You might have woken to the news this morning that the next Super Smash Bros. title, which is set to appear on Wii U and 3DS, will be co-developed by a team at Namco Bandai. This got me thinking, with Namco at the helm the likelihood that some of their characters will be slipped in seems a given, but who could potentially be chosen? The cast of Smash Bros. games are large enough without any third-party characters invading so I’ve picked out five characters from the Namco Bandai universe that could fit seamlessly into the Super Smash Bros. universe.

Pac-Man

The most obvious character would have to be the one considered by many to be Namco’s mascot. The pellet eating sphere has been in gaming since the very beginning and is easily one of the medium’s most recognisable characters. It wouldn’t actually be the first time Pac-Man has invaded a Nintendo title as the arcade port of Mario Kart was developed by Namco and featured the round yellow star as a playable character. As for how he’d play, you could imagine him being fairly similar to Nintendo’s own spherical-eat-everything character Kirby. Since Pac-Man has always had a fondness for chowing down on the pellets he finds, it’s easy to imagine him getting stuck into enemies and items in Nintendo’s brawler.

Final Smash: The screen goes 2D, top-down in classic Pac-Man style and other players must dart around a maze to avoid being caught and damaged.

Monkey

The 2010 title Enslaved Odyssey to the West was critically acclaimed but unfortunately didn’t sell particularly well. Despite this, lead character Monkey would be a fantastic addition to the Super Smash Bros. roster. In Enslaved, Monkey is agile, strong and packs a mean punch when clobbering mechs in a futuristic New York city and has plenty of tools at his disposal. Monkey would be able to use his staff as a melee weapon and also as a projectile firing weapon for ranged attacks and even pull out his hover-disc to float around the stage at higher speeds.

Final Smash: Monkey’s companion Trip will appear and trigger Monkey’s handband causing wide shockwaves to appear around him in a short radius. Anyone touching the waves will be damaged.

Oliver

Although Ni No Kuni has yet to be released in the UK and even when it is, it’ll only be on PS3, the title has already seen success in Japan on DS and star Oliver would be a perfect fit for Super Smash Bros. Oliver would play like a cross between Captain Olimar and Pokémon Trainer seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Although Oliver would be capable of duking it out himself on the battlefield, he would also be able to send out the monsters he recruits throughout his quest as support characters. Each monster would attack differently and make Oliver a character you shouldn’t underestimate.

Final Smash: Similarly to Pokémon Trainer, Oliver’s Final Smash could see his monster chums combining their powers to deliver a stream of powerful energy, damaging anyone in its path.

Roger

Tekken is easily one of Namco’s biggest franchises but including one of the regular characters might not work in the world of Super Smash Bros. So why not include everyone’s favourite boxing kangaroo, Roger? Similarly to how he plays in Tekken, Roger could duke it out on the battlefield with quick punches, nimble kicks and an assortment of fast-paced flips and spins. Although his main attacks would be fairly weak, Roger would be capable of winding up various punch attacks to really deal damage to other players.

Final Smash: For Roger’s final smash, he would charge forward in an attempt to grab another player. Upon grabbing someone, he would then deal out a series of heavy blows before releasing them with a massive windmill punch.

Digimon

Now this is the big one. For how long have we pondered the epic battle that would be Pokémon Vs. Digimon? Well, thanks to Namco’s publishing rights with Digimon, could this be about to finally happen? Remember, Digimon has always been a Bandai product so getting them into the game is far from impossible but how would they fit in? Would we have a few playable characters and then some Poké Ball style item that summons others for support? If they do make an appearance though, they must be from the original few series. Easily the best designs of the lot. Imagine bouncing around the battlefield as Garurumon or kicking heavenly ass as Angemon or Angewomon? The possibilities are endless and were it to happen and happen right, we could be in for an unprecedented treat.

Final Smash: Temporary digivolution into the next form to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Perhaps we’ve rather clumsily forgotten to list a few characters? Are you yelling at your PC monitor about our carelessness? Let us know in the comments below.

Oh and stop shouting; the neighbours don’t like it.