Official DLC Speculation Discussion Volume II

[Commander_Alph]

Is it just me or is the Smash community somehow more lively with the inclusion of Pyra/Mythra than they were with Sephiroth, Steve etc... or was I just not paying as much attention then lol? Wherever I see Smash stuff online now, people are super hyped about the XC2 girls and I don't think I saw similar enthusiasm with some of the past few characters. Eh, I dunno, good to see excitement anyway, and I'm glad that first party characters still get as grand of a welcome as third parties.

I'm just glad that 1st party gets warm welcome from the Nintendo fans themselves, that didn't happened with the previous character unfortunately but hey, let's just enjoy it.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Just please if any of the last two are any of the following:

• Reimu
• Ahri/LoL rep
• Octoling
• Black Shadow (yeah I know I know)
• KOS-MOS, if Lloyd doesnt beat her to the new Namco rep spot
• Elma (would take one HELL of a miracle for this)
• Fiora (if she escapes Final Smash hell like Chrom did)
• Neku (super super doubtful)
• Gunvolt (probably even LESS likely than Reimu but I need those GV bops)
• **** it even Arle Nadja

I promise I’ll never ask for anything again

Updated MW list, I suppose I’ll list their likeliness in earnest now

1. Reimu - 4/10. Touhou is a JUGGERNAUT in Japan, and has somewhat of a following in the west. However, to play the official games in the west you gotta be a bit tech savvy and the only games available the “normal” way are fan made spinoffs
2. Ahri/LoL rep - 6.5/10. League of Legends is the #1 esport in the world, but they’d sooner choose Crash or MC as another western rep anyway I think
3. Octoling - 5/10. Splatoon 3 raises their chances I think, they’re a base game spirit with no other spirits from Octo expansion or music, but the Squid Sisters Mii doesn’t look good even if they represent the first Splatoon or are part of the ATs-to-costumes trend.
4. Black Shadow - 2/10. Base game spirit, but also. F-ZERO IS ON HIATUS ALMOST TWO DECADES NOW. who knows if Nintendo even wants to bring it back
5. KOS-MOS - 7/10. Probably the one with the best shot and that’s saying something. Usually final reveals like of base, pass 1 etc are the least hype worthy to the masses but it sure as hell would make me happy esp if she comes with a T-elos alt or even bundled echo. Plus it could be a send off by finally letting Namco, who’s been developing the game, have one more fighter. Of course, her biggest competition atm is Lloyd, who I think will get costumed again. It’s only a matter of time. Then again Namco can get the short end of the stick again cause they feel it’d be nepotism or something idk
6. Elma - 1.5/10. Cries in X still not being ported, Sawano having potential legal issues, her Spirit having a convoluted unlock method and her pretty much NEEDING more DLC or a hypothetical Ultimate Deluxe. I seriously doubt they’d double dip with the same franchise after Pythra
7. (Heh see what I did there) Fiora - 1/10. Chrom very much seems the exception and not the rule when it comes to Final Smash cameo characters being playable in the same game. It is fishy that Fiora has no voice in Shulk’s FS while Dunban and Riki do, but maybe they just couldn’t contact Carina Reeves in time...
8. Neku - 3/10. Sephiroth says hi. Also isn’t TWEWY NEO bound for 2022? If not I can see it getting delayed. Unless again pass 3/Ult DX happens but again still ain’t holding my breath
9. Gunvolt - 2/10. Even less likely than Reimu if you count legacy; GV’s first rodeo was in 2014. However, IntiCreates SEEMS easy to work with and doesn’t have that tech literacy in the west barrier Reimu seems to have. Could have gotten a Mii or Spirit Event by now but didn’t. Not even a base game Spirit - Shantae is our first indie base game Spirit.
10. Arle Nadja - 7/10. Oh wow she’s actually tied with KOS-MOS here. Hosoyamada retweeted what would be the Byleth presentation that also revealed pass 2; and PPT2 COULD have had a spirit event around release but it didn’t. However, part of me still kinda doubts

... bottom line is NONE of them are gonna make it anyway I’ve accepted that

 

[Cosmic77]

It will be telling to see if Crash, Hayabusa, or both will the heavily speculated fighters simply didn't get in even after so many predictions for them. I think every Smash hype cycle always has that set of characters that almost feel inevitable and yet when its over, they simply never show up. And given that so many other heavy hitters have gradually gone by the wayside for most in speculation for one reason or another (Further Square Enix & Microsoft characters due to their companies already getting in the second pass, characters getting spirited or Mii costumed, etc) they and a few assorted Sega figures (Eggman, Arle) feel like they're the last prominent dominos left to fall this year.

A lot of people focus on one particular trait of a character so much during speculation that they fail to see the bigger picture. Geno, for example, was rated as one of the most likely characters for pretty much every moment after Ridley was revealed. His popularity got him far, despite the fact that he had more things holding him back than less frequently discussed characters such as Steve or Sephiroth.

Crash largely depends on his image in the gaming community, and Hayabusa has sort of become a missing third-party piece in an imaginary third-party puzzle. Personally, I think people should take a step back and try not to overrate these characters, especially considering how we only have two spots left and we're STILL labeling them as two of the most likely additions. Geno was a broken record of, "He's probably happening," until his costume was dropped hard on fans, and I feel like these two are following the same path.

 

[Paraster]

Also isn’t TWEWY NEO bound for 2022? If not I can see it getting delayed. Unless again pass 3/Ult DX happens but again still ain’t holding my breath

Trailer says Summer 2021, though I agree a delay is still possible.
I think the chances of a TWEWY Spirit Board Event (or maybe a save data spirit like Sophia/Arthur) are pretty good.

 

[TraaP]

No he didn't
View attachment 306130

Not here to debate whose likely or not just saying figure theory shouldn't be taken to literal

& does Min Min or Byleth even have a figure?

 

[MarioRaccoon]

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 18 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

& does Min Min or Byleth even have a figure?

Barring Amiibo, I don’t think so

p sure Hero & Terry didn’t either, again not counting Amiibo

 

[chocolatejr9]

Is it just me or is the Smash community somehow more lively with the inclusion of Pyra/Mythra than they were with Sephiroth, Steve etc... or was I just not paying as much attention then lol? Wherever I see Smash stuff online now, people are super hyped about the XC2 girls and I don't think I saw similar enthusiasm with some of the past few characters. Eh, I dunno, good to see excitement anyway, and I'm glad that first party characters still get as grand of a welcome as third parties.

Maybe people are finally starting to acknowledge how great XC2 is!

A man can dream...

 

[DarthEnderX]

I like that Figure Theory is a thing now, because I made a gag based on the theory the LAST time Sakurai showed us his figure collection pre-Hero announcement. So I get to recycle the image I made now!

 

[3BitSaurus]

Is it just me or is the Smash community somehow more lively with the inclusion of Pyra/Mythra than they were with Sephiroth, Steve etc... or was I just not paying as much attention then lol? Wherever I see Smash stuff online now, people are super hyped about the XC2 girls and I don't think I saw similar enthusiasm with some of the past few characters. Eh, I dunno, good to see excitement anyway, and I'm glad that first party characters still get as grand of a welcome as third parties.

I'd say it has to do with their playstyle. Min Min's gameplay is... pretty divisive, to say the least, Steve struggles agains crowds and his gimmick may be too complex to some and Sephiroth is pretty much a glass cannon - a trait that may not fly for some folk.

Meanwhile, P/M can pull some really flashy **** while simultaneously being simple and fun to play. And yeah, being a popular request helps.

That said, I think it also has to do with that "iT's bRoKEn!" stage we go through every time we get a new character. So the bulk of it might go away in a few weeks.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

Is it just me or is the Smash community somehow more lively with the inclusion of Pyra/Mythra than they were with Sephiroth, Steve etc... or was I just not paying as much attention then lol? Wherever I see Smash stuff online now, people are super hyped about the XC2 girls and I don't think I saw similar enthusiasm with some of the past few characters. Eh, I dunno, good to see excitement anyway, and I'm glad that first party characters still get as grand of a welcome as third parties.

I mean Steve and Sephiroth got some huge receptions, particularly in non traditional Smash avenues for being absolutely massive inclusions, so I don't particularly see Pyra/Mythra getting a bigger reception than them overall. I will say, however, Pyra/Mythra is probably the most well received first party DLC so far in part because of XC2's success and just the longer interest in seeing it get into Smash. Of the new Nintendo characters in the past few years, Pyra/Mythra have become a bit of their own fan favorite, so that helps ignite Smash communities a little bit more obviously whereas Steve and Sephiroth had a lot of their impact in other channels. It also helps that Pyra/Mythra sort of includes two fighters and also specifically makes a choice a lot of people wanted to see in skipping over Rex since a lot of people aren't his biggest fan. It's just a solid reception for a character that Min Min didn't quite reach while Byleth and Plant were much, much less universally accepted.

A lot of people focus on one particular trait of a character so much during speculation that they fail to see the bigger picture. Geno, for example, was rated as one of the most likely characters for pretty much every moment after Ridley was revealed. His popularity got him far, despite the fact that he had more things holding him back than less frequently discussed characters such as Steve or Sephiroth.

Crash largely depends on his image in the gaming community, and Hayabusa has sort of become a missing third-party piece in an imaginary third-party puzzle. Personally, I think people should take a step back and try not to overrate these characters, especially considering how we only have two spots left and we're STILL labeling them as two of the most likely additions. Geno was a broken record of, "He's probably happening," until his costume was dropped hard on fans, and I feel like these two are following the same path.

I feel like it's a horrid false equivalence to compare Geno, Hayabusa, and Crash across the board like this when they all come from very different backgrounds and especially considering like all of the really unique circumstances around Geno as this weird as hell part of speculation that nothing else really comes close to. Like there's reasons people look at them positively as having a chance from the beginning and like as they "survive" as other options are whittled down through Costumes, Spirit Events, and general circumstances, people are going to stick to their guns in seeing them as possibilities.

Also claiming that people don't see the "bigger picture" without making any effort to clarify what that means feels a little off, as does just claiming Hayabusa is a missing third party piece and not the "NES franchises have gotten lots of love and Hayabusa is another classic icon from that era while Koei Tecmo is a pretty big partner with Nintendo so he could make sense as inclusion" that most people frame that choice as.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I'm just glad that 1st party gets warm welcome from the Nintendo fans themselves, that didn't happened with the previous character unfortunately but hey, let's just enjoy it.

While even in a vacuum, Min Min and Pyra/Mythra were never going to get the same backlash as Byleth, I do think the execution of the former two has helped temper a lot the antipathy they might have gotten otherwise. The guessing with an ARMS character gave a focus other than disappointment at any specific fighter and a lot of the pushback against one was out of people's systems by the time the actual selection was shown off. Getting a Xenoblade 2 character for Smash in a Direct that was filled with a lot of news meant that even some negative responses were largely put on the backburner in favor of the other major reveals that happened with the presentation.

Outside maybe a mystery reveal for the last fighter that turns out to be a Gen 8 Pokemon, I don't we'll realistically get the kind of heated response to a fighter like that January 2020 video did, largely because I don't think a perfect storm of elements to maximize negativity will happen like that again

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Man y'all are really surprised that a character from the sequel to a game people massively overhype has loud praise. Xenoblade fans have always been incredibly loud, it's how the game got brought to the US

 

[chocolatejr9]

Man y'all are really surprised that a character from the sequel to a game people massively overhype has loud praise. Xenoblade fans have always been incredibly loud, it's how the game got brought to the US

Plus, they're the only ones who never calmed down. I don't hear anyone talk about The Last Story or Pandora's Tower.

Though I was always curious about those two...

 

[Dinoman96]

I honestly think people will be mostly fine with first parties provided they arent just like, an obligatory Pokemon or Fire Emblem character.

I think the likes of Dixie Kong, Isaac, Ring Fit Trainee, an all new Zelda character, etc would mostly go through well with people. It's just that an 11th Pokemon character is not something I think the hardcore Smash community would be really enthused about at this stage in the game, especially with there only being two characters left. At least...that's how I feel.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I honestly think people will be mostly fine with first parties provided they arent just like, an obligatory Pokemon or Fire Emblem character.

I mean, any character from a series not yet represented is going to be more welcome than one from a series with 5+ characters already.

Like, I don't like that Ice Climbers is a Fighter. But I like it more than half the FE characters being Fighters.

 

[Lamperouge]

Man y'all are really surprised that a character from the sequel to a game people massively overhype has loud praise. Xenoblade fans have always been incredibly loud, it's how the game got brought to the US

If you don't like the series, fine (I'm not going to deny that it's incredibly flawed and off putting at times), but you can express your opinion without sounding so abrasive about it, and I'm not just referring to this post specifically but how your attitude towards Xenoblade has been in general as of late.

 

[Dinoman96]

I mean, any character from a series not yet represented is going to be more welcome than one from a series with 5+ characters already.

Exactly lol

Min Min and Pythra were nice because they were the first DLC Nintendo newcomers to like, not bolt yet another fighter to a series that already had a ****load of representation to begin with. If they just kept selecting first party characters from series that are considered still unrepresented (like DK) or series with no representation at all, then there wouldn't be much complaints outside of some people who just want nothing but third parties.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

If you don't like the series, fine (I'm not going to deny that it's incredibly flawed and off putting at times), but you can express your opinion without sounding so abrasive about it, and I'm not just referring to this post specifically but how your attitude towards Xenoblade has been in general as of late.

I enjoyed the first game and I like X, but I really wouldn't call the original "one of the greatest RPGs of our generation" like 90% of the fanbase does. Which is my point, Xenoblade fans, for better or worse, are easily some of the loudest fans out of Nintendo franchises who constantly sing the highest of praises to the point of making **** up to make the game look better such as how 'deep' the main cast is compared to other RPGs

 

[Commander_Alph]

So, people don't have problem with the many Mario character (you can include Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong if you want but mostly Super Mario Bros. character that hasn't yet branched path)?

 

[Staarih]

Man y'all are really surprised that a character from the sequel to a game people massively overhype has loud praise. Xenoblade fans have always been incredibly loud, it's how the game got brought to the US

Yeah true, but I was moreso talking about the "Smash scene" being more lively about them compared to the others. But it's probably because their moveset is so varied and easy to pick up I guess, like 3BitSaurus said.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

So, people don't have problem with the many Mario character (you can include Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong if you want but mostly Super Mario Bros. character)?

There's 3 camps, people who think Mario deserves it all and are happy for it, people who think Mario's allowed to have it but have it depend on the character and people who have a problem with Mario getting more characters.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 18 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

This is purly bias but Layton and Yuri

 

[Dinoman96]

It really is fasinating how much the Xenoblade franchise has grown since 2012. Orginally it was just yet another oddball Japan only Wii game doomed to never be localized, but since then it's become a major series with multiple installments, ports/remasters, and a large presence in Smash Bros. with a whole slew of fighters, stages, music, etc and an assist trophy. Meanwhile, the other Operation Rainfall games (Last Story and Pandora's Tower) have all but been forgotten.

I remember that back in Smash 4 (prior to the Gematsu leaks), I never thought Shulk had a chance of being anything but an assist trophy at most. We've come so far...

 

[Commander_Alph]

It's actually pretty sad that only Xenoblade got a special treatment cause that series is not the only thing that fans pushed to be localized cause we have Last Story and Pandora's Tower who fall into obscurity which Xenoblade avoid, that maybe because MonolithSoft have work with Bamco and Enix before with their game gets a pretty decent score and Xeno series exist before Xenoblade which mean the audience already aware of it.

 

[SharkLord]

I guess Lloyd is more popular than Yuri in terms of smash speculation in Japan too. Also, Cress is decently popular choice.
However, I don't really see many people specifically asking for Lloyd himself, and most of the time the contexts are something like, his western popularity, he was once a mii, dual swords, or just because people say so.
Dedicated Yuri fans can be seen in the community, but rarely see actual Lloyd fans. Some are never played Symphonia and wanting Lloyd just sake for smash speculation.
People actively wanting Tales characters seems to be okay with anyone, so Lloyd is also a very welcoming choice for them of course, but yeah, at the same time I see Yuri and Cress a lot more coming from them than the hard-core smash speculators.

I also noticed one thing.
Sakurai's words for Lloyd from Nintendo Dream interview constantly gets brought up in the Western community, but I rarely see this development in the Japan side.
Probably this is because of the translations only skimming the main paragraphs of the article, I guess? In the same article, there is a little note says "Lloyd is the most popular Tales character on the Nintendo consoles!?" The notes are often written by the editor, not Sakurai himself, but sometimes important information can be found there which clearly can tell that they're coming directly from Sakurai but they just couldn't put into the main texts since that would diffuse the flow of the article.
I think "Sakurai admitting the definitive Tales character is Lloyd" context is something the Japan side doesn't share like the West does.

Ah, I see. So from what I can gather, he's still the (Or at least a) frontrunner in terms of Smash speculation over there, but he's not quite as popular in terms of Smash, either.
So Lloyd would appeal to the West more, but the Japanese fanbase would still be pleased as well. Given how big Tales is over there, I'd imagine they'd be pleased with any fighter from the series short of the most utterly reviled characters, so Lloyd could help spread out the appeal to the West while his series itself still appeals to Japan.

 

[Slime Master]

I enjoyed the first game and I like X, but I really wouldn't call the original "one of the greatest RPGs of our generation" like 90% of the fanbase does. Which is my point, Xenoblade fans, for better or worse, are easily some of the loudest fans out of Nintendo franchises who constantly sing the highest of praises to the point of making **** up to make the game look better such as how 'deep' the main cast is compared to other RPGs

To be fair, that seems to be a thing with a lot of RPGs. I know Undertale and Persona fans had a reputation for it at least. I also see a lot of people claiming Mother is the best thing ever.

All of this is silly because obviously Dragon Quest is the greatest RPG series

 

[Dinoman96]

It's actually pretty sad that only Xenoblade got a special treatment cause that series is not the only thing that fans pushed to be localized cause we have Last Story and Pandora's Tower who fall into obscurity which Xenoblade avoid, that maybe because MonolithSoft have work with Bamco and Enix before with their game gets a pretty decent score and Xeno series exist before Xenoblade which mean the audience already aware of it.

Yeah the main thing Xenoblade has going for it is that it's made by a studio Nintendo directly owns. TLS and PT were created by Mistwalker and Ganbarion respectively, and the former have been stuck in mobile game hell lately and the latter just mostly makes One Piece games these days.

Also funny to think that Nintendo themselves didn't even bother publishing these Operation Rainfall games in NA besides obviously Xenoblade, they just let Xseed handle it for them for the other two.

 

[PeridotGX]

it's funny: I just remembered that Pyra/Mythra stole a moveset idea I had a long time ago, for Meowth of all things. My idea for it had all 3 of the regional forms as a sort of tag team fighter, with Kantonian as the median, Alolan as the fast and frail one, and Galarian as the more defensive and strong one.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 19 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)
19) Sgt. Cortez (THQ Nordic)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

Crash Bandicoot is fighter 10 or he's not in Smash and I know you didn't include him on the list but I could potentially see Sora being Fighter 11. Since you haven't though, I'll just have to go with Sgt. Cortez.

Time to Split

 

[Cutie Gwen]

To be fair, that seems to be a thing with a lot of RPGs. I know Undertale and Persona fans had a reputation for it at least. I also see a lot of people claiming Mother is the best thing ever.

All of this is silly because obviously Dragon Quest is the greatest RPG series

Honestly this reminds me of a quote I saw the other day

There was a problem fetching the tweet

I swear, all of those people refused to touch JRPGs beyond Pokemon until then

 

[Commander_Alph]

Yeah the main thing Xenoblade has going for it is that it's made by a studio Nintendo directly owns. TLS and PT were created by Mistwalker and Ganbarion respectively, and the former have been stuck in mobile game hell lately and the latter just mostly makes One Piece games these days.

Also funny to think that Nintendo themselves didn't even bother publishing these Operation Rainfall games in NA besides obviously Xenoblade, they just let Xseed handle it for them for the other two.

Well, there's a lot of benefit for living under the same roof as Nintendo as you can easily get on their good side, the other one being that the studio have to work hard by making or helping with the development of their pre-existing series (Retro Studio, Alpha Dream, etc.)

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

Barring Amiibo, I don’t think so

p sure Hero & Terry didn’t either, again not counting Amiibo

Sakurai time traveled into the future to get these amiibo so he could go back and make the actual fighters. Figure theory lives on!

 

[Shado-will]

Barring Amiibo, I don’t think so

p sure Hero & Terry didn’t either, again not counting Amiibo

I think I saw a Hero and Terry figure when Sakurai was showing his collection off, but not Byleth or Min Min.

 

[SpecterFlower]

• Sora (Kingdom Hearts): His chances are pretty good, he has the popularity with both Smash fans and general gamers..all depends on if a deal can be struck, which I think it can, Disney isn't as hard to work with as people like to think it is. 9/10
• 2B (NieR Automata): Her chances were hurt by Sephiroth, but she's still possible. I would put her chances at a solid 50/50 depending on if Nintendo wants her and are willing to double dip on companies in a single pass. 5/10
• Saber (Fate/stay night): Her chances are higher than Western fans like to think given that the Fate series is amazingly popular in Japan in all forms of media while the anime and Fate/Grand Order are gaining popular in the West. I doubt Type:Moon would deny Nintendo the rights to Saber for Smash Bros. Not super high, but likely enough. 8/10
• Aigis (Persona 3): Her chances are very slim given that there's not much going on for Persona 3 right now and the game isn't as popular as Persona 4 and especially Persona 5. Aigis herself is extremely popular amongst Persona fans, but I feel her chances are slim..about 3/10
• Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria): She doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell when both Yuri and Lloyd are more popular characters with the Tales & Smash Fanbases. Although she'd have a more unique moveset than they would, that isn't what would get her chosen over them. 2/10
• Asuka (Senran Kagura): Never gonna happen. Given the way her series is and it not being all that popular in comparison to other series, there is no way she's coming in.. 1/10
• Dante (Devil May Cry): The Capcom Mii Fighter costumes were a blow to him, so I'd put his chances as 4/10.

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 18 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

Yuri and Ryu.

 

[Curious Villager]

It's actually pretty sad that only Xenoblade got a special treatment cause that series is not the only thing that fans pushed to be localized cause we have Last Story and Pandora's Tower who fall into obscurity which Xenoblade avoid, that maybe because MonolithSoft have work with Bamco and Enix before with their game gets a pretty decent score and Xeno series exist before Xenoblade which mean the audience already aware of it.

tbh this is coming from an outsider looking in and who wasn't too invested into the whole Operation Rainfall thing and mainly saw it in passing when browsing around gaming communities and whatnot, but even back then, I always kind of felt that people mainly made a bigger fuss out of wanting Xenoblade localized and pushed it as the main centrepiece whereas the other two games where pushed more right behind it.

At least, I remembered seeing more artworks and avatars and whatnot from Xenoblade being shared around, whereas I barely even remember what the cover arts of the Last Story and Pandora's Tower even looked like...

But that's probably just me. Unfortunate those two never reached quite the same heights as Xenoblade did though...

 

[Aboyd]

Both the Ryu Leakers (IamShifty and Brew) as well as Vergeben Specifically said that Koei had Discussions about Smash and/or stuff about Ryu being in Smash. In regards to just Verge, since he's considered the more credible one, He only said discussions with Koei and Nintendo about Smash happened, but Ryu was just his speculation.

and yeah, there could have been related to Byleth only


I will say that If you go in the Ryu thread on this site, there is some documentation about some of the "Inside rumors". Apparently people were either getting warned or getting in trouble for Talking about Ryu in Smash. Brew even had a post where he said he talked about Undertale costume and did not get in trouble, but when Talking about Ryu is when he was getting warned

I will say that Without the leaks, Ryu would still probably be speculated. He just may not be seen as among the biggest frontrunner like he is now, but he does have merits for his inclusion that go beyond the leaks

There’s also the Age of Calamity and Persona 5 Strikers spirits that could have been the discussion with Koei Tecmo

 

[Rie Sonomura]

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 18 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

1. Crash. As much as I'd be cool with my other choice Shantae, I prefer Gunvolt or Reimu more
2. Professor Layton cause Professor Pumpkaboo deserves to be happy. I know how not getting even one you want feels

 

[Technomage]

People wanted a Xenoblade character since early ultimate speculation days, that was 3 years ago.

Finally we were heard and thats good.

BTW I know that now there are no more reliable leaks but at Sakurai’s last presentation, he mentions that they first thought of putting first Rex with Pyra/Mythra and if you remember that 40 name character list, it mentions Rex. Moreover, it also mentions Arthur and we got a mii costume of him. Maybe it was a simple coincidence (List:https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/user_image/8/0/3/AAe0kDAAA_Lz.jpg). If we take out already confirmed fighters, mii costumes and from that same companies, we got a list of 18 characters left:

1) Bandana Waddle Dee (Nintendo)
2) Bill Rizer (Konami)
3) Captain Toad (Nintendo)
4) Doom Slayer (Bethesda)
5) Flynn (Sega)
6) Jibanyan (Level-5)
7) Lana (??)
8) Linkle (Nintendo/Koei-Tecmo)
9) Lloyd (Namco-Bandai)
10) Porky (Nintendo)
11) Professor Layton (Level-5)
12) Rayman (Ubisoft)
13) Ryu Hayabusa (Koei-Tecmo)
14) Shantae (WayFoward)
15) Spyro (Activision-Blizzard)
16) Crash Bandicoot (Activision-Blizzard)
17) Quote (Nicalis)
18) Yuri (Namco-Bandai)

So from this list, which ones do you want as the final 2? I don’t have too much faith in these leak but its possible to suggest that during these past years Nintendo talked with a lot of companies about putting their characters in smash (Bethesda confirms that) and they make a list of possible candidates from each company. They showed Sakurai the list and he chooses the candidates, then negotiations proceed.

Hmmm, I'd pick Crash and Yuri, the former because I'd be interested in playing as him (especially if he has Coco alts), and the latter because I love femboys.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

Professor Layton cause Professor Pumpkaboo deserves to be happy. I know how not getting even one you want feels

I wish and hope it happens but that just leads to disappoinment because everyone knows that its never gonna happen