... I just want a new story mode alla Subspace Emissary where Nintendo characters interact with each other with platforming, puzzles, battles, bosses and cinematics.

It doesn't have to be a Smash game. Just call it Nintendo Quest or something like that. Make it at least 30 hours long, put in customization, unlockable weapons and abilities, dozens of unlockable Nintendo characters, give it a kickass soundtrack, secret bosses and dungeons/challenges, co-op multiplayer... And I won't need to ask for a new Smash Bros. ever again.

I actually agree it’s most likely unlikely they’d skip a generation. I suppose it’ll all come down to how involved Sakurai is with the next installment.

Some of those characters the OP wants to cut are the coolest characters. Terrible idea to cut the coolest 3rd party characters.

I think next Smash should be something entirely different. No idea what that would be, but it just seems like it'd be weird to release another Smash in the exact same style after we already got Ultimate which feels impossible to top, and just continuing to add more characters doesn't seem like a good idea either.

Maybe on Switch 2 re-release Ultimate with updated graphics and all the DLC included - that'd be an easy way to sell 10 mil copies without much effort, but then start a whole new style of Smash with a new game. As Dulfite said, a new phase of Smash. But i don't know what direction that should take.

Hell, a crazy idea is to just incorporate Smash into Nintendo's Online Service as the final Smash game they ever make. It would make their online service a must have premier service and they could just keep adding characters, levels, story modes, etc to the game over time, without needing to keep trying to up the ante each generation compared with the previous game. It could be an ever-expanding Smash game, and throw in the seasons concept to keep it fresh every 6 months or something. I actually would like this more than them trying to reinvent the franchise and take it away from what we all love, or continuing to trying to just redo what they've already done but with more characters every gen.

Next Smash could keep the massive roster but be Power Stone.

I say start from scratch with a completely new roster, mix the gameplay up.

Not including Echos, the final roster size for Smash Ultimate including DLC is 82.

I'd say you could cut that size in half and have a roster of 41, maybe 45-50. So somewhere between Brawl and 4's roster size, and still have a kick as Smash Bros. game with a lot of content and is much better balanced. All the effort and resources that would have gone into another character can now go into making another fighting mode, or more music tracks, or a single-player campaign that takes the best of Melee's Adventure Mode and Brawl's Subspace Emissary to give us something really awesome.

But regarding the characters and the roster specifically. Start with the original 12 and then go from there.

Edit: Looking at the roster and writing them down on an Excel list + doing some brainstorming... I think they could realistically cut Ultimate's roster down to at least 41 and then have 9 newcomers that haven't been in a Smash game before to take them up to 50 along with the new and different modes so that the game feels different and unique enough to stand on its own. And that's without counting the DLC they would inevitably do to add more fighters and keep interest going.

As nice as that would be, never going to happen without either the price of the game being incorporated into a NSO subscription or it becoming another price tier. I mean, why make a great PR move and enrich the value of your online service when you can squeeze more money out of your customer's pockets?

This is the same company that thought it was a good idea to more than double the price of its subscription service to get access to poor emulations of a handful of 20-30 year old games.

How well did that go for Street Fighter 3, Soul Calibur 5 and Mortal Kombat 10?

Mortal Kombat X sold 11mil copies, second best selling game in the franchise after MK11. Seems like it worked out for that game. It obviously didn't for the others.

Double post