Official DLC Speculation Discussion Volume II

[PeridotGX]

We're all talking about the how the centralization of the internet is bad, but we aren't discussing the follow-up: how do we stop it? How do we ensure this site doesn't die?

 

[skylanders fan]

We're all talking about the how the centralization of the internet is bad, but we aren't discussing the follow-up: how do we stop it? How do we ensure this site doesn't die?

Visiting the site every now and then will keep them getting advertising

 

[StrangeKitten]

Been busy this past month and a half. Talking to my now-girlfriend, in addition to continuing to talk to my boyfriend, eats up a lotta my time lol.

It's been great speculating with you all! Man I'm gonna miss sharing all our theories, from the very plausible all the way to the out-there. It's been a hell of a ride. I got K Rool, Incineroar, Banjo, and Sora as far as characters I really wanted, with Joker and Sephiroth coming as my favorite surprises! I really hope this forum manages to stick around long enough for us to speculate on the next Smash. I have a feeling we're gonna be waiting 5+ years.

Happy trails, all! Catch ya on the Competitive Impressions thread, Social thread, and whatever other threads pop up!

 

[ProfPeanut]

Wow. This is it, huh? The end of the Smash era as we know it. At least we got a game out of it, huh?

I think many made their peace with this "end" even before this day. After all, so many highly-requested characters finally got in even on Ultimate's launch, and for most, there wasn't much point in worrying over the gravy. Or, more soberingly, there wasn't much point worrying when there was never going to be enough space for everyone who could get in. If it was going to end at some point, then better to reorient one's life sooner rather than later.

Maybe more worrying, then, is that for some people, the mystery of Smash's newcomers was the one thing worth devoting their time to, the thing to live for. And you sort of see that even now, with some making threads to dream about the hypothetical Smash 6. All I can say to that is: isn't there some point where one doesn't live just to dream? That the point of games isn't to imagine them being better, but to play them and enjoy them for what they are? Or to take what positive experiences we gain from them to put into our own lives?

Because if there's anything that doing this speculation business ever since the Brawl days has taught me, it's that a life can't just be about dreaming of how a game can be better.

I hope the support groups can come away and do constructive things with their communities. I hope the people here make lifelong friends with each other, or find new common ground even without the platform of Smash speculation. And if anyone takes away any lesson from Smash Bros. and this long business of watching the most unexpected characters getting in, I hope it's that if anyone can be in this game, then maybe the world can be just as welcoming of a place to everyone of any origin or kind after all. That's always been my biggest takeaway from this franchise.

Boy, I have to apologize if this seemed cheesy. But doing good's really the best we can hope for our words to do.

 

[PeridotGX]

Visiting the site every now and then will keep them getting advertising

Yeah, that's how it works. But back up a second: how do we get people to show up in the first place? How do we keep the people we have from leaving, or bring new people here? We need to stay relevant, to avoid being destroyed by the mega-cities.

 

[GilTheGreat19]

Honestly I'd love play some arena matches with y'all!
Might add some of your Switch FCs at some point so be on the lookout! : )

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Oh is this the last day? Bye everyone, it’s been a fun era for sure

 

[Guynamednelson]

We're all talking about the how the centralization of the internet is bad, but we aren't discussing the follow-up: how do we stop it? How do we ensure this site doesn't die?

Outright stopping it is asking for too much. You'd need to convince hundreds of millions of people to stop using Twitter, Reddit, etc. and start using random forums dedicated to things they like.

 

[Flyboy]

I don't think we can truly stop it, but I do think there's something about Smashboards that thankfully manages to be a nice little bubble that still gets new users, responses, etc. There will likely be a lull for a while, with certain threads and sections still being visited because hey, it's still a fun place to be social and just....talk about stuff, but when a new Smash is announced, there'll be a whole new wave of things to discuss, and I think that's cool.

I think a lot about the way the internet has gone, and part of what makes this place special is that it really is still a surviving, active forum that has been trucking along even in the face of places like Reddit and Twitter, a place that has made itself a part of peoples' lives, and I think that's something special. All we gotta do is focus on being part of it and continuing to have fun here, and don't worry about constant growth. That will come naturally - after all, it IS The Smash forum, and there are still Smash games.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

It’s quite amazing just what happened during Smash Ultimates timeline…not only in the community but even here in the site. There was a few really horrible moments for everyone during Ultimate’s lifespan. I felt like I expanded more of myself and energy during Ultimate’s lifespan than any other Smash game. I never intended to actually. When Ultinate was revealed with that Inkling trailer, I remember telling myself “Don’t get absorbed into it like you did for Smash 4”



Sigh….

 

[FreeFox]

Been busy this past month and a half. Talking to my now-girlfriend, in addition to continuing to talk to my boyfriend, eats up a lotta my time lol.

It's been great speculating with you all! Man I'm gonna miss sharing all our theories, from the very plausible all the way to the out-there. It's been a hell of a ride. I got K Rool, Incineroar, Banjo, and Sora as far as characters I really wanted, with Joker and Sephiroth coming as my favorite surprises! I really hope this forum manages to stick around long enough for us to speculate on the next Smash. I have a feeling we're gonna be waiting 5+ years.

Happy trails, all! Catch ya on the Competitive Impressions thread, Social thread, and whatever other threads pop up!

Both a gilrfriend and a boyfriend?! Just one of those is hard enough. Anyway, good luck!

Honestly I'd love play some arena matches with y'all!
Might add some of your Switch FCs at some point so be on the lookout! : )

Cool! Hopefully I will be looking forward to this.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Both a gilrfriend and a boyfriend?! Just one of those is hard enough. Anyway, good luck!

Yeah, it's a ton of emotional energy but them's the breaks when you have two soulmates haha! Thanks!

 

[WeirdChillFever]

It’s quite amazing just what happened during Smash Ultimates timeline…not only in the community but even here in the site. There was a few really horrible moments for everyone during Ultimate’s lifespan. I felt like I expanded more of myself and energy during Ultimate’s lifespan than any other Smash game. I never intended to actually. When Ultinate was revealed with that Inkling trailer, I remember telling myself “Don’t get absorbed into it like you did for Smash 4”



Sigh….

Base game speculation was a nice short and sweet lure and then DLC got me with sunk cost fallacy deapite having no to little emotional attachment to a specific character like I always had during Smash 4

 

[Guynamednelson]

Outright stopping it is asking for too much. You'd need to convince hundreds of millions of people to stop using Twitter, Reddit, etc. and start using random forums dedicated to things they like.

you know what maybe asking HUNDREDS of millions to stop using Twitter and stop using random forums is asking for too much. Maybe just one million could suffice.

Either way, one thing's for sure: We can't just have an advertisement campaign for Smashboards. We need to do one for the concept of forums in general instead.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Huh? I thought this thread was closing today?

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I just want to say, thank you, y'all.

I've kinda been on and off on this site as a whole, I'll admit, but the best thing is that I've been speculating since before day 1... and it's kinda weird to see that this thread is gonna be gone soon. It's amazing to look back on everything that's happened, and whilst I might not be the most active, prolific or even interesting user here, this place has been wonderful.

I'll be sticking around the site - maybe taking the occasional hiatus, but I'm not leaving. Y'all keep safe, and to those of you who are leaving... good luck and godspeed.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Huh? I thought this thread was closing today?

It is, but not until around 5pm PST.

Y'all still got some time, so make use of it and whip out your goodbye posts or whatever

 

[Sari]

I already posted my goodbyes in the RTC thread already so I'll link it here too:

Rate Their Chances - Smash Ultimate Edition! Day 672: Five Most Likely First and Third Parties for Smash 6, and Final Goodbyes

predictions for next time around eh? tried to do this earlier but got stuck well all i can really do is make predictions based on the current state of everything first things fist 1st parties. with the bigger focus on 3rd parties this one is getting harder but ill have a go Octolings: people...

smashboards.com

It's been fun posting here!

 

[MasterOfKnees]

After Ridley was revealed I said that Ultimate was likely going to be the last game I'd actively partake in speculation for, not because I wanted to make some big decision, but simply because I expected my interest to naturally dwindle after I got the character that brought me here to begin with. It was easy to keep on going until base game since I was still waiting to actually play the game. I could also keep going during FP1 just because I loved the game and it was still fresh, granted in a more subdued manner than previously. But during FP2 my desire as well as my activity has nosedived, and I'm now at the place where I thought I might arrive.

It's not that I'm burned out, when that has previously happened I've had to force myself to cut Smashboards out of my routine. The hunger just isn't there anymore. I'm the type who needs some kind of motivation to keep investing a lot of time into something, and keeping up with Smash speculation is a very big time investment, so with Ridley having been in for 3 years now, and there being no other potential newcomers that light any sort of fire in me, I'm content. I also feel like my own contributions to the site have declined massively, there's nothing that urges me to throw myself into interesting (and sometimes heated) discussions or argue my case through mini-essays anymore, and that was what I loved doing the most on Smashboards. Even as I write this post I know it's probably not going to mean anything to a lot of people here, because I haven't been a prominent member on here for many years now, so newer members haven't had much, if any contact with me whatsoever, and probably don't remember any of my posts since they've generally been very bland as of late.

Having partaken in speculation for Brawl, Smash 4 and Ultimate, I feel comfortable saying I've been part of the best that speculation will ever have to offer anyways. New Smash content will always be exciting, and I'm sure future games will continue to surprise one way or another, but having watched the roster grow from what it was in Melee to what it is now, I feel as if we've arrived at a point where the biggest barriers have been broken.

There are also other factors that come into play. Most of my best friends on here were Ridley and/or K. Rool supporters, and naturally a lot of those people have long since moved on after those two characters got into the game. There are of course still a lot of wonderful people on here, both new and old, but that sense of being part of a tightly-knit community within a tightly-knit community was a big part of what attracted me to the site, and something I know I won't get from Smash again.

This isn't a "I'm never going to post on here again" post, if the site is still healthy I'm sure that I'll drop by whenever the next game is announced, because there are few series as cool as Smash. I probably won't be able to help myself from talking about what I want to see happen with Ridley specifically, it's going to be a massive relief to go into a Smash game with full confidence that he'll be in. But as far as participating in discussions on a daily basis, thinking up rosters, following rumors, and actually getting into the nitty gritty, I've had my fill.

Anyways, that's more than I intended to write about myself, I swear I'm not that self-important.

I'm going to cap off by asking those who bother reading this to try and think back to where you were when Villager picked up that first Smash invite back during E3 2013. Hell, try and think back to what this very site looked like back then, and the many users that have come and gone since. It's a long time ago, isn't it? It's nothing short of madness that Smash has basically been in continuous development since then, but that's what it takes to get a game as crazy as this. Ultimate really is something else.

 

[Slime Scholar]

I wasn’t the biggest poster here, but I’m going to miss Smash speculation. I’ve said a dozen times that I was ready for it to end, because frankly it’s easy to get a little too invested in it and it can become as exhausting as it is exciting past a certain point.

But after so many years, it’s hard to imagine myself not devoting some amount of my attention to it on a regular basis, almost as if the speculation scene is a tiny little part of me. Or maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome? Yeah, let’s go with that. Either way, I’m sure I’ll still lurk a bit, and I’ll almost certainly be around for the next game that gets announced in however many years.

 

[ProfPeanut]

Having partaken in speculation for Brawl, Smash 4 and Ultimate, I feel comfortable saying I've been part of the best that speculation will ever have to offer anyways. New Smash content will always be exciting, and I'm sure future games will continue to surprise one way or another, but having watched the roster grow from what it was in Melee to what it is now, I feel as if we've arrived at a point where the biggest barriers have been broken.

This also strikes me as an interesting consequence of Ultimate, and something only future generations of speculators will really have to contend with. In that future, posters will debate on the contemporary relevance of franchises whose veterans have yet to be fully confirmed, franchises much older than they are now. Waluigi and Dixie Kong and Bandana Dee competing again Fortnite and Genshin Impact and League of Legends, with even newer 1st-2nd party titles caught in the crossfire. Geno still making his case that he WOULD have been in if only things had gone a little bit more right, if only he'd been around for the Ballot, if only such and such circumstances weren't in his way...

I do not envy that, and that's part of why I can't help but feel that speculation is truly over for so many of us who've been here for so long, who'd watched our oldest candidates finally get into Ultimate. It simply isn't going to get better than what we got.

 

[Guynamednelson]

You know we oughta make a thread in General Social about the state of the internet in the current year, and what we can do/whether or not we can do anything about it.

But before I stop talking about that here, I think no one's brought this up yet but how corporate things have gotten is also to blame. Picture this: You're a major corporation and want to advertise your shiny new product online. Which seems easier?

• Only having to focus on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Twitch
• Having to consider hundreds if not thousands of sites, some of which cover a broad range of subjects like those six, some of which have an audience who'd already buy Shiny New Product, and then there's sites full of people who'd never buy it.

 

[DaybreakHorizon]

Thanks for the reply and your feedback. Yeah, "leaps in logic" can be a bad habit for me sometimes. If you know anything about the Myers Briggs type indicator that's the intuitive part of me taking the reigns. Sometimes it pays off, though, as I've gotten things to happen that otherwise wouldn't have had I gone the "safe and sensible" route, so to speak.

There was something fairly concrete that I encountered a while back that was strong evidence that Sakurai and Takaki were actually pretty good friends with one another, but I struggled to find it again when looking for it a second time. Searching for it only turned a vague "there's a rumor" post on GameFAQs. Frustrating. Had I been able to dig it back up I would have included it.

Been starting to rediscover a passion for writing and I actually have a few general ideas I want to unload my thoughts on as a sort of warm up. Any free/cheap online resources or other reading materials you'd recommend for improvement to help ? If the topic gets sealed before you have the chance to respond you can always drop the reply on my profile page.

I think making leaps in logic is a bad habit for a lot of people. Confirmation bias runs rampant in fan communities such as these, because most times we want our speculation to be correct for one reason or another. I'd say being objective is one of the hardest things to do for most when speculating, but it helps boost your credibility and makes it easier when you're wrong. As a side note, if there's not explicit evidence to support your argument (primary sources, though secondary sources are okay sometimes I guess), then make note of that in your writing, or maybe even don't write your argument up at all. A weak argument will always get torn to shreds, which makes things difficult for you when you have the burden of proving your argument (especially if said argument is controversial or widely disagreed with).

My personal recommendation for a writing book is The Elements of Style. It's relatively short and provides some really good tips and pointers for writing. Otherwise, I'd look into books/classes on logic and philosophical/argumentative writing, as those are pretty applicable to speculation or any sort of argument really. I'm quite lucky to have had teachers who have continually taught me argumentative and philosophical writing and challenged me to argue for interesting and novel theses (In my senior year of High School I made a paper about how Hamlet mocks religion by setting up Hamlet, flawed as he is, as a parallel to Christ and it's probably one of my favorite essays to this day). I've also always had an affinity for the English language, including reading and literary analysis. That's certainly helped in interpreting existing sources and making connections that have some sort of validity. Ultimately, it's taken me years of practice and education to get to where I am today, so if you continue writing, getting feedback, and learning you'll surely be on the right track.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

My logic was “Hey Dark Pit and Lucina were given a promotion from being alternate costumes. Daisy is one of the more obvious alternate costumes currently in Smash.” and it wasn‘t exactly a fool-proof syllogism but it actually worked. Leaps of logic and lack of objectivity isn’t exactly the worst that can happen in speculation, but the usual headassery can be forgiven if your points are sound and multi-dimensional enough to hear out. Being kind goes the farthest though.

EDIT: Unless you’re talking about writing fiction in which case you need a killer idea like “What if Golden Girls but with Fire Emblem characters” and some spare time and lack of self-respect

 

[Nabbitfan730]

I'm just going to make goodbye something I've said from another thread.

I'm going to be brutally honest. This is one of the worst experiences with any game regarding this "train journey ride" or whatever you call it. The toxicity, death threats, drama, P*do debacle in 2020, the lame unfunny memes etc. It was horrible, you can't even like or support characters without being hated on these days. One of the main reasons why I have issues with calling Smash "a celebration of gaming" and not just a fun, simple crossover with gaming characters like the days of Melee and Brawl.

Doesn't help with the fact that overall DLC was underwhelming from variety and quantity It focused way too much on fighters then any things with the massive 70 it had already was a bit too much with the DLC being more bulk than substance. Didn't have really good variety in design or gaming genres either. Most of them if not all were all protagonist humans. No animal, robots, cartoony etc or even genres other than JRPGs and few fighting characters to spice things up. Puzzle? FPS? Beat-em up? Battle-Royale? Horror? Survival? MMO? etc. What happened to Smash being the celebration of gaming and not a celebration of 2 genres? I thought with the introduction of Piranha Plant or Steve was sign for things to come that the DLC will be lot more spicy this time around but I guess not. Vol.2 on its own a pass would've been enough.

Also Imagine if we got a Story Mode DLC/WoL Expansion or even a mode like Online Smash Run with one 1 DLC pass too which would've added more replayability and value instead of having just 2 passes. There was so much potential with that especially with the SE + Sora trailers which was just left there to rot basically. Just quantity with a horrible cycle.

As cool as Sora was, I can't really say I was anywhere near satisfied or concluded at the end. I was feeling a wave of disappointment flowing through me for the whole presentation and it really sucks to feel this towards the Ultimate Smash Title. The best one in the series. A game that will never, ever happen to this extent and I hate it so much.

Majority of people playing Smash feeling hype for Sora and playing him will drop him and Ultimate as soon as honeymoon is over next week. Bummer

Oh well, the main question to really ask is:

Where do we, Smash fans, go from here?

 

[Guynamednelson]

One of the main reasons why I have issues with calling Smash "a celebration of gaming" and not just a fun, simple crossover with gaming characters like the days of Melee and Brawl.

What happened to Smash being the celebration of gaming

Is this bait?

 

[PeridotGX]

One thing that I'll say is that the Game Creation threads were a genius way to preserve interest in this site after the DLC cycle ends. They really couldn't be done one one of the "mega-cities", and really foster a sense of community.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

I'm just going to make goodbye something I've said from another thread.

I'm going to be brutally honest. This is one of the worst experiences with any game regarding this "train journey ride" or whatever you call it. The toxicity, death threats, drama, P*do debacle in 2020, the lame unfunny memes etc. It was horrible, you can't even like or support characters without being hated on these days. One of the main reasons why I have issues with calling Smash "a celebration of gaming" and not just a fun, simple crossover with gaming characters like the days of Melee and Brawl.

Doesn't help with the fact that overall DLC was underwhelming from variety and quantity It focused way too much on fighters then any things with the massive 70 it had already was a bit too much with the DLC being more bulk than substance. Didn't have really good variety in design or gaming genres either. Most of them if not all were all protagonist humans. No animal, robots, cartoony etc or even genres other than JRPGs and few fighting characters to spice things up. Puzzle? FPS? Beat-em up? Battle-Royale? Horror? Survival? MMO? etc. What happened to Smash being the celebration of gaming and not a celebration of 2 genres? I thought with the introduction of Piranha Plant or Steve was sign for things to come that the DLC will be lot more spicy this time around but I guess not. Vol.2 on its own a pass would've been enough.

Also Imagine if we got a Story Mode DLC/WoL Expansion or even a mode like Online Smash Run with one 1 DLC pass too which would've added more replayability and value instead of having just 2 passes. There was so much potential with that especially with the SE + Sora trailers which was just left there to rot basically. Just quantity with a horrible cycle.

As cool as Sora was, I can't really say I was anywhere near satisfied or concluded at the end. I was feeling a wave of disappointment flowing through me for the whole presentation and it really sucks to feel this towards the Ultimate Smash Title. The best one in the series. A game that will never, ever happen to this extent and I hate it so much.

Majority of people playing Smash feeling hype for Sora and playing him will drop him and Ultimate as soon as honeymoon is over next week. Bummer

Oh well, the main question to really ask is:

Where do we, Smash fans, go from here?

While I do agree a WoL expansion would have been cool…

what does all those Smash players being exposed as sex offenders have to do with speculation???

 

[DarthEnderX]

Oh hell yeah! It's even future proofed!

 

[Nabbitfan730]

Is this bait?

Ah yes. Because more realistic and nuance point of view of Ultimate just has to be bait because it isn't automatically a positive one

While I do agree a WoL expansion would have been cool…

what does all those Smash players being exposed as sex offenders have to do with speculation???

They aren't apart of the Smash Community?

 

[7NATOR]

I kind of forgot about the site because I've been busy with life stuff, but also Playing Sora. He's really Fun, and I might actually think if Maining him, and also coming from just playing KH1 before he came out, while his Specials are KH1 based, he feels more like KH2 Sora in Normal and Attributes.

I'll say this, Despite not getting any Predictions besides a few Mii Costumes and the fact Ken would be the most unique echo (if he got in), I had fun with Speculation as a whole. Lots of interesting Discussion and Theories and Rumors/leaks(Fake or Real) and there's some pretty swell people here and in other places. I'm glad to call this my First Main Smash Speculation cycle, though hopefully with next game I can be more accurate and get my Most Wanted and not have any personal stakes in Speculation anymore

The only thing I hope now is that Life goes good for everyone here for times to come. Whether some of you guys come back to speculate in years time or not, What matters is that you succeed in life by your own terms and such. that's it pretty much

 

[Cyberfire]

Goodbye thread, I'll miss lurking here and occasionally posting. See you for the next Smash!

 

[RileyXY1]

Goodbye thread, I'll miss lurking here and occasionally posting. See you for the next Smash!

If there is a next Smash.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Oh hell yeah! It's even future proofed!

Future episodes in the making, right here.

 

[ZelDan]

If there is a next Smash.

As I always say

As long as Nintendo likes money, we will always have Smash.

 

[cashregister9]

Time to put an arbitrary number onto all of the Newcomers in Ultimate before the thread ends because I want too and I've had time to play as Sora.

-8/10, I'm happy that they're here and I love how they play, I wish there was more Splatoon 2 content
-5/10, I love daisy, not really her move set. I would rather have her here than not.
-7/10, I like this dude.
-6/10 I like Simon, not a fan of the design they chose for him
-8/10 Byootiful, I am also a fan of how he plays
-7/10 I'm glad he's here, I still maintain that Lucina should have been unique and chrom should have been an echo of her but I digress
-5/10 No strong opinion
-7/10 I wasn't a big fan of K. Rool but god damn his inclusion here really sold me on him
-10/10 I didn't even realize she was my most wanted at the time and I couldn't be happier
-8/10 I like Ken and I'm real glad we have more SF rep
-9/10 I love how they play and they have personality up the wazoo
-8/10 Funny Plant
-10/10 Unexpected and Fun as hell to play as. Persona music always makes anything better
-8/10 The leak kinda ruined the hype but I'm still happy we have DQ content
-8/10 Same as K. Rool, they get an extra point because I love their stage
-8/10 Unexpected but he made me fall in love with SNK games and his stage might be my favorite in the game
-6/10 I like Byleth's inclusion but something about their kit feels off, I also love the stage.
-9/10 Min Min is just plain cool, I love everything about her Challenger pack and her playstyle
-10/10 I love this lil god of destruction, also the Stage is easily my second favorite in the game
-7/10 He has the best reveal trailer in the game and he is fun to play, I really wish we got FF content that wasn't from Seven
-7/10 He fits like a glove and I'm glad he's here
-11/10 HOLY ****. I absolutely love how he plays and the stage and he was a fantastic addition to end Ultimate on.

 

[Idon]

If there is a next Smash.

Yeah Nintendo might just stop making a multi-million selling game franchise which also pushes sales of their hardware, promotes their new games and makes connections with other companies....

for reasons.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Yeah Nintendo might just stop making a multi-million selling game franchise which also pushes sales of their hardware, promotes their new games and makes connections with other companies....

for reasons.

SoNy stopped making Ape escape, Level 5 stopped making Layton, Nothing is stopping nintendo from going "yeah. Thats enough"

Thats not to say they will, just that nothing is stopping them

 

[Dinoman96]

SoNy stopped making Ape escape, Level 5 stopped making Layton, Nothing is stopping nintendo from going "yeah. Thats enough"

Thats not to say they will, just that nothing is stopping them

...except for the fact that Smash is approximately 100x more popular and successful than any of those franchises in their prime?

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

...except for the fact that Smash is approximately 100x more popular and successful than any of those franchises in their prime?

Like I said. Im not saying they will, just saying nothing is stopping them