Nintendo Direct Mini hints an Arms villain may join Smash Ultimate
Could this new fighter be just like "Hero"?
Nintendo teased the next fighter that will join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster as a part of its DLC Fighters Pass 2 during a Nintendo Direct Mini broadcast Thursday. In a surprising twist, the new fighter will be from its quirky boxing franchise Arms. Not only do we already have a rough estimate of the release date (June), but we also have an inkling as to who the character might be.
While there aren’t any playable characters from Arms in Smash Ultimate yet, there are already six Arms-themed items and four Arms Mii Costumes included already. Nintendo traditionally doesn’t add characters to the roster who are already featured in the game as Assist Trophies, Spirits, or Mii Costumes. For example, even though Waluigi has been one of the most requested DLC characters, Nintendo has already made him an Assist Trophy, seemingly squashing his hope of making it to the roster.
That means Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Min Min, Twintelle, and Ninjara most likely won’t be in Smash Ultimate since they all appear in the game in other forms. That leaves Master Mummy, Mechanica, Byte & Parq, Kid Cobra, Helix, Max Brass, Lola Pop, Misango, Springtron, and Dr. Coyle as the remaining contenders.
The crossed out portraits are already represented in 'Smash Ultimate' and likely won't be the next DLC fighter.
Fans react to Arms
Smash Ultimate fans are notoriously difficult to please when it comes to DLC fighters. The most recent addition of Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses caused an uproar of disappointed gamers who were hoping for another third-party, non-Nintendo exclusive series, as in the case of Joker from Persona 5 or Banjo & Kazooie. Surprisingly, many initial reactions to Thursday’s announcement were positive even from people who have never played any of the boxing games.
“I haven't played Arms, but I think the character will have a very interesting and fun moveset," wrote Redditor u/mrcoolj90. "I'm looking forward to this."
Other fans enthusiastically tweeted who they’d most want to see as the first Arms representative in Smash Ultimate.
“I’m so hyped the next fighter is an ARMS character,” wrote Twitter user @mana_chan__. “I DO hope it’s still Springman (since he would be the first character in smash bros history to have an assist trophy & fighter in the same game), but tbh I think Dr. Coyle would be so HYPE omg.”
But realistically, who will the DLC character be?
Could the first Fighter Pass 2 DLC character be the devious Dr. Coyle?
The Inverse Analysis
Nintendo has yet to go against its precedent of not adding characters already represented as items, so we’re going to assume this will be the case this time around as well. Out of the remaining options, Dr. Coyle does seem like the plausible fighter to make it into Smash Ultimate.
She was the latest character to be added to Arms during a December 2017 update, making her the newest face for the franchise. Plus, all of the previous DLC fighters have been protagonists from their respective series. A villain could spice things up a bit. Alternatively, the character might resemble "Hero" from the Dragon Quest series. His alternate skins resemble different protagonists. This Arms character could be the same, with options to look like a multitude of Arms characters with the same movesets regardless.
For now, these are nothing more than educated guesses, but the first Fighters Pass 2 character should be revealed and added to Smash Ultimate in June. This release date window could be subject to change because of the global coronavirus pandemic, but as far as we know, they'll stay on schedule.
