beat themselves up trying to get it.
• Waluigi: A repeat of Piranha Plant's reveal, but this time Luigi and Mario are in their purple alts, and Piranha Plant is replaced by an assist trophy capsule. Shortly after the item vanishes, Mario is suddenly whacked from behind with a tennis racket. The attacker, Waluigi, then twirls his mustache.
  • Waluigi Cheats His Way To Victory!
• Dixie Kong: A repeat of K. Rool and Banjo's reveals but with a twist. DK, Diddy, Banjo and Kazooie look out the window to see Dixie's silhouette, but assume it is just another prank. A Klaptrap appears before being taken out by Dixie, revealing she is the real deal.
  • Dixie Kong Swings Into Action!
• Shadow: Sonic speeds through Green Hill Zone, when he is hit by Wario's motorcycle. Wario starts collecting the scattered rings until he becomes fixated on a chaos emerald and subsequently gets knocked away by a mysterious red blur. A familiar voice then gloats to Sonic, calling him an unworthy representative, and declares to show him how a real hedgehog fights. Shadow finally reveals himself by attacking Sonic from behind.
  • Shadow Unleashes the Chaos!
• Shantae: King K. Rool, in his Kaptain K. Rool get up, is seen blasting away at Scuttle Town. As he laughs, several kremlings are knocked away. K. Rool stops laughing and looks around for who attacked his troops, only to get slammed into by an elephant. Said elephant then transforms, revealing a certain half genie.
  • Shantae Dances Through the Danger!
    • She got in as a Mii Brawler costume.
• Rayman: Mario, Sonic and Pac-Man duke it out on Battlefield. During the fight, one of them is briefly knocked into the ice, causing it to form a suspicious growing crack. Just as Sonic and Pac-Man confront a heavily damaged Mario, a single floating glove suddenly punches them away. A second glove shows up, followed by a pair of shoes, a torso and finally a head to reveal that Rayman has finally escaped his icy prison.
  • Rayman Pulls Himself Together!
• Crash Bandicoot: Mario runs through a forest collecting coins while Sonic, in the opposite direction, comes his way collecting rings. The two suddenly come to a Screeching Stop, standing face-to-face with a Wumpa Fruit between them. A portal opens up and a Crash leaps out, landing on top of Mario and Sonic. He then spins them away and does his iconic victory dance.
  • Crash Spins Up the Battle!
• Doom Slayer: Similar to the Hero's reveal trailer, Isabelle is shown running for her life while being pursued by some Villager Puppet Fighters. When she tries to fight back with her toy hammer, Isabelle is spooked by a massive armored foot stomping down in front of her. We get a first-person view of the Puppet Fighters as Isabelle's unknown savior gets his orders from a HUD. "OBJECTIVE: DESTROY GALEEM AND DHARKON!" The camera zooms out as the new fighter is revealed and he loads his gun.
  • Doom Slayer Rips and Tears!
    • He got in as a Mii Gunner costume.
• Dr. Eggman: Mario, Sonic, Cloud & Samus fight Bowser, Sephiroth & Ridley on Green Hill Zone, just as a few familiar Badniks invade the area. Fearing the worst, Sonic looks up as the other fighters discover Eggman's Egg-Mobile flying above them with his signature wrecking ball from Sonic 1. "I've come to make an annoucement!", Eggman booms proudly as he displays an invitation to Smash Bros for all to see. "You thought you could get away from me here Sonic, but now I've finally been invited! And ready to utterly annihilate you!
  • Dr. Eggman Has the Master Plan!
• Spyro the Dragon: Link travels through an unknown land on Epona, looking around for any potential danger. But instead of enemies to fight, he discovers some strange objects that remind him of Hyrule's Rupees. Just as Link is about to pick it up, Spyro comes swooping in to grab the Gem before Link does, and he says "Sorry big guy, but I called dibs on this first!"
  • Spyro is Coming In Hot!

Whoever it is, the ARMS character's Final Smash will be Hedlok.

If they're going for something flashy, I think the Rush mechanic isn't enough — so why not Hedlok? It has potential to be a flashy finisher!

• Jossed — Min Min's Final Smash is indeed the Rush mechanic. However, she summons the rest of the ARMS roster to help her out, so it's still a flashy finisher.

Once the very last fighter is added to the mural, the tagline "Everyone is Here!" will appear again

To cap it all off.

• Unfortunately it didn't. The tagline was used only to refer to the returning fighters, but it would still be nice.

The SSBU panoramic will widen for future DLC fighters.

The panoramic is already cramped as it is now with all of that space being taken up. Expanding the space of the panoramic could allow for more fighters to be fully displayed without making things more overcrowded.

• Apparently Jossed — instead, parts of the artwork appear to shrink, with the Hero and Slime artwork appearing to shrink with Min Min's inclusion.
  • And some fighters are rearranged to accomodate newer ones — notice how Sora is placed between Dark Samus and Ganondorf? These two weren't even close to each other before.

Min Min's Fighter Spirit will use her Super Smash Bros. Ultimate artwork.

Her artwork from ARMS was already used for her Spirit, so this is the only option left.

• Jossed — there are other pieces of official artwork featuring the ARMS characters out there — Min Min's Fighter Spirit uses one of them.

If Sora gets into the game, his reveal trailer will be styled after the trailers made for Kingdom Hearts III

This means that the trailer will be segmented in the following way:

• A reveal cinematic (and splash tagline) will happen, as per other fighters, before going into a segment focusing entirely on Sora's gameplay and stage.
• Unlike other fighters, there will then be a segment featuring "story" cinematics that focus on Sora's interactions with other members of the roster, and/or his hypothetical role in World of Light if it had a more fleshed out plot, complete with a new remix of "Don't Think Twice" playing in the background and a total lack of sound effects.
  • While Sora did get into the game, his reveal trailer was nothing like this.

Hypothetical character interactions and events for the above "story" cinematics in Sora's trailer

• Sora reuniting with Cloud, who is under Dharkon's control, in front of the Master Sword pedestal in the Sacred Land, leading to the two fighting with Sora begging Cloud to come to his senses.
• Joker with Morgana explaining to Sora what the Phantom Thieves do when they steal peoples' hearts, fittingly coinciding with Kingdom Hearts's own stories focusing on the nature of the "heart".
• Sora becoming friends with Pit, and questioning if Dark Pit is Pit's very own Heartless or Nobody.
• Sora freeing several Spirits after slaying their Puppet Fighters, as if freeing hearts from slain Heartless.
• Sora being confused why Galeem is such an evil being of light, since he's so used to Light Is Good in his own series.
• A dramatic confrontation between Sora and Master Xehanort, whose Spirit is possessing a Puppet Fighter of Ganondorf.
• Sora freeing Min Min, explaining why she managed to become playable as DLC.
  • Jossed.

Theories on how the DLC fighters escaped Galeem's Beam Spam

• Piranha Plant — was just resting in its pot, unaware of Galeem's attack.
• Joker (and by extension of his taunts and Final Smash, the Phantom Thieves) — used the Metaverse to hide from the beams of light.
• Hero — used Zoom to outrun the beams.
• Banjo & Kazooie — used Wonderwing to barely escape the beams.
• Byleth — used Divine Pulse to rewind time moments before he was hit with a light beam to escape on Kirby's Warp Star.
• Steve and Alex- - dug and hid underground. Zombie hid there as well, while Enderman teleported to safety.
• Sephiroth — cleaved through the beams with ease. Or, as detailed below, was The Man Behind the Man for Galeem.
• They didn't get disintegrated, but their non-fighter counterparts did (see the Fighter/Non-fighter theory below).
  • Or maybe they did not escape, and Galeem's attack was far more overreaching than what we actually see in the cinematic.

Galeem and Dharkon are actually being controlled by someone else.

Similar to Master Hand and Crazy Hand, respectively, being controlled by Galeem and Dharkon, it's possible that the two deities are actually being forced to do someone's bidding against their own will. In other words, Galeem destroying the universe, then Dharkon hijacking the plot, then the two fighting each other? They're being forced to do all of that by who-knows-what.

Tabuu will be a DLC fighter.

Given how Min Min paved the way for more Spirits to become DLC, Tabuu can certainly join the battle with a Challenger Pack of his own. His stage could be a Subspace-based stage, his Spirit Board can consist of enemies from The Subspace Emissary, and his Final Smash would almost certainly be the Off-Waves. It would also be a nice change of pace, allowing a being from the Super Smash Bros. universe to be playable for the first time (if you don't count the Mii Fighters).

• Jossed. Besides, he had too many special attacks to be workable, as bosses tend to do.

There are two versions of characters in SSBU — those who fight and those who don't.

This is partially inspired by a fanmade Spirit entry focusing on Galeem. It states: "Those who choose not to fight [Galeem] have their bodies burned, leaving them as spirits under [his] control."

One of these spirits is Min Min — who would become playable later down the line. Given the context of the above statement, it would've been impossible to have Min Min as a playable character in the game — she can't be playable if she's in the hands of the Lord of Light.

However, when Min Min became DLC, she came with another Spirit featuring herself. This spirit is labeled as "Min Min (Fighter)". This makes it possible that, instead of the base game Min Min spirit being the playable Min Min, there are actually two versions of the same character. One of them prefers not to fight, while the other does.

• Considering how there's a handful of spirits depicting the plauable characters in different contexts (like some of the Mario Kart ones), this could make sense.

Fighters Pass 2 will consist mostly of spirit characters

Min Min's inclusion pretty much killed the "spirits deconfirm" theory and this Fighters Pass is aiming to include more fan favorites in the battle. More spirits are likely to be upgraded down the line, possibly even assist trophies and Mii Costumes, but we could still get a few new characters (glaring popular examples of which include Crash Bandicoot and Sora).

• Outside of Pyra and Mythra later getting revealed, everyone else has never been in Smash before.

One of Steve's Alternate Colors will be your own Minecraft skin.

Specifically, if you have Minecraft save data loaded on your Nintendo Switch, then Ultimate will use your selected skin as an Old Save Bonus.

• Jossed.

Geno is fighter number 78 and was planned to be announced alongside Steve at E3 2020

Similar to Hero (Square Enix, big at least in Japan) and Banjo & Kazooie (Microsoft, more obscure) at E3 2019, Steve (Microsoft, best-selling game in the world) and Geno (Square Enix, more obscure) would have been revealed at E3 2020. Just like how Banjo & Kazooie are simpler than Hero, Geno would also be simpler than Steve.

• Assuming this is true, the perfect time to reveal him would be at the Game Awards. Not only would this be appropriate for a big reveal, but it also makes sense having three characters revealed this year and the other three the year after. Geno would also fit in with the theory that 2020's E3 was supposed to center around Mario's 35th anniversary. Again, this is entirely assumption-based.
• Jossed in that Sephiroth is the 78th fighter revealed at the Game Awards, but this does not discount the possibility of Geno being a fighter.
  • Jossed for real when Sephiroth got a full presentation on the 17th, which showed Geno's Mii Costume.

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There will be a second story mode

We need a better and more actioned DLC story mode. WOL was just a mode where you fight spirits and fighters. it must need more cutscenes like subspace emissary

• Unlikely, Sakurai said that there won't be new modes and that was talking about smaller ones like stage builder and homerun contest. And he did say the focus of World of Light was more gameplay than story; apparently he's still burned about the massive uploading of the Subspace Emissary cutscenes.

There will be more villains in Fighters Pass 2

The inclusion of Sephiroth as a second Final Fantasy rep opens the door for more villains joining DLC, as Fighters Pass 1 was already packed with heroic characters. They will also be given their own challenges similar to the Sephiroth Challenge. One future possibility could be Dr. Eggman — Smash is long overdue for another Sonic The Hedgehog rep, and with that franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021, Sega will be promoting it throughout the year, and a new DLC fighter would certainly help.

• An additional villain is confirmed, but it's not Eggman. It's Kazuya Mishima.

The Cloud and Sephiroth in Smash are the same ones from Kingdom Hearts

After you beat Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II, Cloud appears and him and Sephiroth duke it out with them disapearing afterwards for no explanation. Sora says that they "went somewhere else" and that Cloud "went to fight a great battle to defeat the darkness inside him", considering everything that happens in World Of Light, and Sephiroth's trailer taking place during WOL. Those words are suddenly starting to make sense.

• Sora's gameplay trailer does nod to it, but not outright state it.

Dharkon will die in a later reveal trailer

Considering that Sephiroth's reveal trailer involves him slicing Galeem in half, it'se safe to assume that the Lord of Light has finally been destroyed. With this in mind, it's not a stretch to think that Dharkon will take center-stage and become the fighters' new Archenemy, culminating in one of the final reveal trailers spelling his demise.

• Jossed; no further trailers take place in World of Light.

Sephiroth wasn't actually invited to Smash, he crashed the party just to screw with Cloud.

Similar to his portrayal in Kingdom Hearts II and, to an extent, Final Fantasy VII Remake, ol' Sephy doesn't really care about anything but making Cloud's life a living hell after his defeat at the end of Final Fantasy VII. This is supported by his trailer, where he easily curbstomps everybody else without a second thought just to get to his nemesis.

• It's actually Cloud that gets to him, not the other way around. Sephiroth could still be messing with Cloud by proxy though.

Sephiroth's Classic Mode path

It will be called One-Winged Angel (since he's the Trope Namer) and will feature Sephiroth going up against other fighters who've been known to use transformations (Bowser, Bayonetta, Corrin, Ganondorf, Sonic, Bowser Jr.), with the final round having him fight Cloud.

• Adding on, perhaps these battles will have the Final Smash meter on and all the opponents will start the battle with it filled.
  • Jossed. It's called The Chosen Ones, and it has Sephiroth fight against every single Classic Mode boss.

Galeem was actually working for Sephiroth the entire time

Sephiroth ordered Galeem to destroy the entire universe and imprison the fighters and non-fighters that opposed him. When Kirby managed to rescue everyone, Sephiroth decided that Galeem was no longer of use to him, one-shotting Galeem in his reveal trailer. As for why Sephiroth did all this? He said it best—so he can show the Smashers despair.

Sephiroth was the one responsible for the post-release Spirits, including Challenger Pack ones

Much like how Galeem was the one responsible for the base-game Spirits, Sephiroth could've been out on his own picking off the characters Galeem failed to target during his initial onslaught.

You can replay boss battles in the Sephiroth update

Sephiroth killing Galeem might be a way to forshadow this new mode, similar to replaying spirit battles. It will be how Sakurai shows off Sephiroth in the presentation.

• Sorta confirmed. His Classic Mode ladder is a Boss Rush, although Galeem is still World of Light-exclusive (and so is Dharkon, for that matter).

There's an in-game reason regarding DLC fighters and Mii Costumes

Basically, there are miniature tournaments to decide who'd join the Smash roster. The victor of each of the tournaments would join the roster, while the rest of the participants would use their likenesses for the Mii Fighters to wear. Additionally, Sans won one of these tournaments (one with a Team Rocket grunt, Goemon, Proto Man, Zero, Banjo & Kazooie, and himself), but offered his spot to Banjo & Kazooie because he knows they deserve it more than he does.

• How does that explain those that already were in the game as Assist Trophies (like Zero, in this example), though?

Both the Lloyd and Monster Hunter costumes will eventually return

With the Chocobo and Geno costumes releasing alongside Sephiroth, only these two Mii Costumes have not yet returned from Smash 4. Regardless if the characters themselves become playable or not, it seems plausible that these two costumes return in future Challenger Packs to finally bring every returning Mii Costume from Smash 4 to Ultimate.

• Very possible. Ultimate has been steadily bringing back character-related costumes from Smash 4 in addition to the new ones.
  • Semi-confirmed. The Monster Hunter costumes return but Lloyd is still nowhere in sight.
  • Lloyd's Mii costume was finally revealed in the demonstration for Kazuya, completing the Smash 4 set.

During Fighter #79's reveal trailer, Sephiroth will be defeated/humiliated by them.

Maybe in contrast, it would be a heroic Hope Bringer.

• Confirmed...ish? Pyra/Mythra land a hit on him and it knocked him away.
• It actually happens in the final character reveal trailer, in which Sora clobbers him in a rematch of their fight from Kingdom Hearts II.

Geno is already in Smash...

Just not in the way you'd expect. A common misconception is that Geno is a blue-caped wooden doll with an Arm Cannon, but in truth he was a spirit warrior who merely took control of that doll as a vessel. Thus, being a spirit in the game is actually the most accurate representation for him.

• And now the doll is a Mii Gunner costume.
• I like to imagine that he's now a Luma serving Rosalina. He does serve... a higher power.

There's a reason why Travis is a Mii Costume rather than a playable character

And it's the same reason why Mai wasn't included in the King of Fighters Stadium: "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many different ages." Play a No More Heroes game, and you'll see that Travis, as well as the franchise itself, is definitely not meant for younger audiences. Thus, Travis was made into a Mii Costume so he can be in the game without raising the age rating.

• The argument doesn't really work with Bayonetta in the game.
  • What Sakurai actually said regarding Mai is that they couldn't include her because of the CERO Rating of A. They can always tone down stuff to fit in the game (note that Bayonetta's Wicked Weave never leaves her naked in Smash), but it's likely they couldn't find a way to make Mai less Stripperriffic like they could with Pyra and Mythra; they probably thought players would complain or not recognize her if she wore the full kimono from some of her winposes in KOF.

Crash Bandicoot will be 2021's E3 reveal

The past E3 events have introduced big Western fighters; Banjo & Kazooie in 2019 and Steve was probably planned for E3 2020 (which didn't happen due to COVID-19), so who's left? Crash has a lot going in his favor to support a potential invite (an iconic classic that rivalled Sonic and Mario back in the day and has made a recent resurgence, no currently existing representation in Smash, and come on, Fighters Pass 2 needs its own Funny Animal in its lineup).

• And now having seen the latest direct, it's possible Coco will be revealed alongside Crash, similar to Pyra & Mythra but as an echo fighter. Because there have also never been any Activision reps in Smash yet, perhaps other Activision characters could appear in the form of mii costumes and spirits.
  • Jossed. Kazuya Mishima is the big E3 2021 reveal.

The eleventh and^note (unless there is a third Fighters Pass and/or a bonus fighter) final Challenger Pack will be first-party

The first Fighters Pass ended on a first-party character (Byleth), as did all the previous Smash games. One likely candidate would have to be from Pokémon Sword and Shield — no Gen. 8 Pokemon are represented in the game despite that series being a major highlight, perhaps Rillaboom to complete the fully evolved water-fire-plant trifecta. Pokémon will also be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021, as well as The Legend of Zelda and Metroid celebrating their 35th anniversaries and Donkey Kong its 40th anniversary. Though since anniversaries are rarely a factor for choosing newcomers^note Little Mac being an exception, the 30th anniversary of Punch-Out!! coincides with his inclusion in Smash 4, it's also a possibility Sakurai will end the game with another character like Bandana Waddle Dee, or even shatter the internet one last time with Waluigi. So yes, there's a lot on the table.

• Jossed. It's Sora. And there's no Fighters Pass 3; Sakurai has said more than once that it ends here, period.

The Lloyd costume from Smash 4 will come bundled with Pyra & Mythra

Given that he's a major character from another anime-esque JRPG franchise, it makes perfect sense.

• Jossed, he came with Kazuya.

Geno's Mii Costume does not deconfirm him as a playable character

A lot of people immediately see Geno's Mii Costume as a deconfirmation of him becoming a DLC character (including people on this page and other related SSBU pages), since, as stated on the game's trivia page, if he were to be playable, he would've been saved as such instead of getting a Mii Costume.

However, Geno's Mii Costume is different than others since it was introduced in SSB4, rather than SSBU. And I believed that the remaining Mii Costumes would return in future DLC — something that officially happened with the return of Lloyd's costume with Challenger Pack 10. It wouldn't have mattered if Geno was released or not prior to Sephiroth's presentation; the costume would've came back anyways.

In addition, Sakurai mentioned why Kazuya was chosen over Heihachi, another character with a costume from SSB4 that returned, to represent Tekken in Smash. And Sakurai stated that it wasn't due to Heihachi's Mii Costume, but due to the desire to incorporate Kazuya's Devil form in the game. So it was entirely possible for Heihachi to represent Tekken in Ultimate even with his returning Mii Costume — so I don't see anything holding back Geno being playable in the game.

There's also the fact two Project M mods, Legacy XP and Legacy TE, were taken down by Nintendo, fueling speculation that the mods had a fighter that Nintendo was going to make playable in Ultimate in the future — and one of those fighters was Geno.

I think people are jumping the gun on Geno's playability chances. I just think that Geno's costume doesn't deconfirm him—Nintendo was just making sure that all past Mii Costumes returned from the previous game. If the costume was introduced in Ultimate, like Travis Touchdown, Dante or Shantae, then things would be different.

If there is a third Fighters Pass...

• It will contain fewer challenger packs than the previous two Fighters Passes, so that the game doesn't overstay its welcome and so Sakurai can take a long-deserved break. It could have anywhere between four or even a single challenger pack.
• Multiple characters could be fitted into a pack while taking up their own numbers and possibly slots (as what happened with Pyra and Mythra, listed as fighters #79 and #80).
• Characters from more recent releases could be included. Example: Sega releases new games to promote Sonic's 30th anniversary, then following the successful sales, Dr. Eggman or another Sonic rep joins Smash in 2022.
• One more chance to fulfil big-name fan requests (if Square is up for it, Sora might have a shot yet).
  • There is no third Fighters Pass. Fighters Pass 2 was it (which, incidentally, ended with Sora.)

The reason Geno didn't get a deluxe costume is his hat

The developers may have favored the opportunity for players to dress their own Miis as Geno, keeping the Mii's face exposed and simply wearing the hat. Besides, compared to Sans or Cuphead, Geno's face could be fairly easily replicated as a Mii (or modded in by anyone who has the capabilities).

• That's half of the point of the Mii Fighters, no? The other half being the character itself.

Sephiroth was added in as the perfect middle ground between Sora and Dante

Sora is a Square Enix character who has crossed paths with Cloud, Dante is an edgy swordsman with white hair. Sephiroth fits both qualifications, being a highly Unexpected Character as an extra perk.

• Given how Sora was added in the same pass as Sephiroth, he was probably added for a reason other than this.

The Anicent Minister, Tabuu, Galeem and Dharkon

will be represented as Mii Costumes in some form.

• It would be cool to see the game bosses of Smash Bros. past be represented in Mii Costumes.
  • How would someone wear Galeem or Dharkon though?

Chun-li will be the last fighter for Ultimate as a Book Ends to Ryu being the first DLC newcomer of Smash overall.

Like Sephiroth, Chun-li always follows Ryu in major crossovers, but she's still missing for Smash. Having her revealed as the final newcomer at E3 would be a perfect Call-Back to Ryu's reveal in 4.

• Jossed, it's Sora.

Sakurai doesn't just keep figurines for future fighters

In the Sakurai Presents for Pyra & Mythra, he mentions that he uses figurines as reference when creating new fighters and their amiibos, and that the unreleased fighters are locked away in his drawer. With just two slots in the Fighters Pass remaining, does that mean only two figurines are left? Not necessarily. He may need reference to create Mii Costumes as well.

The Mii Costume for Lloyd will be bundled with Kazuya

As of now, Lloyd's Mii Costume is the only remaining Mii Costume from Smash 4 not in Ultimate. This would be the most opportune time to release the costume again, given that Kazuya is from another Bandai-Namco franchise.

• Confirmed.

The reason Sora didn't even get a Mii Costume is because they couldn't get the rights from Disney

Otherwise, he would have appeared among Geno and the other costumes that were revealed with Sephiroth's gameplay.

• Jossed, it's because Sora ended up becoming a full-fledged fighter.

There will be an updated re-release of the game after all DLC is released

Instead of the Super Smash Bros. series releasing a second game on the Switch, similar to Breath of the Wild 2 and Splatoon 3, they'll re-release SSBU so they can continue to improve on it, just like games like Street Fighter V: Arcade/Champion Edition and Tekken 7: Fated Retribution.

A reason for this is Sakurai's belief that a hypothetical sequel to Ultimate may not include every single playable character in the series again. So instead of just waiting and trying to gain the rights to every character again, Nintendo could just upgrade the game and continue improving from there.

This game would not only include everything from SSBU's vanilla edition, but all DLC characters, stages, Spirits, Spirit Boards, and Mii Costumes as well. In addition, the game could also include many other newcomers (such as Porky, Sylux, Lycanroc, Poochy and a new Kirby representative such as Adeline or Taranza, owing to the conspicuous absence of Spirits based off of them in Ultimate), stages, music, and Spirits, and even bosses.

The game could also give Assist Trophies and characters represented by Mii Costumes in the original version of the game (such as Waluigi, Shadow, Zero, Lloyd, and Shantae) as second chance at playability, and give games that came out after Ultimate's production began (such as Fire Emblem Heroes, Splatoon 2, Dragalia Lost, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Pokémon Sword and Shield) representation with playable characters and stages as well.

Sakurai possibly won't be the director of this re-release, owing to everyone's desire to finally have him take a break (and the fact he also stated that the last DLC fighter in Ultimate would conclude his nonstop work that started ever since SSB4's producton began in 2011), but he could still be tacked on as a producer, approving which fighters could get in.

The final fighter of Fighters Pass Vol. 2 will be revealed in a Nintendo Direct slated for September 2021

Much like every other "Mr. Sakurai Presents" since Terry's presentation, the presentation on Kazuya will focus solely on him and him alone. With this sentiment, it's possible that they'll save the final fighter for a Nintendo Direct — and since Nintendo usually releases a Nintendo Direct in September, that could be the perfect outlet for the fighter reveal.

• Alternatively, the final fighter will be revealed in December at the Game Awards and teased in the September Direct. Sakurai said that it would take a while before the last fighter is revealed, which would make sense in order to raise suspense and allow more development time for a big Grand Finale. But to hold us over, the Direct will provide some sort of hint or other content related to the final release — like how the February 2020 Direct gave us a list of characters from ARMS to guess upon before Min Min was revealed several months later. This time however, they may be planning to keep it more vague so as not to squander expectations too early. But maybe to narrow speculation down just a bit, they could release the Mii Costumes early.
• Jossed — the September 2021 Direct ended without a fighter reveal. However, they did announce when they'll be revealing it — October 5.

The final fighter will be someone highly unexpected while the popular guesses end up as Mii costumes

If there's something we can learn from past fighter reveals, it's that they tend to be complete curveballs from what's been expected time and time again. Crash, Master Chief, Rayman? At this point, we'll be lucky if we get any of them as Mii costumes. As suggested in Kazuya's presentation, Mii costumes appear to be Sakurai's way of making up for fan requests that just couldn't be fully met, since he wants to ensure the actual fighters offer something unique to the roster and probably doesn't just want to hand-pick popular requests as that would be too predictable, but still acknowledges them enough for some kind of representation in the game.

• Depending on your definition of "unexpected", Sora might fit in. Sure a lot of people did want him in the game (something Sakurai mentioned when he said he was the winner of Smash 4's Fighter Ballot), but considering his rights would have to be negotiated with Disney, achieving those was difficult enough that many of those who wanted Sora probably were resigned not to have him. So it came as a surprise when he was, indeed, announced as the final fighter (something the "Finally Here" tagline sort-of acknowledges).

Slightly related to the above, the final Fighter Pass character will be something related to Satoru Iwata.

Part of the reason Sakurai directed Ultimate in particular was because Iwata asked him to. What better way to complete that mission than with a character related to the Gamer Before a Businessman?As for a more specific guess, it could be the Ostrich Knight from third-party Joust. In addition to generally being an old arcade game, the NES version was the first game Iwata helped commercially developed. So even if not everyone agrees exactly, it would be a nice emotional bookend to Sakurai's mission.

• Confirmed. Iwata did indeed help with negotiations to get the final fighter before his passing.

If Sora does appear in Ultimate, he'll only speak Japanese

While we don't know if Haley Joel Osment's contract has the same rules as that of Cloud's English VA, Steve Burton, it's possible that it does. And if that's the case, then that would mean that they'll have to bring in Miyu Irino to voice Sora in all regions instead of Osment.

• Jossed — as seen in his reveal trailer, Osment returns to voice Sora.

Sora's appearance in Smash will be canon to Kingdom Hearts

Ok, stay with me on this one. At the end of Kingdom Hearts III, Sora vanishes and ends up in the world of Verum Rex, which is a video game in the Toy Story world. In Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, It's revealed that the place Sora ended up in is a place called Quadratum, a place that exists on the other side of reality, which Ansem The Wise calls a "Fictional World". Taking everything into account, the world of Super Smash Bros. could very well be part of this other side of reality, since it is a video game in our world, thus techinically making it a "Fictional World". So this could mean that Sora's appearance here could be considered part of Kingdom Hearts canon.

• Could be, but KH would more than likely sidestep any mention of Smash should it be canon (like they did in Bayonetta 2).

The Palutena's Guidance entry for Sora will touch on the licensing issues.

Pit will attempt to reference Sora's "two companions" and will be hastily shushed by Palutena and Viridi. "Do you want to get sued?!"

• Alternatively, it'll reference their fight in DEATH BATTLE!, with Viridi advising Pit to "try to put up a better fight against him this time." (Or if you're okay with a little Black Comedy Burst, warning him not to lose his head.)
• Jossed before this theory was even posted: since Sora's a DLC character, the generic DLC conversation is used.

There was originally a Crash Bandicoot Mii Costume planned for Challenger Pack 11

The last pack had only three costumes rather than the typical four or five, and just one (Doom Slayer) is a popular character request. It is possible that another character like Crash may have been considered. But due to the controversy stirred up by Activision-Blizzard at the time, Nintendo decided not to be involved and omitted the Crash costume along with any spirits or other forms of representation from Smash.

Nintendo deliberately kept Waluigi out of Smash

After Daisy's inclusion, Waluigi seemed like the next obvious choice. When you think about it, it almost feels like Piranha Plant — an unexpected DLC fighter that came for free with no stage or spirits — was actively chosen instead of Luigi's self-proclaimed rival. Word of God from Charles Martinet describes the core of Waluigi as someone who feels like things work out for everyone but himself, which perfectly lines up with his situation in Smash. Nintendo wanted to represent its characters in the best way possible, and for Waluigi that ironically meant denying him a spot on the roster.

• From the Fanon page for Super Mario Bros, one point claims that Waluigi is only in the party spin offs because he hates adventure. Maybe he's still an Assist Trophy for this reason, tending to his taco stand until he's needed to assist a battle?