The longer Nintendo goes without announcing a third DLC Fighters Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the less likely it seems that there's going to be any more DLC fighters at all. Nintendo already surprised fans the first time, announcing the second Fighters Pass in the middle of the first one rather than waiting until the very end. There's still time for another round, but admittedly, the odds are questionable. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out at the end of 2018, meaning it turns three years old this year. Smash Ultimate may have aged out of its DLC window in spite of the game's overwhelming success.
Naturally, fans are keeping their eyes on E3 and speculating frantically on whether or not there could be a third round of DLC. One particularly interesting Smash theory suggests that there won't be a third Fighters Pass, but that there is one secret Smash guest coming after the second Fighters Pass. The theory is a little hard to call reliable, but it is food for thought. A single secret Smash fighter begs a big question, though. Why wouldn't Nintendo just tack this fighter onto the second Fighters Pass publicly? What kind of invited fighter could be worth keeping completely secret until their solo reveal?
The Secret Fighter Theory
The theory that there's a secret Smash fighter on the way comes from one fan's attention to detail. Every product that Nintendo sells has a special code called an NSUID, which are public knowledge and help organize Nintendo's wares. Smash Ultimate's DLCs each have their own NSUID, and historically, Nintendo has been very particular about the way these codes are arranged. DLC fighters are grouped up together and organized by release date, Mii fighter costumes are organized similarly, and so on. One fan has noticed that there's an NSUID slot unaccounted for between the sixth DLC fighter in the second Fighters Pass and the Mii costume associated with the pass.
The big question, then, is why Nintendo would skip this one code. There's no real organization benefit to be gained from leaving a gap between the fighters and the Mii costume; in fact, it seems more liable to cause confusion. The theory argues, then, that Nintendo has one final character that it wants to add to Smash Ultimate after all the other guests have gotten their invitations. The fan doesn't speculate who exactly could be coming to Smash, but if the DLC itself is secret alongside the fighter, then that final fighter must be a big deal.
To be clear, there's no confirmation yet that Nintendo has any intention of actually adding one more character to Smash. Speculation around the missing code has gotten increasingly complicated since the theory first cropped up, and it's harder than ever to say for sure if Nintendo is keeping the NSUID open on purpose. For now, Nintendo's own words are all that can confirm another Smash fighter for sure. Even so, the inconsistency in the NSUIDs is too significant to overlook. It seems a little more likely that Nintendo has a plan for that missing ID than that it's just an organizational fluke.
Nintendo's Possible Surprises
It's a little hard to think of characters that Nintendo would keep a total secret for so long. Considering all the ceremony and subterfuge that would be involved in keeping a single DLC fighter secret for all this time, the character would really have to blow every previous guest fighter out of the water to seem worth the effort. There are some moves Nintendo could make to shock fans, though. For instance, Dragon Ball's Goku would be more than worthy of a big surprise. Nintendo said a long time ago that Smash is the area of video game characters. It explicitly stated that there was no hope for Goku to join Smash. Now that this NSUID theory has cropped up, though, one wonders if Nintendo was bluffing back then. Maybe it had plans to add Goku, historically one of the most demanded Smash guests among fans, but it wanted him to be a surprise.
There's someone that Nintendo could add that would be even more surprising than Goku, though. Goku wouldn't be too much of a stretch as a fictional character and a known fighter, but what if Nintendo wants to use Smash Ultimate to immortalize Smash Ultimate's director Masahiro Sakurai? For years Sakurai has put his heart and soul into the Smash series -- which he created -- and Smash Ultimate's long line of DLCs and ambitious concept certainly demanded a lot of him. Smash has surely never even considered adding a real person to the roster, but it'd be pretty amazing to see the game add an animated and fully voiced Sakurai join the roster of his arguable magnum opus. If everyone is really here in Smash Ultimate, then in a sense, it wouldn't be so weird to see the man who's been with Smash all along added to the game to honor his decades of work.
Deciding Smash's Future
Smash Ultimate fans should take heart in knowing that there's probably Smash news on the horizon. E3 is just around the corner, and it'd be really surprising if Nintendo didn't have anything to say about Smash there. Odds are that, at the very least, Nintendo will announce the second-to-last DLC fighter in the second Fighters Pass at E3. However, there's a chance that Nintendo has more to share. There's no doubt that Smash fans will be watching the Nintendo Direct closely for any hint of additional DLCs after the few fighters that remain.
E3 would be the perfect occasion to indicate to fans if there's anything more coming after the second Fighters Pass. If this secret seventh fighter is real, then maybe Nintendo will tease the secret fighter there. For now, though, it's impossible to know what Nintendo is planning. In spite of all the supposed leaks about the game, Nintendo has done an impressive job of keeping a lid on all of Smash Ultimate's guests, especially the fact that it was going to continue the game's DLC run at all. If there's really a final secret fighter out there, then Nintendo is doing a great job of preserving the surprise. The Smash Ultimate community certainly won't complain if there's something big on the horizon.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Nintendo Switch.