We never saw this coming. At today’s Game Awards Atlus and Nintendo unveiled that Joker from Persona 5 will be Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s first DLC character.
Atlus’ hit JRPG series exploded in popularity with Persona 5 and it would appear Nintendo has noticed. Persona 5‘s Joker is a fantastic addition for Smash’s roster and I doubt many will complain at this announcement.
Other third-party characters such as Banjo from Banjo Kazooie and Shantae from the games of the same name were popular guesses but Nintendo has surpassed all expectations.
This could mean unveils of future Persona characters down the line are likely as its rare for Smash to only have one character to represent an entire series. Especially for a franchise as large as Persona so I’d expect possibly Ann or Futaba to be added alongside Joker at a later date.
There’s also a possibility of Persona on Switch as bold moves like this could very well be used to promote the franchise on a platform it hasn’t been released on before. Nintendo has hosted Persona games with Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth on Nintendo 3DS, but a full port of Persona 5 would be a huge boost to Switch owners everywhere.