Day 8: Steve
On September 30th, 2020, we got the announcement of the next Smash character announcement. Many speculated over who it could be (with myself thinking it would be the "inevitable" Gen 8 Pokemon), but I feel that few arrived at the conclusion that this character would be the one revealed. The moment I saw those Enderman eyes in the background, I had a strange mix of shock, feelings of absurdity, and hype knowing which character was going to appear fifteen seconds later...
To say that Steve is a big addition is an understatement. This was one of the biggest, most well-known characters you could add, as Steve comes from the highest-selling game of all time (excluding mobile games). I often call Minecraft the most versatile game in existence, so of course, it would attract the attention of the huge audience it did over the years. As one of the many millions of human beings on this planet who have played Minecraft, this character was probably the most deserving third-party rep out there. With Banjo being in the first Fighter’s Pass, I didn’t think Steve would happen, seeing as that meant we would get two Microsoft characters. Of course, it did, and it made the Banjo vs. Steve wars seem silly in retrospect.
I also love how faithful Steve is to his home game. During the Sakurai presents, Steve would be shown having a wacky moveset that involved building blocks, upgrading tools, and making use of some of the other items in Minecraft. In a way, his moveset offers the same kind of creativity that his home game offers, allowing for very clever use of building and managing resources. Now, because of the complexity of Steve's moveset, I can't really play him that well, but damn am I glad he got added to the game.