Spirit Tracks was big enough to receive a stage in the 3DS version. We got a decent amount of Twilight Princess content in Brawl when that game was still new. It's only natural that we would get the same for Skyward Sword. Also Sonic Lost World got a stage in the Wii U version. Why market that game even though it came out around the same time as Wind Waker HD?
Haha, fair enough about the Spirit Track stage.
I had actually completely forgotten about that
Also, I think you misunderstood my point on marketing. Before, you seemed to be insinuating that Toon Zelda would be used to market Wind Waker HD:
"She could also be used to market the Wind Waker HD. If the Wii U version gets a Wind Waker stage, Toon Zelda could be there to represent a Zelda stage on both versions."
But I'm wondering is how is this evidence, when Toon Link can already meet these criteria? He himself already advertises Wind Waker HD and Spirit Tracks, so why would they need to use Toon Zelda for the same thing? That's why I'm saying she has little to no marketing potential; I think the ship has long since sailed for it. If Toon Zelda gets in, I speculate marketing wouldn't play a factor into it.
It's likely that they gave Zelda a variation of the Phantom move in order to keep her play style similar to Toon Zelda, because TZ would obviously be a clone. It could even be possible that the Phantom Slash was conceived for Toon Zelda first before being tacked on to regular Zelda. That being said, Toon Zelda isn't a character they would reveal before the game's release, just like Toon Link. That makes me feel more and more confident in her inclusion as the days pass without any word on a sixth Zelda representative.
Since I don't find a Zelda newcomer nearly as likely as other people, I guess I can't agree on how the opinion that a Zelda newcomer not being released yet means there may be sixth hidden past release, and that sixth is going be Toon Link over Ghirahim or Impa. I, personally, am adamant in the belief that there won't be a sixth at all
(I will humbly admit that this probably some bias here on my part)
Tell that to every Zelda main that played as her in the Demo. According to them, Zelda's Smash Attacks have been weakened, and some of her moves are a little slower. Like I said, they did the same to Marth for Lucina. There's no reason to think that they wouldn't do the same to Zelda for Toon Zelda.
I'm not saying that Zelda has been completely nerfed. I even mentioned a few days ago not to be too hard on Zelda because she still could receive a few more buffs for the actual version of Smash. It just seems to me that they're tweaking some of her moves to get ready for another variation. They gave Din's Fire a sweet spot in the core for a potential K.O., but the outside of the sphere doesn't seem to be as strong as it used to be. They could have given Toon Zelda's variation of that move a more even damage ratio, but taken away the sweet spot. Almost like Link's and Toon Link's bombs. Link's bomb causes more damage, but has a smaller blast zone. Toon Link's bomb has a larger blast zone, but the bombs ultimately do less damage.
Oh, I am well aware of Zelda's apparent shortcomings from the Demo
(that's what happens when you get rid of her best move; Transformation! ). I'm just not confident that tweaked moves, for better or for worse, can even be used as evidence to point to a possible variant clone moveset when it could easily be used for balance reasons (even if they're failing at it).
I mean, Sakurai flat out said that Varia Suit Samus was one of the best characters in the game, yet some professional Smash players (like HugS) vehemently disagrees. On first glance, Zelda may be turning out bad, but I don't believe it automatically points to another variant of her moveset to be the cause of these nerfs and changes. They could just be failing to balance her properly.
I disagree. There's a very particular way that they choose characters to be playable in Smash. They have to be relevant enough to their franchise to be considered. The characters don't always have to be in every game in their franchise, but they have to represent something special about their franchise. Such as Sheik, who represents a completely different version of Zelda, along with the most critically acclaimed game of all time. Robin represents a big part of what the Fire Emblem series is about besides the swordsmen. I could go into a big discussion about this, and I have a few times before, but I'll save going into that again for another time.
The more brief version of what I'm saying is that every character chosen to be playable in Smash are the perfect picks to represent their franchise. They don't pick characters to represent a big franchise that aren't very recognizable or don't play a big role in the franchise. My example for Toon Zelda: Her art style has been used in about a third of the games in the Zelda franchise. Her art style has stuck around to this day. If she was considered back then, she'll more than likely get considered again because she's relevant to her franchise more so than most Zelda characters are, which makes the character more recognizable. That's why she was the one being considered back then in the first place.
We'll probably have to disagree here too, because further argument on this point will devolve into an argument of what "merit's" a character's playable status or not (which will resolve in both of us arguing arbitrary terms and definitions), which I've always argued isn't nearly as black and white as some people think and will be completely subjective on both of our ends. To post a few examples though, I don't personally believe Greninja was a good pick for Pokemon, or for Gen 6 in general (in fact, I believe a Gen 6 Pokemon wasn't necessary). And I don't believe Rosalina was picked to represent "Galaxy" or even Mario, but was an excuse for Sakurai to have a proper Puppeteer Fighter and introduce a new fighting playstyle to the table.
"If she was considered back then, she'll more than likely get considered again because she's relevant to her franchise more so than most Zelda characters are, which makes the character more recognizable"
Can't the reverse also apply too? If Toon Zelda was considered/planned but ultimately cut, what makes you think Sakurai will even revisit the idea again? It's possible he could change his mind and try again, but he could have also concluded that such an inclusion wasn't worth it. He
could consider Toon Zelda again, but he could also decide against her again.
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Overall, I wouldn't say that Toon Zelda will never get in, but I still only find her being planned for Brawl the only real concrete evidence that she still has a small shot in this game. Everything else, to me, doesn't seem to point to her anymore then other characters. For example, I think characters like Dark Pit and Ridley are more likely just on virtue that they've been ambiguously alluded and hinted to in some way. I think Toon Zelda, like most of the remaining Zelda characters, are very much in the air.