Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has just dropped and the gaming world has focused all of its attention on Nintendo’s video game crossover battle royale. As always, a new Smash gets fans theorizing about possible characters to be added to the already overloaded roster. Earlier this year, I published a post listing fifteen characters I want to see in Smash. Since the game is finally released, I thought I’d go a bit more in-depth on how I would like to see my favorite franchise represented: Digimon.
Smash has always been a fighting game for video game characters and as such it’s unreasonable to expect any characters from a different medium, such as Goku or Batman, to make an appearance regardless of whether or not there are also games based on them.
Digimon is a special case. It’s a multimedia franchise that isn’t just an anime or just a manga. Luckily for fans of Digimon and Smash, our favorite Digital Monsters originated in a series of handheld virtual pets. And I say if Mr. Game-N-Watch counts, so do V-Pets.
So what Digimon character should be included in Smash? The most obvious answer is Agumon. No question, right? I’ve seen other suggestions including Shoutmon, Beelzemon, Etemon, even Marcus Damon. Sure, why not?
My personal idea for the past few years has always been a bit gimmicky. Similar to the Pokemon Trainer character being three-in-one, I would use the Digivolution mechanic and go one step further. Instead of three characters in one, I’d use fourteen.
Let me explain. Imagine the match begins and the V-Pet or a computer or something digital appears. It goes haywire and spits out a Digi-Egg. That egg hatches into Botamon, the baby form of Agumon and the first Digimon accessible on the original V-Pet. The first Digimon anyone in the world ever got.
After maybe 10 seconds of just being able to hop around and spit bubbles, Botamon would Digivolve into Koromon and from there it would split into either Agumon or Betamon, the two Rookie Digimon available on the original V-Pet. Depending on how you fight, attacking and taking damage, you’d Digivolve into different forms.
Kick ass and take names to end up with MetalGreymon or hide in a corner and get stuck as Numemon. Getting knocked out of bounds would result in your Digimon returning to the stage as their previous level, just like in Rumble Arena 2.
Digimon could also be represented elsewhere in the game. Imagine a stage inspired by the LCD screen of the original V-Pet or the beautifully designed environments from Digimon World. Imagine floppy disk items or pink poop that have different effects in battle. I would to be able to turn every other character into a V-Pet sprite. That would be beautiful.
I know that this idea is a touch ambitious. I’d settle for only Agumon and the Greymons as possible evolutions, but I think Numemon should be thrown in there for laughs. Because games are supposed to be about fun, and what’s more fun than eating poop and licking your enemies?