When it comes to video game characters, there's few awards that they can get that are more prestigious than an invitation to join Super Smash Bros. Super Smash Bros Ultimate is easily the most generous with invitations to date, bringing back everyone that's been in a Smash game before and then some. Nintendo has done great surprising its fans by inviting guests like Minecraft's Steve and Persona 5's Joker, characters that nobody really expected to make the cut. The latest Smash entry's long list of visitors is groundbreaking, and it's great to see faces from all over the game industry coming together in one game.
However, when Nintendo invites so many guests to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, some of its own properties slip through the cracks. There's still a few noteworthy franchises owned and operated in part or in whole by Nintendo that haven't gotten the chance to fight in Smash yet. It's a little surprising just how many characters haven't gotten the chance to test their mettle yet, but maybe it's not too late for all of them. Smash Ultimate is such a success that a third Fighters' Pass isn't totally out of the question. Here's a few Nintendo franchises that haven't gotten fighters yet and could still crop up down the line.
Advance Wars
Fire Emblem isn't the only tactical game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. For many years, the studios collaborated on Advance Wars as well, a series of turn-based military games where players commanded armies to defend their fictional nations. Admittedly, Fire Emblem offers Smash more characters to work with than Advance Wars, but there's still NPCs that could have come forward to represent Advance Wars by now. The franchise was once acknowledged by an Assist Trophy, but that Trophy didn't reappear in Smash Ultimate. Instead, Advance Wars is only acknowledged via a few Spirits representing characters from the franchise.
Chibi-Robo!
The charming adventure game franchise Chibi-Robo! has been a familiar face on Nintendo consoles for a while now. In fact, Chibi-Robo is beloved enough by Nintendo that he got his own amiibo not too long ago. Chibi-Robo seems like he could have joined Smash by now, but in Ultimate, he's instead represented by Spirits and a costume for the Mii Gunner. Chibi-Robo! doesn't seem to hard to adapt to Smash Ultimate; in fact, the latest game included plenty of combat elements to work off of. Chibi-Robo! has sometimes struggled to get a major audience outside Japan, so maybe Nintendo has decided the series just doesn't have enough international appeal. If the franchise's fans are lucky, maybe Nintendo will reconsider for a future expansion or Smash game.
Excitebike
Lately Nintendo has been on a major kick of developing spinoff content of Mario Kart, including physical remote control carts that fans can build tracks for and race around their own homes. Many years ago, Nintendo also worked on Excitebike, a motorcycle racing franchise that did well in the days of the NES. Excitebike almost got a fighter once; Masahiro Sakurai wanted to add an NES representative to Super Smash Bros Melee, but passed over Excitebike in favor of the Ice Climbers. Now that its Assist Trophy is gone, Excite Bike is only represented in Super Smash Bros Ultimate by a Spirit. This old but gold franchise would be an incredible surprise to add to Smash; nothing's more unique than a fighter that's always on a motorcycle.
Rhythm Heaven
For a long time there were rumors that Rhythm Heaven would get a fighter in Smash Ultimate. Fans speculated that the Chorus Kids might end up in Smash as a representative of the quirky rhythm game franchise. These games certainly aren't short on characters that Nintendo could try to adapt for a fighting game, including some fairly easy options like Karate Joe. A Rhythm Heaven character could end up having a pretty colorful and compelling moveset, implementing references to all kinds of minigames from the series while emphasizing the importance of actual rhythm whenever the character is being played. There's lots of Spirits from Rhythm Heaven in Smash Ultimate, so the franchise is clearly still on Nintendo's mind.
The Assist Trophy Club
While there's lots of franchises that haven't gotten proper fighters, all the franchises that are just on the edge of having fighters should be acknowledged too. There's lots of beloved games that have Assist Trophies dedicated to them, but no playable characters. Arguably the biggest is Golden Sun. Fans have been begging Nintendo to let Isaac from Golden Sun into Smash for years, but he's been an Assist Trophy for multiple entries now. Fans of Smash generally accept that being an Assist Trophy means there's no hope for a character to become a fighter, but maybe a different Golden Sun character can appear in Smash Ultimate and surprise everyone.
The Legendary Starfy is another franchise relegated to life as an Assist Trophy. Nintendo and Tose worked on this franchise throughout the early 2000s, and it was successful enough that the titular Starfy became an Assist Trophy in Smash. Another series that became associated with Nintendo more recently is Fatal Frame, which Nintendo has worked on for a little over a decade. Fatal Frame may not be known for hands-on combat, but the Camera Obscura could empower a pretty interesting moveset, and Fatal Frame would offer Nintendo a chance to add another female fighter. Yuri Kozukata doesn't have to be an Assist Trophy forever.
Nintendo certainly still acknowledges its own properties. The new Xenoblade Chronicles 2 representatives, Pyra and Mythra, show that Nintendo is making room for its own characters as well as various guests. However, when it comes to new fighters, Nintendo seems generally more interested in looking ahead than looking back. A little nostalgia might do Smash some good. There's some great franchises from the past that could still offer fun and interesting fighters to Nintendo's cornerstone party game. It's hard to say what Smash's future looks like after Smash Ultimate, but hopefully more Nintendo franchises make it into Smash one way or another.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch.