Predictions for the Smash Bros Ultimate November 1st direct

God damn you Nintendo. Here I am trying to get this project done for Psychology and you suddenly decided to reveal that a direct is happening?! In two days? How the hell am I suppose to sleep on Halloween knowing that, especially since I’m gonna be playing horror games with two of my friends during that time?

Either way, I’m excited for this direct, mainly because I feel it’s going to finally releave that itch I’ve had for the past few weeks on a certain something. I haven’t done a prediction blog before, but now is a better time then never to try my hand at one. I’m going to try and stay reasonable and logical with what we are going to learn this time around, but logical seems to have a very interesting term when it comes to Ultimate. Before I began, this is in no particular order of want, nor is it what I think the order of the direct is going to be. With that said, lets get started

1. Demo or Global Test Smash
While other people would start with characters, stages, or whatever spirit mode is going to be, I am completely expecting a demo of some kind to drop right after the direct is done. With how big of a deal Smash is, Nintendo would be dumb to not do a demo or, at the very least, something along the line of the global testfire that they have been doing since Splatoon 1. If they are going to drop a demo, or announce a Global Testfire, now is the last time the can really do it.

2. Character’s
While I won’t speak more about the leak as a whole, I have a gut feeling that it isn’t real. That said, we are undoubtedly going to get some more newcomers in one way or another. What the are going to be? I don’t know. I do think the leak was right in Shadow, Ken, and Banjo, but outside of that I would expect a new Pokemon, a new Square representitive (not exactly Geno, but who knows), and a Fire Emblem character. Yes, I know people don’t like the fact that there is a lot of fire emblem characters, but they don’t bloat the cast as much as people think. This is all speculation, but I think this is the most expected thing we could get.

3. Solo/side modes
Outside of classic mode, which is returning to it’s old form, we don’t know much about solo play. We could probably expect the staples like the event mode and all-star mode to be available, but what form is target break gonna take? Is it gonna be another glorified version of Homerun contest, or was Sakurai not under time constraints and went back to brawl/melee? Will they play a role in unlocking characters like back in brawl? Also, Nintendo, please bring back the old map maker. I highly prefered what Brawl had to whatever Smash 4 gave us.

4. Spirits mode
Do we know anything about this? No. Story mode is speculated, but what else can we do? Spirit mode is the biggest secret since the cancelation of Half-life 3, and many are wondering what is it. I wouldn’t doubt it being a story mode, but I’m not so sure it will be the exact same as Subspace. All we can do is wait and speculate for this, but hopefull Sakurai will tell us.

5. Unlocking system
This is one that I won’t just say we are going to get, but I can actually guess at what it will be like. Characters will have three different methods of unlocking, each tied behind a different mode in the game. The first way will be through simply playing smash, though under certain circumstance, characters, or the new modes we have been introduced to (Example: Ridley is unlocked by playing Smashdown till regular Samus is the last/second to last fighter). Second, we can unlock them from playing through spirit mode. I’m betting that not all characters will take part in the story, and those who didn’t fit in will be found in replaying levels after certain story points or finding secret areas (example: we can assume the Belmonts are part of the story from their trailer, but due to how Isabel was announced, she is a secret character in the mode). Lastly, playing classic, event, or other non-basic smash modes with certain conditions. This is something people are familiar with in brawl and melee, and I’m sure it will return in this game (example: like in Brawl, Ganondorf will be unlocked by completing classic with Link and Zelda). I’d say these are pretty strong guesses, since they are how unlocking characters have been done in the past. If I’m right, we will have to tell.

6. Reveal pre-order bonus
Most games nowadays have exclusive content that you get from pre-ordering the game (Example: Special Armor set in Halo: Reach and Dusk Rockruff in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon). Smash Bros isn’t a game they need to do this with, but knowing that many people will pre-order the game, it would definitely give them more reason to do so. What it could be? Your guess is as good as mine, but maybe a special stage or special costums for each of the starting cast paying tribut to 20 years of Smash.

Also, while we are here, how much do you wanna bet there will be special event costums or awards given out on holidays like some other games do.

7. Online stuff
We don’t know much about online in smash, and while it won’t be were most of my time is spent, it will be important for a lot of people. Nintendo needs to give us a good damn reason for making online payable, and if they can improve, fix, and create a smooth online experience that people have wanted since brawl, perhaps I’ll actually give online play a shot.

So yeah, that is what I’m predicting for this upcoming direct. What are you guys expect? Is there anything I missed? I’ll be doing a post-direct blog giving my thoughts on each thing we learn in the direct. Until then, happy day-before-Halloween!