The fate of one of Nintendo's largest franchises, Super Smash Bros., could lie within Nintendo's list of eligible fighters. Now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has received its final update after years of sporadically added DLC fighters, it has distinguished itself as one of the most ambitious titles in gaming history. Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has implied it would be impossible for a sequel to outdo Ultimate through sheer content and that the next Smash Bros. would likely have to significantly shorten its cast. While a followup to the game hasn't yet been confirmed, it's hard to imagine a future without the series on a Nintendo home console, and given the sales records of Smash Bros., it's unlikely something Nintendo would ever voluntarily conclude without good reason.

If the next Super Smash Bros. game does indeed streamline itself, it follows that superfluous content will have to be cut. In Smash Bros.' roster, this would most likely refer to third-party fighters, such as Terry Bogard, Cloud Strife, and Joker. While this would mean a smaller Super Smash Bros. roster composed of Nintendo's core franchises, this change would also make room for more surprise entries. Smash has built new fighter reveals into its identity. It started during the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, when Nintendo established a website dedicated to exciting updates on newcomers to the series, and evolved into the full cinematic trailers that we have now. No matter how different it looks, the next Smash Bros. will most likely follow this trend and expand its roster within the realm of Nintendo characters.

Related: Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Could Make Its Way To Nintendo Switch Online

If what Sakurai told The Verge holds true and he does "shrink the roster" of the next Smash Bros., the next game could look entirely different from Ultimate. If the next Super Smash Bros. roster contains mostly Nintendo characters, fans might see previously underrepresented and altogether new fighters from their favorite series take the stage. Smash Bros. fighters done right are some of the most thorough representations of each character's spirit. The possibility of altogether new and unique fighters directly from Nintendo games is exciting because of the amount of personality and originality each of its characters possesses. Below are a few characters that would make excellent additions to a more Nintendo-centered Smash Bros. sequel.

Captain Toad & Toadette Need To Be Super Smash Bros. Fighters

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker Captain Toad and Toadette

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker saw the character star in his own adventure, where he was joined by Toadette. In Super Smash Bros., Toad/Toadette could function as a single character who players could choose between through alternating costumes. Because the design of these two is more geared towards survival than combat, their move set would require a lot of creativity in order to shape them into competent fighters.

Given Toad and Toadette's inability to jump in Treasure Tracker, their character might even have no jump function in Super Smash Bros., relying on controllable, rising platforms to navigate vertical space instead. They could make up for this with a powerful ground game, pulling and throwing turnips with their down-special, like Peach, but also having access to the giant turnips from their game. Their side-special could be their minecart, which would give them necessary mobility, with primary attacks using a pickaxe, offering little range but high combo potential. Toad/Toadette's Final Smash could even call in the Toad Brigade, last seen in Bowser's Fury, who could fire turnips at opposing players out of cannons from their Starshroom spaceship.

Dixie Kong Might Finally Get The Spot She Deserves In Super Smash Bros.

Dixie Kong Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze

Dixie Kong has been a Donkey Kong series staple for generations. She even got her own title in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, establishing her as one of the few supporting female Nintendo characters to star as a protagonist in her own game. When her canonical boyfriend Diddy Kong was added to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, many assumed she would soon follow, but to their disappointment she never did. Dixie could prove to be a valuable addition to the next Smash Bros. roster if Sakurai can distinguish her from Diddy through her moves. Despite being another acrobatic, agile, midweight character, she could be varied in key ways based on features from her games. Dixie's inclusion would also be in line with Nintendo's recent push for more Donkey Kong content.

Related: Why Poké Floats Isn't In Smash Bros. Ultimate

Dixie Kong's attacks in Super Smash Bros. would likely involve using her iconic ponytail to whip enemies. She could even use it as a quick extendable grab, like in her games. Her up-special could be the Helicopter Spin she's best known for, which would have more vertical mobility and speed than Donkey Kong's Spinning Kong, and Dixie could rely on her bubblegum to damage and slow opponents. Her Gumball Popgun from Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze could function as a mid-range neutral-special projectile, and her Final Smash might even see her bust out her signature guitar and shred sound waves at opposing players.

King Rhoam Could Be a Bold Zelda Representative In Super Smash Bros.

King Rhoam Zelda Breath Of The Wild

King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule is a newer The Legend of Zelda character specific to Breath of the Wild, who ruled as King of the Breath of the Wild's sprawling land of Hyrule and was father to Zelda. He is first presented as a mysterious old hermit who instructs Link through the tutorial. After completing the Great Plateau, one of the most thrilling moments of Breath of the Wild occurs when King Rhoam reveals his true identity to Link in the Temple of Time. In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, his complex character is given more development, with players witnessing the struggle he incurs as a father and a leader whose nation is under siege. In Super Smash Bros., King Rhoam could borrow heavily from his brilliant Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity fighter design.

In Age of Calamity, King Rhoam was able to transform between two modes: Hermit Guise and King Guise. In Hermit Guise, he wears his modest hooded cloak and wields a battle-axe, emphasizing speed and combo potential; in King Guise, he dons his royal robes and uses a large claymore, sacrificing speed for pure power. His moveset could see him switching between these two, striking and breaking the ground in King Guise, and quicker moves with whirlwind projectiles for Hermit Guise.

Super Smash Bros. Could Include The Zany Rabbid Peach

Rabbid Peach and Peach Mario + Rabbids

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which offered a bizarre merge of Ubisoft's Rabbids with the Mario universe, managed the impossible when it launched, creating something wonderful that represented the best in both IPs. Its success even earned the series an upcoming Mario + Rabbids sequel, Sparks of Hope. The most emblematic character in the game is undoubtedly Rabbid Peach, who presents a potent mixture of vanity, superficiality, and destructiveness, yet still manages to save the day. Rabbid Peach offers some of the game's most hilarious moments, judging others' clothes, taking untimely selfies on the battlefield, and causing chaos. Even though she's not an official Nintendo character, her series' exclusivity on the Switch and the fact that she's based on Nintendo's Princess Peach could earn her a spot in the next Super Smash Bros.

Related: SSBU: Why Mario Has A Green Costume But Luigi Can't Be Red

Rabbid Peach could be a fast-moving gunner who could zip in and out of her opponents' range on the Super Smash Bros. stage. Her neutral-special would be her tried and true blaster, which shoots medium-ranged shots that apply different properties. To incorporate the spirit of Mario + Rabbids' strategic application of status effects, Rabbid Peach could toggle between Honey, Vampire, Push, and Ink projectiles with her down-special. Each could invoke a temporary status effect: Honey could stop characters in their tracks, sticking them in place, Vampire could sap their life force, slowly increasing their percent while decreasing her own, Ink could prevent opponents' from using their special attacks, and Push would apply high knockback, sending foes flying and capable of KOing at higher percents. Her Final Smash could call upon her eventual ally, Rabbid Kong, who attacks enemies while she snaps selfies from on top of his shoulder.

Waluigi Could Give Super Smash Bros. A Chance To Embrace The Meme

Waluigi With Rose Mario Tennis

In the next Super Smash Bros., Nintendo can finally give Waluigi his due by including him in the roster. Wario's other half has deserved a spot in the lineup for generations, but he has constantly been overlooked to the point where his lack of inclusion has become a running joke. If Nintendo goes back to the drawing board in the next Smash Bros. and refines a more Nintendo-centered cast, this could be Waluigi's chance. Since his introduction in Mario Tennis, Waluigi has appeared in nearly every multiplayer Mario game except Smash Bros., so the decision to omit him has confounded fans. He certainly brings enough personality as a character, but perhaps the issue is in creating a unique enough move set to distinguish him from Mario and Luigi. If he does make it into the next game in the series, Sakurai and the rest of the developers could fully embrace the meme-potential of Waluigi's silly character with a ridiculous set of moves that fans can't help but laugh at.

What makes Waluigi a fan-favorite Nintendo character could be his calling card in Super Smash Bros.: playing dirty. Since Waluigi doesn't have individualized games to borrow moves from, he could cheat by using the items from the multiplayer games he takes part in, like his bat from Mario Baseball for his side-smash and his kart from Mario Kart for his side-special. He could even summon a Dice Block from Mario Party to get different stat boosts based on his roll, and throw javelins from Mario and Sonic At The Olympic Games. His attacks could lean into his height and lankiness, with lots of kicks and high-reaching tilts. For his Final Smash, Waluigi could dance to some sinister music, moonwalking Mario Party Superstars-style and entrancing enemies before striking a final pose with his infamous rose, which blasts enemies away.

There are so many options for new characters that the next Super Smash Bros. game could bring in, and it will be exciting to see what Nintendo eventually does with a new, possibly streamlined roster. Fans undoubtedly have their favorite potentials picked out already, leaving Nintendo's future decisions around a new roster as contentious as ever.

Next: How Many Pokémon Are Actually In Smash Bros. Ultimate

Source: The Verge