Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Michael the Spikester]

But guys I thought it was agreed upon the mascot/face/icon always comes first and as said this is an exception as there were no plans for Season Pass 2 when ARMS was considered. Why is this an debate again?

Unless you wanna say Ribbon Girl as alongside Spring Man, she's also the face of the franchise?

 

[Mamboo07]

If Spring man gets in Nintendo will open the Whalugi flood gates again. Not. A. Good. Thing.

I agree with you, don't want a repeat of the Waluigi toxicity back in 2018.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Having a Spirit/AT Promotion isn't about automatically assuming others will follow, it's about sending a message and actually being able to openly discuss more characters in speculation without some ******** going "AAACKCHUALLY, NUH-UH, SPIRIT! SHUT UP ABOUT THIS CHARACTER!" The same way Ryu opened the door for multiple 3rd Parties from the same companies, Cloud and Joker opened the door for 3rd Parties that might not be associated closely with Nintendo, echo fighters as a concept opened the door for more widespread acceptance of characters that might be clones, and Ken and Richter opened the door for more than one character from a 3rd Party series getting in (as echos).

 

[Garteam]

If Spring man gets in Nintendo will open the Whalugi flood gates again. Not. A. Good. Thing.

Not gonna lie, I kinda hate this argument.

I can understand if a negative experience with a character's fans turns you off to them getting in Smash, but trying to claim that character shouldn't get in because it would be rewarding bad behaviour just seems petty. 9 times out of 10, a "toxic character fanbase" is just a few bad apples who got lucky enough to have the megaphone. Is the dude who compared Waluigi being an assist trophy to 9/11 an asshole? Yeah, but that's one guy. Most other Waluigi fans are relatively civil about their support to the character.

As someone who was extremely excited for Hero, it definitely sucked to see some Geno and Sora fans get mega-salty and whine about how Dragon Quest has no merit and their character is so much better. Likewise, as a Byleth fan it was extremely annoying to see "This should've been Dante because I couldn't think critically about a tweet for three seconds!". However, I'd still love to see Geno, Sora, and Dante join, because they can do cool things and it's not fair to those who don't partake in that behaviour to be penalized for someone else's actions.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

If Spring man gets in Nintendo will open the Whalugi flood gates again. Not. A. Good. Thing.

Reminder those so called Waluigi fanboys were just an couple of kids that made 9/11 memes out of the character to harass Sakurai. It wasn't the majority of the fanbse.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

I think it’s interesting that sometimes users will try to boil down a well-thought post to a one sentence quip as if that meaningfully deconstructs the argument being made.

Folks, I know the fanbase has an unrelenting hatred of “fan rules”, but fighting against fan rules with fan rules doesn’t make things more likely than an “Endgame” you don’t like. It goes without saying that ARMS isn’t in the same situation as many other Assist Trophy characters that folks would like to see upgraded.

As a speculation fanbase, we repeatedly cast broad strokes. These broad strokes, in some cases, have turned out to be wrong. However, in others, they’ve been correct. For example, while Fighter Pass 1 did not end up being entirely 3rd party characters, there were no Assist Trophy or Spirit upgrades. No upgrades held true for FP1, and this was a reasonable assumption based on the logistical idea that FP1 was created and planned around the base game.

Fighter Pass 2 is a different ball game. It’s a different situation entirely. We are starting with ARMS, a game many wrote off from getting a playable character, and it could very well be the first to get an NPC upgraded to playable.

However, until it happens again, it should be seen as an exception. I am not saying this as someone who “wants to be right”. To be honest, I hardly give a damn anymore because I’ve plenty going on aside from Smash (and my Animal Crossing town is coming along nicely), but it is clear that we never learn. Evidently, we are resisting the idea that characters, series, or games could be more closely looked at by the individual basis rather than wholesale. Clearly, one thing we deem important and as a reason for one character to get in should apply to ALL characters. That was sarcasm, in case you didn’t know.

ARMS is different from Golden Sun, which is different from Xenoblade 2. Why, then, do we lump them together in terms of upgrades? Popularity? I’m honestly not convinced that popularity is always the best basis to go off of, because if it was, I don’t think ARMS would have been the lead in for NPC upgrades.

Until we get another NPC upgrade (assuming ARMS is an upgrade in the first place) it should be seen as an exception WITH THE POTENTIAL to become a pattern. I myself would love to see Isaac and/or Rex made playable, but I am not convinced just yet that it’s the overall vision of Fighter Pass 2.

Edit: I feel the need to address this, I apologize.

NPCs being “fair game” ties directly into this unequivocal situation these picks find themselves in. They are not currently in equal standing. Based on that, it simply isn’t possible to say that all ATs, Spirits, and other NPCs are “fair game”.

I think it’s fine to talk about or discuss those characters. I think it’s fine to want those characters. I do think it’s worth noting that likelihood of these picks relies upon showing that particular NPCs have something to base that “likelihood” on aside from popularity.

At least, that’s my perspective. We could end up getting Spring Man as an upgrade, and then 5 3rd parties. That in itself would tell us that no, other upgrades were not on the table. There’s simply no way to tell at this point in time if it means other upgrades will happen.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Not gonna lie, I kinda hate this argument.

I can understand if a negative experience with a character's fans turns you off to them getting in Smash, but trying to claim that character shouldn't get in because it would be rewarding bad behaviour just seems petty. 9 times out of 10, a "toxic character fanbase" is just a few bad apples who got lucky enough to have the megaphone. Is the dude who compared Waluigi being an assist trophy to 9/11 an asshole? Yeah, but that's one guy. Most other Waluigi fans are relatively civil about their support to the character.

As someone who was extremely excited for Hero, it definitely sucked to see some Geno and Sora fans get mega-salty and whine about how Dragon Quest has no merit and their character is so much better. Likewise, as a Byleth fan it was extremely annoying to see "This should've been Dante because I couldn't think critically about a tweet for three seconds!". However, I'd still love to see Geno, Sora, and Dante join, because they can do cool things and it's not fair to those who don't partake in that behaviour to be penalized for someone else's actions.

The argument is even worse when you realize that he's against a character's inclusion because of a completely separate character's fanbase. Waluigi fans shouldn't be the reason why everyone else can't have nice things.

Besides, they also made this so they're not all bad.

Fighter Pass 2 is a different ball game. It’s a different situation entirely. We are starting with ARMS, a game many wrote off from getting a playable character, and it could very well be the first to get an NPC upgraded to playable.

However, until it happens again, it should be seen as an exception. I am not saying this as someone who “wants to be right”. To be honest, I hardly give a damn anymore because I’ve plenty going on aside from Smash (and my Animal Crossing town is coming along nicely), but it is clear that we never learn. Evidently, we are resisting the idea that characters, series, or games could be more closely looked at by the individual basis rather than wholesale. Clearly, one thing we deem important and as a reason for one character to get in should apply to ALL characters. That was sarcasm, in case you didn’t know.

ARMS is different from Golden Sun, which is different from Xenoblade 2. Why, then, do we lump them together in terms of upgrades? Popularity? I’m honestly not convinced that popularity is always the best basis to go off of, because if it was, I don’t think ARMS would have been the lead in for NPC upgrades.

Until we get another NPC upgrade (assuming ARMS is an upgrade in the first place) it should be seen as an exception WITH THE POTENTIAL to become a pattern. I myself would love to see Isaac and/or Rex made playable, but I am not convinced just yet that it’s the overall vision of Fighter Pass 2.

We lump them together because if Spring Man gets in, that means all of the other Assist Trophy (and at least base game Spirit) characters are back (or more firmly) on the table. It doesn't matter what their situation is, they're possible again, and I think that's what excites people most. To say that this is just an exception, and that Assist Trophy characters are still off the table is just goalpost moving.

Now, that's not to say that Assist Trophy characters are likely. I don't think we'll be seeing the likes of Shadow, Isaac, or the Skull Kid any time soon. But they should still get to rejoin speculation even if we just write them off for not being all that popular or whatever.

That's also not to say that the belief of Spring Man is the exception isn't valid, because it is. It's just not a hard rule like you seem to be making it out to be.

EDIT: I may be misunderstanding you a bit, in which case my spiel isn't worth much. I'm just gonna acknowledge that and move on.

 

[Will]

If Spring man gets in Nintendo will open the Whalugi flood gates again. Not. A. Good. Thing.

Geno thread's the other way if you're trying to start wars my dude.

 

[Kotor]

So the results of the last “poll” I did were pretty close, so I figured I’d do another poll.

Pick the 1 character you want to see get added to Smash the most.

View attachment 269133

Rex

 

[3BitSaurus]

I don't actually agree at all because any DLC is planned alongside the base game will still be victim to the Assist Trophies disconfirm for DLC. The only time DLC opens up is post base game when you're moving well beyond the original plans the game released with. It's the same reason that we have a new set of Spirits that almost certainly seem to disconfirm fighters with the new DLC sets because its indicative of how they're treating a property/franchise/character at a given moment when other content is being planned. Assists disconfirming, like Spirits, was always more of a logistical issue than a philosophic one. Now that we're past the logistical part with future DLC, we've moved to the more philosophic based issues of "Does this character warrant inclusion at this point?" Which is why ARMS is rather well positioned to be a sole upgrade versus other properties barring some big additional push for a franchise/character that currently sits as an Assist Trophy.

As for our previous discussion, that was just me tying back in the overall discussion to current Smash DLC and why we may not see those properties in our current DLC. Speaking to a future perspective for Smash, I think everything I mentioned still applies in similar ways as all the issues that currently non represented franchises have will just be exacerbated by the passage of time unless Nintendo decides to push them. Especially when future games may not have the same amount of roster space or have different focuses than Ultimate. But it was, overall discussion on Smash and more niche properties/properties that sold less overall.

I mean, the potential for AT upgrades is exactly that, a potential. The reason it "kills" that rule for future games is because then we'll know for a fact that they are possible - which is different from saying they're likely. But the chance and presence of these characters in conversation would no longer immediately drop down to 0% with an AT disconfirm. This leaves more options to discussion, so I don't see how it would be a bad thing.

For our other talk, yeah, I agree that none of that seems likely right now, much less for DLC. I merely brought the franchise-revival thing because we were talking about old newcomer selections and that is something I wish would change for the next games though - at least for base rosters. Maybe just one or two less conventional first party choices, I suppose. But I'm well aware that this depends on Nintendo and Sakurai changing their current viewpoints.

 

[chocolatejr9]

View attachment 269213

Geno thread's the other way if you're trying to start wars my dude.

Oh no. You just reminded me of that "Bait and Switch" joke about Earthworm Jim on Switch.

 

[andree123]

Its that time of the week again!

Spirit Board/Event! Lets see who might potentially get deconfirmed this week!

I'm betting on the Stretchers. They'll likely be deconfirmed at any week.

If not, I may expect them from a company already represented in smash unless it is just a new one that nobody cares about.

 

[PeridotGX]

I've been thinking, and I think the character that would change speculation the most would be Knuckles. Let me explain.

-Obviously, he breaks the Assist, Spirit, Stage background , and Mii Costume rules. |All these characters live again.
-not only is Knuckles a Mii Costume, he's a DLC Mii Costume. This means that those are back on the table, as well as DLC spirits (presumably).
-Third party series can now get more than one unique fighter, making Zero, Chun Li, Alucard plausible candidates.
-Knuckles would be the first old series DLC character that's not from a rotating cast, helping Bandana Dee and Waluigi and some others.

I don't think he's happening, but Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would change things a lot

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

This is pretty random, but I think the Excitebiker would make for a great character. It would attack by doing motorcycle tricks, and could get around the stage quickly (and/or with a hitbox) by boosting at the risk of filling up your heat bar, and overheating, which causes you to become very slow for a bit. Also for its Forward Aerial, I want it to flip over it's bike and use the momentum to swing it forward. Basically making it Mario's (or maybe more like Cloud's) Forward Aerial, but the hitbox is ginormous.

EDIT: Then you could make Mach Rider its Echo Fighter, swapping out the boost mechanic for guns.

I'm betting on the Stretchers. They'll likely be deconfirmed at any week.

If not, I may expect them from a company already represented in smash unless it is just a new one that nobody cares about.

The Stretchers? Was that the wacky rescue team indie game? I'd be surprised to see it in Smash at all, but it be kinda cool.

If we get Capcom spirits, my bet is on either Monster Hunter, Darkstalkers, or Ghost 'n Goblins/Ghouls 'n Ghosts/Demon's Quest.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

Ehhhhh V2 seems to have been made after the game went gold unlike V1

I was saying Assist Trophies Disconfirm for whatever the next Smash is if they're present for its first wave of DLC. It's not a rule you can just kill and be done with because, again, it's based on logistics.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I'm betting on the Stretchers. They'll likely be deconfirmed at any week.

If not, I may expect them from a company already represented in smash unless it is just a new one that nobody cares about.

RIP Dr. Coyle, Helix, Kid Cobra and Max Brass.

This would indicate its either Spring Man or Ribbon Girl or both (Ribbon Girl as an Echo).

That or the ARMS 2 protag (Presumably son/daughter of Spring Man and Ribbon Girl).

I've been thinking, and I think the character that would change speculation the most would be Knuckles. Let me explain.

-Obviously, he breaks the Assist, Spirit, Stage background , and Mii Costume rules. |All these characters live again.
-not only is Knuckles a Mii Costume, he's a DLC Mii Costume. This means that those are back on the table, as well as DLC spirits (presumably).
-Third party series can now get more than one unique fighter, making Zero, Chun Li, Alucard plausible candidates.
-Knuckles would be the first old series DLC character that's not from a rotating cast, helping Bandana Dee and Waluigi and some others.

I don't think he's happening, but Super Smash Bros. Ultimate View attachment 269215 would change things a lot

Implying Knuckles would even come before Tails, Eggman and Shadow.

 

[chocolatejr9]

RIP Dr. Coyle, Helix, Kid Cobra and Max Brass.

This would indicate its either Spring Man or Ribbon Girl or both (Ribbon Girl as an Echo).

That or the ARMS 2 protag (Presumably son/daughter of Spring Man and Ribbon Girl).

Implying Knuckles would even come before Tails, Eggman and Shadow.

Don't underestimate Knuckles's popularity. Even Boom Knuckles had his moments.

 

[PeridotGX]

RIP Dr. Coyle, Helix, Kid Cobra and Max Brass.

This would indicate its either Spring Man or Ribbon Girl or both (Ribbon Girl as an Echo).

That or the ARMS 2 protag (Presumably son/daughter of Spring Man and Ribbon Girl).

Implying Knuckles would even come before Tails, Eggman and Shadow.

He wouldn't, but none of them "break" as many "rules" as he does.

Tails isn't an AT
Eggman isn't an AT, Mii Costume, or Stage Hazard
Shadow wouldn't change the one-per-series rule, as he would be an echo.

Knuckles is somehow the perfect blend, breaking all fan rules.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Don't underestimate Knuckles's popularity. Even Boom Knuckles had his moments.

But the mascot, face or protag always comes first then the secondary or villain next. That's the rules and hence why the ARMS rep will either be Spring Man, Ribbon Girl (If assists aren't promoted) or both (Ribbon Girl as an Echo fighter).

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

RIP Dr. Coyle, Helix, Kid Cobra and Max Brass.

This would indicate its either Spring Man or Ribbon Girl or both (Ribbon Girl as an Echo).

?

It's highly unlikely that we'll get an ARMS Spirit event; There would be no characters left for the Spirit Board.

That or the ARMS 2 protag (Presumably son/daughter of Spring Man and Ribbon Girl).

First, the hypothetical ARMS 2 protagonist would likely be Spring Man. Second, Spring Man is 20, Ribbon Girl is 17. "That's no good!"

Implying Knuckles would even come before Tails, Eggman and Shadow.

I could see him being added before Shadow. They're pretty similar in terms of importance to the series.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

?First, the hypothetical ARMS 2 protagonist would likely be Spring Man. Second, Spring Man is 20, Ribbon Girl is 17. "That's no good!"

You do realize an supposed ARMS 2 could be set years or decades after right? Also plenty of people gets who gets married are years apart in terms of age. My dad alone is a years older then my mom by at least 5+ years. Why is that an argument to begin with?

 

[Cosmic77]

Why are people so fearful of ATs being back on the table? Spring Man doesn't guarantee Waluigi a spot in the pass. All it does is allow more people to give him a chance, and just because he'll be brought up more often in conversation doesn't mean we'll fall into WWIII.

As far as I'm concerned, we swap stupid "AT/Spirits deconfirm" debates for "We will/won't get more ATs". Doubt much will change between now and then.

 

[osby]

That or the ARMS 2 protag (Presumably son/daughter of Spring Man and Ribbon Girl).

It's a fighting game, why they would need to change the protag?

It's not like ARMS have that much of a story that requires it.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

I feel like AT's disconfirm got thrown out the window when they announced a Fighter's Pass 2 but I guess people are still clinging to the last way to decipher what the **** is going on in Sakurai's head.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

It's a fighting game, why they would need to change the protag?

It's not like ARMS have that much of a story that requires it.

As a means of promotion as they did withand

How else did Fire Emblem got so popular in the West once introducing Fire Emblem into Melee? The same could be happening here and why they're probably adding ARMS to make it more popular and what better way then promoting for an sequel with an new character especially one related to the faces/mascots of the series.

 

[Plank08]

If I’m being honest, I think the assist gates are already open.
Springman WAS an option, so were the other spirits, if sakurai thought it to be impossible, wouldnt he just not make them one of the options?

 

[SmashSSL]

As a means of promotion as they did withand

How else did Fire Emblem got so popular in the West once introducing Fire Emblem into Melee? The same could be happening here and why they're probably adding ARMS to make it more popular and what better way then promoting for an sequel with an new character especially one related to the faces/mascots of the series.

Uh... remember how Roy's game didn't even release here?
They would have got the same result with Marth and Leif, or just Marth, at least in the west. Roy wasn't needed, so that's not a good explanation as to why they should use the "new" character.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

You do realize an supposed ARMS 2 could be set years or decades after right? Also plenty of people gets who gets married are years apart in terms of age.

Yeah but then you'd run into characters getting too old. A decade later and Max Brass is now 62, and Dr. Coyle is 58. You'd have to constantly make up contrived reasons as to why these characters are still able to participate in ARMS matches, or permanently remove them from future titles, which isn't a good idea either.

As a means of promotion as they did withand

How else did Fire Emblem got so popular in the West once introducing Fire Emblem into Melee? The same could be happening here and why they're probably adding ARMS to make it more popular and what better way then promoting for an sequel with an new character especially one related to the faces/mascots of the series.

You can still get that with Spring Man if you don't change the protagonist. Just change up his look for the next game and bam! It's Spring Man from ARMS 2. There's really no reason to replace him with his hypothetical child (especially since it would probably still be under the Spring Man/Woman moniker anyway given Spring Man's backstory).

Also, fighting games don't rotate their casts out like the Fire Emblem series does. The one example I can think of where they did pissed off their fans.

 

[Wunderwaft]

As a means of promotion as they did withand

How else did Fire Emblem got so popular in the West once introducing Fire Emblem into Melee? The same could be happening here and why they're probably adding ARMS to make it more popular and what better way then promoting for an sequel with an new character especially one related to the faces/mascots of the series.

Fighting games rarely, if ever, change the protagonist of their series. Fire Emblem has different countries and settings so as a result there are different protagonists in each game. ARMS is the type of game where the setting is not gonna change and the cast has no reason to by swapped. Like, no seriously, the game doesn't hint that something major is gonna happen and change the landscape of ARMS, and even then I don't see why the same cast won't just be recycled for a hypothetical sequel.

At the very most we might get an ARMS 2 redesign of one of the original characters (assuming there is an ARMS 2 to begin with), but not an entirely new character. They showed us the list of candidates at the direct, they're not gonna go "SIKE IT WAS NONE OF THEM" and sucker punch us with some snob we've never seen before.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

Why are people so fearful of ATs being back on the table? Spring Man doesn't guarantee Waluigi a spot in the pass. All it does is allow more people to give him a chance, and just because he'll be brought up more often in conversation doesn't mean we'll fall into WWIII.

As far as I'm concerned, we swap stupid "AT/Spirits deconfirm" debates for "We will/won't get more ATs". Doubt much will change between now and then.

I feel like AT's disconfirm got thrown out the window when they announced a Fighter's Pass 2 but I guess people are still clinging to the last way to decipher what the **** is going on in Sakurai's head.

If this is referring to what I posted, then I'm afraid you misunderstand me.

I couldn't possibly care at this point if we get upgrades. We get Rex and Isaac? Great! They've been among my most wanted for quite some time now.

I, and others like EricTheGamerman , and simply making the point that what makes one Assist, Spirit, or other NPC "upgrade" happen does not necessarily mean specific others will happen. That's it. It's a perfectly logical argument. There's no nuance that we "want to be correct or remain correct" about something here.

We're on an internet forum about a video game. It's not that serious. I have been wrong before, I acknowledge this. At this point, I'm not even saying that additional upgrades can't be talked about. On the contrary, I think they should be talked about. However, I think within the possibilities that those characters are "back on the table" is, as it stands, taking a leap.

Not all characters have equal chances. They never have, never will. To imply now that all NPCs are "back on the table", I think mischaracterizes the reasoning with ARMS (as we can understand it), and the implications that has for other current NPCs.

I'm not latching onto something. I'm not afraid of something. I'm posing what, I feel, is a sound and logical argument.

That said, I think Rex stands a decent chance of being upgraded on the grounds that Sakurai considered him. As he is the "latest" in a line of JRPG protags, I could see Nintendo still going with him if another Upgrade were considered. There's plenty of factors involved though, but I suppose I will go into that at another time.

 

[DarthEnderX]

To be fair, even if we get Spring Man, this doesn't mean every non-playable character has their chances skyrocket.

No. But at least it means that people that use that as an argument against those characters get to STFU.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Yeah but then you'd run into characters getting too old. A decade later and Max Brass is now 62, and Dr. Coyle is 58. You'd have to constantly make up contrived reasons as to why these characters are still able to participate in ARMS matches, or permanently remove them from future titles, which isn't a good idea either.

To be honest though people can still be active in their 50s and early 60s.

Otherwise fair point with everything else.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

This is pretty random, but I think the Excitebiker would make for a great character. It would attack by doing motorcycle tricks, and could get around the stage quickly (and/or with a hitbox) by boosting at the risk of filling up your heat bar, and overheating, which causes you to become very slow for a bit. Also for its Forward Aerial, I want it to flip over it's bike and use the momentum to swing it forward. Basically making it Mario's (or maybe more like Cloud's) Forward Aerial, but the hitbox is ginormous.

EDIT: Then you could make Mach Rider its Echo Fighter, swapping out the boost mechanic for guns.

While I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Exctiebike as a playable characters, it's one of those games that I don't get why it don't have more representation. No stage, no assist trophy (despite having one in Brawl) and no music. Kind of sad to be honest for one of the most iconic first party NES games.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

That said, I think Rex stands a decent chance of being upgraded on the grounds that Sakurai considered him. As he is the "latest" in a line of JRPG protags, I could see Nintendo still going with him if another Upgrade were considered. There's plenty of factors involved though, but I suppose I will go into that at another time.

I can’t wait for the Pyra debates to come back!

 

[GoodGrief741]

An Assist Trophy can't become a fighter in the same game. For example Little Mac was in Brawl then a fighter in Smash 4, same with Isabelle and Dark Samus.

I want Spring Man because I like old toothpaste head for all of his goofiness, but I gotta say, I completely understand the people who only want him to shut up dumb arguments like this.

 

[Guynamednelson]

I mean, he can still be in. I just don’t expect another third-party focused FP. I expect there to be one or two more in this pass (and yes, this would include Geno should he hypothetically be a playable character)

I'm not saying he's 100% out, I just picked a random third-party that's a popular prediction.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

They showed us the list of candidates at the direct, they're not gonna go "SIKE IT WAS NONE OF THEM" and sucker punch us with some snob we've never seen before.

I never thought about it that way, but yeah that probably would be more poorly received than just Spring Man would be.

We're on an internet forum about a video game. I have been wrong before, I acknowledge this. At this point, I'm not even saying that additional upgrades can't be talked about. On the contrary, I think they should be talked about. However, I think within the possibilities that those characters are "back on the table" is, as it stands, taking a leap.

Not all characters have equal chances. They never have, never will. To imply now that all NPCs are "back on the table", I think mischaracterizes the reasoning with ARMS (as we can understand it), and the implications that has for other current NPCs.

I think by "back on the table" we mean that they're possible again rather than equally likely or guaranteed.

EDIT: If not then I misunderstand what it means.

While I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Exctiebike as a playable characters, it's one of those games that I don't get why it don't have more representation. No stage, no assist trophy (despite having one in Brawl) and no music. Kind of sad to be honest for one of the most iconic first party NES games.

I think the Excitebike remix from Mario Kart 8 is in the game, and it has a segment in one of the NES Remix medley songs, but yeah, it's still pretty weird how absent the series is.

 

[Garteam]

Fighting games rarely, if ever, change the protagonist of their series. Fire Emblem has different countries and settings so as a result there are different protagonists in each game. ARMS is the type of game where the setting is not gonna change and the cast has no reason to by swapped. Like, no seriously, the game doesn't hint that something major is gonna happen and change the landscape of ARMS, and even then I don't see why the same cast won't just be recycled for a hypothetical sequel.

At the very most we might get an ARMS 2 redesign of one of the original characters (assuming there is an ARMS 2 to begin with), but not an entirely new character. They showed us the list of candidates at the direct, they're not gonna go "SIKE IT WAS NONE OF THEM" and sucker punch us with some snob we've never seen before.

It's also worth noting that, on the rare occasion fighting games actually try to change who their main character is, they usually walk that decision back pretty quickly. Capcom was second guessing making Alex the main character before Street Fighter III was even out, leading them to add Ryu and Ken at the eleventh hour. Likewise, even though Rock technically replaced Terry in Garou, Terry is always the Fatal Fury rep in KoF and other SNK crossovers.

 

[ZelDan]

Eh, I do want Spring man to be the character, or one of them if alts or echoes are a thing, to show that ATs can be upgraded within the same game. That said I am genuinly happy that ARMS is getting a playable rep regardless of what happens to certain fan rules, and am also happy that we finally have a new first party repped with a playable character other than just Splatoon now, and as far as ARMS characters go, I actually like all of them. so for me I could either get:

1. A character I like that could destroy fan rules

2. A character I like that would destroy less fan rules

3. A character I like that destroys no fan rules.

I dunno, the most ideal choice for me seems obvious...

 

[DanganZilla5]

So I saw this template floating around and I couldn't resist. This quarantine is really giving me a lot of time lol. You think this is enough characters? The only character I don't have pictured is Cuphead because his chances are more dead than anyone of these characters in my opinion. Plus it gave me more space to work with.