I've been over a more extensive analysis of the Reggie quote from The Game Awards in the past, so I won't do it again. But it's always felt like people were trying desperately to wiggle their way out of "characters like Joker... new to Smash" in Smash by using the "Oh, he was just referring to them all being newcomers since Ultimate brought back all the veterans." Every part of that conversation was in the context of Joker and unexpected inclusions, so it has always colored that entire conversation in a different light. And with the end of the Fighter's Pass increasingly staring us down, it's more than likely the interpretation fans took to on forums was actually the misinterpretation and Reggie told us exactly what to expect from the beginning.
Also, to people disappointed by Ryu Hayabusa, play the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES online service. It's absolutely a classic that belongs alongside Castlevania and Mega Man games as a 2D action platformer that defined the NES. It's a difficult as hell beast, but it's also still thrilling to this day to play and get those sections "right." When you're at the top of your game playing it, everything feels really fluid and enjoyable. Ryu shows off a lot of really cool abilities just in the original much like Simon did in the original Castlevania that got interpreted into his moveset. Similarly, if you have a Xbox One by chance, Ninja Gaiden Black is on the Game Pass (which seems to perpetually be sold for $1, so no real excuse not to try stuff out on it if you have the system) and shows the beauty (and once again, nail biting difficulty) of modern Ninja Gaiden. The modern Ninja Gaiden games show off so much more potential for Ryu's potential moveset so he uses a wide variety of weapons in the game such as nunchuks, staffs, claws, etc. alongside really cool Ninpo techniques that include fire, ice, and the like. While Hayabusa is guaranteed to use his famous Dragon Sword, he's much like Hero in the sense that Sakurai could pull from a lot of stuff to diversify his moveset and give him unique attributes. That doesn't solve anything if you're against human characters obviously, but I do recommend people give it more of a chance since it's so easily accessible. I know that I was frustrated with Terry's inclusion the other day, but I've been trying to do what I always do with characters I don't know in Smash and look further into their games with him and that helps immensely after first impressions of an idea might not be so good.
I am surprised to see such backlash on Ryu Hayabusa though, the original Ninja Gaiden is widely regarded as another NES classic that appears on basically every console it can and I remember it being a huge deal as a Xbox exclusive growing up. The series has sold comparably to the Persona series with around 7 million copies sold from what I can gather (the data on it isn't super great, but it's what I'm working with). Sure, it hasn't had a game in a few years, but still, I'm baffled that it seems like Terry is getting a better reception than Hayabusa in some places...
