Based on the special edition box, the only remaining characters are Ken + one final newcomer.

[Thinkaman]

Please look at the side of the box. People have been discussing it on twitter, but missing the significance of the ordering. Here, forgive my color-coding:

I took the liberty of adding Isabelle. Do you see the pattern? Here, let me help:

The fighters are in groups of 9, presented exactly the same as on the website and all other promotional materials. (Echoes in order, Miis and PT as single entries) The promotional images used on this box were clearly taken from a source location in which they were in sets/rows of 9.

This means we know what the other 4 sets of 9 looks like:

It's all very clean and works perfectly. With two big implications.

There is no room for an echo in any of the first 3 sets of 9. No Dixie, no Shadow, no whatever. It would throw everything off, and make the side of the box we can see look different.

But there is exactly one unaccounted for space in the final set of 9. Somewhere, there is an echo between Palutena and Cloud.

This is the other half of the box:

And of course, there is only room for one blank space after Isabelle, so that leaves one new character--possibly the Gen 7 Pokemon Vergeben alluded to.

----------

It's always possible that this is just a box, and the product designers chose to only show off 72 character slots arbitrarily.

But realistically, it looks like this is our roster.

 

[thirsty-pocket]

A bummer if true.
I'm just going to cross my fingers that they're leaving characters off the box for no reason. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Jasper the Tourist]

Didn’t Verg also say that we’d have a Squenix rep, though?

 

[nirvanafan]

Very interesting find, for some reason I just have a hard time believing the final big unveil will be a pokemon rep (Incineroar?), it just seems too underwhelming although that could just be my personal opinion. I believe Vergeben has also stated that there may also be another square rep (Geno?) coming so I see that as more of a proper send off before launch although maybe that can wind up being dlc, who knows.

Oh well, not too surprised, see a lot of people expecting too 10-12 newcomers which I always found too unrealistic since that is not too far from what we had last time at launch and Sakurai did say to not expect too many newcomer. I am just happy we are getting what we are since I was expecting less when Sakurai 1st said that.

 

[Thinkaman]

Very interesting find, for some reason I just have a hard time believing the final big unveil will be a pokemon rep (Incineroar?), it just seems too underwhelming although that could just be my personal opinion. I believe Vergeben has also stated that there may also be another square rep (Geno?) coming so I see that as more of a proper send off before launch although maybe that can wind up being dlc, who knows.

I'm actually starting to get a little skeptical about the Pokemon claim. While it remains the simplest and most straight-forward guess based on Vergeben's info being broadly correctly on literally every other character in the game, it seems plausible due to the unusual framing that it could be subject to miscommunication.

I mean, if we had seen all 3 of his "deconfirmed" Pokemon as Pokeball Pokemon, this would be a different story and make tons of sense. But as it stands, it's hard to imagine how exactly this particular clue came about. It feels much more like a guess than his other assertions.

It doesn't help that Incineroar feels like a dud to me, when Decidueye or Lycanroc would be the super obvious choice. Incineroar feels so random, and any other gen 7 Pokemon is even more weird and random.

I also think that the last reveal would be intended to have more impact than King K. Rool, else they would have saved him. Why not?

 

[NintenRob]

If this is true.

Then verg is WRONG


If there's one character left, I'm gonna stick with Skull Kid all the way through. I'm not letting anything throw me down now, not after coming this far

 

[Thinkaman]

Independent of the hypothetical of extra characters deliberately left off the box, this either way still confirms Ken (or Mrs. PAC-MAN lol) and deconfirms all other echoes. It's pretty decisive.

Suppose they *were* designing entirely fake box orderings to conceal information. Why essentially leak Ken, but hide Shadow? It's nonsense and futile to try and generate conspiracies for.

 

[KurouKamen]

Verge didn’t even know about Chrom and K Rool and backpeddled on them. Honestly don’t think he knows as much as he used to on leaks.

 

[Malkior7]

How long has a SSBU Special edition been on the site?

 

[0007]

But as it stands, it's hard to imagine how exactly this particular clue came about. It feels much more like a guess than his other assertions.

It doesn't help that Incineroar feels like a dud to me, when Decidueye or Lycanroc would be the super obvious choice. Incineroar feels so random, and any other gen 7 Pokemon is even more weird and random.

Vergeben is an extremely credible leaker, in part because he only communicates what he absolutely knows and nothing more. The fact that he didn't go out and select a specific Gen 7 Pokemon and only supplied who he KNEW wasn't going to be the potential rep makes it more credible to me.

He has never said it's Incineroar, however most people assume Incineroar is the likely choice if Decidueye, Mimikyu (whose deconfirmation Verg predicted) and Lycanroc are not going to be added. Incineroar is rather popular in Japan, is a starter, and his body type would be easy to adapt to Smash. We don't currently have a grappler type character in Smash, which the wrestling Pokemon could easily rectify.

I feel like most of the resistance to Incineroar is because many people don't like his design because of the "le fire fighting!!!!" memes back when Sun and Moon released. He's not even a Fighting type...

 

[Good Guy Giygas]

Yea, I don't really buy this at all. For one, it's just a rendering of the box design and therefore subject to change. Obviously they're not going to show all the characters on it right now, but it is as up to date as it could've been at the time of its announcement. I swear people always look way to into these things.

 

[Thinkaman]

Vergeben is an extremely credible leaker, in part because he only communicates what he absolutely knows and nothing more. The fact that he didn't go out and select a specific Gen 7 Pokemon and only supplied who he KNEW wasn't going to be the potential rep makes it more credible to me.

He has never said it's Incineroar, however most people assume Incineroar is the likely choice if Decidueye, Mimikyu (whose deconfirmation Verg predicted) and Lycanroc are not going to be added. Incineroar is rather popular in Japan, is a starter, and his body type would be easy to adapt to Smash. We don't currently have a grappler type character in Smash, which the wrestling Pokemon could easily rectify.

I feel like most of the resistance to Incineroar is because many people don't like his design because of the "le fire fighting!!!!" memes back when Sun and Moon released. He's not even a Fighting type...

As someone who largely missed Pokemon in 6th or 7th gen, this was my experience:

I didn't know who Greninja was, but he was immediately appealing and just play cool. I was super excited to play him in Smash.

I had a vaguely similar reaction with Decidueye. It was immediately obvious that it was the standout cool and fresh design from Gen 7, just like Greninja was.

Incineroar just feels very generic by comparison. His body type would be a really natural and easy fit for Smash, which is the main reason it's believable. Perhaps he'll have something super distinct that compensates for his otherwise generic body, like Lucario?

Yea, I don't really buy this at all. For one, it's just a rendering of the box design and therefore subject to change. Obviously they're not going to going to show all the characters on it right now, but it is as up to date as it could've been at the time of its announcement. I swear people always look way to into these things.

You're talking as if I was claiming Isabelle isn't in the game and there are zero remaining characters because they aren't currently on the box.

Look, Nintendo does not have a marketing department sitting around spitting out incomplete renders of promotional materials for fun. This was a final product render, with all the characters in their correct locations per final roster order, with the last two removed in this temporary image.

But even if this was a ridiculous conspiracy where Nintendo makes fake images "as up to date as it could've been at the time of its announcement", that isn't what the image shows! If that were the case, the bottom row would be off by one to avoid leaking Ken.

 

[Union of Darkness]

Pattern guessing like this always end up being wrong. What is on the other side of the box is assumed. Assumptions are not proof of anything. What if, for example, Pokemon Trainer is not by himself and it shows the 3 Pokemon? What then? For that matter what makes this the definitive final box design? More assumptions. You're all jumping to conclusions without even visual evidence. That's no different from believing text leaks.

 

[Thinkaman]

Pattern guessing like this always end up being wrong. What is on the other side of the box is assumed. Assumptions are not proof of anything. What if, for example, Pokemon Trainer is not by himself and it shows the 3 Pokemon? What then? For that matter what makes this the definitive final box design? More assumptions. You're all jumping to conclusions without even visual evidence. That's no different from believing text leaks.

Pokemon Trainer is combined in all promotional materials, including the website, which uses the same slot-style presentation. That's where these graphics came from.

If Pokemon Trainer were 3 slots, this layout can't even fit all the revealed characters, and none of the order wrappings (to the side we can see) line up.

 

[Union of Darkness]

Pokemon Trainer is combined in all promotional materials, including the website, which uses the same slot-style presentation. That's where these graphics came from.

If Pokemon Trainer were 3 slots, this layout can't even fit all the revealed characters, and none of the order wrappings (to the side we can see) line up.

It was just an example. My point is we cannot know without seeing it. This picture is probably just a placeholder anyway.

 

[0007]

Sakurai himself said after the reveal of Chrom and Dark Samus and Richter that there would be "a few more" Echo fighters. (Specifically, Echo fighters). Ken is just one, he can't be "a few". I do think we're only getting 1-2 more newcomers, but with 3 months to go until launch I can't imagine only 1 more Echo since they're so easy to make and we've been getting a lot of them.

 

[Thinkaman]

It was just an example. My point is we cannot know without seeing it. This picture is probably just a placeholder anyway.

It was someone's job at Nintendo of America to make this box art, and upload this render to various retail portals. They did not sit there and intricately put the characters in precise sets of 9 for no reason. They took the final render, diligently removed Isabelle and the last character, and uploaded it. Very simple and predictable.

Open bet: I will bet anyone in this topic $1000 that the other side of the box matches the order I posted.

Sakurai himself said after the reveal of Chrom and Dark Samus and Richter that there would be "a few more" Echo fighters. (Specifically, Echo fighters). Ken is just one, he can't be "a few". I do think we're only getting 1-2 more newcomers, but with 3 months to go until launch I can't imagine only 1 more Echo since they're so easy to make and we've been getting a lot of them.

No, not specifically echo fighters. Go watch it again, and stop spreading misinformation.

He said a few more fighters, and this predated K. Rool and Isabelle.

 

[loozer2]

https://imgur.com/a/Rvw03pR
Here's a visual representation of what the box art would look like based on the pattern. Not including Ken who would be next to Ryu. If this is true, we only have one newcomer. I'd also like to state that this is placeholder art and may not be representative of the final product. There are even 2 slots open on the website so it's possible they just copy and pasted in a way that was mathematically convenient. I also have a hard time believing Sakurai would let us know the final number of characters. It also doesn't make much sense that they would dump almost 10 characters on us between E3 and the August direct only to leave us with 3 newcomers between August and December. If we are only getting one more smash direct between release with no new announcements in general directs related to smash, it's kind of disappointing if true.

 

[Oasis_S]

One thing to keep in mind is this bundle is coming out BEFORE the game is released, which may mean not all the characters will be revealed at that time. So even if Ken and, I suppose, a Pokemon are revealed before November 2nd, and the boxart is updated to reflect the roster at that time, other characters MAY be revealed later. Although, probably just one newcomer and an echo if I had to guess, lol. Geno and Shadow?


Would be pretty lame to not have all the characters on the box though, huh.

 

[Good Guy Giygas]

You're talking as if I was claiming Isabelle isn't in the game and there are zero remaining characters because they aren't currently on the box.

Look, Nintendo does not have a marketing department sitting around spitting out incomplete renders of promotional materials for fun. This was a final product render, with all the characters in their correct locations per final roster order, with the last two removed in this temporary image.

But even if this was a ridiculous conspiracy where Nintendo makes fake images "as up to date as it could've been at the time of its announcement", that isn't what the image shows! If that were the case, the bottom row would be off by one to avoid leaking Ken.

Firstly, I'm not really sure you understand how marketing works. Nintendo's marketing department isn't just "spitting out incomplete renders" for the fun of it. Promotional material is important in drawing attention to the product and typically utilizes simple concept art of what the product will look like. They are usually designed with whatever resources and information is currently available to them. They are almost always subject to change, and it's not uncommon to simply use placeholder art as promotional material. As such, this is most likely the design Nintendo has presented to simply promote and generate interest in the bundle. I don't know where you saw that this is indeed the final render.

Also, I for one highly doubt Sakurai, the man who does everything in his power to prevent any leaks regarding the game's information to be revealed before the game officially comes out, would approve of and release this as the "final product render" as you say since it essentially spoils the rest of the roster.

 

[Oddball]

This means we know what the other 4 sets of 9 looks like:

You can assume, but you don't know.

Independent of the hypothetical of extra characters deliberately left off the box, this either way still confirms Ken (or Mrs. PAC-MAN lol) and deconfirms all other echoes. It's pretty decisive.

Or a Cloud echo, or a Palutena echo (Medusa strikes me as being just as likely as Ken.)

Look, Nintendo does not have a marketing department sitting around spitting out incomplete renders of promotional materials for fun. This was a final product render, with all the characters in their correct locations per final roster order, with the last two removed in this temporary image.

Maybe not, but who's too say they don't have a fully complete render done and just had somebody do some quick photoshopping on it not to ruin any suprises.

And as for not doing incomplete promotional materials for fun... didn't they continue to add characters to their big smash banner pciture as they went?

 

[Uffe]

Why Ken? And can we stop calling rumors "leaks". A leak is evident, a rumor is not.

 

[NintenRob]

One thing to keep in mind is this bundle is coming out BEFORE the game is released, which may mean not all the characters will be revealed at that time. So even if Ken and, I suppose, a Pokemon are revealed before November 2nd, and the boxart is updated to reflect the roster at that time, other characters MAY be revealed later. Although, probably just one newcomer and an echo if I had to guess, lol. Geno and Shadow?


Would be pretty lame to not have all the characters on the box though, huh.

This is probably the most assuring thing said. Maybe one echo and a unique character is all that's planned to be revealed before it releases.


Thank you for the reassurance

 

[Thinkaman]

One thing to keep in mind is this bundle is coming out BEFORE the game is released, which may mean not all the characters will be revealed at that time.

No, this is the game, which ships on release day.

The Smash-themed Switch console is what ships in November.

 

[NintenRob]

No, this is the game, which ships on release day.

The Smash-themed Switch console is what ships in November.

Oh.


Damn

 

[Oasis_S]

One thing to keep in mind is this bundle is coming out BEFORE the game is released, which may mean not all the characters will be revealed at that time.

No, this is the game, which ships on release day.

The Smash-themed Switch console is what ships in November.

Oops, my mistake.

Still cool.

 

[ThatOneAnon]

I can't deny I'm not legit scared this might be true. It could totally be a placeholder, but who knows.
However, something that REALLY scares me is that Vergeben's prediction about the new Squeenix rep is likely true, yet there's only room for two more characters here.
If Geno ends up being ****ing pre-order DLC, there's going to be riots in the goddamn streets. People will call for Sakurai's head if that happens. And if this boxart theory is true, it may very well end up happening.
That thought scares me immensely. I am legit afraid at what might happen to this community if pre-order DLC is confirmed and it's of a highly requested fighter.
Really I just hope that Dante leak predicting Isabelle for the next Direct is true, and even with this boxart thing it probably is.

 

[Amiibo Doctor]

This makes sense, although grouping them up by nines seems like an arbitrary design choice. Let's not rule out the possibility that as the marketing team learns more information, they could change the style of the gridding. (It stands to reason that Sakurai would also keep the marketing team somewhat in the dark until they absolutely need to know, because while he can manage a game development crew, an entirely different marketing crew is too much extra leakproofing).

 

[Thinkaman]

Sakurai is pretty hardcore against pre-order or on-disc DLC of any sort, and is pretty vocal about this. Additioanlly, Nintendo themselves has not pursued preorder DLC.

Even Mewtwo, whose development did not start until after the Wii U game went gold, was merely intended as a cross-game bonus gift rather than Day 1 retailer-specific pre-order nonsense. (Thankfully)

Again, this doesn't rule out additional characters, even if it perhaps makes them a little unlikely. There could very well be "overflow" newcomers simply not on the box. Unlikely, but believeable. After all, if there were 74 total slots, how the hell do you arrange 74 into a grid layout? (You don't.)

The real significance of this is confirming Ken and deconfirming other echoes.

 

[ThatOneAnon]

This makes sense, although grouping them up by nines seems like an arbitrary design choice. Let's not rule out the possibility that as the marketing team learns more information, they could change the style of the gridding. (It stands to reason that Sakurai would also keep the marketing team somewhat in the dark until they absolutely need to know, because while he can manage a game development crew, an entirely different marketing crew is too much extra leakproofing).

This is true. Hell, Xander Mobus said he was asked to say a whole bunch of names and he doesn't know which ones are actually in the game.
My opinion honestly is that while this theory has some credence, I refuse to believe anything until Sakurai says so. Besides, this ain't the first time the advertising has mislead people.

 

[Luco]

I think for all the people here who are saying it could be a placeholder, you should really be asking yourselves *why* they would do that instead of what we're seeing?

If there really was no pattern at all to the ordering on this box I could understand the sentiment. As it is I haven't yet seen a compelling argument as to why this image would not be the final one we're getting on release day with a couple characters blanked out.

If that scares you, don't worry! If Smash 4 taught the smash dev team anything it's that DLC sells~

 

[ThatOneAnon]

The real significance of this is confirming Ken and deconfirming other echoes.

You know, something's occurred to me as of late: With everyone assuming Isabelle would be an echo fighter and it turning out that she isn't, could it be possible Ken will be presented as an entirely new fighter and not an echo?
I mean, Ken is essentially the original "clone" character, so him being an echo fighter would make sense, but I mean, it's possible.

 

[Jigglymaster]

As much as I hate this and want to deny it with all my heart... I can't. It makes way too much sense. There's literally no other reason why Corrin would be on this side of the boxart if it wasn't for Ken existing.

I think the best thing to do now is just to lower our expectations to expecting only 1 more new character and 1 more echo fighter.

Worst case scenario is that it's true, and we've come to accept it months in advance. Or, we're oh so happily wrong and even more hyped than before.

 

[ThatOneAnon]

Oh one more thing, everyone thought Simon Belmont was the only character that would be revealed in the August Direct, and he wasn't.

 

[pholtos]

Why is it no one is humoring the possibility that they could have characters on the back of the box, too?

We're only seeing two sides of the box after all. It could also simply be a placeholder for the time being.

 

[CommanderZaktan]

I'm going to say this right now, I think were getting more than 2 because that box isn't final and Sakurai said we will get a few more echo fighters in the future.

 

[Luco]

You know, something's occurred to me as of late: With everyone assuming Isabelle would be an echo fighter and it turning out that she isn't, could it be possible Ken will be presented as an entirely new fighter and not an echo?
I mean, Ken is essentially the original "clone" character, so him being an echo fighter would make sense, but I mean, it's possible.

The only problem with this is that if our pattern holds true, Isabelle has to be given the slot #68 or else she throws the entire ordering on our box off.

By the same token, if Ken was not an echo he would be given his own unique slot, but that would have to happen on our side of the box. We know there has to be an echo on the 54-61 side of the box because that's the only way they can actually be placed there.

 

[Izanagi97]

I think I saw something on Reddit suggesting the Box could be an edited digital mockup (Link for the interested)

 

[Thinkaman]

Of course it's a mockup. Of course it's going to be updated with the (removed) final characters.

The relevant question is why this highly specific layout was rendered and then partially censored, if not the final layout of this box?

There is no grand scheme, no conspiracy, no madman arranging furniture and making duplicate images to throw us off the trail. It's just a Nintendo of America employee doing his or her job, and censoring unrevealed information. Occam's razor, people.

 

[TBone06]

I think I saw something on Reddit suggesting the Box could be an edited digital mockup (Link for the interested)

"Why revealing so much characters in 1 Smash Direct and keep only 2 characters for the end ? We are 3 months before the release of the game, they want to build up a ****ton of hype. Considering how much we know about the game modes at the moment (as in : A giant part of the main menu is unknown to us, we don't know anything about some of the staple modes (All Star, Events), no infos on trophies, etc), we are most likely getting another Smash Direct... That would have 1 echo and 1 newcomer ? Assuming said second Smash Direct is the only piece of Smash information we are getting too, which sounds unlikely. They wouldn't have revealed so much in two months to have so few characters to talk about on the last three months. And characters is what generates the most hype, rest of the game is not comparable. "

THIS. Sakurai isn't stupid.