As you may know by now, a new Nintendo Direct is upon us – April 8th at 6 PM ET. This one is special, though, since its sole focus is on our community’s most anticipated game – Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS.
In preparation for this event, I thought I’d write down my five BIG BOSS PREDICTIONS for tomorrow’s presentation. Additionally, I’ve added an extra aspect to each core prediction that is rather out-there as a KIEFER PREDICTION.
If you are unfamiliar with our little prediction method, let’s put it like this…
BIG BOSS PREDICTIONS involve the prognosticator taking a bold risk, beyond the usual guess.
KIEFER PREDICTIONS go one step further to the verge of madness, much like the news of Kiefer Sutherland as the new voice of Big Boss.
Now, as we know with Nintendo, none of these are guaranteed to happen, but I’ve placed them in an order of “Most to Least Likely to Happen.”
BIG BOSS: A veteran character will be announced. It will be Yoshi.
It really is about time. Outside of the fact that the release of Yoshi’s New Island has come and gone, Yoshi is the last remaining character still to be confirmed out of the original eight starters in the first Smash Bros. game. I don’t think we get more than two character announcements tomorrow and if Yoshi isn’t announced here, we might have to start questioning his place in the roster.
KIEFER: Captain Falcon will be announced as a veteran character.
Falcon. Punch. That’s how you put an emphasis on a character announcement, Sakurai. ‘Nuff said.
BIG BOSS: A newcomer character will be announced. It will be Mii.
While there are some more logical newcomer predictions out there, such as Palutena, I’m still a believer of one of this game’s oldest rumors. Just before E3 2013, an online rumor predicted the inclusion of Villager, Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Mii, and Pac-Man. Four out of six is pretty impressive so far and I think Mii has a greater impact for those watching Tuesday’s Direct than Pac-Man would. Plus, how cool would it be to customize a Smash character’s face?
KIEFER: Ridley will be announced as a newcomer character.
Never give up hope. The demand for Ridley in the west is rather high and it is entirely possible to rescale him to a Charizard-like size.
BIG BOSS: A specific release date will be announced for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS. It will be August 8, 2014.
Here’s a puzzling thought – why have a Nintendo Direct about a specific game when there is still so much that we don’t know about it? Past game-centric presentations involved Wii Fit U, Pokémon X/Y, The Wonderful 101 and more, but those were all done relatively closely to their release date. Plus, if Smash isn’t Nintendo’s big Holiday 2014 release, then what is? The timing of this whole event makes little sense, so I’ll split the difference and predict a reveal of a late-summer release.
KIEFER: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS will be delayed to 2015.
We’ve been burned before with Brawl. I know that Nintendo has been trying to emphasize that the game is coming out in 2014, but they also originally said December 3, 2007 for the last game. Also, something strange seems to be happening with the franchise…
BIG BOSS: There will be a distinct difference between the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game, which we will learn about.
It has always been peculiar, hasn’t it? Why have there been two similar versions of this game developed in conjunction? Especially when Sakurai has said that restrictions of the 3DS version may impact the Wii U version? Sakurai has also said that there should be a purpose for using the two games in complement with each other, such as building and customizing a character on 3DS and bringing it over to Wii U. While I don’t think it will be something like that, hopefully we learn why there are these two versions of the same game.
KIEFER: The game titles of “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U” and “Super Smash Bros. for 3DS” will be changed.
Preferably, they should change it to something less cumbersome. The use of “for Wii U” and “for 3DS” in the actual title is one of the worst name choices I have ever come across.
BIG BOSS: We will see the design for the (currently incomplete) character select screen.
We should expect to see a lot of b-roll footage, between gameplay video and screenshots, as the speakers address the audience during the Direct. If anyone remembers the old Brawl days, we saw demonstrations of the game during development, and thus we saw the user interface, including the character select screen. I mean, who recalls the different mockups that fans made from that to guess the final character roster? While unrevealed characters would be surely left out of the current select screen, would it be too much to ask to get a glimpse of what we will be interacting with before every match?
KIEFER: We will learn how many characters will be in the final roster.
The makeup of the actual final roster itself is completely unreasonable in the game’s pre-release marketing. But, to give fans a sense of the remaining roster spots? And then to have the debates continue between fans online as to who should make the cut, between veterans and newcomers? That would actually be a pretty smart move, but that’s exactly why there’s a very slim chance of it happening.
What are your Smash Bros. Direct predictions, both Big Boss and Kiefer? Let us know in the comments below!
You just might want to stay by your computer after the Direct, though…
I can confirm that SMYN will have a special reaction podcast, shortly following the Direct’s conclusion!
SMYN: Smash Bros. Direct Special
Tuesday, April 8th
6:30 PM Eastern (approximately)
It’s going to be an unpredictable show, filled with our reactions to the news that just broke, shortly after the Smash Bros. Direct airs. There will be a lot of interaction with the live chat as well, as we will be analyzing notes and rewatching video. It really depends on what is actually revealed. Come on, Sakurai…
As always, this will be streamed LIVE on our Twitch channel.
SMASH HYPE!
