Man! Dixie with separate eye sockets makes her look like she's related to Tiny instead of Diddy. I would LOVE for Nintendo to make that one little change to her, as well as bringing back the kneepads. It makes SUCH a difference!
The art is very much excellent too. Thanks for sharing,
ChronoBound
!
No problem. I am glad that you liked it.
Looking at Dixie's situation now, it's depressing to think that Dixie will likely not be playable in Ultimate. I wish Sakurai didn't make the decision to make her a Mii hat tbh.
(it's more depressing that Tom Nook gets left out in major characters needed in Smash too, I think he is also needed to complete the Nintendo all-stars line-up.)
I think the fact that all the DLC characters after Piranha Plant is most likely going to be third-party means more for dismal prospects as DLC than the fact she got a Mii hat.
I am personally glad that she received some sort of acknowledgement outside of a spirit and a profile icon. Just look at Bandana Dee who only got a spirit and a profile icon. Its gotten to the point where Dee supporters now wish he was at least an Assist Trophy.
If it's either that or she gets nothing, I know which one I would prefer.
If given that ultimatum (a Mii hat or nothing), most would pick the Mii hat since it is at least acknowledgement. A lot of the new Mii costumes in Ultimate were pretty great. They gave the minor Nintendo franchise guys (Chibi Robo, Ray MKIII, Lip, Isaac) a pretty nice consolation prize. Skull Kid is another one (though for a veteran franchise) introduced that is pretty great (it actually looks like Skull Kid and not just a Mii wearing an outfit if you put the outfit on a very, dark-skinned Mii).
That being said, I wish Dixie had a full Mii costume like the others did, especially considering the nice amount of detail that went into the beret and ponytail.
Dixie's spirit being upgradable into Dixie Kong + Kiddy Kong is very interesting.
So is also the fact that Dixie's spirit battle is actually an Isabelle.
Are these clues into how Sakurai sees Dixie? That Dixie, like most of us have argued, is NOT a clone or even a semi-clone?
And maybe more controversially, is this validation to those fans who think Dixie Kong would use Kiddy Kong in her moveset, e.g. spawning the hated baby from her ponytail and throwing the despised child like a rolling snowball? Could Dixie Kong's starring role in DKC3 be more important in Smash when she's included than some would like to think? Is an entire paragraph of questions excessive?
I certainly think it is a possibility to be sure. Co-op and tag-teaming was a big part of the DKC series (both Rare's and Retro's titles), so it is definitely a possibility that it is a concept used if Dixie Kong ever make it in.
One thing for sure is, if it does eventually lead to music from that game being used next time, that is a good sign and I'm all for it.
Yeah, it is a bit disappointing DKC3 is the only major DK title without any sort of music in Ultimate. Even Jungle Climber had a track rip in Ultimate.
Thinking about it more. A lot of major late SNES/SFC titles received absolutely no music in Ultimate. Kirby's Dream Land 3 is the only major Kirby title without a track in Ultimate, and Fire Emblem Thracia 776 is flat out the only Fire Emblem game without music in Ultimate. Aside from those, the only other big music absence that comes to mind is Metroid Prime 3 not having a single track (and Dark Samus's battle theme from either Prime 2 or Prime 3 being absent in general).
My biggest hope at this point is that the upcoming set of 5 DLC characters makes enough $$$ that Nintendo wants to keep it going for another round, AND that they will somehow decide to change course after set 1 (which, based on Joker and the associated rumors, seems to be pointing to primarily if not entirely 3rd party choices) and go back to fill out some Nintendo franchise representation, and we end up getting Dixie, Bandana Dee, etc.
A lot of 'ifs' here, I know. I do think that the Smash team has historically done a pretty good job of balancing the types of characters they include, down to the order they bring characters into the game though (ie, a classic character offset by a modern character, an expected character offset by a WTF character, etc.) so it doesn't feel like the most unlikely thing in the world.
I would hope so too. However, at the same time, even if we got another five newcomers after the fighter's pass, and all five were Nintendo characters, there is absolutely no guarantee that one of them would be Dixie Kong, or that she would even be likely. However, it would certainly make us Dixie fans a lot more hopeful about her being included on Ultimate's roster.
To be fair, people still care about King Of Fighters after '98, and they certainly had a bunch of cuts afterwards. The bright side is, it would allow more newcomers to come, seeing as there wasn't much time for those this go-round.
Although I still can't help but wonder if everyone being brought back from earlier games isn't some groundwork laid out so they can be ported over more easily by the next time, since the characters in question already have established movesets and all.
Sakurai has said that "Everyone is here" is most likely a one time thing that was only able to happen due to "special" circumstances (part of the reason why this game's name is "Special" in Japan). Even looking at Ultimate, the price of the playable character and stage count being so high, came at the cost of side modes (like Home Run Contest, Stage Builder, some form of Target Test). There are no infinite resources for game development.
There are many possible directions that the next title can go in, but my assumption is that Sakurai realizes Ultimate is likely the pinnacle for raw playable character and stage count, and probably thinks that another hook is going to be needed for the next title aside from "bigger and better". I imagine that this might also be part of the reason why Sakurai also jokingly said that it would not be so bad if it was ten years until the next Smash Bros. game is released.
I do think the next game is definitely going to see cuts, but how many is what will be the subject of innumerable debates in the years to come.
Personally, I am very glad that all of Smash Bros.'s veterans were able to come back at least for more than one game. The only thing left I really want to see for the roster at this point is Dixie Kong, but I am deeply endeared with "everyone is here" that I do not feel like sticking around for another six or seven years (or possibly more) just for her. Ultimate's roster happening the way it did was such a profound miracle in my book. Not only did everyone actually manage to come back, but my single most wanted newcomer for nearly 20 years somehow also made it in despite Sakurai handing him a hard deconfirmation only a year before development on Ultimate started, and Castlevania being added in when it seemed "the core" barely cared about it.
It is hard to compare Smash and KOF, but yes, in theory they could cut fighters and add new ones in the next Smash. That said, with the "everyone is here" thing, I doubt there will be cuts from now on, unless something happens between Nintendo and one of the many third party companies connected to Smash. I don't see any first parties or SEGA fighters (Sonic, Bayonetta, Joker) going anywhere. So IMO expecting lots of fighters in future Smash is a mistake. It is my prediction that Smash 6 (7? If you count 3DS and Wii U separately) will focus on fleshing out echo fighters instead of adding a bunch of new fighters. Yeah, about five newcomers or so might happen, but 10~15? I doubt it.
See the above response I wrote for my thoughts on whether "everyone is here" will happen for the next title. I think cuts are definitely going to happen unfortunately. How much is another question. We might very well get a reboot that cuts veterans that have consistently been in the series since their debut in Melee and Brawl (heck, even Jigglypuff might be vulnerable to being cut).
Okay, I used the sprites by
PxlCobit (Dixie Kong MLSS style),
Michael Peterson (Kiddy KOS style), and
AJ Nitro (Mario) to show my ideas for Dixie's specials.
Dixie blows a bubble that hovers for a little bit before popping if nothing touches it. If an opponent goes into it, they get stuck for a while depending on their percentage. Dixie can only have one bubble at a time.
Dixie hovers like in DKC2 and DKC3, gaining more horizontal distance than vertical distance. Her spinning hair reflects projectiles and damages opponents that approach.
Dixie's hair grows upward and then forward a little bit in an arc, grabbing opponents that get in the way. She can move while she grabs opponents like Donkey Kong. Like Isabelle's fishing rod but with more vertical distance and Dixie can move once she grabs the opponent.
Dixie throws Kiddy Kong forward, who spawns from her hair because that's normal to keep hated babies in your hair. Kiddy rolls forward like a snowball, pushing opponents and projectiles that get in his way with him. He will eventually stop rolling. Dixie has to go collect Kiddy to use the move again. However, Kiddy can be hurt by opponents. If he is hurt by opponents enough, or if he falls of the stage, he will disappear for a while and won't be usable until he respawns.
Dixie has an extra jump where her hair propels her upward as it works in Tropical Freeze.
That is a very inventive take on Dixie Kong. Thank you for sharing it. This really goes to show just how much "flexibility" there is with Dixie Kong. There are different routes you can take with her as an unique character, a lot of varying interpretations of how she would work as a semi-clone, as well as a bunch of ideas for how she could be included as an echo.
Love that moveset. Love everything. Keep it up guys. The Twitter is moving along at a steady pace with a nice variety of content. I'll definitely be posting my own ideas concerning Palutena's Guidances and Snake Codecs for Dixie Kong at some point, whenever I get the chance to sit down and write them.
SeashoreWar
's art has been a huge asset to the Twitter. People REALLY took to that Mario Kart DLC art.
Keep up the good work. This is going to be a long battle. Unfortunately, it is also one that I do not feel like sticking around for. I really cherish Dixie Kong, but I am at a point of my life where I do not want to spend a significant portion of my free time campaigning for game characters and speculating on things to which I am only seeing a portion of the "chessboard". Ultimate was also 95% of what I always dreamed of for Smash Bros.
I am sorry, but its just not in me anymore. I still want to give something to Dixie fans that they can use in the future, and I hope my Dixie Kong essay will be it.
Those are my exact fears. It's a bummer that a large amount of people in the Smash community who aren't DKC fans seem to dismiss the kong characters entirely.
Honestly I think that would be an ideal situation if she has to borrow a few things from Diddy and make a Wolf style version of his move set. Having entirely different A button moves while have drastically altered B Button moves would be alright to me.
i feel like reception-wise it wont really matter what they do with her. if shes an echo/semiclone then people will just see her as "girl diddy" and if shes wholly unique people will just say "why did they waste resources on a character who's just girl diddy"
i care too much what other people think
Is it bad to say I'm okay with Dixie being a Wolf/Lucas level semi-clone forever? I don't think she needs more than that. It would be nice but there's already plenty of wiggle room there.
I don't need Dixie to be unique, being a semi-clone would be a-ok by me. I just don't want her to be an echo because judging by Dark Pit and especially Lucina, it seems that if you're an Echo Fighter, you'll be an Echo Fighter forever with no further decloning. She needs to have SOME substantial differences from Diddy Kong.
I don't think it would be simple to just give her DK's Up special. DK has a very different anatomy and hitbox that translating it over to Dixie might be a tad more difficult. Now we know just how similar all the echo fighters are and how simple the changes they made were. In order for Dixie to be an echo it would have to be the same thing. However considering how many very different moves and animations Ken was given, a brand new spinning for Dixie might still be simple enough for them to give her. If they did make Dixie and echo, I'd hope they make as many changes as they did with Ken... But Ken seems to be an exception in the echo world.
I mean, obviously I'd rather she be at least somewhat unique than a echo/clone, but I'd still rather have her in as that than not being in there at all, especially since the series has already hit its peak for this entry. Although if she doesn't get in this time, I probably wouldn't even care about next time since there would be a bunch of cuts and the series might not even look the same at that point.
I disagree because if she becomes a clone, she'll be a clone/semi-clone forever just like Ganondorf and Falco. So for me, it's either she's unique or she's not in at all because she doesn't deserve to have the same fate as Ganondorf and Falco who both should have been unique in the first place.
Honestly a Wave 2 DLC would be great yes, but what might also help is there being Echo DLC characters. Not that Dixie might become one, but it helps the development team check in on characters that are easy to create out of the current cast of fighters, and that would be beneficial for Dixie. As we all said before, basically having Diddy with DK's Up B would be better than nothing.
I want to get to all of these responses individually. I want to go into great detail about the unique, semi-clone, or echo debate regarding Dixie Kong since I did not think I ever touched upon it in great detail before. I hope Dixie fans look forward with what I will have to say.