Minecraft Steve has just been revealed as the newest character for Smash Ultimate Fighters Pass 2. This new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter also opens the door for more Xbox characters to arrive in the future and finally fulfill the dreams that many fans had been hoping for.
Smash Ultimate largely features characters from Nintendo, but a handful of heroes from other publishers have snuck their way into the game. Sega, Rare, Konami, and other companies have each added someone to the roster — and a whole new world of possibilities has just opened up with the addition of Minecraft Steve in Challenger Pack 7.
Why Minecraft Steve Coming to Smash Ultimate is Huge
Why is the addition of Minecraft Steve to Smash Ultimate such a big deal? To start, Minecraft is the best-selling game in the world — a lot of new players are likely to pick up Nintendo’s fighting game from the Minecraft hype alone.
The more interesting thing, however, is that Minecraft is owned by Microsoft and Minecraft Steve isn’t the first Microsoft character to join the game. Microsoft also owns a lot of other studios such as Rare, the company that created Banjo & Kazooie who were added to the game last year.
Four of the five characters revealed in Smash Ultimate Fighter Pass 1 were third-party characters. Thus far, Fighter Pass 2 has one Nintendo character and one third-party character — and there are four more fighters coming that could be filled with some interesting choices.
The Doom Slayer from Doom Eternal
The Doom Slayer is a legendary figure in gaming. His ancestor helped catapult the first-person shooter genre to the mainstream and he’s faced off against legions of dastardly demons — he would certainly make for a fine addition to Smash Ultimate. Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda Softworks means that it now owns Doom and the characters in it, along with all of the awesome content planned for this year. It also made a big deal about bringing Doom Eternal to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate this year.
There may be a concern about the extreme violence surrounding this character, but Smash Ultimate already has quite a few fighters that use guns and other deadly weapons in the game. Nintendo can make the Doom Slayer work in Smash Ultimate, especially if they use his wholesome friendship with Animal Crossing’s Isabelle as an example.
Master Chief from Halo Infinite
Minecraft Steve coming to Smash Ultimate means that Microsoft now has two characters in the game, and it’d be hard to argue against Master Chief being the next fighter. Fans have wanted to see Halo represented in Smash Ultimate for the longest time and it’s never been a better time to bring him to the game.
As with the Doom Slayer, Master Chief uses a fair amount of violence to fight off the enemies of Earth — but Nintendo has proven that they can make a character like this work in its family-friendly game. With Halo Infinite delayed until 2021, this might be the best chance for fans to get a new experience with Master Chief.
Vault Boy from Fallout
Vault Boy is the mascot of the Fallout franchise. While the Fallout games can get pretty gory in their own right, Vault Boy is a humorous character that makes use of cartoon violence. Vault Boy’s crazy costumes and antics make him a perfect addition to Smash Ultimate.
There will probably be a long wait for the next Fallout game; Bethesda is likely focusing on The Elder Scrolls 6 and on expanding Fallout 76 as it recently did with the massive “One Wasteland” update. That said, Vault Boy is still immensely popular in the gaming world and he’d make a fine addition to the roster.
The Dragonborn from Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls 6 is still many years away, so it’s unlikely that any characters from the new game would appear in Smash Ultimate. That said, Todd Howard has managed to get Skyrim running on everything short of a smart fridge, making The Dragonborn one of the most popular characters in the franchise’s history.
The Dragonborn can prove to be a particularly interesting addition to Smash Ultimate. Much like Minecraft Steve, his unique Shout abilities could prove to be a serious game-changer. There’s already a relationship between Nintendo and Bethesda as it is — Super Mario’s voice actor Charles Martinet also served as the voice of Skyrim’s iconic dragon mentor Paarthunax.
The Hero from Fable
One of 2020’s most surprising reveals was that a new Fable game is in development. Fable has a dedicated fanbase stretching all the way back to the original Xbox console and there’s a lot of hype behind Fable 4 (or whatever it may be called).
It’s unlikely that we’d get the hero from Fable 4 into Smash Ultimate, but there are still the protagonists from the original games. Nintendo has no problem bringing in older characters — just look at the Dragon Quest characters Nintendo added last year — and the debut of Fable’s heroes in Smash Ultimate could be a perfect way to build hype for the newest game in the franchise.
Marcus Fenix from Gears 5
As with Doom and Halo, Marcus Fenix isn’t a guy who doesn’t mind using a lot of firepower to solve his problems. Microsoft has been pushing the Gears of War franchise pretty hard, announcing spinoffs such as the Xbox Series X launch game Gears Tactics and the adorably strange Gears Pop in recent years.
If Nintendo can make Solid Snake work in Smash Ultimate, they can bring in this Microsoft hero with a lot of great games under his belt. As a bonus, his squadmates across the games all wear similar armor and could be easily added as alternate costumes.
Raz from Psychonauts 2
The Minecraft Steve announcement might make it easy to forget that Microsoft also owns a number of smaller developers, one of which is Double Fine Productions. This company is well-known for making wonderfully strange games like Psychonauts, and Raz would serve as a perfect addition to Smash Ultimate.
Raz has unique powers that could add a new level of technical play to Smash Ultimate and his friends in the game could easily be used as alternate costumes. With Psychonauts 2 already looking pretty good, this means Double Fine’s most notable hero an excellent choice for Fighter Pass 2.
