Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Guynamednelson]

Rockstar.

No need to worry about if GTA6 will get a Switch 2 port when that'll be the only version that exists.

 

[Ivander]

It's all part of the plan. First Shiver, then Rockstar.

Nintendo to Rockstar:

 

[chocolatejr9]

There's something fundamentally amusing to me that one of the few Western gaming developers that Nintendo's picked up is basically because of a fire sale at Embracer Group.

The way Nintendo does acquisitions and the way the rest of the industry does acquisitions are very different. Namely, Nintendo doesn't do it unless they have a good reason to.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

The first meeting between Rockstar and Nintendo after the acquisition:

"All that money for a Switch version of GTA?"

"We didn't buy you for GTA, we bought you to finish what was once started"

Nintendo employee slides photo over to Rockstar exec who slowly turns it over

 

[dream1ng]

Nintendo to Rockstar:

Uniracers 2:

 

[Ivander]

While I hear about the Mortal Kombat 1 port being infamously bad, I heard the Hogwarts Legacy port, aside from the long loading times, was surprisingly better compared to the Mortal Kombat 1 port. Still the worst compared to the other consoles, but still very functional and decent.

 

[PeridotGX]

Only Scribblenauts Showdown. The other Scribblenauts games were made by 5th Cell.

Edit: And even then, I think Scribblenauts is owned by Warner Bros.

Don't get me wrong I know all of that. I just think it's kinda cool that technically Nintendo made a Scribblenauts game. Just like they technically made a Spider-Man game.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[dream1ng]

While I hear about the Mortal Kombat 1 port being infamously bad, I heard the Hogwarts Legacy port, aside from the long loading times, was surprisingly better compared to the Mortal Kombat 1 port. Still the worst compared to the other consoles, but still very functional and decent.

People typically see the quality of a port purely as the reflection of the port house's capabilities, without factoring in how much (or little) time and money they may have been given. If that specific port isn't a priority for the publisher, or may be something they're contractually obligated to provide... it may result in not giving the team the time/resources to do it properly.

Not saying that's what happened here, but if MK1 is really their only anomaly in terms of port quality, it's possible.

Don't get me wrong I know all of that. I just think it's kinda cool that technically Nintendo made a Scribblenauts game. Just like they technically made a Spider-Man game.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

So Sony technically made Halo?

I'm not sure it works like that.

 

[TheQuester]

Imagine the reactions of an Apex Legends rep....

 

[NintenRob]

How are the ports done by Shiver, they any good?

A studio dedicated to bringing games to the switch could be interesting for Nintendo

 

[Ivander]

How are the ports done by Shiver, they any good?

A studio dedicated to bringing games to the switch could be interesting for Nintendo

Aside from Mortal Kombat 1, the other ports they did, Scribblenauts Mega Pack, Mortal Kombat 11 and Hogwarts Legacy, were pretty decent by what I heard.

 

[Guynamednelson]

How are the ports done by Shiver, they any good?

A studio dedicated to bringing games to the switch could be interesting for Nintendo

Mortal Kombat 1 is infamously bad. The most notable example of how bad it is is probably

The MK Switch version is disrespectful 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/hXOO2poAwq

— Plathanos 🐝 🇩🇴 (@SavinTheBees) September 17, 2023

The others, not so much.

 

[SneakyLink]

How are the ports done by Shiver, they any good?

A studio dedicated to bringing games to the switch could be interesting for Nintendo

Varies.
Mortal Kombat 11, apart from lower quality graphics and longer load times, plays great.

Hogwarts Legacy I hear runs great.

Mortal Kombat 1 was ripped apart at launch.

 

[Ivander]

Thinking about it, Shiver being bought by Nintendo for helping port games could be great in the long run if the rumors about the Switch 2 specs and ram being between PS4 Pro and Xbox Series S are true and they have Nintendo's support and guidance on how to handle and work with the Switch 2.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Keep in mind that the official announcement mentions they'd do ports on commission for multiple platforms including the Switch.

To me it kinda sounds like it'll just be business as usual for Shiver, but they'll have better access to Nintendo's proprietary tools since Nintendo is buying 100% of the outstanding shares to wholly own them.

Granted, I don't know what kind of ports if any they've done for non-Nintendo platforms.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Granted, I don't know what kind of ports if any they've done for non-Nintendo platforms.

Trying to look them up gives me info on Scribblenauts Showdown, which is a multiplat game. And it looks like they didn't outsource the non-Nintendo versions, so...

 

[Ivander]

Keep in mind that the official announcement mentions they'd do ports on commission for multiple platforms including the Switch.

To me it kinda sounds like it'll just be business as usual for Shiver, but they'll have better access to Nintendo's proprietary tools since Nintendo is buying 100% of the outstanding shares to wholly own them.

Granted, I don't know what kind of ports if any they've done for non-Nintendo platforms.

It does say that, but multiple platforms including the Switch might just be Switch and Switch 2, since that is multiple platforms including the Switch.

I guess we'll see what happens later.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Either way, getting an in-house porting team under their belt is a pretty good deal for Nintendo I think.

I always get weirded out whenever Nintendo acquires something because they just do it so infrequently and have very specific things in mind that I just never expect them to buy lol

 

[SharkLord]

Either way, getting an in-house porting team under their belt is a pretty good deal for Nintendo I think.

I always get weirded out whenever Nintendo acquires something because they just do it so infrequently and have very specific things in mind that I just never expect them to buy lol

Yeah, in an era where big companies like Microsoft scarf down other developers like candy and then lay off because they can't support all those acquisitions, it's kinda refreshing to see Nintendo only ever acquire small companies for very specific purposes.

 

[dream1ng]

I imagine the "multiple platforms that include the Switch" that Shiver will "continue commissions that port/develop software on" will be the Switch... and the Switch 2.

Don't see a full subsidiary making Playstation and Xbox games.

But if acquiring Shiver was done with the intention to help bring third-parties to the Switch line, and not simply for first-party ports/remasters, it really shows how serious Nintendo is about maintaining a good selection of software other than their own.

Quite a departure from Nintendo's Blue Ocean years of "**** you, I can make it on my own" lol

 

[PeridotGX]

So Sony technically made Halo?

I'm not sure it works like that.

no it totally is. donkey kong country is microsoft's greatest video game.

 

[Perkilator]

In other news, the KH series is coming to Steam!

Kingdom Hearts is coming to Steam!#KingdomHearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind (DLC) launch on June 13th 👑 pic.twitter.com/vueQXoE3Nx

— KINGDOM HEARTS (@KINGDOMHEARTS) May 21, 2024

I think this is going to give more PC players a chance to experience the franchise,and boost KH’s popularity further.

 

[Ivander]

Either way, getting an in-house porting team under their belt is a pretty good deal for Nintendo I think.

I always get weirded out whenever Nintendo acquires something because they just do it so infrequently and have very specific things in mind that I just never expect them to buy lol

Probably because we've gotten so used to Embracer and Microsoft getting a whole bunch of notable companies each, Sega Sammy getting Rovio, the Angry Birds developers, and whatnot. Like mostly whenever we hear about acquisitions, we mostly think big names because lately quite a bunch of big names have gotten bought.
So Nintendo getting a notably lesser known company seems so bizarre to us until we think about what Nintendo may have planned in the long run. And understandably, we recently got the thing regarding Nintendo and buyouts that Nintendo is more than aware that the teams behind the games are much more important than the IPs themselves and that not everybody in those teams wants to be restricted to making for one console only. They got Next Level Games because of the established relationship between them and Next Level Games was a-okay with making games for them. While Monolith Soft was gotten between an agreement between Nintendo and Namco while Iwata was willing to let Tetsuya Takahashi and Monolith Soft do more their own thing, something that definitely paid off in the end with Xenoblade being one of Nintendo's newest big hit series.

It's probably also why Nintendo, rather than buyouts, is looking for potential developer partners instead to make games for them. If we look recently, Another Code was developed by Arc-System Works, the Famicom Detective Club duo remakes were made by Mages, the people behind Stein Gates, we got an Advance Wars game developed by Wayforward, we got the Metroid 2 Remake and Metroid Dread by Mercury Steam, and Namco Bandai has been helping Nintendo with quite a whole lot of games recently, between Mario Kart 8, ARMs, New Pokemon Snap, Pokken Tournament and of course, Super Smash Bros lately.
It allows Nintendo to have more of their IPs be brought on board, it allows Nintendo to establish a slow, but steady relationship with those companies that could become a bigger relationship in the future(with Namco Bandai being one of their biggest developer partners for a while now since Gamecube), and recently, the games they've been doing have been heavily benefiting from the Switch's large install base. So it makes sense why Nintendo is more working with these other developers rather than buying them out.

 

[BuckleyTim]

Fortnite, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, Anything from ActiBlizz not named Crash or Spyro

These are the 4 horsemen of ip picks that would make smash discussion threads unreadable for weeks after content drop

 

[ninjahmos]

Nintendo to Rockstar:

Uniracers 2:

Body Harvest revival when?

 

[HyperSomari64]

Body Harvest revival when?

I think Warner Bros. owns it after they got Midway.

 

[Will]

I mean why couldn’t they be both a boss and playable? Fighting games do this all of the time and it would be a cool unlockable.

I agree with the idea, the original topic was for making bosses only.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

What's this about Nintendo buying Rockstar Games?

In other news, the KH series is coming to Steam!

I wonder how this affects the lore.

 

[Gengar84]

Fortnite, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, Anything from ActiBlizz not named Crash or Spyro

These are the 4 horsemen of ip picks that would make smash discussion threads unreadable for weeks after content drop

I don’t have an issue with any of those and I actively want a League of Legends rep thanks to Arcane as well as a character from either StarCraft or WarCraft. I love the characters and world from all of those games. I played a good amount of WarCraft 3 in high school and, while I’ve never played the mainline LoL game, I had a lot of fun with Ruined King, Runeterra, and I thought Arcane was an amazing show.

If anyone here hasn’t seen it and has the chance, I highly recommend giving Arcane a shot. I had absolutely no knowledge of the lore going into the show and it ended up being one of my all time favorite shows. It’s honestly right up there with Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood in my opinion.

 

[Ivander]

What's this about Nintendo buying Rockstar Games?

They didn't. Somebody was just making a joke and the joke escalated further. Anyway, Nintendo bought Shiver Entertainment, one of the companies under Embracer that did the Switch ports for Mortal Kombat 11, Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy and it appears Nintendo is planning to have Shiver still be a porting company mostly.
Sounds random, but it's implied that they will do porting for the Switch 2 system as well and with Nintendo owning Shiver now, they could help Shiver with how to handle and work with the Switch 2 to make porting games for them easier.

 

[dream1ng]

Fortnite, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, Anything from ActiBlizz not named Crash or Spyro

These are the 4 horsemen of ip picks that would make smash discussion threads unreadable for weeks after content drop

Idk, I feel like LoL has graduated from the Fortnite to the Minecraft phase where it's just there and people aren't really bothered by it anymore. I also feel like Arcane, despite not being a game, gave it some credibility. Sure there'd be griping, but I don't think Jinx would get drowned out in backlash. Especially should Wild Rift ever arrive (most likely for Switch 2 at this point) like it's been planned to forever.

I also think a lot of Blizzard IP like Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo aren't especially requested (or likely) but are big to the point people would sort of acknowledge an inclusion is fair. Ironically Overwatch, which is imo more likely (though probably still not that likely), would be more contentious.

I don't know enough about where people stand on Genshin. I don't really follow that game. To me it seems like it'd be received halfheartedly but not necessarily overly negatively, at least in the west. But I'm not that tuned in. It probably partially depends on how many anime folk precede it.

Of course all of these would garner more negativity than, like, a popularly requested third-party... but other than Fortnite, I think the promotional first-parties will, on average, be received worse. I feel a lot of these are more towards the muted reception side than the outright vitriol side.

 

[Gengar84]

Fortnite gave me these awesome Shredder designs so it’s okay in my book.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Fortnite gave me these awesome Shredder designs so it’s okay in my book.

View attachment 389703

In general this game has the best TMNT designs.

 

[Ivander]

Huh...

DICE honors Satoru Iwata with Lifetime Achievement Award

Emotional night for friends of Nintendo leader

www.polygon.com

The game industry took time to remember Satoru Iwata tonight, honoring the former Nintendo president with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

At the DICE Awards, organized by The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé accepted the award and spoke about his old and friend and colleague, who died last year, age 55.

"On behalf of Mr. Iwata's family and all of Nintendo, thank you for this lifetime achievement award," he said. "Mr. Iwata has been gone for some time but I still think about him almost every day."

Fils-Aimé talked about Iwata's contribution to gaming as a developer and as a business leader. But he mostly talked about Iwata's good nature and his way of putting other people first as well as his humility, self-effacing style and generosity.

Former Electronic Arts exec and now Shiver Entertainment boss John Schappert recalled how Iwata always found time to talk to anyone in the game industry, even when he was riding high from the success of DS and Wii. "Mr. Iwata left an indelible mark on the industry. He made gaming bigger and better," said Schappert.

So by what somebody on Reddit by the name of PikaPhantom_ pointed out:

Shiver's CEO presented a Lifetime Achievement Award on Iwata's behalf to Reggie. It might be possible that this signifies there's been a deeper connection between the two companies or parties for some time. If nothing else, Hiroshi Yamauchi made the call to acquire a majority stake in the Seattle Mariners as a favor of sorts, as the team would've been sold if they couldn't find a buyer and he wanted to repay the city for allowing Nintendo of America to set up base in the greater Seattle area. Nintendo's under different leadership now, of course, but maybe it's not impossible that Shiver was on Embracer's chopping block, Nintendo recognized that they were a valuable asset, and figured a buyout was ultimately beneficial to them while still being a favor to John Schappert.

It may not be any deeper than just Nintendo seeing potential in Shiver Entertainment as a porting company for them, but still, this was quite fascinating to find.

 

[Nabbitfan730]

Fortnite gave me these awesome Shredder designs so it’s okay in my book.

View attachment 389703

2003 betta

 

[fogbadge]

A studio dedicated to bringing games to the switch could be interesting for Nintendo

it would be yeah. considering the number of ports they've managed i'm not surprised nintendo took a fancy to them

 

[DarthEnderX]

Phase 1: Buy Shivers
Phase 2: Merger with Capcom
Phase 3: "Okay Shivers, start porting all of Capcom's PS5 games to Switch 2."
Phase 4:

Spoiler: Smash 6 Roster profit!

Zero [Mega Man]
Sigma [Mega Man]
Chun Li [Street Fighter]
M. Bison [Street Fighter]
Jill Valentine [Resident Evil]
Leon Kennedy [Resident Evil]
Wesker [Resident Evil]
Dante [Devil May Cry]
Vergil [Devil May Cry]
Arthur [Ghosts ‘n Goblins]
Firebrand [Gargoyle’s Quest]
Morrigan [Darkstalkers]
Phoenix Wright [Ace Attorney]
Viewtiful Joe [Viewtiful Joe]
Amaterasu [Okami]
Mike Haggar [Final Fight]
Strider Hiryu [Strider]
Nathan Spencer [Bionic Commando]

 

[Gengar84]

2003 betta

My favorite designs for the Turtles themselves are a bit of a hybrid between the original Mirage comics and Playmates toy line. These figures from Mondo are pretty much perfect, though I’d prefer them not to have the tails:

The 2003 designs are my favorites from any of the tv shows.

For Shredder, they’re all great in their own way. The original 80’s design from the cartoon is awesome for what they were going for. As far as pure cool factor, it’s a toss up between the 2003 cartoon, the IDW comics, and the new Fortnite designs for me.

 

[Oracle Link]

Its funny how i both watched a lot of ninjago, Naruto and all of ninjala yet i havent touched TMNT!
Weird!

 

[Gengar84]

Its funny how i both watched a lot of ninjago, Naruto and all of ninjala yet i havent touched TMNT!
Weird!

I’m guessing the majority of the TMNT fans grew up in the 80’s and 90’s like me. TMNT was huge back in the day. It’s still around but never quite reached that level of popularity since. I’d at least give the original 1990 TMNT movie a shot to check it out and see if you like it. The 2003 and 2012 cartoons are both great. Rise of the TMNT and the original 80’s cartoon are good too in their own way if you like pure sillyness. The Rise movie was awesome though. The newest movie, Mutant Mayhem, was fun too but another one that goes the pure silly route. I don’t know if you read comics at all but the IDW TMNT comics are probably the best stories in the franchise.

Back on topic but keeping to the theme of characters from shows I loved, do you think Arcane will have much of an impact on the character selection if we do get a League of Legends rep? I feel like that show really did a lot to expand the audience beyond those that played the game. Vi is my favorite character from the show but they were all great. I wonder if Vi and Jinx have an edge over other LoL characters just from their increased exposure from the show. Season 2 is coming out in November of this year so it should help them stay relevant.