Official DLC Speculation Discussion Volume II

[Firox]

At this point I'm honestly not expecting Chorus Kids or Mach Ride.

Geno is a Mii and Isaac and Shadow are assists. The closest I see to those so-called promotions people keep saying is the Bomberman Mii which looks exactly like the character itself otherwise why make that a costume and not an actual promoted character?

Premium costumes are kinda painful, seeing a character get so close to getting in as an actual fighter only to fall short. I love how the Bomberman costume looks so good but I hate how there isn't really any moveset variants with the Mii Brawler that really capture the essence of how Bomberman would play. The shotput I guess comes close to throwing bombs but it doesn't quite do it. Then again, I can see why Sakurai probably decided not to make Bomberman a full fledged fighter since pretty much his whole canonical fighting style revolves around just setting, throwing or kicking bombs around. Oh well. Maybe next time.

 

[Dinoman96]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

 

[SharkLord]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

I'm actually kinda surprised they listed Klonoa, of all characters, over Lloyd. I kinda thought he had a bigger following back then.

 

[Perkilator]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

Daruina
Hawlucha
Machamp
Fi
Rick
Doshin the ****in' Giant
Excuse you, sir, it's Kamek
FF:CC team
Plok

Yeesh, this is a pre-Cloud world alright.

Also, here are some characters on this list that did appear in Ultimate in one way or another:

• King K. Rool: Fighter
• Inkling: Fighter
• Krystal: Assist Trophy
• Ridley: Fighter
• Isabelle: Fighter
• Banjo-Kazooie: Fighter
• Bomberman: Assist Trophy
• Bayonetta: Fighter
• Simon: Fighter
• Shovel Knight: Assist Trophy
• Knuckles: Assist Trophy

 

[Speed Weed]

The closest I see to those so-called promotions people keep saying is the Bomberman Mii which looks exactly like the character itself otherwise why make that a costume and not an actual promoted character?

Because maybe Sakurai and gang treat each of the potential AT additions like everyone else as individual characters, each with their own merits, and not some one-size-fits-all criteria? And Bomberman in particular being mii'd means Bomberman isn't making it in and not every character that's an assist?

Development time is limited, especially with DLC. They can't just magically cram in 30 characters there on a whim, and sometimes they either just can't figure out a character or they're outprioritized. With those two points in mind, not only implying they could have just magically made Bomberman a character if they felt like it (which they probably couldn't manage to if he got Mii'd in the first place), but then twisting his costume into somehow meaning every AT is off the table, despite most of them having nothing to do with Bomberman besides their status in Smash Ultimate, is quite frankly (and pardon the rudeness here) one of the single most nonsensical things I've recently read on this board.

 

[Dinoman96]

Still russles my jimmies when people label Geno as a first party character, like in that image.

Yeah yeah, I know he's a Mario character, but he's still owned by another company, effectively making him third party.

 

[SharkLord]

Still russles my jimmies when people label Geno as a first party character, like in that image.

Yeah yeah, I know he's a Mario character, but he's still owned by another company, effectively making him third party.

He has dual citizenship

 

[Miles of SmashWiki]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

My guy Wonder-Red still hasn't even gotten a Mii Brawler costume. He's the right proportions for it to look good and everything. Sigh.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

I'm surprised Lanky managed to even get that high when his competition was K. Rool, Dixie, Cranky, Funky, a bunch of other more popular Nintendo characters, and 3rd party characters. Lanky scored much higher than I expected in this fan poll.

 

[RouffWestie]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

It's been how many years, and this is the first time I've ever looked at this image and noticed freaking Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Team there. I'm shocked honestly.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Did Shorts actually Die? (I don't know who he is)

Chronobound did a write up about his work in the Krystal Thread. There was a lot of mourning on the Social Thread at the time when he passed away.

 

[Dinoman96]

It's been how many years, and this is the first time I've ever looked at this image and noticed freaking Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Team there. I'm shocked honestly.

The fact that that and Black Mage were listed here as potential Final Fantasy reps and not Cloud is pretty much all you need to know lol

 

[Ivander]

If we're rereminiscing on Brawl era speculation, here's a little interesting analysis: how many characters from Sakurai's old poll from the Brawl era made it into Ultimate?

Characters on Sakurai's Poll

*McFox EDIT* I'm Sticking this topic, because tons of people are still looking for it, and it could provide some useful information. it could mean any number of things, but i think it's worth noting that these are the poll entries/suggestions from japanese fans that Sakurai has presented to the...

smashboards.com

King Dedede(5) -CONFIRMED
Diddy Kong(4) - CONFIRMED
Geno(4) – Mii outfit
Ike(4) - CONFIRMED
Ridley(4) - CONFIRMED
Captain Olimar & Pikmin(3) - CONFIRMED
Krystal(3) – Assist Trophy
Takamaru(3) – Assist Trophy
Windwaker Link(3) - CONFIRMED
Animal Crossing MC(2) - CONFIRMED
Claus(2) – Spirit
DeMille(2) - Spirit
Isaac(2) – Assist Trophy
Jeff(2) – Assist Trophy
Kawasima(2) – Assist Trophy
King K.Rool(2) - CONFIRMED
Lip(2) – Mii outfit
Lucas(2) -CONFIRMED
Mega Man(2) - CONFIRMED
Oguma(2)
Ouendan(2) - Spirit
Sukapon(2) – Assist Trophy

Stats:

About 10 characters on this list made it to playable status:


About six characters on this list (Krystal, Takamaru, Isaac, Jeff, Kawashima, and Sukapon) made it to assist trophy status.

About two characters (Geno and Lip) made it to Mii outfit status.

About three characters (Ouendan, DeMille, and Claus) made it to spirit status.

So the only character on this poll that's currently not in Smash in any shape or form is this..."Oguma" fellow.

I looked into it, and apparently it's supposed to be this random FE supporting character...?

For a second, I thought Ogma was in as a Spirit, especially since his buddies, Barst, Bord and Cord are a Spirit in Smash. I'm surprised, considering he's one of the more notable Shadow Dragon characters. And for a second, I double-taked at Sheeda for a moment until I remembered that it was talking about Caeda, as Sheeda is Caeda's translated name, and not about Sheena.

That being said, some of the choices make me smile, like Ray 01, G-Red, Princess Katia, Kalas, the Ouendan Squad, Tetra, etc.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I highly, highly recommend playing the OG as well. Many would say some aspects haven’t aged well but I think they have esp for a game of its time.

Seconding this. I played the OG for the first time last year & it became one of my favorite games ever. Remake part 1 was amazing too.

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

I wasn’t as heavy into speculation back then. But I was definitely in the “realistic expectations” camp who only thought that Nintendo characters & those heavily associated with them were viable. Phoenix Wright & Dillon were two of my most wanted characters back then & now they’re waaaay lower lol

I do find it funny how characters like Leon weren’t really talked about much back then. Despite Resident Evil having a pretty strong history with Nintendo. I’m pretty sure there’s been more Nintendo exclusive RE games than PS exclusive.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I highly, highly recommend playing the OG as well. Many would say some aspects haven’t aged well but I think they have esp for a game of its time.

Will keep it in mind. Does either matter or what one would you recommend? PS4 or Switch?

 

[SharkLord]

Seconding this. I played the OG for the first time last year & it became one of my favorite games ever. Remake part 1 was amazing too.




I wasn’t as heavy into speculation back then. But I was definitely in the “realistic expectations” camp who only thought that Nintendo characters & those heavily associated with them were viable. Phoenix Wright & Dillon were two of my most wanted characters back then & now they’re waaaay lower lol

I do find it funny how characters like Leon weren’t really talked about much back then. Despite Resident Evil having a pretty strong history with Nintendo. I’m pretty sure there’s been more Nintendo exclusive RE games than PS exclusive.

I believe I heard that they assumed companies could only get one fighter, and that Mega Man was extremely popular. He probably had a hegemony over the Capcom discussion up until he was revealed at E3.

 

[Hydreigonfan01]

I do find it funny how characters like Leon weren’t really talked about much back then. Despite Resident Evil having a pretty strong history with Nintendo. I’m pretty sure there’s been more Nintendo exclusive RE games than PS exclusive.

My guess is that at the time a lot of people thought Resident Evil had too much adult content to make it. Remember, that was made before Bayonetta got in.

 

[Technomage]

Will keep it in mind. Does either matter or what one would you recommend? PS4 or Switch?

I'd say Switch; Sony sucks at everything now.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Will keep it in mind. Does either matter or what one would you recommend? PS4 or Switch?

Switch, as it has “boosters” like fast forward, disable encounters freely etc

 

[RetrogamerMax]

Chronobound did a write up about his work in the Krystal Thread. There was a lot of mourning on the Social Thread at the time when he passed away.

If only Shorts was alive today to see Ultimate. Hell, I bet the Krystal fanbase would have been on better ground right now if Shorts was still alive even after the Assist Trophy was announced. We lost a great leader and comrade within Shorts' passing.

 

[SNEKeater]

The voiceover world just lost a great talent.Still in shock, but I’m glad we were able to reconnect & catch up at @VOATLANTA over the years.Those were some of my fondest https://t.co/EChzj8h7Bi’s like time never passed from our Dallas days! RIP @bradvenable 💐🙏🏽❤️ pic.twitter.com/GRucBaMsiy

— Nazia Chaudhry 🗣🎙🎧💕🎭🎶 (@NazVoice) January 8, 2021

It was Brad Venable. This guy has had roles in Games like Demon Souls and FF7R. His perhaps Most Recent Notable role was playing Griffon in DMC5 (the Electric Chicken in the game)

RIP

I don't think that the Persona 5 event in Dragalia lost means a lot for Smash. Persona 5 has done so many crossover that at this point it's not that surprising. They crossover with Bang dream¸ Granblue fantasy, AFK arena, Star ocean, Another eden. They also appear in many Sega ip like Sonic forces, Catherine and Phantasy star online.

The list of games where Joker has appeared in some form is pretty big at this point. Actually, this came up today lmao:

I highly, highly recommend playing the OG as well. Many would say some aspects haven’t aged well but I think they have esp for a game of its time.

Yeah, same. Obviously it has aged in some aspects but it is still a memorable game and a must play for anyone who likes the genre. FFVII's universe, lore and characters are fantastic. It's really fun, combat is cool and the music is super iconic. Tons of side content, and in general it has a very unique art and universe.

Actually, I'd say in order to fully enjoy the FFVII Remake playing the OG it's essentially mandatory, and not only to appreciate how they have recreated the locations or events of the original game.

 

[Staarih]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

As much as I support Isaac, I just can't with the misspelled "Issac" in polls, lists etc like these. If he's considered a front runner, the actual spelling of his name ought to be known haha.
Such a pet peeve of mine.

 

[ROBnWatch]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

Yeesh, this is a pre-Cloud world alright.

Also, here are some characters on this list that did appear in Ultimate in one way or another:

• King K. Rool: Fighter
• Inkling: Fighter
• Krystal: Assist Trophy
• Ridley: Fighter
• Isabelle: Fighter
• Banjo-Kazooie: Fighter
• Bomberman: Assist Trophy
• Bayonetta: Fighter
• Simon: Fighter
• Shovel Knight: Assist Trophy
• Knuckles: Assist Trophy

Porky: Boss in Brawl, trophy in Smash 4, literally nowhere (ha) in Ultimate. And if he’s in the Absolutely Safe Capsule spirit, that is a very understanding yet disappointing gag. Not funny, didn’t laugh.

 

[BritishGuy54]

I have a gut feeling Rex from XC2 is next.
Although I will laugh if a highly requested character like Dante or Lloyd get Mii costumed.

 

[Lamperouge]

I have a gut feeling Rex from XC2 is next.
Although I will laugh if a highly requested character like Dante or Lloyd get Mii costumed.

inb4 Rex gets Mii costumed again but with his Master Driver outfit this time

 

[SpecterFlower]

Is this the poll?

The SSB Poll Lounge: DLC mode engaged | Page 49 | Smashboards

I largely tapped out for smash 4 discussion because it got pretty eh in terms of characters. I got villager and shulk, and then as DLC cloud and bayonetta, those were really the only ones that wowed me (mostly because I was surprised villager didn't get in in brawl). compared to ultimate or brawl 4 seemed like such a step back newcomer wise.

 

[Sophitia]

I like how it says Bayonetta has less a chance of appearing, yet is the only one on the list to make it into Smash 4 as DLC.

 

[AmphabulouSnake]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

WOW this image brings me back :')
At the time I was so confident on Professor Layton's chances to appear......look where we are now lol
At the time I was 10000% a Nintendo boy, meaning I barely played any third party game (apart from Spyro, Professor Layton, Rayman to name a few, took me until the Switch came out to actually spread out my video game knowledge to new horizons, though Smash 4 speculation heavily helped me get to that point), and like many other people I mostly wanted Nintendo characters to appear as dlc
I was also very confident from the speculation back then that K Rool would be the winner of the ballot (which I still believe he might've been given that he's in Ultimate now), and that Shantae, Shovel Knight and all the Wonderful 101s would get in as well (also Fantasy Life characters for some reason lmao)
Now I've pretty much shifted to "please put as many third party characters in I want this crossover to be as crazy as it can get, MUGEN TIME BABY"

 

[Rie Sonomura]

inb4 Rex gets Mii costumed again but with his Master Driver outfit this time

Aaaaaaaand you’ve jinxed it.

speaking of jinxing I remember when someone said pre Steve presentation “as long as Travis doesn’t appear in the mii segment he’s got a chance”. AND SURELY ENOUGH...

 

[SpecterFlower]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

In terms of frontrunners did people back then seriously believe that doshin or lineback were frontrunners?, I was around for brawl and around for ultimate, this is by far the most ridiculous list I've seen.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

Wow, Black Shadow actually made it to the frontrunners. Color me impressed

 

[Miles of SmashWiki]

The whole idea of the 3rd parties having to be heavily Nintendo-associated always struck me as weird considering Smash's debut 3rd party character was the heavily Sony-associated Snake. Metal Gear wasn't completely absent from Nintendo, sure, but it was (and still is) substantially more of a PlayStation series.

Heck, Snake's reveal trailer back at E3 2006 was styled like a codec call from MGS2 - a game which has never been on a Nintendo system.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

The whole idea of the 3rd parties having to be heavily Nintendo-associated always struck me as weird considering Smash's debut 3rd party character was the heavily Sony-associated Snake. Metal Gear wasn't completely absent from Nintendo, sure, but it was (and still is) substantially more of a PlayStation series.

Heck, Snake's reveal trailer back at E3 2006 was styled like a codec call from MGS2 - a game which has never been on a Nintendo system.

A lot of people back then saw him as an "exception" due to Kojima's close relationship with Sakurai, which was affirmed, in their eyes, when Snake was removed from Smash 4. This was also around the time Kojima left Konami. It really wasn't until Cloud and later Joker that the pendulum began to shift.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Wow, Black Shadow actually made it to the frontrunners. Color me impressed

Some people want Black Shadow as an excuse to declone Ganon, iirc.

Otherwise, he'd never get this many requests.

EDIT: YOOOO I POSTED FROM THE FUTURE

 

[Dinoman96]

The whole idea of the 3rd parties having to be heavily Nintendo-associated always struck me as weird considering Smash's debut 3rd party character was the heavily Sony-associated Snake. Metal Gear wasn't completely absent from Nintendo, sure, but it was (and still is) substantially more of a PlayStation series.

Heck, Snake's reveal trailer back at E3 2006 was styled like a codec call from MGS2 - a game which has never been on a Nintendo system.

Keep in mind...Snake got cut the very next game.

People rationalized it as him "having nothing to do with Nintendo" and was only put in Brawl as a favor towards Kojima or whatever. Like this was basically the mentality most Snake detractors had back then.

 

[Perkilator]

Keep in mind...Snake got cut the very next game.

People rationalized it as him "having nothing to do with Nintendo" and was only put in Brawl as a favor towards Kojima or whatever. Like this was basically the mentality most Snake detractors had back then.

I think that was more to do with the debacle between Kojima and Konami.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Some people want Black Shadow as an excuse to declone Ganon, iirc.

Otherwise, he'd never get this many requests.

EDIT: YOOOO I POSTED FROM THE FUTURE

View attachment 298671

i just want a new f-zero rep in general idc about decloning ganon

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Keep in mind...Snake got cut the very next game.

People rationalized it as him "having nothing to do with Nintendo" and was only put in Brawl as a favor towards Kojima or whatever. Like this was basically the mentality most Snake detractors had back then.

It's kinda ironic to say indies were a huge part of Nintendo's history when Nintendo (and Reggie) actively gave indie games a middle finger during the early 2010s because they didn't consider most indie devs to be real game developers, and only opened up to the idea a whole year after the Wii U's initial flop, years after Sony and Microsoft did the same.

 

[SharkLord]

It's kinda ironic to say indies were a huge part of Nintendo's history when Nintendo (and Reggie) actively gave indie games a middle finger during the early 2010s because they didn't consider most indie devs to be real game developers, and only opened up to the idea a whole year after the Wii U's initial flop, years after Sony and Microsoft did the same.

And that becomes ironic when you consider the Switch's reputation as the indie machine. Oh, how the turn tables.

 

[Among Waddle Dees]

That poll and this image here is a funny little insight into a pre-Cloud world.

As you can see, the mindset was that the frontrunners for newcomers were mostly Nintendo characters and Nintendo-associated third parties, like Shovel Knight and Shantae and what not.

Cloud, for better or worse depending on your viewpoint on this sort of thing, pretty much changed the game. That's kinda when people began going crazy over all these other big third party characters like Master Chief, Dantae, Crash, Doomguy, etc. And unfortunately a lot of the first parties got lost in the fold. Chronobound did a great write up about this in the Dixie thread: https://smashboards.com/threads/dix...-out-dkc3-today.446464/page-303#post-24213384

For some reason, Rick doesn't strike me as a frontrunner. Did he have some following I wasn't aware of back then, or is he creator bias?

You know, in hindsight a number of these characters don't seem all that plausible. But this still makes me nostalgic for simpler, less hype-centric inclusions.