Can Goku Smash?
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has made a multitude of far-fetched fighters a reality. Ridley, King K Rool, and Banjo were all assumed to be impossible inclusions despite widespread fan request. Yet here we are, playing these characters in quite possibly the biggest crossover in media history. But there’s one Super Smash Bros. dream that has yet to come to fruition.
Yes, as the title says, we’re talking about Goku.
Smash fans have been asking for the spiky haired saiyan to appear in the game since Snake opened the door for third party guest characters. And with DLC fighters still coming to Ultimate, the sky’s still the limit for who could show up next. But could Goku really be the next big Smash announcement?
Well, don’t get your hopes up.
Why Goku *probably* won’t be in Ultimate.
Let’s cut to the chase: Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai really doesn’t want to put Goku in the game.
It’s nothing against Goku specifically. Sakurai just has a policy of only including characters who originated from video games. Sure, if you look at the sheer number of Dragon Ball Z games made throughout history, you could argue that Goku is just as important to video games as, say, Captain Falcon. But Sakurai makes the rules, and he’s not budging on this one.
Sakurai reiterated this stance as recently as September 2019. During the Tokyo Game Show, Sakurai specifically commented that Goku or Iron Man were out of the question for Ultimate. While it’s great that Sakurai has acknowledged the fan demand, we can also assume he’s not going to change his mind before Ultimate has finished receiving new fighters via DLC.
Could Goku be added to Smash in the future?
As it is, we’re technically not sure if we’ll even get another Smash Bros. game. Sakurai himself said he worked on Ultimate as if it was the last game in the series. That doesn’t mean we won’t eventually see another Smash Bros. game, but we shouldn’t presume we’ll get another for the sake of tradition either.
That said, if you really want to hold out hope for Goku in the far future, it’s not like there are 0% odds of it happening. After all, Sakurai was infamously against Ridley being playable in Smash, citing the much memed excuse that the space pirate dragon would be too big. But Ultimate proved that Sakurai is capable of changing his mind, and we’re sure a ton of profit would be made from Goku joining Smash. Heck, even Funimation has tweeted about wanting Goku in Smash!
Goku in Smash is a long shot request no matter how you slice it. And with the sheer amount of harassment Sakurai has endured from fans wanting their favorite characters in Smash, it’s important to be respectful of the man’s wishes for his game. But that doesn’t mean the dream has to die necessarily either.
Goku is one of the game’s longest running memes at this point. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, there’s no reason to let a good joke go just because it probably won’t happen. So at the end of the day, it’s okay to keep dreaming that Goku could be a Smash challenger in the distant future. Just be content knowing that the dream might be just that: a dream.
