The Half Genie Protector of Scuttle Town, Shantae for SSB4 (WayForward wants her in Smash)

[DoctorSanity]

Yeah, and Sakurai seems to always try to play the games in order to get a feel for a character before he starts really working on them.

...Huh, come to think of it, Shantae's moveset would probably be solely based on which game Sakurai may play first, wouldn't it?

 

[Manic Rykker]

As there are plenty of people who'd tell you otherwise, that this is not a vote but a suggestion box, and that popularity isn't taken into account and it's based purely on Sakurai's desires to see in the game. I think popularity DOES count for something, but ultimately if Sakurai doesn't want it then it won't happen, and Nintendo doesn't strike me as the ones who would force Sakurai to add a character against his will, they respect him far too much to do that, even if they can make their own suggestions based on popularity and who has a better chance to actually sell.

So would SAKURAI want Shantae. That's the only question that matters, for some people at least...

Yeah. It seemed that way at first... However, something Sakurai said on the wake of the release of the Roy/Ryu stuff changed things.. apparently I have to quote this again, as it seems everyone has forgotten what he said in regards to the ballot -_-..

"Sakurai - There is a fighter ballot on the official Smash for Wii U/3DS website. We’ve received an extremely large number of votes, but of course, Lucas, Roy, and Ryu were in development even before the ballot was created. I had a grasp on their popularity and demand, though.

From now on, it is going to be fan service, but I can’t keep the development team together forever, so there’s only going to be several more characters. I also ask for your patience, as we need time to develop more content.

There may be unforeseen circumstances that arise as well, but I’ll try my best!"

That basically changed everything. This basically means, that it's more than just a suggestion box.. This ballot is all about the fan service... otherwise.. to be honest, what would even be the POINT in setting up a fighter ballot if Nintendo/Sakurai would be picking their own fighters anyway?... That would be a slap in the face to the community, and it wouldn't go over too well...

While I do think Sakurai is going to have some drawback against some characters (as there are some truly ridiculous campaigns out there.. we can't deny that), however, I have a feeling that we aren't going to have to worry about any curveballs in this, or any bias towards a particular character. Sakurai may be the one that decides all of this.. However, if he doesn't pick a character that fans are actually asking for, I'm fairly certain the backlash that would be received from that wouldn't be very good.

So no. It wouldn't be just about what characters Sakurai would want. It would be about which characters the community wants... the very thing that's driving this fan ballot...

Spoiler

and another thing...

Ballot definitions:

noun
noun: ballot; plural noun: ballots
1.
a process of voting, in writing and typically in secret.
"next year's primary ballot"

• the total number of votes cast in a ballot.
  noun: the ballot
  "he won 54 percent of the ballot"
  synonyms:vote, poll, election, referendum, plebiscite;
  show of hands
  "the ballot results will be announced soon"
• the piece of paper used to record someone's vote.
  synonyms:vote, poll, election, referendum, plebiscite;
  show of hands
  "the ballot results will be announced soon"

I still don't see "suggestion box" anywhere in these definitions..

So yeah. It's a vote. Some characters may not win? Of course. That's the nature of a vote. Plain and simple...

 

[Children0fTheStars]

Frankly, I'd find it hard to believe that Shantae wouldn't sell as a DLC even to people that aren't even aware of her series; her general character design combined with possibly an appealing moveset could lead people to buy her regardless. So in terms of them gauging how much money any given DLC choice would rake in, I really don't think Nintendo would consider her too risky of a gamble. At least, if they have input from Nintendo of America, knowing our audiences (though leading off of that, you'd think the Japanese would buy a character like her at first-sight as well). There's also WayForward's own advertising potential to help with the idea.

But there's one other thing that's been bothering me, and it ties in with this whole deal with the Pre-PAX indie event, PAX, and Monday.

People have cited that Sakurai has, supposedly, gone on record to say something to the effect of how a fighter takes around "a year to develop". Now, we probably don't know the full context of that or if his words were twisted, but if it's more or less the case, have we been jumping the gun here on thinking we were getting news soon? Is it unreasonable to think any ballot character could be made within the year?

 

[dangeraaron10]

Yeah. It seemed that way at first... However, something Sakurai said on the wake of the release of the Roy/Ryu stuff changed things.. apparently I have to quote this again, as it seems everyone has forgotten what he said in regards to the ballot -_-..

"Sakurai - There is a fighter ballot on the official Smash for Wii U/3DS website. We’ve received an extremely large number of votes, but of course, Lucas, Roy, and Ryu were in development even before the ballot was created. I had a grasp on their popularity and demand, though.

From now on, it is going to be fan service, but I can’t keep the development team together forever, so there’s only going to be several more characters. I also ask for your patience, as we need time to develop more content.

There may be unforeseen circumstances that arise as well, but I’ll try my best!"

That basically changed everything. This basically means, that it's more than just a suggestion box.. This ballot is all about the fan service... otherwise.. to be honest, what would even be the POINT in setting up a fighter ballot if Nintendo/Sakurai would be picking their own fighters anyway?... That would be a slap in the face to the community, and it wouldn't go over too well...

While I do think Sakurai is going to have some drawback against some characters (as there are some truly ridiculous campaigns out there.. we can't deny that), however, I have a feeling that we aren't going to have to worry about any curveballs in this, or any bias towards a particular character. Sakurai may be the one that decides all of this.. However, if he doesn't pick a character that fans are actually asking for, I'm fairly certain the backlash that would be received from that wouldn't be very good.

So no. It wouldn't be just about what characters Sakurai would want. It would be about which characters the community wants... the very thing that's driving this fan ballot...

Spoiler

and another thing...

Ballot definitions:

noun
noun: ballot; plural noun: ballots
1.
a process of voting, in writing and typically in secret.
"next year's primary ballot"

• the total number of votes cast in a ballot.
  noun: the ballot
  "he won 54 percent of the ballot"
  synonyms:vote, poll, election, referendum, plebiscite;
  show of hands
  "the ballot results will be announced soon"
• the piece of paper used to record someone's vote.
  synonyms:vote, poll, election, referendum, plebiscite;
  show of hands
  "the ballot results will be announced soon"

I still don't see "suggestion box" anywhere in these definitions..

So yeah. It's a vote. Some characters may not win? Of course. That's the nature of a vote. Plain and simple...

Just don't go posting that thing into the Nintenzone thread.

 

[SuperSegaSonicSS]

Just don't go posting that thing into the Nintenzone thread.

*cough*maybeweshouldjustforthelolz*cough*

I was actually thinking about that...

 

[Manic Rykker]

Heh. Wouldn't be the first time I'd see some people getting... "uncomfortable" when someone's perception/thoughts/opinions didn't match their own. Lol. Most grow hostile if you aren't a part of the band wagon.. no matter how much what you're saying might actually make sense XD

 

[Black-magic13]

Take with a grain of salt and can possible not mean anything but just wanted to share this.

Apparently something on the ballot page may have been updated , I didn't see anything different but who knows.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Doctor_Cupcakes/status/638091731498586112

 

[dangeraaron10]

Take with a grain of salt and can possible not mean anything but just wanted to share this.

Apparently something on the ballot page may have been updated , I didn't see anything different but who knows.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Doctor_Cupcakes/status/638091731498586112

As @Logo12 already put it, the Ballot page will update every time you open it to reflect your own time. He stated as much on the Wolf and Bandana Dee threads.

Edit: I swear, we already got certain members of the Smash base jumping the gun at any possible hint of some sort of update or announcement (not you, person I quoted, just in general). People are losing their minds, here!

 

[Black-magic13]

As @Logo12 already put it, the Ballot page will update every time you open it to reflect your own time. He stated as much on the Wolf and Bandana Dee threads.

Edit: I swear, we already got certain members of the Smash base jumping the gun at any possible hint of some sort of update or announcement (not you, person I quoted, just in general). People are losing their minds, here!

I definitely feel you.I never seen a fan base make speculation become so out of control that it starts to feel real lol.

 

[TheRickyWill]

Yeah, and Sakurai seems to always try to play the games in order to get a feel for a character before he starts really working on them.

...Huh, come to think of it, Shantae's moveset would probably be solely based on which game Sakurai may play first, wouldn't it?

Sakurai clearly enjoys classics, as shown by Ice Climbers, so if he starts from the GBC original, and a bit of research, she'll have a moveset ready in no time.

 

[Tikivoy]

From now on, it is going to be fan service, but I can’t keep the development team together forever, so there’s only going to be several more characters. I also ask for your patience, as we need time to develop more content.

There may be unforeseen circumstances that arise as well, but I’ll try my best!"

That basically changed everything. This basically means, that it's more than just a suggestion box.. This ballot is all about the fan service... otherwise.. to be honest, what would even be the POINT in setting up a fighter ballot if Nintendo/Sakurai would be picking their own fighters anyway?... That would be a slap in the face to the community, and it wouldn't go over too well...

Clearly Sakurai meant the DoA and Tekken kind of fanservice, as in he wants to add other characters to the roster that'd be perfect in a free for all with bikini Samus and Shirtless Shulk. He'd obviously want someone that'd make sense and still work with the E10 rating, so Shantae is a clear shoo-in

 

[TheRickyWill]

I probably shouldn't continue to gush over the short comic that Zenox & CountMickey made, but I absolutely love when artists draw Shantae in different outfits, especially if it's urban clothing, like the outfit in the comic, as it really fits with Shantae's adventurous, tough, and sassy personality.

 

[conTAgi0n]

Is there any word at all about when HGH is coming? An early-mid September release could give Shantae a good boost in the ballot.

Hate to be PC, but...

"If you look at all the video game franchises with three or more games, only 12 have women as the main characters. WayForward’s Shantae the half-genie represents a particularly important - if often overlooked - milestone in representation for female characters."

"Created in 1994 by Erin Bell, with some input from her future husband Matt Bozon, Shantae is the first female character to have her own successful game franchise that was always intended to be female and the star, and who wasn’t spun off a male character’s game."

Quote from Matt about the difficulty of pitching Shantae to publishers:
"The female character thing… at the beginning, my goodness, you would not believe how hard that was. We had opportunities to get the Shantae project rolling for a while and there were plenty of conversations. With a young game industry - with people who had some money and would have to make a colossal risk to get the game manufactured and into stores, and they would ask some tough questions like “We gotta ask you… have you considered making it a male character instead? ‘Cause this is a male audience. Gotta put a guy. We don’t know, it’s never been proven that a male-dominated audience will accept a female character. Especially one that looks like this. She’s not tough, she’s just this unsuspecting [belly dancer]!” I think we were taking on too many things at the time that were risky. … It was a female character. It was a dancing game. And when we were pitching this, there was no DDR yet. We were saying we want this to be where you have to have some rhythm and there’s like a beat to it in order to transform. And they were like "Oh, it’s too hard to understand what that’d be like. What if somebody can’t get that concept?” “Well we think we can teach it to them.” “Mm… I don’t know. And it’s a girl?” And a couple of times they were like “If you put a male character and even have it be selectable, you can play as the male character or the female character. Or maybe you unlock the female character!” And we were like “NO. This is what the game is; we want it to be about this. This is her, this is her game."

PERSONALLY, THIS FEELS IMPORTANT.

In a time where female leads, and diversity in general, is becoming encouraged in gaming (heck, Nintendo's been doing it by putting the spotlight more on the Inkling Girl in Splatoon, and the same-sex relationships in FE Fates), Shantae personally seems like a character that can really represent something more than the eShop, Indies,and Handhelds. Shantae is one of the first female character who started as the star, and, like Abe from Oddworld, didn't look tough, but held a ton of inner strength and potential, but wasn't afraid of showing it from the get-go.

That sounds like a pretty solid reason to put her in Smash Bros, to me.

Every 3rd party has their proper place.

>Solid Snake added more story elements to games, and made stealth fun.

>Sonic was the one who stepped up against Mario, with a battle that changed the gaming industry.

>Pac-Man brought gaming to a larger audience.

>Mega Man was one of the most succesful 3rd party franchises birthed on Nintendo, and constantly changed and evolved on it as the systems did.

>Shantae will represent the growing encouragement of diversity within gaming, and promote the indipendent developers who struggle just to bring their vision to life.

By the way, this is an excellent campaign/hype post for Shantae. By the time you get to the end of it you can't help but be excited to go vote for her. I could definitely see this winning over some people if it were posted in the right place (just make sure you fix the spelling of independent at the end). It's just a question of where exactly to post it.

 

[BlitzUnleashed]

Is there any word at all about when HGH is coming? An early-mid September release could give Shantae a good boost in the ballot.

I would like an early-mid September release. Besides, that's the month of my birthday xD

 

[Shadowknight1]

Is there any word at all about when HGH is coming? An early-mid September release could give Shantae a good boost in the ballot.

I would consider a September release highly unlikely. The demos are very early access and, except for the build at PAX, are for donators, so don't take that as an indication that the game is almost ready. I'm reasonably sure that they're going to try for a 2015 release, but it's best not to get hopes up too high.

 

[TheRickyWill]

By the way, this is an excellent campaign/hype post for Shantae. By the time you get to the end of it you can't help but be excited to go vote for her. I could definitely see this winning over some people if it were posted in the right place (just make sure you fix the spelling of independent at the end). It's just a question of where exactly to post it.

(DANGIT I KNEW I MESSED UP SOMETHING)

By the way, the first two quotes were from a blog on Tumblr, and the long quote from Matt was from an interview on the "Sup', Holmes?" podcast, which was actually enjoyable and really taught me about Wayforward's history.

Where to put it... Umm, I can't really come up with much.

I would say putting it somewhere near GamerGate territory to gather traffic, but considering how a large chunk of that group is on the verge of being an absolute bunch of hate-fueled lunatics, probably not. I also don't want Nintendo or Wayforward to get harassed over something as realistically petty as a ballot for fictional characters in a fighting game.

Besides that, put it anywhere you want, I guess. I'm sure someone will come along and fully realize what this really means, and agree, with others following, especially in a time where diversity is encouraged in media.

 

[Jave]

Made more Shantae Smash alts to keep the hype going.

Spoiler

Rosalina

Palutena

Lucina

 

[conTAgi0n]

(DANGIT I KNEW I MESSED UP SOMETHING)

By the way, the first two quotes were from a blog on Tumblr, and the long quote from Matt was from an interview on the "Sup', Holmes?" podcast, which was actually enjoyable and really taught me about Wayforward's history.

Where to put it... Umm, I can't really come up with much.

I would say putting it somewhere near GamerGate territory to gather traffic, but considering how a large chunk of that group is on the verge of being an absolute bunch of hate-fueled lunatics, probably not. I also don't want Nintendo or Wayforward to get harassed over something as realistically petty as a ballot for fictional characters in a fighting game.

Besides that, put it anywhere you want, I guess. I'm sure someone will come along and fully realize what this really means, and agree, with others following, especially in a time where diversity is encouraged in media.

That GamerGate stuff has gotten so ridiculous and toxic and hateful on both sides of the debate. It's unfortunate. I agree that the last thing we want to do is have Shantae even remotely associated with that.

If I think of anywhere good to put it, I'll egg you on to go post it there, or just credit you if that's easier. There's gotta be somewhere on the internet that would fit. Maybe r/Nintendo, idk.

 

[ShyGuy XL]

Hey everyone apparently relating to tomorrow, the Smash Ballot got updated to August 30th, I checked nothing different but it COULD mean tomorrow may indeed have something or nothing cross your fingers

And working yet another drawing with Shantae in it this based around the theme of Pac-Man's trailer: Red, Blue and Yellow I'll post it up later or tomorrow and more good news is two my friends voted for Shantae in the ballot after trying out Pirate's Curse (thanks to this guy!)

 

[takai]

@WayForward @MrBozon Finally we back work on Shantae and this time she have hard challange..find Amiibo! pic.twitter.com/w5meHoZPpn

— Zenox (Luigi) (@Zenox1987) August 30, 2015

Me when I see Shantae in that outfit

 

[Yellowlord]

Hey everyone apparently relating to tomorrow, the Smash Ballot got updated to August 30th, I checked nothing different but it COULD mean tomorrow may indeed have something or nothing cross your fingers

And working yet another drawing with Shantae in it this based around the theme of Pac-Man's trailer: Red, Blue and Yellow I'll post it up later or tomorrow and more good news is two my friends voted for Shantae in the ballot after trying out Pirate's Curse (thanks to this guy!)

If you got that from Tamaki's twitter, I'm afraid to say that some people have confirmed it's not true.

 

[DoctorSanity]

Hey everyone apparently relating to tomorrow, the Smash Ballot got updated to August 30th, I checked nothing different but it COULD mean tomorrow may indeed have something or nothing cross your fingers

And working yet another drawing with Shantae in it this based around the theme of Pac-Man's trailer: Red, Blue and Yellow I'll post it up later or tomorrow and more good news is two my friends voted for Shantae in the ballot after trying out Pirate's Curse (thanks to this guy!)

Wait, what do you mean updated to August 30th?

 

[SuperSegaSonicSS]

Wait, what do you mean updated to August 30th?

Apparently somewhere on the ballot page people found out it was update with a new date.

 

[Black-magic13]

Hey everyone apparently relating to tomorrow, the Smash Ballot got updated to August 30th, I checked nothing different but it COULD mean tomorrow may indeed have something or nothing cross your fingers

And working yet another drawing with Shantae in it this based around the theme of Pac-Man's trailer: Red, Blue and Yellow I'll post it up later or tomorrow and more good news is two my friends voted for Shantae in the ballot after trying out Pirate's Curse (thanks to this guy!)

I posted it from tomanikis twitter already cause it did seem odd. But awesome on the votes !

 

[DiagonalSpy07]

Guys! check this out from Etika about the update.

Take with a grain of salt tho.

 

[Yellowlord]

Guys! check this out from Etika about the update.

Take with a grain of salt tho.

Like I said in the K. Roll thread, the first image and third image has a red light present underneath it. Based on that light coming from Laptops or just a Computer in general, it's fake.

EDIT: I just noticed that if you look VERY CLOSELY in the image, there is a black wire behind the laptop/computer. Also, the entire screen is not covered, as the top left corner where the wire is appears to be in the shape of a Laptop. I can confirm its most likely fake now because of this evidence.

Image:

 

[DiagonalSpy07]

Like I said in the K. Roll thread, the first image has a red light present underneath it. Based on that light coming from Laptops or just a Computer in general, it's fake.

EDIT: I just noticed that if you look VERY CLOSELY in the image, there is a black wire behind the laptop/computer. Also, the entire screen is not covered, as the top left corner where the wire is appears to be in the shape of a Laptop. I can confirm its fake now because of this evidence.

Image:

Yeah I noticed that too. Never thought it was real from the start. This must have been done in photoshop or something.

EDIT: I've know of K. Rool but I never heard of K. Roll before lol

 

[TheRickyWill]

That GamerGate stuff has gotten so ridiculous and toxic and hateful on both sides of the debate. It's unfortunate. I agree that the last thing we want to do is have Shantae even remotely associated with that.

If I think of anywhere good to put it, I'll egg you on to go post it there, or just credit you if that's easier. There's gotta be somewhere on the internet that would fit. Maybe r/Nintendo, idk.

It's fine, you don't need to credit me. I'm just happy if it gets noticed anywhere.

Not to mention over half of the stuff in that post isn't even stuff I wrote, as I pointed about before, if you notice the quotation marks on the first two paragraphs and the fact that the 3rd paragraph was from an interview with Matt.

Like I said in the K. Roll thread, the first image and third image has a red light present underneath it. Based on that light coming from Laptops or just a Computer in general, it's fake.

EDIT: I just noticed that if you look VERY CLOSELY in the image, there is a black wire behind the laptop/computer. Also, the entire screen is not covered, as the top left corner where the wire is appears to be in the shape of a Laptop. I can confirm its most likely fake now because of this evidence.

Image:

That text also looks really off.

 

[TheRickyWill]

Japanese tweet and daily reminder that Shantae's monkey form in Half-Genie Hero is on the verge being cuter than Pikachu

Shantae pic.twitter.com/HKwE0vMUx8

— むとうにょろ Nyoro Mutou™ (@nyoroXo) August 30, 2015

 

[smashkirby]

Japanese tweet and daily reminder that Shantae's monkey form in Half-Genie Hero is on the verge being cuter than Pikachu

Shantae pic.twitter.com/HKwE0vMUx8

— むとうにょろ Nyoro Mutou™ (@nyoroXo) August 30, 2015

And....dare I, of ALL people say it, but....you don't think she'll be cuter than......KIRBY?!

 

[TheRickyWill]

It also turns out that Inti Creates artist KOU, who drew the art for Pirate's Curse, drew the new art for Patty in Mighty Switch Force: Academy.

Like I said, Wayforward's affiliation with Inti Creates can really help Shantae get an audience in Japan, if both sides play their cards right.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

It also turns out that Inti Creates artist KOU, who drew the art for Pirate's Curse, drew the new art for Patty in Mighty Switch Force: Academy.

Like I said, Wayforward's affiliation with Inti Creates can really help Shantae get an audience in Japan, if both sides play their cards right.

Just as long as Inafunae's newfound ego doesn't implode them all that is. Red Ash, seriously?

 

[TheRickyWill]

Just as long as Inafunae's newfound ego doesn't implode them all that is. Red Ash, seriously?

I was furious when that was revealed. Nobody should be so egotistical to start a new project before the first one is even done. Good thing some people thought logically, and didn't really trust in Comcept to use the money they donated wisely after the ongoing disaster of Mighty No. 9, so it didn't reach it's Kickstarter goal.

The anime, of course, did. Mainly because the modern budget of one is 10$ and a few Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

 

[Children0fTheStars]

Guh. I normally try to act skeptical about situations like this, I didn't even really know what to think of the Roy/Ryu leak until they were officially revealed, but I'm finding it so hard to believe that today's maintenance was really nothing all along and that the timing was purely coincidental.

I don't even need a fighter release right now. We just want news of some kind. I'm a pretty patient guy, but this lack of transparency is quickly becoming an irritation even for me.

 

[TheRickyWill]

Guh. I normally try to act skeptical about situations like this, I didn't even really know what to think of the Roy/Ryu leak until they were officially revealed, but I'm finding it so hard to believe that today's maintenance was really nothing all along and that the timing was purely coincidental.

I don't even need a fighter release right now. We just want news of some kind. I'm a pretty patient guy and this lack of transparency is quickly becoming an irritation.

I want news too, but Nintendo's been very secretive about Smash, out of all the big announcements, which probably means something big is coming along.

 

[NateCurtis(NJC)]

which indie character do you want in smash http://strawpoll.me/5367670

 

[Guybrush20X6]

I was furious when that was revealed. Nobody should be so egotistical to start a new project before the first one is even done. Good thing some people thought logically, and didn't really trust in Comcept to use the money they donated wisely after the ongoing disaster of Mighty No. 9, so it didn't reach it's Kickstarter goal.

The anime, of course, did. Mainly because the modern budget of one is 10$ and a few Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

I think he was under Capcom's thumb too long. I can see somethign fo where he's coming from but he was puching it too much. I have serveal spin-off ideas and a web-sereis script for my comic but I'm not pushing my luck or risking overexposure. (that second on is more a legal thing but...)

 

[TheRickyWill]

I think he was under Capcom's thumb too long. I can see somethign fo where he's coming from but he was puching it too much. I have serveal spin-off ideas and a web-sereis script for my comic but I'm not pushing my luck or risking overexposure. (that second on is more a legal thing but...)

When I (hopefully) get an art degree, I was thinking of knocking on Wayforward's door about producing a Shantae webcomic, possibly written by Matt.

 

[Manic Rykker]

Yeah. The maintenance is definitely weird... It just seems to random for it too just be an "out of the blue" sort of thing....

I guess we'll find out soon if it meant anything though.

 

[TheRickyWill]

So it turns out that the Shovel Knight Amiibo is being manufactured at the same factory that makes the figures for Disney Infinity. So that's why it looks better than normal Amiibo!

Also, today is the last day of PAX.

Last day.

Same day where Smash Bros maintainence is happening.

AAAAAAHHHHHHH

Okay, we probably won't get an announcement today, but I hope for something soon.