Masked Marauders - Skull Kid For Smash! Night of the Last Day.

[Porygon2]

So, I’ve not been able find a video with an assist trophy disappearing with the sparkle effect yet - only got summoned trophies - so that’s a good thing. I also can’t seem to find good footage that isn’t blurry, so jury’s still out. On the other hand, the sparkles appear higher on the map than they should for a character (likely Samus) activating it over their head, and again, Samus’s placement on the map just doesn’t make sense with the timing of the effect, considering the effect itself appears rather instantaneously after a summoning, and it doesn’t seem like Samus would have had enough time to move as far as she did unless the sparkles had been delayed somehow. Not to mention, if the Moon was the only thing appearing, what caused the “sparkling away” effect near Samus to begin with? Something about that footage doesn’t add up.

For reference, I’m currently contrasting assist trophies (particularly Takamaru) found in this video:
https://nintendotoday.com/20-minutes-of-super-smash-bros-ultimate-gameplay/
And the original Moon footage here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ski7C5yO30I

The sparkle effect happens regardless of whether the summoned character comes 'out of' the assist trophy or simply appears after it breaks. Look at Ridley spawning the pac ghosts here: https://youtu.be/_MCIfxWYwoo?t=365, or Inkling spawning Pong @6:52.

 

[The Event Mask]

SKull Kid's model is in the game in some form.....if he's not an assist he could be boss to playable, who knows

Uh we don’t know if he’s in the game all, there’s nothing that tells us this and believing in Loz18 isn’t an indicator that he’s in either

 

[Cap’nKazam]

The sparkle effect happens regardless of whether the summoned character comes 'out of' the assist trophy or simply appears after it breaks. Look at Ridley spawning the pac ghosts here: https://youtu.be/_MCIfxWYwoo?t=365, or Inkling spawning Pong @6:52.

Ah! Excellent-excellent-excellent!! Much gratitude Porygon2! I'm actually content with this answering all of my concerns about the moon footage. Samus's placement is still weird, but we could see similar situations in the video you posted with, so I'm no longer as skeptical where that's concerned. I think I've changed my mind about the Moon assist trophy footage - I don't see any reason to think Skull Kid is involved with it, based on what we know. Which, once more, makes his absence something incredibly intriguing. Just hoping he's either playable or not in the game at all at this point for maximum DLC potential. Skull Kid has been my most wanted Smash character possibly since Melee. If I can have him in Ultimate, I will never want for another Smash game (of course I'll buy them religiously anyway ). Gawrsh. To think tomorrow might be the day! Not long now, marauders! (chair theory don't fail us now!)

 

[AnOkayDM]

I know Emily Rogers has had a lot of hits and misses, but she's definitely had some real information about this game at least. She's claiming the banner is fake because there are characters who shouldn't be there at all, there are characters on there who are ATs...and that there are "multiple" characters missing from the banner who should be there.

Obviously Incineroar is one of the ones she's talking about, but I wonder if Skull Kid is too...still not getting my expectations up, but I find it interesting!

 

[Porygon2]

Ah! Excellent-excellent-excellent!! Much gratitude Porygon2! I'm actually content with this answering all of my concerns about the moon footage. Samus's placement is still weird, but we could see similar situations in the video you posted with, so I'm no longer as skeptical where that's concerned. I think I've changed my mind about the Moon assist trophy footage - I don't see any reason to think Skull Kid is involved with it, based on what we know. Which, once more, makes his absence something incredibly intriguing. Just hoping he's either playable or not in the game at all at this point for DLC potential. Skull Kid has been my most wanted Smash character possibly since Melee. If I can have him in Ultimate, I will never want for another Smash game (of course I'll buy them religiously anyway ). Gawrsh. To think tomorrow might be the day! Not long now, marauders! (chair theory don't fail us now!)

Ah man, I hate to break the bubble, but on closer inspection, it looks like your main issue might not actually be Samus's movement. That distance may be possible or may not, depending on lag after popping the trophy. Fighters can definitely get launched plenty of distance with the sparkle still active, so maybe that comes into play. See Ridley in the clip I linked.

But the main thing of note is the effect itself. When an assist trophy just breaks, there's a brief 'explosion' effect, followed by the sparkle, which is made up of 'stars' and small circles:

Spoiler: trophy break

The sparkle seen in your worrying clip has less 'stars', with larger circles and additional vertical "line" effects that are associated with an assist trophy character teleporting away in some manner:

Spoiler: teleport

But man, it still seems weird to me that they wouldn't just show Skullkid in the clip, seeing as he's a known requested fighter. A few potential explanations:

• We're seeing the end part of the sparkle caused by Skullkid teleporting away, which he does after causing the moon to appear. Maybe next time
• I'm plain wrong and/or the effect has changed
• Another AT was teleporting away and the Moon AT has a bunch of latency where it hangs in the sky for a while (would actually be a fun reference to MM)
• They cut him out of the clip as he was added late into development and may be removed from the AT.
• The AT pops a small moon overhead, which teleports into the sky. We see such size changes in ATs like Mother Brain.

 

[Cap’nKazam]

Ah man, I hate to break the bubble, but on closer inspection, it looks like your main issue might not actually be Samus's movement. That distance may be possible or may not, depending on lag after popping the trophy. Fighters can definitely get launched plenty of distance with the sparkle still active, so maybe that comes into play. See Ridley in the clip I linked.

But the main thing of note is the effect itself. When an assist trophy just breaks, there's a brief 'explosion' effect, followed by the sparkle, which is made up of 'stars' and small circles:

Spoiler: trophy break

View attachment 174005

The sparkle seen in your worrying clip has less 'stars', with larger circles and additional vertical "line" effects that are associated with an assist trophy character teleporting away in some manner:

Spoiler: teleport

View attachment 174006

View attachment 174007

But man, it still seems weird to me that they wouldn't just show Skullkid in the clip, seeing as he's a known requested fighter. A few potential explanations:

• We're seeing the end part of the sparkle caused by Skullkid teleporting away, which he does after causing the moon to appear. Maybe next time
• I'm plain wrong and/or the effect has changed
• Another AT was teleporting away and the Moon AT has a bunch of latency where it hangs in the sky for a while (would actually be a fun reference to MM)
• They cut him out of the clip as he was added late into development and may be removed from the AT.
• The AT pops a small moon overhead, which teleports into the sky. We see such size changes in ATs like Mother Brain.

Hmm. Yeah, that definitely looks more like a "teleporting away" effect than a summoning effect. What a freaking rollercoaster ride this has been. Another possibility is that Sakurai wanted to save Skull Kid's debut for a boss reveal, and then show off his connection to the moon trophy. It had occurred to me a little earlier that a miniature moon might appear upon summoning, but I wasn't aware of other assist trophies doing this, like Mother Brain. Glad to know that's a thing. And considering the assist trophy is actually called the moon, I'd figure this would be the most likely explanation. Good finds.

 

[Kensho]

I'm extremely confused about what you are talking about guys xD Why would they put Skull Kid in the trophy assist but call it moon and never show him? I mean, at least we are not talking Grinch anymore but this seems like just adding torture.

 

[AnOkayDM]

Yeah, no matter what's happening in that clip, it doesn't add up that Skull Kid is part of the AT. It's called Moon and the description on the website makes no mention of Skull Kid. Unless this is just Sakurai's biggest oversight ever, I think we can conclude that Skull Kid isn't here!

 

[PhantomShab]

Man if Skull Kid was actually a part of the Moon assist trophy but Sakurai was just hiding it until tomorrow, that would be one of the biggest **** moves. I don't know how you could call it anything other than malicious.

Also if Skull Kid isn't playable because of a lack of votes in the ballot then him being an assist trophy to start with is to blame for that. Assist trophies really were a mistake.

Oh and it really is funny how for months and months it only seemed like we just a small few people claiming to know anything about the game when it comes to leaks, now suddenly every single "insider" (aka leakers with an embarrassing track record and Nintendo boot lickers) is claiming to know every little detail about the game. Oh but they won't share a word of it. How convenient. They should just shut the **** up if they aren't going to name the real roster but they won't since they live for the attention they get when they lord info they don't actually have over people's heads.

 

[Cap’nKazam]

Yeah, no matter what's happening in that clip, it doesn't add up that Skull Kid is part of the AT. It's called Moon and the description on the website makes no mention of Skull Kid. Unless this is just Sakurai's biggest oversight ever, I think we can conclude that Skull Kid isn't here!

There is one more thing that must be said of the clip though - it begins with the Moon already in the sky, while "the Moon's" teleporting sparkle effect is still happening on screen. Either that was an incredibly instantaneous teleportation, or it probably wasn't the Moon that was teleporting. I kinda agree with PhantomShab though - that would really hurt if we've been waiting all this time just for SK to be an assist trophy again.

No matter. I'm going all in for Skull Kid for DLC, be he boss, trophy, or outright missing entirely (that's if he's not playable, which I think there's a good chance he will be). We can make this happen.

 

[AnOkayDM]

There is one more thing that must be said of the clip though - it begins with the Moon already in the sky, while "the Moon's" teleporting sparkle effect is still happening on screen. Either that was an incredibly instantaneous teleportation, or it probably wasn't the Moon that was teleporting. I kinda agree with PhantomShab though - that would really hurt if we've been waiting all this time just for SK to be an assist trophy again.

No matter. I've going all in for Skull Kid for DLC, be he boss, trophy, or outright missing entirely. We can make this happen.

If that happens, and Verge is right, we can commiserate with our grossly incandescent friends in the Isaac fanbase.

 

[Kensho]

If that happens, and Verge is right, we can commiserate with our grossly incandescent friends in the Isaac fanbase.

I feel like at this point we are the 2 most suffering fanbases out there, since Ridley and K Rool got in x)

 

[Carticas]

If there is a new ballot, it will be Bandana dee vs Skull Kid
Civil War

 

[Cap’nKazam]

If there is a new ballot, it will be Bandana dee vs Skull Kid
Civil War

If what Gyrom8 said about Nintendo possibly going big on DLC for Ultimate is the case, they might not need to compete as much as you might think.

Speaking of DLC, IIRC there's been some talk among certain insiders re DLC (nothing concrete, just suggesting that it's going to be big) and Nintendo's CEO also seems to be big on DLC given what he said the other day. I think this could really help Skull Kid's chances in the long run: Ultimate isn't on a underperforming system and there aren't any new Smash games on the near horizon, so they're really gonna milk this game in terms of DLC.

 

[TheKingOfEvil2014]

What are we thinking is Skull Kid's state now? I want to think he's MIA, but most people think he's a boss...
I feel he has a pretty good chance if the leak is fake.

We shouldn’t assume this until Sakurai says so. Apparently Waluigi fans are still trying to get him in for DLC, and Sakurai hasn’t said no, so why should we give up so easy?

Also, this.

 

[Cap’nKazam]

What are we thinking is Skull Kid's state now? I want to think he's MIA, but most people think he's a boss...
I feel he has a pretty good chance if the leak is fake.

I honestly don't know what to think. It's like we're back to square one, short of loz18 and any credible leaks. A lot of circumstantial evidence, and a case could be made teasing from Sakurai himself, but nothing concrete. Given Sakurai's approach to Zelda representation in past, I'm skeptical about his chances, but it must be said that the Director himself has acknowledged our little imp's popularity, which is no small thing. Given Majora's Mask near ubiquitous presence these days, its remake in 2015 and SK's booming popularity for Hyrule Warriors, as well as him being among the very first DLC costume material released for SSB4, it cannot be said that Sakurai wasn't paying him close attention. Whether he decided he wanted to use Skull Kid for a boss, or as a playable character, however...I don't know that a convincing argument can be made for either side yet. Director Sakurai works in mysterious ways...

 

[MeatOfJustice]

Hello, I'm from the Isaac thread, I found this last week (unknown source though ) and I think you'll appreciate this:

 

[Cap’nKazam]

Hello, I'm from the Isaac thread, I found this last week (unknown source though ) and I think you'll appreciate this:
View attachment 174033

This is awesome. Thanks so much. We're pulling for you, Team Isaac! You guys seriously deserve your golden boy. Let's make this thing happen! #teamreal!

 

[cybersai]

I wonder if it's a coincidence the direct is the day after Halloween. We always said Skull Kid would make a great halloween reveal.

 

[AnOkayDM]

I wonder if it's a coincidence the direct is the day after Halloween. We always said Skull Kid would make a great halloween reveal.

Considering we don't typically get holiday-themed reveals, it probably is a coincidence. It would be a nice one though!

 

[Cap’nKazam]

Happy Majora's Mask Anniversary, everyone! And speaking of, my tribute video is FINALLY done! I had such a fun time working on it and I'm so graetful to my friend Melodiva for voicing Majora!

BTW Joystar, I just realized I never commented on how much I love this video. You definitely paint an amazing picture of the conflict, pain, and horror of Skull Kid's seduction by Majora. Hearing her voice in the clip legit gave chills - this was so well crafted together: the flurry of colors, the dancing silhouettes, the haunting imagery - all of it flowing together in this gut-wrenching musical narrative. Brilliance. Seriously, this was an amazing thing. Is it up on the main page yet? It's so cool to see all this love flowing to our boi! You're a credit to the cause, JoyStar! Skull Kid 2018!

 

[JoyStar]

BTW Joystar, I just realized I never commented on how much I love this video. You definitely paint an amazing picture of the conflict, pain, and horror of Skull Kid's seduction by Majora. Hearing her voice in the clip legit gave chills - this was so well crafted together: the flurry of colors, the dancing silhouettes, the haunting imagery - all of it flowing together in this gut-wrenching musical narrative. Brilliance. Seriously, this was an amazing thing. Is it up on the main page yet? It's so cool to see all this love flowing to our boi! You're a credit to the cause, JoyStar! Skull Kid 2018!

I'm absolutely thrilled you love it! I did consider maybe posting it next year in case we got a Skull Kid reveal trailer for Smash, but all things considered I'm glad I posted it then! (even though I didn't finish it til late at night so not too many people saw it, but I wanted to get it out on the anniversary no matter what) It was really fun to put together and I'm probably just going to think of Skull Kid whenever I hear Unbecoming. Mel really is brilliant isn't she? She's a huge fan of Majora's Mask and I had heard her Majora voice before, so she jumped at the chance to play her again. I got chills at her voice too, especially the laugh—I was like squeeing to her about how her Majora laugh sounds so Majora and she's my headcanon Majora voice from now on.

Skull Kid is my favorite Zelda character of all time so I wanted to really do the video justice. I'm glad it turned out so well! And no, it hasn't been on the front page on this site yet! Is there a way to nominate it for the front page or something? That would be awesome if it was on the front page, lol.

And if I'm lucky another Majora video is going up today (though on my regular JoyStar channel since it's just my involvement), as if the Marajoara culture (who associated the moon with the female gender) worshipped Majora, to the tune of a song from Chrono Trigger because that's how the lyrics got in my head. Probably going to call it Call of the Moon Children or something. XD

 

[cybersai]

There have been a lot of unofficial Smash mods of Skull Kid in the past. Looking up youtube videos it's funny to see Skull Kid modeled with other characters movesets. One Skull Kid mod has him use Luigi's moveset, lol.

 

[All Hail Me]

I am still remaining hopeful. But I am not the type of person that falls apart at disappointment and I still plan on playing the hell out of this game.

 

[SkulltulaKid]

Hello, I'm from the Isaac thread, I found this last week (unknown source though ) and I think you'll appreciate this:
View attachment 174033

Wow! This is probably one of my favorite pictures this year now! Love how they tied them all in with the sun moon and stars. The current trinity representing celestial bodies

 

[Nintendo64isking]

HYPE is real guys HYPE is real, looking forward to the direct no matter what happens

 

[cybersai]

Skull Kiddo still has a shot as long as they don't show him during the Spirits mode as a level boss.....

 

[NintenRob]

If there is a new ballot, it will be Bandana dee vs Skull Kid
Civil War

Wrong

We join forces and show Nintendo WHO WE NEED

 

[TheKingOfEvil2014]

I do want this leak to be real on one end. But if it's fake, Skull Kid might have a chance again.
Hard stuff.

 

[PhantomShab]

In less than 24 hours we'll know who was right all along. The Grinch or all the Literally Who "insiders" down in Literally Whoville.

 

[0007]

>mfw he gets in

 

[cybersai]

Tomorrow makes you wonder if all that 3 month speculation since August was worth it. Prior to August, Skull Kid wasn't a big prediction for Ultimate. But after everything started adding up, all the clues pointed toward him.

Tomorrow is the moment of truth. I guess we'll see who was right, and who wasn't.

 

[ZealousGamer]

Skull Kid is my most wanted! I really hope he gets revealed tomorrow!

 

[AnOkayDM]

Almost there, guys!

Someone who's gonna be awake, make sure to post the Final Hours music in six hours.

 

[JoyStar]

Almost there, guys!View attachment 174242

Someone who's gonna be awake, make sure to post the Final Hours music in six hours.

That's 4am my time so someone else will have to do it. ^^;

 

[Dyllybirdy]

That's 4am my time so someone else will have to do it. ^^;

I'll probably still be up, so I can do it.

 

[Cap’nKazam]

I'm absolutely thrilled you love it! I did consider maybe posting it next year in case we got a Skull Kid reveal trailer for Smash, but all things considered I'm glad I posted it then! (even though I didn't finish it til late at night so not too many people saw it, but I wanted to get it out on the anniversary no matter what) It was really fun to put together and I'm probably just going to think of Skull Kid whenever I hear Unbecoming. Mel really is brilliant isn't she? She's a huge fan of Majora's Mask and I had heard her Majora voice before, so she jumped at the chance to play her again. I got chills at her voice too, especially the laugh—I was like squeeing to her about how her Majora laugh sounds so Majora and she's my headcanon Majora voice from now on.

Skull Kid is my favorite Zelda character of all time so I wanted to really do the video justice. I'm glad it turned out so well! And no, it hasn't been on the front page on this site yet! Is there a way to nominate it for the front page or something? That would be awesome if it was on the front page, lol.

And if I'm lucky another Majora video is going up today (though on my regular JoyStar channel since it's just my involvement), as if the Marajoara culture (who associated the moon with the female gender) worshipped Majora, to the tune of a song from Chrono Trigger because that's how the lyrics got in my head. Probably going to call it Call of the Moon Children or something. XD

Woot! Another? Can’t wait to see! Is it up yet? Got a link? You set a really great standard for future Skull Kid tributes, and I get the feeling our boi’s Star has not yet even begun to rise. On another note, I totally nominate JoyStar’s incredible tribute for front page publicity. Nothing like a good music video to capture the soul of a character, and I think JoyStar’s tale has the stuff to win over a lot of new, potential fans. What you think, Mr. Nintendo?

 

[_sneaK]

I will be at work from 7-2 MT. Life is rough fellas. Won't be seeing it till 6 after it airs. Going to do my best to stay spoiler free here's to a SK reveal!

 

[cybersai]

I'm just hoping he's not a boss. I really wish they didn't wait to the last direct to show off that spirits mode. I'll honestly shake my head if Skull Kid is just a boss. What a waste.

 

[icoNick]

Gosh it is hard to do my homework with this tomorrow morning... If this game gives me Skull Kid, Ridley, K Rool, Ken, Simon Belmont, and brings back Wolf... Sakurai deserves a statue.