If you couldn't tell from the last post I made, Nintendo unveiled what the latest Super Smash Bros. game will look like on the Switch at E3 this year. They're calling it Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it's the perfect title for this game, because they're going all out in bringing back all previous fighters from the series as well as bringing back favorite stages to deliver the ultimate Super Smash Bros. experience! Best of all, Ridley is finally made a playable character, so as far as I'm concerned, the roster is perfect; any newcomers they add from now on will just be icing on the cake! That being said, Masahiro Sakurai said that they're mostly focusing on bringing back old stuff, so there might not be as many newcomers this time around. That being said, there is a new method of creating newcomers which he's calling "Echo Fighters", which are essentially just clone characters, characters identical to other fighters but with slight tweaks to their moveset. Lucina and Dark Pit are labeled as Echo Fighters, and they introduced a new Echo Fighter in the form of Daisy, whose based on Peach's moveset. Since it feels like making Echo Fighters wouldn't take as much work compared to a normal, unique fighter, it's possible that we could get other Echo Fighters to meet certain fan demands.
With that in mind, after ruminating a bit, I've come up with some ideas for Echo Fighters I either would like to see or wouldn't mind seeing in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. I should mention upfront that I'm not including Dixie Kong, Dark Samus, or Shadow the Hedgehog/Tails, because I feel they have enough unique attributes going for them to be more than just exact moveset clones of Diddy Kong, Samus, and Sonic respectfully. Same goes for Waluigi and Luigi; despite being an Assist Trophy again, there IS always a possibility that Sakurai could update the game to remove him from the Assist Trophy line-up and make him playable, but if he is, he'd better be unique; much like Wario being too unique to simply be a Mario clone, the same logic applies to Walugi (perhaps even moreso, given how ridiculous and surreal he is).
See my suggestions after the break.
Foreman Spike
Games/Series: Super Mario/Wrecking Crew
Echo Fighter of: either the Ice Climbers or Mario
As weird as it sounds, Foreman Spike is one of my most-wanted characters in Super Smash Bros., despite being extremely obscure and irrelevant. I feel like the series is underrated, not to mention they already have a Wrecking Crew stage, so why not? As for who he'd be a clone of, I feel like he should have his hammer, so maybe he'd play like a buffed up Ice Climber, with some of Mario's moves mixed in? The idea of an Echo Fighter is that they're basically taking a moveset that already exists and making incredibly minor alterations to make a separate fighter out of them, so I get that thinking too hard about how a character would play goes against the point of an Echo Fighter, but still, as much as I'd want it, I don't see this happening.
Wart
Game/Series: Super Mario (specifically Super Mario Bros. 2)
Echo Fighter of: Bowser
Yeah, that seems about right; just give him bubbles instead of fire breath and we'd be all set with him! Now if only I can think of a fighter who'd make a good basis for Tatanga...
Funky Kong
Game/Series: Donkey Kong
Echo Fighter of: Donkey Kong
Let's be real here: Funky Kong is basically Donkey Kong just with shades and clothes... and also a surfboard. With that in mind, maybe it'd be possible to work in his surfboard for, say, the Spinning Kong or maybe use it for Smash Attacks or the Headbutt instead of his hands or head? His Final Smash could be different, too, if Dark Pit's Final Smash is still different from Pit's. Although I'm not sure how I'd feel if he got in over Dixie Kong or King K. Rool...
Birdo
Game/Series: Super Mario
Echo Fighter of: Yoshi
I saw someone tossing this idea out there on Twitter and... yeah, I can see that. Just have the egg come out of Birdo's snout when copying "Egg Lay", or just shoot out Eggs instead.
Impa
Game/Series: The Legend of Zelda
Echo Fighter of: Sheik
On the one hand, I want a new Zelda fighter with a wholly unique moveset, since aside from Link, Zelda, and Sheik, every other fighter (which is about half by now) has their moveset based on another fighter. This is why I'm still secretly hoping Tingle will be playable at some point, but given how hated he is in the west, I severely doubt it. That being said, Impa is probably the most major recurring Zelda character aside from Link, Zelda, and Ganon(dorf), and it'd be a lot easier to include her if you just modeled her after her Ocarian of Time or Skyward Sword appearance and make her a clone/Echo Fighter of Sheik thank to try and think up a wholly original moveset. Besides, given that she's an actual member of the Sheikah tribe, it make sense for her to play like someone posing as one.
Slippy Toad
Game/Series: Star Fox
Echo Fighter of: Fox
This is one I'm also hesitant about, since we already have two semi-clones of Fox already, but if we're just adding new fighters for the sake of it, I'd be okay with this. I could also see him using more tech or having a different Final Smash compared to Fox or Falco.
Ninten
Game/Series: MOTHER/EarthBound Beginnings
Echo Fighter of: Ness
Of course! Why didn't I think of this sooner? It only recently hit me how obvious this is; Ness is more-or-less a carbon copy of Ninten, the original protagonist of the MOTHER/EarthBound series, so it makes sense to have him play similarly, too! PK Starstorm wasn't a thing in the first MOTHER/EarthBound Beginnings, though, so he'll have to have a different Final Smash. Yeah, give the first installment some love, and have all three protagonists in this game!
Giygas/Giegue
Game/Series: MOTHER/EarthBound
Echo Fighter of: Mewtwo
Given that Mewtwo is at least partially based on Giygas, I'd say this would be fitting, but then again, in the original MOTHER/EarthBound Beginnings, he remained inside a container the for the whole fight, and his attacks are literally indescribable. How does one translate that into Super Smash Bros.? Still, I'd love to see him, if only just to see his Final Smash being him going all crazy like at the end of EarthBound (MOTHER 2).
Black Shadow
Game/Series: F-Zero
Echo Fighter of: Captain Falcon
I'm not really in favor of this since the only reason I'd want him is for him to adopt Ganondorf's old moveset so that Ganondorf could be a more unique fighter, and even though Ganondorf now uses his sword with some of his attacks, he still seems to be somewhat of a semi-clone of Captian Falcon... which I'm okay with, but it does defeat the idea of why we'd have Black Shadow here. Besides, until F-Zero gets a new game, I'm okay with only having Captain Falcon on the roster.
Chrom
Game/Series: Fire Emblem (specifically Fire Emblem Awakening)
Echo Fighter of: I guess Ike, since Viridi made that comparison in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
If Sakurai is giving the go-ahead on clone characters like this, I see no reason not to include Chrom this time around, since his reasoning for not including him last time was not being able to think of up how he'd be different from Marth or Ike. Have we seen what Robin's Final Smash looks like this time around? There might still be a chance this is the case.
Louie
Game/Series: Pikmin
Echo Fighter of: Olimar
It's weird seeing Alph as an alternate costume for Olimar again, you'd think he'd be upgraded to an Echo Fighter this time around. Still, some people are looking for more Pikmin characters, and since I have no idea how you'd make up a different unique moveset for the main characters of the Pikmin series, might as well make an Echo Fighter out of one of them. As an added bonus, why not make Brittany an alternate costume for Louie?
Ken Masters
Game/Series: Street Fighter
Echo Fighter of: Ryu
I'm not entirely sure how they treat Ken in the Street Fighter series, but from what I've seen, he basically already is an "Echo Fighter" of Ryu; similar but his attack shave different attributes. So, why not?
Octoling
Game/Series: Splatoon
Echo Fighter of: Inkling
If they aren't going to be an alternate costume for the Inklings, they might as well be this.
Well, that's all I've got. Leave a comment for any other potential Echo Fighters you think would be cool. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the lack of updates, real life got in the way, and I kind of lost motivation for the "Newcomer Pick of the Day" thing. I may or may not continue it, knowing the information I know now about the new Smash Bros., so sorry if there was anyone out there looking forward to that.
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