It's strange to think that there's no clear sign of another Super Smash Bros. game coming out in the future. In a recent interview, franchise creator and director Masahiro Sakurai said in no uncertain terms that there are no current plans for another Super Smash Bros. game and that fans shouldn't necessarily assume that there will eventually be a new Smash title. Considering how iconic Smash is, that would seem hard to believe, but Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is definitely a tough act to follow. The next Smash game will inevitably have to stand out somehow while still trimming down its fighter roster significantly.
There's already a perfect way to make the next Smash game unique while still taking advantage of a smaller fighter roster, though. Fans of Super Smash Bros. have wanted a proper story mode ever since Brawl's highly compelling Subspace Emissary campaign. While Smash Ultimate did have a story mode in World of Light, it was frankly pretty light on plot, meaning it left some players unsatisfied. The next Smash game could emphasize its story mode and take advantage of a small cast by having full voice acting. A small Smash roster may seem like a disadvantage, but it'd be much easier to assemble the cast for a story mode that way.
Enhancing Smash's Next Story
World of Light served its purpose in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate well. The Spirit mechanic introduced in Ultimate got a lot of representation and use through World of Light, and the developers certainly came up with a lot of uniquely challenging battles for players to face. Even so, the story of World of Light proved too simple and light on character interactions to really get players invested. Brawl's Subspace Emissary was full of cutscenes showing unlikely groups of characters coming together to investigate their shared enemies and eventually save the world.
However, Subspace Emissary didn't have voice acting. Instead of recording complete dialogue for each Smash character that participated in the story, the developers constructed cutscenes that told a story visually through the characters' actions and body language. The next Smash game could have a story mode similarly heavy on cutscenes but enhance the idea by introducing dialogue to each of those scenes. As great as Subspace Emissary was, it could've been even stronger if the characters had more to say to each other, developing even richer relationships as they exchange details about themselves and develop clearer friendships.
It makes sense that Subspace Emissary wasn't fully voiced, of course; it was a more practical approach to the story since Brawl already had a pretty formidable cast of Smash characters. If the next Smash game goes back to basics by drastically reducing its playable cast to a size even smaller than Brawl, then it'd be much easier to gather voice actors who can provide dialogue for a project like this. As a result, the next Smash game would turn its apparent disadvantage against Smash Ultimate's massive fighter list into an advantage in the form of a story mode with rich character interactions.
Telling a Story Through Smash
A Smash storyline with voice acting certainly wouldn't be easy to make. After all, Nintendo has a lot of mostly silent characters like Mario and Link to integrate. Still, even if some of these characters have little to say, other potential stars like Fox, Zelda, and Marth could make up the difference by taking on major speaking roles. The reveal trailer for World of Light had those characters deliver a little dialogue, and while that didn't lead to a high amount of dialogue in the actual game mode, it presented a pretty tantalizing possibility. If at least some characters can have proper conversations in the next Super Smash Bros. game's story mode, then the game can sell itself on a plot full of unique character interactions in rare combinations.