I
directly addressed your point about priorities when I detailed Dark Samus's, K. Rool's and Dixie's status, the era of focus and the Ballot. By "[not thinking] that matters at all" you're willingly disregarding how
every Smash game chose characters, the fact that
Sakurai admitted the Ballot playing a factor
I never said the Ballot wasn't a factor. In fact that's the main reason I think Dixie will be an echo fighter because she still doesn't hold a candle to the likes of K. Rool on the ballot. That people who don't make it in the top 5 or whatever will not be considered in the project plan as unique fighter.
Name me one Echo who meets the levels that Dixie's on. Daisy's 100% assimilated into spinoffs. Chrom got passed over for Robin and another Echo, and took the backseat again for Corrin. Richter would never be in if not for Simon. Dark Samus--which you don't wanna accept--is the villain of a subseries and will not be coming back, missed her best shot in 2014 and has been gone for 11 years.
I never said that I don't accept Dark Samus as a villian subseries yadda yadda yadda. I know that's true. I just don't believe that is the main reason why she is an echo fighter. I think the main reason she is an echo fighter is because she has the same build as Samus and has decent popularity. I don't recall Sakurai ever stating that because Dark Samus will not be coming back to the Metroid series, she will be an echo. That seems silly to me.
I'm assuming you know how Support Threads work, right? You show enthusiasm and hype up a particular character, with this being Dixie's thread you can guess who the enthusiasm will go to. If you're gonna get annoyed at one user talking up Dixie in her own thread I can't help but laugh.
That's not what is going on here. I'm annoyed that you think its improbable that she could be an echo fighter. I am a Dixie lover. But I'm also a realist.
They're roster padding that's chosen after they pick the main newcomers. For all intents and purposes, they're bonus characters; they look at a list of candidates, choose a select handful and if they have time, then throw in the "bonus desserts".
And you honestly believe that in a game that prioritizes bringing everyone back and can only have a small handful of unique newcomers that Dixie will be one of them? If this were any other Smash game, I'd agree with you. In fact, before I knew about Ultimate, before I knew about them bringing everyone back, before I knew that they were going to bring in fan favorites like Ridley and K. Rool, before I knew the pressence of echo fighters, I was 100% certain that the next Smash would be like SSB4. I was 100% certain it would follow the same patterns and add characters that were relevant to the Wii U era and that Dixie would be top priority along with Elma. But everything is different now. This game is doing things completely different from SSB4. Prioritizing long time fan favorites and veterans over relevant characters.
Dixie, unlike Dark Samus would've shown up in more than one category besides "She looks like someone else." Look at the current lineup of Echoes and assess what they have going for them, then compare that to Dixie's. She's not on K. Rool or Ridley's level but she is far above the Echoes in pedigree. Don't kid yourself into thinking otherwise. She's got more going for her than "Female Diddy."
What the ****! Stop stawmanning me! I AM A DIXIE FAN! I AM AWARE OF HOW UNIQUE SHE IS AND HOW SHE DESERVES TO BE A UNIQUE FIGHTER WITH UNIQUE MOVES. My argument is that with less time to develop characters and the burden of balancing 70+ characters means it is likely they will cut corners with certain characters who are not as high up as K. Rool and the other (and lets be honest here) 6 unique fighters that Ultimate will launch with.
I told you to look at Diddy and Dixie's animations from DKC2-Tropical Freeze. Diddy can't grab with his tail. Diddy can't fly with his tail. Diddy can't throw with his tail. What you can't grasp is that Dixie over-relies on her hair, and a Dixie that doesn't fight with it, grab/throw with it and maneuvers through the air with it is not Dixie. The most basic moveset you can give her would result in a unique dash attack, her own UpB, grabs and throws that are nothing like Diddy's.
Actually Dixie doesn't pick up things with her hair in Tropical Freeze. You know why? Gameplay reasons. They wanted Dixie to be able to hold barrrels and still float. So they got rid of her hair grab. Developers are known to cut moves and abilities for gameplay reasons. Smash is notorious for getting rid of signature abilities of certain fighters for whatever reasons there need be. Hell, Wario lost his Shoulder attack in SSB4! It's back now but my point is Sakurai is not unwilling to compromise powers and abilities.
You've seen too many mods and think that slapping Dixie's skin onto Diddy's moveset would work. From her very first game they made sure to differentiate the 2 Kongs in function, personality, abilities and animations. That's remarkable considering Nintendo loves passing off recolors as new characters. Dixie cartwheeling would look wrong. Dixie being hyperactive and mauling foes with cartoon antics would look wrong. Dixie not using her hair outside of a reskinned jab would look wrong. Dixie not over-relying on hair abilities for her moveset would look wrong.
An echo fighter is more than just an easy reskin. They change a bunch of animations to try to match the personality of the fighter. The running animation can be different, idle is different, the taunts are different, the dodgeing and jumping animations can be different. Those reskin mods are nothing like what a true Dixie echo would be like.
For all your talk of what Isabelle can't do, you sidestep the fact that she is just as much of a blank slate as Villager moveset-wise. You hinge your assertions entirely on what she can do based on her personality, then imply Dixie has none to speak of despite 3 main games showing personality, and--what Isabelle doesn't have--actual abilities to back them up.
Personality can be represented through tweaked animations. And they can show Dixie's personality easily through altering animations. The difference between her and Isabelle is that Villager uses equipment that wouldn't seem right with her. Specifically the axe. I also believe that the Animal Crossing team probably is super more concerned about Isabelle's non-violent image and twisted Sakurai's hand a bit. And finally, and most importantly, Isabelle has different proportions from Villager. That alone makes her impossible as an echo.
Doesn't matter? You mean the fighting game series that uses each character's games, animations, personality traits, and abilities for source material doesn't matter?
It doesn't matter...
for an echo fighter. Clearly Sakurai has demonstrated that he willing to sacrifice abilities to make an echo.
Even when Sakurai said so himself--especially in regards to the character you just propped up for being a necessary Semi-Clone?! You've contradicted yourself. It does matter. In fact it matters quite a bit, since many users expected an Echo out her--
you included.
Let's take a look at what Sakurai said about Isabelle.
"This is because Isabelle and Villager have fundamentally different body types and personalities, so we couldn’t have made her an Echo."
He said fundamentally different body types and personalities. Now that is important. I think you can easily demonstrate a characters different personality in an echo fighter by changing their idle, their voice, their victory animation, and their taunts. Look at Dark Pit. He has a fundamentally different personality from Pit. So what is the issue with Isabelle? It's their fighting style. Something in the way Villager fights goes against Isabelle's personality. I think it was specifically the axe.
As for my original opinion. I was wrong. However, in the past I have always brought up how unsure I was if Isabelle could be an echo or not due to the very different proportions her an Villager had. I was back and forth on Isabelle. I made that post in the Rating thread because I was still shocked to see just how many unique things they gave Isabelle after her reveal. I assumed they would, at the most, give her a different Down Special as well as her having different proportions and a few new animations to show off her personality. But they went all out. And now that I think about it, it makes sense. She's unbelievably popular and her merchandizing alone makes a ton of money. So they are going to go through the extra effort to make her that much more unique.
I think those are the main reason she is not an echo. Proportion differences, the axe clashing with her personality, and her being one of the most popular Nintendo characters.
The same justifications Sakurai used for Isabelle can undoubtedly be used for Dixie, plus she already has moves to work with.
Like I stated above, Sakurai would have to feel like Dixie had a fundamentally different body type from Diddy, and that Diddy had a fighting style that would go against her personality. Which I don't think is the case. None of Diddy's attacks go against Dixie's personality since a lot of them are generic monkey attacks.
Unlike Dark Samus, she's still likely to reappear in future DK games, has the relevant era going for her and is more popular.
And like I said above, I don't think being relevant is much of a factor for Ultimate. Things are different from SSB4. The priorities are different and who is relevant and who isn't doesn't matter as much.
If you're gonna use those justifications for Isabelle, expect the same to be applied to Dixie, against your opinion of how she should be portrayed. Don't throw it out the window because it's being used for someone you don't want it to.
I want Dixie to be unique! I love her and know she has the capabilties to be unique. STOP STRAWMANNING ME. I am just skeptical of it actually happening.