Nintendo is hardly lacking in successful franchises, and yet, some 20 years ago it managed to invent another strong IP by uniting its other IPs. For many years, the Super Smash Bros. series has brought many of Nintendo's most iconic characters together under the roof of a platform fighter. Although Super Smash Bros. has changed a lot leading up to the Nintendo Switch's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it remains a major part of the Nintendo brand. That's why it's a little sad to hear from franchise creator Masahiro Sakurai that Nintendo has no current plans to produce another Super Smash Bros. game.

While Smash Ultimate is very fresh and is certainly a tough act to follow, it's still strange to think that Nintendo might walk away from the franchise. Smash is a very successful series that still has room to explore interactions between Nintendo stars and other favorite game characters. If Nintendo isn't planning on releasing a new Smash game soon, then maybe it has something very different in mind: a traditional fighting game. A Nintendo character fighting game that focuses on button combos and level playing fields could be just the right successor for Smash Ultimate, but Nintendo would also risk releasing something too different from Smash.

RELATED: Winners and Losers of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Final Balance Patch

Pros and Cons of a Traditional Nintendo Fighter

super-smash-bros-ultimate-winners-losers-final-patch

The positives of a Smash spinoff or successor using traditional fighting game design are clear. Smash Ultimate stands out from its predecessors thanks to its huge fighter roster, World of Light, online play options, and so on, but switching genres wholesale would definitely justify another Nintendo fighting game. While a new Smash game would have to trim down its roster and therefore stand partially in Ultimate's shadow, a traditional fighter would have good reason to use a smaller roster, since each character involved would have to have their movesets rebuilt from the ground up, thereby making the new game fresh in another way.

There's one more advantage of a traditional fighter using Nintendo characters: esports. A traditional fighter with a roster like Smash's could curry favor with traditional fighting game pros, helping Nintendo get involved in competitive play.

RELATED: How The Next Super Smash Bros. Game Could Stand Out

Of course, there's some significant drawbacks to a traditional fighter with Nintendo characters. For one thing, Nintendo prefers to make games for players of all kinds. Traditional fighting games often encourage hardcore play and practice, while Smash is aimed toward players of all skill levels and still shows its party game roots, in spite of Smash's own thriving competitive scene. Nintendo largely prefers making casual-friendly and family-friendly games, which means a traditional fighter might not play to its strengths, unless it develops a significantly simpler fighter than most of the genre. It's also worth noting that Smash professionals are far less likely to be drawn to a traditional fighter than a new Smash game. On the contrary, major Smash players might be disappointed in a shift like that, which could hurt a new Nintendo fighter's image.

Smash's Uncertain Future

Sora vs Sephiroth

All in all, it seems unlikely that Nintendo would reboot or replace Smash, simply because the franchise stands so tall. No matter how difficult it might be to make a worthy successor to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the fact remains that Smash itself is so beloved that Nintendo has little reason to make a completely different fighting game with a similar presence. What's more, it'd be putting itself at a disadvantage by developing a new fighting game from the ground up when it could just build on Smash Ultimate's innovations instead. Still, if Smash will eventually continue after Ultimate, then drastic change may be what the franchise needs to stay fresh. Maybe Nintendo can find elements of traditional fighting games to incorporate into the next Smash Bros. game, changing high-level Smash skills while preserving the platform gameplay that fans love.

MORE: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Successor Should Have Personalized 'Break The Targets' Stages