‘Smash Ultimate’s next fighter should be this ‘Pokémon Sword & Shield’ star
The newest and best Fighting-type Pokémon deserves more of a spotlight in 'Smash'.
Despite some leaks saying the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character is Travis Touchdown, we think it’s high time Nintendo’s the fighting game added more Pokémon characters, and in light of the newly announced expansion pack for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, there’s no better time to add the greatest hero of the new generation: Sirfetch’d.
A Pokémon Sword exclusive, Sirfetch’d is the evolution of Farfetch’d, a previously unusable bird Pokémon that appeared in the original games, but because this irascible duck that uses a leek as a melee weapon had terrible stats with weak types, nobody ever took it seriously. All of that changed in Sword, where Farfetch’d becomes a Fighting-type Pokémon instead of Normal/Flying, and its stats are boosted to make it a worthwhile challenger — even more so when it evolves into Sirfetch’d and gains a tremendous amount of Attack and decent defenses.
Even from a more technical gameplay standpoint, the overall design of Sirfetch’d would fit well into a fighting game experience like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Sirfetch’d is already a fighter.
Sirfetch'd is a heroic bird that will not hesitate to beat you up.
Sirfetch’d marches into battle wielding a leek as a lance and the leaves bunched up as a shield. He’s essentially a Medieval knight — except he’s also just a bird smacking people with vegetables. Most Pokémon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate rely on their elemental moves and other powers, which means that Sirfetch’d is arguably an even better fit for a fighting game. He could join the fray as a melee-focused combatant with an easier moveset than most other Pokémon characters.
Sirfetch’d could adapt some moves and functionality from characters like Ike, Meta Knight, Link, and Corrin. An obvious starting point would be to give Sirfetch’d a passive shield that blocks any incoming projectiles shot towards him from the front, just like is the case with Link, Young Link, Toon Link, and the Hero. Because his body would be considerably smaller but more dense, Sirfetch’d would probably be in a similar size and weight class to Mario but able to move like Ness or Lucas’ running speed.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doesn’t have any dedicated spear-users, so it’s tough to imagine exactly what Sirfetch’d combat might look like. Corrin’s side special move, Dragon Lunge, does summon a huge spear that stabs into the ground, and that’s kind of the closest point of comparison we have.
Corrin's moves involve a spear-like weapon, so why not adapt something similar for Sirfetch'd?
His heavy lance could swing around like Ike or Roy’s large sword, making for higher damage output and increased range and the expense of a slower attack speed. There’s also Meteor Assault, the signature move of Sirfetch’d where he charges up some energy and then makes a running stab at his enemies. Something like that would fall into the Falcon Punch archetype of moves. Think long, slow swings of the leek or a charging stab that deals a tremendous amount of damage.
And let’s not forget that Farfetch’d is a bird (white duck, to be precise), so he should be able to glide in a way that resembles Meta Knight’s recovery move. We have no way to know what the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter is, but somebody please start a petition to make it Sirfetch’d.
The fifth Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter is expected to arrive before the end of February.
