Except that's not true. You see yes he did get the names correct of newcomers so far but when you actually read the info he's been leaking there are a few things he got wrong. Just starting the biggest thing he leaked was Simon however according to his source Simon was supposed to come with 2 Castlevania collections on the Switch and they were to be revealed at E3 which obviously didn't happen and that throws the validity of that info into question. Next, he said the latest reveal would be Incenaroar which didn't happen. Before that he claimed Isabelle was an echo so that clearly wasn't correct. Finally, (and take this with a bit of salt as I can't verify this as Verge has been covered by so many gaming sites I can no longer find the original posts on this so it's from my memory) Verge stated Snake wouldn't be at E3 and the ICs would be a major reveal both of which were wrong.
Looking at what he got right was Ridley at E3. Now personally I don't find that impressive as Sakurai gave the dragon tons of special attention and the problem he had with adding him was a problem he had with other characters who ended up joining him so I knew Ridley would join Smash eventually and with E3 being the biggest American event and that being where all his support is, it makes sense Sakurai showed him there. Plus ResetERA mods leaked him way before Verge did so even if you want to claim Ridley was shocking others had the info first. He also stated that no cuts would happen from the Wii U game. That is correct but it's not the full story either. All veterans returned and we can't say that maybe the other vets weren't planned yet as this was literally Sakurai's plan for the game at the start of development for this game, second even if somehow a source did get close enough to find out that the Wii U characters were back the source should at a bare minimum known PT would return as Charizard was literally attached to him and PT was even in the demo, and finally many people figured Ultimate would be a Splatoon 2 like sequel so figured no Wii U cuts was pretty likely so it's not like even getting that much wasn't hard to guess.
As it stands I don't see much reason to trust Verge; however, if one of three things happen I'll admit I was wrong:
1. Those Castlevania collections finally appear
2. The Minecraft stage happens
3. Incenaroar is playable.
Those three are the most radical things his sources have given and will prove beyond a doubt he's true but until then his info contains too many safe bets and faulty details for me to place faith in him.
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Castlevania collection: I worded it very carefully, saying *outside* of Smash it's been a mixed bag, but when it comes to *Smash specifically* he's been 100% right. To me, it doesn't matter if it was in the same post, those are two separate entities, ran by different companies, and he seems to know more about Bandai Namco stuff than Konami's. It could also be the case that it's been delayed, but my point was specifically in regards to Smash.
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Incineroar reveal/Snake not at E3: I followed Verg very closely, and don't recall any of those claims. Could be an example of me remembering the hits and ignoring the misses, but a skim on Google I couldn't find anything, and posts I looked up just mention Snake being in the game. Would be interested in seeing the source and adjusting my views accordingly.
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Isabelle: She's an echo. Just not named as such. Everybody, including me, when watching her character trailer thought she was an echo. I wouldn't be surprised if his source saw bits and pieces of Isabelle and thought she was an echo. Could also be entirely possible that she started as an echo, and was tweaked to be "unique", as that's exactly what it looks like. I can't see this being that huge of a dealbreaker. At best, it's worth half a point knocked off instead of a full point.
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Ridley: I feel like this is still retroactively making Ridley seeming far more of a lock than it actually was. He has been criticized of stealing from other leakers, but the fact many original claims by him turned out to be true makes it difficult to use that as a point against him. It's suspected by some, without any proof that he legitimately stole that information from other leakers. And unless I see something prominent suggesting he was taking from other leakers, it seems unfair to assume that.
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Not knowing everything: I mentioned that it's silly to criticize leakers for not knowing everything. Not knowing everyone was returning, probably much higher secret being kept, to the point Sakurai specifically pointed out that he wanted to make sure "Everyone is here" was not leaked. Also, while it's inconsequential, I've heard rumors that Ultimate *began* as a port for Smash 4, and then transitioned into Ultimate. That being said, it must have happened fairly early on if the design for the game was completed in 2015. Still, just because a leaker doesn't mention something, doesn't mean we throw out all credibility.
All that having been said, people are free to trust leakers or doubt them as much as they want. I feel like a lot of people gave Verge crap while letting Loz's BS slide, and it turns out Loz was the faker. Still, that doesn't mean to treat Verg's claims as gospel. To me, he's proven his credibility, and so I'm tempering my expectations with the information's he's given us, knowing that it may not all be true, even though with Smash, he's been correct on the information he has given (despite some debatable claims). I'm at least going to be paying attention to what he says.
Also, to bring this back to Banjo, I do, however, have to check my bias. As he says Minecraft content is in, that does imply a relationship with Microsoft, and a possibility of a character like Banjo & Kazooie coming along. I'm more than willing to look at counterfactual evidence and adjust things accordingly, and I still think, even if Minecraft is in, it's possible Banjo & Kazooie isn't. But I can dream...
