Funimation and Microsoft Both Want Fighters in the Next Smash

Now that we know Smash Bros. will be returning on Switch later this year, the world is waiting to see which fighters will show up. While the reveal trailers showed off Splatoon‘s Inklings, there are bound to be more new characters and, if past iterations are an indicator, it’s quite likely we’ll see fighters from non-Nintendo franchises show up as well. Of course, it’s not just fans who want to see these sort of guest appearances, some of the companies behind them seem just as eager.

The first person to speak up is Microsoft’s Phil Spencer who previously expressed his desire to see Banjo and Kazooie, who got their start on N64 before being purchased alongside developer Rare. With the release of the new trailer, Spencer was asked on Twitter if that desire still applied, and he replied back, “Yep.”

Another, potentially more interesting, idea comes from Funimation, a company known for localizing and distributing anime. Through the company Twitter account, they inquired about Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise joining the fray. What makes this idea particularly interesting, is that while Funimation owns the North American rights to the TV series, Bandai Namco owns the video game rights in addition to having previously worked on the Smash Bros. series. So, assuming the developers are interested in adding a character more associated with an anime instead of a video game, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch.

Of course, at this point hope and speculation is all we have to go on. Nintendo has always made a habit of slowly dishing out Smash Bros. details so don’t expect any more official news too soon.

Sources: Nintendo Everything, Nintendo Life