Here's Entry #2 in my series of how I feel Smash "5" is looking and where the franchise is headed, character-wise...
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Mario + Yoshi Series
In general, I have a suspicion the wait for Smash 5 will be shorter than the wait between Melee and Brawl/Brawl and 4. In fact, I'm gonna predict we'll have it in about five years.
Today I'll be covering Pokemon!
So, out of all the series in Smash, Pokemon is perhaps the most dynamic...every game has added at least one newcomer, yet also, since Melee, we've also had two cuts as well. Smash 4 Pokemon slowed down a bit, with only one newcomer (technically...), and for once Mario is beating it in terms of character count. I've always wondered if Sakurai likes to keep Pokemon under six slots, to be in-line with the series. Either way, personally I like how Pokemon has a dynamic roster...it's one series that really works for, since it's so big and changes frequently.
Between Brawl and 4, we saw two Generations released, adding upward of 200+ New Pokemon to pull from. And since GameFreak seems to be churning out titles faster than ever, I suspect we'll have Generation VII and Generation VIII by Smash 5, with perhaps Generation IX on its way. Of course, XY suggests New Pokemon might be sparser in future games, but even 69 New Pokemon is still a lot of potential to pull from.
First, let's talk about the veterans...
Pikachu and Jigglypuff are the only "locks" in my mind, and even the latter I think may be cut one day...but I'll need to see another 64 Veteran Cut first before I think that'll happen.
Charizard seems the next likely veteran to remain, since, well, he's Charizard! He survived the Pokemon Trainer Cut, although having a new Mega Evolution may have helped. I think he'll stay for Smash 5, but might not make it next time around...but that's so far off, so I won't think too hard about that.
Squirtle and Ivysaur seem possible DLC, but I doubt Sakurai will bring back Pokemon Trainer himself. In a perfect world, I'd be satisfied if the Pokemon all had their own Pokemon Trainer who stayed in the background *except Pikachu, Mewtwo and Lucario since they're sort of special* just for the visual effect, or at least appeared in the win screen like Doc Louis. But yeah, the three-in-one deal seemed a bit too gimmicky.
Lucario is still rather popular, AND, by Smash 5, I think that a Generation VI remake is pretty likely since GameFreak don't seem to have a cut-off point for remakes. A lot of people thought Gen III wasn't notable enough for one, and, well, we got it. With that in mind, I think that'll help keep Lucario in the spotlight. I think he's argurably earned his spot by this point of time, and no longer feels like the "that guy..." he was in Brawl.
Greninja seems the most likely cut. He was based on projected popularity and, while he is indeed popular, being a Starter sort of limits his cross-Gen appeal (unlike Charizard, he doesn't have legacy on his side), and I can see him wavering. Perhaps they'll be a Pokemon introduced that is similar enough to serve as his legacy, a bit like how Lucario sort of filled Mewtwo's niche without being a straight clone.
Mewtwo...well, I still think he's DLC. If having two new forms, appearing in a mainline title, and a new movie doesn't get him into Smash again, well, then I'll be seriously surprised. If he's DLC, I think he'll be added to the main roster by Smash 5. If not, well, if that didn't get him back, I think his chances for Smash 5 are low. Unless they hit a point where they don't add a bunch of new characters, and instead just bring back all the veterans...but that'd be a bit disappointing.
Pichu's probably not coming back. Oh. Well.
Now, let's talk Pokemon Newcomers! Of course, in reality, the Smash 5 Pokemon is probably one that doesn't even exist yet! However, for the purpose of this post, I'll hypothesize a few current Pokemon...
Okay, earlier I said we'd have a bunch of new Pokemon by Smash 5, but XY also might point towards less reliance on New Pokemon in future titles, and instead focus on changing up the ones we've got. So, hypothetically, let's say XY is the last time we have completely New Pokemon...at least till Smash 5.
Well, right now, one of the big titles is the Ruby and Sapphire Remake. Tons of people have said it before, but having a Grass Starter to complement Charizard and Greninja would just make sense. I think that, if ORAS had come out a bit earlier, we might've seen Sceptile. He's pretty popular, would complement the other two greatly, and, well, there's potential for Smash. Hell, Blaziken, even though that'd be redundant, is another popular character, and was rumored to be considered for Brawl but was too old by the time it came out. Might he get a chance in Smash 5? Or will even the rumored Plusle/Minun tag-team come to fruition once we're back to a system set that can handle duos?
XY is the other big thing, and there's not a lot of stand-out characters in it...no real Lucario parallel like Zoroark was (even though that didn't work out), and a lot of the Pokemon introduced don't really lend themselves well to being playable. Dedenne would've been cute as a new Pichu, but he's an Assist Trophy. One Pokemon I think stands above everyone else is Hawlucha. Right now, he's sort of so-so, but the anime which has a big influence it seems on Smash has begun to promote him (there's even an episode with a Dark Hawlucha coming up soon) as one of Ash's Pokemon, and there's been a lot of merchandise too I believe. I think it'll be interesting to see where he develops popularity wise in the future, if he can keep his popularity up, well, he may have a shot and seems to really be a good fit for Smash. In fact, next to Mewtwo, he's the top of my list in terms of possible DLC Pokemon in Smash 4.
To speculate some more, once again a Generation 4 Remake will likely be released around Smash 5 probably...and, well, that brings me to an unorthodox choice, my favorite Starter more or less, Torterra. He'd complete the "type trinity", and well, a giant quadruped would certainly be an interesting character. I guess he might clash with Bowser a bit being huge turtles, but is different enough in terms of powers so I don't think it'd be anymore distracting than Kirby and Jigglypuff who share somewhat similar designs.
As for probable Generation 7 and 8, well, possibly a Lucario-type Pokemon, a Pikachu Clone, or a Starter all seem to be the best bets.
It'll be interesting to see where Pokemon heads after Generation VI, certainly. Will Megas stay prominent? Will we got back to having a decent amount of new Pokemon, or will we have less and less? Will GameFreak ever make the decision to actually cut Pokemon from a generation completely? I'm sort of negative towards Pokemon due to some of the things XY did to irk me, but I'm willing to give Gamefreak a chance again. Actually, fuck that, I'm weak and I'll buy whatever they churn out.
