Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Deleted member]

As unlikely as it is I always wish for this outfit to be included in smash. I always thought he looked good with the red cape.

I always thought it looked ridiculous, but there was a pretty quality mod of that design that made the wing only appear in certain animations like dash, double jump, or Climhazzard for example and it made me warm up to it a lot.

 

[Deleted member]

Is anyone else still as mad as I am that some wiener Nintendo fanboys hated Cloud's Final Smash because "it's just Great Aether again"?

When I saw that sentiment the day he was revealed, that's when I knew: Nintendo fans are really, really, REALLY insulated from video game culture outside of Nintendo. Edit: speaking as a huge fan of Nintendo games to this day.

I haven’t found the way to forget all the hate I got back on Miiverse for liking Cloud that day.

“How can you like another anime swordmen!?”
“Why do we have an Ike clone!? We didn’t need another character with his Up B and Final Smash!”
“He should be cut and added to PSASBR”

Needless to say, that’s how my fear to share my love for Dragon Quest online started.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

Really? The battle themes are the most important over say, the game's main theme, the song the game opens up with or one of the most iconic boss themes in ALL of FF? FF7 deserves so much more than the bare minimum, though you're a tad mistaken as I'm pointing fingers at Nintendo as they're the ones choosing not to get their hands on more

>

>Most important things
>No one winged angel or Tifa.PNG

I meant most important as they were able to realize that Smash fans care most about a character and stage, and focused on making those things great (Midgar is genuinely awesome despite just taking Battlefield on a platform placement level). It's not perfect representation, but like I've brought up many times, no series will ever have that and similarly, I don't see a point in arguing about what "Deserves to be in Smash." If I won't defend it for Kirby, DK, or anything else; Final Fantasy VII isn't going to be an exception either since that's only fair. Sure, there's plenty of great stuff from FF7 that I love and would love to see in Smash, some of it very important to FF7 as well... but again, it's just my standard mode of operating on these topics.

We can play as Cloud in Smash Bros. on a Midgar stage with the battle theme. That's the main thing that matters, the rest is just arguably just additional sweet deserts to the main course of a huge crossover moment in Smash like that.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Dragonlord would be quite a fun villain to add in Smash. An Akira Toriyama evil wizard who could turn into a dragon for his Final Smash and potentially use some few DQ monsters on his attacks

Psaro is the superior DQ villain.

He was Sephiroth before Sephiroth.

Wait, did they?

All the FPs got the same amount of spirits, but then DQ got that extra Tockles spirit later on.

Alright let's do this! Uncolored text because this isn't a f***ing game.

People usually save these for last, but let's start with victory outros.

Special win animation against Ryu/Ken/Terry

Default Win Animation (Winning's Winning)

Special win against Doom Mariner (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson)

Special win against any magic user

Now for the move list. Each special attack is listed in chronological appearance.

Neutral Special - Saving Private Ryan

For his neutral special, Vin Diesel uses a gun. Saving Private Ryan is a movie, so feel free to argue about whether its based on a real gun or not.

Up Special - The Iron Giant

The Giant grabs Vin Diesel like the little boy in the picture and flies upwards before disappearing. It deals no damage, but Vin Diesel is briefly invulnerable upon activation.

Side Special - The Fast and the Furious?!??

Cars are strictly reserved for Ridge Racer, so Vin Diesel rides fast and furiously on a scooter instead. He sits sideways like in the picture above. It functions like Wario's bike, but it looks more badass.

Down Special - Tea Cup (Featured in The Chronicles of Riddick)

Press it to sip tea and heal 2%. However, holding the button down unleashes a devastating melee attack. It has short range and slow start-up.

Final Smash - We Are Groot

A root comes out of the ground. If it lands, cue cutscene of Baby Groot dancing and while the opponents get wrecked in the background.

Okay after this next move I'm done with this poopypost because nobody gives af, but you bet your ass I could finish this if I felt like it.

Forward Air - The Pacifier

All those Vin Diesel characters and you leave out the one that's actually a video game character...Milo Burik from Wheelman.

 

[TheYungLink]

Psaro is the superior DQ villain.

He was Sephiroth before Sephiroth

You keep saying this over and over but Psaro's Sephiroth-esque character design was drawn for him after Final Fantasy VII came out, for the 2001 PlayStation 1 remake. Before that, he never had any official art except for his final boss form.

 

[Garteam]

I honestly have to say, I think Cloud looks better in Smash than the upcoming remake. I think the remake makes him too skinny, and I like that Smash fully embraces the anime aesthetic of his hair instead of doing the weird "what if Cloud's hair was real but still looked like porcupine" look that the remake is going for.

Getting Kingdom Hearts Cloud would be nice, but I definitely think Advent Children was the better choice if it was a one or the other thing.

 

[TheYungLink]

...oh yeah, we're supposed to be talking about newcomers, huh?

I think a Nihon Falcom character can still happen. Maybe not as CP5, but maybe post pass. My money is on either Adol Christin or Estelle Bright.

But wow. It's refreshing, and also terrifying, that none of us know who CP5 is or could be. And that yes, we really will have to wait until next month at the earliest to find out who they'll be.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

...oh yeah, we're supposed to be talking about newcomers, huh?

I think a Nihon Falcom character can still happen. Maybe not as CP5, but maybe post pass. My money is on either Adol Christin or Estelle Bright.

But wow. It's refreshing, and also terrifying, that none of us know who CP5 is or could be. And that yes, we really will have to wait until next month at the earliest to find out who they'll be.

KatKit is typing...

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I think were honestly at that point that newcomer speculation has been exhausted until we get more juicy leaks or insider info.

 

[DarthEnderX]

You keep saying this over and over but Psaro's Sephiroth-esque character design was drawn for him after Final Fantasy VII came out, for the 2001 PlayStation 1 remake. Before that, he never had any official art except for his final boss form.

Yeah, but he still had the angst, baby! The angst!

And even as an 8x8 sprite, he was still and elven prettyboy.

 

[PeridotGX]

I used that template to show all my most wanted characters. Thoughts?

 

[Goombaic]

I used that template to show all my most wanted characters. Thoughts?View attachment 255015

Anyone who wants Kamek is enlightened in my book. Heracross is a random Pokemon pick, though.

 

[Deleted member]

All the FPs got the same amount of spirits, but then DQ got that extra Tockles spirit later on.

This is true for the first two FPs only. Persona has 13, Dragon Quest has 13 not counting Tockles, but Banjo-Kazooie only has 9 and Fatal Fury has 12. Not counting fighter spirits, Persona has 11, DQ has 9 not counting Tockles, Banjo has 8 and Fatal Fury has 11.

 

[M@R!3]

I honestly have to say, I think Cloud looks better in Smash than the upcoming remake. I think the remake makes him too skinny, and I like that Smash fully embraces the anime aesthetic of his hair instead of doing the weird "what if Cloud's hair was real but still looked like porcupine" look that the remake is going for.

Getting Kingdom Hearts Cloud would be nice, but I definitely think Advent Children was the better choice if it was a one or the other thing.

Square must think so too since AC Cloud replaced Vincent/KH Cloud in KH2. I can't say I disagree.

 

[PeridotGX]

Anyone who wants Kamek is enlightened in my book. Heracross is a random Pokemon pick, though.

I couldn't think about who I wanted in that last slot, so I just went down my favorite Pokemon list. I don't know if there's much unique to be done with , Grovyle and Sceptile would be redundant. and Cursola has a really odd body shape. Heracross has none of these problems.

I just remembered Decidueye's existance, if i remembered he would be there.

 

[TheYungLink]

KatKit is typing...

My friends are huge Nihon Falcom fans, and yeah I know KatKit loves them too. I just think of Nihon Falcom as another Japanese game development giant that some people overlook like they did with SNK until an SNK rep was leaked.

Every year I focus on enjoying a specific series supplemented by other games in between, for me this year it was Dragon Quest, last year it was Kirby. Next year I wanna get into Ys and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky since my friends are always talking about how amazing both series are, haha

 

[BZL8]

New PotD from Sakurai.

pic.twitter.com/LOA1Lcx030

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 30, 2019

 

[Deleted member]

New PotD from Sakurai.

pic.twitter.com/LOA1Lcx030

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 30, 2019

I will pay Sakurai 300€ if he makes a PotD starring Samus and Eight.

I wish I could pay Sakurai 300€ anyways.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Square must think so too since AC Cloud replaced Vincent/KH Cloud in KH2. I can't say I disagree.

That was more done to promote the movie and because the characters were older than the first game so they of course all got new outfits.

 

[Deleted member]

This is true for the first two FPs only. Persona has 13, Dragon Quest has 13 not counting Tockles, but Banjo-Kazooie only has 9 and Fatal Fury has 12. Not counting fighter spirits, Persona has 12, DQ has 9 not counting Tockles, Banjo has 8 and Fatal Fury has 11.

Persona has two fighter spirits doh.

One for regular joker and another for school uniform Joker.

 

[Deleted member]

I think were honestly at that point that newcomer speculation has been exhausted until we get more juicy leaks or insider info.

We aren't getting anything until next yeat, but damn this wait is fatal.

 

[M@R!3]

That was more done to promote the movie and because the characters were older than the first game so they of course all got new outfits.

That was certainly a part of it. Cloud had plot reasons that made the change appropriate. Fighting against his own darkness and all that.

 

[Deleted member]

Persona has two fighter spirits doh.

One for regular joker and another for school uniform Joker.

Oshoot I forgot to subtract 2 from Persona. Whoops.

 

[lordvaati]

Is anyone else still as mad as I am that some wiener Nintendo fanboys hated Cloud's Final Smash because "it's just Great Aether again"?

When I saw that sentiment the day he was revealed, that's when I knew: Nintendo fans are really, really, REALLY insulated from video game culture outside of Nintendo. Edit: speaking as a huge fan of Nintendo games to this day.

I mean..it was inevitable( mild language warning)

 

[Luigi580]

I mean..it was inevitable( mild language warning)

I remember that video. Or that scene at least. Still funny how Cloud was that one "lol, it's never gonna happen" character at one time. Now he's been in two Smash games, which is more than the "shoe-in" characters back in the Brawl speculation days, like Ridley and K. Rool.

Even with all the third-party support now, Cloud's reveal is still one of the nuttiest out there. I think Joker is the only one that's come close since, and it'd be hard to top either of those now with a third-party character expected to finish off the pass.

 

[StarBot]

I mean..it was inevitable( mild language warning)

shame that Kribopher is a ****

 

[krokotopia101]

The hate for 'anime swordsmen' is still disgusting to me. To this day they still annoy me....also are they not the same people who want Sora & Isaac? I mean...by their logic, anyone that has a sword of some Calibur is an 'anime swordsman' soooooooooooo

 

[Mamboo07]

The hate for 'anime swordsmen' is still disgusting to me. To this day they still annoy me....also are they not the same people who want Sora & Isaac? I mean...by their logic, anyone that has a sword of some Calibur is an 'anime swordsman' soooooooooooo

Agree, lots of fans don't like them due to Fire Emblem in Smash. (No offense.)

 

[LightKnight]

I couldn't think about who I wanted in that last slot, so I just went down my favorite Pokemon list. I don't know if there's much unique to be done with , Grovyle and Sceptile would be redundant. and Cursola has a really odd body shape. Heracross has none of these problems.

I just remembered Decidueye's existance, if i remembered he would be there.

Decidueye would be a really nice addition. I'd be totally cool with Grovyle and Heracross too.

As for Typhlosion, its actually a Pokemon I'd really like to see added. I even made a moveset for it which I think has a unique mechanic to help differentiate the fighter.
The detailed moveset can be viewed in this spoiler.

Spoiler

Burn-Out Mechanic; When reaching rage percent the knock-back bonus from it doesn't apply to Typhlosion (even having the opposite affect on the character's knock-back, specifically on fire moves). Making the character one with great early potential but weaker compared to others late game. A rather opposite play-style mechanic to Lucario's. The black smoke affect still shows on Typhlosion's icon but instead of emenating white smoke from the character its black/grey.
* Attacks
Neutral Attack-Fury-Swipes; Stands up and lets out continuous claw attacks.
Dash attack-Gyro-Ball; Quickly spin in a 'ball' then enter back to normal 'stance'.
Up tilt-Slash; Slash in an upward arc above Typhlosion.
Side tilt-Double-Kick; Quickly let out a 'double kick'. Decent knock-back move that can be a K.O. option at the ledge when most opponents are around 200%. (like Sonic S-tilt)
Down tilt-Low-Kick; Spins around, letting out a 'low kick' that can trip.
Up air; Back fur points upward and embers emanate. A short-rang attack that can K.O. at the very top of the stage but isn't spammable with its high end-lag.
Dair; Spin in a ball laterally to be momentarily suspended. (like Mario Dair)
Fair-Aerial-Swipe; Unleash a forward slash with claws. Can be used to K.O. a high percent opponent off ledge close to the 'blast zone'.
Bair-Flame-Burst; Typhlosion releases a small explosion behind him, propelling him a small distance forward. Has good knock-back and can be used as a kill-option.
(With Burn-Out active, explosion hit-box is smaller, it doesn't propel Typhlosion, and its no longer a viable kill-option)
Nair; Spin around in a fiery ball (like flame wheel but with slightly smaller hit-box). Similar kill power to Uair or Fair.
(With Burn-Out active, loses kill power)
Side smash; Charges a fiery fist then thrusts forward. Relatively short-range.
(With Burn-Out active, becomes less effective as a kill option)
Down smash-Overheat; Create a small powerful explosion around Typhlosion but with significant start-up and end lag. Can be used for edge-guarding.
(With Burn-Out active, loses the raw knock-back power, making it a weak kill option)
Up smash; Typhlosion's fiery 'crest' burns above him.
(With Burn-Out active, becomes less effective as a kill option)
Neutral special-Eruption; A powerful flaming attack above Typhlosion but only when at low percent. (Comparable to Ivysuar's neutral bullet seed attack but with greater kill-power and range) In the air its half the power and quickly thrusts Typhlosion to the ground with a weak hit-box but leaves Typhlosion vulnerable with a little bit of end-lag on the ground. The power of the move directly correlates with the percent of the user, making it a strong initial attack or a good finisher when coming off a new life to 'clean' the opponent's stock. Around 0%-35% it can be used as one of the most powerful kill options Typhlosion has. Around 35%-65% the move gets steadily weaker but is still a viable kill-option. By 65%-99% the move is noticeably harder to K.O. with and will require a mix of good positioning and high percentage on your opponent's end in order to net the K.O.
(With Burn-Out active, has very little usage outside of just being a quicker way of getting to the ground when in the air because it only lets out a small weak explosion above Typhlosion)
Side special-Flame-Wheel; Spins into a flaming ball and rolls around whichever side you choose. Has decent knock-back, making it a kill option against opponents at high percents. A good lateral recovery option. (Similar to Yoshi's Egg-Roll or Bowser-J.R.'s Kart-Charge)
(With Burn-Out active, lowers the speed, range, and knock-back of the move)
Down special-Heat-Haze; Creates a decently sized shimmering heat haze around Typhlosion that 'burns' weak projectiles or objects/items and does a small amount of damage overtime to anyone inside but doesn't flinch opponents so it can be easily interrupted by physical attacks. (somewhat similar to Ness/Lucas 'Magnet-PSI' down-special)
(With Burn-Out active, lowers the range and damage of the move)
Up special-Blast-Burn; Quickly faces back towards the ground, letting out a powerful fiery explosion below that can spike and launches Typhlosion a great distance upward for amazing vertical recovery but puts Typhlosion into a defenseless free fall with a lot of lag when landing on the ground.
(With Burn-Out active, can lower effective distance by nearly half and reduce spiking potential)
Forward throw; Launches opponent forward. A very basic throw for positioning. When at high percents can be one of Typhlosion's best options for getting others offstage in order to follow-up and finish them off.
Back throw; Spins wildly backward and launches opponent laterally away. Can kill very high percent opponents at map ledge. This can act as possibly Typhlosion's best kill option when 'Burn-Out' is active but can be difficult with Typhlosion's low grab range and the move not netting the K.O. on most opponents till 150% or greater.
Up throw; Launches opponent above Typhlosion in order to easily combo into 'Eruption' and can act as a kill confirm when within about 35% and the opponent is at high percent.
Down throw; Pummels opponent to the ground then lets out an explosion that sends them forward diagonally up in the air. The focus of this 'throw' is damage and positioning. Although, at the ledge it can K.O. most opponents around 180% if Burn-Out isn't active.
(With Burn-Out active, lowers the damage and knock-back of the move)
Grabs; Short range
Dash-grab; Short range
Pummel; Bites opponent.
Final Smash-Burn-Up; Expands a heat wave outward from Typhlosion into a large radius, damaging and flinching anyone inside then once fully expanded releasing a huge explosion inside it. Puts Typhlosion into a temporary Burn-Out for 15 seconds?
* Movement
Jumps; Decent to below average jump height.
Rolls; Quickly rolls with shimmering embers around. Very effective.
Dodges; Shimmering embers cover Typhlosion's dodge. Very effective.
Groundspeed; Above average
Airspeed; Slow-Falling. Medium controlled movement, making Typhlosion feel very smooth and free-flowing in the air.
Weight; Medium
* Animations/Functionality
Match-start animation; A cloud of smoke hides Typhlosion but it quickly clears away as Typhlosion bursts into flame and embers surround then fade.
Up taunt; Lets out a might roar with his fiery crest flaming out and adding to the noise.
Side taunt; Spins as a fiery ball in place with flames behind him like a car tire revving up.
Down taunt; Creates a burst of smoke then pokes head out to survey then smoke clears.
Crouch; Crawls flat to the ground.
Idle Animation; Stands up on hind legs (like official pokemon games sprite)
Running Animation; Run on all fours
When Footstooled; Goes into normal free fall with body 'bent' inward and small arms limp.
* Analysis
Synopsis; A character with one of the biggest advantage states at the start of a match or while on a fresh life but conversely one of the weaker characters as the fight drags on in the opponents favor. Typhlosion's good speed, dash attack, Flame-Wheel, and powerful Eruption allow it to command the pace of the battle and maintain that momentum if played carefully, taking as little hits as possible. As such, speedy characters that can fall through the cracks and capitalize with fast damage/combos can pose the biggest threat to Typhlosion. With tools like Heat-Haze or Flame-Wheel and Typhlosion's overall rush-down style it does generally surprisingly well against zoning characters. In practice however, Burn-Out is a very tricky mechanic though cause if you can't make use of it early on to rack up damage and get the K.O. then you can constantly be behind in the match, only being able to make a comeback through evening the stocks by finishing the opponent's stock upon using your fresh one and carrying that momentum. While ground-game is stronger and faster, Typhlosion's air-game is decent and allows moderate character movement control despite having slight difficulty getting safely on stage or defending against approaching enemies from below. Typhlosion's grab game is overall quite difficult to pull off with his short grab range and other factors but if done correctly can be useful at all points in the match for setting up to finish opponents stocks. Overall, Typhlosion encourages a very aggressive yet tactical style of play in order to put pressure on the opponent while maintaining power throughout the match.
Difficulty of use; Medium
Beginners may really enjoy Typhlosion's initial boost of power but may rely on spamming powerful laggy moves that leave them open for damage then fail to net the K.O. because of it. Although they could probably easily get the kill after coming back on their new stock. However, beginners could easily fall into the trap of relying on certain moves and never improving/experimenting further with the character. All this making Typhlosion a fun character for beginners at least initially but not easy to learn as you would need good fundamentals to master the character and win the most matches.
Fighter Classification; Rush-down/Technical

 

[Izanagi97]

Agree, lots of fans don't like them due to Fire Emblem in Smash. (No offense.)

Here I thought it was because a lot of them are considered high or top tier and not just because of a dislike of Fire Emblem (usually Corrin) even though almost every game has a new ensemble of characters

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

To be fair, 6/36 is a pretty bad ratio.

I wouldn't accept that at all. I guarantee I wouldn't buy that game.

Better than none.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Where did I say anything offensive about Christine's gender identity? If she wants to express herself as a woman, more the power to her.

Sonichu is basically an internet legend at this point. Even Sega's online teams have gotten in on it at multiple points. Obviously, that doesn't excuse any internet harassment that's been brought about from it, but it's pretty clear Christine really doesn't mind people reposting her art within reasonable limits, including ****posting.

Maybe I worded it wrong but what I meant is that people generally spew transphobic **** right a

I meant most important as they were able to realize that Smash fans care most about a character and stage, and focused on making those things great (Midgar is genuinely awesome despite just taking Battlefield on a platform placement level). It's not perfect representation, but like I've brought up many times, no series will ever have that and similarly, I don't see a point in arguing about what "Deserves to be in Smash." If I won't defend it for Kirby, DK, or anything else; Final Fantasy VII isn't going to be an exception either since that's only fair. Sure, there's plenty of great stuff from FF7 that I love and would love to see in Smash, some of it very important to FF7 as well... but again, it's just my standard mode of operating on these topics.

We can play as Cloud in Smash Bros. on a Midgar stage with the battle theme. That's the main thing that matters, the rest is just arguably just additional sweet deserts to the main course of a huge crossover moment in Smash like that.

In that case why does anything matter? Let's cut out almost every song then we only need 2 per stage. There's a huge difference between say, "Kirby needs more modern music to represent the modern Kirby area" and "Man it sucks FF7 has less than the bare minimum with only 2 as FF7 is a bigger deal than like 70% of the roster"

 

[Cosmic77]

Here I thought it was because a lot of them are considered high or top tier and not just because of a dislike of Fire Emblem (usually Corrin) even though almost every game has a new ensemble of characters

I think the hate towards swordfighters peaked when Corrin was revealed. People had high hopes due to the ballot and Cloud, and Corrin wasn't really requested by many people. It also didn't help that FE already got two new characters in the base game and a veteran as DLC.

Don't think it had anything to do with tier lists though. Most people directed that kind of hate toward Bayo and Cloud.

 

[Lamperouge]

I think were honestly at that point that newcomer speculation has been exhausted until we get more juicy leaks or insider info.

Nonsense.

That being said, what do you guys think about the CacoMallow leak now? I know this was brought up, like, only a day ago but I'm sure something has changed regarding it!

 

[Mamboo07]

Nonsense.

That being said, what do you guys think about the CacoMallow leak now? I know this was brought up, like, only a day ago but I'm sure something has changed regarding it!

I think it's fake.

 

[Calamitas]

Nonsense.

That being said, what do you guys think about the CacoMallow leak now? I know this was brought up, like, only a day ago but I'm sure something has changed regarding it!

I hear they're planning to release those costumes to celebrate the wedding between Geno and Doom Groom.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

There's only one indie that's true and honest enough to jump to Smash:

They will show Sonichu in the splash screen but throughout the whole trailer, Chris Chan will be the one doing the fighting. Sonichu will only appear in his taunts.

What do you guys think about the CacoMallow leak now?

I don't know what to make of it but if it's fake, we do have a couple of French hackers who could be responsible for the creation of them. I don't have the actual conversation but I got the translation for that conversation below.

Spoiler: Big image

 

[DMTN]

Nonsense.

That being said, what do you guys think about the CacoMallow leak now? I know this was brought up, like, only a day ago but I'm sure something has changed regarding it!

Not much has changed. It has been proven that the costumes can be modded in (even with the jiggle physics) and even if it's real, it wouldn't necessarily mean Geno and/or Doomguy are in.
The most peculiar thing about the leak is that these would be some of the first Mii costume mods we have. You'd expect those first mods to be rough, but CacoMallow is on par with Nintendo's official Mii costumes. That's the only reason I keep an eye on it.

 

[zeldasmash]

The hate for 'anime swordsmen' is still disgusting to me. To this day they still annoy me....also are they not the same people who want Sora & Isaac? I mean...by their logic, anyone that has a sword of some Calibur is an 'anime swordsman' soooooooooooo

This started back in Smash 4 due to the skyrocketing amount of representation Fire Emblem got. Back then, it was Marth with either Roy or Ike. In Smash 4, you got Marth, Ike, Robin, Lucina, Roy & Corrin. It had and still has more representatives then Zelda and it has more reps then Star Fox & Donkey Kong combined. While I understand that Fire Emblem certainly got a huge bump in representation, the backlash was intense to the point where any anime-esque character got hate, especially if it had a sword.

To call this an incredibly stupid argument against a character inclusion would be an understatement and the fact that it got any traction at all really sucks. Like you said, these are the same people who would like characters like Sora & Isaac, both who would fit the criteria of "anime or anime-esque swordfighter". I'm not against either Sora or Isaac, by the way.

 

[KatKit]

KatKit is typing...

I log in, see two mentions in my notification thing, and it's surprisingly not about Gravity Rush lol.

I do appreciate being that one Nihon Falcom fan very much (perhaps due to my appreciation of the other Estelle), but the honor belongs to Jedisupersonic, Coconattsu, and YsDisciple. With that being said, Katkit is indeed typing, ahaha.

I just think of Nihon Falcom as another Japanese game development giant that some people overlook like they did with SNK until an SNK rep was leaked.

I also think they're slept on and that they could use the exposure. And with that being said, I will now use this opportunity to drop knowledge.

Nihon Falcom is like SNK in a lot of ways; they were and still are highly influential to their area of expertise. Like SNK, they're also known for their music. In fact, Nihon Falcom was one of the first gaming companies with a sound team dedicated to writing music for their games. The music in their flagship title Ys helped lay the foundation of what songs typically sound like in JRPGs in general. They're a relatively small, yet extremely passionate company that's been around for almost 40 years. There's something that I haven't really brought up here before yet, and it's their contribution to PC gaming in Japan. In short: they really helped put it on the map. There was a time when they were #1 on PC out there; Dragon Slayer was a huge success. Even now, a majority of their games start off on PC and get ported to other consoles later.

I could talk about their contribution to the ARPG subgenre for days. Ys is still one of the best ones. However, I'd rather talk about something often considered their greatest masterpiece and contribution to the industry: the Kiseki series. The gameplay is good and the music is fantastic, but that story is the best I've seen in any videogame ever... hands down. They basically created a videogame cinematic universe. The world building and continuity is unlike anything ever attempted before. There's an overarching main plot, but hundreds of side stories and hundreds of characters, and dozens of radically different locales/settings, AND THEY TRY TO MAKE YOU CARE ABOUT ALL OF THEM, and it's elaborately interconnected. Not a single character in that world isn't fleshed out or left behind. It is unbelievable because they all have a role to play. It truly rewards players for their time and effort.

Overall, just being in the industry as long as it has (while being very influential) and still making games/music as fantastic as they do, I hope Nihon Falcom gets a rep (or even a Mii costume with a few songs, or perhaps our first music pack). They're a relatively small company that can't release their titles internationally without huge delays (if at all); I think this is partially why they haven't blown up outside of Japan yet. With the right exposure, they'd gain traction overseas. The Trails and Ys series definitely deserve more recognition, along with the company that created them. Fortunately, Ys returned on Nintendo consoles, and the Trails games are coming to Switch, so there's that at least. Aside from Nintendo, there's been quite a few heavy-hitting releases/announcements this year like upcoming sequels/remakes/ports, the company's foray into the mobile market, etc. So even if it doesn't get in Smash, the future is looking Bright, yes pun intended.