Thank you for your honest and well written post. I wanted to start by apologizing if I came off too sharply before. In retrospect, it really wasn't that big a deal and I wanted to let you know that I wasn't trying to criticize your posts in general. You have a good point that it's healthy to have a "straight man" at the table to bring people down to earth when ideas take off too far in one direction. To be truthful myself, I'm right there with you in that regard. In real life I'm incredibly pragmatic to the point that many would call me a hard core cynic just for being painfully honest. Of all the fan characters to have still not made it in Smash, I really feel Geno is the most deserving one left. He has so much support and even Sakurai/Nintendo have acknowledged him to some degree, but it's so disheartening to have watched him fall short time and time again. I had to sit back and watch every one of my favorites get thrown to the wayside: Scizor, Knuckles, Shadow, Zero and then even Isaac got robbed despite seeming so incredibly close. The only three characters left in existence that I'm especially hyped for would be Geno, Banjo and Sephiroth so it would be amazing to get at least one of them with the DLC we have left. Not to say that I wouldn't be pleasantly surprised by any other characters, but Smash is my favorite game of all. I've played it for twenty years now and having Geno really would make this iteration the ultimate one. It's my own personal bias, so until I see concrete evidence of his deconfirmation, I'll defend my hope with all the optimism I can muster.
That said, I totally agree with your points. As of now, Geno can't be proven or disproven, so we'll just have to wait and see. My only desire for this thread is that, in addition to the realism and skeptism, we also balance with a healthy dose of whimsy and imagination. When others call it futile to speculate the moveset of a character we don't even know will get in, I call it breathing life into them. When others say the puppet can't be a real boy, I say give the fairy godmother a chance. Again, sincerest thanks for your post and I wish you all the best come E3.
I want to give you the same thanks in reply for your own well worded post. I actually didn't have much of a problem with your first post. I missed your initial post talking about the pipe dream part and only saw the second with regards to Assist Trophies, so I also thought I may have come off harsher than intended with my response. But moreover, I just felt your comment was actually a great time to maybe address the room here about how I go about things. I enjoy this community and a lot of the people in it a great deal even if I know my words are not the most supported or can have a tendency to annoy people at times, which is why I've continued to stay a part of it in addition to my desire for Geno.
I definitely agree about speculating move sets as a wonderful thing and similarly talking about a Super Mario RPG 2 or the original game are great. We've just circled through a lot of that content in the past year, so I'm a little less interested in those conversations and end up talking about his chances since I also see Geno as a piece of a greater speculation puzzle that we can never quite solve. His specific chances may not have changed a whole lot, but the surrounding community and other characters have.
One thing I'd also like to admit is that Ultimate (and Smash 4 DLC actually) pulled off a lot of very big stuff for me in terms of Smash so I've maybe been able to really take extra steps back from speculation in terms of investment because I almost feel greedy continuing to make such a big deal out of characters. I came out of Smash 4 perhaps as equally salty as many people here after the November Direct because of the place I was in when that ESRB roster was confirmed and I leveled far too many ridiculous arguments at that final lineup in that anger. I despised Duck Hunt as much as a great many people I'm sure despised Piranha Plant. Cutting Wolf, Lucas, and the Ice Climbers felt tone deaf to me. I had become a part of the community with the Lucina/Robin double reveal and had fallen in love with speculation and thus by extension, King K. Rool and Ridley. Mewtwo I had wanted ever since he went missing post Melee (I ****ing loved Pokemon when I was younger, especially Gen 1 and my old ass copy of Blue). All of that had made Smash 4 such a sour ending, but I moved on to playing the 3DS version and ended up loving so much about it, and oddly enough Duck Hunt became a personal favorite newcomer of mine.
Then the Wii U Direct happened and I got Mewtwo back, and I was so ecstatic again. Lucas felt like the right call to bring back, as did Roy (I'm not huge on them personally, but I wanted all veterans always). Ryu, Cloud, and Bayonetta were all really cool to see even if they still weren't who I'd been hoping for. I got really annoyed at Corrin and stayed that way until one of my best friends began to main him and I realized how cool his moveset was and how misplaced my anger was at him. I looked at Smash 4 + DLC as the impossible standard that we would never achieve again. It was the best we could do and there had to be a **** ton of cuts around the corner or a very simple enhanced port to the Switch. I went back and played Brawl for those missing characters like Snake and Wolf. I missed Fountain of Dreams dearly as well... And then Ultimate blew everything away. My dream of all veterans was achieved and I got Ridley in the same Direct. Then I got one of my personal dream picks in Castlevania representation and King K. Rool in the same Direct. It was such a massively satisfying sequence of events that I just have had trouble empathizing with some of the frustration in the community because even in Ultimate's worst moments, it has felt so much better than Smash 4 and achieved some astonishing things that we thought were impossible or absolute pipe dreams as you mentioned.
That's why I really want to see as many characters make it in as possible. I thought Joker was a great first DLC and I hope we see more stuff as great as him down the line. Geno is absolutely a character I would consider as great personally (Though, status in the gaming world is where I tend to diverge from the community I know). I mean, just once, seeing Geno and Banjo Kazooie come back in a game with a Nintendo focused crossover with Street Fighter, Castlevania, Mega Man, Sonic, Persona, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid, Pac-Man, and Final Fantasy? That's actually absurd to even consider! And I hope it happens alongside Smash further defining the Japanese gaming scene with series like Ninja Gaiden, Dragon Quest, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, etc. Smash is definitely my favorite game series of all time and I want to see how far it can soar before it's forced to change by necessity and practicality. Part of that is including both fan favorites and major series, while also discovering the little unknowns along the way. I really hope we get a second Fighter's Pass that hones in on all the favorites that initially missed the boat like Isaac and Waluigi (Maybe Geno if he does end up not coming with the Fighter's Pass). I'm not super hopeful, but that's absolutely my ideal situation.
And if it's any consolation, I think you'll likely be happy with at least one DLC character by this time next week if the whispers on the wind speak the truth. That's certainly where I've recently been investing my hype haha.
Sorry for the wall of text everyone, they are my trademark it seems after all.
