I never played a Dynasty Warriors game except for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and that game made me love Impa a lot due to her moveset and design (Which explains my PFP). I also loved Fire Emblem Three Houses a lot (Marianne is best girl) But I'm gonna have a rant in this thread about how stupid it is of a Dynasty Warriors rep being extremely obscure in Smash speculation.
Dynasty Warriors is Koei Tecmo's flagship franchise that sold over 21 million copies and has nine mainline games + numerous of expansions and spin offs. DW also made other games and anime franchises like One Piece and Persona have their own musou games. DW has made the musou genre very popular and successful, especially in Japan. DW is also the reason why Koei Tecmo and Nintendo are in a deep relationship. Age of Calamity and Three Houses are two of the Switch's top exclusives of all time with AOC being the most sold musou game and FE3H being the most sold and popular FE game. Two of those games were co-developed by Omega Force (DW's main developers) and the said games use the same engine that DW uses. Many Nintendo fans (even Koei Tecmo's president) also want a musou game utilizing the Super Mario universe.
Smash fans who speculate a lot always think a character is likely of becoming a Smash fighter due to a 3rd party company making strong deals with Nintendo. Crash, Rayman, Hayabusa, Doomguy and Master Chief are at the top of Smash speculation because the companies who own the said characters have made great deals with the big N. By now, Smash fans would speculate a Dynasty Warriors character coming to Smash because of the franchise being the reason why Nintendo and Koei are in a relationship, right...?
They're not doing that, sadly. As I said before, DW is obscure in Smash speculation. This means that if a DW character got into Smash, almost every Nintendo fan (who only play Nintendo games) would be very confused about who the DW rep is and what Dynasty Warriors is. That also leads to them being disappointed, which is kind of fine. But they would be toxic about it how the DW rep isn't "hype" and it's not the character they wanted. Just like how they reacted to Hero, Terry, Kazuya, Pyra/Myhtra, Byleth, the ARMS rep and probably Sephiroth and Joker. The said characters were never that popular in speculation but they all had reasons of them being DLC characters.
Joker: Smash Ultimate's menus and Finasl Smash cut-ins taking cues from Persona 5 and Sakurai being a P5 fanboy.
Hero: Dragon Quest being the reason why JRPGs are successful.
Terry: Sakurai bodied casuals in KOF which made him to make a casual fighting game that would become Smash Bros.
Byleth: Nintendo wanting to promote FE more. Nintendo has full control on who gets in Smash as confirmed by Sakurai.
Min Min and Pyra/Mythra: Sakurai said that he wanted a ARMS and Xenoblade 2 character in Ultimate. There were many DLC slots for the characters from the two said games to be included.
Sephiroth: FFVII had incomplete content despite Smash being allowed to include one of Square's biggest JRPGs as a Challenger Pack (Dragon Quest)
Kazuya: The Heihachi Mii would've killed off chances of a TEKKEN rep in Smash but Rex's Mii didn't kill off Pyra/Mythra. TEKKEN is Bamco's biggest Fighting Game franchise (also the 3rd best selling fighting game right under Smash Bros. and Street Fighter) and the same company that co-developed Smash 4 and Ultimate.
A Dynasty Warriors rep can blend well with the said characters above. Dynasty Warriors is the reason why Nintendo and Koei have a great relationship yet DW is never brought up in speculation. Just like the said DLC characters as they had strong chances of them joining Smash despite the speculation scene never noticing that. Smash speculators (including me) are the same people who make endless character predictions, fan rules and long threads about how X can join Smash, thinking that they're video game know-it-alls. Yet, they never bring up about Dynasty Warriors in Smash.
AND they're the same people who keep bringing up Ryu Hayabusa, who comes from Ninja Gaiden, a franchise that's also owned by Koei Tecmo. People think Hayabusa is likely of joining Smash because of him being a NES icon, Nintendo X Koei and the Ninja Gaiden collection that came to Switch. Is that it? I'm not sure if Ninja Gaiden and Dynasty Warriors are evenly comparable. Ninja Gaiden is iconic for the NES era, the franchise sold over 7 million copies and Nintendo X Koei. Dynasty Warriors isn't that iconic towards Nintendo fans but the franchise sold over 21 million copies, created the musou genre and the reason why Nintendo X Koei exists. I don't know how Smash speculators are not noticing this despite the endless and common speculation threads and videos they make. It just doesn't make any sense.
I don't really think a Dynasty Warriors rep would be Challenger Pack 11. I think it's going to be Rayman instead due to him having a lot of
strong evidence. Sakurai has said many times that CP11 is Ultimate's very last fighter inclusion and no more will come after that. If CP11 is not going to be a Dynasty Warriors rep, then that would really suck in regards to Nintendo and Koei's relationship. I'm not sure if Byleth counts as a Koei Tecmo rep since FE3H is a first party game (Koei's trademark isn't shown in the list of other game companies' trademarks that are shown right after when a Smash trailer ends). I mean, are they really going to end Smash's DLC lineup without including a rep from one of Nintendo's most supportive 3rd party partners? That would really
really suck.
Unless, Sakurai trolls us with a bonus character after CP11 and it's a Koei Tecmo rep that would most likely be from Dynasty Warriors (Like that would ever happen lol).
I had to get this rant out of my chest. I just find it so stupid how a DW rep is never speculated that much despite the amount of Smash speculations threads and videos. I doubt the speculation scene would ever notice about Dynasty Warriors since they keep bringing the same characters that are always shunned over official character reveals they never saw coming (except for Banjo and Steve).
If a Koei Tecmo character who comes from Dynasty Warriors doesn't join Smash after the last character, then that would really be undeserving and would make me feel bad for the DW franchise and its fans.