It seems pretty clear that Nintendo and Illumination Studios are ramping up to eventually make a Super Smash Bros. movie. With the massive success of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and its numerous cameos from across the wider Nintendo world, a massive IP crossover event would only make sense. But we’ve seen many studios attempt to build cinematic universes over the past two decades, and rarely, if ever, have they been successful.
Nintendo has two clear advantages: The first two movies in their franchise were massive financial successes with decent fan support, even as Galaxy’s critical consensus floundered, and most of Nintendo’s IP is still unfamiliar to wider audiences. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was built on lesser-known characters and strong initial responses to their movies. Can Nintendo pull the same trick?
Who can’t be in the Super Smash Bros. cinematic universe?
To do so, they would need to move slowly and carefully. A second critical failure in a row could spell quick disaster. And while the roster in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is huge, it’s deceptive. Many of its characters are not original Nintendo IP, or they have complicated narratives that don’t scream “kid-friendly.”
Plus, Nintendo’s second-most popular franchise after Mario, The Legend of Zelda, is tied up in a forthcoming live-action adaptation that will keep it from moving to animation anytime soon. And, its biggest second-party series, Pokémon, is already such a massive cross-media empire of its own that including it in the Smash Bros. universe just doesn’t make sense.
And while there were some fun cameos in Galaxy, most of them would fall flat on their own and should be actively avoided. That said, if Nintendo picks these five movies as their next projects after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and its inevitable sequel, they could be in great shape to land a successful Super Smash Bros. movie in a few years’ time.
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong was already a major part of the first Super Mario Bros. movie, and little cameos from some of his cohorts make their way in too, but a full Donkey Kong adventure alongside Diddy, Funky, Trixie, Lanky, and the rest would be a smooth way to continue producing movies with the tone of humor the Mario movies are setting without oversaturing Mario and Luigi themselves.
The types of settings in which Donkey Kong games take place are fairly distinct from the ones Mario adventures through. And, the gameplay is different enough to lend itself to a totally different direction for the action and animation. Throw in all of Donkey Kong’s animal companions and the ridiculousness of King K. Rool, and you have yourself the ingredients for an easily marketable hit. Plus, a fun future rival for Bowser to contend with.
Star Fox
Including Star Fox on this list is also a bit obvious after his successful introduction in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but I have been saying since the first Mario movie was announced that Star Fox was the perfect next movie for Nintendo. Star Fox has distinct, creative characters in Fox, Slippy, Smash Bros. character Falco, and the rest. The story is already there for the picking, with two rival teams in a greater galactic war, and a legendary father who went missing in action.
And most importantly, there hasn’t been a new Star Fox game in a decade. And at that, most of the series’ entries are remakes of the same original game over and over. Star Fox is an IP ripe for the picking, with one pre-established character in Galaxy, a whole world of colorful new ones to meet, and a game series ready for a major comeback.
F-Zero
After Star Fox, the next Super Smash Bros. original fighter who is a shoo-in for a successful introduction to Illumination’s Nintendo film franchise is Captain Falcon and F-Zero. The reason he could be an easy success story in a young franchise is that he is tall, cool, and drives really fast. A racing movie is a no-brainer, and the animated form can make all of the anti-gravity wackiness that much easier to look good.
There’s an obvious, well-worn formula for creating a successful racing movie, especially if an F-Zero movie leans into the campiness of a Speed Racer-type movie to chip away at what could otherwise be an overly self-serious Captain Falcon archetype.
The intergalactic racing scene can also easily lend itself to cameos from our existing Nintendo characters, since kart racing was already established in the first Mario movie, and it couldn’t hurt for Fox to take on a race or two for some extra cash in the Lylat Wars. The setting could also offer a perfect backdoor introduction to this next intergalactic Nintendo favorite.
Kirby
Kirby doesn’t talk much. He says a few cute words, similarly to Yoshi, and has been known to use full dialogue in manga, but never in games. Introducing a talking Kirby might be hard to swallow. So, instead, I propose to introduce Kirby as a warp star racer in an F-Zero movie, or as a strange bedfellow on a warp star planet that Captain Falcon has to crash on for a while mid-movie.
Then, rather than giving Kirby a whole movie of his own, bring him back again in the third Mario movie. Then, he can play the same role for Mario and the gang as he did for Captain Falcon in a new kart racing scene, or as a play off of the fact that both Mario and Kirby have a lot of experience with star-shaped things.
This relieves Nintendo of the burden of having to figure out a way to make Kirby work without having to talk, while endearing him to even more audiences than those who already know and love him. A Kirby movie could maybe work eventually, but audiences need to already understand the character’s quirks before it could really succeed.
Samus Aran
The final piece to the Super Smash Bros. movie puzzle has to be Samus Aran. Like Fox and Captain Falcon, Samus is incredibly cool by design alone. Plus, she’s an alien space pirate hunter with an awesome power suit? The concept alone sells everything. The style and tone of a Metroid movie would be decidedly different than the humor of the Mario movies. But it would also attract a slightly older audience than Mario does.
Even with a different tone than Mario or the other possible future Super Smash Bros. universe movies, it would make sense for Samus to come together with the Mario brothers under outstanding circumstances, like a Master Hand that’s turning people across the universe into statuettes.
If you add up Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Rosalina, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, Kirby, and Samus, that’s already a 143-character roster—more than the original Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64. And that’s not even including whatever additional characters could be introduced in a third Mario movie, like Wario.
The Super Smash Bros. movie feels almost inevitable. Hopefully, Nintendo and Illumination take the time and care to build a universe correctly and successfully, so there can be many more fun movies based on beloved Nintendo IPs to come.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is playing now in theaters everywhere.