Social Banjo-Kazooie Social Thread - Project Dream Come True!

[Organization XIII]

Are we still pretending like Ultimate isn’t heavily based upon listening to the fans’ collective voices? Just because only two of six newcomers polled well on our super limited online fan polls does not mean that other characters did not get in because of fan demand. I’m not going to go through every part of it again, but considering how many cuts we were potentially facing in a Smash reboot, how many were brought back specially, and every character that got brought into Ultimate specially for fans, we’re looking at a good 20 that likely exist in this iteration due to fan demand.

We also don’t know if it’s easier to work with Mojang than other parts of Microsoft or if Banjo in particular becomes a harder character to work for than Phil Spencer’s support would imply. There’s just no way of knowing those intimate details on companies and their actual practices without being told directly. And even if we get Steve, it’s not like they maliciously chose him over Banjo. They may have just decided Minecraft and not given a second thought to it in the event we get Steve and in that scenario that’s not Steve over Banjo anymore than any other character would be over Banjo. It’s just they made a choice about a character and followed through. These two characters would get picked for entirely different reasons and aren’t actually competing in the least bit, just in the fans perception of things.

I guess we are going to pretend that just as long as people can pretend that the characters with internet presence weren't the popular characters during that time.
Also, your exact scenario for Steve's entry just being decided on is exactly what I described as the problem. They didn't give weight to fan demand and picked based on other factors. I'm sure none of the decisions they've made are malicious. It doesn't change anything about how the roster should give more weight to fan demand.

 

[Koopaul]

Joker already puts that theory on thin ice as it's still a pretty niche series especially compared to the other third parties already in the game. And that's great every vets returning is a nice thing Sakurai did but that doesn't change how Sakurai is selecting newcomers.

Perhaps so. Joker does have something in common with two other DLC characters from the Wii U. Both Bayonetta and Corrin were newish characters. But we also had characters like Cloud and Ryu, huge classic icons in the gaming world.

If Erdrick is our second DLC character than that might mean Sakurai is doing the same thing, picking newish characters from newer games (Joker from Persona 5) and Erdrick as a classic icon.

 

[osby]

I guess we are going to pretend that just as long as people can pretend that the characters with internet presence weren't the popular characters during that time.
Also, your exact scenario for Steve's entry just being decided on is exactly what I described as the problem. They didn't give weight to fan demand and picked based on other factors. I'm sure none of the decisions they've made are malicious. It doesn't change anything about how the roster should give more weight to fan demand.

Why? Catering to fan demand solely is not good for creativity. Ultimate sold and received well even if you think fans weren't satisfied.

Not to mention a lot of people on the internet has an extremely narrow definition of what fan demanded characters are and catering more to them only limits the game's appeal.

 

[Cyclone studios]

Are we still pretending like Ultimate isn’t heavily based upon listening to the fans’ collective voices? Just because only two of six newcomers polled well on our super limited online fan polls does not mean that other characters did not get in because of fan demand. I’m not going to go through every part of it again, but considering how many cuts we were potentially facing in a Smash reboot, how many were brought back specially, and every character that got brought into Ultimate specially for fans, we’re looking at a good 20 that likely exist in this iteration due to fan demand.

We also don’t know if it’s easier to work with Mojang than other parts of Microsoft or if Banjo in particular becomes a harder character to work for than Phil Spencer’s support would imply. There’s just no way of knowing those intimate details on companies and their actual practices without being told directly. And even if we get Steve, it’s not like they maliciously chose him over Banjo. They may have just decided Minecraft and not given a second thought to it in the event we get Steve and in that scenario that’s not Steve over Banjo anymore than any other character would be over Banjo. It’s just they made a choice about a character and followed through. These two characters would get picked for entirely different reasons and aren’t actually competing in the least bit, just in the fans perception of things.

Is it just me or is my idea really bad? I ask because I didn't get any support in the smash amino expect for likes,

which isn't even something you'd have to go in the post for as you can auto like a bunch of posts

In short I'm trying to make a fundraiser to add Kumatora to the Next Smash Bros.

What do I mean Exactly?

Well the funds would go to making a brand-new Model for Her which I'll then showcase her moveset though sfm or mmd.

I think Between Her PSI,Dance Moves, Pork Bean

(Ok so she doesn't Own one but at one Point she Does Ride one)

Salsa the monkey, note Combos and brute attitude she has the potential to be a very unique fighter overall.

As for why her inclusion in smash part of the reason is because of personal wanting but she also helps give more representation to the mother franchise and gives girls (or guys) one more female to play as.

Finally if the project is successful then I'll be able to work on other highly requested fighters. (Banjo,Captain Syrup and King Boo would be high on my list)

I feel if we as fans create new fighters and give Nintendo the project assets then maybe we both win, one new fighter for us and less stressful work required to add them to the roster.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Chrom is here because Sakurai couldn't add real characters and he was able to be added quickly as a glorified costume.

It's both: He's a popular character whose fans were easy to cater to.

 

[Organization XIII]

Why? Catering to fan demand solely is not good for creativity. Ultimate sold and received well even if you think fans weren't satisfied.

Not to mention a lot of people on the internet has an extremely narrow definition of what fan demanded characters are and catering more to them only limits the game's appeal.

I don't want it to cater solely to fans. There's still a place for other types of characters that expose people to sides of Nintendo they don't know, or big characters that make Smash better itself. All I want is more emphasis on fan characters. I don't want it to be a minority thing. Make it balanced or 60%. Make it so people don't have to rally for 3 games to see characters they've supported. That's all. I just don't want the ballot utilized for two newcomers and then everything else deciding who gets added. That's it.

Perhaps so. Joker does have something in common with two other DLC characters from the Wii U. Both Bayonetta and Corrin were newish characters. But we also had characters like Cloud and Ryu, huge classic icons in the gaming world.

If Erdrick is our second DLC character than that might mean Sakurai is doing the same thing, picking newish characters from newer games (Joker from Persona 5) and Erdrick as a classic icon.

Though in case of Corrin and Bayo they were more for promotion and as we have seen Joker isn't. Could be still sticking to his old habits but I guess we need a little more to go off of.

It's both: He's a popular character whose fans were easy to cater to.

The way I see it is erase the ballot and Chrom would still likely be in this game because popularity isn't the reason he was made. Him already having a planned moveset, fitting Roy's skeleton, a bit of extra time that wasn't enough for a full character, and a model from Robin's FS were.

 

[osby]

I don't want it to cater solely to fans. There's still a place for other types of characters that expose people to sides of Nintendo they don't know, or big characters that make Smash better itself. All I want is more emphasis on fan characters. I don't to be a minority thing. Make it balanced or 60%. Make it so people don't have to rally for 3 games to see characters they've supported. That's all. I just want the ballot utilized for more than two newcomers and then everything else deciding who gets added. That's it.

Ballot was used for at least four characters, it's just some people refuse to accept any character that has more than raw fan demand on their side can be a fan pick.

People have to wait three games or more or forever to see their characters in Smash because it's impossible to add every character people want.

Personally, I don't see the point of increasing the percentage of "fan characters". It just makes the rest of the fans more vitriolic towards the characters who didn't have huge fan demand on their side and allow them to keep ignoring the gaming world beyond Smash bubble.

 

[Koopaul]

I don't want it to cater solely to fans. There's still a place for other types of characters that expose people to sides of Nintendo they don't know, or big characters that make Smash better itself. All I want is more emphasis on fan characters. I don't want it to be a minority thing. Make it balanced or 60%. Make it so people don't have to rally for 3 games to see characters they've supported. That's all. I just don't want the ballot utilized for two newcomers and then everything else deciding who gets added. That's it.

There's a danger in trying to please everyone. There will always be someone who is left out. Someone who will be spiteful that their character didn't make it. "Sakurai loves all those characters but HATES mine!" "Why would he listen to the Shovel Knight fans and not the Shantae fans!?" I can see the calamity now. Perhaps it is wise that Sakurai doesn't give in too often.

EDIT: osby beat me to it.

 

[weallfloatdownhere7]

Joker already puts that theory on thin ice as it's still a pretty niche series especially compared to the other third parties already in the game. And that's great every vets returning is a nice thing Sakurai did but that doesn't change how Sakurai is selecting newcomers.

Fixed it. Now I'm not saying Inkling wasn't popular but they weren't in the game for popularity. Even Sakurai didn't try to pass them off as a ballot pick. Chrom is here because Sakurai couldn't add real characters and he was able to be added quickly as a glorified costume. The Belmonts weren't picked on a ballot basis either, they had middling popularity during the ballot era. I'm sure they had enough support to justify it as a ballot pick but I have no doubt they are here because of Sakurai's love of the series and already negotiating with Konami for Snake. If he was actually going for a third party based on popularity it's highly doubtful Simon is who he would have landed on.

Sakurai has literally gone on record saying the Belmonts got in due to ballot popularity. Not only that but they were always a popular fan request. You realize there are more fan characters than just the typical Isaac, Geno and Banjo, right?

 

[Organization XIII]

Ballot was used for at least four characters, it's just some people refuse to accept any character that has more than raw fan demand on their side can be a fan pick.

People have to wait three games or more or forever to see their characters in Smash because it's impossible to add every character people want.

Personally, I don't see the point of increasing the percentage of "fan characters". It just makes the rest of the fans more vitriolic towards the characters who didn't have huge fan demand on their side and allow them to keep ignoring the gaming world beyond Smash bubble.

It's always because they can't add everybody. In fact most of the time it doesn't seem to be the problem. I'm not saying that each Smash game should be 100% the top 10 list you can see in every thread but I think we should get more than 2 of those types of characters especially with the ballot. And I don't think it would allow that because first that exists now even without a focus on fan characters so that bubble is a constant regardless and there's still other types of characters on the roster.

Sakurai has literally gone on record saying the Belmonts got in due to ballot popularity. Not only that but they were always a popular fan request. You realize there are more fan characters than just the typical Isaac, Geno and Banjo, right?

Of course. There are plenty of popular characters. And you would see Simon make his way into discussion every now and then but he was never a super huge request because more people wanted Snake back and saw it as a no go due to Konami being Konami at the time. From Sakurai's comments it sounds like he pooled all Castlevania votes together and selected Simon to be the rep for that and I don't doubt that he likely was in the top 40's but I still think he had to strongly selectively choose who it was that made it for Simon to be a ballot pick.

 

[Cyclone studios]

Would someone please be my friend?

 

[Organization XIII]

Would someone please be my friend?

We will all happily be your friends here but the fundraiser idea isn't going to get much attention because it's not going to be a viable strategy for character inclusion. Nice thinking outside of the box but Nintendo isn't going to take outside submissions for the game.

 

[osby]

It's always because they can't add everybody. In fact most of the time it doesn't seem to be the problem. I'm not saying that each Smash game should be 100% the top 10 list you can see in every thread but I think we should get more than 2 of those types of characters especially with the ballot. And I don't think it would allow that because first that exists now even without a focus on fan characters so that bubble is a constant regardless and there's still other types of characters on the roster.

I can't say anything to make you content with the roster, because you are adamant on not accepting there were more than two characters who got because of fan demand, despite all the contrary evidence. It's almost like you want to be displeased with the roster, fans of be damned.

Characters who we assume got a lot of votes in the ballot aren't the only characters people want in Smash. And even if it was, you ignore the ones who don't fit your criteria.

Excuse me if I don't continue this discussion because I don't see a point in it.

 

[Organization XIII]

I can't say anything to make you content with the roster, because you are adamant on not accepting there were more than two characters who got because of fan demand, despite all the contrary evidence. It's almost like you want to be displeased with the roster, fans of be damned.

Characters who we assume got a lot of votes in the ballot aren't the only characters people want in Smash. And even if it was, you ignore the ones who don't fit your criteria.

Excuse me if I don't continue this discussion because I don't see a point in it.

I definitely don't want to be dissatisfied. In fact, in previous Smash games, I was highly satisfied. Mostly because back then I accepted that Nintendo wasn't as connected to the fanbase as they are today with the ballot and social media. Each fan character was seen as a victory and now that those barriers have been lessened quite a bit it hurts a lot more seeing fan characters being passed over. I'm not even truly dissatisfied with the game, I just think they can do a better job appealing to the people who care about who joins the roster and the casual audience. Sometimes the characters who appeal predominantly to the hardcore fans can even spill over to exciting casual fans as K Rool showed. I think Smash can do better.
Also, I just want to mention these views don't come from a place of disliking these additions. I loved Joker, Inklings, and Simon joining Smash. My favorite character added was Richter. Ironically, I didn't support either K Rool or Ridley joining the game. Not as I was opposed I just didn't care if they joined. But I still have these views because I want fan demand to be a reason for characters to be added instead of more of an extra for characters.

 

[Koopaul]

Sakurai has literally gone on record saying the Belmonts got in due to ballot popularity. Not only that but they were always a popular fan request. You realize there are more fan characters than just the typical Isaac, Geno and Banjo, right?

The Belmonts were on the ballot for sure but they were probably nowhere near the top 10. That means they they were chosen over many other characters that beat them in popularity. I strongly believe there were other factors that allowed Simon and Richter to climb over other characters on the ballot.

Dark Samus got in because the ballot but also because she was easy to make. Same with Daisy. There was another factor that allowed them to get in besides popularity. So I think fan demand alone rarely gets characters in the game. There has to be other factors behind them.

So what am I arguing here? That Sakurai has a lot of popular fan requested characters set before him. But he will choose which ones based on more than just how popular they are. There has to be certain circumstances that makes Sakurai want to go ahead and actually make them.

 

[TheAnvil]

Your avatar is a perfect representation of today's events. Got a source for it?

It's a picture my girlfriend drew for me

 

[OnyanRings]

I wouldn't take that leak too seriously really.
He got things right but i'm pretty sure a lot of it is piggybacking on other leakers.

And hey, if he ends up being right, we could maybe still get both Steve and Banjo & Kazooie.

 

[GillyGrime]

Damn, Nintendo has had trouble with leaks lately but this takes the cake. An entire trailer, I mean this is some Ryu ****:

At least we know who Brave is, congrats to the fans I guess

 

[UnknownJ25]

Where exactly would the games be displayed at? Is it like part of the selectable games on the xbox you can play? Also isn't this an older display since it still has the kinect?

If it's anything like the Microsoft kiosk at my mall the games are in the games that anyone can play stored in the games and apps section, that was just the first image I found tbh

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Why? Catering to fan demand solely is not good for creativity. Ultimate sold and received well even if you think fans weren't satisfied.

Not to mention a lot of people on the internet has an extremely narrow definition of what fan demanded characters are and catering more to them only limits the game's appeal.

It has to be a balance. The MCU is very good at balancing fan demand, what best fits the story, and appealing to a wider audience.

If you ignore the wants and desires of your core fan base you get something akin to what Star Wars is experiencing right now and start seeing sizeable drops in profit (looking at Solo).

Ultimate does cater to the core fan base, and to say it doesn’t with characters like Ridley and King K Rool is a hard argument to sell. The same needs to be true of its DLC which even more so will need to cater to its fan base than the base roster.

Ergo, picking Steve over Banjo would be a big mistake. If the two came together, that would be one thing, but choosing a character with wider appeal isn’t necessarily better than a character with more core fan base appeal. The core fanbase is more likely to purchase DLC.

I keep hearing this argument that picking Steve will sell Switches, and those who think that way claim it would be kids who love Minecraft that will buy Switches. That way of thinking doesn’t add up. This means there will be a sizeable amount of consumers who will be an entire console to then buy a game to then purchase the DLC for one character in a sea of dozens because they like the game they are from. Seems far-fetched.

Instead, Nintendo focuses their DLC on third party characters that would have been in the base game, but could not due to their parent company wanting to profit off the consumer’s purchase instead of a fixed amount. Or because they wanted to appeal to a fan’s desire for a complete product which the base game already catered to.

The best thing going for Steve is Sakurai’s bias and not a desire to appeal to a wider audience. Isabelle already addressed the latter.

 

[Mr. Stagg]

Something interesting cropped up in Papagenos Discord server

View attachment 214698

Doesn't automatically mean Banjo is coming to Smash, but it's something

View attachment 214699

Also, Xbox Ambassador really isn't that big a deal, it's basically just a helper position for Xbox

View attachment 214701

This is LITERALLY a "Hype Responsibly" situation, but It's a nice pick-me-up after how crazy today has been

If this source is to be believed, could we claim that the franchise isn't as dead as we thought? If Microsoft still use this supposed "dead franchise" as a part of their marketing then that shows they still see value in it. This isn't really closely tied to anything smash related, though we should keep an eye out. If these employees are confused about Banjo-Kazooie showing up, then maybe this'll be the metaphorical pebble rolling down the snowy hill.

 

[Organization XIII]

If this source is to be believed, could we claim that the franchise isn't as dead as we thought? If Microsoft still use this supposed "dead franchise" as a part of their marketing then that shows they still see value in it. This isn't really closely tied to anything smash related, though we should keep an eye out. If these employees are confused about Banjo-Kazooie showing up, then maybe this'll be the metaphorical pebble rolling down the snowy hill.

Technically it will still be dead until we see they have plans to further the series. This could be the first sign of plans to continue the series but we can't assume. Also if they do come to Smash this could be a way to get more people to buy into the pass after the increased exposure. Again we will have to wait and see but we can't be sure it means the series won't still be dormant.

 

[osby]

It has to be a balance. The MCU is very good at balancing fan demand, what best fits the story, and appealing to a wider audience.

If you ignore the wants and desires of your core fan base you get something akin to what Star Wars is experiencing right now and start seeing sizeable drops in profit (looking at Solo).

Ultimate does cater to the core fan base, and to say it doesn’t with characters like Ridley and King K Rool is a hard argument to sell. The same needs to be true of its DLC which even more so will need to cater to its fan base than the base roster.

Ergo, picking Steve over Banjo would be a big mistake. If the two came together, that would be one thing, but choosing a character with wider appeal isn’t necessarily better than a character with more core fan base appeal. The core fanbase is more likely to purchase DLC.

I keep hearing this argument that picking Steve will sell Switches, and those who think that way claim it would be kids who love Minecraft that will buy Switches. That way of thinking doesn’t add up. This means there will be a sizeable amount of consumers who will be an entire console to then buy a game to then purchase the DLC for one character in a sea of dozens because they like the game they are from. Seems far-fetched.

Instead, Nintendo focuses their DLC on third party characters that would have been in the base game, but could not due to their parent company wanting to profit off the consumer’s purchase instead of a fixed amount. Or because they wanted to appeal to a fan’s desire for a complete product which the base game already catered to.

The best thing going for Steve is Sakurai’s bias and not a desire to appeal to a wider audience. Isabelle already addressed the latter.

I don't think a side character from Animal Crossing adresses the fanbase of one of the best selling games of all time, as much as I love the lass.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I think it's possible we get both Steve and Banjo.
If it were to happen (at once), E3 would be the best time.
And if it were separate fighters passes, that's fine as well.

For the record:

Spyro and Crash
Lara and Sora
Rayman and Ezio

There are a number of third parties that have solid potential for a dual rep reveal.

 

[LogFrog]

Honestly I think the dlc will sell like hot cakes no matter who’s in it. In fact, they sure picked a good character that the general audience knows a lot about as their first one.

 

[TheAnvil]

I don't think a side character from Animal Crossing adresses the fanbase of one of the best selling games of all time, as much as I love the lass.

Isabelle is practically the face of Animal Crossing.

 

[pupNapoleon]

Perhaps so. Joker does have something in common with two other DLC characters from the Wii U. Both Bayonetta and Corrin were newish characters. But we also had characters like Cloud and Ryu, huge classic icons in the gaming world.

If Erdrick is our second DLC character than that might mean Sakurai is doing the same thing, picking newish characters from newer games (Joker from Persona 5) and Erdrick as a classic icon.

So....variety?

Isabelle is practically the face of Animal Crossing.

Yes! I don't think we would have even gotten Villager if Sm4sh were a few years later.
If we get ARMS 2, which I think is likely in two years and when they perfect the fun aspect, I think we have a strong shot at getting Twintelle and Min Min (should we get a third fighters pass); since they are becoming the unique fan favorites, themselves... not to mention being living stereotypes of the USA and Japan, respectively.

 

[MissingGlitch]

I might not prefer the gameplay of ARMS. But the character designs are top notch and would fit quite nicely as a smash fighter.

 

[TheAnvil]

So....variety?


Yes! I don't think we would have even gotten Villager if Sm4sh were a few years later.
If we get ARMS 2, which I think is likely in two years and when they perfect the fun aspect, I think we have a strong shot at getting Twintelle and Min Min (should we get a third fighters pass); since they are becoming the unique fan favorites, themselves.

I think more likely is we just get Spring Man in the next game assuming he remains the face of the IP. Probably with a Ribbon Girl echo.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I think more likely is we just get Spring Man in the next game assuming he remains the face of the IP. Probably with a Ribbon Girl echo.

I don't see him as the face of the series. He's just the bland character on the box used to help introduce people to the series when it was new. Ribbongirl as well.

ARMS is a character driven game, and those take time for the true mascot to emerge. Pokemon with Pikachu, Animal Crossing with Isabelle, Mortal Kombat with Scorpion. Those did not happen right away.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I guess we are going to pretend that just as long as people can pretend that the characters with internet presence weren't the popular characters during that time.
Also, your exact scenario for Steve's entry just being decided on is exactly what I described as the problem. They didn't give weight to fan demand and picked based on other factors. I'm sure none of the decisions they've made are malicious. It doesn't change anything about how the roster should give more weight to fan demand.

I've never said characters popular during that era were not popular, many indeed were. I'm saying our online polls are not necessarily indicative of realities across a fan base as broad and as mainstream as Smash has. There are going to be response biases with every online poll, and let's face it, there are many times I've seen communities and support threads actively push to vote a certain way in polls that practically ensures that happened to some extent. Take us Geno fans for example. If you look at the online polls, we have quite a large presence and represent a quite substantial fan base, but we're also the most likely to be vocal online about that character since he's less remembered by the collective of Smash fans. He may be over-represented in our online polls as a result of being a less known character to a variety of people outside of the more hardcore Smash fan base. I don't have data to back that up because we don't know Ballot Results and so on, but it's at least a line of logic that can be followed and potentially indicate differences between fan conducted online polls and the real polls. Vocal minorities and silent majorities can exist in all forms of voting. Furthermore, you have stuff like indies actively promoting ballot voting for their characters like Wayforward and Shantae, which can also heavily skew data as people unlikely to vote may then vote with that suggestion from a publisher they like.

My main point is that it can be really difficult to make conclusions from polls that we have, and even the ballot itself may be problematic to draw conclusions from because there are additional factors to consider in everything. A democratic voting process can become less useful when there are literally thousands of options available to the voters in an instance like the ballot. And you also have issues like characters with more defined roles in Smash 4 like Ridley and Isabelle probably performing more poorly on the ballot since it was positioned initially as Smash 4 DLC related. Additionally, seeing all of the ballot data can also indicate certain trends that may not exist clearly to our limited fan polls as well, Castlevania being the ideal example as a series that never had a more specific character polling super well, but as a series polled well and communicated interest to Sakurai. The ballot really just gives you additional information in what fans are interested in, and shouldn't necessarily be a determining factor on its own to be honest. There's tons of fandoms outside of the ballot to consider and other ways that fans may show support. It's a weighty decision no matter how you look at it.

Another thing I want to highlight yet again is that listening to fan demand does not necessarily mean character choices. A more intentional Classic Mode, the return of major Single Player content, a more detailed training mode, Hazardless stages, Fountain of Dreams returning, savable rule sets, etc. Those all show an active dedication to listening to fans. I think a lot of the fan base tends to get way too focused on character related stuff. I certainly agree they're super important (Cloud being in the game IS more important to me than the stuff that comes with him), but it's foolish to completely ignore all of the other areas in which improvements or attempts have been made to satisfy fan demand. Regardless of how some of those things turned out (Some people hate World of Light for example), it does represent work done in the name of fan satisfaction.

 

[JonSmash]

Great Custom Stages ! Even some Banjo Kazooie ones !

 

[Substitute]

Something interesting cropped up in Papagenos Discord server

View attachment 214698

Doesn't automatically mean Banjo is coming to Smash, but it's something

View attachment 214699

Also, Xbox Ambassador really isn't that big a deal, it's basically just a helper position for Xbox

View attachment 214701

This is LITERALLY a "Hype Responsibly" situation, but It's a nice pick-me-up after how crazy today has been

Soooo anyone live near a Microsoft store and wanna check this out?

 

[Kremling Krewmate]

Something interesting cropped up in Papagenos Discord server

View attachment 214698

Doesn't automatically mean Banjo is coming to Smash, but it's something

View attachment 214699

Also, Xbox Ambassador really isn't that big a deal, it's basically just a helper position for Xbox

View attachment 214701

This is LITERALLY a "Hype Responsibly" situation, but It's a nice pick-me-up after how crazy today has been

I can confirm Banjo is on Microsoft Store displays and that it has been since before Smash Ultimate discussion. Last time I went to a Microsoft store was around late 2017-early 2018 and they had Banjo-Kazooie on their Xbox One display.

But having all three Banjos? That's interesting! I imagine this means they're trying to build more association between Banjo and the Xbox brand or simply raise more awareness of the Banjo brand altogether. Here's hoping it leads to something smashing!

 

[EricTheGamerman]

Yeah, I think ARMS really needs a sequel to prove itself. It sold well enough, but it also released relatively early on in the Switch's life cycle when games were in more short supply and was the first major new first party release after Breath of the Wild. That doesn't necessarily discount the sale figures, but it's worth considering. 1-2 Switch also sold pretty damn well, and you'd be hard pressed to find too many people defending that game. ARMS just wasn't the same runaway success like Splatoon that demanded inclusion in the next Smash, and ARMS wasn't nearly as well supported or fully fleshed out as Splatoon was in concept. It's a series that needs some work and more development time to flesh out the ideas and make more interesting content.

I'm all for it in Smash (Though Spring Man himself is kind of generic as ****), but I think it's also a bit early to be claiming that it's another major franchise that needs to be represented in Smash (In part because it's not really a franchise per se, just a single game for now).

 

[TheAnvil]

I don't see him as the face of the series. He's just the bland character on the box used to help introduce people to the series when it was new. Ribbongirl as well.

ARMS is a character driven game, and those take time for the true mascot to emerge. Pokemon with Pikachu, Animal Crossing with Isabelle, Mortal Kombat with Scorpion. Those did not happen right away.

Every fighting game has a face, some of them are rather "bland" when compared to some of the additional player characters.

Ryu's a standard karate guy in a series that has a electrified Brazilian beast man thing.
Heihachi's another pretty standard karate guy, in a series that has a playable bear and a wooden man thing.
Hayato in Plasma Sword, just a fairly standard energy sword guy. There's genies and weird as hell stuff in that game.
Scorpion too, think about how "out there" characters like Goro and Sheeva are.
Fulgore. Killer Instinct has Werewolves and Velociraptors.
Even Darkstalkers, which is filled with all sorts of insane monsters like a merman and a Sasquatch has the more standard humany looking vampire/succubus as the face of the series.

They're all character driven but they all have a face. Spring Man is that to Arms.

 

[Deleted member]

Ok, it took me some time but I finally made my dream Fighter Pass.

It was between Banjo, Pauline or Steve for the last spot. I went with Banjo just to balance some things out.

 

[Mr. Stagg]

Ok, it took me some time but I finally made my dream Fighter Pass.

View attachment 214917

It was between Banjo, Pauline or Steve for the last spot. I went with Banjo just to balance some things out.

I fully support this, especially the DQ8 hero. Still a fun game to play, I super regretted selling my ps2 copy.

 

[weallfloatdownhere7]

I think more likely is we just get Spring Man in the next game assuming he remains the face of the IP. Probably with a Ribbon Girl echo.

It’ll be Spring Man with the other characters as alts, like Bowser Jr.

 

[TheAnvil]

It’ll be Spring Man with the other characters as alts, like Bowser Jr.

Nahhh the other characters are far too unique in size and shape for that.