Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Aerospherology]

The Tetris and Daemon X Machina spirits did indeed come back. I got Smash after those events.

 

[Twin Shot]

There are way more pokemon in Gen 8 than what appeared in the spirit event. I would not take that spirit board event as any form of deconfirmation.

A new Pokemon Rep could just be a pokemon like Ursifu or a different pokemon from one of the expansions. The DLC Fighter Spirit board can be composed of new expansion pokemon/forms Spirits that debuted In the passes. While, this specifically promotes the pokemon expansions, it indirectly promotes purchasing the base sw/sh games by extension.

New Iteration, New Rep.

Look to the FE characters for example of a franchise that is continually promoted in Smash. FE characters, much like Pokemon, are included in each iteration of of Smash to promote recent games. We literally just saw this trend continue for FE with Byleth. Pokemon has had a similar pattern in representation added to the smash games - new pokemon added for the most recent generation in each new smash game (especially when Development syncs up bn the franchises - and I would imagine them both working on DLC content makes this easier to include)

 

[SKX31]

Nintendo held a briefing and Q&A today:

* Nintendo strategy is to expand population of those who encounter the IP
* No change to long term plans
* In 2015 first time to expand IP decision made.
* Beginning to see the results

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) January 31, 2020

Twitter thread is really, really long - so I'll summarize with bullet points:

• The upcoming Mario movie and Universal theme park are seen by Nintendo as ways to expand Mario and other IPs beyond "games only" and let Mario become a "Disney-esque" brand. They're co-producing the movie since they don't want others to hold the rights. Nintendo doesn't want to become too big, but they're still looking to expand and do something unique. Their mobile efforts are also viewed as ways to expand.

• The Switch is entering the "beginning of the mid stage" of its life cycle from March (Fiscal Years count from Previous March to "Current" March, this is FY 2020). But Nintendo doesn't think that the usual console life cycle even applies anymore. They'll focus on new games and supporting games like Ultimate and Sw / Sh partly to "sustain relationship with users". Miyamoto added that the video game market still has "unlimited potential" - in stark contrast to the saturated mobile sphere.

• Pokemon fans and women bought Switch Lites to a very high degree. Women in particular were keen to buy a Lite as their first Switch - Nintendo views this as a major positive since it expands the Switch audience.

• Nintendo's very pleased with how it's going in China. The scale's not big, but that wasn't the expectations to begin with. And although Nintendo doesn't have super-detailed stats from there, Shibata guessed 3 million Switches (normal imported ones + official Chinese Switches) in China so far. Shareholder Yui Nausicaa soon clarified that the guess was around 3 million active users there. Either way, Nintendo reemphasized that they want to expand there.

Did you already have any Tetris spirits by then? I heard they only come back if you played them at least once

They come back the patch after the Spirit Event, from what I've seen.

 

[King Sonnn DeDeDoo]

Nintendo held a briefing and Q&A today:

* Nintendo strategy is to expand population of those who encounter the IP
* No change to long term plans
* In 2015 first time to expand IP decision made.
* Beginning to see the results

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) January 31, 2020

Twitter thread is really, really long - so I'll summarize with bullet points:

• The upcoming Mario movie and Universal theme park are seen by Nintendo as ways to expand Mario and other IPs beyond "games only" and let Mario become a "Disney-esque" brand. They're co-producing the movie since they don't want others to hold the rights. Nintendo doesn't want to become too big, but they're still looking to expand and do something unique. Their mobile efforts are also viewed as ways to expand.

• The Switch is entering the "beginning of the mid stage" of its life cycle from March (Fiscal Years count from Previous March to "Current" March, this is FY 2020). But Nintendo doesn't think that the usual console life cycle even applies anymore. They'll focus on new games and supporting games like Ultimate and Sw / Sh partly to "sustain relationship with users". Miyamoto added that the video game market still has "unlimited potential" - in stark contrast to the saturated mobile sphere.

• Pokemon fans and women bought Switch Lites to a very high degree. Women in particular were keen to buy a Lite as their first Switch - Nintendo views this as a major positive since it expands the Switch audience.

• Nintendo's very pleased with how it's going in China. The scale's not big, but that wasn't the expectations to begin with. And although Nintendo doesn't know have super-detailed stats from there, Shibata guessed 3 million Switches (normal imported ones + official Chinese Switches) in China so far. Shareholder Yui Nausicaa soon clarified that the guess was around 3 million active users there. Either way, Nintendo reemphasized that they want to expand there.

They come back the patch after the Spirit Event, from what I've seen.

I'm glad to see other people reading the IR events, Q&As and other official briefings. Nintendo has said that it's strategy was to get a strong initial user base by focusing on the core market demographic and then focus on a more casual market once the console is establish and has good word of mouth. Especially with the Lite, it's cool to see the Switch become the successor to not only the Wii U but also the 3DS and it's market. I predict we will see much of the more casual series get new games on the Switch, such as Style Savvy or Rhythm Heaven.


In terms of smash, I do wonder if we might get a character that is more popular with a more casual crowd or popular with women in particular since the Switch is shifting it's focus a bit.

 

[Extremmefan]

There are way more pokemon in Gen 8 than what appeared in the spirit event. I would not take that spirit board event as any form of deconfirmation.

A new Pokemon Rep could just be a pokemon like Ursifu or a different pokemon from one of the expansions. The DLC Fighter Spirit board can be composed of new expansion pokemon/forms Spirits that debuted In the passes. While, this specifically promotes the pokemon expansions, it indirectly promotes purchasing the base sw/sh games by extension.

New Iteration, New Rep.

Look to the FE characters for example of a franchise that is continually promoted in Smash. FE characters, much like Pokemon, are included in each iteration of of Smash to promote recent games. We literally just saw this trend continue for FE with Byleth. Pokemon has had a similar pattern in representation added to the smash games - new pokemon added for the most recent generation in each new smash game (especially when Development syncs up bn the franchises - and I would imagine them both working on DLC content makes this easier to include)

What appeared in the spirit event were the most used 'mons for the base game's marketing in general, and as such they've practically included their go-to reps in it by adding the base form starters, whereas Riolu, Froakie/Frogadier, and Litten/Torracat all don't have spirits at all.

While they could use one of the new 'mons invented for the expansion, the fact remains that Nintendo approached them for a spirit event of SwSh and not more. If they had decided on a character they wouldn't have gotten a spirit event at all because the discussion would've been made when Nintendo approached them first. As is, TPCi more than likely doesn't care about Smash and thus won't ask to be further promoted in DLC, as Nintendo/Sakurai usually makes the first move when it comes to Pokemon, not TPCi themselves.

Also FE's cast is a complete reset every game, Pokemon's 'mons aren't (gotta keep that sweet sweet marketing stuff, this ain't BW anymore lol). Also notice that unlike FE, Pokemon skipped on Sm4sh's DLC: it's not uncommon for Pokemon's devs to underestimate how much something will sell, which means they more than likely didn't think FP1 would sell and as such would've bore no interest in FP2 if asked (assuming they were even asked, though the spirit event might count there), much unlike Intelligent Systems who wouldn't have minded being pushed by Nintendo any time even after massive sales (they're most likely aware of how much Smash sells, or appreciate any help in making the series more liked in the west, either way two moot points for Pokemon).

"New iteration, New Rep" yea well tell that to RSE back in Brawl and BW back in Smash For.

Nintendo held a briefing and Q&A today:

* Nintendo strategy is to expand population of those who encounter the IP
* No change to long term plans
* In 2015 first time to expand IP decision made.
* Beginning to see the results

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) January 31, 2020

Twitter thread is really, really long - so I'll summarize with bullet points:

• Pokemon fans and women bought Switch Lites to a very high degree. Women in particular were keen to buy a Lite as their first Switch - Nintendo views this as a major positive since it expands the Switch audience.

And that is just a given. Most mainline Pokemon fans are used to handheld consoles so the Lite is probably just their preferred Switch version for Let's Go and SwSh.
If anything the China comment from there intrigues me more as Reimu is a gigantic name there (to the point of having a flower named after her.

 

[Jerry98]

There are way more pokemon in Gen 8 than what appeared in the spirit event. I would not take that spirit board event as any form of deconfirmation.

I agree. I find a new Pokémon rep quite likely to be added. Maybe Rillaboom or Toxtricity?

My dream would be Grovyle from PMD2, with a special moveset inspired to the game. Now that the first ones are getting a remake, I hope that Sakurai finally add something Mystery Dungeon-related in the game, even if it's only some spirits and some music tracks.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

If Street Fighter (or a different third party series) had as many characters as the Super Mario (8 characters and 1 Echo Fighter), Pokémon (10 characters), or Fire Emblem (6 characters and 2 echo fighters) series, who would you pick and why?

For Street Fighter, I'd go with what Fire Emblem's got:
Ryu
Ken (Σ)
Akuma (Σ)
Chun-Li
M. Bison
Guile
Zangief
Menat

This covers the big names of the series, adds some important characters, and throws in a completely unique character just for fun. I didn't add Sakura or Segat because I felt that since Ryu, Ken, and Akuma all have the same moveset it would be imperative that the rest of the characters don't even remotely resemble the shotos to avoid "most of the characters are just Ryu" complaints.

I'll do one for each, with them having as many fighters as the Fire Emblem series. I'm avoiding adding Assist Trophies. Spirits are fair game.
(E) = Echo Fighter
(As much as I dislike the idea of them, I'd plan to have the effect of their moves act differently instead of them either being minor differences or just a glorified reskin)

Spoiler: Metal Gear Solid

1. Solid Snake
2. Meryl (E)
3. Liquid Snake
4. Raiden
5. Revolver Ocelot
6. Psycho Mantis
7. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich (Except he fights with Metal Gear Mk II)
8. I don't know... Blade Wolf?

Spoiler: Sonic The Hedgehog

1. Sonic
2. Tails
3. Blaze
4. Silver
5. E-123 Omega
6. Dr. Robotnik
7. Amy Rose
8. Chaos (The god of destruction according to Robotnik)

Spoiler: Megaman

1. Megaman
2. Protoman (Echo of Megaman)
3. Bad Box art Megaman (Ooops)
4. Bass
5. Megaman X
6. Vile (Echo of Megaman X)
7. Megaman Volnutt
8. Tron Bonne

Pac-Man needs some more characters

Spoiler: Street Fighter

1. Ryu
2. Ken
3. Chun Li
4. Alex
5. Sakura
6. Rose
7. Akuma (Echo of Ryu and Ken)
8. M. Bison

Spoiler: Final Fantasy

1. Cloud Strife
2. Squall Leonhart (Echo of Cloud in terms of neutral attacks, not specials)
3. Terra Branford
4. Zidane Tribal
5. Tifa Lockhart
6. Locke Cole
7. Sephiroth
8. Kefka Palazzo

No Bayonetta for you...

Spoiler: Castlevania

1. Simon Belmont
2. Richter Belmont
3. Grant Danasty
4. Sypha Belnades
5. Maria Renard
6. Soma Cruz
7. Eric Lecarde
8. Shanoa

Spoiler: Persona

1. Joker
2. Ryuji Sakamoto
3. Ann Takamaki
4. Morgana
5. Tatsuya (Persona 3 protagonist)
6. Aigis
7. Yu Narukami
8. Teddie

Spoiler: Dragon Quest

1. Hero (Including Eleven, Arusu, Solo and Eight)
2. Five
3. Erik
4. Jade
5. Yangus
6. Jessica
7. Dragonlord
8. Psaro the Manslayer

Banjo-Kazooie needs more characters

Spoiler: Fatal Fury: King of Fighters

1. Terry Bogard
2. Kyo Kusanagi
3. Geese Howard
4. Iori Yagami
5. Athena Asamiya
6. K'
7. Rock Howard
8. Orochi

 

[TheAJJohnson]

If Street Fighter (or a different third party series) had as many characters as the Super Mario (8 characters and 1 Echo Fighter), Pokémon (10 characters), or Fire Emblem (6 characters and 2 echo fighters) series, who would you pick and why?

For Street Fighter, I'd go with what Fire Emblem's got:
Ryu
Ken (Σ)
Akuma (Σ)
Chun-Li
M. Bison
Guile
Zangief
Menat

This covers the big names of the series, adds some important characters, and throws in a completely unique character just for fun. I didn't add Sakura or Segat because I felt that since Ryu, Ken, and Akuma all have the same moveset it would be imperative that the rest of the characters don't even remotely resemble the shotos to avoid "most of the characters are just Ryu" complaints.

Unlike Zelda with its 3 Links, FE with its 4 Marths, or Mario with its three Marios (that last one is a joke...kind of), I think Mega Man can offer much greater diversity through its multiple iterations of the Blue Bomber. Also, I don't have knowledge of any of the other franchises to say they would be better than this pick. Street Fighter definitely has potential though.

Picks:
- Mega Man
- Proto Man (echo)
- Bass and Treble
- Mega Man X
- Zero
- Sigma
- Axl
- Mega Man Exe
- Mega Man Star Force

(Sorry, Volnutt)

 

[Flik]

Spoiler: Metal Gear Solid

1. Solid Snake
2. Meryl (E)
3. Liquid Snake
4. Raiden
5. Revolver Ocelot
6. Psycho Mantis
7. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich (Except he fights with Metal Gear Mk II)
8. I don't know... Blade Wolf?

Needs Big Boss (Snake Semi-clone) with Venom Snake (echo) using "ROCKET PAAAAAWWWWNNNNCH" as his Neutral/Side B.

 

[TMNTSSB4]

or Mario with its three Marios

sounds like we’re gonna need a lot more Mario’s and Peaches...and Plant Gang members

 

[Guynamednelson]

Pac-Man needs some more characters

Retro Namco games then, just like its music selection:

1. Pac-Man
2. Ms. Pac-Man (Σ)
3. Gilgamesh
4. Dig Dug/Taizo Hori
5. Valkyrie
6. Runner (Metro-Cross)
7. Albatross
8. Mappy

 

[Flyboy]

I'm glad to see other people reading the IR events, Q&As and other official briefings. Nintendo has said that it's strategy was to get a strong initial user base by focusing on the core market demographic and then focus on a more casual market once the console is establish and has good word of mouth. Especially with the Lite, it's cool to see the Switch become the successor to not only the Wii U but also the 3DS and it's market. I predict we will see much of the more casual series get new games on the Switch, such as Style Savvy or Rhythm Heaven.


In terms of smash, I do wonder if we might get a character that is more popular with a more casual crowd or popular with women in particular since the Switch is shifting it's focus a bit.

Style Savvy, Style Savvy, Style Savvy!!

I've actually been saying that a character popular with women is likely since pass 1...I wasn't really on the money then, but we did get Byleth who does seem pretty popular among my circles, but also I'm a weeb, so who knows.

That said, there are lots of very interesting potential picks if we look at it from that angle - Animal Crossing, Professor Layton, and Phoenix Wright have all historically had large female playerbases, and something like Ring Fit Adventurer has proven stock as both a big seller for Nintendo and as a pick popular with women and casual gamers.

I'm really glad about Ring Fit selling well. To me, Nintendo has always been at its best when it can provide those diverse gaming experiences that all stand on their own merits - strong puzzle games, unique "casual" games, and hardcore games alike have all found a home on the Switch. It's pretty cool.

 

[TheCJBrine]

Pac-Man needs some more characters.

Our new Namco character:

 

[DarthEnderX]

Did you already have any Tetris spirits by then? I heard they only come back if you played them at least once

The Labo spirits stated showing up on my spirit board eventually and I COMPLETELY missed that event.

 

[Garteam]

I don't know if it's her moveset that makes Alice being an echo a stretch, or her only FF appearances being in pachinko games.

Also Kim should go into that Fatal Fury list.

Both, really. It's pretty difficult to find a Fatal Fury echo, given how everyone plays unique.

Also, I seriously have no idea how I missed Kim. Definitely subbing out Billy for him.

 

[CroonerMike]

Does anyone remember the sheer stupidity of everyone saying Banjo Kazooie would be an echo of duck hunt and that duck hunt should get a game made by Sakurai just like banjo kazooie. Good times hahah

 

[Hydreigonfan01]

Rare explaining how they managed a deal for Banjo to be in Smash.

Minecraft coming onto Switch was one of the biggest reasons for it. How does this affect any Microsoft reps chances (Namely Steve and maybe Master Chief)?

 

[nessdeltarune00]

There are way more pokemon in Gen 8 than what appeared in the spirit event. I would not take that spirit board event as any form of deconfirmation.

A new Pokemon Rep could just be a pokemon like Ursifu or a different pokemon from one of the expansions. The DLC Fighter Spirit board can be composed of new expansion pokemon/forms Spirits that debuted In the passes. While, this specifically promotes the pokemon expansions, it indirectly promotes purchasing the base sw/sh games by extension.

New Iteration, New Rep.

Look to the FE characters for example of a franchise that is continually promoted in Smash. FE characters, much like Pokemon, are included in each iteration of of Smash to promote recent games. We literally just saw this trend continue for FE with Byleth. Pokemon has had a similar pattern in representation added to the smash games - new pokemon added for the most recent generation in each new smash game (especially when Development syncs up bn the franchises - and I would imagine them both working on DLC content makes this easier to include)

The issue was never the amount of Pokemon in the event.

Its that they would’ve never done it in the first place if a Sword/Shield Pokemon was planned in the future, since Vol 2 was decided in November.

 

[CrusherMania1592]

I highly doubt it.

If doubting both, I doubt that. Pokémon is most likely to get a rep very similar to how FE just did.

 

[Evil Trapezium]

Does anyone remember the sheer stupidity of everyone saying Banjo Kazooie would be an echo of duck hunt and that duck hunt should get a game made by Sakurai just like banjo kazooie. Good times hahah

Please don't remind me. It drives me mad remembering that crap. Even people like ESAM were saying that.

 

[Cosmic77]

The issue was never the amount of Pokemon in the event.

Its that they would’ve never done it in the first place if a Sword/Shield Pokemon was planned in the future, since Vol 2 was decided in November.

Just depends on how long they had the Spirit event ready. For all we know, the Spirits could've been made months earlier.

Even if it was decided in November, I still don't think SwSh should be taken off the table, especially when DLC is supposed to continue as far as two years after SwSh's release.

 

[TheCJBrine]

Rare explaining how they managed a deal for Banjo to be in Smash.

Minecraft coming onto Switch was one of the biggest reasons for it. How does this affect any Microsoft reps chances (Namely Steve and maybe Master Chief)?

> Minecraft was indeed the beginning/part of the beginning of Nintendo's relationship with Microsoft.
> Steve demand has very much increased and was wanted by Miiverse users during Smash 4 even.
> Some Mojang employees are open to it or even outright like the idea/want it, and higher-ups may likely like it as well.

Spoiler: Oh yes

 

[nessdeltarune00]

Just depends on how long they had the Spirit event ready. For all we know, the Spirits could've been made months earlier.

Even if it was decided in November, I still don't think SwSh should be taken off the table, especially when DLC is supposed to continue as far as two years after SwSh's release.

Here is a question for you then.

Do you think Resident Evil and Astral Chain still have a shot? If not, why is that? You said it yourself, those events “could’ve been planned months ago”.

There is no reasonable explanation why the event would even happen if they were going to add Gen 8 anyways.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

and higher-ups may likely like it as well.

Except for the weird one that wants a random Skeleton instead...

Spoiler: Oh yes

View attachment 260407

Was expecting Kronk but this is much better.

 

[Megadoomer]

Here is a question for you then.

Do you think Resident Evil and Astral Chain still have a shot? If not, why is that? You said it yourself, those events “could’ve been planned months ago”.

There is no reasonable explanation why the event would even happen if they were going to add Gen 8 anyways.

With Astral Chain and Resident Evil, the main characters were added as spirits, and those choices (either version of Akira Howard; Leon, Jill, and Chris) seem to be the only feasible options. (it seems unlikely that they're going to add Claire Redfield or Nemesis to represent the entire Resident Evil series, for example)

With Pokemon, seven might be ruled out (depending on whether or not post-launch spirits impact future DLC), but there's still roughly a hundred more options from Gen. 8 alone. (I don't follow Pokemon closely, so I don't know specific numbers or which Pokemon from Gen. 8 stand out. At the very least, the final evolutions of any of the starters would still be plausible)

 

[Cutie Gwen]

The thing about Swoshi spirits is that they already knew they'd make V2 before we got SwoShi Spirits, so unless Sakurai is making a 484928573D chess play, which is an assumption only made by conspiracy theoriests. SwoShi is out of the running like RE, Astral Chain and Kunio, no doubt about that. I highly doubt negotiating Pokemon spirits took longer than planning the next 6 characters and negotiating for those characters and all the content they'll bring

 

[P.Kat]

The Labo spirits stated showing up on my spirit board eventually and I COMPLETELY missed that event.

You just reminded me that there were people who wanted Laboman for Smash back around when Labo came out. It definitely was a interesting pick of a character, I wonder what the support for him is like now?

 

[Cosmic77]

We could just take the SwSh Spirits at face value and say that they were added to coincide with the release of Nintendo's biggest game of 2019.

Unless the Pokemon gets added first or second (which probably isn't happening since E3 2020 will likely be where one of the two characters will be revealed, and historically Pokemon never get revealed at E3), I can see why they'd go ahead and make Spirits. At a rate of three characters a year, there'd be quite a gap between the launch of SwSh and the newcomer. It'd feel weird if they didn't do something small to acknowledge a new Pokemon game, especially since Let's Go got Spirits.

 

[Nemuresu]

Making a decent spirit board for any Gen 8 pokémon isn't complicated, since the spirits only covered pre-launch creatures. Disregarding whether it's Urshifu or any of the starters, there's more than enough material to work with.
1-Star: Skwovet, Blipbug, Nickit, Arrokuda.
2-Stars: Falinks, Eiscue, Stonjourner, Sandaconda.
3-Stars: Sirfetch'd, Runerigus, Mr. Rime, Frosmoth, Perrserker, Toxtricity.
4-Stars: Eternatus.

 

[Sestetz]

Making a decent spirit board for any Gen 8 pokémon isn't complicated, since the spirits only covered pre-launch creatures. Disregarding whether it's Urshifu or any of the starters, there's more than enough material to work with.
1-Star: Skwovet, Blipbug, Nickit, Arrokuda.
2-Stars: Falinks, Eiscue, Stonjourner, Sandaconda.
3-Stars: Sirfetch'd, Runerigus, Mr. Rime, Frosmoth, Perrserker, Toxtricity.
4-Stars: Eternatus.

I partially think they may just be lazy and bring back the dogs if a sword and shield spirit board existed, as lazy as that sounds lol

 

[Extremmefan]

With Astral Chain and Resident Evil, the main characters were added as spirits, and those choices (either version of Akira Howard; Leon, Jill, and Chris) seem to be the only feasible options. (it seems unlikely that they're going to add Claire Redfield or Nemesis to represent the entire Resident Evil series, for example)

With Pokemon, seven might be ruled out (depending on whether or not post-launch spirits impact future DLC), but there's still roughly a hundred more options from Gen. 8 alone. (I don't follow Pokemon closely, so I don't know specific numbers or which Pokemon from Gen. 8 stand out. At the very least, the final evolutions of any of the starters would still be plausible)

Let's face it, when has Pokemon gotten something other than a starter final evolution (without any secondary content for its pre-evos) after Brawl? It's clear they think the best way to represent a generation entirely is to get a starter line (i.e. one of the Pokemon people would HAVE to use and thus are way more likely to have grown up with and formed a bond with their most likely fully evolved starter) unless movies messes with that (as was the case for Lucario). They COULD use one of the promotional 'mons used for the DLC but then it wouldn't have the same appeal to people when it comes to the newest gen.
Also, again, why would the starter final evolutions be still on the table in spite of their base evo being spirits, when the playable "shill" picks from Brawl onwards don't have theirs at all.

We could just take the SwSh Spirits at face value and say that they were added to coincide with the release of Nintendo's biggest game of 2019.

Unless the Pokemon gets added first or second (which probably isn't happening since E3 2020 will likely be where one of the two characters will be revealed, and historically Pokemon never get revealed at E3), I can see why they'd go ahead and make Spirits. At a rate of three characters a year, there'd be quite a gap between the launch of SwSh and the newcomer. It'd feel weird if they didn't do something small to acknowledge a new Pokemon game, especially since Let's Go got Spirits.

FP2 has been fully decided already. I'd say if anything it's on the table for FP3 now, and the gap year between the character releases for FP2 actually make a Pokemon more likely for FP3 as they'd have most likely started development on the next gen by then (meaning again we'd get a Greninja situation).

 

[SilverSoul24]

My takes on three series that need more fighters, all based on Fire Emblem's number. One of them is a joke. No points for guessing which.

Spoiler: Final Fantasy

1. Cloud
2. Zack (Echo)
3. Sephiroth
4. Cecil
5. Terra
6. Yuna
7. Lightning
8. Noctis

Spoiler: Xenoblade Chronicles

1. Shulk
2. Mecha-Fiora
3. Dunban
4. Elma
5. Lin
6. Rex & Pyra/Mythra
7. Malos (semi-clone of Shulk)
8. Jin

Spoiler: Sonic the Hedgehog

1. Sonic
2. Classic Sonic (Echo)
3. Boom Sonic (Echo)
4. Dreamcast Sonic (Echo)
5. Movie Sonic (Echo, based on the old 2019 design with human teeth)
6. Omochao
7. Big the Cat
8. & Knuckles

 

[Rie Sonomura]

My takes on three series that need more fighters, all based on Fire Emblem's number. One of them is a joke. No points for guessing which.

Spoiler: Final Fantasy

1. Cloud
2. Zack (Echo)
3. Sephiroth
4. Cecil
5. Terra
6. Yuna
7. Lightning
8. Noctis

Spoiler: Xenoblade Chronicles

1. Shulk
2. Mecha-Fiora
3. Dunban
4. Elma
5. Lin
6. Rex & Pyra/Mythra
7. Malos (semi-clone of Shulk)
8. Jin

Spoiler: Sonic the Hedgehog

1. Sonic
2. Classic Sonic (Echo)
3. Boom Sonic (Echo)
4. Dreamcast Sonic (Echo)
5. Movie Sonic (Echo, based on the old 2019 design with human teeth)
6. Omochao
7. Big the Cat
8. & Knuckles

is it the one with ?

 

[SilverSoul24]

is it the one with ?

Wow, you're good. Also stealing the

so thank you!

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Does anyone remember the sheer stupidity of everyone saying Banjo Kazooie would be an echo of duck hunt and that duck hunt should get a game made by Sakurai just like banjo kazooie. Good times hahah

The whole "X would just be a clone of Y" argument has generally been surprisingly common, despite how ridiculous it often is. It wasn't uncommon to hear about how K. Rool would be a Bowser clone, or Mega Man would be a Samus clone, and you'd also have the occasional guy saying Ridley would be a Charizard clone. There was also this really weird perception after Brawl released that Lucario was a Mewtwo clone, it took all the way until Mewtwo was added in Smash 4 for that misconception to die out.

While I no longer see anything as ridiculous as the examples I gave above, I still see a lot of posts from speculators that really makes it clear how little they actually know about this game that they spend so much time talking about.

 

[DaybreakHorizon]

We could just take the SwSh Spirits at face value and say that they were added to coincide with the release of Nintendo's biggest game of 2019.

Unless the Pokemon gets added first or second (which probably isn't happening since E3 2020 will likely be where one of the two characters will be revealed, and historically Pokemon never get revealed at E3), I can see why they'd go ahead and make Spirits. At a rate of three characters a year, there'd be quite a gap between the launch of SwSh and the newcomer. It'd feel weird if they didn't do something small to acknowledge a new Pokemon game, especially since Let's Go got Spirits.

Then why didn't Three Houses get Spirits to coincide with the release of Nintendo's major summer game?

Oh wait...

 

[Eldrake]

Then why didn't Three Houses get Spirits to coincide with the release of Nintendo's major summer game?

Oh wait...

Three Houses even has a large cast, so it's not like a "Well that's different they don't have enough material for a spirit event" deal.

 

[AEMehr]

As you wish. I explain my point of view on several of your pick in this post.

Basically, I despise the idea for two of them and have zero interest in the four others.

Pokémon is already strongly present, no thanks, but I don't expect one on this pass, there were spirits sooner.

Geno is a strong no too. It's probably partially jealousy to see such a minor character having more support than all my favorites (and, even more annoying, I believe he has an actual chance to get in) ; but i'm glad that I'm not the only one who is thinking that thanks to the previous discussion we had on the "characters we don't want".

For the four others, I have nothing against them but I have zero interest in them. Special mention to the Ring Fit character that no one asked for.

Some may answer me "can't you be happy for their fan?". But, and I'm really sorry for that, I can't. I really can't, because, of my list of around 8 favorite and feasible characters I made before the launch of the game, I got the chance to see absolutely none of them join the roster of fighters. So, I won't be able to accept a fighter pass if none of my favorite, not even one, get in. And it's even more true if Geno, the last-long-term-high-requested-character-aside-KRool-Ridley-and-Banjo-if-you-forget-Isaac, gets in and Isaac not.

Well these are very personal reasons but I get that. Sucks to not get who you'd like, I for the most part know that feeling well lol. And then the characters I did personally hope for ended up being way too boring / specialized for my taste haha (rip in palu and mac).

For the Pokémon, I mean I thought we had a strong presence in Fire Emblem fighters but Byleth appeared anyways. At least they're pretty enjoyable to play, I would hope a new Pokémon would also be fun to play as.

I guess the only thing I can close off is your tidbit on Ring Fit Adventure being wanted by nobody. To which I reply, I would like to introduce you to nobody.

Overall I can't really debate with you on the subject matter because it's your opinion, but I respect that.
- - - - - -

Doesn't Gen 8 have an Spirit Board? If anything I feel that rules them out.

I'm pretty sure Master Chief would be more then Snake/Cloud levels of hype tbh.

ah yes but that is with Pokémon Sword and Shield. NOT Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Isle of Armor. Very different, I assure you.

Oh and yes Chief would be bigger than Snake/Cloud but I was just comparing the level of reaction to something of a similar caliber.
- - - - - -

Huge disagree on Pokemon, for a few reasons:
- Sakurai technically asks TPCi first instead of the other way around, much unlike how Corrin was pushed by Intelligent Systems themselves back in 4. No reason to believe TPCi would ask Nintendo to be further promoted in Smash when the games sell comfortably and so will the DLC anyways, and no reason for Nintendo to really ask either considering Pokemon has far less coherent demand Smash-wise so they have no reason to ask.

I mean you said it yourself that the games already sell comfortably well, so it is within reason to believe a fighter from Pokémon would cater to an audience other options would not. We should still consider that Smash is a game being marketed to those outside of the Smash fanbase too, so I don't think it's "tone deaf" to contact the Pokémon Company about the possibility of adding another Pokémon. There would be a lot of people that would love that.

- Sword/Shield got a spirit event during Fighter's Pass 1. If they wanted to represent those games with a fighter at all they would've kept those for the 'mon's spirit board.

if it were a Starter or something in the base game, yeah sure. But I would think it would be based on the Expansion Pass, so I don't think the Spirit Board hurts anything but the Pokémon in the base title.

- Not only that, but afaik the decision for SwSh DLC happened after FP2 was already decided (though I may be mistaken there, for time is not my forte)
- There are other ways to "disappoint" people in general than another Pokemon.

We have no timeframe for the development of The Pokémon Expansion Pass, but if they were asked about having a Pokémon appear as a future DLC character Im sure they had designs concepts in progress. Greninja was designed off of concept art, so I'm sure if they really wanted to they could do it again. But timing is key, it could be right on the mark or just a bit too late for it. So I have to agree with you on that, we just don't know.
Also I was being coy on the disappointing thing lol.

- It'll be a pretty long while before they even start the plans for the next main game, as they also have remakes to focus on games-wise and SwSh's own anime is still debuting afaik, so if it's not SwSh odds are it's nothing Pokemon related at all during the whole pass

I'm sure they are already making plans for the next mainline Pokémon games, but those are probably a year or two from being teased. Which is why I think if it were a Pokémon, it would be from the Expansion Pass.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

We could just take the SwSh Spirits at face value and say that they were added to coincide with the release of Nintendo's biggest game of 2019.

Unless the Pokemon gets added first or second (which probably isn't happening since E3 2020 will likely be where one of the two characters will be revealed, and historically Pokemon never get revealed at E3), I can see why they'd go ahead and make Spirits. At a rate of three characters a year, there'd be quite a gap between the launch of SwSh and the newcomer. It'd feel weird if they didn't do something small to acknowledge a new Pokemon game, especially since Let's Go got Spirits.

This clearly means Daemon X Machina, Link's Awakening, LABO, Pokemon Let's Go and more are confirmed, RIP 3H though, it won't get any content at all according to this unbiased take from the person who hates when people mildly criticize Pokemon

 

[Faso115]

I'm not really prepared for a timeline where a Three Houses spirit event happened and Byleth still became FP5.