Cutting the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster in half

At the time of writing, we’re kind of in a dull spot for the Super Smash Bros. series. Ultimate’s DLC ended several years ago, cementing that title as the franchise’s definitive entry. We’re left wondering – what’s next for Smash? An enhanced port that retains all of the characters plus a few new ones, or a complete reboot with fewer characters? No one knows what’s next, but just for the fun of it, we’re going to speculate on which characters are most likely to stay or leave for Smash’s next entry.

Super Smash Bros. 64 characters

You may have seen other “cutting the Smash roster in half” essays before. For this one, we’re doubling down on the fact that all fighters introduced in the original Super Smash Bros. are staying. They’ve appeared in every game since then, and the developers have made active efforts to keep them around. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ness was nearly cut from the game in favor of Lucas. EarthBound 64 (what we now know as Mother 3) was delayed time and time again, and when Melee released, the status of the final game was still unknown. Due to this, the developers kept Ness in, and continued to keep him in Brawl as an unlockable character even after Lucas was introduced.

It’s a similar situation with Jigglypuff. Supposedly, the reason it plays no role in the Subspace Emissary story mode is because it was a late addition to Brawl’s roster, along with Toon Link and Wolf. In Smash 64, Jigglypuff was introduced to due its prominence in the Pokemon anime at the time. It’s no longer a prominent Pokemon in the ongoing TV show, but we think its status as a perfect-attendance fighter ensures that we’ll be seeing it again in the next game – no matter what form that title winds up taking.

Super Smash Bros. Melee characters

This is where things start getting tricky, because now we have to start cutting characters. Peach and Bowser certainly stay, as they’re of course very notable Super Mario characters. We’d be inclined to say that the Ice Climbers stay too. In a similar vein to Captain Falcon, the Ice Climbers are decently notable characters thanks solely to Smash. Even though they weren’t in Smash 4, they’re something of a staple for the series and they bring an incredibly unique fighting style to the table. Sheik, however, may be on the chopping block. For the next Smash, we’d almost certainly expect Zelda to be reworked for Tears of the Kingdom. And even though Zelda doesn’t transform into Sheik in Smash Ultimate, the two are still related to an extent. Sheik hasn’t appeared in a Zelda game since Ocarina of Time, making her a potential candidate for being cut.

The same can be said of Dr. Mario and Pichu; they’re not classified as Echo Fighters and both of them have been cut from Smash titles before. Falco can stay, too – Star Fox hasn’t had a new game in almost ten years (and the last one was a retelling of Star Fox 64), but we think it deserves at least two reps. Marth is safe as well, being the flagship character for Fire Emblem representation in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In fact, you could make the case that his inclusion in that game is responsible for Fire Emblem’s success as a whole. Young Link is kind of a tossup, but we’d say he’d probably get cut. After all, he didn’t appear in Brawl or Smash 4.

Ganondorf and Mewtwo are safe. Roy certainly helped Fire Emblem’s popularity in the west by appearing in Melee, but there are more notable characters from the series that we’ll be preserving later. Finally, Mr. Game & Watch likely stays too. He’s in that group with Captain Falcon and the Ice Climbers – something of a series staple.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl characters

Meta Knight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, and Wario all definitely stay. Zero Suit Samus might be a bit shaky, but we figure Metroid doesn’t have a huge amount of representation in Smash as it is, plus the series has received a resurgence on Switch with Metroid Dread, Metroid Prime Remastered, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Snake was cut from Smash 4, so we wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the same happened in the next title. Ike is in a similar case as Roy; definitely an iconic character, but we’re preserving future Fire Emblem fighters while leaving room for a newcomer. Plus, Ike’s playstyle is a heavyweight swordfighter, and regardless of whether Ganondorf remains the same or is reworked to be Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf, he could step up to fulfill that niche.

Pokemon Trainer is tough as well. We’d either expect him to stay as-is or be trimmed down to just Charizard like in Smash 4. Diddy Kong definitely stays – we don’t think it’s likely for many Mario-related characters to be cut from the next game. As much as we love Lucas, Nintendo seems firm on keeping Mother 3 exclusive to Japan, and that game is already well over 15 years old. Sonic, King Dedede, and Olimar all stay as well. Lucario is a decently popular Pokemon, but considering that a new game would add a new Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet, it may be on the chopping block to retain more popular Pokemon like Greninja.

R.O.B. is difficult, but he’s never been cut from a Smash game before and we think he’ll stay as sort of a Subspace Emissary representative if nothing else. Toon Link and Wolf are likely to be cut as well if the development situation calls for it. We did cut Young Link too, but it’d be a cool idea to introduce a new Majora’s Mask Link that uses the mask transformations to fight, thus making him a completely unique character and not a semi-clone.

Super Smash Bros. 4 characters

This is another tough subsection of characters. We’re starting off with a tough one: the decision to cut Villager. Animal Crossing is one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises these days, but Villager isn’t the face of the franchise – it’s Isabelle. If the next Smash is a big reboot of the series, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Isabelle plus maybe another new rep from the series. We’re cutting Wii Fit Trainer too because, as you might expect, the Wii Fit series doesn’t have much of a home on Switch – plus Ring Fit Adventure is sort of a modern equivalent and doesn’t have a rep. Mega Man, Rosalina and Luma, Little Mac, and Greninja can all stay. We’d say the Miis can stay too, but that depends on if the Switch 2 retains the focus on Miis or not.

Pac-Man, Robin (as the representative of Fire Emblem Awakening, a very important game in the series), Shulk, and Bowser Jr. are most likely safe too. Even though Kid Icarus Uprising on Switch seems like a great idea, it hasn’t happened yet, so we might see a slight reduction in representation in the next game in the form of Palutena getting cut. Duck Hunt is another likely loss for the next title; they’re a retro character and the niche is fulfilled by characters like R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch already. Ryu and Ken are likely to stay, as with Mega Man, but we’d be shocked if Cloud was kept for another entry. Likewise, Corrin is from Fire Emblem Fates, a game sandwiched between Awakening and Three Houses that isn’t talked about as much as either one. Interestingly enough, we don’t think Bayonetta is necessarily a lock either. Bayonetta 3 changed the series in many ways, and if there is to be a Bayonetta 4 it’s implied the protagonist would be different. As much as we’d like to keep Bayonetta, we think it’s possible that she is replaced next game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters

Inkling and Ridley are safe too, but it’s possible that Simon and Richter have rights issues if they’re to return in a future title. King K. Rool is a much-needed Donkey Kong rep, so he’s good to stay. Isabelle, as the face of Animal Crossing, gets to stay too. Incineroar is almost certainly gone next game; Sword and Shield weren’t out at the time Smash Ultimate released, which is why it didn’t get a rep. Sun and Moon aren’t very prominent in the current Pokemon marketing cycle, so it’s likely that Incineroar gets the axe in favor of a Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet. The odds aren’t looking great for Piranha Plant, as something of a left-field gimmick character.

If we had to take a shot in the dark at which DLC characters are staying, we’d guess Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Byleth, and Steve. Some third-party characters, like Joker and the aforementioned Snake and Simon, aren’t necessarily a lock. By the time the Switch 2 and the next Smash come out, Persona 6 could be beginning its marketing cycle, which could warrant the Persona 6 protagonist as a new DLC character. Banjo and Steve go hand and hand as they’re from the same company, and given that we can’t see Banjo being cut (he fits in Smash really well), we can’t see Steve going out, either. Though maybe they’ll nerf him if he’s brought back.

For Pyra and Mythra, it’s definitely possible that they come back, but given that the two aren’t physically present in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a new rep from that game in place of these two. That said, Pyra and Mythra are fairly popular characters at least within the Smash fandom, so maybe they’ll stay since the Xenoblade series has become much more popular since Smash Ultimate’s initial launch.

What does the cut roster look like?

The trend is to cut the Smash roster in half, but we didn’t quite cut half of the characters. If the next game is to be a reboot, there will likely be more than half the number of fighters we have in Smash Ultimate. It’s also important to note that this list isn’t the characters we want to see cut – it’s a list of characters we think are likely to make it to the next game if there have to be cuts. No character inherently deserves to be removed from the roster; each one was added for a reason.

There’s also the matter of Echo Fighters, which you might notice we left intact. Despite having their own special term of “Echo Fighter”, there aren’t actually a ton of them in Smash Ultimate. All in all, we have Dark Samus, Daisy, Lucina, Chrom, Dark Pit, Ken, and Richter. These fighters were added specifically to pad out the roster while saving on development costs, and we think these characters are actually less likely to get cut in a future title thanks to their reduced dev time. However, if a base fighter like Roy is cut, it’s unlikely that we would see Chrom.

Another important note is that this would just be an example of the roster without newcomers included! We cut some Pokemon and Fire Emblem characters since they are both virtually guaranteed to get a new character in the next game, for example. If we had to make some quick guesses, we’d say that Splatoon, Animal Crossing, and Xenoblade Chronicles would all receive more representatives. These series have become much more popular on Switch since Smash Ultimate’s release in 2018. For example, Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold almost 45 million units in 2020. It’d be crazy to only have two characters from that series in the next Smash! The same goes for Splatoon, which has had a third entry on Switch with good sales plus the introduction of several new characters. For Xenoblade, it’s definitely possible they keep Pyra and Mythra or add someone like Noah or Mio (or both). It’d also be interesting to see Shulk’s Future Redeemed design as an alternate costume much like Ike has different designs for the different games he appeared in.

Who do you think is likely to be cut from the next Smash? Do you think anyone will be cut at all, or will the Smash team use Ultimate as a base and add even more content? The future of the series is certainly up in the air, but one thing is for sure: it’s not over. Smash Ultimate is the best-selling fighting game of all time, and there’s absolutely enough fuel in the tank for another entry. Even if it doesn’t have every character from Ultimate, it can still progress the series forward with new game modes, updated character movesets, and exciting newcomers. Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments down below! And hopefully, the next Smash game is on the horizon just a little bit sooner than we think.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch, and you can check the official website here for a more in-depth list of fighters.