What if… Story of Seasons in Smash Bros. Ultimate?

So with the recent reveal of Min Min in the current DLC pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Smash fans are now completely in the dark for who might be next. So I started thinking: What if we ever were so lucky to get a Story of Seasons rep into Smash? I wonder what it would be like…

With many of the third party characters appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series being from iconic, genre-defining games that helped shape the modern landscape, it feels pretty easy to say that Story of Seasons could potentially fit right in. As the series that laid the groundwork for the lifesim genre as well as many beloved games directly inspired by the series such as Stardew Valley, It’s easy to see the influence of the series. So who should be the fighters?

Pete and Sara

Pete is the obvious choice for sure, as the original protagonist with the most appearances in the series he feels like the singular choice above all others to be the face of the series. Sara, while mostly only appearing in the original Gameboy trilogy, feels like the most obvious counterpart to Pete as the choice for the playable heroine to represent the series. While I first figured it would probably be Claire, she has an odd asterisk next to her name… she originally appeared as a character for the GB2 manga rather than in a game! It’s a kind of annoying technicality, but when it comes to Smash Bros speculation the only thing I can say for sure is that even the tiniest nitpicks are enough for people to call foul on a character, so Sara it is.

Alternate colors:

Naturally, each character comes with 8 alt colors. Fortunately, the Story of Seasons games provide more than enough protagonists to touch on most of the series and provide some pretty unique color variations.

1. Original Pete, as above.
2. Original Sara, as above.
3. Mari Sugiyama’s Pete
4. Mari Sugiyama’s Sara
5. Mark themed
6. Claire themed
7. Yuto themed
8. Naomi themed

Moveset Gimmicks

Seems like every Smash Bros newcomer needs themselves not just any old moveset, but a full-on gimmick that makes their meta unique to everyone else’s. Story of Seasons does seem like it would present a pretty unique challenge to incorporating its gameplay mechanics into a game like Smash though…

• Tool Upgrades

In the Nintendo 64 title, using your tools over time would upgrade them to give them new abilities. Think something like Frank West’s level up gimmick in Marvel vs. Capcom. For a quick example, think of something like the hoe acting like a weaker version of Donkey Kong’s headbutt, while a leveled up golden variant would not only do more damage but have further range on the ground. Probably the simplest gimmick that wouldn’t get overly complicated with multiple Petes/Saras on the battlefield.

• Stage Control (with crops!)

Probably a bit complicated, but something that would tap more into the gameplay of growing crops could be using crop growing for offense. Tall stalks of corn preventing opponents from moving through the air easily, a vine crop like tomatoes guarding the edge of the stage, a large ground crop like cabbages to control the ground, etc. It’d probably be a huge hassle to maintain the crops AND fight, but when you can control the battlefield THAT annoyingly, how can you not enjoy it?

• Friendship?

Hey, this whole competition is all in good sportsmanship, right? Dig into your bag and pick out something your opponent might like and raise their heart level. Raising your opponent’s heart level would probably make them damage you less and not launch you as far, and it’ll probably hurt them that much more when you start fighting back.

Stage: Flowerbud Village (64)

Though Mineral Town seems like the obvious choice, what with the recent remake and all, Flowerbud Village edges it out in my opinion thanks to the raised town square serving as the perfect platform for a Smashing festival. Even better when you can see pretty much the whole town with a straight line of sight towards the ranch itself.

Being the town square during festival time also gives it some versatility in platform design, with all sorts of objects from food stalls to hot air balloons serving as various festival accoutrements to stand on. It also seems reasonable to expect lots of stage cameos from people coming to the town square to take part in the festivities.

Music

Music is probably the place Story of Seasons will have the hardest time trying to shine. Not that it doesn’t have tons of awesome tracks, but so very little of it is suited for battle that it feels likely that the series will have to heavily rely on the amazing number of musicians who have been arranging for the series. With that in mind, let’s just make a shortlist of some of the best tunes, focusing on its heyday and including some modern tracks too!

• SNES/GameBoy – Let’s Go to Town!
• SNES/GameBoy – Summer
• SNES/GameBoy – Winter
• SNES/Gameboy – Star Night Festival
• 64 – Opening
• 64 – Fall
• 64 – Dog Races
• 64 – Festival
• GBC2 – Summer
• GBC2 – Fall
• GBC2 – New Farm Owner
• GBC3 – Title
• GBC3 – Spring
• Mineral Town – Opening
• Mineral Town  – Summer
• Mineral Town  – Autumn
• Save the Homeland  – Summer (Town)
• Save the Homeland  – Autumn
• Save the Homeland  Winter (Town)
• A Wonderful Life  – Title
• A Wonderful Life – Breeze Song
• Magical Melody – Spring
• Magical Melody – Jamie’s Theme
• Magical Melody – Nature Lovers
• Magical Melody – Magical Melody
• DS – Title Theme
• Island of Happiness – Town Theme
• Tree of Tranquility – Sea Festival
• Hero of Leaf Valley – Summer
• Hero of Leaf Valley – Fall
• Hero of Leaf Valley – Harvest Festival
• A New Beginning – Summer
• Story of Seasons (3DS) – Spring
• Story of Seasons (3DS) – Fall
• Trio of Towns (3DS) – Fall
• Innocent Life – Track 17
• Rune Factory –  Gigant Mountain
• Rune Factory  – Boss Battle
• Rune Factory Frontier – Credits
• Rune Factory 3/4 – We Can Do It!
• Rune Factory 4 – Leon Karnak
• Rune Factory 4 – Love & Hope

I kind of just tried to cram in as much as I could, assuming that literally any decent track could get a great arrangement, but if I had to do it Melee-style and only pick two… I think I’d go with Fall (64) and Let’s Go to Town from SNES/GB.

Spirits

Well, every DLC has a spirit board. Only 6 or 7 .PNGs and a themed battle makes it kind of hard to fit a huge amount of Story of Seasons love into this, but there’s a handful of quick ideas that come to mind:

• Koro and Ellen – Gold Duck Hunt and Green Villager, easily distracted by items.
• Nina – Pink Villager, starts battle with Lip’s Stick, favors down tilt, fire flowers appear often.
• Marie – Female Robin, only utilizes special attacks, special attacks have more power.
• Cliff – Brown Wolf, shields often. A tiny reinforcement will join the battle after Wolf takes some damage.
• Mukumuku – White Donkey Kong who loves to run away.
• Raguna and Mist – Red Chrom and Blue Princess Peach. Stamina battle, enemy has increased Smash power. Peach only uses her down special. Chrom is replaced by Mii Swordfighter with appropriate costume if available.
• Harvest Goddess – A blue Palutena who loves to taunt, is powered up by food, and is aided by seven tiny Toon Links.

Shout-out to Kappa who’d make a great Greninja and also Kai and Karen’s baby in 64 who would be a great Pichu or Pikachu.

Mii Costumes

The final little bit of extra love: Relevant Mii Costumes! Story of Seasons as it is feels pretty unique in that not a lot of characters really fit into any of the Mii roles, but y’know what does? Rune Factory!

• Raguna (Swordfighter)
• Frey (Brawler)
• Cow (…Gunner? There’s already a few random animal gunners, I suppose.)

I think that covers the bases as far as Smash speculation goes. I’ve been a fan of both series since the Nintendo 64 so it was a lot of fun to go over the series and try to find good choices of how a Story of Seasons rep could shine. With Friends of Mineral Town ‘s fresh release, I can only hope there’s at least a Spirit Event or something to finally bring these two series together!