Geno (♥♪!?): Return of the Starsend Savior

[MattX20]

It looks like page 2900 will probably be reached in the next day or two

 

[Akg0001]

So no double reveal... Meh

 

[Enigma735]

Just thinking about the fact that are next Smash-related news could possibly be about Geno being in Smash fills me with so much joy. I'm seriously hoping the wait wasn't for nothing and that we will finally get our star boi. If Sakurai is gonna listen to the requests of Ridley, K. Rool and Banjo, then he CANNOT ignore the requests for Geno, especially since Sakurai has talked about said fan demand in the past.

 

[EarlTamm]

Thinking back to the possibility of something Nintendo related happening this week and how it is clearly not a Direct, when do you think would announce something this week?

 

[MattX20]

Thinking back to the possibility of something Nintendo related happening this week and how it is clearly not a Direct, when do you think would announce something this week?

Even if it doesn't happen this week, we still have at least 2 more weeks at the most for potential news since they need to announce their plans/releases for the remainder of 2020

 

[Droodle]

Thinking back to the possibility of something Nintendo related happening this week and how it is clearly not a Direct, when do you think would announce something this week?

I still can't see a general direct happening earlier than late July (probably in August). That said, I think we'll end up having a game announced towards around Tuesday/Wednesday, but it would probably next week rather than this one. It probably won't be anything absolutely huge, as that would likely be save for a direct; but a lot of rumors surrounding a PIKMIN 3 enhanced port are coming out and that's a twitter announcement I can definitely see happening.

But who knows, maybe Nintendo is going all in on a potential direct and saving literally everything up for that, in that case I can't see a direct coming before Origami King comes out at the very least, which would leave the second half of July and early August as the "likely" positions for a direct.

 

[Firox]

Wait, so do we have any actual proof that news is coming soon other than our own logic and hunches? We just had a slew of Nintendo announcements and they've had a precedent this year of being slower than molasses in winter. What makes people so sure that they won't just give us (and themselves) the shaft and wait until September to drop more news?

 

[valkiriforce]

Looks like we won´t get a direct any time soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzhtgjLYjTk

I'm not sure that's entirely true - I mean there wasn't much information given in the video about whether they were changing format just yet or not, but regardless whether there will be one soon or not they'll still find ways of getting the announcements to us. It could turn out to be a good thing if they somehow manage a better format that doesn't rely on anything that could be stopped up by the pandemic, for example.

Also here's a direct quote from that video for those curious:

They also talked briefly about Directs since it's been a while since we've had one, and they do admit that they are an especially effective means of conveying new game content, but believe that more effective ways may become available in the future and may consider what the best method is.

 

[Qeomash]

I doubt Nintendo is announcing anything new this week. They tend not to announce anything at the end of the month, and a good portion of this week is still June. Next week at the earliest. But I'm still not expecting anything Smash related for at least a month or two or three.

 

[Droodle]

Wait, so do we have any actual proof that news is coming soon other than our own logic and hunches? We just had a slew of Nintendo announcements and they've had a precedent this year of being slower than molasses in winter. What makes people so sure that they won't just give us (and themselves) the shaft and wait until September to drop more news?

It's mostly based on hunch/precedent, but there's at the very least going to be 1 game announcement by the time Origami King releases. We don't really know when it's going to be announced; but a safe bet is around a week or so before the release of the Origami King. Nintendo has been harsh this year in terms of timely announcements; but even then they still had 1 major game 1st party game announced by the time the last one came out (and by announced I mean releasing soonish and not BOTW 2, MP4, etc).

There's also the lack of major E3 announcements that Nintendo never really stated so far. I mean in terms of probable E3 announcements, we have Min-Min, some Pokemon information, and Paper Mario Origami King; which is barely anything in the large scheme of things (even excluding 3rd party announcements). There was a common guess that Nintendo would "space" out their E3 announcements across the entirety of Summer; but they haven't really done a great job of that either outside of some forced Pokemon spacing. However, it's clear that they still attempt to space major announcements/releases in general.

For example:
June 5th: Clubhouse Games
June 12th: Paper Mario OK Trailer
June 17th: Pokemon Presents (We won't count the 2nd one because it was literally nothing and could have been combined)
June 22nd: Min-Min Reveal
June 25th: Animal Crossing Update reveal
June 29th: Min-Min Release
July 3rd: Animal Crossing Update Release
July 6/7th?: ????
July 17th: Paper Mario Origami King Release

It's likely that in 2 weeks we're going to end up with 1 "last" Origami King launch trailer right before the game comes out, and at most it may end up being dropped in a Mario direct. But chances are that next week we will likely end up getting 1 more announcement, and unless we end up getting the PM OK trailer earlier than expected, it has to be something new (and likely releasing in the coming months); unless Nintendo plans on using BD 2 or NMH 3 trailers as a way to bide time. It's probably not Smash related; but rather an entirely new game.

 

[MattX20]

Plus, Nintendo needs to reinvigorate their customer base, and while Min Min's excellent, they can't afford to wait 3-5 months to announce the remaining 5 fighters of the second pass like this again. They've got to have FP7 revealed before September if they want to have at least half of the pass revealed and released by year's end

 

[Firox]

It's mostly based on hunch/precedent, but there's at the very least going to be 1 game announcement by the time Origami King releases. We don't really know when it's going to be announced; but a safe bet is around a week or so before the release of the Origami King. Nintendo has been harsh this year in terms of timely announcements; but even then they still had 1 major game 1st party game announced by the time the last one came out (and by announced I mean releasing soonish and not BOTW 2, MP4, etc).

There's also the lack of major E3 announcements that Nintendo never really stated so far. I mean in terms of probable E3 announcements, we have Min-Min, some Pokemon information, and Paper Mario Origami King; which is barely anything in the large scheme of things (even excluding 3rd party announcements). There was a common guess that Nintendo would "space" out their E3 announcements across the entirety of Summer; but they haven't really done a great job of that either outside of some forced Pokemon spacing. However, it's clear that they still attempt to space major announcements/releases in general.

For example:
June 5th: Clubhouse Games
June 12th: Paper Mario OK Trailer
June 17th: Pokemon Presents (We won't count the 2nd one because it was literally nothing and could have been combined)
June 22nd: Min-Min Reveal
June 29th: Min-Min Release
July 6th?: ????
July 17th: Paper Mario Origami King Release

It's likely that in 2 weeks we're going to end up with 1 "last" Origami King launch trailer right before the game comes out, and at most it may end up being dropped in a Mario direct. But chances are that next week we will likely end up getting 1 more announcement, and unless we end up getting the PM OK trailer earlier than expected, it has to be something new (and likely releasing in the coming months). It's probably not Smash related; but rather an entirely new game.

Ah, I see now. In that case, I predict a very luke warm and vague mini-direct for OK and probably not much else. I'm not even trying to be cynical here, I just have a hard time accepting the fact they Nintendo will actually hit us with much. I mean, if they felt they had to split the Pokemon news into two separate announcements, it seems to me that they're trying to fluff their otherwise skeletal releases this year.

 

[*Verrix*]

I feel like it's going to be quite a while before we hear anything sadly.

 

[MattX20]

I'm not going to give up on July until the month has come and gone. The month hasn't even started yet

 

[Deleted member]

Yeah, Nintendo is all about just letting one thing handle a couple of months going forward. Min Min originally being released in April doesn't matter, because she was released *now*. Basically, don't expect anything until August, at the very least. Worst case scenario, it'll be September.
See: Animal Crossing.

 

[Fatmanonice]

-Famous Moments in Smash History: Infamous Leakers Fatman O'Nice and Jon GameXplain AKA Hugh Mungus Putting Aside Their Differences to Dunk on Smash Gatekeepers-

-June 30th, 2020-

 

[MattX20]

Yeah, Nintendo is all about just letting one thing handle a couple of months going forward. Min Min originally being released in April doesn't matter, because she was released *now*. Basically, don't expect anything until August, at the very least. Worst case scenario, it'll be September.
See: Animal Crossing.

Again, the investors meeting made it clear that Nintendo's products for the rest of the year are still on schedule, so they can still reveal FP7 in the summer and then FP8 in September/the fall to end off the year unless they want to reveal FP9 at the Game Awards

 

[okamifire]

I don't want to be the bad guy here and obviously hope for Smash updates sooner rather than later, but was it ever said that they even plan on releasing 3 characters per year? They could do Min Min in June, FP7 in December, and then the rest of them every 3 months. FP8 in March, FP9 in June, FP10 in September, and FP11 in December and still hit the 6 characters by the end of 2021 mark. If it was verified or something somewhere, I apologize for this, but they never really said, that I'm aware of, a definitive schedule. *shrug* (I'm still hoping for Geno in July so all of the 7s line up because that would be funny and Nintendo never does things like that, hah)

 

[Deleted member]

Again, the investors meeting made it clear that Nintendo's products for the rest of the year are still on schedule, so they can still reveal FP7 in the summer and then FP8 in September/the fall to end off the year unless they want to reveal FP9 at the Game Awards

Yeah true, but it has felt like Nintendo has nothing to show this year. Excluding remasters like Xenoblade.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Again, the investors meeting made it clear that Nintendo's products for the rest of the year are still on schedule, so they can still reveal FP7 in the summer and then FP8 in September/the fall to end off the year unless they want to reveal FP9 at the Game Awards

Exactly. Things are going pretty smoothly.

It also means the idea of bonus characters are probably not happening either. Though I could still see it happening as a last second bonus echo pass at most. Since that's a lot easier to do than even transformation characters(to be clear, I mean stuff like Zelda/Sheik, not stuff like temporary shapeshifts in the way Arsene is. Or even how Final Smashes are. But proper character switch outs) are.

Also, I want to correct something I said a few days ago. The reason I didn't expect Transformation characters, since Sakurai said "6 characters remaining". I completely misread. He said exactly 6 DLC sets remaining. This can have transformation characters(not saying they're likely). So with that in mind, there's some like a Digimon who can't work outside of that concept. It however takes work to make two full unique characters, though we're talking two years overall as is. Then again, Min Min took at least half a year, and that was due to the gameplay factors alone. I highly doubt it. The only one I think might work is maybe Urshifu, but only because the models are just about the same and it's like making a regular clone ala Dr. Mario at the same time as Mario. Due to different moves and all(I doubt it'd be a pure stance change mechanic in the way Joker would be, though more controllable than him, since they're literally not switchable forms so much as different characters as part of the same evolution set. This isn't like Deoxys, who would make sense with a stance change mechanic).

 

[Icewolff92]

Plus, Nintendo needs to reinvigorate their customer base, and while Min Min's excellent, they can't afford to wait 3-5 months to announce the remaining 5 fighters of the second pass like this again. They've got to have FP7 revealed before September if they want to have at least half of the pass revealed and released by year's end

They really don´t. The only thing they have to do is to stick by the December 2021 date. They can release them as they please within that timeframe. They can frame them in in the last months of next month if they really feel it necessary and it would be them keeping their end of the bargain so to speak

 

[MattX20]

They really don´t. The only thing they have to do is to stick by the December 2021 date. They can release them as they please within that timeframe.

You're forgetting about the third parties they had to negotiate with (it's highly unlikely this is a pure 1st party pass, 2/3 are likely 3rd party). They're not going to be that patient for results

 

[Icewolff92]

You're forgetting about the third parties they had to negotiate with (it's highly unlikely this is a pure 1st party pass, 2/3 are likely 3rd party). They're not going to be that patient for results

If there even if first parties to begin with. People said that it would be third only... We got Byleth. People said that everything pointed towards Doom Guy or Dante as the 5 characters. Ended up being Byleth. Everyone said that they needed something that wowed people to get people back in after the Byleth controversy. They gave us. Arms. People said that there is no way we would only get presented the Arms character with the Arm character... We got only info on Min Min....

Plus, this is unprecedented times. The companies (if there is a third party character that is) would be stupid if they demand the character to release "asap". They know the timeframe when the pass will stop. A fight in Nintendos fighters pass is not the same as Sony counting on having Miles Morales Spiderman ready for PS5s release date.

 

[MattX20]

If there even if first parties to begin with. People said that it would be third only... We got Byleth. People said that everything pointed towards Doom Guy or Dante as the 5 characters. Ended up being Byleth. Everyone said that they needed something that wowed people to get people back in after the Byleth controversy. They gave us. Arms. People said that there is no way we would only get presented the Arms character with the Arm character... We got only info on Min Min....

Plus, this is unprecedented times. The companies (if there is a third party character that is) would be stupid if they demand the character to release "asap". They know the timeframe when the pass will stop. A fight in Nintendos fighters pass is not the same as Sony counting on having Miles Morales Spiderman ready for PS5s release date.

They still need to sell the pass, and unfortunately, MinMin is not going to be enough for most people to buy the full pass. They need a real heavy hitter or it will be a financial sink. Nintendo is a company, and character negotiations for characters not owned by them aren't cheap.

 

[Firox]

They still need to sell the pass, and unfortunately, MinMin is not going to be enough for most people to buy the full pass. They need a real heavy hitter or it will be a financial sink. Nintendo is a company, and character negotiations for characters not owned by them aren't cheap.

You're not wrong. In fact, I think you're totally right. They need to sell the pass. Min Min was great but not really the end-all character to get fence riders breaking out the credit card. Nintendo is in fact a company and they're ultimately hurting themselves if they choose to be senselessly silent. That said, this is also Nintendo we're talking about. Since when has savvy marketing strategy been their strong suit? In fact, they're legendary for some of the stupid decisions they make. That's why some of us wouldn't be surprised if they just sat on their hands. It seems to be their favorite M.O. right now. I, for one, really hope I'm wrong, but probability is leaning in favor of a long wait as far as I can reason.

Again, the fact that they felt compelled to spread out the Pokemon announcements tells me that they've got no cards in hand right now.

 

[Icewolff92]

They still need to sell the pass, and unfortunately, MinMin is not going to be enough for most people to buy the full pass. They need a real heavy hitter or it will be a financial sink. Nintendo is a company, and character negotiations for characters not owned by them aren't cheap.

Getting the money July next year, or September this month is not an issue. Companies like Nintendo plays the long game. Not the short term game. If they have to wait with the characters, they do, no matter if its first or third party.

Speaking of your "it is most likely 2/3 of the pass being first-party".. Do I need to remind you that Imran Khan has indicated that the pass is mostly if not all is going to be the first party. And that dude isn´t exactly a random 4chan user.

 

[MattX20]

Getting the money July next year, or September this month is not an issue. Companies like Nintendo plays the long game. Not the short term game. If they have to wait with the characters, they do, no matter if its first or third party.

Speaking of your "it is most likely 2/3 of the pass being first-party".. Do I need to remind you that Imran Khan has indicated that the pass is mostly if not all is going to be the first party. And that dude isn´t exactly a random 4chan user.

I said 2/3 likely being third party, not first. I'm not opposed to more 1st party DLC, but at the same time making an entirely first party pass might not get the results Nintendo would want.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Looks like we won´t get a direct any time soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzhtgjLYjTk

We've known this since March. Nintendo already said that they weren't even going to start putting together one until September meaning we likely wouldn't be getting an actual Direct until probably October at the absolute earliest. Despite this, there's nothing stopping Nintendo from releasing news in other ways.

 

[Megadoomer]

Getting the money July next year, or September this month is not an issue. Companies like Nintendo plays the long game. Not the short term game. If they have to wait with the characters, they do, no matter if its first or third party.

Speaking of your "it is most likely 2/3 of the pass being first-party".. Do I need to remind you that Imran Khan has indicated that the pass is mostly if not all is going to be the first party. And that dude isn´t exactly a random 4chan user.

I figured those tweets were a sly hint at who the ARMS character would be. (as someone pointed out after the character reveal, look at the first letter of each Tweet)

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

To point out, the releases of many characters are sometimes going to coincide with a 3rd party game. So when that character releases does matter too. It's a promotional factor that sometimes is relevant. This won't always be the case, but the timing does matter. Hero was released around the time XI Definitive Edition was released for a reason.

3rd party developers do actually care when the release is. As long as it's in a good timeframe, that is. COVID-19 does affect game development too, so it's going to be common for some to change release dates so the character is released within a decent timeframe to help promote the 3rd party game.

It won't always happen, as some characters will be chosen for non-promotional purposes. And some can still be promotional to a degree without worrying about a timeframe(Banjo & Kazooie were directly promoted within their presentation to sell Rare Replay, which was an active product and not a "new one", leaving lots of leeway for time in general). We rarely had cases like B&K as well, so if a character is chosen for a promotional reason, they need to carefully plan out release dates with the 3rd party company so things work out well.

 

[Rohanx17]

Getting the money July next year, or September this month is not an issue. Companies like Nintendo plays the long game. Not the short term game. If they have to wait with the characters, they do, no matter if its first or third party.

Speaking of your "it is most likely 2/3 of the pass being first-party".. Do I need to remind you that Imran Khan has indicated that the pass is mostly if not all is going to be the first party. And that dude isn´t exactly a random 4chan user.

While I believe in multiple first party characters this pass I don't think that the post meant anything more than a cover to cryptically tease min min, and to his credit I didn't see it until after the fact.

 

[Icewolff92]

I said 2/3 likely being third party, not first. I'm not opposed to more 1st party DLC, but at the same time making an entirely first party pass might not get the results Nintendo would want.

Misswrote, my bad.

Anyhow. Having a first only pass is not stupid. They might not get as much revenue as the first pass, however, it will be a pass they could make the bring eyes to a certain franchise. No matter if they are doing Arms 2 or not, having Min Min included, getting people talking about Arms, which in essence gave it more light, and more people curious to check it out. Do they have any interest in rebooting Golden Sun? Including Isaac would be a perfect way to make people curious. What they might not get for the pass, it will bring in from other places. I think you see where I´m going with this.. Doing a majority first-party/only first party is not as dumb as it sounds when you step back and think about it.

I figured those tweets were just a sly hint at who the ARMS character would be.

Concidering he has indicated earlier about "mostly/only first parties" I highly doubt that.

 

[Vector Victor]

Again, the investors meeting made it clear that Nintendo's products for the rest of the year are still on schedule, so they can still reveal FP7 in the summer and then FP8 in September/the fall to end off the year unless they want to reveal FP9 at the Game Awards

At this rate with Nintendo's horrible communication about their games this year, maybe we have to assume their holiday line-up consists of 2.4 games.

 

[MattX20]

To point out, the releases of many characters are sometimes going to coincide with a 3rd party game. So when that character releases does matter too. It's a promotional factor that sometimes is relevant. This won't always be the case, but the timing does matter. Hero was released around the time XI Definitive Edition was released for a reason.

3rd party developers do actually care when the release is. As long as it's in a good timeframe, that is. COVID-19 does affect game development too, so it's going to be common for some to change release dates so the character is released within a decent timeframe to help promote the 3rd party game.

It won't always happen, as some characters will be chosen for non-promotional purposes. And some can still be promotional to a degree without worrying about a timeframe(Banjo & Kazooie were directly promoted within their presentation to sell Rare Replay, which was an active product and not a "new one", leaving lots of leeway for time in general). We rarely had cases like B&K as well, so if a character is chosen for a promotional reason, they need to carefully plan out release dates with the 3rd party company so things work out well.

That, and if Activision and Microsoft are indeed involved with the second Fighter Pass, they have two big opportunities for promotion. Crash for Crash 4 (they'll still likely use the N. Sane trilogy models for convenience) and Master Chief for Halo Infinite

 

[Icewolff92]

To point out, the releases of many characters are sometimes going to coincide with a 3rd party game. So when that character releases does matter too. It's a promotional factor that sometimes is relevant. This won't always be the case, but the timing does matter. Hero was released around the time XI Definitive Edition was released for a reason.

Sure, some characters are, I will give you that. But like I said earlier. This is an unprecedented time no matter how you slice it, and companies know that. We should all know that. We should not behave like it´s rainbows and sunshine and everything goes as plan 100%. Heck, I do believe in the notion that Min Min was supposed to be revealed/released in April or May. And she is the only one we have got official news and releases as of now and we are entering July.

 

[Megadoomer]

Misswrote, my bad.

Anyhow. Having a first only pass is not stupid. They might not get as much revenue as the first pass, however, it will be a pass they could make the bring eyes to a certain franchise. No matter if they are doing Arms 2 or not, having Min Min included, getting people talking about Arms, which in essence gave it more light, and more people curious to check it out. Do they have any interest in rebooting Golden Sun? Including Isaac would be a perfect way to make people curious. What they might not get for the pass, it will bring in from other places. I think you see where I´m going with this.. Doing a majority first-party/only first party is not as dumb as it sounds when you step back and think about it.

Having a first party-only pass certainly isn't stupid, but it doesn't seem like it would get a lot of people's hopes up given the track record for first party newcomers through Smash DLC.

So far, we've gotten...

-a blatant promotional pick for a game that hadn't been released outside of Japan at the time of their announcement ()
-a random Mario enemy that had the unfortunate timing of being announced alongside a Direct that was a letdown at worst and for a lot of people, just okay ()
-an eighth Fire Emblem character whose inclusion makes the exclusion of Rex seem hypocritical ()
-and Min Min, who seems to be met with a more positive reception, but it seems too early to be sure () - reaction videos seem somewhat muted, but I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that we knew that we'd be getting an ARMS character for three months.

Compared to the third party picks, that's not a stellar reception. We don't know how being an assist trophy impacts a character's chances (Spring Man wasn't explicitly ruled out because of it, but he also wasn't mentioned as being one of the characters that Sakurai considered), and even without them, there are plenty of great choices - there doesn't seem to be anything stopping Dixie Kong, in particular.

My concern is that any first party picks would have to walk a fine line of not seemingly like Nintendo's blatantly trying to promote something (which, arguably, 3/4 of the above-mentioned characters were) while still being in demand. (arguably, the only one of those four who had a large amount of demand going into this was Min Min, and I don't know how much of it was people thinking she was likely due to the Party Crash Bash like I did - Byleth had some, but it seemed like Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri were all significantly more popular choices)

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Sure, some characters are, I will give you that. But like I said earlier. This is an unprecedented time no matter how you slice it, and companies know that. We should all know that. We should not behave like it´s rainbows and sunshine and everything goes as plan 100%. Heck, I do believe in the notion that Min Min was supposed to be revealed/released in April or May. And she is the only one we have got official news and releases as of now and we are entering July.

Sorry, but no. They're going to make sure some characters can and will release only when it works for both companies.

Companies will have to move their own product to work with Nintendo too. It goes both ways. Some characters will have hard release dates and not all companies are okay with changing that.

That's not how it works. It doesn't matter what "times" these are. Not all companies will play ball. At all. That's how life is.

 

[MattX20]

Having a first party-only pass certainly isn't stupid, but it doesn't seem like it would get a lot of people's hopes up given the track record for first party newcomers through Smash DLC.

So far, we've gotten...

-a blatant promotional pick for a game that hadn't been released outside of Japan at the time of their announcement ()
-a random Mario enemy that had the unfortunate timing of being announced alongside a Direct that was a letdown at worst and for most people, just okay ()
-an eighth Fire Emblem character whose inclusion makes the exclusion of Rex seem hypocritical ()
-and Min Min, who seems to be met with a more positive reception, but it seems too early to be sure () - reaction videos seem somewhat muted, but I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that we knew that we'd be getting an ARMS character for three months.

Compared to the third party picks, that's not a stellar reception. We don't know how being an assist trophy impacts a character's chances (Spring Man wasn't explicitly ruled out because of it, but he also wasn't mentioned as being one of the characters that Sakurai considered), and even without them, there are plenty of great choices (there doesn't seem to be anything stopping Dixie Kong, in particular), but any first party picks would have to walk a fine line of not seemingly like Nintendo's blatantly trying to promote something (which, arguably, 3/4 of the above-mentioned characters were) while still being in demand. (arguably, the only one of those four who had a large amount of demand going into this was Min Min - Byleth had some, but it seemed like Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri were all significantly more popular choices)

Also Bandana Waddle Dee since he's been a heavily requested pick since Smash 4 and especially big in Japan

 

[Vector Victor]

Sure, some characters are, I will give you that. But like I said earlier. This is an unprecedented time no matter how you slice it, and companies know that. We should all know that. We should not behave like it´s rainbows and sunshine and everything goes as plan 100%. Heck, I do believe in the notion that Min Min was supposed to be revealed/released in April or May. And she is the only one we have got official news and releases as of now and we are entering July.

Problem is that Nintendo has been bad at communicating what they have to offer well before this virus happened. And while things are not surprisingly delayed, people are confused at the delay with stuff that were nearly done before this. That frustration got worse when other companies are announcing what they are releasing while Nintendo continues to be silent or barely announcing anything. A new Paper Mario game is coming out in a few weeks and there's been barely any details on it.

For Smash, people are more interested in who the next character is more than demanding to play as them. And Nintendo didn't help matters by (amusingly) stretching out the ARMs reveal or waiting til almost the end of the deadline to do something.

Perhaps they really didn't have anything this year.

 

[Icewolff92]

Sorry, but no. They're going to make sure some characters can and will release only when it works for both companies.

Companies will have to move their own product to work with Nintendo too. It goes both ways. Some characters will have hard release dates and not all companies are okay with changing that.

That's not how it works. It doesn't matter what "times" these are. Not all companies will play ball. At all. That's how life is.

Nintendo is not even able to give us a direct during these times. Microsoft and Sony were close to delaying their new consoles due to this virus. Sorry, but you should not act like this is nothing. I hope I´m wrong about it will take longer for the next character to be revealed/released. But I would not be surprised, no matter if it's third or first. Feels like you are all underestimating the blow that this virus has done to the entire world. Heck the entire thread here was so sure that we were going to get at least one more character reveal with the knowledge on who the arms character were and look how that turned out.

but any first party picks would have to walk a fine line of not seemingly like Nintendo's blatantly trying to promote something

Marketing something is the exact reason why doing an all first-party pass would fit Nintendo. Just look at the clout Arms got because of Min Mins inclusion.

Byleth had some, but it seemed like Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri were all more popular choices)

As someone that loves Three Houses, and is involved in the fandom, I can say with almost certainty that it would not have worked to just have Claude, Edelgard, or Dimitri only without the fandom going ape****. The only way Sakurai could have any of the househlords would be if he included them all and made Byleth a "Pokemon Trainer" styled character.