Rosters are important when it comes to fighting games, and it is especially the case for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – a fighting game that already boasts of more than 70 different characters. So it’s no surprise that there has been several rumors and speculation regarding the roster of Nintendo’s latest entry in the Smash Bros. franchise. As a big fan of the series, I’ve been constantly on the lookout for these rumors and I came across several which seem to be quite viable, and I’d like to talk about them today.

The first set of leaks is a common one that I came across several days ago on several different video game websites. This is so common, a quick Google search will land you a few hits that has this leak:

Some of these leaks can easily be found via Google.

Essentially, this first set of leaks came out on 5Channel after Persona 5’s Joker on was revealed to be the first fighter to be released as DLC for SSB Ultimate. Aside from offering additional details about the Joker fighter DLC such as the stage that will be included, the leak specifically named Dragon Quest III’s Erdrick as the second fighter that will be released as DLC, with color schemes based on Dragon Quest X’s Anlucia and the protagonist of Dragon Quest XI.

It does make sense for Square Enix to have another representative in Smash Bros., especially given how they’ve committed to support the Nintendo Switch recently, I’m just not sure if Erdrick is the best character for this. His Dragon Quest game did get released on a Nintendo system, but there are other Square Enix characters that I think would be more compelling additions to Nintendo’s crossover fighting game.

The second set of leaks that I came across came out on 4Chan last November 24, several days before the Joker DLC was announced. This leak seems to be quite viable and has even been acknowledged at SmashWiki:

This was posted over at 4Chan before Joker was announced.

While this leak is somewhat vague, only pointing to reps from different 3rd party developers, it did specifically say that Joker was going to be one of the DLC fighters. I actually think that this set of leaks is viable – like I said above, another Square Enix character added to Smash Bros. makes sense, and Microsoft has been quite public about their support for Nintendo (e.g. the Better Together ad for Switch/XBox crossplay).

It’s also quite possible for Nintendo to include the main protagonist of their next Fire Emblem title in Smash Bros. (they have done so for the most recent non-remake Fire Emblem releases), while Sylux seems like he is going to be a big part of the next Metroid Prime game as teased by Nintendo’s Federation Force spin-off. I wouldn’t be surprised if this leak got everything right.

The next set of leaks is something that I found on Youtube, via Blocked Content’s channel. Here’s a screengrab of the leak taken directly from his video:

One of the leaks being discussed over at Blocked Content’s Youtube channel.

What caught my attention was how this leak was deleted shortly after it was posted on 4Chan (or at least by Blocked Content’s claims), but after looking at some of the characters mentioned here I think this leak is unlikely to be true. It feels like the leaker is simply latching onto Joker to validate his set of leaks. The mention of another Square Enix rep and another Microsoft rep is part of this set (DQ XI’s hero and Minecraft’s Steve) but what makes this set unique is the mention of Touhou Project’s Reimu and Undertale’s Frisk as inclusions.

Finally, I’d like to talk about another set of leaks that I found on Youtube, this one is courtesy of LaxChris. First, let’s talk about the leak for the “first” set of DLC fighters:

We’ve got another mention of Minecraft’s Steve here, and like the leak said, Banjo has been a common inclusion in many of the leaks/rumors being circulated around. What’s weird about this though is the inclusion of Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s Rex as a playable fighter because if you buy the fighters pass you get a set of Rex Mii Fighter costumes. In SSB for Wii U/3DS, Mii Fighter costumes based on specific characters were released because they couldn’t give us the actual fighters of those characters (e.g. Virtual Fighter’s Akira and Tekken’s Heihachi). Although one can argue that SSB Ultimate has Mii Fighter costumes for Link, Chrom, and Captain Falcon so this doesn’t really mean that Rex can’t become a playable fighter.

The leak goes on to discuss another wave of DLC fighters:

This is really what made this leak lose it’s credibility, at least from my perspective. It feels like this was created to get the attention and backing of Super Smash Bros. fans, to become a popular despite an incorrect leak. If this leak were to come true though, that would be awesome – Shadow and Zero expands the Sonic and Mega Man entries respectively, and both Isaac and Shovel Knight in particular have been part of my personal Smash Bros fighter wishlists.

These are just some of the leaks that have been circulating recently, and I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more. Right now, I’m leaning towards the leak that came out in November that correctly had Joker’s inclusion to be true – that means we’re likely to have Edelgard, Sylux, Banjo and maybe Crono in Smash Bros. Ultimate soon!