Congratulations, Min Min! ARMS character(s) for Smash discussion

[Trevenant]

I guess bottom line is ARMS will probably confirm a lot of things. If spirits really do kill a character’s chances ( which I doubt because why would Nintendo say ‘ha we are not picking him because he is a png in the spirit mode and is already represented with a battle’), whether assist trophies kill (again which I doubt cos of above reason and I am in full belief that whatever happens Springman will be playable whether it be an alt or the only one) and the mascot/mc first rule (which I personally do kinda believe but I moreso believe it as who best represents the series which imo is in this case Springman)

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

Does Playstation All-Stars count because that game featured villains without the main heroes.

At that point, it'd be like comparing fresh apples with green oranges. I mean, the behind-the-scenes development for that game couldn't have been more chaotic.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Looking at this from a "levels of weirdness" perspective is still reductive thinking though. If you could just go down the list of "likely possibilities" in the case of a rule-break, then that rule wouldn't have been broken in the first place. The choice is a swerve no matter what happens, whether it be a promotion, a non-protagonist, a relatively unpopular character, or a villain. You're trying to assign precedent to something that has none. By being in uncharted territory, literally everything is on the table.

Like, what if Yabuki wanted to hard swerve and put in Lola Pop after learning about "a weakness of Americans" purely to troll them? Possibilities like that exist that some people aren't considering.

But here's the thing... It's paid DLC. Why would they proactively choose a character that is significantly further down the list of wanted characters for even ARMS fans? Like I pointed out earlier, the 5 in Smash regularly crush popularity contests among ARMS fans; why would they deliberately go with someone else? Like I showed earlier, Lola Pop was basically tied for 7th with Springman and Ribbongirl in the Party Crash contests. If Lola was 7th for people who actually played ARMS competitively, your typical person is going to give even fewer ****s about their addition. Ignoring the Smash fanbase is one thing but ignoring the very fanbase the character comes from means they're going to be greeted with nothing less than gun in mouth enthusiasm. Deliberately antagonizing basically everyone would not be a smart move and characters like Plant only got away with it because they were cheap and even free for several months.

 

[SwitchButton]

It's paid DLC. Why would they proactively choose a character that is significantly further down the list of wanted characters for even ARMS fans?

If they were concerned about if the DLC would sell or not then they wouldn't have added Terry the literal no-name. No matter who they add, the character will sell. That is not a concern. And ARMS fans have made it pretty clear that we would be hyped for pretty much any of the characters. There seems to be a disconnect between what the ARMS fanbase is and what you assume the ARMS fanbase is like. We aren't as vindictive as your average Smash fans.

 

[Trevenant]

But here's the thing... It's paid DLC. Why would they proactively choose a character that is significantly further down the list of wanted characters for even ARMS fans? Like I pointed out earlier, the 5 in Smash regularly crush popularity contests among ARMS fans; why would they deliberately go with someone else? Like I showed earlier, Lola Pop was basically tied for 7th with Springman and Ribbongirl in the Party Crash contests. If Lola was 7th for people who actually played ARMS competitively, your typical person is going to give even fewer ****s about their addition. Ignoring the Smash fanbase is one thing but ignoring the very fanbase the character comes from means they're going to be greeted with nothing less than gun in mouth enthusiasm. Deliberately antagonizing basically everyone would not be a smart move and characters like Plant only got away with it because they were cheap and even free for several months.

Although they aren’t necessarily the protagonist (although you do mention the 5 characters already represented who 3 of the 5 aren’t mascots so it could still stand) couldn’t this be applied to someone like Corrin? As far as I know most people were pulling for Azura because she didn’t wield a sword, wasn’t a boring protagonist and was a very important part of Fates and arguably had more potential than Corrin but I beg to differ now. I may be completely wrong on this but this definitely did come to mind.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

If they were concerned about if the DLC would sell or not then they wouldn't have added Terry the literal no-name. No matter who they add, the character will sell. That is not a concern. And ARMS fans have made it pretty clear that we would be hyped for pretty much any of the characters. There seems to be a disconnect between what the ARMS fanbase is and what you assume the ARMS fanbase is like. We aren't as vindictive as your average Smash fans.

Besides, DLC for this game is for those already invested in the base game anyway, so it's not like there's much to lose beyond "maybe I will get my chance another day" and some memory space.

We're still excited that ARMS got some good service at all.

 

[meleebrawler]

If they were concerned about if the DLC would sell or not then they wouldn't have added Terry the literal no-name. No matter who they add, the character will sell. That is not a concern. And ARMS fans have made it pretty clear that we would be hyped for pretty much any of the characters. There seems to be a disconnect between what the ARMS fanbase is and what you assume the ARMS fanbase is like. We aren't as vindictive as your average Smash fans.

The only literal no-name is Hero. 'Cuz none of them have a name of their own, not even a default. At best they get a title.

 

[zferolie]

At that point, it'd be like comparing fresh apples with green oranges. I mean, the behind-the-scenes development for that game couldn't have been more chaotic.

Man I really wanted that game to succeed but everything was going against them. I really want an episode of Wah Happun done of that game to bring everything to light. It sounds like Sony was being far too anal on their choices, and when it didn't get record numbers right away the instantly trashed it...

Anyway, I do argee that if we don't get any of the 5 spirits in the game it would be quite jarring. It would break a big fanrule and even a Sakurai rule, but I don't see it happening. Honest the only one with any chance is Dr. Coyle, mostly due to her villain status and very cool moveset. I think the most likely outcome is Min Min, follower by a Hero Situation with Ribbon Girl, Spring Man, Min Min, and Ninjara. After that its Dr. Coyle, and the 4th most likely is Twintelle.

 

[SwitchButton]

Hero Situation

Completely impossible.

 

[Fatmanonice]

If they were concerned about if the DLC would sell or not then they wouldn't have added Terry the literal no-name. No matter who they add, the character will sell. That is not a concern. And ARMS fans have made it pretty clear that we would be hyped for pretty much any of the characters. There seems to be a disconnect between what the ARMS fanbase is and what you assume the ARMS fanbase is like. We aren't as vindictive as your average Smash fans.

Terry is practically a company mascot and basically been in crossovers since the mid 90's. Sakurai has stated that King of Fighters heavily inspired Smash and many fighting game communities outright mocked the Smash community for not knowing who he was. There's way too much to clothesline this argument so I'll just leave it there.

As for your other argument, if ARMS fans truly "don't care", that places even more emphasis Smash fans and general audiences. Once again, 5 characters that are now pretty recognizable even to general audiences and even kind of popular. That's a decent sized pool. Most franchises would kill to have a pool that big to consider picks for. What point would there be to go outside that, especially in the light that "ARMS fans wouldn't care either way?" DLC would sell either way but, logically speaking, its basic sense to choose someone with at least some grounding of appeal. ARMS has 5 characters that easily accomplish this. Are they recognizable? Yes. Are they well liked? Yes. Why go outside that? Marketing wise, that makes no sense to choose someone that not even the fanbase would be enthusiastic about. Plus, on this note, when have they EVER deliberately chosen someone that was less important, less recognizable, and/or less popular within the same franchise to represent said franchise?

 

[SwitchButton]

its basic sense to choose someone with at least some grounding of appeal. ARMS has 5 characters that easily accomplish this.

You mean 15.

 

[cosmicB]

But here's the thing... It's paid DLC. Why would they proactively choose a character that is significantly further down the list of wanted characters for even ARMS fans? Like I pointed out earlier, the 5 in Smash regularly crush popularity contests among ARMS fans; why would they deliberately go with someone else? Like I showed earlier, Lola Pop was basically tied for 7th with Springman and Ribbongirl in the Party Crash contests. If Lola was 7th for people who actually played ARMS competitively, your typical person is going to give even fewer ****s about their addition. Ignoring the Smash fanbase is one thing but ignoring the very fanbase the character comes from means they're going to be greeted with nothing less than gun in mouth enthusiasm. Deliberately antagonizing basically everyone would not be a smart move and characters like Plant only got away with it because they were cheap and even free for several months.

As per the bolded, you're adding another exception to your theory that's baseless conjecture because you absolutely can't know the motivations behind adding any given character, and it also doesn't even work as I'd bet a large chunk of the current playerbase bought the game AFTER Plant stopped being free. If you need to add an asterisk to a theory, then it's shaky to begin with, which is something I see a lot with your speculation. Not to say you're 100% wrong, but I think it's something worth pointing out and why a lot of it like road to 100 feels like a reach (hell, we could see that getting debunked outright if we're looking at multiple ARMS characters in June).

As for why they would do that with paid DLC, why not? ARMS was a success, but it wasn't some crazy runaway success that survived the sudden Nintendo online paywall like Splatoon did. From what I could gather, that basically killed the community and I wasn't able to find matches for hours at a time. So with that in mind, why not try a soft reboot of the franchise with an off the wall pick that gets people curious? The overlap between the hardcore Smashers and the ARMS fans likely isn't as significant as you think, probably even less than the Fire Emblem fans. This could effectively be a blank slate, meaning they could throw out a swerve pick with less backlash than picking an individual house leader from 3H.

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

It honestly would be nice if we didn't get the main character this time quite honestly.

 

[Fatmanonice]

You mean 15.

No I mean 5 because of the 5 that are already spirits in Smash: Springman, Ribbongirl, Ninjara, Twintelle, and Min-Min. Again, the two leads and the technically the three most popular because, with Party Crash, Min-Min was first, Ninjara was second, and Twintelle was tied for third with Max Brass, Mechanica, and Springtron. Min-Min is also ARMS producer's favorite, the same guy that was also the game supervisor for the base game of Ultimate.

 

[SwitchButton]

but it wasn't some crazy runaway success that survived the sudden Nintendo online paywall like Splatoon did. From what I could gather, that basically killed the community

I can confirm that it did just as good as any other online nintendo game. It never died. They even kept online events going up until mid 2019

 

[cosmicB]

I can confirm that it did just as good as any other online nintendo game. It never died. They even kept online events going up until mid 2019

Maybe it was just my region then. Anecdotal I know, but it was very hard to find people that hadn't lost interest after the paywall around here.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

You mean 15.

14 at most.

that clown...

uech

 

[Fatmanonice]

As per the bolded, you're adding another exception to your theory that's baseless conjecture because you absolutely can't know the motivations behind adding any given character, and it also doesn't even work as I'd bet a large chunk of the current playerbase bought the game AFTER Plant stopped being free. If you need to add an asterisk to a theory, then it's shaky to begin with, which is something I see a lot with your speculation. Not to say you're 100% wrong, but I think it's something worth pointing out and why a lot of it like road to 100 feels like a reach (hell, we could see that getting debunked outright if we're looking at multiple ARMS characters in June).
.

There's an "asterisk" because Plant wasn't the first Mario character added. Plant is technically the 17th Mario character added if you include all the Koopalings, going into the 20s if you rationalize characters like Yoshi and Wario as "Mario characters." Lola Pop being added first would be like Plant before Mario while someone like Min-Min or Ninjara beating Springman wouldn't be as extreme. It would be like Zelda before Link which isn't as big of a "cut in line" so to speak. Just like how it would be really difficult to justify Plant before Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, etc the same could easily be argued for Lola before the 5 characters already spirits.

 

[ivanlerma]

Man I really wanted that game to succeed but everything was going against them. I really want an episode of Wah Happun done of that game to bring everything to light. It sounds like Sony was being far too anal on their choices, and when it didn't get record numbers right away the instantly trashed it...

Anyway, I do argee that if we don't get any of the 5 spirits in the game it would be quite jarring. It would break a big fanrule and even a Sakurai rule, but I don't see it happening. Honest the only one with any chance is Dr. Coyle, mostly due to her villain status and very cool moveset. I think the most likely outcome is Min Min, follower by a Hero Situation with Ribbon Girl, Spring Man, Min Min, and Ninjara. After that its Dr. Coyle, and the 4th most likely is Twintelle.

i don't care if the game didn't execute everything, i just accepted the way it is.

 

[Trevenant]

There's an "asterisk" because Plant wasn't the first Mario character added. Plant is technically the 17th Mario character added if you include all the Koopalings, going into the 20s if you rationalize characters like Yoshi and Wario as "Mario characters." Lola Pop being added first would be like Plant before Mario while someone like Min-Min or Ninjara beating Springman wouldn't be as extreme. It would be like Zelda before Link which isn't as big of a "cut in line" so to speak. Just like how it would be really difficult to justify Plant before Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, etc the same could easily be argued for Lola before the 5 characters already spirits.

Not that I quite get the discussion but realistically the Koopalings really don’t count. (and as someone mentioned road to 100, I’d like to bring it up briefly) And Road To 100 falls flat when you consider how Sakurai said that he had no plans for DLC beyond this fighters pass which would inevitably include bonuses and this Road To 100 theory from my knowledge first materialised from insider info which happened before Sakurai said he has no plans for future dlc which suggests it’s either a lie or it’s bad info. Either way it really is back at square one when it comes to any bonus as this info is completely invalid. I’ll leave it at that

Back to the discussion of ARMS, what do people think a fun stage could be? Not the most realistic or the best fit, just what you think would be the most fun in smash?

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Not that I quite get the discussion but realistically the Koopalings really don’t count. (and as someone mentioned road to 100, I’d like to bring it up briefly) And Road To 100 falls flat when you consider how Sakurai said that he had no plans for DLC beyond this fighters pass which would inevitably include bonuses and this Road To 100 theory from my knowledge first materialised from insider info which happened before Sakurai said he has no plans for future dlc which suggests it’s either a lie or it’s bad info. Either way it really is back at square one when it comes to any bonus as this info is completely invalid. I’ll leave it at that

Back to the discussion of ARMS, what do people think a fun stage could be? Not the most realistic or the best fit, just what you think would be the most fun in smash?

Well Dr Coyle's stage [NAME REDACTED] would be an interesting one to fight on with the moving platforms and the big tube being mobile walls.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Not that I quite get the discussion but realistically the Koopalings really don’t count. (and as someone mentioned road to 100, I’d like to bring it up briefly) And Road To 100 falls flat when you consider how Sakurai said that he had no plans for DLC beyond this fighters pass which would inevitably include bonuses and this Road To 100 theory from my knowledge first materialised from insider info which happened before Sakurai said he has no plans for future dlc which suggests it’s either a lie or it’s bad info. Either way it really is back at square one when it comes to any bonus as this info is completely invalid. I’ll leave it at that

Back to the discussion of ARMS, what do people think a fun stage could be? Not the most realistic or the best fit, just what you think would be the most fun in smash?

This isn't about "Road to 100." Road to 100 is an interesting coincidence because if you count all the characters and all the separate character ALTs, we're technically at 93 characters. It's a "golly, that's neat" sort of thing if it actually pans out because we have at least 6 more characters coming which means 100 could technically be reached with a single ALT or a bonus character. It's not meant to be this super serious thing.

 

[LightKnight]

I guess bottom line is ARMS will probably confirm a lot of things. If spirits really do kill a character’s chances ( which I doubt because why would Nintendo say ‘ha we are not picking him because he is a png in the spirit mode and is already represented with a battle’), whether assist trophies kill (again which I doubt cos of above reason and I am in full belief that whatever happens Springman will be playable whether it be an alt or the only one) and the mascot/mc first rule (which I personally do kinda believe but I moreso believe it as who best represents the series which imo is in this case Springman)

Uh, what about Piranha Plant? He has two overlapping spirits. One showing a generic pipe plant and the other of the playable character.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Uh, what about Piranha Plant? He has two overlapping spirits. One showing a generic pipe plant and the other of the playable character.

No they don't. The plant in pipe spirit is the alt of the playable one's fighter spirit.

 

[cosmicB]

There's an "asterisk" because Plant wasn't the first Mario character added. Plant is technically the 17th Mario character added if you include all the Koopalings, going into the 20s if you rationalize characters like Yoshi and Wario as "Mario characters." Lola Pop being added first would be like Plant before Mario while someone like Min-Min or Ninjara beating Springman wouldn't be as extreme. It would be like Zelda before Link which isn't as big of a "cut in line" so to speak. Just like how it would be really difficult to justify Plant before Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, etc the same could easily be argued for Lola before the 5 characters already spirits.

But the point wasn't about series representation, it was about antagonizing a fanbase, which absolutely has precedent even if it isn't intentional. People saw additions like Byleth, Corrin and Bayonetta as that.

But if your argument is they wouldn't antagonize the source's fanbase as a solo rep, that also has little evidence behind it because again, precedent has been thrown out the window for this pick. The character Nintendo and Yabuki want to push is the character getting in, and that likely has little bearing on who is and isn't popular right now because they're clearly starting a new push for the series that's largely acting as a soft reboot. Like I said, partially a blank slate.

 

[ivanlerma]

This isn't about "Road to 100." Road to 100 is an interesting coincidence because if you count all the characters and all the separate character ALTs, we're technically at 93 characters. It's a "golly, that's neat" sort of thing if it actually pans out because we have at least 6 more characters coming which means 100 could technically be reached with a single ALT or a bonus character. It's not meant to be this super serious thing.

100 characters with alternate costumes? i find that ridiculous

 

[Trevenant]

This isn't about "Road to 100." Road to 100 is an interesting coincidence because if you count all the characters and all the separate character ALTs, we're technically at 93 characters. It's a "golly, that's neat" sort of thing if it actually pans out because we have at least 6 more characters coming which means 100 could technically be reached with a single ALT or a bonus character. It's not meant to be this super serious thing.

Reason I mentioned road to 100 is because I saw someone else mention it but I wasn’t responding to you with what I said about it I’m fairly certain I made sure I made a separate paragraph . Not the time or place anyway so I’ll leave it at that.

Uh, what about Piranha Plant? He has two overlapping spirits. One showing a generic pipe plant and the other of the playable character.

He doesn’t actually. He didn’t have a spirit until his fighter spirit was added so an ARMs rep would still change speculation depending on who is chosen.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Also, maybe I'm missing something here but is there literally anything wrong with the ARMS character being one of the 5 characters already spirits? I'm feeling like I'm getting a weird amount of pushback for suggesting it's highly likely to be one of them... Why?

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

Also, maybe I'm missing something here but is there literally anything wrong with the ARMS character being one of the 5 characters already spirits? I'm feeling like I'm getting a weird amount of pushback for suggesting it's highly likely to be one of them... Why?

Dr. Coyle fans unite!

 

[Fatmanonice]

100 characters with alternate costumes? i find that ridiculous

No... That's not it...

-75 individual characters
-7 echoes
-3 Hero ALTs
-7 Koopalings
-Alph

93 characters at the moment. That's it.

 

[Trevenant]

Also, maybe I'm missing something here but is there literally anything wrong with the ARMS character being one of the 5 characters already spirits? I'm feeling like I'm getting a weird amount of pushback for suggesting it's highly likely to be one of them... Why?

I’m completely fine with it turning out to be one of them, in fact I actually prefer and think it’s going to INCLUDE Springman. I have to cap include just in case I’m flooded with people saying that they would have just revealed him up front.

I don’t think there is any distaste or ‘unpreferences’ so to speak when it comes to the characters. If it is it could be because they prefer a non main character (this is the general arms character thread after all), they may think the designs are basic in comparison to other characters, would prefer a general non main character from any series to join etc. Those may be some lame excuses but those are the only ones I could think of from the top of my head

 

[chocolatejr9]

No... That's not it...

-75 individual characters
-7 echoes
-3 Hero ALTs
-7 Koopalings
-Alph

93 characters at the moment. That's it.

Hey, that's almost 100. DLC for the win!

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I like really like Dr. Coyle but I can't justify her being the signature ARMS rep. Love her design, love her voice, love her gimmicks, and love the fact that she's the first major Nintendo female villain in a longass time. She's actually my favorite ARMS character but her snubbing any of the 5 spirits for the spot would be kind of cruel. She's cool but she's not popular enough to warrant shoulder checking not only the two title characters (Springman and Ribbongirl) but the two most popular characters (Min-Min and Ninjara) by a wide margin out of that honor.

Thoughts on Max Brass now?

 

[cosmicB]

Also, maybe I'm missing something here but is there literally anything wrong with the ARMS character being one of the 5 characters already spirits? I'm feeling like I'm getting a weird amount of pushback for suggesting it's highly likely to be one of them... Why?

Adherence to fan rules like no promotions can certainly be a reason.

Personally, I wanted every single newcomer to come from a new franchise (ideally, a new company not represented in Smash too, but that's an unreasonable demand). Byleth dashed that hope, and now it's being dashed again. So for me, the next best thing is content not currently present in the game, which means no spirits, no costumes, no assist trophies, etc. For me, the ideal scenario is one of two things: Dr. Coyle so we simultaneously get a female character and a villain (both being reasons I would have wanted Edelgard over Byleth if we NEEDED a 3H rep) with zero representation in the current game, or this is some weird fakeout and we're actually getting the protagonist of ARMS 2 that will come with their own spirit board of all new characters. I get that that's basically asking for another Corrin scenario with the character out before the game, but I'm cool with it personally.

 

[SwitchButton]

Also, maybe I'm missing something here but is there literally anything wrong with the ARMS character being one of the 5 characters already spirits? I'm feeling like I'm getting a weird amount of pushback for suggesting it's highly likely to be one of them... Why?

You're not. Most people want Minmin. You're getting pushback, from me at least, because you're dismissing the main antagonist for being slightly less popular then the fan favorites. Smash isn't just about popularity lists. Some characters get in because they have genuine importance to their IP.

I'm not saying I know who it is, but we can't count out anyone really.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Thoughts on Max Brass now?

Don't really have strong opinions on him.

On the topic of Smash, Dr. Coyle is my favorite but, overall, Min-Min has the best design of all the characters in the game. It's just so ****in' clever. Literal noodle arms is somehow goofy and cool at the same time and why I'm kind of hoping it's ultimately her, plus I think she would make the most people happy overall. Like I've said in other threads, female names have virtually never come up in insider circles outside of Mii costumes so Min-Min being the surprise female pick of Smash DLC when characters like Lara Croft, Jill Valentine, Pyra, etc were arguably snubbed would honestly be refreshing.

 

[Giga Kaiju]

Just passing by as a member from other supporter groups for Geno and Doomguy/Doom Slayer to offer my congrats and my apologies.

Congrats for obvious reasons as it is warranted and deserving of the series to get a shot considering the mechanics, the concepts and the designs of the game since it fits right there with Smash as a whole. It was regrettable that Arms missed the opportunity to join due to the timing but it is no longer the case anymore. Now Splatoon isn't going to be the only new 1st party representation this time around. So, props for that.

And apologies for the way the series, the character that gets chosen and Arms' supporters to be getting the blunt of it all. You don't deserve the flack that you have been getting and I hope you can bounce back from it. (No pun intended)

Props for whoever will join the roster and keep on going, guys!

.

 

[zferolie]

Adherence to fan rules like no promotions can certainly be a reason.

Personally, I wanted every single newcomer to come from a new franchise (ideally, a new company not represented in Smash too, but that's an unreasonable demand). Byleth dashed that hope, and now it's being dashed again. So for me, the next best thing is content not currently present in the game, which means no spirits, no costumes, no assist trophies, etc. For me, the ideal scenario is one of two things: Dr. Coyle so we simultaneously get a female character and a villain (both being reasons I would have wanted Edelgard over Byleth if we NEEDED a 3H rep) with zero representation in the current game, or this is some weird fakeout and we're actually getting the protagonist of ARMS 2 that will come with their own spirit board of all new characters. I get that that's basically asking for another Corrin scenario with the character out before the game, but I'm cool with it personally.

This seems odd for me. Wouldn't you want new fighters from series not having fighters yet? ARMS has no fighters yet. Shantae has no fighters yet. Geno you could say has none as a solo Mario RPG. Rex and pyra does have fighters though.

So you wouldn't like a Pass with Min Min/Dr. Coyle, Geno, Shantae, Rayman, Isaac, and Lip. All are brand new series with no playable fighters in the game.

 

[Trevenant]

This seems odd for me. Wouldn't you want new fighters from series not having fighters yet? ARMS has no fighters yet. Shantae has no fighters yet. Geno you could say has none as a solo Mario RPG. Rex and pyra does have fighters though.

So you wouldn't like a Pass with Min Min/Dr. Coyle, Geno, Shantae, Rayman, Isaac, and Lip. All are brand new series with no playable fighters in the game.

I believe they mean non represented like DMC or Tomb Raider is non represented. It was pretty obvious when they said from new companies too as a new company would be new because they’d have zilch in game

 

[M00NFIRE94]

Adherence to fan rules like no promotions can certainly be a reason.

Personally, I wanted every single newcomer to come from a new franchise (ideally, a new company not represented in Smash too, but that's an unreasonable demand). Byleth dashed that hope, and now it's being dashed again. So for me, the next best thing is content not currently present in the game, which means no spirits, no costumes, no assist trophies, etc. For me, the ideal scenario is one of two things: Dr. Coyle so we simultaneously get a female character and a villain (both being reasons I would have wanted Edelgard over Byleth if we NEEDED a 3H rep) with zero representation in the current game, or this is some weird fakeout and we're actually getting the protagonist of ARMS 2 that will come with their own spirit board of all new characters. I get that that's basically asking for another Corrin scenario with the character out before the game, but I'm cool with it personally.

If Nintendo wanted to pull a Corrin, I'd think they'd do it the sneaky way and have that fighter out later as 3rd, 4th, 5th fighter to make sure you get the season pass first and starting that off with a character from a game not out yet would be a bad move.