A fun game I came up with: Change around the order of Ultimate character reveals

[Hinata]

So, with the release of , I remember that a hot topic around the community for a while was people being disappointed in the order characters were revealed in. Some people thought they showed off all the heavy hitters too soon, and when it came to the final direct, they didn't have anyone really good to show. So, for this game, I pose a question: If you could change around the order that Ultimate's newcomers were revealed in, what would you change?

A couple rules:

• You can't add more reveals to a certain event than what it normally had (for example, E3 2018 revealed 3 newcomers, so you can only put 3 reveals in there)
• Switching around the reveals means you are putting the new character in the same situation the original character was revealed in (for example, if you replace the Inkling reveal with K. Rool, that means K. Rool would be the newcomer used to tease Smash Ultimate with no gameplay in the March 2018 direct, and if you replace Piranha Plant with Incineroar, that means you're making Incineroar the first DLC character)

As a reminder, here's what we're working with:
Nintendo Direct March 2018: 1 character reveal (, no gameplay)
E3 2018: 3 character reveals (official reveal of , , )

Smash Bros Direct August 2018: 5 character reveals (,,,,)
Nintendo Direct September 2018: 1 character reveal ()
Smash Bros Direct November 2018: 3 character reveals (, , DLC)
Game Awards 2018: 1 character reveal (Joker DLC, no gameplay)

 

[TheTrueBrawler]

March Tease -
I would make zero changes to the way this was done.

June Reveals - , ,
Nothing prior to the in depth veteran reveals would be any different. What I would make different is not say "Allow me to introduce a brand new echo fighter.", but instead put Dark Samus at the end with the Ridley reveal. Bring a lot of hype to the Metroid fans. The specifics of those two fighters would be talked about in the next direct. Inkling's in depth reveal would not be in a different spot in the video.

August Reveals - , , , ,
I would put the King K Rool reveal at the beginning of this direct unchanged. He would be the only fighter revealed at this time. I would use Daisy and Chrom as apart of the echo fighter reveals in that order. I would put the Ken and Incineroar reveals at the end of this direct unchanged. The specifics of those two fighters would be talked about in the next direct.

September Reveal -
I would make zero changes to the way this was done.

November Reveals - , ,
I would put Simon and Richter's reveal at the beginning of this direct unchanged. It would have been nice if this was in October and not on November 1st because this would make for one spooky reveal and a hype Halloween. Nothing from that point forward would be different.

December Reveal -
I would make zero changes to the way this was done.

 

[Gyrom8]

March tease
Wouldn't make any changes here. They're arguably the 'most important' newcomer in Ultimate and I don't see any point in delaying their reveal: once people knew a new Smash was coming, everyone would be expecting them.

June reveals
Again, no changes here. Having characters all from different series made it seem like they weren't pandering to one specific fanbase. Plus Ridley is certainly big enough (heh) to be the showstopper ending to an E3 direct. Besides, revealing Ridley early makes sense as otherwise it would have risked him being leaked (well he technically was, but only via text through insiders).

August reveals

Once again, few changes here. Simon and Richter make sense being at the start of a direct as they needed time to explain all the new Castlevania content. Then there's Chrom and Dark Samus. Chrom being bundled in with a load of other character reveals made sense as people who were sick of too many Fire Emblem characters (guilty as charged) would be too distracted by the rest of the reveals. The one major change is shifting Incineroar to here. While his reveal at the end might not be as 'hype' as K. Rool, it would shield him from the flack he otherwise got as being the last revealed fighter in the base roster. Moreover, by revealing Incineroar at this point and not K Rool, it could send the message that Ultimate was not purely going to be fanservice for the dedicated Smash speculation community. This would have avoided a lot of the drama and disappointment around the Grinch Leak IMO.

September reveal
Her reveal alongside the new AC game made perfect sense. A lot of the backlash it got was due to the direct being delayed which was unavoidable.

November reveals
Admitteldy Ken and Incineroar work better together than Ken and K Rool, but the two could still share a boxing ring themed trailer (K Rool did briefly appear in the Kencineroar trailer after all). The reason why I've delayed K Rool until now is simple: big fan request so would finish off the roster with a boom, putting people in good spirits. While Piranha Plant would be the last reveal overall, that's because I feel that their inclusion as a free DLC bonus makes sense so they couldn't really fit anywhere else.

In all, I didn't make that many changes and feel like the order they actually did was pretty good. Perhaps I'd have frontloaded some of the assist trophy deconfirmations, but that's not what this topic's about.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

March tease: : Pretty obvious this was gonna happen anyway.
E3: : Ridley was a great finisher, but Chrom IMO was the lamest newcomer, it would have been better if Nintendo just ripped the band-aid off with him right away.
August: : Belmonts in the beginning to kick it off and So Sakurai can explain them to people who don't know Castlevania. Ken and Daisy revealed next so Dark Samus, my favorite echo, is shown off last. Incineroar in the end to be hype.
September: : This is basically a given to show alongside the AC 2019 announcement.
November: : Favorite echo and now the reveals end with King K. Rool.

 

[Mischiiii]

Nothing to bw honest. I was really happy about every character revealed. And I personally think is a awesome character. Better her than a Waluigi or another Fire Emblem swordsman.