Even before Overwatch was officially announced for the Nintendo Switch, speculation skyrocketed on the possibility of a character from Blizzard’s hero-based FPS making it into Super Smash Bros. Now, the Overwatch devs have weighed in on the possibilities.
The first serious discussion arose back when a licensed Overwatch protection case for Nintendo Switch appeared in an Amazon listing. While many accurately assumed this meant Overwatch would be coming to the Nintendo console, others brainstormed the chance of a hero appearing in Smash.
On September 4, Overwatch for Switch was finally announced during a Nintendo Direct. At the very same direct there was a series of important Smash Bros news. Not only was the release date for the game’s newest character Banjo-Kazooie announced, but so too was the follow-up fighter Terry Bogard from SNK’s Fatal Fury. Most interestingly, however, was the reveal that there would be more than five DLC fighters added to the game.
Prior to this announcement it was believed that there would only be five fighters added post-launch, but now players are guaranteed at least two more with the fifth in the original fighter pass yet to be announced.
In a September 19 interview with Inverse, Blizzard producers Wes Yanagi and Andrew Boyd briefly discussed the possibility of an Overwatch character making their way to the critically acclaimed fighting game and which hero they think would be the best fit.
“It’s hard to pick your favorite hero,” Boyd said. “All of them have their own draw in Smash and it’s a really cool idea.”
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“It would be an awesome thing to have but that’s up to Nintendo right now,” Yanagi added.
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This echoed Yanagi’s previous comments to Eurogamer when asked about the chance of Tracer appearing in Smash. “There are any number of characters I would love to see in Smash, but we’ll let Nintendo take care of that!” he said in the September 6 interview.
In the same interview lead game producer Matthew Hawley weighed in saying that while the idea of an Overwatch hero in Smash was a fun idea, it’s “not something that’s up to the Overwatch team.”
It’s no secret that plenty of developers are open to having characters from their games appear in Smash Bros as the title has become a celebration of gaming as a whole and not just Nintendo properties.
Most notably, Metal Gear Solid creator and director Hideo Kojima wanted Solid Snake in Smash Bros as far back as Melee, but had to wait until the franchise’s next instalment ‘Brawl’ to get his wish.
With Blizzard seemingly giving the green light for Nintendo to add Tracer, D.va or other Overwatch heroes to Ultimate, it appears that the ball is in Nintendo’s court.
If an Overwatch character is announced for Smash, it could be revealed at Blizzard’s flagship event Blizzcon in November. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and hope.