These would be my picks, based on the following:
- The company that owns their IP already has representation in Smash Bros.
- I like these franchises a hell of a lot
- I think they could all bring something new to the table in terms of moveset
- They are popular picks that would likely sell well and would excite people
- I like them
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DOOM SLAYER
DOOM is the greatest FPS franchise of all time and DOOM Eternal in particular adds a lot to the character's arsenal. In addition to a litany of guns and projectiles, more recent DOOM games have implemented melee attacks, such as brutal glory kills (I can see these being implemented as throws), a glowing, red sword called The Crucible, and the Sentinel Hammer, a weapon used to stun enemies and make them vulnerable. I believe his moveset would focus primarily on shooting, but I think he would need to move in close to opponents in order to secure a kill with his Super Shotgun or various slow melee attacks.
His alt. costume is based on his original appearance on the box art for DOOM. Ideally, his stage would be based on the DOOM universe's depiction of Hell, but Nintendo may not want that sort of imagery... So I could see them using the base from DOOM 2016, or one of the various sci-fi fantasy inspired locations from Eternal.
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PHOENIX WRIGHT
I think Phoenix would be this fighter pass' "underdog" character, similar to Terry and Min Min before him. This fits him perfectly; though most would argue that Dante or a Monster Hunter would be a more suitable Capcom pick, Phoenix shall rise from the ashes and claim a clutch victory. Also, I just really love Ace Attorney, okay?
His moveset would primarily be inspired by his appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, where he must build evidence for a strong case. However, I think his Smash Bros. appearance would give him a unique gimmick. His moves start off weaker and more focused on combos to deal damage, but as he starts to build more and more damage onto his "evidence meter" (literally building a case against his opponents, and visualized by the green Ace Attorney health bar) ,his moves gain more range and more damage, culminating in a full meter activating a temporary super mode where he can deal enormous damage. I picture it being like a mix of Terry and Joker, where he gains entirely new moves and properties as damage is dealt. To counter this, he loses a small amount of meter when damage is dealt to him, making him a high-risk-high-reward character that I honestly don't picture being very good in the hands of most players, but would be insane to watch on a high skill level.
His alt. costumes are based on his appearances in Apollo Justice, as well as Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. I had considered adding Edgeworth or Naruhodo here as alts, but I feel as though they would be more suited for echo fighters. His stage would be The Courtroom, a wide, walk-off stage where the walls and ceiling can collapse to resemble its appearance in Dual Destinies' final case, similar to the Mishima Dojo from Ultimate.
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DR. EGGMAN
I don't really know what to say about Dr. Eggman; of course he is deserving of a spot, as he is, behind Bowser, perhaps gaming's most iconic villain. It is honestly kind of wild that he hasn't yet had any significant appearances in the Smash Bros. series beyond a few cameos. Dr. Eggman movesets have been made a million times before by people much better at it than me, but I imagine him as such: a fighter of various weights, he appears in his Floating Egg, barely above the ground, similar to Bowser Jr. To differentiate him from Bowser Jr, he has three different stances that his vehicle can move into, each of which changes his special moves
only. However, a huge caveat comes from this: each of these forms can only withstand a certain amount of damage before it is destroyed and automatically swapped to the next one in order. After all of these are destroyed, Dr. Eggman is instantly KO'd. This makes him the first fighter in Smash Bros. history to be able to be KO'd by means other than being sent flying off-screen. This is not just a fun way to reference his gameplay from the classic Sonic series, but it's also a balance choice; his moveset is very versatile and very strong. His default is the Floating Egg, his most common vehicle throughout the series. This one would focus on laying traps and racking up damage. The second would be his Walker form from Sonic Adventure 2, which would he heavier, MUCH slower (like, slower than Incineroar's run speed slow), but focused on attacking from a range with a variety of guns. It would be easy to combo due to its size and weight, but the damage and range would allow for Eggman to secure kills if used properly. It has a boxing glove attack as its side special as a sort of "keep away" tool, but it is risky to use due to its long cooldown. The third form would be a melee-focused machine, an original Smash Bros. design. This one is quick, light, and difficult to kill with, but is useful for when you are being pressured and for mobility.
(I am fully willing to accept that this entire concept is way too crazy for Smash, but I do not care, I'm having fun here)
His alt. costume would be Eggman Nega, who I guess is supposed to be an alt dimension version of himself, or his great great great grandson or something. To be honest, I think they could easily make a Classic Dr. Eggman skin work with this moveset since most of his body is inside the Floating Egg, but I think it would look weird to have Classic Eggman as an option without also having Classic Sonic, so I dunno. His stage would be the Space Colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2, in the room where he battles Tails. It would have destructable floors that could suck players into space, and it could have a short section where an escape pod opens in the center of the map, which players can attempt to force opponents into before it closes and jettisons directly into a star K.O, referencing a moment from that game.
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JILL VALENTINE
The second Capcom pick for this set (sorry, but Capcom just makes a lot of good games, ok?). Jill Valentine would be my pick for a Resident Evil fighter; she is iconic, a much-needed female fighter, has a great design, and as per Smash tradition, appeared as one of the playable protagonists of the first game in her series. Her main design would be based on her starring role in Resident Evil 3's remake. I picture Jill being agile, almost like a mixture of Zero Suit Samus and Fox, but her moveset revolves around two concepts: precision, and survival. Her attacks, like Marth or any other character with a tipper, are much, much more powerful when she has time to line up a shot. In order to accomplish this, she has a variety of stuns and grapples she can use to get opponents into the proper positioning. I imagine most of her moveset to be about keeping opponents away as much as possible while building up chunks of damage, which then reveals a "weak point" onto their model. Once revealed, attacking (or, ideally, shooting) that weak point would deal insane damage.
Her alt. costumes are based on her appearances from Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil 5's DLC episode, and her stage would be Raccoon City. Nemesis makes an appearance in this stage as a hazard that will occasionally appear and chase after and attack the player in the lead.
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SOLAIRE OF ASTORA
Finally, we get to Solaire. I have been wanting a Souls character in Smash Bros. for some time now, and I think Solaire is the most logical inclusion. He is perhaps the most recognizable of the Dark Souls cast, and he is honestly just kind of a funny, goofy dude that would fit in really well. He has an amiibo already, which is sort of interesting. Anyway, Solaire would be a heavyweight fighter that uses a wide range of attacks; his primary attacks would be sword-based, but I like to think that Solaire would be unique in that he also has access to a wide range of interesting spells as well. You could picture him as a cross between Robin and Hero, but with more magic than Robin, and with less randomness than Hero. I have avoided giving specific movesets in these write-ups in favour of broad concepts, but I believe in this instance, it is important to include one: his side-B, which is a quick dodge roll that grants him invincibility frames and has a slew of mix-up options on its exit. Solaire's primary gameplay gimmick would be his retrieval system. For each K.O he secures, he gains Humanity, which he can use to snowball hard, each Humanity increasing his attack damage and defense (up to a limit). However, dying will remove one from his Humanity count, which he can recover on his next stock by defeating the opponent that K.O'd him. This means that Solaire will be at his weakest at the start of a match, but at his strongest toward the end, while also rewarding him greatly for learning their opponent and playing well (as is the spirit of the Souls franchise). If I could make a thesis statement for Solaire, it would be "to treat each fight like a boss encounter," a character that performs best when he is absolutely destroying his opponent, but performs weak when he is the one being destroyed.
Solaire, like Steve and Sora before him, would have a litany of alt costumes in order to more fully represent his franchise. His costumes are: the Elite Knight set from Dark Souls 1, the Catarina set from Dark Souls 1, the Faraam set from Dark Souls 2, and the Firelink set from Dark Souls 3. The other costumes would be recolours of these outfits. Additionally, the recoloured alt for Solaire would include the Sunlight Maggot on his head, as a sort of "half-alt" costume, and the other recolour for him would be a brilliant, transparent gold, representing his appearance when he is summoned as an ally in the Souls games. His stage would be Anor Londo, the gimmick of which are rotating staircases which change the geometry of the field, and features cameos from Dark Souls enemies in the background. Realistically, I would love to include something from Elden Ring as well, but I am not sure that they would count it as the same IP as Dark Souls despite their similarities, so I decided not to include it.
