Attack! Imperial Floral Assault Group! Sakura Shinguji for Smash Ultimate! (The Curtain Closes This Time, But the Taisho Era Continues...)

[NintenZ]

Odd, works for me just fine

I’m wondering if it has to do with licensing issues regarding some of the songs which would mean it’s not available in certain countries, cause that’s pretty odd.

 

[Captain Shwampy]

Hmm seems there's been a dryspell of news outside of Sakura Revolution which recently launched in Japan I believe (I wonder how it's doing so far since the Fate Grand Order devs are behind it? I've seen a few Japanese social media pages talking about the game)

Anyways in other news, there was a big SEGA concert I think yesterday for their anniversary 60th anniversary, Kohei Tanaka and Chisa Yokoyama were both there and did some renditions of songs from the series.

Take a look if you would:

Was not expecting Sega Rally and Roomania on here

 

[amageish]

So, I have never made a model kit before... or really build anything more complicated then a Lego set.

Then a friend bought me this as a present.

So, this will be a trial by fire. I'll let you know how it goes! I have, uh, low expectations for myself.

 

[NintenZ]

So, I have never made a model kit before... or really build anything more complicated then a Lego set.

Then a friend bought me this as a present.

So, this will be a trial by fire. I'll let you know how it goes! I have, uh, low expectations for myself.

Oh wow that model kit looks pretty sweet, I’d love to see the finished product!

 

[amageish]

So, the New Sakura Wars stage musical promo video has English subtitles? I don't know why they did that if it means the actual musical BluRay will have subtitles, but I would consider getting it if it did have subtitles...

Also, the musical seemingly has Kamiyama portrayed through voice-actor and the actors just talk at the audience when addressing him... which is awkward in an objectively hilarious way. They even have LIPS prompts appear via projection.

Also also the musical was filmed in 2020, so everyone has masks on.

 

[NintenZ]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Thought you all would appreciate this artwork!

 

[Perkilator]

You think the new Sakura Wars game would've performed at least slightly better if it weren't PS4-exclusive?

 

[Marakatu]

You think the new Sakura Wars game would've performed at least slightly better if it weren't PS4-exclusive?

I for one would have bought the game

 

[NintenZ]

You think the new Sakura Wars game would've performed at least slightly better if it weren't PS4-exclusive?

Oh yeah ofc lmfao

SEGA has been having a strange habit of limiting the market of some of it’s software, I personally really hope they took feedback from that survey they held into account for a possible rerelease of the game on another console

I would love to see a Definitive Edition on Switch that contains all of the DLC as well as new features and QOL improvements that expand upon the original release, and maybe even a bonus episode that expands upon Operation Twin Capitals which was only scarcely mentioned in the original release, a dub as well for English users would be nice since there was a **** ton of complaints about the lack of one at launch

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

SEGA has been having a strange habit of limiting the market of some of it’s software, I personally really hope they took feedback from that survey they held into account for a possible rerelease of the game on another console

Well, at least I'm glad that Yakuza was given a second chance in the West after 5's digital-only release over there. Didn't think they'd also put the series on the XBox One, of all things (seeing as the Xbox brand doesn't do too great in Japan).

 

[amageish]

You think the new Sakura Wars game would've performed at least slightly better if it weren't PS4-exclusive?

No, I think that expanding the potential install base would actually DECREASE sales! /s

Yeah, uh, I imagine literally every video game that is an exclusive would sell at least slightly better if it wasn't an exclusive... I assume SEGA has done some sort of cost-assessment stuff to decide it is only worth putting on the PS4 for the moment, though the producer mentions checking if other consoles have enough demand to justify it so... eh, it's still possible.

 

[NintenZ]

No, I think that expanding the potential install base would actually DECREASE sales! /s

Yeah, uh, I imagine literally every video game that is an exclusive would sell at least slightly better if it wasn't an exclusive... I assume SEGA has done some sort of cost-assessment stuff to decide it is only worth putting on the PS4 for the moment, though the producer mentions checking if other consoles have enough demand to justify it so... eh, it's still possible.

I think it’s pretty clear where most of the demand has lied lmfao. There’s been a lot of demand from Nintendo users, and tbh I can’t imagine the series fitting better anywhere else (Outside of PC, the series has seen PC releases before)

And you know there’s certainly ways to get people introduced to the franchise on said platforms, I’ll leave that to your imaginations though but I hope SEGA will be smart about this in the long-term

 

[Perkilator]

Oh yeah ofc lmfao

SEGA has been having a strange habit of limiting the market of some of it’s software, I personally really hope they took feedback from that survey they held into account for a possible rerelease of the game on another console

I would love to see a Definitive Edition on Switch that contains all of the DLC as well as new features and QOL improvements that expand upon the original release, and maybe even a bonus episode that expands upon Operation Twin Capitals which was only scarcely mentioned in the original release, a dub as well for English users would be nice since there was a **** ton of complaints about the lack of one at launch

Know what? I think that's what SEGA should've considered from the beginning:

• Making the game accesible to people on multiplatform
• Having an English Dub

Anyways, we’re rating Sakura in RTC…again. And unsurprisingly, most folks aren’t exactly positive about it.

 

[NintenZ]

Yeah I don't know if I want to go to the thread lmfao. For one I've had enough negativity to last me a lifetime (God knows the world had enough for one year). For another, the last time I went, I tried my best to level with them. Despite my best efforts with me clearly laying out her history and saying people needed to be more open-minded to ideas and concepts they weren't familiar with, I don't feel like I was really listened to very well overall, and I feel people were too against the idea to even consider anything I had to say or even look at the materials provided, instead opting to base their research off of the Wikipedia article which while thorough, has holes in it an outsider wouldn't understand (The documentary is much better at conveying the information on the rich history of the franchise).

I also think some of the things said there were, quite frankly, ridiculous and was boarding on echo-chamber nonsense. Some examples being the suggestion that characters have to "earn" their Smash inclusion (That isn't true at all Sakurai and Nintendo add who they want based on their own merits, it's not up for us to decide and gatekeep who should be in Smash), and the suggestion that characters are "Competing" with other characters from their own companies (They are not, once again this is on a case-by-case basis going off of their own individual merits and characters from the same company are not taken into account when deciding individualized inclusions), this is all just stuff we're making up, it doesn't actually exist. Also I have to say I think there's honestly a bit of a bias in the thread, after doing a bit of digging I found that some of the ones rating her low, being deflective, and being ignorant on Sakura Wars' history and impact, also rated Reimu from Tohou highly, a character in a somewhat similar situation to Sakura (Although in a bit of murky territory due to being an indie franchise), and this is nothing against Reimu at all (I myself am a fan of Tohou) but it is an observation I noticed which leads me to wonder if some of them have something against Sakura because of how similar the situation is, again the "competition" stigma shines through here but I don't really know if this is true or not for certain it's really just an inference.

All-in-all, I don't think the thread is worth our time. It's very clear they have their own views which they are very adamant about and it's rather difficult for us to try convincing them the series' history despite our best efforts. I think it's important we focus on what we know instead, for those of us who have done thorough research and know about the 'actual' franchise's history and impact. Because honestly one thread isn't really enough to convince me otherwise what I know for a fact based off the copious amount of research I sunk into this franchise. That is all.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Anyways, we’re rating Sakura in RTC…again. And unsurprisingly, most folks aren’t exactly positive about it.

Linking the thread here for convenience..... go out and vote people!

 

[Deleted member]

Trying to tell a Smash Bros fan that the Game can get characters from games they haven't played or liked is like telling them that Pauline has been in more games than the original DK arcade or Odyssey or that Dark Samus doesn't look like Zero Suit Samus without the armour.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

I agree with NintenZ , the RTC thread is worthless to rely on as a metric anyway, it really has no bearing on characters' chances and it just devolves into arguments. It's no different than betting in a horse race or trying to read people's fortunes.

Trying to tell a Smash Bros fan that the Game can get characters from games they haven't played or liked is like telling them that Pauline has been in more games than the original DK arcade or Odyssey or that Dark Samus doesn't look like Zero Suit Samus without the armour.

Some users/fans don't even research anything at all beyond their comfort zone, to the point that I wonder how they managed to use the Internet enough to get in here.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Yeah I don't know if I want to go to the thread lmfao. For one I've had enough negativity to last me a lifetime (God knows the world had enough for one year). For another, the last time I went, I tried my best to level with them. Despite my best efforts with me clearly laying out her history and saying people needed to be more open-minded to ideas and concepts they weren't familiar with, I don't feel like I was really listened to very well overall, and I feel people were too against the idea to even consider anything I had to say or even look at the materials provided, instead opting to base their research off of the Wikipedia article which while thorough, has holes in it an outsider wouldn't understand (The documentary is much better at conveying the information on the rich history of the franchise).

I also think some of the things said there were, quite frankly, ridiculous and was boarding on echo-chamber nonsense. Some examples being the suggestion that characters have to "earn" their Smash inclusion (That isn't true at all Sakurai and Nintendo add who they want based on their own merits, it's not up for us to decide and gatekeep who should be in Smash), and the suggestion that characters are "Competing" with other characters from their own companies (They are not, once again this is on a case-by-case basis going off of their own individual merits and characters from the same company are not taken into account when deciding individualized inclusions), this is all just stuff we're making up, it doesn't actually exist. Also I have to say I think there's honestly a bit of a bias in the thread, after doing a bit of digging I found that some of the ones rating her low, being deflective, and being ignorant on Sakura Wars' history and impact, also rated Reimu from Tohou highly, a character in a somewhat similar situation to Sakura (Although in a bit of murky territory due to being an indie franchise), and this is nothing against Reimu at all (I myself am a fan of Tohou) but it is an observation I noticed which leads me to wonder if some of them have something against Sakura because of how similar the situation is, again the "competition" stigma shines through here but I don't really know if this is true or not for certain it's really just an inference.

All-in-all, I don't think the thread is worth our time. It's very clear they have their own views which they are very adamant about and it's rather difficult for us to try convincing them the series' history despite our best efforts. I think it's important we focus on what we know instead, for those of us who have done thorough research and know about the 'actual' franchise's history and impact. Because honestly one thread isn't really enough to convince me otherwise what I know for a fact based off the copious amount of research I sunk into this franchise. That is all.

If you want, you can just give a quick want score, while abstaining on everything else, and just bolt. All it takes is just two sentences. Literally a fraction of the post you just wrote. Don't have to reason with those detractors, not like they would listen anyways. Just don't let their 0% want scores dominate her rating is all, because if all the fans choose to stay silent then the detractors win.

 

[NintenZ]

If you want, you can just give a quick want score, while abstaining on everything else, and just bolt. All it takes is just two sentences. Literally a fraction of the post you just wrote. Don't have to reason with those detractors, not like they would listen anyways. Just don't let their 0% want scores dominate her rating is all, because if all the fans choose to stay silent then the detractors win.

You know what that is true, if I stay silent then it’d only make things worse, I’ll try typing up something just to get it out of the way.

 

[SharkLord]

Might as well throw my hat in the ring. Don't know much about the series but it looks pretty cool.

 

[amageish]

I don't have much to say about the RTC discussion and generally have been trying to ween myself off pragmatic speculation...

That said, I do have a comment on that classic question: "If a cherry blossom tree falls in Japan and nobody bothers to localize the sound of it falling, does it make an international sound (to the point where it is reasonable to assume it influenced the falling of other trees that followed similar trajectories to similar sounds)."

Some would say yes and others would say no... Personally, I think the point of importance comes with the ways that the tree falling did things for the first time. It's hard to draw a direct through-line between every unique thing the tree's falling did and every subsequent tree, but obviously said trees are - knowingly or not - following a pre-established pattern. Now, the question of if a tree falling first makes it inherently important is... Well, that's subjective. It's not really a surprise that people answer it based on their pre-existent opinions on the cherry blossom tree? I'd say that not every subsequent tree is going to be directly influenced by the first tree that fell, even if it is doing similar things to that tree, but that also doesn't mean that the first tree falling isn't noteworthy. I'm not surprised people say otherwise though.

That said, I'm unsure if any of this discussion is that relevant to the question of if the cherry blossoms from the tree are going to be put in that famous leaf-pressing book... If the leaves are put into it, then I'm sure the book's head writer would discuss unique traits the tree had when it fell and potentially its legacy, but honestly... The forest-owners are corporations like any others and I imagine the potential inclusion would be based on those newer cherry blossom trees that fell recently then anything else...

Anyway, that's my tree hot takes. I don't know why I put them in this thread, but I'm glad I got that off of my chest.

 

[Marakatu]

You all pay too much attention to community predictions.
This community can't predict ****.
How high would they rate Joker, Terry and Erdrick two years ago?
How high would they rate Geno, Heihachi and Leon Kennedy two years ago?
They think that wishful thinking equals chances.
They can't think business-wise.
The thing is, Terry got in because SNK is REALLY easy to work with. I mean, REALLY easy. Do you know how many games in Japan, China and South America have SNK characters as guests? Seriously, try to develop an indie game and ask SNK for permission to use Kyo or Athena, they'll ask for 5 dollars and a hotdog. Everything is fine for them.
The same goes with Sega and Persona 5. I've lost count of how many games had Joker & co as guests. Heck, Joker and Queen were announced to appear on yet another game last week.
This is the one thing that makes me think that Sakura isn't 100% impossible tbh. I've lost count of how many games had Sakura as a guest too. Heck, maybe Sega offered Joker and Sakura in the same table-sitting. If Nintendo accept, that I can't know.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I posted this on KOS-MOS's thread so I'll post it here too, if you have time to write 10 sentences about her in this thread, it would only take 60 seconds to write two sentences in her favor with a (presumably high) want rating. After all, what would it say to a completely neutral party if they saw multiple detractors more than willing to write numerous paragraphs against a character but the fans not willing to do the bare minimum to write in favor of her?

Obviously this only applies to the people grumbling about RTC but haven't rated her yet.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

You all pay too much attention to community predictions.
This community can't predict ****.
How high would they rate Joker, Terry and Erdrick two years ago?
How high would they rate Geno, Heihachi and Leon Kennedy two years ago?
They think that wishful thinking equals chances.
They can't think business-wise.
The thing is, Terry got in because SNK is REALLY easy to work with. I mean, REALLY easy. Do you know how many games in Japan, China and South America have SNK characters as guests? Seriously, try to develop an indie game and ask SNK for permission to use Kyo or Athena, they'll ask for 5 dollars and a hotdog. Everything is fine for them.
The same goes with Sega and Persona 5. I've lost count of how many games had Joker & co as guests. Heck, Joker and Queen were announced to appear on yet another game last week.
This is the one thing that makes me think that Sakura isn't 100% impossible tbh. I've lost count of how many games had Sakura as a guest too. Heck, maybe Sega offered Joker and Sakura in the same table-sitting. If Nintendo accept, that I can't know.

Yeah, the actual issue that Sakura faces is that there's other Sega-owned characters that could be picked instead of her, like Kiryu Kazuma or Axel Stone (let alone anything from Shin Megami Tensei). That is, assuming we're getting a second Sega-related DLC character for this run.

 

[Deleted member]

It is true that the Smash community tends to set too much of a high standard for their Smash predictions.

I still remember the pre-release weeks before Fighter Pack 5 got revealed, everyone was pushing incredibly hard that Dante was the lock for that spot without anyone else having as much of a chance as him... Just so then the Smash team announced the main character from the most recent and also best selling Fire Emblem title in the West.
I also remember how Smash fans tried to push the narrative of two Smash reveals at E3 2019 being Impossible, for all kinds of farfetched reasons. Then boom, we got two reveals.
And we can't forget how people thought Fighter Pack 7 had to be someone like Geno, Lloyd, Hayabusa or Doomguy... Just so they announced Steve instead (who was a cool surprise).

That's why I'm someone who strongly feels that when It comes to analysing Smash characters and how plausible they are for Smash, one needs to expand their boundaries, watch a lot of videos or read information about how videogame companies have made deals throught the years and also consider what each videogame franchise you want to analyze has brought to the industry. All of that without never letting yourself get your thoughts be based solely on what everyone in the community is saying.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

It is true that the Smash community tends to set too much of a high standard for their Smash predictions.

I still remember the pre-release weeks before Fighter Pack 5 got revealed, everyone was pushing incredibly hard that Dante was the lock for that spot without anyone else having as much of a chance as him... Just so then the Smash team announced the main character from the most recent and also best selling Fire Emblem title in the West.
I also remember how Smash fans tried to push the narrative of two Smash reveals at E3 2019 being Impossible, for all kinds of farfetched reasons. Then boom, we got two reveals.
And we can't forget how people thought Fighter Pack 7 had to be someone like Geno, Lloyd, Hayabusa or Doomguy... Just so they announced Steve instead (who was a cool surprise).

That's why I'm someone who strongly feels that when It comes to analysing Smash characters and how plausible they are for Smash, one needs to expand their boundaries, watch a lot of videos or read information about how videogame companies have made deals throught the years and also consider what each videogame franchise you want to analyze has brought to the industry. All of that without never letting yourself get your thoughts be based solely on what everyone in the community is saying.

The funniest part is that my more reasonable assumptions got scoffed at.
"Isabelle is just getting in as an Echo"
"there won't be DLC/a second wave"
"asking for more FF7 characters is unrealistic"
The Box theory really showed just how boxed in people's mindsets are. There really isn't enough openness for any possibility, no matter how improbable.

It's happening yet again with the most recent text leaks, when the damn things are so easy to fake that one shouldn't readily believe them unless they had solid proof somehow.

 

[Deleted member]

The funniest part is that my more reasonable assumptions got scoffed at.
"Isabelle is just getting in as an Echo"
"there won't be DLC/a second wave"
"asking for more FF7 characters is unrealistic"
The Box theory really showed just how boxed in people's mindsets are. There really isn't enough openness for any possibility, no matter how improbable.

It's happening yet again with the most recent text leaks, when the damn things are so easy to fake that one shouldn't readily believe them unless they had solid proof somehow.

It does say something when my predictions done solely on theory-crafting, taking a look at tendencies on the videogame industry or inside Nintendo and stuff I would consider the Smash team wanting to work with has gotten me to predict as of now half of the Fighter Pass right (with Min Min, a Microsoft character and a Square Enix one already happening) while the loud side of the Smash community and some of the big "insiders" (such as Vergeben claiming the Arms rep would turn out like Hero) have been on a constant roll of getting their predictions wrong.

So yeah, I don't really care about what the loud side of the Smash community keeps saying about who is getting in, because in the end we either don't truly know or to better get an idea of who could get in we need to do actual research and not just stick to what a loud group of people online say.

 

[NintenZ]

When I look into predictions and characters I think have a chance, I look at all stretches of gaming trends, and try and make an inference based on what’s a trend and try going from there, I don’t just look at a poll of the most-wanted Smash characters when coming up with ideas for roster inclusions and usually the ones I think have the best chance are ones that frequently fly under the radar

When I predicted Terry Bogard for example, I looked at all the things SNK was doing with them putting their characters in every crossover imaginable, and with them wanting to make their brand more recognizable, with Terry being their most popular character he made the most sense. I was very quickly dismissed by multiple people (particularly ones who wanted other fighting game characters like Heihachi and Scorpion) and I even grew uncertain as the months went on as I thought Kasumi from DOA also had a chance, but nonetheless I ended up being right and all the research I put in payed off. I usually try sticking to my own guns and seeing what works best based on how I know Smash characters are chosen, and usually it pays off.

 

[Matadormon]

When I look into predictions and characters I think have a chance, I look at all stretches of gaming trends, and try and make an inference based on what’s a trend and try going from there, I don’t just look at a poll of the most-wanted Smash characters when coming up with ideas for roster inclusions and usually the ones I think have the best chance are ones that frequently fly under the radar

When I predicted Terry Bogard for example, I looked at all the things SNK was doing with them putting their characters in every crossover imaginable, and with them wanting to make their brand more recognizable, with Terry being their most popular character he made the most sense. I was very quickly dismissed by multiple people (particularly ones who wanted other fighting game characters like Heihachi and Scorpion) and I even grew uncertain as the months went on as I thought Kasumi from DOA also had a chance, but nonetheless I ended up being right and all the research I put in payed off. I usually try sticking to my own guns and seeing what works best based on how I know Smash characters are chosen, and usually it pays off.

Tbh, I always told Smash fans on Twitter that they need to describe which character is likely or unlikely. But they can’t, tbh.

 

[Deleted member]

How did I miss out on this tweet?

There was a problem fetching the tweet

 

[TCT~Phantom]

I'm going to end the day in RTC for Sakura around 8 pm est, so in around an hour or so. I know some of you might not like how some people in RTC are cynical, but you are more than welcome to pop in and give a quick want score and discuss how much Sakura Wars means to you. I personally played the first game on the saturn recently and think she would be cool if she used her Kobu a lot in her moveset, and would not have really given her any thought if she was not brought up in RTC.

 

[Captain Shwampy]

Sakura Kakumei aint doing hot.
Hopefully a gatcha game doesn't kill the franchise again.

 

[Deleted member]

Sakura Kakumei aint doing hot.
Hopefully a gatcha game doesn't kill the franchise again.

Yeah, let's hope It doesn't kill It.

 

[Marakatu]

Sakura Kakumei aint doing hot.
Hopefully a gatcha game doesn't kill the franchise again.

It's not that I doubt you, but how do you know that?

 

[Captain Shwampy]

It's not that I doubt you, but how do you know that?

Game was trending on JP twitter yesterday with mockery and complaints. Alot of old fans dislike it since its a AU that has nothing to do with old series and none of the old characters are there. The game is similar to a FGO game by the same devs (DelightWorks) that wasn't well liked either.

There's a website claiming sega spent 3 mill yen on the games budget and its not going gain back its profit but that number might be false since the website is known to not be trustworthy.

 

[NintenZ]

I think a lot of the problems Japanese fans have with modern Sakura Wars is that it’s not the Sakura Wars they know.

They want to see the old cast again in the same style as the old games but SEGA seems intent on giving the newer games their own identity, which while understandable could potentially be alienating on longtime fans. (I recall even the original cast members were surprised at how the newer entries were handled)

I do however think SEGA sees value in the IP so I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon judging from the amount of trademarks filed for the series and the fact they’ve still been very actively promoting it, however I think SEGA will likely do some shuffling to figure out how they can appeal more to their core audience as well as teach more players. (After all they had that survey in April which will likely amount to something in the not-so-distant future)

I personally think a great way to remedy this all is for them to try rereleasing the older games on modern systems, they haven’t seen rereleases in many years so it’d be great having them again so more people could experience the series (Minimal work would have to be done for So Long My Love as well since they can easily reuse the PS2 source code and it also has an English translation complete with a dub which I believe they have the rights to now after NISA relinquished it)

 

[Marakatu]

You may want to RT this, unless you don't want Sakura in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2

https://twitter.com/S2LSOFTENER/status/1349931876794970112?s=19

 

[Deleted member]

Sakura Wars x Transformers.

That would be a really cool crossover.

 

[Smush]

Hiya, here to support Sakura for Smash ^^

 

[Smush]

Sakura Wars x Transformers.

That would be a really cool crossover.

Agreed, it would be very cool to see