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

[Captain Fun]

I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that they would have started work on ballot characters before the ballot ends, especially considering the fact that the team is smaller than before and most of the votes came in earlier.

 

[vaanrose]

I forgot what it's called but you aren't taking into account the screens edge. Designers need to be aware that some people's monitors aren't calibrated correctly which is why major UI elements are never a perfect fit. There's always some border around it/ space to the side. Maybe @ vaanrose knows the term for what I'm talking it about (he pointed it out awhile back when talking about fake leaks).

Overscan safety. No important UI information should be placed right on the edge of the screen, since some TV's will cut that section of the image off. The existing Smash UI design leaves the standard 5% overscan safety region. I can say with 100% certainty character icons will never exceed the currently defined edges, as it was a very intentional design decision not to run them all the way to the edge like so many fan mockups do.

 

[PushDustIn]

Hey PushDustIn; had a question. Do you think the evidence I found might be foreshadowing something, if at all in your view? Also, I am not sure how to directly quote someone without replying, so my apologies.

Use the @ symbol and type a name!

It's possible, but it's also likely an error somewhere. Tweets are automatic to send out at certain times for PR purposes so it could be a bug in the software, or a newbie messing up. I do think some information will come soon though.

So something that bugs me about that Unseen64 guy. He is implying the ballot characters are already in development and ready to be revealed soon. Which one doesn't make sense, given sakurai was busy on other character and stages up until mid june (giving them about 2 months of dev time with less staff, meaning the characters would be EXTREMELY fresh into development to even begin showing acceptable gameplay.

Its possible Nintendo is bringing a new character(s) to PAX, and we are getting ready to get a reveal this week. If so, its easy that he heard details from either someone planning or setting up PAX, and just assumed its ballot content.

The next thing that bugs me.......the ballot still has 40 days left. Is Nintendo basically saying "yeah screw that thing" and just going about making DLC anyways?

Say for example we get Wolf as the "ballot" winner. They would have probably just made the ballot anyways, so why even bother having it in the first place. If this guy does have knowledge of certain future DLC, I think its logical and fair to say the content is still "preballot."

Sakurai stated that Roy, Ryu and Lucas were chosen to be Pre ballot characters and essentially implied that everything from now was going to be ballot.

The ballot will be used in the next game (whenever it is) so having it run after all DLC is finished isn't unreasonable. I think it's possible this round of characters were started in May, as the last month for Ryu, Roy and Lucas were probably spent debugging.

 

[MandoBardanJusik]

Honestly, Sakurai's team probably started on new characters shortly after the ballot started. Never did they say there would be a winner, nor did they say they would wait until the ballot ended. That's part of the reason things are so hard to guess and figure out. Personally, I think around the end of May, they chose 1-2 front runners that had great potential and started(thus the 2 marios in the code). They didn't want to break the flow, both in development and fan hype, no way would they stop making characters, and it's separate team from the stage team. There were two reasons for the length of the Ballot: continued data gathering, and free reign on character choice and development. The end of the ballot is the end of information gathering, not use. I believe they picked several candidates over the length of the entire ballot, and have a short list. They will continue to develop until they reach the end of their time and money's worth, but instead of limiting by number, they are doing as many as they can. I don't think they have an optimum character number they are aiming for, but rather a character cost (both in money in time) scale that they can work within.

Personally, a new announcement soon wouldn't surprise me, they need hype, Nintendo needs more good press, especially by the wii-u. Smash characters are a big one, and the timing lines up. We don't know how they've planned this out exactly, but we do know they have. And however they've done it allows them to add in as many characters as possible, and Sakurai shall be Sakurai

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

I see there were some stressing moments here while I was looking away. And I wouldn't worry about people pretending to know something and admitting they do. Lately Nintendo has proven that if you spill the beans they can mess you up. If someone claims to know something, they don't. If they actually do, twitter accounts will be deleted and snipers will shoot.

As for the amount of characters. I have always taken it the more negative way unfortunately:
-1 character is disappointing
-2 characters is expected
-3 characters is a joy
-4 characters is a blessing

Though sometimes I think of the last scenario were Sakurai loses it and delivers 10 more characters during 2016. That is ridiculous but it makes me forget that we might not get what we want.
And yeah, Wolf automatically steals a spot in every scenario. At least he is cool. But there will always be at least one spot that could be for K. Rool (QUOTA FULFILLED, POST IS NOW K. ROOL RELATED ).

 

[Senselessbreak]

Use the @ symbol and type a name!
Sakurai stated that Roy, Ryu and Lucas were chosen to be Pre ballot characters and essentially implied that everything from now was going to be ballot.

The ballot will be used in the next game (whenever it is) so having it run after all DLC is finished isn't unreasonable. I think it's possible this round of characters were started in May, as the last month for Ryu, Roy and Lucas were probably spent debugging.

True, but we are assuming that he immediately means the next DLC content is from the ballot. What we get out of his statement is:
-Currently available dlc is preballot
-Only several more characters will be made
-Future character choices will make fans happy

He doesn't necessarily say the next character is from the ballot. If we get Wolf soon, his release is suspiciously close to the new Starfox, which means this was probably planned for some time. The term "fan service" is very loose here, because we can easily say the current DLC is fan service, and if we get Wolf as the result of preballot planning, he could be considered fan service, since hes still widely demanded.

Let me use a quick example. Wii Fit Trainer was planned, but she was never a "fan service" character. Nobody requested her, but Sakurai used that to his advantage to make people like her. Or lets say Greninja, as Sakurai had to take a risk on the choice before fans even knew he existed. Someone like Little Mac, was highly requested by fans, and including him in the game was a great example of fan service.

So if Sakurai has plans to do another wave of preballot DLC, the characters he has in mind could easily fit as "fan service," such as veterans like Wolf or Snake.

Edit: The word "several" is notoriously hard to interpret. It can mean as little as 2 characters, or sometimes a handful.
Last time Sakurai used the word "several" was when he was getting ready to reveal the Robin trailer. He said we were near the bottom of the barrel, and only several newcomer trailers were left. In this case "Several" meant 4 (Robin, Shulk, Bowser Jr, DH)

 

[conTAgi0n]

I just posted my thoughts on these mystery tweets in the Shantae thread, but since they were shared here first and I am also a K. Rool fan, I thought I'd share my theory here too.

I don't think anything is on the way. Here is my theory about what those tweets really mean:

Nintendo announced Lucas and had a release date planned for him. They had Roy and Ryu ready to go, but never even slightly hinted at this. Much to Sakurai's dismay, however, the patches including their data were data mined and the characters were leaked, moves and all. Right after the leak, Nintendo surprised us by announcing both Roy and Ryu alongside the Lucas release and then releasing them the same day. Since then we've had no specific characters to look forward to.

What happened? If they hadn't already been leaked, it would have made no sense for Sakurai to dump two unannounced characters on us the same day as Lucas. That is a huge huge waste of hype potential. And then after giving us a constant string of characters to look forward to, one at a time, he just gives us three in one day and then nothing to look forward to for months and months. An update with new costumes and stages comes, and no character with them.

I suspect that Sakurai's original plan was to release Lucas and then announce Roy the same day, to be released with the tourney mode patch in August. When that patch hit, Sakurai would surprise us with an even bigger announcement - Ryu coming to Smash Bros! Ryu's original release date was probably intended to be fairly soon. It's possible that something would have been announced when Ryu was released, but with the ballot closing just a month later, I think Sakurai would have just left us with all of that to chew on until October 3.

Of course when the two characters were leaked, this whole plan was totally ruined. There's no point in holding back the characters once everyone already knows they're on the way and have even figured out how to hack the game to play as them. Rather than pointlessly and annoyingly parcelling them out over the coming months, Sakurai just released them all with Lucas, and his carefully planned hype train came to a crashing halt.

This tweet is probably just a relic of that original plan. Nintendo's twitter is probably automated in some way, and had a series of tweets scheduled for different times over the summer corresponding to the announcement and release of Roy and Ryu. Most of these would have been deleted, but evidently they missed one.


That's just a theory, but I think it's the best explanation of these accidental tweets. Sorry guys, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

 

[EnthusedPanda]

I just posted my thoughts on these mystery tweets in the Shantae thread, but since they were shared here first and I am also a K. Rool fan, I thought I'd share my theory here too.

I don't think anything is on the way. Here is my theory about what those tweets really mean:

Nintendo announced Lucas and had a release date planned for him. They had Roy and Ryu ready to go, but never even slightly hinted at this. Much to Sakurai's dismay, however, the patches including their data were data mined and the characters were leaked, moves and all. Right after the leak, Nintendo surprised us by announcing both Roy and Ryu alongside the Lucas release and then releasing them the same day. Since then we've had no specific characters to look forward to.

What happened? If they hadn't already been leaked, it would have made no sense for Sakurai to dump two unannounced characters on us the same day as Lucas. That is a huge huge waste of hype potential. And then after giving us a constant string of characters to look forward to, one at a time, he just gives us three in one day and then nothing to look forward to for months and months. An update with new costumes and stages comes, and no character with them.

I suspect that Sakurai's original plan was to release Lucas and then announce Roy the same day, to be released with the tourney mode patch in August. When that patch hit, Sakurai would surprise us with an even bigger announcement - Ryu coming to Smash Bros! Ryu's original release date was probably intended to be fairly soon. It's possible that something would have been announced when Ryu was released, but with the ballot closing just a month later, I think Sakurai would have just left us with all of that to chew on until October 3.

Of course when the two characters were leaked, this whole plan was totally ruined. There's no point in holding back the characters once everyone already knows they're on the way and have even figured out how to hack the game to play as them. Rather than pointlessly and annoyingly parcelling them out over the coming months, Sakurai just released them all with Lucas, and his carefully planned hype train came to a crashing halt.

This tweet is probably just a relic of that original plan. Nintendo's twitter is probably automated in some way, and had a series of tweets scheduled for different times over the summer corresponding to the announcement and release of Roy and Ryu. Most of these would have been deleted, but evidently they missed one.


That's just a theory, but I think it's the best explanation of these accidental tweets. Sorry guys, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Sounds about right.

 

[JaidynReiman]

I just posted my thoughts on these mystery tweets in the Shantae thread, but since they were shared here first and I am also a K. Rool fan, I thought I'd share my theory here too.

I don't think anything is on the way. Here is my theory about what those tweets really mean:

Nintendo announced Lucas and had a release date planned for him. They had Roy and Ryu ready to go, but never even slightly hinted at this. Much to Sakurai's dismay, however, the patches including their data were data mined and the characters were leaked, moves and all. Right after the leak, Nintendo surprised us by announcing both Roy and Ryu alongside the Lucas release and then releasing them the same day. Since then we've had no specific characters to look forward to.

What happened? If they hadn't already been leaked, it would have made no sense for Sakurai to dump two unannounced characters on us the same day as Lucas. That is a huge huge waste of hype potential. And then after giving us a constant string of characters to look forward to, one at a time, he just gives us three in one day and then nothing to look forward to for months and months. An update with new costumes and stages comes, and no character with them.

I suspect that Sakurai's original plan was to release Lucas and then announce Roy the same day, to be released with the tourney mode patch in August. When that patch hit, Sakurai would surprise us with an even bigger announcement - Ryu coming to Smash Bros! Ryu's original release date was probably intended to be fairly soon. It's possible that something would have been announced when Ryu was released, but with the ballot closing just a month later, I think Sakurai would have just left us with all of that to chew on until October 3.

Of course when the two characters were leaked, this whole plan was totally ruined. There's no point in holding back the characters once everyone already knows they're on the way and have even figured out how to hack the game to play as them. Rather than pointlessly and annoyingly parcelling them out over the coming months, Sakurai just released them all with Lucas, and his carefully planned hype train came to a crashing halt.

This tweet is probably just a relic of that original plan. Nintendo's twitter is probably automated in some way, and had a series of tweets scheduled for different times over the summer corresponding to the announcement and release of Roy and Ryu. Most of these would have been deleted, but evidently they missed one.


That's just a theory, but I think it's the best explanation of these accidental tweets. Sorry guys, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I understand that possibility, but where this notion falls flat is that those tweets up there? They show off all the Mii Fighter costumes released at that time, and Roy as well. Unless they had planned to release this set of Mii Fighters at E3, but I can't really see that because Inklings are in their as well, but the Inklings were released much earlier to promote Splatoon.


It'd be interesting if that was the case (since it'd prove K. Rool was supposed to release way earlier), but it doesn't make that much sense due to the Inkling costumes being here as well...

Then again, there is the fact that this tweet doesn't have Lucas in it.

EDIT: Forget I mentioned it. Lucas is in there.

 

[Pakky]

So is there something happening or no?

 

[Senselessbreak]

So is there something happening or no?

probably not. Lots of false alarms.

 

[Pakky]

probably not. Lots of false alarms.

Well poo, there must be something everyone was in a huff a minute ago about some dude's Tweet is that not still the case?

 

[Powerman293]

While the evidence is quite convincing of Roy and Ryu coming out this month thanks to that tweet, I still can't believe they would hide Roy and Ryu completely in the code when they know people are hack the game and are gonna find them.

 

[Senselessbreak]

Well poo, there must be something everyone was in a huff a minute ago about some dude's Tweet is that not still the case?

Until he shows proof, no one is going to take him serious. His tweets come off as cocky, yet unsure and making speculations based on "research" or rumors he heard from his "uncle that works for Nintendo."

Also keep in mind the results for the miiverse photo contest will go live tomorrow sometime between 8PM and 9PM

 

[JaidynReiman]

Until he shows proof, no one is going to take him serious. His tweets come off as cocky, yet unsure and making speculations based on "research" or rumors he heard from his "uncle that works for Nintendo."

Also keep in mind the results for the miiverse photo contest will go live tomorrow sometime between 8PM and 9PM

The "uncle that works for Nintendo" was a joke. But based on his statements this time, it really does seem that he doesn't have an actual source. All the things he "hears" about upcoming things in the gaming industry are rumors and speculation.

 

[Senselessbreak]

The "uncle that works for Nintendo" was a joke. But based on his statements this time, it really does seem that he doesn't have an actual source. All the things he "hears" about upcoming things in the gaming industry are rumors and speculation.

See the things he got right in the past had to do with minor stuff, such as ports, and publishing nonsense. He may have a source, but these details probably are nowhere near as "top secret" as something like a Smash Bros character. Nintendo takes this stuff very serious.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Until he shows proof, no one is going to take him serious. His tweets come off as cocky, yet unsure and making speculations based on "research" or rumors he heard from his "uncle that works for Nintendo."

Also keep in mind the results for the miiverse photo contest will go live tomorrow sometime between 8PM and 9PM

That reminds me, if one of the winning pictures features a K. Rool trophy in it then what do you think are K. Rool's chances being put in as a playable character for ssb dlc then?

 

[Senselessbreak]

 

[Xzsmmc]

That reminds me, if one of the winning pictures features a K. Rool trophy in it then what do you think are K. Rool's chances being put in as a playable character for ssb dlc then?

Same as they have been.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Same as they have been.

But at least he'd be getting recognition from Nintendo.

 

[JaidynReiman]

That reminds me, if one of the winning pictures features a K. Rool trophy in it then what do you think are K. Rool's chances being put in as a playable character for ssb dlc then?

Same as they have been.

It won't change anything, as Xzsmmc said. Whether a K. Rool photo gets picked or not, it doesn't change anything, because either way can be interpreted as a positive for K. Rool.


Didn't pick ANY ones with K. Rool even though there's a ton of them (and most DO follow the loose theme of "Unity")?

Hey, why did he ignore K. Rool? Is he trying to ignore it so as to not raise hype for K. Rool? Why?!


Picked a pick of K. Rool?

Hey, why did he pick one with K. Rool? Maybe K. Rool's going to be playable later?!



Its a no-win situation. Ultimately, nothing results from either one.

But at least he'd be getting recognition from Nintendo.

He kinda already has? He's mentioned in nearly every one of VC DK releases as a major factor in game and there's the Mii costume as well.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

It won't change anything, as Xzsmmc said. Whether a K. Rool photo gets picked or not, it doesn't change anything, because either way can be interpreted as a positive for K. Rool.


Didn't pick ANY ones with K. Rool even though there's a ton of them (and most DO follow the loose theme of "Unity")?

Hey, why did he ignore K. Rool? Is he trying to ignore it so as to not raise hype for K. Rool? Why?!


Picked a pick of K. Rool?

Hey, why did he pick one with K. Rool? Maybe K. Rool's going to be playable later?!



Its a no-win situation. Ultimately, nothing results from either one.




He kinda already has? He's mentioned in nearly every one of VC DK releases as a major factor in game and there's the Mii costume as well.

Yes but I mean as to flat out reference him in ssb other than a mii costume but I suppose you both have a point.

 

[PushDustIn]

For people who believe the Leaks caused Sakurai to change plans:

The video was uploaded a long time ago that is used in this tweet.

The original reveal (New Content Approaching) had to be finished before the data mining leaks from RTB, as the videos were translated. PoTD had to be done weeks before and that's a lot less effort. Not to mention I can't see coordinating market stuff (Images for eshop, server, etc) for multiple regions being finished in a couple of days.
It took over 100 hours of gameplay for a 10 second clip in a commercial to make Sakurai haply.

Plus three characters were announced at every E3.

For more pre-ballot content:

It's not totally unreasonable to assume they went into DLC with an idea of how long they would produce it, how much they would and the expected time frame. I don't think they looked at the ballot and said "wow a lot of votes! We didn't expect that. Better add another character". Dlc development has up to this point been pure optimization: Ness and Lucas share animations, Robin and Roy and Marth and Roy share some animations too. The stages are mostly recreations of past stages, requiring little planning. Dlc development can't go on forever, and schelude had to be made based on market data and consideration for other projects. I wouldn't be surprised if there's only 2 characters left and they were chosen from the ballot. Probably a good 60% of the votes occurred the first week anyway.

 

[MandoBardanJusik]

I'm still wondering when that sequel he said he was going to do is going to happen.

Also, I'm kinda laughing at someone over on Neogaf who is saying that the K.Rool support is simply an echo effect, and a Geno type group. Now ignoring the fact that here alone we have what over 500 unique Kutthroats in our support list, our support on twitter as well, our consistent ranking in polls. Not only that, but we have also spread far beyond the measurable on the internet, we have also the several million DKC fans who grew up with the character, many of who are our friend who we have reminded of how much they enjoyed that character. I mean here along, more than half of the Kutthroats have reached out to 3 or more people meaning that outside of the polls, in regards to the ballot itself meaning our support alone has resulted in over 1500 votes, if not far far more. Throw in the European(UK especially), and Japanese support, I mean the K.Rool fanbase is nearly as strong as the classic DKC/64 fanbase. We are a representatives of the larger fanbase, we are not in an echo chamber, and all the info backs that.

Also, even if we fail at Smash, we will have achieved our larger goal, the one that makes us stronger than the supporters of say Geno. We aren't after one last moment in the sun, but the return of K.Rool to the DK franchise and into Nintendo in general, and we've achieved that awareness, we've got the backing of the relevant parties. That we shall achieve

 

[Xzsmmc]

I'm still wondering when that sequel he said he was going to do is going to happen.

Also, I'm kinda laughing at someone over on Neogaf who is saying that the K.Rool support is simply an echo effect, and a Geno type group. Now ignoring the fact that here alone we have what over 500 unique Kutthroats in our support list, our support on twitter as well, our consistent ranking in polls. Not only that, but we have also spread far beyond the measurable on the internet, we have also the several million DKC fans who grew up with the character, many of who are our friend who we have reminded of how much they enjoyed that character. I mean here along, more than half of the Kutthroats have reached out to 3 or more people meaning that outside of the polls, in regards to the ballot itself meaning our support alone has resulted in over 1500 votes, if not far far more. Throw in the European(UK especially), and Japanese support, I mean the K.Rool fanbase is nearly as strong as the classic DKC/64 fanbase. We are a representatives of the larger fanbase, we are not in an echo chamber, and all the info backs that.

Also, even if we fail at Smash, we will have achieved our larger goal, the one that makes us stronger than the supporters of say Geno. We aren't after one last moment in the sun, but the return of K.Rool to the DK franchise and into Nintendo in general, and we've achieved that awareness, we've got the backing of the relevant parties. That we shall achieve

I'm just not happy that we're ending up as the new Ridley fans. That is to say, an easy target for trolls and haters to mock because the character we want didn't get in.

Christ, I hate this fanbase.

 

[Deleted member]

For people who believe the Leaks caused Sakurai to change plans:



Plus three characters were announced at every E3.

For more pre-ballot content:

It's not totally unreasonable to assume they went into DLC with an idea of how long they would produce it, how much they would and the expected time frame. I don't think they looked at the ballot and said "wow a lot of votes! We didn't expect that. Better add another character". Dlc development has up to this point been pure optimization: Ness and Lucas share animations, Robin and Roy and Marth and Roy share some animations too. The stages are mostly recreations of past stages, requiring little planning. Dlc development can't go on forever, and schelude had to be made based on market data and consideration for other projects. I wouldn't be surprised if there's only 2 characters left and they were chosen from the ballot. Probably a good 60% of the votes occurred the first week anyway.

If that's the case, I wish the Ballot didn't last all the way up to October. Some might feel that only 2 characters "from the ballot" after having 6 months to decide, and only coming up with that number, might feel disappointing. I get WHY it lasts this long, but still.

Edit: Either way, with all this recent hoopla I have a gut feeling we're gonna finally get some Smash information soon. We might not, it could just be the wait eating away at everyone, but I think something's on the horizon...

For better or for worse.

 

[Senselessbreak]

So if K Rool doesnt get in as DLC, theres nothing stopping him from being a top contender for Smash 5. Unlike Ridley, nothing is holding K Rools design back. The DKC series is still getting updated often, and we will likely see K Rool in a future main entry.

Geno will likely not be in Nintendo titles due to Square. Nintendo however, owns K Rool, and recently updated his trademark showing they are interested in keeping him. I think its safe to say theres still a future for the Kroc, regardless if hes DLC.

With Ridley and Mewtwo out of the way, and with the good chance of Wolfs return, what other major villains are there for Nintendo to include? Surely none as large as the Kroc!

 

[PushDustIn]

Honestly, I dislike the kind of mentality my character > yours. I wrote a post about it and how the community needs to grow up. It's childish and it needs to stop. Putting down other character's so you can feel better about your own character doesn't make them more likely. If you want to have a grown up conversation about characters you need to be willing to take the pros and cons of each character. I'm not saying Geno is likely, he has a lot of issues. But is he better or worse than K Rool or Ridley? That's completely subjective and irrelevant to their chances of becoming a newcomer.

This is why Nintendo will never take the Smash fanbase seriously. We look like a bunch of loud babies.

Anyhow got work now so I'm peacing out for awhile. Don't take my silence as me giving up these debates. Though for the sake of your thread (and so you guys can stay on topic about K Rool) this might be the last post I make for awhile unless we get new information about K Rool. Come visit the NintenZone if you want more discussions like this. Thanks to everyone who entertained me here. Especially @ BKupa666 and everyone who I talked with.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

So if K Rool doesnt get in as DLC, theres nothing stopping him from being a top contender for Smash 5. Unlike Ridley, nothing is holding K Rools design back. The DKC series is still getting updated often, and we will likely see K Rool in a future main entry.

Geno will likely not be in Nintendo titles due to Square. Nintendo however, owns K Rool, and recently updated his trademark showing they are interested in keeping him. I think its safe to say theres still a future for the Kroc, regardless if hes DLC.

With Ridley and Mewtwo out of the way, and with the good chance of Wolfs return, what other major villains are there for Nintendo to include? Surely none as large as the Kroc!

Of course there's also Dr. Eggman and Gruntilda but I don't see either of them happening soon until K. Rool gets in first.

 

[CelerinaTheJackrabbit]

Honestly, I dislike the kind of mentality my character > yours. I wrote a post about it and how the community needs to grow up. It's childish and it needs to stop. Putting down other character's so you can feel better about your own character doesn't make them more likely.

This is exactly one reason I'm so glad I'm practically happy with everyone who seems to be doing at least decently. I don't see any reason wrong with having any of them!
K.Rool, Paper Mario, Marshal/Rhythm Heaven Rep, Wolf, Snake, Daisy, Waluigi... I don't even play Metroid that much, and would adore Ridley!

Heck, I even was one of those people wanting Geno back in Brawl. Which is odd, because I had no clue where he was from at first, and then I was reintroduced to SMRPG...

In the end though, I'm just glad for the wanting of practically 'everyone.' Except the silly ones.

I'm looking at you, you ogre and animoo martial artist.

 

[Deleted member]

For Villains:

Bowser, Ganondorf, (technically) King Dedede, Bowser Jr. are already in game.

Ridley is an impossibility (so Sakurai says...)

King K. Rool and (technically) Wolf are front runners for the ballot.

That's pretty much all the big names right there. Bowser, Ganondorf, Ridley, K. Rool, Wolf, Dedede, and Bowser Jr. are all the most notable Nintendo villains. You have to get more obscure characters after that. The next biggest name I can think of is Porky from Mother/Earthbound and Medusa/Hades from Kid Icarus. Though it's possible to double dip into other franchises, there are no major contenders what so ever from series of the aforementioned villains (except maybe Magalor or Dark Matter from Kirby, both of which would actually BE a villain of that series, because Dedede is more of a heroic jerk than a villain). Ghirahim could also be a new contender for a Zelda rep, but he has some serious competition.

If we included 3rd party villains, the OBVIOUS choice would be Dr. Eggman. Though there is Dr. Wily, if we were to get another Megaman character it would be Zero without question. Dr. Eggman though feels like a shoo-in (aside from Tails and maybe Knuckles) if we got a second Sonic character. He's got as much clout as Bowser in the Video Game Villain department.

So yeah, maybe Porky and either Medusa OR Hades, not both obviously. Hades may have been the true final antagonist of KI: Uprising but Medusa has been in more games, and the final antagonist of the first KI, and she's a FEMALE villain, and Captain Syrup ain't happening ever (sadly) so Medusa has a lot more of an impressive resume than Hades, he merely has class.

I'd be all over Porky as playable but not so hot on anyone from KI. Fire Emblem falls into the same trap of having too many options with none being remotely more interesting than any other in their competition except for Black Knight, who at least warranted a Mii Costume. There's also Black Shadow to take Falcondorf's moveset so Ganon could get his own, which is literally all he has going for him.

Also keep it real, @ PushDustIn glad to have you here for the time being. We'll be here, like we always are, until the fat kroc sings.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Someone post this to the Kremling Kampaign on Twitter...NOW.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Already tweeted it to BKupa.

 

[BowserK.Rool]

Already tweeted it to BKupa.

 

[Cyberguy64]

With Ridley and Mewtwo out of the way, and with the good chance of Wolfs return, what other major villains are there for Nintendo to include? Surely none as large as the Kroc!

You did that on purpose....

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Eggman show up with a moveset similar to the Koopa Kids', but that's neither here nor there. K. Rool komes first.

I really want to agree with everyone on the "Don't hate other people's characters" concept, but then I think of Dork Pit, and the myriad Marths, and all the other stupid worthless controversial decisions that happened with the roster this time around that I can't seem to get my petty little head around it.

 

[Talpr1]

Honestly, expecting two unique newcomers isn't a stretch. The DLC team managed to develop two effective newcomers(Mewtwo and Ryu) basically at the same time. Granted, they skipped the creative process, since both already had a moveset(Mewtwo from Melee, Ryu from Street Fighters), but that's probably the easiest part of development, if the fact that even some dudes on forums can do a decent-ish job at it is of any indication. Also, to compensate, Ryu had to go through a longer animation and balancing process, because of his unique gimmick of SF inputs.

With that said, I'm personally expecting Wolf(similar development situation as Lucas) and then two fully unique newcomers at least. Now, the real mistery is who will they be.

 

[cothero]

At this very point, is truly impossible to foresee which characters will be released as DLC. As someone stated before, it's not a matter of numbers. Sakurai is not going to put any character into the game just because he gained the most votes. In the end, he'll end up choosing the characters he thinks to fit better into the game, based on number of votes AND gameplay improvements (moveset potential, importance, uniqueness etc.). But hey, if this Tamaki guy really has reliable sources as many say, i'm all ears.

 

[SleuthMechanism]

There is no need for Shantae. Any not Nintendo character who is in Smash should be a household name. Especially before characters like K Rool, Wolf, Toad , Inkling, waluigi, etc. get in. I'm sorry but Shantae is not even close to the level of Sonic, Pacman, Ryu, and Megaman. And yes I know you guys think we "Need an Indie character" but there is no way Shantae should be the one to rep Indie games.

i always found the idea of the need for a indie rep extremely silly. that said the one character that defines indie games would definitely be Quote. Comes from a game made by one guy alone and originally released for free just for the sake of sharing his ideas with others. THAT'S as indie as you could possibly get. Now that game's a name you can't go without hearing throughout the gamin community, truly one of the greatest underdog stories in gaming.But i don't think we need any of those indie characters at all and that infact it would be a grave INSULT to put any of them above much needed first party treasures like K.Rool!As for my favorite DKC? that is definitely DKC2. that atmosphere, music, solid gameplay and the pirate motif all mesh together near-perfectly to create one of the most finely crafted 2d platformers i've ever played. DKC is second with DKCR in third and DKC3 behind it(haven't played tropical freeze yet). My fave k.rool persona is unsurprisingly The Kaptain with the King as a close second. The boss fights are cool and challenging and he just plain looks really cool.

 

[ShinyRegice]

I've looked at the results on my "Which DLCs did you buy" post and it's interesting to see that it sold much more than average, being bought by 30.34% of people who took the poll, with the second best selling costume being the Inkling one with a 22.47% selling rate. This gives me more hope for my theory about Nintendo wanting to make as much money out of him as possible in the short term before releasing the real deal, though since I've advertised this poll in this thread I suppose results may be kinda biased towards Kutthroats who bought the costume (which looks gorgeous btw) to support him with a similar mindset to my theory.

Something else I've thought about, do you think it would be plausible to get a big Donkey Kong bundle made of several elements that can't be bought separately? I'm saying that because I think both King K. Rool and Dixie Kong seem like top choices for DLC, but I have a feeling the later is individually more likely (I don't want to see a debate about which of them is more likely or deserving please, that's not the point) and that having both in a bundle (thus without the ability to buy them separately) would be an amazing opportunity for King K. Rool to make it in. I mean, they both come from the same series and thus there's a lot of overlap in fan support for them and the core audience they would be mostly targeted at (you may say "but DLC has to sell to as much people as possible!" which is true but that doesn't mean there's no specific core target audience, because Ryu was manifestly marketed mostly towards fans of Street Fighters and to an extent traditional fighting games as a whole), so I have a feeling we're getting either only one of them or both without the ability to buy them separately. This bundle would also have a new Donkey Kong themed stage (most likely a brand new one I'd say) in order to give it more appeal as a DK-themed bundle and to make sure Dixie Kong and K. Rool don't feel like two characters bundled for the sake of it.

So it would be like this: Donkey Kong special bundle, King K. Rool + Dixie Kong + brand new Donkey Kong themes stage for 9.99$ (or 12.99$ on both versions)

Do you think it would make sense from a business perspective? Do you think fans would mostly be okay to buy the entire bundle if they're only interested in one of these characters in particular or that they would repulsed by the higher price? Do you think there would be a lot of outcry from fans who would feel ripped off by the inability to buy them separately? And how would you personally feel about this? I know it's mostly wishful thinking, but I want to hear some opinions about the idea.

Personally I would die of happiness if there was such a bundle, but I can't help but think that such an idea could potentially be panned by some fans who wouldn't like to see such a high priced single DLC bundle when other DLC sells for characters are much less costly overall. Feel free to share your thoughts.