Smash Ultimate receives regular character updates in the form of its Challenger DLC packs. Banjo & Kazooie in pack 3 was released at E3 earlier this year with a lot of hype and lot of praise.
No one was quite sure which character might appear in Pack 4, due to release early next year (February 2020). Thanks to a leak on the Nintendo website, it’s time to start speculating with a little more information.
The product page for Challenger Pack 4 includes the standard stuff: 1 new Challenger is coming up, a brand new stage, and a music pack. At the bottom of the page, however, lies the crucial detail: ©SNK CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
SNK is a Japanese video game company best known for games like Metal Slug, a series of run and gun games, King of Fighters, the long-running fighting game series headed up by Kyo, and Fatal Fury, of who the main character is Terry Bogard.
Terry could be the new Smash fighter, that’s for sure. He’s one of the most recognizable characters in SNK’s roster and has appeared in both King of Fighters and Fist of Fury. Marko from Metal Slug could be another option, although it’s a fairly obscure game and a relatively obscure character.
However, fans are already speculating the new character won’t be from these staples of SNK’s long video game legacy. With the reboot release of Samurai Shodown 2019 (and it’s a success so far) it’s more than likely that SNK wants to extend their newfound limelight to include a character from the game in Smash Ultimate as the Challenger DLC 4 pack.
If that’s the case, out of the Samurai Shodown characters it’s likely to be Haohmaru. He’s the crazy-haired out-of-proportion protagonist in the long-running game series, making his first appearance back in 1993.
The case for Haohmaru as the new DLC character for Smash is even stronger: he was in the latest Soul Calibur VI. It only makes sense that SNK would want him to be included in Nintendo’s title. However, this is not certain – the DLC pack could still surprise the fans.
Already the Internet is awash with theories and speculations. There were some earlier links that suggested the new DLC character would be released on September 12 and be quite ‘disappointing’. Some even suggested that it would be a mech character – the characters in Metal Slug all wear metallic suits. Following the release pattern, there’ll likely be some clear news coming out later this month.
