New Smash Ultimate DLC theory suggests next fighter is from Bandai Namco

With only three more DLC characters remaining in Super Smash Bros Ultimate Fighters Pass Volume 2, some new theories have surfaced surrounding the identity of the next challenger. Now, some are leaning towards the ninth DLC being a Bandi Namco representative.

Smash Ultimate may be the most rumor-filled video game of all time, seeing as how it takes from so many different titles throughout gaming history and mashes them together in the biggest crossover ever.

As such, it’s not strange to hear rumors about Master Chief or Doom Guy appearing in Nintendo’s flagship fighter. Now, a theory has emerged suggesting that the next character to be revealed will be from Bandai Namco, and there is some evidence to back this up.

Thanks to annoying health issues affecting the globe, Bandai Namco’s Tales of Festival 2020 was delayed from June to March 2021 as part of the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

Seeing as Bandai Namco is a lead developer on Smash Ultimate, announcing a DLC fighter during or around the Tales of Festival would make sense. Even though Nintendo very rarely correlates DLC reveals with other events, sometimes circumstances align perfectly, such as when Minecraft Steve was shown off just before Minecon.

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There is also some major circumstantial evidence supporting the possibility of a Tales rep appearing in Smash Ultimate. For one, while many of the Smash 4 Mii costumes have returned in Ultimate (such as Geno from Super Mario RPG), Tales of Symphonia’s Lloyd Irving’s has not.

While it’s possible Nintendo is saving his Mii costume for a future reveal, the fact that it’s currently absent means that Lloyd hasn’t been ruled out as a DLC fighter just yet.

Plus, Lloyd was listed in an earlier leak that claims Sakurai was given a list of characters that would be possible DLC fighters. Another fighter on the list was Yuri from Tales of Vesperia.

Could Yuri be coming to Smash in an announcement that includes the return of the Lloyd Mii costume? That could very well be the case seeing as when Sephiroth was announced, a few different Final Fantasy 7 Miis were revealed too.

Another thing to keep in mind is that back in September of 2019, voice actor Scott Menville tweeted, “I wish I could tell you about this cool voice-over project I’ve been working on but they had me sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).”

Menville is known for voicing Lloyd Irving in the English rendition of the Tales series, though it’s unclear if the voice could have been recorded so early on if the project was in fact Smash Ultimate.

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One final piece of evidence pointing towards a March DLC reveal is the ever-popular Amiibo theory, which states that when amiibo waves are released, a DLC fighter is only a few weeks behind or ahead. So far, the theory has never been proven wrong and the next batch of Smash Bros amiibo with Terry, Byleth and Banjo scheduled for March 26, 2021.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the first DLC of 2021, but so far, there’s an interesting case to be made for a Bandai Namco fighter.