MasterOfKnees
Space Pirate
I really don't think Sakurai lacks respect for Waluigi, or outright hates him as others would have you believe, I think if he had always been extremely highly requested then he would probably have been in Ultimate's base roster, but the thing is that his popularity only really boomed to such an overwhelming extend right before Ultimate was officially revealed. Sure, he's always had some requests, but he was mostly just one of several Mario requests before, in fact I'd say that Toad, who still isn't in either, was more requested for Smash 4 than Waluigi was, and even before that Waluigi still wasn't a particular standout (I remember Bowser Jr. being more requested for Brawl, but I suppose that depends on where you looked). Like, does anyone remember a huge meltdown when Waluigi was deconfirmed for Smash 4? No, there were some disappointed people of course, but he simply wasn't popular enough at the time for there to be a riot over him not being in the game.
It's not like with Ridley who was one of the biggest requests for both Brawl and Smash 4, yet was still passed over, in that case it was obvious Sakurai had some issue with the character. With Waluigi I just think the timing of his newfound popularity was bad, and then the fact that the Fighters Pass turned out to only be 3rd parties has obviously held him back even further. I'm not sure I'd say that he's a frontrunner should Nintendo characters be back in the running for the post-Pass DLC, it's really difficult to say how they'd handle that, but if any AT is getting an upgrade I do expect it'll be him.
It's not like with Ridley who was one of the biggest requests for both Brawl and Smash 4, yet was still passed over, in that case it was obvious Sakurai had some issue with the character. With Waluigi I just think the timing of his newfound popularity was bad, and then the fact that the Fighters Pass turned out to only be 3rd parties has obviously held him back even further. I'm not sure I'd say that he's a frontrunner should Nintendo characters be back in the running for the post-Pass DLC, it's really difficult to say how they'd handle that, but if any AT is getting an upgrade I do expect it'll be him.
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