Electric Dilintia

Man!  New Super Smash Brothers!  Everyone wants to know who's going to be in it!  When Brawl came out, I thought they'd run out of reasonable candidates for new characters, but they sure have been proving me wrong!  Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Mega Man, Little Mac -- all totally awesome!  Who are they going to announce next!

Let's not worry about that!

Let's also stop ending sentences with exclamation points, it's not that big a deal.

What's on my mind right now is... who's coming back?  Not everyone from Melee came back for Brawl -- so who's going to make the cut this time around?

While there's still some time to make some idle speculation, here's how my expectations for the new Smash games are looking.

Yoshi, Ness, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon

These are probably my safest picks for returning characters.  They've been in all three games so far; why stop now?

Bit odd that Yoshi is the only non-secret character in all three games who hasn't been announced yet, but I figure they're just waiting for that new Yoshi's Island game to come out so they can add to the hype.

Ice Climbers, Sheik

Also safe bets.  Sheik particularly, with Zelda already returning and all.

Mr. Game & Watch, Ganondorf, Falco

Getting into iffier territory.  Mr. Game & Watch has retro cred, but it's hard to tell what that counts for.  I for one hope to see him again, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him cut.  Ganondorf is safer, being from the Zelda franchise.  Falco?  A strong probably.  If they pick only one Star Fox character to go alongside Fox himself, Falco's the most likely pick.

Mewtwo, Roy, Dr. Mario, Pichu, Young Link

Here's a curious idea.  Could any of the characters who didn't appear in Brawl reappear for the new game?

Young Link is right out with Toon Link replacing him.  Pichu is unlikely; he was always sort of an oddball character to begin with.  Roy's appearance in Melee was kind of a stunt to begin with, marking the first time a character debuted in Smash Brothers before his regular series; I don't think there's enough interest to resurrect him.  Dr. Mario is particularly unlikely, although I wouldn't rule out an alternate costume.

Of these five, Mewtwo is the one I'm most interested in speculating about.  He remains an iconic Pokemon, especially with his reappearance in Pokemon X/Y.  Unlikely, but not impossible.

Wario, Zero Suit Samus, Ike, Pokemon Trainer, Meta Knight, Snake, Lucas

Now we're getting into some serious speculation territory.  The characters who debuted in Brawl are probably the most likely to be dismissed at this point.  Who's safe?  Who isn't?

Zero Suit Samus is a safe bet.  Samus is in, and I've seen screenshots that suggest she has the same Final Smash as before.  And male gamers love their eye candy.

Pokemon Trainer seems like a safe bet, though it wouldn't surprise me if there was a different trainer or if he/she had different Pokemon.

Wario seems pretty safe, being a fairly unique Mario-universe character, particularly with the news that Ashley is going to be an assist trophy this time around.

Ike and Meta Knight?  Kind of iffy, maybe.  They don't seem to mind switching up the name on Marth's plus one invitation; we might see a character from a newer Fire Emblem game this time.  Meta Knight is cool and popular, but are there too many "floaty" characters already?  Probably safe, but we'll see.

Snake and Lucas are the most likely to be left out.  Snake is third-party and not exactly a perfect fit for the scenario.  Lucas is a relatively unknown character from one of Nintendo's least popular franchises; we're more likely to see Ness than Lucas, and it's hard to say if they want to give Mother two whole slots in the roster, especially for a character who plays like a clone.

R.O.B., Wolf

I'm leaning toward safe.  R.O.B.'s become something of a Nintendo icon lately.  They're more likely to cut Wolf before Falco, but I think the fans care enough about the Star Fox series to justify bringing all three characters back.

And Finally...

Any unannounced characters I'd like to see?  Well, at varying degrees of plausibility:  Simon Belmont, Waluigi, Miis, Stanley the Bugman, Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, Elite Beat Agents, Cooking Mama, Haggleman, Custom Robo, Bowser Jr. -- I could go on.

But we'll have to wait and see.

Labels: fanaticism