The roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is already one of the largest in gaming, having many different characters and franchises represented. The roster has continued to expand with the game's two Fighters Pass DLCs, brining in characters from all walks of gaming like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 and Minecraft's Steve. With the impending arrival of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's final character, many fans have theorized about who could possibly take the spot. One franchise that many fans have speculated would represent the final fighter is the Pokemon franchise. However, one modder decided it shouldn't be another Pokemon that is made playable, but a trainer.
The Pokemon Trainer is a unique fighter within the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as they control three Pokemon at a time that can be switched out with each other. First introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the represented trainer has always been Red, though with Smash Ultimate, Leaf was added to the mix to help diversify the roster. This modder decided to include other fan favorite Pokemon Trainers from different games over the years. This includes May from the Hoenn games, the very popular Lillie from the Alola region, and the Galar Region's water-type Gym Leader Nessa.
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The inspiration for this, according to modder Watapascul, was the lack of model mods for the female Pokemon Trainer, Leaf. The files provided in the mod do replace three of Leaf's alternate costumes, allowing for four different playable Pokemon Trainers. The models are all taken from their respective games as well. There have been some adjustments made to make them fit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, along with giving each trainer their own facial expression animations.
These are only model swaps of the trainers themselves, as the gameplay screenshots still show Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard as the Pokemon controlled by these trainers. While Lillie has been modded into Smash once, this mod brings it closer to the franchise's roots by making her a Pokemon trainer as opposed to making her an alternate costume to Rosalina and Luma. The modder says that this version of the mod is only usable with a specific beta version of the firmware that is used to run the mod, as other versions don't support the method to create these separate costume mods.
Many fans speculate that the final character of Smash Ultimate's DLC could be a from a first party IP, Pokemon being one of them. With so many capturable creatures, there's a lot of potential Pokemon DLC fighters, though a Pokemon Trainer DLC Fighter seems unlikely at this stage. Regardless, modders will still support the game and add whatever character they wish.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch.
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Source: GameBanana