Smash 4 in Famitsu: Lucina, Robin, Captain Falcon, Kirby's Lucina Mask

[Immortal]

Update: Full translation here including Lucina's mask taunt and Robin's complete moveset

Edit: Disregard this stuff it was taken from 2ch and mixed facts with speculation.

• Lucina was originally included as a Marth skin.
• "A certain character" was cut during development. (Chrom? Who knows. It's not clarified.)
• Sakurai didn’t want to reduce the total number of characters.
• It wasn’t possible to make a brand new character on short notice.
• Lucina was repurposed into her own character slot to fill the void.

A direct translation of the scan says there's no mention of any character being cut. This has been confirmed several times since. So that part was wrong.

The blurb about how Lucina came to be is basically "Originally Lucina was a Marth color variation because they're related characters. The have different names and voices but play the same, and would receive treatment similar to male/female WFT, Villager and Robin. However, while Lucina's fighting style is the same, she has different characteristics. Because there's only a small difference, she would be a convenient additional character. This made her a lucky newcomer pick."

Maybe there's something on the rest of the page that mentions a cut character, but... I don't see why it wouldn't go along with the section on why she was included. No mention of cut characters or needing to fill in a removed spot.

 

[Pazzo.]

Kirby's Lucina hat.... I personally approve.

 

[Gravitational23]

Kirby's Lucina hat.... I personally approve.

I was going to say the same thing Kirby looks so cute.

 

[Vann Accessible]

I want to know if Lucina has an alt where she can wear her mask through the whole fight. She appears to have it in one shot, but it could be a taunt or something.

Anyone care to translate?

 

[L9999]

Meh! Lucina is a full clone like Falco.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Looks like Lucina is more or less a complete clone, we see she shares even the same side-smash and up-smash here, if there was anything distinct about her we'd probably know by now. I personally don't mind.

Also, Kirby's Lucina hat is pretty radical.

 

[PizzaWenisaur]

Taunt where she puts on her mask??
And it can get broken.

 

[Icedragonadam]

I call dibs on Kirby Lucina avatar once the picture appears on imgur or whatever!

 

[yoonb]

"A certain character" was cut during development. (Chrom? Who knows. It's not clarified.)

Now I'm very curious as to who it is. I would suspect it's Chrom if Lucina was used to make up for the cut, but who knows.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Apparently there's quite a bit of information on the development of the game in the article:

I've been reading through some of the Japanese bulletin boards in light of the latest Famitsu, and I found some new info in addition to a new scan (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bsp5iI2CUAA478W.jpg).

Here’s the rundown:

1. Lucina was originally included as a Marth skin.
2. “A certain character” was cut during development. (Chrom? Who knows. It's not clarified.)
3. Sakurai didn’t want to reduce the total number of characters.
4. It wasn’t possible to make a brand new character on short notice.
5. Lucina was repurposed into her own character slot to fill the void.

Source

So yeah, a character was cut mid-development and Lucina was added as a last minute clone to fill the void.

EDIT: Ninja'd, too slow for OP

 

[Karonax]

Taunt where she puts on her mask??
And it can get broken.

Is that for real? From the Famitsu page?

 

[Shroob]

Apparently there's quite a bit of information on the development of the game in the article:



Source

So yeah, a character was cut mid-development and Lucina was added as a last minute clone to fill the void.

EDIT: Ninja'd, too slow for OP

If it's Chrom.... I'd laugh. #Gematsulives

 

[Donalp15]

I hate to say it, but it sounds like Snake to me. He was started but Sakurai didn't get permission and therefore he was canned.
I can't think of another reason for a character to be cut.
I might be Chrom, but I can't understand why he would be cut.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

If it's Chrom.... I'd laugh.

Probably not, I have a hard time seeing Chrom having to be cut mid-development, I doubt he'd run into technical problems or be of low priority, and if nothing else he could probably be a semi-clone of Ike at least. Plus, I'm sure the only reason we have two Awakening reps is because of Lucina being an easy clone to make, I doubt they'd include both Robin and Chrom as unique characters, he was probably always a final smash.

I think it's a newcomer who ran into technical problems personally, we have seen just how ambitious Sakurai has been with them this time.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like Snake to me. He was started but Sakurai didn't get permission and therefore he was canned.
I can't think of another reason for a character to be cut.
I might be Chrom, but I can't understand why he would be cut.

Considering Kojima wants him in I doubt Sakurai was stopped from putting Snake in.

 

[Dracometeor]

Now everyone can stop ******** about clones stealing characters spots. Instead they just help buffer the roster. With this in mind I believe they have already decided the size of character select screen and it would have been more of a hassle to resize and change it then to make lucina a clone.

I REALLY want to know who got cut though and why

 

[Shroob]

Probably not, I have a hard time seeing Chrom having to be cut mid-development, I doubt he'd run into technical problems or be of low priority, and if nothing else he could probably be a semi-clone of Ike at least. Plus, I'm sure the only reason we have two Awakening reps is because of Lucina being an easy clone to make, I doubt they'd include both Robin and Chrom, he was probably always a final smash.

I think it's a newcomer who ran into technical problems personally, we have seen just how ambitious Sakurai has been with them this time.



Considering Kojima wants him in I doubt Sakurai was stopped from putting Snake in.

Perhaps it was a BIG problem, a problem of SIZABLE proportions.

 

[PizzaWenisaur]

Is that for real? From the Famitsu page?

Oh no - my bad. Just what I thought would be an awesome idea.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Perhaps it was a BIG problem, a problem of SIZABLE proportions.

Eh, he was teased ever since Pyrosphere's announcement last year and was even shown during the April Direct, his fate whatever it is has most likely been set in stone since the beginning. By the sounds of it the character was cut recently, as there was no more time to implement anything more than an almost copy-paste clone using a model they had already created. It's not like Ridley would make either the Wii U or 3DS melt down anyways.

I realize you were joking btw, but someone is bound to bring it up anyways.

 

[chronomantic]

Finally a Kirby Hat from a newcomer that's good. I bet Kirby thinks no one can recognize him now lol

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

So, Chrom is cut during development.

THE LEAK LIVES ON, @Mega Bidoof

 

[Pyra]

...wait.
So if Kirby is wearing Lucina's mask... is he pretending to be Marth or Lucina...?

 

[PizzaWenisaur]

So up until this point, people have been saying things like "You can't put a Daisy skin on Peach 'cuz they aren't the same," - myself included.

Does this mean we'll see more character alts like Lucina once was?

EDIT: Sorry for the poor grammer, I typed it up too fast...

 

[Shroob]

Honestly, the way the Robin/Lucina trailer was handled does make it feel like Chrom was the one who was cut, especially with that awkward ending that feels completely out of place with the rest of the video.

 

[Oracle_Summon]

So up until this point, people have been saying things like "You can't put a Daisy skin on Peach 'cuz they aren't the same," myself included.

Does this mean we'll see more characters alts like Lucina once was?

Are you saying Lucina is an alt? If you are, she isn't. Though, I expect some alternate costumes to make it into the game.

 

[Spazzy_D]

Apparently there's quite a bit of information on the development of the game in the article:



Source

So yeah, a character was cut mid-development and Lucina was added as a last minute clone to fill the void.

EDIT: Ninja'd, too slow for OP

Random thought....maybe Ice Climbers 3DS issues were never resolved. It does seem strange that they weren't revealed yet.

 

[Vital Tundra]

So, Chrom is cut during development.

THE LEAK LIVES ON, @Mega Bidoof

Not really, the leak still got multiple things wrong. Its simply outdated, so while past info may be true, we can take any recent info as garbage.

 

[Pyra]

So, Chrom is cut during development.

THE LEAK LIVES ON, @Mega Bidoof

If it was Chrom.

 

[PizzaWenisaur]

Are you saying Lucina is an alt? If you are, she isn't. Though, I expect some alternate costumes to make it into the game.

No - Immortal said Lucina was once a Marth skin.
So I'm wondering if we'll see, for example, a Daisy skin (where it's actually Daisy) for Peach or something.

 

[PlTe]

Character cut during development, with Lucina as a replacement? #GematsuLives

 

[FlynnCL]

I'd find it weird to think Chrom is the one being cut; Robin uses Chrom in his moveset (and a Final Smash like this generally isn't last minute), and Sakurai himself got a team to create an entire CG trailer which essentially ends in Chrom de-confirming himself. Would you do that for someone you originally had as a playable character?

It also makes sense that Lucina was originally an alternative costume, and this could've been around the time the trailer was made, thus the "?!" in her splash screen; Sakurai would've further told everyone in his PotD that she's just an alt, but in the end she had to be used to fill a gap in the roster.

The trailer must have been created at a time when Sakurai only had Lucina as an alternative costume, so the cut is someone else.

 

[Saikyoshi]

I hate to say it, but it sounds like Snake to me. He was started but Sakurai didn't get permission and therefore he was canned.
I can't think of another reason for a character to be cut.
I might be Chrom, but I can't understand why he would be cut.

Kojima actually did give Sakurai express permission to use Snake, even though he doesn't personally know if he'll be back.

Anyway, I don't like this. If it was Chrom, then Gematsu has officially become a hazard to the quality of the game by removing a unique character and forcing a last-minute clone. I was indifferent to it before, but if it is the reason Lucina became a space-filler, then it's become unforgivable.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Random thought....maybe Ice Climbers 3DS issues were never resolved. It does seem strange that they weren't revealed yet.

As bizarre as it'd be it's certainly a possibility.

 

[Banjodorf]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that character was Chrom. Because of his build, I assume he'd be awkward as an Ike or Marth clone, and it probably wasn't worth the effort if they wanted to include more newcomers, and just slapping Marth's moveset on Lucina made matters easier.

...I just hope it wasn't Shulk.

Unless they were never going to include Chrom in the first place.

 

[PlTe]

As bizarre as it'd be it's certainly a possibility.

With Rosalina and Luma, I think this is ruled out.

 

[Donalp15]

Kojima actually did give Sakurai express permission to use Snake, even though he doesn't personally know if he'll be back.

Alright thanks for the info, I still don't think it was Chrom that was cut though.

 

[Hippopotasauce]

I don't think I'm trusting gamefaqs with translations.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Hold on folks.

It seems that Robin might have been planned from the start.

Chom might have never been planned.

 

[Vital Tundra]

Yeah I don't think Chrom was the one cut. It makes the 4 FE reps make more sense, in that there were never supposed to be 4 until they cut some other character, and filled the void with Lucina as a character and not an alt. So maybe it was only Robin up until the cut, and Lucina was the best choice they had to keep the roster size the same.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

With Rosalina and Luma, I think this is ruled out.

Depends, Luma looks to hardly have as complex an AI as Nana has.

 

[Immortal]

Updated with new information and an alternative translation. It seems the cut character stuff could have been a misinterpretation.