with the ARMS song wishlist brought up I figure now would be a good time to bring up my theory
You: "groan Again, Rie? You and your outlandish theories!"
Yes, but hear me out please
You know how all DLC so far has/will come with music, with the sole exception (thus far) of Piranha Plant who is currently the only Individual DLC and was supposedly meant for base? Wanna point out that while ARMS has base game content in the form of the Spring Man Assist Trophy and a handful of Spirits, it has no music whatsoever in base. I'd like to think it gave a really sweet payout in the form of getting a (presumably not Spring Man) ARMS character in this second pass with a new stage, music, and ARMS series emblem.
Now let's look at some other series that don't have a playable character in base, and if they do, don't have a new one from another installment in their series.
No playable characters whatsoever:
- Panel de Pon: has the Lip costume, but unfortunately has one song, so I wouldn't count on Lip becoming playable this pass. Arle Nadja, if she happens, might have to scratch y'all's itch for a puzzle fighter.
- Sin and Punishment: You might be in luck. Saki Amamiya's AT is gone, he's a costume now, there are some spirits but to my knowledge no music (correct me if I'm wrong)
- Monster Hunter: if it was JUST the Rathalos Boss/AT I'd think this was possible, but there's also MonHun music in the base game so.... don't count on it
- Rhythm Heaven: I think it has music in base in addition to some Spirits? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Already repped series that don't have a character from their more recent installments:
- Splatoon: I like to think Inklings largely rep Splatoon 1 as Inkling Girl/Boy alts don't have the Splatoon 2 hairstyles. There's a handful of music from 1, some base game music from 2 (no Tidal Rush/Spicy CI though), and the Squid Sisters AT. The only Octo Expansion (which I count as an "installment" as it's a brand new side story) content so far is the Octoling Girl & Boy Spirit and Octoling Octopus Spirit. No music from Octo Expansion... here's hoping for my Veemo/Oomi babies
- Xenoblade: not counting the first game, only 2, X, and Torna. 2's content includes some music, Nia costume (base), Rex costume (with FPV1 purchase), and some Spirits. The music alone makes me think we won't get a 2 character this pass. Torna... we might get Lora as there's no Torna music, but most of Torna's tunes are 2 remixes anyway. Now for the elephant in the room... X. We got 5 Spirits (Elma, Lin, Lao, Tatsu and the Skell) and... that's LITERALLY it. No music. No costumes. No AT's. I'd say an X rep (particularly Elma if ARMS's character is a Spirit promotion with no other in game form like Min Min, Twintelle or Ninjara) is more likely than you think.
- ok fine I guess I will include the first game since Definitive Edition is on the way and that WILL have rearranged music. With a redesign and prominent role in the Future Connected new epilogue, Melia might be a choice. However, I have a feeling her epilogue design + Shulk's epilogue design might be on a Xenoblade rep's Spirit board if it includes all of Xenoblade. Other choice is Fiora, since again ARMS's rep is most likely to be a non-playable promotion of some kind (as the ones already present in the game are the most popular) and we all know what's going on with Chrom in this game. Plus, spoilers? WHAT spoilers, says Sakurai and Project X Zone 2?!
- Donkey Kong: yeah, we just got King K. Rool, and Dixie's a Spirit. But Dixie was also prominent in Tropical Freeze, which has no music in base to my knowledge. Other TF option could be Cranky Kong.
- Kirby: Bandana Waddle Dee (if Spirit promotion) or Adeleine (if not). Iirc there's no Star Allies music in game despite the Three Mage Sisters (or whatever they're called) Spirit? either BD or Ado could rep Star Allies those two unfortunately already have music, nvm
tl;dr you've heard of "music theory" now get ready for "LACK of music theory". If an unrepped series, or specific installment of an already repped series, has no music in base, it doesn't matter what other content they have, they stand a chance of getting a playable rep in this pass
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. drops mic