K. Rool's Kremling Kutthroats: PM BKupa666 for an Invite to the New K. Rool Thread

[Bananija]

Oh, Iunno, I don't think of Wolf as the main Starfox baddie. He's more of a rival if anything. Ridley, as much as I love Metroid, would just seem odd as playable. K. Rool makes a ton of sense though, and gives us what would probably be a very unique, interesting heavy and a new DK rep.

Does he still looks odd to you?

As for Wolf, I think it's because most people don't see Andross being playable, so he is kinda the biggest baddie that Star Fox could get.

Nice signature btw.

 

[JaidynReiman]

Oh, Iunno, I don't think of Wolf as the main Starfox baddie. He's more of a rival if anything. Ridley, as much as I love Metroid, would just seem odd as playable. K. Rool makes a ton of sense though, and gives us what would probably be a very unique, interesting heavy and a new DK rep.

I have to disagree on Ridley. I think he'd make a great character. Agreed on Wolf, he's a rival. He is the closest you can get to a playable Star Fox main villain, though, because Andross is just a floating disembodied head and hands, whereas Wolf is the main rival to Fox and the most recurring antagonist.

 

[Deleted member]

I missed the 1000th page...

I have failed.......

Dammit, why......

WHAT AM I POSTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR

Also what is going to happen when we reach the limit of pages?

 

[Cutie Gwen]

I missed the 1000th page...

I have failed.......

Dammit, why......

WHAT AM I POSTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR

Also what is going to happen when we reach the limit of pages?

Lol Slowwagon
We make a new thread then

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

I missed the 1000th page...

I have failed.......

Dammit, why......

WHAT AM I POSTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR

Also what is going to happen when we reach the limit of pages?

Hopefully we get King K. Rool in before that happens. Didn't you miss the 200 page mark for Wolf too.

To quote Sonic
"You're too slow!"

 

[TheGalaxyKnight]

Oh, Iunno, I don't think of Wolf as the main Starfox baddie. He's more of a rival if anything. Ridley, as much as I love Metroid, would just seem odd as playable. K. Rool makes a ton of sense though, and gives us what would probably be a very unique, interesting heavy and a new DK rep.

While I would disagree with you about Ridley, that would be off topic. So let's agree to disagree k?

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

BTW, I found that google docs page compiling some poll results.

Looking at the US/EU poll results:

Reddit PollReddit Votes Reddit %
Banjo-Kazooie 1264 9.37%
Isaac 1218 9.03%
King K. Rool 1109 8.22%
Shovel Knight 1031 7.64%


Smashboards Ballot Smashborads VotesSmashboards %
Isaac 190 7.93%
Shantae 179 7.47%
King K. Rool 163 6.80%
Snake 116 4.84%

Reddit 2 PollReddit 2 VotesReddit 2 %
Shovel Knight 265 5.75%
King K. Rool 197 4.27%
Snake 184 3.99%
Isaac 181 3.92%


SourceGaming Poll - Before BallotSourceGaming VotesSourceGaming %
Ice Climbers 1563 4.87%
Lucas 1495 4.66%
Wolf 1471 4.58%
Snake 1438 4.48%


Reddit 3 PollSm4sh VotesSm4sh %
King K.Rool 240 8.20%
Shovel Knight 234 7.99%
Banjo-Kazooie 201 6.87%
Snake 195 6.66%

SSB4Dojo PollSSB4Dojo VotesSSB4Dojo %
Isaac 218 10.90%
King K.Rool 196 9.80%
Banjo-Kazooie 110 5.50%
Wolf 97 4.85%


This is just looking at the top 5 (somewhat arbitrary choice for intelligibility), but even here, I think there is more consistency across these polls than what the sourcegaming editorial suggested.

If you know about other polls, post em here! I know that some of the "strawpolls" are missing and the other tumblr one with Daisy among the top 5.

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

BTW, I found that google docs page compiling some poll results.

Looking at the US/EU poll results:

Reddit PollReddit VotesReddit %
Banjo-Kazooie12649.37%
Isaac12189.03%
King K. Rool11098.22%
Shovel Knight10317.64%


Smashboards BallotSmashborads VotesSmashboards %
Isaac1907.93%
Shantae1797.47%
King K. Rool1636.80%
Snake1164.84%

Reddit 2 PollReddit 2 VotesReddit 2 %
Shovel Knight2655.75%
King K. Rool1974.27%
Snake1843.99%
Isaac1813.92%


SourceGaming Poll - Before BallotSourceGaming VotesSourceGaming %
Ice Climbers15634.87%
Lucas14954.66%
Wolf14714.58%
Snake14384.48%


Reddit 3 PollSm4sh VotesSm4sh %
King K.Rool2408.20%
Shovel Knight2347.99%
Banjo-Kazooie2016.87%
Snake1956.66%

SSB4Dojo PollSSB4Dojo VotesSSB4Dojo %
Isaac21810.90%
King K.Rool1969.80%
Banjo-Kazooie1105.50%
Wolf974.85%


This is just looking at the top 5 (somewhat arbitrary choice for intelligibility), but even here, I think there is more consistency across these polls than what the sourcegaming editorial suggested.

If you know about other polls, post em here! I know that some of the "strawpolls" are missing and the other tumblr one with Daisy among the top 5.

lol Banjo Kazooie, like that's gonna happen. Amiright UP TOP!
None of the offenses to BK fans, but their chances are low (Burger King won't happen guys, same for Banjo).

 

[TheGalaxyKnight]

Does he still looks odd to you?

As for Wolf, I think it's because most people don't see Andross being playable, so he is kinda the biggest baddie that Star Fox could get.

Nice signature btw.

I can't see the picture... describe it for me?
Edit: nvm. Just took a while to load the video

 

[Morbi]

I can't see the picture... describe it for me?

Ridley and King K. Rool are having a pick-nick together.

 

[Bananija]

lol Banjo Kazooie, like that's gonna happen. Amiright UP TOP!
None of the offenses to BK fans, but their chances are low (Burger King won't happen guys, same for Banjo).

Whatt! Burger King is in my favorite games of all time!

I can't see the picture... describe it for me?

It's not a picture, it's a video where a gorgeous Brawl mod where Ridley is playable is shown.

 

[TheGalaxyKnight]

Ridley and King K. Rool are having a pick-nick together.

It sounds beutiful...

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

Ridley and King K. Rool are having a pick-nick together.

Did you intentionally spell picnic wrong?

 

[Morbi]

Did you intentionally spell picnic wrong?

Nope. I legitimately had no idea how to spell picnic. I have never been on one and I do not read the word too much either.

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

Whatt! Burger King is in my favorite games of all time!

Sorry man but Burger King is too OP for Smash. Ronald McDonald could balance him out though.

Nope. I legitimately had no idea how to spell picnic. I have never been on one and I do not read the word too much either.

Apparently according to Merriam Webster's site (pssh, you thought I used a physical dictionary, why would I do that) picknick is a variant spelling of picnic.

 

[oinkers12]

It's amazing that we are at 1000 pages, Kutthroats! It astounds me that, only 4 months ago since the ballot released, I read through around 500 pages of posts. I'm very happy that, since then, the K. Rool community has grown exponentially (even through the Mii costume debacle).

One thing that I REALLY want more of in Smash is more personality with the characters. Don't get me wrong, I love characters like King Dedede and Duck Hunt, but there are so many generic anime sword wielders or characters with not much personality (cough Mario cough). King K. Rool would fix the classic arguments (lack of DK reps, lack of heavyweights, etc.) but his inclusion would also fix my issue of there being not much personality. I've never played a classic DKC before but I watched his boss battles online and there is SO MUCH potential in this character that it would be a shame to toss aside for another bland character (I'm not saying any of the current frontrunners are bland nor am I intending on insulting their fans, I just wanted to make an example).

Marx from Kirby is still my number one pick but, seeing the support of King K. Rool on Twitter and Miiverse and seeing how perfect he would be for Smash, I've dedicated most of my efforts towards him. It's been an incredible 500 pages since the ballot and hopefully the 1000 remaining pages will be filled with gameplay footage of people playing as the lovable crocodile king!

 

[TheGalaxyKnight]

It's amazing that we are at 1000 pages, Kutthroats! It astounds me that, only 4 months ago since the ballot released, I read through around 500 pages of posts. I'm very happy that, since then, the K. Rool community has grown exponentially (even through the Mii costume debacle).

One thing that I REALLY want more of in Smash is more personality with the characters. Don't get me wrong, I love characters like King Dedede and Duck Hunt, but there are so many generic anime sword wielders or characters with not much personality (cough Mario cough). King K. Rool would fix the classic arguments (lack of DK reps, lack of heavyweights, etc.) but his inclusion would also fix my issue of there being not much personality. I've never played a classic DKC before but I watched his boss battles online and there is SO MUCH potential in this character that it would be a shame to toss aside for another bland character (I'm not saying any of the current frontrunners are bland nor am I intending on insulting their fans, I just wanted to make an example).

Marx from Kirby is still my number one pick but, seeing the support of King K. Rool on Twitter and Miiverse and seeing how perfect he would be for Smash, I've dedicated most of my efforts towards him. It's been an incredible 500 pages since the ballot and hopefully the 1000 remaining pages will be filled with gameplay footage of people playing as the lovable crocodile king!

That is something I felt lacked in the smash community too. I don't really have a personal connection with most of the characters because they really don't have a personality that makes them memorable.

 

[Pakky]

I'm super late but

 

[Bananija]

That is something I felt lacked in the smash community too. I don't really have a personal connection with most of the characters because they really don't have a personality that makes them memorable.

What kind of game do you plan to make?

 

[Goodstyle_4]

BTW, I found that google docs page compiling some poll results.

Looking at the US/EU poll results:

Reddit PollReddit Votes Reddit %
Banjo-Kazooie 1264 9.37%
Isaac 1218 9.03%
King K. Rool 1109 8.22%
Shovel Knight 1031 7.64%


Smashboards Ballot Smashborads VotesSmashboards %
Isaac 190 7.93%
Shantae 179 7.47%
King K. Rool 163 6.80%
Snake 116 4.84%

Reddit 2 PollReddit 2 VotesReddit 2 %
Shovel Knight 265 5.75%
King K. Rool 197 4.27%
Snake 184 3.99%
Isaac 181 3.92%


SourceGaming Poll - Before BallotSourceGaming VotesSourceGaming %
Ice Climbers 1563 4.87%
Lucas 1495 4.66%
Wolf 1471 4.58%
Snake 1438 4.48%


Reddit 3 PollSm4sh VotesSm4sh %
King K.Rool 240 8.20%
Shovel Knight 234 7.99%
Banjo-Kazooie 201 6.87%
Snake 195 6.66%

SSB4Dojo PollSSB4Dojo VotesSSB4Dojo %
Isaac 218 10.90%
King K.Rool 196 9.80%
Banjo-Kazooie 110 5.50%
Wolf 97 4.85%


This is just looking at the top 5 (somewhat arbitrary choice for intelligibility), but even here, I think there is more consistency across these polls than what the sourcegaming editorial suggested.

If you know about other polls, post em here! I know that some of the "strawpolls" are missing and the other tumblr one with Daisy among the top 5.

Based on these poll results, the character we absolutely have to look out for is Isaac. He may end up completely jeopardizing K. Rool's chances at this rate.

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

Based on these poll results, the character we absolutely have to look out for is Isaac. He may end up completely jeopardizing K. Rool's chances at this rate.

Its not like we can even do anything. Plus its kind of stupid for Nintendo to make just 1 ballot winner and have us wait, what 7 months for that 1 said character. They are both probably getting in since they are both super popular.

 

[mynameisBlade]

Its not like we can even do anything. Plus its kind of stupid for Nintendo to make just 1 ballot winner and have us wait, what 7 months for that 1 said character. They are both probably getting in since they are both super popular.

Ya if they make us wait that "long" for 1 character....they deserve the "long" SUPER ULTRA,
MEGA 3DSXLLLLLLL FACE - PALM!!!!!!

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

Ya if they make us wait that "long" for 1 character....they deserve the "long" SUPER ULTRA,
MEGA 3DSXLLLLLLL FACE - PALM!!!!!!

View attachment 68396

Bruh, its not even the most recent version. It has to be the "New" Super Ultra Mega 3DSXLLLLLLL Face-Palm.

 

[JaidynReiman]

Based on these poll results, the character we absolutely have to look out for is Isaac. He may end up completely jeopardizing K. Rool's chances at this rate.

Not likely, since we're definitely getting at least two characters, currently speculation holds that its likely 4 at least. If anything, we'll get both Isaac and K. Rool.

 

[BKupa666]

Based on these poll results, the character we absolutely have to look out for is Isaac. He may end up completely jeopardizing K. Rool's chances at this rate.

They don't really fill a similar niche, so I doubt it. Isaac does have a lot of "hype" factor behind him from what I've seen (where you get tons of upvotes anytime you mention the protagonist of a beloved game in an upvote-friendly setting, just by mentioning his/her name...see: Banjo, most indies, Bayonetta, Travis Touchdown). K. Rool is rarely far behind, if not outright ahead, though, especially in Japan, where Isaac is in the latter half of the top ten highest requests from what we know.

So long as "fanservice" is indeed the priority, I think we'll get both.

 

[TheGalaxyKnight]

What kind of game do you plan to make?

I want to try to make a 2 player platformer. I already have 3 of the main characters sketched out and am still trying to figure out what the evil henchmen should be. The actual villain is a giant frog though. The two others are a Salamander and a Sail Fish...

 

[CannonStreak]

BTW, I found that google docs page compiling some poll results.

Looking at the US/EU poll results:

Reddit PollReddit Votes Reddit %
Banjo-Kazooie 1264 9.37%
Isaac 1218 9.03%
King K. Rool 1109 8.22%
Shovel Knight 1031 7.64%


Smashboards Ballot Smashborads VotesSmashboards %
Isaac 190 7.93%
Shantae 179 7.47%
King K. Rool 163 6.80%
Snake 116 4.84%

Reddit 2 PollReddit 2 VotesReddit 2 %
Shovel Knight 265 5.75%
King K. Rool 197 4.27%
Snake 184 3.99%
Isaac 181 3.92%


SourceGaming Poll - Before BallotSourceGaming VotesSourceGaming %
Ice Climbers 1563 4.87%
Lucas 1495 4.66%
Wolf 1471 4.58%
Snake 1438 4.48%


Reddit 3 PollSm4sh VotesSm4sh %
King K.Rool 240 8.20%
Shovel Knight 234 7.99%
Banjo-Kazooie 201 6.87%
Snake 195 6.66%

SSB4Dojo PollSSB4Dojo VotesSSB4Dojo %
Isaac 218 10.90%
King K.Rool 196 9.80%
Banjo-Kazooie 110 5.50%
Wolf 97 4.85%


This is just looking at the top 5 (somewhat arbitrary choice for intelligibility), but even here, I think there is more consistency across these polls than what the sourcegaming editorial suggested.

If you know about other polls, post em here! I know that some of the "strawpolls" are missing and the other tumblr one with Daisy among the top 5.

I'd like to share my thoughts on K.Rool, Issac and Wolf's chances in getting in. I can see these being the most likely to get a chance to be in the game. Despite the Mii costume, K. Rool still has a lot of supporters, and he is among the top picks on other polls asking who they voted on the ballot. Issac seems to have a good amount of support, as well as Wolf, who was also a fighter in Brawl, so that affects his chances of getting in a positive way.

I can see most of the other top choices on the poles not making it in. I mean, though WayForward wants her in Smash, Shantae is not really even a character that has even been in Japan much at all. The same goes for Shovel Knight, and the two characters being indie characters could have a negative effect on their chances, though I could be wrong. Bayonetta, while in a sense, seemingly popular, is a bit too extreme in terms of maturity for Smash Bros, and I am not sure about Platinum Games being interested in wanting her in. Snake does have a good amount of support, but, given what has been going on lately at Konami, that may largely affect his chances of getting in the game in a rather negative way. Then there is Paper Mario, and though wanted quite a lot by many, he is still Mario. We Dr. Mario, and while it is possible that he could have his moveset, you never know if Sakurai would be lazy enough to make him a clone if he adds him in. There is a chance that could happen. Ice Climbers,., 3DS issues, enough said. As for Ridley, Sakurai said he already tried making him work, but wasn't able to do so. If I am not mistaken, Bomberman has the same issue with Snake, though

In terms of third party characters, I can only see Rayman having a shot at getting in, since for one, he does have three of his own trophies in Smash, and after that fake leak, many showed strong support in wanting him in the game. Now, there are other Nintendo characters I did mention that do have a chance of getting in. Still, I mentioned King K. Rool, Issac and Wolf foremost because they are high up there on the polls provided above. With the issues I mentioned on the other high ranking characters above, I personally do not believe those three may have much trouble in terms of getting picked as DLC characters. Or I could be wrong?

EDIT: I forgot to mention Banjo and Kazooie, who now belong to Microsoft, whom Nintendo is supposed to be competing with.

 

[Uzume]

Aww man, I missed the 1000th page. Oh well, it will absolutely not stop my support for the King 24/7.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Leave it to you guys to get to 1000 pages and a couple more since the last time I checked. Yeesh!.

On to something more K. Rooley. Best entrance animation?
1. Appears all soaked and spits fish from his blunderbuss like in DKC2.
2. Is revealed behind a curtain like in DKC3/ the Wizard of Oz.
3. He descends from a chain waving the public and says "KONG KRUSH!" like in the final battle of DK64.
4. Jumps from a big puddle of water like a crocodile (this is Sakurai's uninspired "I made Bowser and Ganondorf appear from flames" version).
5. I have always wanted an intro where a character falls into the ground and his stomp makes the screen (and your controller) shake a bit.
6. Gets to the stage in a little pirate ship (don't ask me how, Im running out of ideas here).

 

[Deleted member]

I think he'll just fall from the sky and slam in the ground DKC1 style, simple and effective.

 

[BKupa666]

Leave it to you guys to get to 1000 pages and a couple more since the last time I checked. Yeesh!.

On to something more K. Rooley. Best entrance animation?
1. Appears all soaked and spits fish from his blunderbuss like in DKC2.
2. Is revealed behind a curtain like in DKC3/ the Wizard of Oz.
3. He descends from a chain waving the public and says "KONG KRUSH!" like in the final battle of DK64.
4. Jumps from a big puddle of water like a crocodile (this is Sakurai's uninspired "I made Bowser and Ganondorf appear from flames" version).
5. I have always wanted an intro where a character falls into the ground and his stomp makes the screen (and your controller) shake a bit.
6. Gets to the stage in a little pirate ship (don't ask me how, Im running out of ideas here).

7. As a counterpart to DK and Diddy busting out of DK barrels, K. Rool pops out of a giant Dumb Drum and poses for the crowd.

 

[POKEMANSPIKA]

K Rool is already on the stage, "knocked out" and gets up.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

7. As a counterpart to DK and Diddy busting out of DK barrels, K. Rool pops out of a giant Dumb Drum and poses for the crowd.

Good one!.
If a bunch of weirdos can cook up great ideas to design K. Rool as a Smash Bros. character on a Friday night. I can't see how Sakurai, a genius and experienced game developer with a full trained team couldn't do the same in a couple of months.

 

[Powerman293]

Based on these poll results, the character we absolutely have to look out for is Isaac. He may end up completely jeopardizing K. Rool's chances at this rate.

I really don't see Issac and K Rool as competition. If anything, both us and the Issac supporters are in the same boat and we should support each other.

I don't know if it is just me, but I always thought the Holy trinity of the next DLC characters are Wolf, Issac and K Rool. So to me, we should all support each other. Dunno about the 4th one, though.

 

[Deleted member]

K. Rool and Isaac fanbases, at least on these boards, are generally in cahoots with each other the way I see it. The two characters couldn't possibly be any more different or appeal to different types of fans in general (though there are plenty of people here that support both K. Rool and Isaac). We know we are getting at least 2 more DLC, Sakurai said "several" himself and the two marios, so 2 at a minimum, 4 likely, 6 at maximum I think.

I think we will get Isaac along with K. Rool, rather than Isaac in place of K. Rool. Remember, Isaac smashes western out take polls but doesn't do quite as well in Japan is the general consensus. He still pops up over there but isn't neck and neck with K. Rool. Mostly veterans over there are the gangbusters. Krystal does much better over there than she does here.

Even Pichu is more highly rated than K. Rool and Isaac in Japan, because they love their veterans.

Edit: Over the past few months, and even up to today, I figure that if we get 4 more DLC characters, Wolf, K. Rool, and Isaac will me among them, with either Krystal or Bandana Dee being number 4. Shantae -maybe- if Sakurai thinks highly enough of her. You already have the Rhythm Heaven artist drawing up Shantae on his twitter, so her name is getting tossed around over there. I'd say she has a much greater chance than Shovel Knight at any rate.

But yeah, I will be shocked if neither K. Rool or Isaac are picked from the ballot, which without those two, would really make me question the whole "fan service from here on out" quote.

 

[CBO0tz]

BTW, I found that google docs page compiling some poll results.

Looking at the US/EU poll results:

Reddit PollReddit Votes Reddit %
Banjo-Kazooie 1264 9.37%
Isaac 1218 9.03%
King K. Rool 1109 8.22%
Shovel Knight 1031 7.64%


Smashboards Ballot Smashborads VotesSmashboards %
Isaac 190 7.93%
Shantae 179 7.47%
King K. Rool 163 6.80%
Snake 116 4.84%

Reddit 2 PollReddit 2 VotesReddit 2 %
Shovel Knight 265 5.75%
King K. Rool 197 4.27%
Snake 184 3.99%
Isaac 181 3.92%


SourceGaming Poll - Before BallotSourceGaming VotesSourceGaming %
Ice Climbers 1563 4.87%
Lucas 1495 4.66%
Wolf 1471 4.58%
Snake 1438 4.48%


Reddit 3 PollSm4sh VotesSm4sh %
King K.Rool 240 8.20%
Shovel Knight 234 7.99%
Banjo-Kazooie 201 6.87%
Snake 195 6.66%

SSB4Dojo PollSSB4Dojo VotesSSB4Dojo %
Isaac 218 10.90%
King K.Rool 196 9.80%
Banjo-Kazooie 110 5.50%
Wolf 97 4.85%


This is just looking at the top 5 (somewhat arbitrary choice for intelligibility), but even here, I think there is more consistency across these polls than what the sourcegaming editorial suggested.

If you know about other polls, post em here! I know that some of the "strawpolls" are missing and the other tumblr one with Daisy among the top 5.

Hmm.. So people generally want all the Brawl veterans, King K., Banjo, Isaac, and Shovel Knight..

Good.

 

[Mariomaniac45213]

K.Rool and Wolf all the way for me. While I wouldn't mind Issac and would be happy for his fans that they got their character in he isn't my most requested or I wouldn't freak out if he was announced. I'm not a huge RPG guy but I tried Golden Sun and I just found it kinda meh and boring tbh. But if he brought something unique to smash and Sakurai doesn't make him "generic anime sword guy #327" then i'd be perfectly fine with his inclusion especially if he incorporates his earthbending like powers.

 

[Deleted member]

Oh my

Slightly off topic, but after finding out that Charizard is not only in Pokken ( I know) and Pokemon amiibo are usable in Super Mario Maker, I casually checked again to see if Charizard's amiibo was anywhere, and miraculously, it was available for Wal-mart's online store. I can't even believe it. Got that bought and will be picking it up this Monday. I managed to get my number 1 most wanted amiibo after it being sold out for so long...I have resigned myself to knowing I will never get Robin, who is incredibly rare.

Now I feel like a jackass because previously Pokemon amiibos couldn't be used on anything other than Smash, now I want to run around World 1-1 as Charizard or Pikachu, and I sold my Wii U. And with my luck Pokken will come out on Wii U and not on NX.

Back to the thread!

 

[PushDustIn]

Anyone read this article at SourceGaming yet?
http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/08/13/the-dangers-of-online-polling/#more-1847

I don't have time to write a full and concise response right now, but the key points:

1) Author correctly points out that the community's online polling has limitations with regards to effectively representing the entire population of Smash Ballot voters. While fair, this limitation is overstated:

a.) Unlike researching cereal or political preferences (analogies of the author), the population interested or even familiar with Smash Bros is more narrow. Those interested in voting for a Smash Brothers character -- or even aware this is possible -- is narrower still. Online communities where Nintendo/SmashBrothers fans congregate are actually a great place to poll respondents because of this fact. After all, as the article itself mentions, the Smash Ballot is itself an online poll! That is, the criticisms about the community's polls being "unrepresentative" also apply to the Smash Ballot itself, even if to different degrees. Remember, the Smash Ballot is a poll that has barely even been advertised. It is not a worldwide or even a regional census so it is time to stop treating it as anything remotely similar.​

b.) The "feverish" fanbase has a great impact on the ballot than the more "casual" fanbase because:
> they are more organized -- votes are probably funneled into fewer characters rather than the wider spectrum of possible "casual" choices)
> and they probably voted several times -- probably multiple times for the same character.

Even if they have not voted multiple times themselves, dedicated fans have been overtly "campaigning" for each other's vote and for the votes of close friends and family. Consequently, we can expect that the average impact of the individual from the dedicated fanbase is greater than than the individual that is less interested and "casual".​

Related to part a.) above, the author seems to confuse the Smash Ballot as actually representing (or nearly representing) the population of people interested in voting for a Smash Bros character. This seems unlikely given: the non-existence of commercials for the ballot, ballot announcements restricted to social media and Nintendo Directs followed more closely by the dedicated fanbase, the limitations of online polling in general, etc.​

2.) Community survey results vary, but top characters do not vary as much as the author seems to believe. Maybe someone can help me out and post a link to that google doc compilation of community polls or any other links to community polls conducted around the internet. I don't have the numbers in front of me at this moment, but the belief that each community is a special snowflake is unfounded. I think this is apparent to anyone that has been following the polls.

3.) Not a particular focus of the article, but nonetheless relevant: Critics tend to selectively apply the idea that some characters are unknown to casual audiences. That is, the brunt of these criticisms tend to fall on K. Rool, Isaac, Inkling, Bandana Waddle Dee, etc. and others who have received many votes in community polls. This criticisms, however, applies to virtually every character popularly discussed among the community. If K. Rool/Isaac are actually doing poorly despite a significant online presence, how well are characters that do not even have that? Are we to believe this hidden casual mass is voting for them, "balancing" out results? Sounds implausible.

4). Finally, there are superior criticisms of community polls that this article and most critics repeating this overstated limitation do not address. Let me do their work for them:

a) Some community polls allow users to vote more than once. This allows the results to be vulnerable to serious manipulation (manually or automatic through bots). The Smash Ballot itself allows multiple votes, but there is a maximum (7 or 8?) per IP. More accurate polls would mimic this set-up.
b.) Some community polls do not allow the user to enter their own character. They are forced to pick from a selection of perceived-to-be popular or "valid" characters. This inflates the results of all of these characters because they receive the votes of users who cannot find their "ideal" character choice among the list.

b2.) Among these polls, characters are often listed in a set order (alphabetical, by game series, or arbitrarily). Characters listed first may receive more votes than those listed toward the end (voters might not see them or be too lazy to scroll down). More accurate polls will randomize the list so every user that takes the poll will see a different order ("cancelling" out this bias overall).​

c.) More fervent character fanbases, including our own, are more likely to post community surveys to each other so they are oversampled in community polls.​

In the end, the best safe-guard is replication. If we see survey results continuously replicated, we can probably have confidence in those results. Since we're in the K. Rool thread, I'l finish by saying that K. Rool is one character that has consistently appeared near the top and even at the top of many community polls, several of them thousands of votes in size. If K. Rool is not selected (which is still an open question) it's probably not because he didn't get enough votes in the Smash Ballot.

I made some text read to increase readability. Not because I'm angry!

Hey, I'm the author of the article! I almost didn't see this. If you have a great response like this, feel free to post it as a comment on the site. I'm far more likely to see it (Or tag me!). A lot of the Source Gaming writers live on Smashboards, so don't be afraid to tag us either.

Like I stated in the article, I'm working doing a follow up into who's heavily requested in Japan. The Dangers of Online Polling reflects my own hesitation going into it, mainly because I've come to accept that our community isn't as sizable and influential as we would like to think it is. If it was, Smash would look like a very different game and we would have never gotten Ryu.

Anyhow...back to your points:

1. This point actually covers several topics so I'm going to address them bit by bit.

A. It's true that it's an online poll, but when it first opened it was advertised everywhere. You couldn't make a post on Twitter without 50 pictures of the Smash Ballot popping up. The voting situation right now is very different than it was. Only hardcore fans are talking about, but when it first started it was everywhere. It was on r/gaming, Kotaku, Destructoid, and so many other places. Plus, people who didn't own Smash Bros were allowed to vote. There's nothing that stopped casual fans of the series to vote. I think you are underestimating the amount of people who visit official sites/ read gaming news, but are not engaged in the community. I know because I was like that in Brawl. I read the PoTD everyday (even staying up to Japan time), and I discussed it with my friends in real life (who were also not part of any community). The guy who runs SSB4Dojo.com was also like that.

B. We have no idea how voting actually works. We don't know if the 1 vote per person is just a suggestion or an actual limitation. Nintendo has never been clear with that. "Feverish" are more organized, but it doesn't equal inclusion. I'm looking into who's being requested on the Japanese side right now and Ryu has come up like...3 or 4 times now. Yet Sakurai said he was aware of his "demand and popularity".

2. Community polls don't differ too much in top characters but the order differs. Merely was trying to make a point that finding a "winner" is a lot more difficult than simply polling one area of the Internet.

3. I would say K. Rool is somewhat unknown with the casual fanbase. I showed my friends who play video games (including Smash) a picture of the K. Rool costume and they said, "Why did they add a crocodile into the game?" (Friends are American and Japanese). Please remember that we are in an echo-chamber. We know and love K. Rool because everyone else around us loves him (plus he's amazing!). If you look at a some of "top Nintendo characters of all time" type lists, K. Rool doesn't always place that high. I would never argue that Inkling lacks general recognition. My high school student was talking about Splatoon two weeks ago. It's a craze!

4. Those are all valid criticism of online polling.

I do think that characters requested by the hardcore community are more likely to get into the next entry (as evident by Shulk getting in). I just think its erroneous to believe that our wants are the larger public's wants. What the larger public wants is more likely to get in as DLC as they need to consider the larger fan base.

So far, in my research K. Rool is top 5 in the Japanese hardcore Smash community (but that was probably obvious from the data from February). I'm still working on collecting data, and it might be another week before the full article is posted. It takes a long time to collect data (I'm doing it all manually). Please be patient.

 

[Bestmand902]

Ridley and King K. Rool are having a pick-nick together.

Now I just have the image of K.Rool and Ridley and Yogi Bear and Booboo
Why would you do this to me.