Elma for Smash Ultimate: Strength comes from experience. That’s true on any planet.

[Reila]

Welcome I wouldn't mind having Rex in the roster but I think he would be perfect for DLC as well as Spring man because if the proposal plan was finished late 2015 or early 2016 I don't believe Rex's and Pyra's design were finshed at that time.

Personally I think if they release DLC, they will be mostly popular third parties again. But what do I know. That said, with the "not a lot of new challengers" thing, I think it is safer to not expect DLC characters until and if they announce them.

As for Xenoblade 2 characters, I just dislike how they look like "Tales of" rejects instead of actual Xenoblade characters. Both the art style and the character designs are a huge step down from the previous two games.

 

[EchoAegis]

As for Xenoblade 2 characters, I just dislike how they look like "Tales of" rejects instead of actual Xenoblade characters. Both the art style and the character designs are a huge step down from the previous two games.

Oh I'm on the same boat as well the character design for Rex and Xenoblade 2, in general, are just ugly to look at for me personally.

Spoiler: Upcoming XB2 content spoilers

I wonder how Elma gonna look in the XB2 art style? Shulk and Fiora actually looked okay in the style hopefully Elma will be the same.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

Oh I'm on the same boat as well the character design for Rex and Xenoblade 2, in general, are just ugly to look at for me personally.

Spoiler: Upcoming XB2 content spoilers

I wonder how Elma gonna look in the XB2 art style? Shulk and Fiora actually looked okay in the style hopefully Elma will be the same.

Tbh I hate how shulk and fiora look in that art style, it's just wrong, especially the hair which they made more anime-ish and it just looks bad.

Spoiler

Hopefully they don't mess with Elma's face too much, I'd hate it if they give her those giant ass anime eyes some of the XC2 characters have. But it'll all be worth it especially if they let Elma interact with Shulk and Fiora. I hope we get Lin too though, it feels right to have both of them

 

[majorasmaskfan]

I think we'll get more dlc in general and more first party dlc
A. No veterans to bring back

B. The switch sells well unlike the wiiu and we won't need a new smash for probably atleast half a decade

 

[BluePikmin11]

By the time Brawl was released, stuff like Path of Radiance Ike and Lucas (since Mother was confirmed to end back in 2006) felt unintentionally "outdated". Palutena was similarly "outdated" by the time Smash 4 released as Sakurai confirmed it had no future. Remember, it's what's recent around the time development begins that is important, not what's recent two years later.

I am mostly just stating the difference between why Elma could be added versus why Corrin was added via Smash 4 DLC. I do not believe promotion and international release will help Elma. Only if the timing of Elma's JP game release and Sakurai possibly planning Elma somewhere in October during the possible phase of considering newcomers for the first proposal can I see Elma truly be seriously considered. And that could go either way. This is the root of my skepticism.

 

[PSIGuy]

The designer for Shulk and Fiora's blade appearances was actually the Xenoblade X character designer (and Xenogears character designer). I really like Shulk and Fiora's XB2 appearance as a result since I'm a fan of Gears. The goofy ahoge is a weird touch, though.

Depending on your frame of reference, Elma in XB2 might look more or less like what she should, if that ,akes any sense. I have characters like Miang from Xenogears in mind, or at least a less defined nose like her concept art.

 

[DNeon]

Spoiler

I'd hate it if they give her those giant *** anime eyes some of the XC2 characters have

NGL I read that as two different issues the first couple of times, 'giant ***' and 'anime eyes' which wouldn't even be inaccurate for that god damn game's awful character design

 

[Rie Sonomura]

How has Elma been doing in RTC today?

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

She is doing better just based on the game beginning development in late 2015 and making it too early for Rex to be considered, but some think her not having a high spot on the ballot is going to hurt her. Honestly, while I believe a majority of the newcomers will benefit from the ballot(K.Rool, Ashley, Geno), not all characters will be picked based on ballot results. Sakurai likes the Xenoblade series, and I am sure he wants to put in another character to help the series get more recognition.

 

[PSIGuy]

If 2015~ characters are added, it'll be in spite of the ballot, not because. You can't expect anyone debuting in the same year as the ballot to compare to the likes of K. Rool or Ridley. (Especially if your game released in the West after the ballot ended...) I think a lot of people assume the new additions will all be fanservice, but we've also only got two newcomers and all returning characters to judge it against. We might get the standard "last gen debuts and franchises + some favorites" every Smash game has added, just on a smaller scale.

 

[EchoAegis]

Another question, do you think enough time has passed that we can have Elma's other form be an alternate costume? or is it too spoilery too soon?

I was thinking the same thing myself but I would say enough time has passed for that certain form as a costume to be added. Fiora is a good example of a spoiler being just there without any Warning or indication so it doesn't seem impossible.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

I was thinking the same thing myself but I would say enough time has passed for that certain form as a costume to be added. Fiora is a good example of a spoiler being just there without any Warning or indication so it doesn't seem impossible.

Yeah, Also Sheik was a thing just 3 years after ocarina of time came out. And if a XCX sequel comes out she'll likely stay in that form anyway

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Just saying that Elma is still my most wanted Xenoblade character.

Though Rex and Pyra would be cool too.

 

[jamesster445]

Another question, do you think enough time has passed that we can have Elma's other form be an alternate costume? or is it too spoilery too soon?

To be fair Smash spoiled Corrin's Chainsaw Sword before Fates even came to the west. And there's again Fiora. I'd worry it's more risque if anything, but then again they covered up Bayonetta so anything's possible.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

To be fair Smash spoiled Corrin's Chainsaw Sword before Fates even came to the west. And there's again Fiora. I'd worry it's more risque if anything, but then again they covered up Bayonetta so anything's possible.

I think they could just add more black armour to the boobs, the butt and the crotch like how they covered up corrin's thighs tbh, just leave her stomach exposed

 

[Homelessvagrant]

I think if Elma is in, there's a good chance that form will be in as well, seeing as when X2 comes out, that'll most likely be here main form anyways. To be fair though, I never liked that form, I always felt that Elma's initial form was far better in every way. Still no one can complain about additional content I suppose.

 

[jamesster445]

I think they could just add more black armour to the boobs, the butt and the crotch like how they covered up corrin's thighs tbh, just leave her stomach exposed

That's fair.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

I think if Elma is in, there's a good chance that form will be in as well, seeing as when X2 comes out, that'll most likely be here main form anyways. To be fair though, I never liked that form, I always felt that Elma's initial form was far better in every way. Still no one can complain about additional content I suppose.

I love the hair in that form, the crystalline look is really cool but I really can't stand the booty and crotch windows, it's so unnecessary. But yeah mimeosome form all the way

 

[PSIGuy]

Kinda hoping Elma's recolors have different hats. There's 8 different colors of her base outfit in XBX (red is lowest, gold is highest) so you could cut one and have a different hat for 6 of them (8th is her true form).

...I just want the black/pink outfit with heartglasses.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

Kinda hoping Elma's recolors have different hats. There's 8 different colors of her base outfit in XBX (red is lowest, gold is highest) so you could cut one and have a different hat for 6 of them (8th is her true form).

...I just want the black/pink outfit with heartglasses.

I honestly forgot there were canon recolors of her outifts, granted shulk had some too, Maybe like him they could have them be based on other party members, a yellow one with red hair like cross, a black and white one with black hair like lin and a green one with brown hair like tatsu.

 

[Aetheri]

As long as they have the Regional variant of her outfit.

Dark purple with magenta accents. Definitely looks the nicest overall and would more than likely be the colours I go with when using.

 

[RandomAce]

Fiora is in Shulk's FS now too

I swear Flora is the only spoiler from Xenoblade that is never kept secret.

Any more news on anything suspicious with Elma. Maybe her voice actor said something? Or any XB2 content?

 

[PSIGuy]

Elma's VA might not return for XB2 if it's recorded in Britain; they didn't get Kosmos or T-elos's old VA to reprise her role but Shulk/Fiora's VAs who are Brits did reprise their roles. Any comment on work from her could refer to XB2, Smash, both or neither.

So basically, I have no idea if her VA's Twitter will help.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

Elma's VA might not return for XB2 if it's recorded in Britain; they didn't get Kosmos or T-elos's old VA to reprise her role but Shulk/Fiora's VAs who are Brits did reprise their roles. Any comment on work from her could refer to XB2, Smash, both or neither.

So basically, I have no idea if her VA's Twitter will help.

Did Tatsu's old voice actor come back? Or was that just recycled clips from X?

 

[Rie Sonomura]

I mean if Elma starts out as an enemy BLADE and doesn’t have any voiced cutscenes, they may well recycle voice clips of her from X, too.

Although, with regard to KOS-MOS and T-elos, it’s been over 10 years since their original VOs did work for Xenosaga episode 3 and are probably union only VOs, so bringing them to the studio in the UK would have been very expensive. Caitlin Glass isn’t union though afaik and X was fairly recent, so they could record both XB2 and Smash lines in one go.

 

[Nonno Umby]

I had a nightmare: Elma was confirmed as an AT, and there wasn't even a stage dedicated to X.
But at the very least I can say that I had a similar dream a couple of weeks before Mewtwo was revelead as DLC for Smash For...

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

I had a nightmare: Elma was confirmed as an AT, and there wasn't even a stage dedicated to X.
But at the very least I can say that I had a similar dream a couple of weeks before Mewtwo was revelead as DLC for Smash For...

Funnily enough I had a dream where Elma was in smash too, although I couldn't tell if she was playable or an assist and no one else was acknowledging it for some reason so I never found out which she was lmao

 

[ThoughtfulWanderer]

I'd like to be added to the support list! I know my profile pic literally betrays what I'm about to say, but Elma should've been the promotional DLC character back in Smash 4. Her playstyle and unique mechanics are a lot more interesting and her game needed the exposure more imo.

Hearing that this game's project plan was completed as far back as 2015 really gives me hope that Elma was just being saved for this game. Maybe they thought Corrin only had one chance since their series has a lot more games which would make them easier to ignore in the sea of rotating protagonists.

 

[Fierymew]

I think Elma has at least a 90% chance of making it in. I'm sure you all know the evidence for it, like the mech toy and the timing, and everything, so I won't go into it. But I do fully believe she'll be in Smash, and as cool as it would be to have all three Xenoblade protagonists in Smash, I think we'll have to wait until DLC starts coming out to get Rex

 

[PlasmWraith]

Elma has quickly become my #1 most want recently, so I decided to make a move set!

Spoiler

Passive: Tension Points, doing damage and using specials will give you TP, slower than Limit but better pay-off, explained on down-b.

Neutral-B: Violent Streak, like a Dancing Blade with guns

Side-B Sliding Stinger, a bit like Bayo's side-b without the kick up and faster movement

Up-B: Shadowstrike, like how it is in XCX except the jump is a lot higher and without the first hit.

Down-B: Blood Sacrifice/Activate Overdrive, damage yourself for 30% to gain 30 TP, 100 TP required to activate overdrive, percentage cost reduced if less than 30 needed e.g. you have 80 TP down-b will damage you for 20%. During Overdrive all specials can be cancelled by another special and have drastically reduced start-up and end-lag for 15 seconds. Using Blood Sacrifice during Overdrive will result in an energy explosion, dealing large damage in a relatively small hitbox around Elma and dealing 10% damage to her.

Jab: First hit with hilt, second with blade of other, rapid jab is done with kicks, or gentleman with both blades slashing across.

Down-tilt: Shoots at the ground, multi-hit, no knockback on gun shots decent range.

Forward-tilt: Auto-combo, slash with one sword, press again to slash with the other.

Up-tilt: Quick kick upward, high vertical hitbox.

Nair: Spin guns around and shoot in all directions.

Fair: Slash vertically, starting low and swinging high, great for shortstop attacks, auto-cancelled and low landing lag.

Bair: Stab both blades behind, decent range.

Dair: Spin upside down with both guns out stretched to the side, shoot horizontally forward and backward.

Uair: Swing gun upward and across, shoots in an arc up, hitting with the gun is a good juggle tool.

Grab: One hand out stretched.

Pummel: Fast but weak, beat with hilt of sword.

Forward throw: Throw forward and shoot the the enemy with both guns. (Mewtwo ish)

Back throw: Throw back and slash them away.

Down throw: Kick down, can be comboed in to fair at low percents.

Up throw: Throw up and slash 3 times, kill throw at 150% on most stages.

Forward smash: Jump forward with 2 slashes, unsafe but large hitboxes.

Down smash: Shoot at the floor in both directions, angled down. Covers a large area but gun shots are weak.

Up-smash: Multi-hit, kick upward then swing sword upward.

Blood sacrifice could damage for less, but it can essentially turn you in to super Bayo and you can do it immediately if you feel like taking 100 damage.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

People think Elma has low chance because she probably didn't do too well on the ballot. What do you guys think of this argument?

 

[EchoAegis]

People think Elma has low chance because she probably didn't do too well on the ballot. What do you guys think of this argument?

Honestly so ****ing dumb seriously

 

[Nonno Umby]

People think Elma has low chance because she probably didn't do too well on the ballot. What do you guys think of this argument?

I higly doubt they are going to pick just characters from the ballot. And Emma is one of the few characters that fits the usual picks that Sakurai does when he selects characters for the roster. She was relevant, from the latest instalment of a series already featured in Smash and with tons of potential. I mean :ultrobin wasn't massively popular before being added in Smash For, you always saw big talks about Chrom or Lucina, and neighter was before Brawl.

 

[Staarih]

People think Elma has low chance because she probably didn't do too well on the ballot. What do you guys think of this argument?

I mean, it’s kinda obvious Elma didn’t do her best in the ballot because she literally debuted midst of the ballot and only in Japan (the west got XCX after the ballot ended). But yeah, I doubt Ultimate will be all ballot choices. Xenoblade is a series Nintendo is pushing so I think a new character from the series would have been considered regardless.

 

[Fierymew]

People think Elma has low chance because she probably didn't do too well on the ballot. What do you guys think of this argument?

Most of the people I've talked to say she has a low chance because she's not popular, and XC2 sold better, so Rex would make more sense. Which is a nonsensical argument, since when has a character not being popular ever affected their chances? Shulk, for instance, at the time was probably about as unknown as Elma is at this point, yet he still got in.

Also, the argument that it's because she wasn't popular in the ballot is stupid as well. Of course she wouldn't have done well, most of the world hadn't played X at that point. Plus, maybe there was some demand for Elma, and since it was the most recent Xenoblade in addition to Sakurai's love for the series, maybe he decided to put her in Ultimate, since she would have had some people asking for her, but not enough to consider for Smash 4 DLC.

 

[AquaSol]

I may be wrong, but didn’t XCX come out in North America only a week or two before Bayonetta and Corrin were revealed? If that’s the case, I’m sure we’re in the same position as before.

 

[ThoughtfulWanderer]

I may be wrong, but didn’t XCX come out in North America only a week or two before Bayonetta and Corrin were revealed? If that’s the case, I’m sure we’re in the same position as before.

Yeah, it's right around the time the project plan was finished. If they gave the okay to Corrin when Fates had only come out in Japan, then the same could happen for Elma.

Also, interesting to keep in mind in this tweet which indicates Bayo had been planned since April and Corrin since June.

 

[Coofle DeDoofle]

Yeah, it's right around the time the project plan was finished. If they gave the okay to Corrin when Fates had only come out in Japan, then the same could happen for Elma.

Also, interesting to keep in mind in this tweet which indicates Bayo had been planned since April and Corrin since June.

Plus, while XCX was released in NA after the last Smash 4 DLC was revealed, it was available in Japan since April 29 of that same year, predating the release of Fire Emblem Fates and even Splatoon. So while it wasn't around soon enough to help Elma make a mark on the ballot, it's still been around for roughly just as long as Corrin and Inkling's games.

I'm thinking that the roster of Ultimate won't just be fanservice based on the ballot results; It will also partly be what Sakurai wants, which I'm pretty sure includes a new Xenoblade rep of some sort. It's been said several times already, but it's likely that Elma came around at just the right time to be that rep.

 

[EchoAegis]

It will also partly be what Sakurai wants,

It seems like a lot of people forget how Sakurai chooses his characters in the ultimate discussion thread.

 

[Fierymew]

Plus, while XCX was released in NA after the last Smash 4 DLC was revealed, it was available in Japan since April 29 of that same year, predating the release of Fire Emblem Fates and even Splatoon. So while it wasn't around soon enough to help Elma make a mark on the ballot, it's still been around for roughly just as long as Corrin and Inkling's games.

I'm thinking that the roster of Ultimate won't just be fanservice based on the ballot results; It will also partly be what Sakurai wants, which I'm pretty sure includes a new Xenoblade rep of some sort. It's been said several times already, but it's likely that Elma came around at just the right time to be that rep.

Yea, I agree. Though, I could probably see maybe one more ballot character making it in, but I think the rest of the newcomers will be, as you said, not based on the ballot. I think we'll definitely see Elma, a couple of other newcomers, some echo fighters, and 1-3 new 3rd party characters.

And of course, other than Rex and Pyra, who knows what the DLC will look like, I wonder if they're going to do another ballot?