Nine DLC Characters I Want Added To Smash Ultimate

​In the lead up to each new Smash Bros game, the one thing many fans and I care about the most is the final roster of playable characters. Back in June it was revealed that the latest Smash Bros game, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, would bring back every character that has ever been playable in the series, so any additional characters joining the roster would be brand new to the series. While series director Masahiro Sakurai said not to expect too many new characters as a result, eleven new characters are joining the roster at launch with another character, Piranha Plant, joining the roster as free DLC a few months later. Seventy-five characters is a tremendous amount to choose from, but that’s not the end of it, as the Fighter Pass DLC will add another five characters who each come with a stage.

In the lead up to launch I had thrown out a list of characters I wanted to see join on Twitter, but with the news that each character would also come with a stage I wanted to rethink the characters I wanted to join. Since the Fighter Pass was announced earlier this month, Sakurai confirmed all five DLC characters on the pass have been decided from a short list provided by Nintendo. Honestly I’m not sure what to make of that information as Smash 4’s DLC was Nintendo’s best selling DLC of all time and it featured three third party characters and only one brand new first party character. Keeping that in mind, I’m not sure a list from Nintendo would only include first party characters so basically any video game character is on the table as far as I’m concerned.

In this blog I’d like to share nine characters I most want to see as DLC in Smash Ultimate alongside a potential stage and music selections. My personal hope is that a second fighter pass will follow the first and that other content such as echo fighters and new or returning stages will release regularly. I’ve written before that I’ve hoped Smash 5 would become a platform for Smash throughout the Switch’s life and I think it has a truly fantastic base to build upon. With all of that said, let’s get to it!

​Elma (Xenoblade X)
Stage: Mira
Music: Uncontrollable, Don’t Worry, Wir Fliegen

The character I most want to see in Smash Ultimate is Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X. As of this writing, with Smash Ultimate not in my hands, it seems there is a significant gap in Xenoblade X content in the final game. There is no playable character, no Xenoblade X stage, nor does it appear there are any Xenoblade X songs on the Xenoblade stage, which is a shame. Xenoblade X features a custom avatar character as the main character you play as, but the main character of the story is undoubtedly Elma. She primarily fights with a mix of two swords and guns in Xenoblade X, but she also prominently pilots the giant robots known as Skells as well, which could factor into her Final Smash attack. I kind of forgot how cool a character Elma was until I recently played the Xenoblade 2 DLC that featured her alongside Shulk and Fiora. What I haven’t forgotten though is how amazing the world of Mira is or how awesome Hiroyuki Sawano’s soundtrack is. Alongside Elma, I’d love to have a level with a set platform that takes a tour of Primordia as Uncontrollable blares in the background.

​Andy (Advance Wars)
Stage: Warzone
Music: Andy’s Theme, Jake’s Theme

I don’t understand how there have been five Smash Bros games so far and still no Advance Wars content outside of an assist trophy in Brawl. The series dates back to the NES/Famicom with Famicom Wars and saw multiple installments on the Game Boy Advance and DS and a spinoff series with Battalion Wars on the Gamecube and Wii. DLC is a good place to rectify this by adding Andy from Advance Wars as a playable character. I imagine Andy using his wrenches for melee attacks, but I think where he would most stand out is his special attacks that could focus on building things like tanks, turrets, drones, or motorcycles. Like Snake, I imagine he would also be able to plant mines in the field. I have two ideas for a warzone stage that could represent the series. While I’d like to see Advance Wars brought to life in 3D, it would be pretty cool to have a 2D sprite-based war raging in the background. My other idea is to incorporate a king of the hill-like mechanic to represent capturing buildings. The stage would have to be fairly large for that, but it would be unique in Smash and play well with Andy’s construction skills.

Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong)
Stage: Pirate Ship
Music: More Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze Songs

While I was happy to see King K. Rool make the cut for Smash Ultimate, I can’t believe he got in ahead of Dixie Kong. I’ve wanted Dixie for a long time since I think her hair has a lot of potential for a unique moveset. It can easily be useful for both throws and recovery skills and be used in some direct attacks as well. I’d also like to see Dixie’s guitar be available as part of her normal techniques rather than regulated to a Final Smash. I’m honestly not too set on a stage or music to accompany Dixie, but I most associate her with the pirate theme of Donkey Kong Country 2 and I’d like to see more Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze songs make the cut in general.

Tsubasa Oribe (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE)
Stage: Shibuya
Music: Reincarnation, Beastie Game

I’ll be up front here, I’m mainly pushing for Tsubasa to be playable in Smash because I really want a Tokyo Mirage Sessions stage in Ultimate with a handful of the best vocal songs including absolutely for sure Reincarnation. The game has a ton of slick, vibrant style which would translate well to a Smash arena whether they go for an outdoors Shibuya arena (my personal pick) or the regular battle stage. That said I think Tsubasa would be a cool character in Smash. Thus far, there still isn’t a single spear wielder in Smash so she would be unique there. She’d also have access to all of her special attacks and classic Shin Megami Tensei magic. I would like to see some SMT/Persona representation in Smash as well, but I think Tokyo Mirage Sessions should be considered first and Tsubasa is a strong pick to represent the game.

Banjo (Banjo Kazooie)
Stage: Spiral Mountain
Music: Main Title, Spiral Mountain

While most of the third party characters in Smash have good history with Nintendo (Cloud infamously less so), there is one set of characters yet to join that make perfect sense: Banjo and Kazooie. The bear and bird duo starred in two of the N64’s biggest adventures and probably would have been in Smash sooner had Nintendo not let Mircosoft buy Rare and its IP. While they are competing first party video companies, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between the two. In fact, Nintendo has one of Microsoft’s biggest games, Minecraft, on their platform and Nintendo even allowed crossplay between Microsoft’s versions and the Switch version. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s game studios, has expressed his interest multiple times in seeing Banjo and Kazooie in Smash. As for a moveset, Banjo punches and kicks his foes and Kazooie can peck at them and shoot eggs out of her mouth for long range attacks. I’m not particularly attached to any one stage, so a flyover stage seems like a good idea or one that just rotates around Spiral Mountain.

Linkle (Hyrule Warriors)
Stage: Hyrule Field
Music: Hyrule Field (Guitar)

Hyrule Warriors was one of the standout games on Wii U and one of its most interesting new characters was Linkle. I’ve never been particularly attached to having Link as a male character since he is more of an avatar, but I really liked what Tecmo Koei came up with for Linkle. She is a distinct character on her own journey, who exudes enthusiasm, and while she may frequently get lost, she always winds up where she is needed. Since she originated from a Dynasty Warriors game, it’s no surprise she’s ready to fight, but she does so with unique style. She dual wields crossbows and the Pegasus Boots in a way that looks like she is doing kung fu. She also regularly uses bombs with abandon which might be trickier to fit in, but would be perfect for a Final Smash. If Linkle does make the cut, one of her taunts should let you swap between having her hood on or not.

Saki Amamiya (Sin And Punishment)
Stage: Destroyed Tokyo
Music: Urban Ruins, Blackheart

Saki was my favorite assist trophy back in Brawl and Smash 4 and I’ve always hoped he’d be promoted to a playable character. I’m a big fan of the two Sin and Punishment games as they are incredibly challenging shooters with so many over the top boss fights. There may be a lot of sword users in Smash, but Saki’s sword can switch between being a sword for melee combat and a gun for long range fighting which is a cool distinction. I think it would be important to have a special sword attack that can reflect projectiles as that is a major mechanic of both Sin and Punishment games. Saki’s Final Smash should incorporate his Godzilla-like monster form. If Saki is chosen, I’d like to see the destroyed Tokyo from the first game be the stage since it is so striking, but they should heavily pull the songs from Star Successor which has a more diverse OST.

Geno (Super Mario RPG)
Stage: Bowser’s Castle
Music: Fight Against Monsters, Fight Against Culex

We’ve been teased by Geno in Smash for too long for nothing to come of it. There was a Geno model left behind on the Brawl disc and in Smash 4 there was a Geno Mii costume as DLC. I grew up with Super Mario RPG and I’ve always wanted to see a character from Mario’s RPG adventures become a playable character in Smash and Geno is one of the strongest candidates. Geno is armed with guns and rockets and has access to powerful spells that see him shoot out laser beams and throwing whirling discs of energy. I’d like to see his Final Smash be based off of Geno Blast which sees rainbow columns of light smite enemies from the sky. While the chandeliers in Bowser’s Castle could make a cool arena, I’d prefer a battle on the hill that overlooks the castle with the sword sticking out of it. I definitely need Fight Against Monsters in as a song, the basic battle theme of Super Mario RPG, and I’d like to see Fight Against Culex make the cut since it is not so secretly the Final Fantasy IV boss battle theme and we need way more Final Fantasy music than we have.

Goku (Dragon Ball Z)
Stage: World Martial Arts Tournament
Music: Cha-La Head Cha-La, Genkai Toppa X Survivor

For a long time, getting Final Fantasy’s Cloud in Smash Bros was a longshot dream. Even though many third party characters had come before him, Cloud’s inclusion in Smash 4 as DLC was shocking. I think with Smash Ultimate, it is time to dream again and start asking for the next seemingly forever unlikely character: Goku from Dragon Ball. Both Sakurai and the Smash community love to come up with rules for why characters can’t join the roster, but time and time again the goal posts get shifted as characters who seemingly never should be allowed join the fight. Goku may have originated in a manga, but he is certainly no stranger to video games or Nintendo platforms as his most recent game, Dragon Ball FighterZ, attests to. Goku is a martial artist first and foremost and many of his special attacks like the Kamehameha lend themselves to special moves. I’m not especially attached to any particular arena for Goku, but the World Martial Arts tournament stage seems like a safe bet and lends itself to character cameos in the background. If Goku joins, I’d hope they could snag some anime songs (Cha-La Head Cha-La and Genkai Toppa X Survivor are musts) and iconic sound effects to help bring Goku to life. If there is one thing that makes me hopeful that including Goku is easier than it seems, Bandai Namco is in charge of all of the Dragon Ball games and they are the developers of Smash Ultimate. If anyone could help Goku transition into Smash Bros seamlessly, it’s Namco Bandai.

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Thanks for reading my latest blog! I hope you enjoyed it! I’m always curious what you think of my blogs so feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @JustinMikos. While you are there, be sure to share what characters you’d like to see become playable in Smash Bros. Until next time!

- Justin