Okay, now that I've had a day past any bouts of fight-or-flight...our situation--and that of any Nintendo characters--isn't dire so much as
unclear. We don't yet know exactly
why Hero and Banjo-Kazooie were chosen, and learning more about that once Sakurai inevitably goes more into detail in his articles will give us a clearer picture. What we want here is for these to have been pipe dream picks, chosen because of how requested they've been like Ridley, Simon, and K. Rool were. It'd line up with what we saw during the base game, and...
That was an interesting E3 in regards to Smash.
Nudges on Lycanroc’s chances a bit, as now they would show up much closer to Sword and Shield’s release. Regardless, I agree with Garteam as with the biggest characters that we’re constantly talked about out of the way, it seems we may now have more lee way.
Well not just in speculation, but, actually in the pass as well. Smash always had a history of revealing the bigger characters first, dlc included. So I feel that with Joker, Hero, and Banjo, who are arguably the biggest reveals for this pass, already out of the way, I feel that the chances of a smaller first party character being the next reveal is much more likely. And I think this is where Lycanroc can fit in, being either a solo reveal in something smaller like a General Nintendo Direct or shadowdrop, or part of a Smash Direct alongside the last newcomer.
...open up the chance of something like this happening. For what it's worth, we
have seen examples in past Smash games where there was a big climactic exclamation point about halfway to 2/3 of the way through the reveal cycle, then falling action from there on out with most of the remaining reveals being lower key. Ultimate's base game had this with K. Rool, Brawl had Sonic, Smash 4's DLC had Cloud, etc. That said, base Smash 4's climax is harder to pinpoint (Pac-Man? Shulk?), and Smash 4 DLC did still end on someone notable in Bayonetta...but on the
other hand, she was a special case in being the Ballot choice, making her a possible exception.
Worth scrutinizing further, at least, especially since it'll be a lot more common/popular to expect the next couple reveals to escalate even further into the outright absurd. Maybe we could even join forces with some of the other Nintendo characters' threads? Surely some of them must also feel frustrated about being ignored by the greater community for "not being hype enough".
So uh...
Apparently, if a Pokemon is not in the Galar dex, it cannot be transferred up to Sword and Shield.
I don't get this at all. I could understand waiting to develop certain Pokemon until after launch and add them with the update that adds compatibility with Pokemon Home, but outright scrapping them as playable characters? In my opinion, the Pokemon that will be hit by this the hardest are the starters. With the exception of the Gen 1 trio, I can't see any of them being in the Galar Pokedex. Not only are starters among the most popular Pokemon of their type but basically everyone has a starter they hold some level of sentimental value towards. I can't imagine that people will be super pleased to hear that the Typhlosion or Greninja will be doomed to rot in a cloud.
Not gonna lie, this may be a deal breaker for me. As I grow older, I find more enjoyment out of completing the Pokedex and it's become one of my favourite parts of the main series. There's an odd yet nostalgic pride in being able to use Pokemon you've had for over a decade in a game as new as Ultra Sun/Moon. It's kinda like having an old MMO character kicking around, the age of it gives it a story. I know it's a large amount of work to program 800+ characters in a game, but it feels lazy cop out and not even try.
Based on what we've learned since, it seems this wasn't part of the original plan.
Upgrading all of the models and animations (not to mention super gigantic Dynamaxed versions) has proved so time-consuming that they've simply
run out of time to get them done for all 800+ 'mons unless they delay the games, and they
can't delay them because other media like the anime and TCG are also in production. This makes it seem like any who don't make the cut immediately will eventually find a way into Gen 8, even if it takes a later update or next year's game(s).
Still not ideal, but a bit more understandable, at least. Then again, maybe I'm only more forgiving of it because full Dex completion has never been my kind of thing...
Delzethin ,
RandomAce ,
Garteam , and @TCT~Phantom so much for openly contributing to in-depth talk.
