‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’: 5 options for the Switch game to add more characters of color
On Wednesday, the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character roster gained five new additions: Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont, Dark Samus, Chrom and King K. Rool. With these new additions, Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest character list of any Smash Bros. game. Though examine the list closely and you’ll notice something: It’s pretty white.
The roster boasts 67 Smash Bros. characters to fight with. Of these, only one character on the list has dark skin: the villain from Legend of Zelda, Ganondorf. Two other characters, Mii Fighter and Inkling, can be changed to look brown. Smash Bros. Ultimate has more talking animals than black people. Though, to the game’s credit, there are characters like Japan-born Ryu.
It’s hard to blame Smash Bros., as they’re simply pulling from other developers’ popular games. Though there are, however, characters to choose from that could add a bit of color to the Smash Bros. Ultimate lineup. Here’s who they’re missing.
Urbosa
Urbosa, the Gerudo warrior, would be an easy addition for Nintendo. Hailing from the highly lauded Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Urbosa could show off her fighting skills like the champion that she is. Currently, Link is the only Breath of the Wild character in Smash Bros. (While Princess Zelda is in Breath of the Wild, her character in Smash is based on her design from A Link Between Worlds. The other Link characters are based on versions of him from other games as well, hence the altered look). There are other Zelda characters in the game, but the addition of Urbosa could please fans who love the Gerudo warrior.
Dandara
The unwritten requirement for non-Nintendo characters hoping to join Smash Bros. is that their game be available on a Nintendo console. Dandara meets this prerequisite. The 2D game named after its main character sees Dandara using her incredible jumping ability to take on foes. It’s this jumping that could prove very useful in a fighter like Smash Bros., where the point of each match is to knock the enemy off of the platform.
The cast of Fortnite
Unlike many online shooter games, Fortnite randomly assigns avatars to players before each match. The list of options spans a wide range of looks and skintones — exactly the kind of variety that should come to Smash Bros. Like the Splatoon Inkling character, Nintendo could give Fortnite a character slot and players could choose between one of numerous options.
The cast of Overwatch
This one is a doozy. Unlike Dandara and Fortnite, Overwatch has never been available for a Nintendo console. The Smash Bros. team, however, should make an exception for Overwatch, if only because the game’s characters are among the most diverse around. Playable heroes like Doomfist, Lucio and Sombra all deviate from the look we’ve come to expect from heroes in video games. Combine Blizzard’s love for Overwatch teaser trailers with Nintendo’s love for Smash Bros. teaser trailers and fans may even receive a cinematic marvel of an announcement out of it.
Mike Tyson
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has made official the idea of an echo character: a playable fighter who is very similar to one that already exists (think Peach and Daisy or Marth and Lucina). Little Mac’s echo fighter should be Mike Tyson.
Tyson isn’t an impossible addition; the real-life boxer he’s appeared in video game form thanks to the Nintendo game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. In Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tyson could offer a good match to Little Mac, add diversity to the Smash Bros. cast and even give the game its first celebrity character. The decision is a no-brainer.
