Define plausible. If you're just going by popularity alone then you narrow down your choices to a handful. But gaming has a wide variety of characters and they dont just have to pull from what's popular or relevant.
There are many, many characters that they could pick and they dont have to be relevant or popular. A lot of my personal picks are Earthworm Jim, Eggman, Spyro, Klonoa, Bub and Bob, Goemon, Lip, the Battletoads and F-Type (the car from Stunt Race FX).
Rather than trying to sell us on how popular they are or what franchise they're from they should just try to sell us on what they could bring to Smash that's unique. Sakurai says he picks characters based on what's fun but the reality is obviously that he just picks some characters just for the sake of having them in. Joker and Byleth are so bland and offer nothing unique. It's not really down to popularity or relevance but just on how much he feels like screwing with the audience.
I don't support the angry tone of this post, but I agree with everything said in it.
None of the newcomers in this new Smash (with a couple of exceptions in Piranha Plant and Inkling) brings anything really interesting, Smash 4 was way more creative with the movesets of the characters, and the newcomer selection had a lot more variety.
Joker and Byleth don't offer anything new, Joker's gimmick is just a buff, other characters have similar gimmicks to buff moves, from Lucario's aura to Shulk's Monado arts, the only difference is the activation, but the gimmick isn't new in itself. The movesets don't feel that unique too... those characters look extremely generic to me. Hero as well. Hero has a big gimmick, but the gimmick is so shoehorned into the moveset that's rough and not very well designed (IMO). You have to select random spells from a menu... and the spells are completely unbalanced. I think that Shulk did the exact same gimmick countless times better, with a better and faster way to select the different modes and a more consistent set of stuff to select.
Terry is Ryu with a slighty different moveset, more unnecessarily complex and unbalanced. Byleth is the most generic fighter in the roster, so generic it could have been a Mii class. He can switch different weapons... so can Villager, and many other characters who have a different weapon for each move. cool.
Banjo is probably the only decent character of the set, and I'm not even a fan of him nor of his games... he just feels more inspired... but still not so special compared to what Smash 4 (and by extension all the previous Smash games) did with most of its newcomers.
That's the way I look at it as well. Can't imagine what I would be thinking if my dream character wasn't in--I'd probably be as upset as I was with the final Smash Direct before released--"You're ending on THAT?!" Makes me reflect on those issues of mine. But, of course, we're not ending on that and this wild ride continues (forever).
As for Byleth themselves--meh. Aesthetically, I really can't tell them a part from Marth and Lucina at a glance--would have been better if in their Smash versions their hair was greener, at the very least. But at a glance it looks blue, and all humans in the game have the same face to me. But it's nice to have that different weapons mechanic, even though I don't see how that's a "truly new way to play" as all the other DLC characters--Link can switch between sword, arrow and bombs. Would have been more interesting if it were a Pokemon Trainer type character where down B leads to a whole new moveset. But perhaps I'll see what Sakurai means when I get my hands on the character.
Yeah I agree with this too. Honestly, when in the trailer they have shown those weapons spinning around Byleth with different colored glows, I thought it was starting to look interesting... then it came out it was only a gimmick for the trailer and that ingame he switches the weapons without any visual effect like any other character who spawns different items depending on the attack.
The Pokèmon Trainer gimmick to switch weapon would be very cool, and ironically there's a character who already does this in a different game (and not only does change weapon but also element, between electric, fire and ice)... they're the Three Mage Sisters from Kirby Star Allies, and in all honesty I'd rather have them than another fire emblem anime guy.
It's why I'm hoping for characters like Rayman, Agumon, and Geno, and disappointed to see Bomberman in assist trophy hell. But I also like human characters such as Sora and Dante, and wouldn't mind seeing them in.
