Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Al-kīmiyā']

Here's a little customization game we can play. Make your ideal pass using one character from each of the five lists.

1st Third-party
Rayman
Professor Layton
Dante
Phoenix Wright
Steve

2nd Third-party
Reimu
KOS-MOS
Arle Nadja
Lloyd Irving
2nd Sonic the Hedgehog character

"Promotional" Character
Three Houses rep (Your choice)
Astral Chain rep (Your choice)
Ring Fit Adventurer
Gooigi
Sword and Shield rep (Your choice)

Give the People What They Want
Geno
Master Chief
Sora
Waluigi
Issac

The Big Surprise
Any character who you want but don't expect.

1st Third-party
Rayman
Professor Layton
Dante
Phoenix Wright
Steve

2nd Third-party
Reimu (It was between Reimu and KOS-MOS. Reimu is more popular, and while they are both gunners, bullet hell gimmicks would make more sense for Reimu and could be more interesting than KOS-MOS.)
KOS-MOS
Arle Nadja
Lloyd Irving
2nd Sonic the Hedgehog character

"Promotional" Character
Three Houses rep (Your choice): Byleth
Astral Chain rep (Your choice)
Ring Fit Adventurer
Gooigi
Sword and Shield rep (Your choice)

Give the People What They Want
Geno
Master Chief
Sora
Waluigi
Issac (It was between Isaac and Geno. Geno, being a gunner, is relatively easy for modders to make. Isaac's moveset would be more difficult for them to add to the game. Plus, Geno has greater demand, so modders are more likely to add him, should he not get in the game, than they would be to add Isaac. This gives the highest chance that both characters will be playable.)

The Big Surprise
Any character who you want but don't expect.
I don't really expect any character. By the way, your rules don't forbid this slot from being used for one of the characters mentioned in the above categories. Anyway, my pick is Skull Kid.

 

[Wrathful_Scythe]

Let's play a game. Sakurai makes an anime smash Bros. What would be the roster?
Rules:

1. Each anime has to have 3 reps
2. A total of 10 animes can be chosen
3. You can also add 5 unlockable characters from any of the 10 chosen anime.

OK, I'll bite. Yes, no Naruto or Dragonball or One Piece. I like them but I'd prefer other characters, that didn't have much time to shine in games.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
- Jotaro Kujo
- Dio Brando (Part 3)
- Iggy
- (Unlockable) Jonathan Joestar

Fullmetal Alchemist
- Alphonse Elric
- Edward Elric
- Roy Mustang
- (Unlockable) Bradley King

Trigun
- Vash the Stampede
- Nicholas D. Wolfwood
- Legato Bluesummers

To aru majutsu no index
- Misaka Mikoto
- Kamijou Touma
- Accelerator

Cowboy Beebop
- Spike Spiegel
- Faye Valentine
- Vicious
- (Unlockable) Ed and Ein

Mob Psycho 100
- Mob (Kageyama Shigeo)
- Reigen Arataka (SALT SPLASH!)
- Hanazawa Teruki

Hajime no Ippo
- Makunouchi Ippo
- Takamura Mamoru
- Bryan Hawk

Berserk
- Guts (Black Knight - Berserk Armor)
- Schierke
- Serpico
- (Unlockable) Griffith (Golden Age)

Little Witch Academia
- Kagari Atsuko
- Manbavaran Sucy
- Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank Albrechtsberger (Even as a German, this is too much)

One Punch Man
- Genos
- Tatsumaki
- Mumen Rider
- (Unlockable) Speed of Sound Sonic

And with that, I conclude my list. There may be better choices but I have made mine.

 

[Calamitas]

Fullmetal Alchemist
- Alphonse Elric
- Edward Elric
- Roy Mustang
- (Unlockable) Bradley King

Ah yes, Bradley King, from Alchemist Fullmetal, with Elric Edward.

 

[Eldrake]

Just had a dream this night that someone made a gamefaqs thread claiming to leak the first post-pass DLC, only for Vergeben to show up and claim that OP is a fake and that the real post-pass DLC is Crono.

Not the type of smash dream I'd want. I'd rather have a smash trailer dream like the Doomguy and Blazkowicz one.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Well were in the week. If nothing tomorrow then February it is.

 

[Deleted member]

Well were in the week. If nothing tomorrow then February it is.

Watching this in the middle of class semesters are just awful-takes away your concentration.

 

[I.D.]

I just want to mention that I feel it's pretty ridiculous that it's been well over a full year since the season pass was originally announced, that we are like a month away from the deadline and we still don't know the full contents of this thing. Other developers would probably be under fire for pulling something like this.

Hoping the next DLC characters aren't handled like this.

 

[Calamitas]

Well were in the week. If nothing tomorrow then February it is.

Don't you think you're being a bit hasty there? It's still perfectly possible that a Direct for Thursday is announced on Wednesday.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Don't you think you're being a bit hasty there? It's still perfectly possible that a Direct for Thursday is announced on Wednesday.

I say this because normally the "New" bumpers on the site tends to go away on Mondays no?

 

[Freduardo]

Here's a little customization game we can play. Make your ideal pass using one character from each of the five lists.

1st Third-party
Rayman
Professor Layton
Dante
Phoenix Wright
Steve

2nd Third-party
Reimu
KOS-MOS
Arle Nadja
Lloyd Irving
2nd Sonic the Hedgehog character

"Promotional" Character
Three Houses rep (Your choice)
Astral Chain rep (Your choice)
Ring Fit Adventurer
Gooigi
Sword and Shield rep (Your choice)

Give the People What They Want
Geno
Master Chief
Sora
Waluigi
Issac

The Big Surprise
Any character who you want but don't expect.

Rayman, Lloyd (or Kos mos, either’s fine), Ring Fit adventurer, Geno, Bonk

 

[Calamitas]

I say this because normally the "New" bumpers on the site tends to go away on Mondays no?

I don't think anyone knows that for certain. Nobody every paid that much attention to that, as far as I know.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

I say this because normally the "New" bumpers on the site tends to go away on Mondays no?

I don't think anyone knows that for certain. Nobody every paid that much attention to that, as far as I know.

I recall it going down on a Friday once...

 

[Dinoman96]

I just want to mention that I feel it's pretty ridiculous that it's been well over a full year since the season pass was originally announced, that we are like a month away from the deadline and we still don't know the full contents of this thing. Other developers would probably be under fire for pulling something like this.

Hoping the next DLC characters aren't handled like this.

This has been our reveal schedule so far

I never thought back in November 2018 that only 3/5 of the Fighters Pass actually be revealed in 2019

 

[nessdeltarune00]

I just want to mention that I feel it's pretty ridiculous that it's been well over a full year since the season pass was originally announced, that we are like a month away from the deadline and we still don't know the full contents of this thing. Other developers would probably be under fire for pulling something like this.

Hoping the next DLC characters aren't handled like this.

Nintendo is the only company that could hypothetically put loot boxes in a mainline Mario or Zelda game, and their fans would still flock to defend it. (Coming from someone who loves their games btw)

Thank you for saying this, I’d argue that keeping people who bought the pass in the dark with complete radio silence for months on end is pretty anti consumer, if you ask me. (I didn’t buy it, I’m talking about people who did)

 

[Wunderwaft]

This has been our reveal schedule so far

I never thought back in November 2018 that only 3/5 of the Fighters Pass actually be revealed in 2019

That gap between Joker and Hero/Banjo is painful to look at.

I don't care if people call me impatient or whatever. When you're selling a season pass you should at the very least reveal your line-up long before the very end of the deadline. Just because Smash reveals have historically had bad wait gaps doesn't mean it should continue being like this. Most fighting games reveal their season pass line-up much earlier than a month before the deadline ends. This radio silence is inexcusable when you're selling a season pass to your customers and you're being silent about it's entire full content over a year later.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Nintendo is the only company that could hypothetically put loot boxes in a mainline Mario or Zelda game, and their fans would still flock to defend it. (Coming from someone who loves their games btw)

Thank you for saying this, I’d argue that keeping people who bought the pass in the dark with complete radio silence for months on end is pretty anti consumer, if you ask me. (I didn’t buy it, I’m talking about people who did)

Eh, not too sure about the comparison as loads of other season passes don't fully show contents for a while, though fighting games do usually show the characters well ahead of time

 

[Curious Villager]

This has been our reveal schedule so far


I never thought back in November 2018 that only 3/5 of the Fighters Pass actually be revealed in 2019

You know, for as much flack as Pokemon SwSh got throughout its lifetime, I kinda liked how they pretty much put down most of their cards for its season pass.

I wouldn't mind if Smash did the same for post pass, I don't know if I'd be able to put up with another year or more with continuous radio silence and rumour mongering again, but that's probably just me...

 

[andree123]

今年の任天堂のリクルートパンフマジで凄い　絵本になってて全ページマリオファミリーの書き下ろし　マムーにはビビった pic.twitter.com/vhS1dv28Ul

— karasi (@karasu_mp3) January 12, 2020

Yo, they brought back Wart in a official Mario pamphlet.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

今年の任天堂のリクルートパンフマジで凄い　絵本になってて全ページマリオファミリーの書き下ろし　マムーにはビビった pic.twitter.com/vhS1dv28Ul

— karasi (@karasu_mp3) January 12, 2020

Yo, they brought back Wart in a official Mario pamphlet.

Wart is just a crocodile Bowser but I'd still like him to appear again.

 

[MooMew64]

Sakurai warned y'all you should only buy the pass if you're confident you'll like anything and everything.

The reveals are dragged out for marketing reasons. Why drop your whole load all at once and have discussion and attention fall away after a couple of weeks when you can spice things up with a reveal when people least expect it, and get a ton of discussion and attention for your product?

Claiming the pass is anti-consumer or anything like lootboxes is a bit dramatic. No one is forcing you to sit around all day waiting for FP5, why not go do something else you enjoy and forget about it? It'll come much faster if you do: Watching the cookies bake in the oven only makes it feel like an eternity waiting for them.

 

[Night Gale]

That gap between Joker and Hero/Banjo is painful to look at.

I don't care if people call me impatient or whatever. When you're selling a season pass you should at the very least reveal your line-up long before the very end of the deadline. Just because Smash reveals have historically had bad wait gaps doesn't mean it should continue being like this. Most fighting games reveal their season pass line-up much earlier than a month before the deadline ends. This radio silence is inexcusable when you're selling a season pass to your customers and you're being silent about it's entire full content over a year later.

Soul Calibur 6 did not reveal its line-up. Season 1 of DBFZ didn't either (even though it was datamined). It depends on the season of Street Fighter V. Dead or Alive 6 is a special case of revealing launch dlc characters early, being silent/secretive about the costume packs, and being expensive af. Then swapping the reveals for future season passes: costume content was revealed early, but characters were not. Their fans bought season passes that cost more than the base game at launch, and they are consistently kept in the dark. Cross Tag reveals everything all at once, but it releases the entire season in one day. Tekken reveals and pacing improved considerably after season 1. Mortal Kombat 11 reveals its s*** early but the wait is real.

Iirc most of these passes did not give players specific cut-off dates, but they're usually ready within one year. We didn't expect a character potentially dropping in February, but Super Smash told us of the possibility way in advance, and even warned skeptics not to buy the pass until everything was revealed. I don't think it's perfect, and I'd prefer if they revealed the characters all at once but kept the release dates a secret, but long waits and or secret reveals is common in the fgc. The pacing has been fine as well; people are focusing on the reveals instead of when the characters actually came out.

 

[M@R!3]

The wait for character reveals would be much more tolerable if there were a consistent reveal schedule, but based on how things have gone Sakurai isn't interested in revealing much of anything until there's actually something to show. If that means waiting six months before showing another character or two then so be it. While the wait is sometimes frustrating at least we know we aren't being sold cut content. Imagine booting up Ultimate on launch day to find several DLC stages ready to download for a $1.99 each.

 

[BernkastelWitch]

For me, a new fighter is a new fighter and I like all the franchises in the Pass so far. I am a bit open minded and for me, I know the next character is gonna be from a franchise I like or always wanted to play.

I came into the pass with an Open Mind and I got pleasantly surprised at who got in.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

今年の任天堂のリクルートパンフマジで凄い　絵本になってて全ページマリオファミリーの書き下ろし　マムーにはビビった pic.twitter.com/vhS1dv28Ul

— karasi (@karasu_mp3) January 12, 2020

Yo, they brought back Wart in a official Mario pamphlet.

I like that art style but what's it actually talking about?
Daisy and DK running customer service?

 

[nessdeltarune00]

Sakurai warned y'all you should only buy the pass if you're confident you'll like anything and everything.

The reveals are dragged out for marketing reasons. Why drop your whole load all at once and have discussion and attention fall away after a couple of weeks when you can spice things up with a reveal when people least expect it, and get a ton of discussion and attention for your product?

Claiming the pass is anti-consumer or anything like lootboxes is a bit dramatic. No one is forcing you to sit around all day waiting for FP5, why not go do something else you enjoy and forget about it? It'll come much faster if you do: Watching the cookies bake in the oven only makes it feel like an eternity waiting for them.

Umm, did you even read my post?

I never compared it to lootboxes. All I said was that this is the only company that hypothetically COULD put lootboxes in mainline games, and the fans would flock to defend it. I can’t say that for any other Triple A company.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

So if we take Vergeben's word to account whose left in the running?

 

[3BitSaurus]

Sakurai warned y'all you should only buy the pass if you're confident you'll like anything and everything.

The reveals are dragged out for marketing reasons. Why drop your whole load all at once and have discussion and attention fall away after a couple of weeks when you can spice things up with a reveal when people least expect it, and get a ton of discussion and attention for your product?

Claiming the pass is anti-consumer or anything like lootboxes is a bit dramatic. No one is forcing you to sit around all day waiting for FP5, why not go do something else you enjoy and forget about it? It'll come much faster if you do: Watching the cookies bake in the oven only makes it feel like an eternity waiting for them.

Dunno, man, even if it makes sense to spread the reveals out, giving us an estimate of when the next one will be can't really hurt, can it? I really liked the way Arcsys did their preview trailers for GG Strive, with every one ending with a date for the next trailer.

Also, the part in bold makes very little sense considering the only reveal that came completely out of the blue was Joker. People were banking on two E3 reveals and September was always a likely candidate for CP4, so... yeah. Nothing "unexpected" there. Didn't Sakurai himself also say that he doesn't pay too much attention to the surprise factor?

 

[I.D.]

based on how things have gone Sakurai isn't interested in revealing much of anything until there's actually something to show.

Joker had literally nothing to show.
Terry had so little to show they had to redo his reveal trailer later.
And frankly, I doubt the last fighter is not in a presentable state by now.

 

[Guynamednelson]

And frankly, I doubt the last fighter is not in a presentable state by now.

Fighter 5 is supposed to be due by February, and they're not in a presentable state in January? That wouldn't sound good.

 

[Night Gale]

I think the problem is that people are too focused on the reveal dates instead of when the characters came out. Plant dropped the first day of February. Joker came out in April. Hero in July. Banjo in September. Terry in November. It's January. They spaced that s*** out very well imo.

 

[MooMew64]

Umm, did you even read my post?

I never compared it to lootboxes. All I said was that this is the only company that hypothetically COULD put lootboxes in mainline games, and the fans would flock to defend it. I can’t say that for any other Triple A company.

People complain about Nintendo all the time lol. They don't really get any special pass, it's just there only so much complaining you can do before you just get used to them being the way they are. Complaining all the time is exhausting, sometimes ya just gotta let it go.

People did complain about loot boxes and gacha practices in their mobile titles, as well as how DLC in Fire Emblem Echoes was handled.

Dunno, man, even if it makes sense to spread the reveals out, giving us an estimate of when the next one will be can't really hurt, can it? I really liked the way Arcsys did their preview trailers for GG Strive, with every one ending with a date for the next trailer.

Also, the part in bold makes very little sense considering the only reveal that came completely out of the blue was Joker. People were banking on two E3 reveals and September was always a likely candidate for CP4, so... yeah. Nothing "unexpected" there. Didn't Sakurai himself also say that he doesn't pay too much attention to the surprise factor?

Sakurai isn't in charge of marketing, though. And we do have an estimate, we're getting everyone before the end of February this year.

Nintendo very, very rarely reveals things early. Nintendo's MO is always to show things as polished and as close to release as possible, and TBH I much appreciate that over pointless CGI that doesn't even show us how the character plays.

Sure, showing them early lets you see who they are gonna be, but what's the point if you have no idea how they will play? And trying to tease them with silhouettes would just be hecka annoying and not be professional at all.

 

[Droodle]

Dunno, man, even if it makes sense to spread the reveals out, giving us an estimate of when the next one will be can't really hurt, can it? I really liked the way Arcsys did their preview trailers for GG Strive, with every one ending with a date for the next trailer.

Also, the part in bold makes very little sense considering the only reveal that came completely out of the blue was Joker. People were banking on two E3 reveals and September was always a likely candidate for CP4, so... yeah. Nothing "unexpected" there. Didn't Sakurai himself also say that he doesn't pay too much attention to the surprise factor?

Sakurai probably would want to reveal all it's contents by now; but that doesn't mean Nintendo does. Remember, while Sakurai is trusted and well liked by Nintendo, ultimately, Nintendo has the final say in pretty much everything he does for Smash.

Nintendo knows that Smash speculation keeps the talk about the game heavily active, it's kind of like free advertisements. Besides spreading out Smash reveals can keep strengthen Nintendo's overall release schedule.

 

[I.D.]

Sure, showing them early lets you see who they are gonna be, but what's the point if you have no idea how they will play?

There is a point, because characters aren't just functions. Someone at Nintendo must agree since they announced Joker early before he even had an in-game model.

 

[3BitSaurus]

Sakurai isn't in charge of marketing, though. And we do have an estimate, we're getting everyone before the end of February this year.

Nintendo very, very rarely reveals things early. Nintendo's MO is always to show things as polished and as close to release as possible, and TBH I much appreciate that over pointless CGI that doesn't even show us how the character plays.

Sure, showing them early lets you see who they are gonna be, but what's the point if you have no idea how they will play? And trying to tease them with silhouettes would just be hecka annoying and not professional at all.

I... don't get the point. You said earlier that generating discussion is a good thing and I see a lot of people discussing the characters' playstyles for fighting games like SF, Tekken and GG. Showing the character "early" doesn't hinder discussion at all. My point was not to show everything at once, but at least give something less vague than "before February 2020" - which is the same thing we've heard for a year now.

For the bolded part... then how come Joker was shown before he was even in a playable state and Terry was shown in an unfinished state? The thing here is that even in the context of "Nintendo's MO", this schedule makes little sense.

 

[Rikarte]

Considering that it's been quite a while since the last character, how high do you guys think are the chances of a double reveal?

 

[MooMew64]

I... don't get the point. You said earlier that generating discussion is a good thing and I see a lot of eople discussing the characters' playstyles for fighting games like SF, Tekken and GG. Showing the character "early" doesn't hinder discussion at all. My point was not to show everything at once, but at least give something less vague than "before February 2020" - which is the same thing we've heard for a year now.

For the bolded part... then how come Joker was shown before he was even in a playable state and Terry was shown in an unfinished state? The thing here is that even in the context of "Nintendo's MO", this schedule makes little sense.

Joker was an early teaser like Mewtwo was, and TBH didn't take that long to come out: December to April isn't long at all. As I said, they do teasers occasionally, but it is not common and usually is something only done once.

As for generating discussion, that part was more my personal preference, but if we're gonna dive into that topic: Let's be real here, the speculation scene doesn't matter to Nintendo. We're a tiny blip on the much, MUCH bigger radar, and 90% of us are gonna buy whatever it ends up being in the end anyways. Their marketing strategies aren't being formulated to please a couple hundred people on a forum, it's designed to attract attention from everywhere they can, and so far, their release schedule and marketing is working: Every new fighter trends on social media, fan art comes in droves, and people all rush to buy and play as soon as it comes out. I fail to see what part of this schedule is bad or isn't working outside of us hardcore fans getting impatient and wanting to know everything now.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Considering that it's been quite a while since the last character, how high do you guys think are the chances of a double reveal?

Decent chance given how long its been since the last reveal. Still betting on FP5 only though.

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

Considering that it's been quite a while since the last character, how high do you guys think are the chances of a double reveal?

Hmm, FP5 and probably the first post pass character? I say a decent chance.

 

[MooMew64]

There is a point, because characters aren't just functions. Someone at Nintendo must agree since they announced Joker early before he even had an in-game model.

Gonna have to respectfully disagree there: Characters are functions. They are functions for the player to interact wit the game, and are only given importance from those who attach themselves to the character or brand they come from.

Joker was a function teased to get Season Pass purchases. And it worked pretty darn well.

Disregard my post it's bad, lol.

 

[Wunderwaft]

Gonna have to respectfully disagree there: Characters are functions. They are functions for the player to interact wit the game, and are only given importance from those who attach themselves to the character or brand they come from.

Joker was a function teased to get Season Pass purchases. And it worked pretty darn well.

This mentality is the reason why MvC Infinite failed FYI