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

[K.K. Rooler ♫]

I still think an epic intro video for Elma’s reveal could include a Star Wolf raid on NLA. Elma can use her Skell to knock all of them out of the sky (especially Pigma) before her grand reveal. Just a vague, general idea but something along those lines might be cool, ya know? haha

 

[Homelessvagrant]

That sounds really awesome.

 

[IronWarrior94]

One reveal I just had in mind is one where Ridley is terrorizing New LA. Samus is there trying to stop the him, but suddenly he's blasted out of the sky by the intervention of Elma riding her Skell. After the intro title and the cut to her gameplay, we see Elma jump out of her Skell alongside Samus, preparing to fight alongside her as Ridley recovers and prepares to attack.

 

[RandomAce]

One reveal I just had in mind is one where Ridley is terrorizing New LA. Samus is there trying to stop the him, but suddenly he's blasted out of the sky by the intervention of Elma riding her Skell. After the intro title and the cut to her gameplay, we see Elma jump out of her Skell alongside Samus, preparing to fight alongside her as Ridley recovers and prepares to attack.

One change though.

They need to have Samus die first before Elma does anything. It happened in the Simon and Ridley reveal, it’s gotta happen here too.

 

[FrostShock]

Speaking of trailers, you think they're going to kill somebody else in Elma's? We've already lost the Mario Bros. and Mega Man (and Dedede is probably in rough shape too). I'm picturing an aerial battle with Fox, Samus, and Kirby (on a Warp Star) and maybe also Pit in the Great Sacred Treasure all fighting either the Ganglion or Telethia. One of them will get hit and go down before Elma blasts in with her Skell to save the day.

 

[K.K. Rooler ♫]

Speaking of trailers, you think they're going to kill somebody else in Elma's? We've already lost the Mario Bros. and Mega Man (and Dedede is probably in rough shape too). I'm picturing an aerial battle with Fox, Samus, and Kirby (on a Warp Star) and maybe also Pit in the Great Sacred Treasure all fighting either the Ganglion or Telethia. One of them will get hit and go down before Elma blasts in with her Skell to save the day.

It would only be fitting to kill off Shulk...hehe...but idk how they’re going to up the violence any more than they already have minus showing actual blood

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Speaking of trailers, you think they're going to kill somebody else in Elma's? We've already lost the Mario Bros. and Mega Man (and Dedede is probably in rough shape too). I'm picturing an aerial battle with Fox, Samus, and Kirby (on a Warp Star) and maybe also Pit in the Great Sacred Treasure all fighting either the Ganglion or Telethia. One of them will get hit and go down before Elma blasts in with her Skell to save the day.

What if they defy the trope and one or two people ALMOST die, but are later revealed to be okay?

 

[Ikenna]

Wow, haven't even thought of Smash characters appearing in the XCX universe for a trailer. All the cool scenarios to think of. Michael Bay may need to direct this trailer for all the explosions to ensue.

 

[Nonno Umby]

Yeah it will be a meltdown alright...

I'm afraid if and when Elma is revealed, there will be a bit of salt and shade. I've seen a bit of hate thrown towards Elma for one reason or the other. Some people think she is a fad or bandwagon character and I know some people feel that Elma would steal Rex's slot. I think both are fallacious frames of thought but I can understand where some people could come to believe this.

I say this not to stur up controversy or start unnecessary drama, its just something I have thought about and believe may be a potential scenario to be mentally prepared for. I just hope that in said hypothetical scenario, that the fans of Elma are mature enough to just shrug it off. Hopefully though I am just being ridiculous and the loud minority within Smashboards are more mature than I am giving them credit for. I kind of expected the same thing with Red's reveal but was pleasantly surprised.

Honestly I never cared about what the community though about my favourites. Being a Snake main I had the endure the whole "He doesn't fit, he should be cut, he isn't a gaming icon, he doesn't deserve ro be in Smash, F**Konami" when I was supporting him for both Smash For and Ultimate. And in Smash For I mained two of the clones tgat flipped the fanbase. For me receiving salt from the fanbase is almost guaranteed, but I couldn't care less.

I still think an epic intro video for Elma’s reveal could include a Star Wolf raid on NLA. Elma can use her Skell to knock all of them out of the sky (especially Pigma) before her grand reveal. Just a vague, general idea but something along those lines might be cool, ya know? haha

I might be missing a clear reference...but why Pigma in particular? Anyway this sounds awesome.

Speaking of trailers, you think they're going to kill somebody else in Elma's? We've already lost the Mario Bros. and Mega Man (and Dedede is probably in rough shape too). I'm picturing an aerial battle with Fox, Samus, and Kirby (on a Warp Star) and maybe also Pit in the Great Sacred Treasure all fighting either the Ganglion or Telethia. One of them will get hit and go down before Elma blasts in with her Skell to save the day.

Nah, I don't think we will see more deaths among the Smash cast. I think it is a coincidence, since both Ridley and Castlevania are extremely violent and cruel.
But if they keep going this dark I can't wait to see who dies in Bandana Dee's trailer.

 

[PSIGuy]

Maybe Elma's trailer opens up with the Earth exploding?

Good thing most Nintendo characters live on different fictionalized earths, or the kill count would be nearly the entire cast.

 

[FrostShock]

I'm seeing some people say that they believe 103 is the final stage count for Ultimate. This mostly comes from 100 stages (minus Batllefield, FD, and Big Battlefield) just feels right, and the fact that K. Rool doesn't seem to have a unique stage despite the Gangplank Galleon being an obvious choice. Now personally, I don't think this is true, but let's just assume for a moment that it's true, and these are all the stages we're getting. Would you be alright with not getting a Mira stage?

Obviously, I'll take Elma no matter what sacrifices need to be made, but I'd still be bummed. I'm a lot more fond of Mira than the Bionis or Alrest, which is part of the reason X is my favorite. We would at least still be able to listen to X's music, we'd just have to go to Gaur Plain.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

I'm seeing some people say that they believe 103 is the final stage count for Ultimate. This mostly comes from 100 stages (minus Batllefield, FD, and Big Battlefield) just feels right, and the fact that K. Rool doesn't seem to have a unique stage despite the Gangplank Galleon being an obvious choice. Now personally, I don't think this is true, but let's just assume for a moment that it's true, and these are all the stages we're getting. Would you be alright with not getting a Mira stage?

Obviously, I'll take Elma no matter what sacrifices need to be made, but I'd still be bummed. I'm a lot more fond of Mira than the Bionis or Alrest, which is part of the reason X is my favorite. We would at least still be able to listen to X's music, we'd just have to go to Gaur Plain.

If it means X music makes it to Gaur Plain, I’d be ok with it

Although I’d want a boss rush mode with Telethia the Endbringer to make up for it

 

[Fierymew]

I'm seeing some people say that they believe 103 is the final stage count for Ultimate. This mostly comes from 100 stages (minus Batllefield, FD, and Big Battlefield) just feels right, and the fact that K. Rool doesn't seem to have a unique stage despite the Gangplank Galleon being an obvious choice. Now personally, I don't think this is true, but let's just assume for a moment that it's true, and these are all the stages we're getting. Would you be alright with not getting a Mira stage?

Obviously, I'll take Elma no matter what sacrifices need to be made, but I'd still be bummed. I'm a lot more fond of Mira than the Bionis or Alrest, which is part of the reason X is my favorite. We would at least still be able to listen to X's music, we'd just have to go to Gaur Plain.

I don't think it's true either. There are slots for at least 6 more stages, and who knows if that'll even be the final amount.

But, if Elma were to get in the game and not have a Mira stage.
That would be a little disappointing tbh. Though, as long as she's in the game, I'll be happy, so it wouldn't be that bad all things considered.

I'd probably just play Gaur plains with all the XC1 music turned off tbh. Lol

 

[ZoroCarlos]

I interpreted Sakurai's wording more like "this is the number of stages so far" Obviously he's going to hold a few surprises for future character reveals or something. Say Banjo Kazooie was in the game and not confirmed yet, they weren't going to put the obligatory Spiral Mountain in the stage select screen cause that would spoil everything. I don't think a Xenoblade X stage is out of the question.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

What about DLC? I mean it’s fairly obvious there will be DLC, even if it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed yet

 

[ZoroCarlos]

What about DLC? I mean it’s fairly obvious there will be DLC, even if it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed yet

I think DLC will be more than guaranteed. Smash 4 had it and I'm sure Ultimate will sell tons more than that, so Nintendo will want to support it for some time.

I believe that if Elma gets confirmed for base then she'll get a stage in base as well. Additionally, like it was being said, her trailer would probably take place in New LA, and it'd be weird if they showed thar in the trailer but not in the game.

On the other hand, if Elma happened to be DLC, yes, she would get her stage as DLC too. Although I'm counting more on Rex/Pyra DLC with an Uraya or Mor Ardain stage.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

I interpreted Sakurai's wording more like "this is the number of stages so far" Obviously he's going to hold a few surprises for future character reveals or something. Say Banjo Kazooie was in the game and not confirmed yet, they weren't going to put the obligatory Spiral Mountain in the stage select screen cause that would spoil everything. I don't think a Xenoblade X stage is out of the question.

Yeah I have a hard time believing that there's only 4 new stages and that all of them have been revealed months before release.

What about DLC? I mean it’s fairly obvious there will be DLC, even if it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed yet

Sakurai doesn't like to plan for DLC, making the base game as content packed as possible was the case in smash 4 and it will be here as well, DLC is always an afterthought for him. It will more than likely happen though

 

[Deleted member]

Speaking of trailers, you think they're going to kill somebody else in Elma's? We've already lost the Mario Bros. and Mega Man (and Dedede is probably in rough shape too). I'm picturing an aerial battle with Fox, Samus, and Kirby (on a Warp Star) and maybe also Pit in the Great Sacred Treasure all fighting either the Ganglion or Telethia. One of them will get hit and go down before Elma blasts in with her Skell to save the day.

Considering Echo fighters do not get their own trailers (which would rule out somebody like Medusa), anyone who takes out Palutena would be an automatic "Favorite" in my book.

Anyway, do you guys wish they made a Switch port of this game?

 

[Autobot N]

Yeah I have a hard time believing that there's only 4 new stages and that all of them have been revealed months before release.


Sakurai doesn't like to plan for DLC, making the base game as content packed as possible was the case in smash 4 and it will be here as well, DLC is always an afterthought for him. It will more than likely happen though

If Nintendo's plan for the Switch to have a 10 year lifespan comes to fruition, we likely won't see another Smash for at least 8 years. As such, DLC is all but guaranteed.

Though, if Elma isn't part of the base game, her chances of being DLC may be pretty low, given that she would then be competing with Rex and Pyra for a spot.

 

[FrostShock]

What about DLC? I mean it’s fairly obvious there will be DLC, even if it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed yet

I think Bill has said that DLC isn't a sure thing yet, but that's because Sakurai doesn't usually plan that far ahead, and just focused on what's in front of him. We'll most likely get DLC, but not until after Ultimate goes gold.

Anyway, do you guys wish they made a Switch port of this game?

I'd buy it even if it was just to support the series, although the lack of a gamepad would likely mean giving up the best fast travel system ever.

 

[Fierymew]

I think either right before the game releases, we'll get some vague confrontation that DLC will be coming eventually. And then months later Sakurai will tell us about a few DLC fighters coming later in 2019, probably revealing Rex and maybe Spring Man.

Anyway, do you guys wish they made a Switch port of this game?

Bruh, XCX port will be a day one pre order. I love X so much, and I really want it on the Switch.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

If Nintendo's plan for the Switch to have a 10 year lifespan comes to fruition, we likely won't see another Smash for at least 8 years. As such, DLC is all but guaranteed.

Though, if Elma isn't part of the base game, her chances of being DLC may be pretty low, given that she would then be competing with Rex and Pyra for a spot.

There's still a possible X sequel that could make Elma relevant again, she would be a 2 time xenoblade protagonist by that point as well which is good for her. Honestly as more and more time goes on I find Rex and Pyra less and less likely, by the time they start developing DLC xenoblade 2 will be over a year old and with monolith's usual dev cycle a new game is probably coming next year which would overshadow them greatly. Unless rex and pyra somehow make it into the base game I'm honestly unsure if they'd get in as DLC.

 

[Autobot N]

Something I forgot about: Wasn't there leaks or something that said that Elma was going to be added as DLC to Xenoblade 2? If that's happening, they could reveal that and Elma's presence in Smash at the same time.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

What would they do with regard to DLC stages and characters on the respective rosters, I wonder? Shrink more, or side menu? Esp for stages cause the stage menu is gigantic as is

 

[FrostShock]

Something I forgot about: Wasn't there leaks or something that said that Elma was going to be added as DLC to Xenoblade 2? If that's happening, they could reveal that and Elma's presence in Smash at the same time.

Spoiler

Yes, she's been datamined as an enemy Blade that can, presumably, be recruited. Supposedly she's a dark type Blade with twin rings and Arts based on her own Arts from X. She should be out by the end of this month or the beginning of September, and a lot of people around here are thinking she'll be officially revealed sometime around Gamescom.

 

[RandomAce]

Is there any more news on

Spoiler

Xenoblade 2 updates, more specifically for Elma.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

What if the patch hits at the same time as Torna’s release, in September, and there’s a direct dedicated to Torna and THEN is Elma’s Smash trailer?

 

[AustarusIV]

There's still a possible X sequel that could make Elma relevant again, she would be a 2 time xenoblade protagonist by that point as well which is good for her. Honestly as more and more time goes on I find Rex and Pyra less and less likely, by the time they start developing DLC xenoblade 2 will be over a year old and with monolith's usual dev cycle a new game is probably coming next year which would overshadow them greatly. Unless rex and pyra somehow make it into the base game I'm honestly unsure if they'd get in as DLC.

I agree, Elma's chances shouldn't drop to nil if she misses out on the base roster. There's always the opportunity for her to become DLC to promote a XCX port on the Switch or XCX2 should DLC last a while longer than SSB4's DLC period did. And like you said, Elma could potentially stay relevant for a longer period of time than Rex/Pyra, who will probably slide further into irrelevancy since the XC games seem to be following a trend of having one protagonist per game.

 

[IronWarrior94]

So I've been thinking about Elma's chances again, this time more in depth, and here's how I worded my thoughts in a Gamefaqs topic. Pretty wordy, but I think it's an interesting read in regards to her chances.

Spoiler

Real talk guys, Xenoblade is honestly in a funny spot in terms of a newcomer rep. As has been said many times before, the project plan for Ultimate was completed in 2015, and a quick Google search showed me around December to be exact. And apparently the roster is also finalized during that period.
Now, Xenoblade Chronicles X was first released in April of 2015 in Japan, and Chronicles 2 in December of 2017 worldwide. Based on this, we know without a doubt that the latter was too far into the future to be considered for a rep. It is possible that Sakurai could've pulled a Greninja and either asked Monolith or Monolith approached him about the characters for their next game. However I doubt that, as there is a higher complexity between a Pokemon and a full on rpg character. I believe Sakurai even came up with the moveset for Greninja just by simply looking at his design? I doubt he could have done the same with Rex&Pyra, as considering how early Monolith began working on XC2, the abilities behind those two could've been subject to change over time.
Now what does this mean? Well if Sakurai wanted another Xenoblade rep, his only relevant source to look at was Xenoblade X, which was largely relevant at the time of the project plan. This makes Elma highly possible for the next Xenoblade rep...but there are still some factors to take into account, being either:
A) Sakurai could've just refused to add a 2nd Xenoblade rep at the time, maybe believing that Shulk was good enough?
B) Sakurai looked back to the older Xeno titles, and chose a character from there. I'm unfamiliar with those games, but I know that arguably the most popular and iconic character of the franchise before Shulk was Kos-mos from Xenosaga.

So TL;DR: If Xenoblade is getting a 2nd rep, Elma is the most likely one, which is supported by the project plan's timeframe and the fact that Xenoblade X was highly relevant during that time period. The only thing that goes against Elma are 3 things: 1) Sakurai just didn't felt like adding another Xenoblade rep, believing Shulk was good enough already 2) Sakurai could have approached/been approached by Monolith and request the concept ideas for their next protagonists, but this is arguably the most unlikely option, and 3) Sakurai throws a curveball and chooses Kos-Mos, the most iconic character in the Xeno franchise before Shulk, as the 2nd rep.

 

[xNaz]

I can get behind this. I got a friend who loves XBX and is crazy about her getting in. While I am confident about Rex also being a Xenoblade newcomer, it's exclusively as DLC and certainly not on the base roster.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

So I've been thinking about Elma's chances again, this time more in depth, and here's how I worded my thoughts in a Gamefaqs topic. Pretty wordy, but I think it's an interesting read in regards to her chances.

Spoiler

Real talk guys, Xenoblade is honestly in a funny spot in terms of a newcomer rep. As has been said many times before, the project plan for Ultimate was completed in 2015, and a quick Google search showed me around December to be exact. And apparently the roster is also finalized during that period.
Now, Xenoblade Chronicles X was first released in April of 2015 in Japan, and Chronicles 2 in December of 2017 worldwide. Based on this, we know without a doubt that the latter was too far into the future to be considered for a rep. It is possible that Sakurai could've pulled a Greninja and either asked Monolith or Monolith approached him about the characters for their next game. However I doubt that, as there is a higher complexity between a Pokemon and a full on rpg character. I believe Sakurai even came up with the moveset for Greninja just by simply looking at his design? I doubt he could have done the same with Rex&Pyra, as considering how early Monolith began working on XC2, the abilities behind those two could've been subject to change over time.
Now what does this mean? Well if Sakurai wanted another Xenoblade rep, his only relevant source to look at was Xenoblade X, which was largely relevant at the time of the project plan. This makes Elma highly possible for the next Xenoblade rep...but there are still some factors to take into account, being either:
A) Sakurai could've just refused to add a 2nd Xenoblade rep at the time, maybe believing that Shulk was good enough?
B) Sakurai looked back to the older Xeno titles, and chose a character from there. I'm unfamiliar with those games, but I know that arguably the most popular and iconic character of the franchise before Shulk was Kos-mos from Xenosaga.

So TL;DR: If Xenoblade is getting a 2nd rep, Elma is the most likely one, which is supported by the project plan's timeframe and the fact that Xenoblade X was highly relevant during that time period. The only thing that goes against Elma are 3 things: 1) Sakurai just didn't felt like adding another Xenoblade rep, believing Shulk was good enough already 2) Sakurai could have approached/been approached by Monolith and request the concept ideas for their next protagonists, but this is arguably the most unlikely option, and 3) Sakurai throws a curveball and chooses Kos-Mos, the most iconic character in the Xeno franchise before Shulk, as the 2nd rep.

KOS-MOS isn't a Xenoblade character, despite sharing a similar name and developers, Xenosaga is a different franchise owned by namco, that's def not happening. KOS-MOS isn't especially popular either so it's doubtful she'd be chosen over other namco characters

 

[IronWarrior94]

KOS-MOS isn't a Xenoblade character, despite sharing a similar name and developers, Xenosaga is a different franchise owned by namco, that's def not happening. KOS-MOS isn't especially popular either so it's doubtful she'd be chosen over other namco characters

Ah, ok. So that only leaves the other two factors standing in the way of Elma's chances.

 

[FireFury190]

Ah, ok. So that only leaves the other two factors standing in the way of Elma's chances.

I would say another factor would be her guns as Sakurai doesn't like using realistic firing arms. But they could easily fix that by giving her different guns from XCX that has the beam attribute instead. I know source gaming talked about that in their video about why Corrin was the perfect choice for DLC back in Smash 4. It could also be possible that Sakurai even looked into Elma back then when searching for characters from a recent game. So maybe Elma was considered back then but thought Corrin was a better fit to make at the time. And given that Ultimate was starting development some time after Smash 4's DLC was finished it's possible they could still use Elma.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

I would say another factor would be her guns as Sakurai doesn't like using realistic firing arms. But they could easily fix that by giving her different guns from XCX that has the beam attribute instead. I know source gaming talked about that in their video about why Corrin was the perfect choice for DLC back in Smash 4. It could also be possible that Sakurai even looked into Elma back then when searching for characters from a recent game. So maybe Elma was considered back then but thought Corrin was a better fit to make at the time. And given that Ultimate was starting development some time after Smash 4's DLC was finished it's possible they could still use Elma.

Elma's default guns are actually beam type so that's not really an issue at all

 

[IronWarrior94]

I don't know how frequent Elma's english VA(Caitlin Glass) gets asked about whether she's going to voice Elma in Smash nowadays, but while I was browsing her Twitter page, hoping to see if she mentions anything about working on something important video game related-like Shulk's VA did before his reveal, someone asked if she was up for voicing her character if she ever made it. Of course, if Caitlin knows, she's under strict rule not to reveal anything, but she did reply by saying "that would be pretty rad".

 

[RandomAce]

I don't know how frequent Elma's english VA(Caitlin Glass) gets asked about whether she's going to voice Elma in Smash nowadays, but while I was browsing her Twitter page, hoping to see if she mentions anything about working on something important video game related-like Shulk's VA did before his reveal, someone asked if she was up to voicing her character if she ever made it. Of course, if Caitlin knows, she's under strict rule not to reveal anything, but she did reply by saying "that would be pretty rad".

Care to give me a link.

Though, I hope she is under NDA because it might mean that she didn’t get applied to voice Elma and that Elma might not in. Though now that I think about, I doesn’t actually seem to be much and isn’t as hard fact as Pyra’s VA when she was asked that.

 

[IronWarrior94]

https://mobile.twitter.com/caitlinsvoice/status/1028492620111200257

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

https://mobile.twitter.com/caitlinsvoice/status/1028492620111200257

Her answers are so vague... but considering she never outright confirms or denies anything then that's good at least

 

[IronWarrior94]

True, being vague is way better than saying "that would be pretty rad, but I haven't been contacted about it yet"
That honestly would've been a straight deconfirmation right there, lol.

 

[TeamFlareZakk]

Elma and Dunban are my choices for new Xenoblade characters.. I think Elma is more likely than Rex and Pyra because simply some of the ideas about Rex and Pyra seem odd.. Look at Shulk, why isnt like Reyn or Sharla fighting with him? And tbh, Im not too interested in Rex.. Because Dunban and Elma are simply cooler than him.