Official DLC Speculation Discussion Volume II

[SMAASH! Puppy]

...one-hundred-and-forty-nine Pokémon Spirits...

Yeesh. I didn't know there were that many.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

one-hundred-and-forty-nine Pokémon Spirits.

Just two more, and they would've had a very fitting 151

 

[Twilord]

Eh, nintendo/Sakurai seems to have wanted ARMS in general rather than any specific character, which means there was free reign to pick the fighter. If Nintendo is going to be sharing sales of a fighter with Sega, I feel like they would go for someone who is either not represented or only a spirit and just let the Shadow AT keep representing him.

Shadow is still one of Sonic characters with the most obsessive fans, even if SEGA have been butchering his character and trying to oversimplify him to make up for the fact his intended context is from lore heavy days that they haven't made easily accessible to the general public since the Gamecube days.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Eh, nintendo/Sakurai seems to have wanted ARMS in general rather than any specific character, which means there was free reign to pick the fighter. If Nintendo is going to be sharing sales of a fighter with Sega, I feel like they would go for someone who is either not represented or only a spirit and just let the Shadow AT keep representing him.

I'm not really seeing this as a thing here. We know that Yabuki requested Min Min, which has to be to Nintendo in order to fit Sakurai's statements of Nintendo choosing the characters. The information we have makes it clear Nintendo only requested Min Min to Sakurai. The thing is, they would've chosen her around a year before her release. They had no clue she would take that long. That's really all the guessing game was to begin with, something to eat up time due to the development taking a lot of time. It also was a good idea that served separately as a way to promote ARMS in general. There's no way they could've planned the guessing game a year in advance. It was realistically a last minute idea to get a game they want more attention for in the spotlight. A lovely option they had thanks to the character delays. No other character took so severely long either between release for DLC either.

There's really no data to suggest there was some "free reign". Quite the opposite. There's no such list or any of that junk. They hard choose a character, suggest it to Sakurai, and he either okays it or denies it, then the next ones come up.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

And I will concede that Pokémon without Pokémon isn't Pokémon. However, that doesn't erase the presence of the trainers in droves, and the large roles they play in most of the narratives. They aren't completely irrelevant to Pokémon's identity either. Part of the appeal of the main game was (and still is) the idea that you can be a Pokémon Trainer and explore this fantasy world. You can raise up a whole team of them and become the best trainer there is. None of that actually works without the trainers.

EDIT: There's a reason why a ton of Pokémon's narratives are about the bond between Pokémon and trainer.

My original point was that Pokemon are the main focus of Pokemon and that trainers aren't required for the series which is possibly why there aren't any trainers as spirits. I'm going to drop the subject here.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Just two more, and they would've had a very fitting 151

Of course, the 151st Spirit will only be available for a limited time, and if you miss the timeframe, you'll have to resort to a glitch in order to obtain it.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

What are the chances we could get our first and only upgraded assist trophy here. Would shock everyone and would be something no one expects. We know assists don’t deconfirm because they put Spring man in the arms announcement trailer and then put him In the official reveal trailer so what are the chances sakurai upgrades a random assist trophy in this pass.

It's not happening. It would gave happened alot earlier if we were gonna get any promotions. Ultimate is at this point too late into the game with only one slot left.

The fact too there's plenty of characters alone left with no form of representation in the game they could choose from before going with an assist promotion. People have to accept the fact and stop the denial they'll have to wait until Smash 6 for any of their characters.

We had already seen it with Bomberman. Closest we'll ever get to a "assist promotion" having said promotions be miis instead of actual fighters.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Of course, the 151st Spirit will only be available for a limited time, and if you miss the timeframe, you'll have to resort to a glitch in order to obtain it.

Nah, I totally got Spirit 151 by Falcon Punching the truck on Onett

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

As far as Assist Trophies go:

Is it possible for them to add them? Absolutely.
Would they add one though? IMO, absolutely not. This is partially for the arbitrary reasons they seem to be sticking too and partially because of the candidates themselves.

They really should've just added two more and commitd to the "151" thing

Ugh. Now this is going to bother me.

Of course, the 151st Spirit will only be available for a limited time, and if you miss the timeframe, you'll have to resort to a glitch in order to obtain it.

I would laugh if said spirit was MissingNo. and the "glitch" required to obtain it was completely intended. Like, they put Isabelle's item duplication glitch back in, but only for Assist Trophies, and on the third summon, you're taken to MissingNo.'s Spirit Battle.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I do think it's interesting to see how much of Pass 2 was kind of predicted in the broad strokes, but not at all in the ways in which that content was actually rolled out and relative swerves to what people expected within the broader framework. Tekken and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were two picks I heard passed around a lot as we saw more DLC announced, Steve never fully left the conversation as much as the Banjo & Kazooie reveal kind of cut off discussion by no longer making it centered around the whole war for a spot, and Square Enix was always coming up for another fighter. Now, sure, I don't think anybody really predicted Sephiroth from that Square Enix character, let alone the weirdness of us getting a Heihachi Mii Costume a full year before actually getting Kazuya, or even really Rex being fully sidelined for Pyra/Mythra...

But I do think that Pass 2 has fit a little bit more into the framework of some of those early predictions we had regarding more fighters/Fighter's Pass 2. To the point where I think ARMS is actually the biggest swerve of the pass because I think a lot of people, myself included, didn't think Nintendo would really be doing more with the franchise and even then, they kind of haven't.

 

[Twilord]

Ugh. Now this is going to bother me.

Page 1 is eight Trainers; Page 2 is Bidoof and Bibarel - 151

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I would laugh if said spirit was MissingNo. and the "glitch" required to obtain it was completely intended. Like, they put Isabelle's item duplication glitch back in, but only for Assist Trophies, and on the third summon, you're taken to MissingNo.'s Spirit Battle.

This reminds me of when MissingNo. was one of the Poké Ball summons in SSF2. It would appear, and then cause a fake "blue screen of death" to appear. They had to take him out because people thought it was real (even though actually reading the text would tell you it's fake, and it's really hard to get a computer to blue screen nowadays).

Imagine if that happened in an official title. Everyone including Nintendo would be like "It's a TV/Switch! They can't even get blue screens!"

EDIT: It would be really funny if MissingNo. did make it in as an extremely rare Poké Ball summon (even for Master Balls) and would cause the effects famous glitches within the series to happen. For example, a bunch of Peach's turnips would appear on top of each other, spinning in place. This would be a dangerous hazard.

 

[MamaLuigi123456]

This reminds me of when MissingNo. was one of the Poké Ball summons in SSF2. It would appear, and then cause a fake "blue screen of death" to appear. They had to take him out because people thought it was real (even though actually reading the text would tell you it's fake, and it's really hard to get a computer to blue screen nowadays).

Imagine if that happened in an official title. Everyone including Nintendo would be like "It's a TV/Switch! They can't even get blue screens!"

Man, reading this reminded myself of how much I used to love Super Smash Flash 2, having whacky elements that the official Smash games would never have like Goku, Ichigo, Naruto, weird movesets for characters like Wario and Mega Man (prior to his official inclusion), the MissingNo. summon you mentioned, I think there was even some old cut stuff like a Mama Luigi assist trophy... it all felt like a product of its era, which has sadly been lost in its more recent versions. Nowadays all the inclusions are ones that are routinely requested for Smash, like Waluigi, Rayman, Bandanna Waddle Dee, Krystal... I'm not saying any of these are bad additions or would be bad additions if they got in the official Smash games, but all of this coupled with making generally everything more in line with the official games is just like... why are you trying to be Smash when Smash already exists???

 

[Inferno7]

The main problem with this idea is that they could just get Eggman/tails as the fighter. Then they could have Sonic, Eggman/Tails, and Shadow all repped in some fashion (and I mean, on the battlefield repped). There is no reason for nintendo to choose shadow over any other big sonic character.

Not saying Shadow can't happen, but nintendo would have to really want him over other sonic reps.

Tbf Shadow does have his own merits and he's the 2nd most popular Sonic character on a consistent basis, I don't think it's that simple to boil down to quotas, which Sakurai has shown to not give an f about. After all, he put in Kazuya before Heihachi, Pythra before Rex and Min Min before Spring Man.

He also has a thing for edgy/rival characters, which I'm sure would take part in his decision. Not saying Shadow is a lock or anything but you are greatly underestimating his chances against the other Sonic characters, especially Eggman who didn't have that much support if at all before Sephiroth.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

I don’t know what first party’s could be upgraded but I could see a third party like shadow being upgraded if sega specifically wanted another sonic rep. The reason I brought it up was mainly because from the Sephiroth trailer we know sega held negotiations for FP2 but we don’t know what came out of them and they have had no content in FP2 yet whereas everyone from pass 1 has had extra content in pass 2 (apart from snk who were swapped for Namco as our fighting rep).

then we got a sonic anniversary spirit event and they went out their way to include every sonic spirit that’s in the game and can be obtained through the spirit board apart from shadow for some reason. Just think an assist trophy upgrade could be something to keep an eye on.

Wait how do we know SEGA had negotiations because of Sephiroth?

Shadow is still one of Sonic characters with the most obsessive fans, even if SEGA have been butchering his character and trying to oversimplify him to make up for the fact his intended context is from lore heavy days that they haven't made easily accessible to the general public since the Gamecube days.

But SA2 was ported to ps3, 360 and Steam? Sure, they're pretty crap ports but they're not hard to get your hands on solely because of the latter

 

[Guynamednelson]

especially Eggman who didn't have that much support if at all before Sephiroth

He actually was rallied around more as the most possible third-party villain before Sephiroth, despite FFVII being the series that needed more music/spirits. This could be so Sephiroth wouldn't kill Geno or Sora's chances. However, Sephiroth did help out a lot, even though I still doubt they'll add him just because Sephiroth proved we can have third-party villains when having Tekken's first rep be a villain was more mandatory than having Sonic's second rep be one.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Sora's chances.

Sora fans: Sora doesn't count! He's 100% Disney!

 

[Theguy123]

Wait how do we know SEGA had negotiations because of Sephiroth?

Basically no third party company has been allowed a cgi Model in any of the reveal trailers with sephiroth being the only time it was allowed. In sephiroth’s trailer we got

sonic, bayonetta, cloud, hero, banjo and richter which shows Nintendo held at some point talks with

square Enix, Microsoft, Konami and sega for fighters pass 2. Only sega have no content in smash yet out of those companies.

Konami got a deluxe bomber-man mii costume and a goeman mii costume

Microsoft got a fighter being Steve

and square obviously got Sephiroth which leaves sega as the only one out of them with nothing still.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Man, reading this reminded myself of how much I used to love Super Smash Flash 2, having whacky elements that the official Smash games would never have like Goku, Ichigo, Naruto, weird movesets for characters like Wario and Mega Man (prior to his official inclusion), the MissingNo. summon you mentioned, I think there was even some old cut stuff like a Mama Luigi assist trophy... it all felt like a product of its era, which has sadly been lost in its more recent versions. Nowadays all the inclusions are ones that are routinely requested for Smash, like Waluigi, Rayman, Bandanna Waddle Dee, Krystal... I'm not saying any of these are bad additions or would be bad additions if they got in the official Smash games, but all of this coupled with making generally everything more in line with the official games is just like... why are you trying to be Smash when Smash already exists???

Well, part of it is wish fulfillment. Waluigi, Bandana Waddle Dee, Krystal, and probably also, Rayman aren't getting into the game anytime soon, so the ability to play them here is a fun novelty. Part of it is the fact that as a fan game of a fighting game, you're going to include characters that you really like from the original game (so that's why Lucario and Pit and such). And part of it...well I could be wrong, but I recall the anime characters becoming decisive for whatever reason. Still, they did semi-recently add Luffy (albeit he is the last anime character that they'll add), and he's super fun.

A lot of the modes are stuff that are just like "it'd be weird if it wasn't there", but there are a few new ideas like Sandbag Soccer & Basket Ball (also Sandbag is a character too). My only gripe is that Simon and Mega Man seem to have both been changed to be more like their official Smash counterparts (though there isn't any evidence for this on Simon) and it made them both super clunky.

 

[Twilord]

I just had a dumb idea - what if the last character is the exact opposite of Kazuya; someone who can summons items even when they're turned off.

Someone like Maxwell; if you can type of the name of an Item, Pokémon, or Assist they'll spawn in... but the item won't spawn in your hand, and the Pokémon or Assist Trophy won't be on your side or anyone else's.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

I just had a dumb idea - what if the last character is the exact opposite of Kazuya; someone who can summons items even when they're turned off.

Someone like Maxwell; if you can type of the name of an Item, Pokémon, or Assist they'll spawn in... but the item won't spawn in your hand, and the Pokémon or Assist Trophy won't be on your side or anyone else's.

I'm not sure how items is the opposite of Kazuya but OK.

As for the idea itself though, that sounds amazing, though in practice I imagine it would make him Hero, but items. Still, an idea of this nature intrigues me.

 

[MamaLuigi123456]

Well, part of it is wish fulfillment. Waluigi, Bandana Waddle Dee, Krystal, and probably also, Rayman aren't getting into the game anytime soon, so the ability to play them here is a fun novelty. Part of it is the fact that as a fan game of a fighting game, you're going to include characters that you really like from the original game (so that's why Lucario and Pit and such). And part of it...well I could be wrong, but I recall the anime characters becoming decisive for whatever reason. Still, they did semi-recently add Luffy (albeit he is the last anime character that they'll add), and he's super fun.

A lot of the modes are stuff that are just like "it'd be weird if it wasn't there", but there are a few new ideas like Sandbag Soccer & Basket Ball (also Sandbag is a character too). My only gripe is that Simon and Mega Man seem to have both been changed to be more like their official Smash counterparts (though there isn't any evidence for this on Simon) and it made them both super clunky.

Remember when Mega Man had a pretty unique mechanic of swapping out his neutral special that could be used for different situations, but was changed to a worse version of his already unfun official Smash incarnation? I miss that

 

[Opossum]

My original point was that Pokemon are the main focus of Pokemon and that trainers aren't required for the series which is possibly why there aren't any trainers as spirits. I'm going to drop the subject here.

That's the thing, though. The trainers are absolutely required. The entire premise of the series hinges on the concept of the bond between people and Pokémon.

"But Mystery Dungeon!" It's the exception that proves the rule. It's a spinoff dedicated to subverting the core idea of the main series, and even then, the player character is still a human in the body of a Pokémon. The fact that it exists as a purposeful subversion shows that the concept it's subverting is key to the franchise, otherwise the premise would fall on deaf ears.

That's honestly part of why, as a lifelong Pokémon fan, I feel that Smash has failed to truly capture what makes the series so great, and gets so much wrong.

 

[Twilord]

Man, reading this reminded myself of how much I used to love Super Smash Flash 2, having whacky elements that the official Smash games would never have like Goku, Ichigo, Naruto, weird movesets for characters like Wario and Mega Man (prior to his official inclusion), the MissingNo. summon you mentioned, I think there was even some old cut stuff like a Mama Luigi assist trophy... it all felt like a product of its era, which has sadly been lost in its more recent versions. Nowadays all the inclusions are ones that are routinely requested for Smash, like Waluigi, Rayman, Bandanna Waddle Dee, Krystal... I'm not saying any of these are bad additions or would be bad additions if they got in the official Smash games, but all of this coupled with making generally everything more in line with the official games is just like... why are you trying to be Smash when Smash already exists???

Well, part of it is wish fulfillment. Waluigi, Bandana Waddle Dee, Krystal, and probably also, Rayman aren't getting into the game anytime soon, so the ability to play them here is a fun novelty. Part of it is the fact that as a fan game of a fighting game, you're going to include characters that you really like from the original game (so that's why Lucario and Pit and such). And part of it...well I could be wrong, but I recall the anime characters becoming decisive for whatever reason. Still, they did semi-recently add Luffy (albeit he is the last anime character that they'll add), and he's super fun.

A lot of the modes are stuff that are just like "it'd be weird if it wasn't there", but there are a few new ideas like Sandbag Soccer & Basket Ball (also Sandbag is a character too). My only gripe is that Simon and Mega Man seem to have both been changed to be more like their official Smash counterparts (though there isn't any evidence for this on Simon) and it made them both super clunky.

I recently have been giving Smash Bros Crusade a shot. Its neat; they'll be adding Agumon next I believe which was funny to hear about.

I'm not sure how items is the opposite of Kazuya but OK.

As for the idea itself though, that sounds amazing, though in practice I imagine it would make him Hero, but items. Still, an idea of this nature intrigues me.

It would be the opposite of Kazuya in that he is from a 'serious' fighting game, which is admittedly half of what Smash Bros is - but the other half is the 'party game with Item' side of Smash.

I feel like the main difference from Hero would be that unlike Hero you'd not just be getting list, you'd actually have to use some type of 'quick keyboard'. More control but much slower to make up for how much more crazy the move could get.

 

[Opossum]

Sora fans: Sora doesn't count! He's 100% Disney!

Why do you make posts like this? What do they accomplish?

 

[Quick Gaming (QG)]

Something I think people tend to forget in regards to third party inclusions is that unless they have a special connection to Sakurai (Persona 5 and Smash coming about mainly due to SNK games) or are heavily requested (Bayonetta won the ballot, Banjo was heavily requested even as far back as Melee), they’re from genre defining third party IP’s (Street Fighter, Tekken, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Minecraft), so synonymous with Nintendo that they have to be there (Sonic, Mega Man) or have transcended third party and are just insanely recognizable even to non-gamers (Pac-Man)

A character like Crash for example doesn’t fit the criteria enough imo, but someone like Doomguy would since he’s kind of the grandfather of FPS’ (if you ignore Wolfenstein). It’s kind of why I’ve been hesitant to throw support behind characters like Rayman and Phoenix Wright. It’d be great to see them, but as far as impactful third parties go they’re basically a drop in the pond, and unlike say Sonic, Mega Man or Banjo, they’re not heavily requested enough to get in on that criteria. I think Crash for example could reach that tier sometime, but I think Ultimate is too late for him.

The easiest choice for a last fighter would’ve been Resident Evil imo, but the spirit event really puts a damper on that

Just some general thoughts regarding third party inclusions

 

[3BitSaurus]

That's the thing, though. The trainers are absolutely required. The entire premise of the series hinges on the concept of the bond between people and Pokémon.

"But Mystery Dungeon!" It's the exception that proves the rule. It's a spinoff dedicated to subverting the core idea of the main series, and even then, the player character is still a human in the body of a Pokémon. The fact that it exists as a purposeful subversion shows that the concept it's subverting is key to the franchise, otherwise the premise would fall on deaf ears.

That's honestly part of why, as a lifelong Pokémon fan, I feel that Smash has failed to truly capture what makes the series so great, and gets so much wrong.

Yeah, I can understand having a trainer as only one of the playable fighters - Pikachu and Puff arguably make more sense as standalone mons and Mewtwo is a legendary, so at best you could add trainers for Lucario, Greninja and Incineroar for some flavor. But I get why that could be seen as "too much work for too little".

Still... couldn't we at least get some trainers as Spirit fights, with regular Pokéball summons like we got with certain AT spirits? Like, a Steven Stone battle where Metagross appears frequently, for example. Maybe some trainers appearing as stage cameos a la KoF Stadium, too.

Much like other series that got in Smash circa 64/Melee, sometimes it does feel like they're going for quantity instead of quality with Pokémon.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

That's honestly part of why, as a lifelong Pokémon fan, I feel that Smash has failed to truly capture what makes the series so great, and gets so much wrong.

While I do think Pokémon's representation has been adequate, it is kind of dumb that the series seems to be allergic to referencing the human cast...Actually now that I think about it, a lot of the stages are heavily connected to a trainer of some sort:

• Saffron City: Sabrina...I think. I'm not entirely sure I remember which city this is.
• Spear Pillar: Cyrus/Team Galactic. Also Cynthia since she's there during the climax as well.
• Unova Pokémon League: Basically the entire game's cast.
• Prism Tower: Clemont, with a few other characters that wouldn't be out of place there.
  • EDIT: Also Bonnie. I forgot she wasn't anime exclusive.
• Kalos Pokémon League: Malva, Diantha, Wikistrom, Siebold, and Darsna.
• Pokémon Stadium & Pokémon Stadium 2 are both generic, but they're also the perfect place for literally any trainer to cameo.

...Wait, why do they not cameo again?

 

[MamaLuigi123456]

That's the thing, though. The trainers are absolutely required. The entire premise of the series hinges on the concept of the bond between people and Pokémon.

"But Mystery Dungeon!" It's the exception that proves the rule. It's a spinoff dedicated to subverting the core idea of the main series, and even then, the player character is still a human in the body of a Pokémon. The fact that it exists as a purposeful subversion shows that the concept it's subverting is key to the franchise, otherwise the premise would fall on deaf ears.

That's honestly part of why, as a lifelong Pokémon fan, I feel that Smash has failed to truly capture what makes the series so great, and gets so much wrong.

One of the more unique ideas I had for a Pokemon character was one of the villains but they have a Pokemon to fight with. It wouldn't be like Pokemon Trainer where you have to have three Pokemon to swap, I'm thinking like... Lusamine w/ Nihilego

Considering Nihilego is a parasite, there's a lot you could do with it, especially if it's attached to a human character like Lusamine. Down special could be a counter featuring Lusamine throwing out one of her other (similarly infected) Pokemon to take a hit for Nihilego and either
A. Counterattack, probably alternating in function depending on what Pokemon is sent out
B. Get KO'd and sapped of its strength as thanks using Beast Boost
C. Both

That's just one idea I had. Pokemon Trainer's three-in-one mechanic is great and should be kept but I like the idea of a trainer using one Pokemon and having their whole kit revolve around that Pokemon. It kinda surprises me so little people have actually considered this. Like you would think someone would look at Pokemon Masters and go "hmm"

 

[JustPlainDan]

Wonder what the Tuesday spirit event is going to be

Please don’t let Ace Attorney be involved

 

[Twilord]

So this is just me being dumb... but imagine a future Smash Bros game with a Pokémon Trainer who has a Pokéball Command Grab... but Jack Frost, Agumon, and Jibanyan are all on the roster.

 

[Garteam]

My original point was that Pokemon are the main focus of Pokemon and that trainers aren't required for the series which is possibly why there aren't any trainers as spirits. I'm going to drop the subject here.

I mean, Satoshi Tajiri himself noted that early American Pokemon fans understood Pokemon's concept better than Japanese fans because they focused more on the Ash-Pikachu relationship than just Pikachu alone.

Assuming what Tajiri said applies to the general idea of trainers and Pokemon as a whole, then Pokemon and their trainers are equally important to the franchise.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Text

If you mean in general then you're wrong as we see Mega Man get murked by Ridley and if you mean in DLC trailers, then it's conviniently ignoring how most of the DLC trailers aren't CH and as such don't have reusable CG models, I think it's a massive stretch to try and claim it's a secret hint when chances are, the licensing contracts say "We have the right to use these characters in trailers" unless you want to say any character appearing in gameplay means renegotiating. There's also how if Richter was supposed to be because of the Bomberman costume, then you can't take Sonic in a trailer as a point in favour of Shadow getting in specifically

 

[Megadoomer]

Please don’t let Ace Attorney be involved

It's likely going to be a tournament based on something related to Kazuya - maybe something like dads/parents? Either way, there likely won't be new spirits this week.

 

[Curious Villager]

While I do think Pokémon's representation has been adequate, it is kind of dumb that the series seems to be allergic to referencing the human cast...Actually now that I think about it, a lot of the stages are heavily connected to a trainer of some sort:

• Saffron City: Sabrina...I think. I'm not entirely sure I remember which city this is.
• Spear Pillar: Cyrus/Team Galactic. Also Cynthia since she's there during the climax as well.
• Unova Pokémon League: Basically the entire game's cast.
• Prism Tower: Clemont, with a few other characters that wouldn't be out of place there.
  • EDIT: Also Bonnie. I forgot she wasn't anime exclusive.
• Kalos Pokémon League: Malva, Diantha, Wikistrom, Siebold, and Darsna.
• Pokémon Stadium & Pokémon Stadium 2 are both generic, but they're also the perfect place for literally any trainer to cameo.

...Wait, why do they not cameo again?

It is kind of ironic, yet sad, how the human civilized locations probably get acknowledged more in Smash than the actual humans themselves at this point...

They don't have to be playable but eh, some background cameo's or spirits/trophies wouldn't really hurt anyone...
A human Pokemon character as an Assist Trophy would be interesting to see too, like Todd Snap riding the Zero-One or a Pokemon Ranger but that's probably a long shot.

 

[GilTheGreat19]

It's likely going to be a tournament based on something related to Kazuya - maybe something like dads/parents? Either way, there likely won't be new spirits this week.

If it hasn't happened yet

A Villains Tourney

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

A human Pokemon character as an Assist Trophy would be interesting to see too, like Todd Snap riding the Zero-One or a Pokemon Ranger but that's probably a long shot.

The Pokémon Ranger draws loops around an opponent. If they get enough loops, then the opponent turns into a CPU allied with the summoner for a few seconds. Does not appear with only 2 characters currently in play, and disappears if a fighter is defeated, reducing the amount of characters in play to 2.

 

[GilTheGreat19]

I read the talk about the Sephiroth trailer and its large usage of third party fighters...

It COULD be a direct/indirect piece of evidence that SEGA is somehow going to be involved with Fighters Pass 2, but we won't know until CP11 and Mii Costume Wave 11 is revealed.
It could also just be a plain yet ambitious showcasing of how big Sakurai wanted Sephiroth's trailer to be, incorporating as many characters as he could.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

That's the thing, though. The trainers are absolutely required. The entire premise of the series hinges on the concept of the bond between people and Pokémon.

"But Mystery Dungeon!" It's the exception that proves the rule. It's a spinoff dedicated to subverting the core idea of the main series, and even then, the player character is still a human in the body of a Pokémon. The fact that it exists as a purposeful subversion shows that the concept it's subverting is key to the franchise, otherwise the premise would fall on deaf ears.

That's honestly part of why, as a lifelong Pokémon fan, I feel that Smash has failed to truly capture what makes the series so great, and gets so much wrong.

Alright you brought me back in.

Look, the thing I'm getting at here is that Pokemon are the main selling point of the series, not the trainers. You don't play Pokemon primarily for the trainers, Like I said before, there is no Pokemon game if you have the trainers and no Pokemon.

Trainers are video game stand ins for real life people. The protagonist being the stand in for you as a person where you can form your own Pokemon team and your relationship with those Pokemon. However you can take the Pokemon Trainers out from the games and you'd still have a Pokemon game. You can't do that vice versa as that destroys the entire point of the series, thus it's why Pokemon Trainers can be useful for telling a story but not required for a Pokemon game to function.

Can you see where I'm coming from?

 

[Theguy123]

If you mean in general then you're wrong as we see Mega Man get murked by Ridley and if you mean in DLC trailers, then it's conviniently ignoring how most of the DLC trailers aren't CH and as such don't have reusable CG models, I think it's a massive stretch to try and claim it's a secret hint when chances are, the licensing contracts say "We have the right to use these characters in trailers" unless you want to say any character appearing in gameplay means renegotiating. There's also how if Richter was supposed to be because of the Bomberman costume, then you can't take Sonic in a trailer as a point in favour of Shadow getting in specifically

I didn’t say it was a hint towards shadow or any sonic character. I was just saying how it means Nintendo held talks with sega for FP2. I even said in my original posts that it doesn’t mean a fighter at all. It just means sega and Nintendo held talks along with the other companies I mentioned.

I also meant for the dlc and not in general.