Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Garteam]

Honestly, judging characters by who can get the most people on the internet to scream seems kinda dumb to begin with. A lot of characters don't really resonate with people until they're in their hands and vice versa. I mean, I popped off when I saw Eight and Byleth respectively, I couldn't care less if there were people who weren't interested and threw out the anime swordsman allegations.

Like it's fun to watch people be happy and surprised, don't get me wrong, but there's more a character than first impressions.

 

[N3ON]

This tactic would work for Tekken or Dead or Alive, since they have a lot of potential choices and a main character isn't really so cut and dry.
But I think we all know this was only done to get people talking about Arms and probably buying it, which has worked a treat for them.

It'd work as far as getting people to talk about them, which I agree might very well have been Nintendo's strategy. But I still think the hype levels would come up short. You really need a series that will hype people on it joining Smash alone, because that's literally all that's being revealed.

So, would Tekken just joining Smash get people really hype? Perhaps, it's a fairly established, successful series. But it joining probably wouldn't surprise that many people. So, y'know, maybe. It wouldn't be the worst series to reveal that way. Dead or Alive I'm not so sure about, because while it fits from a structural basis, I'm not sure many people would actually care that much about the concept of the series joining.

I think it'd be more a cases of, "Dead or Alive? Ok, neat.", rather than people freaking out. Putting aside the "Smash is for good girls and boys", ofc.

Idk it sounded like your post was meant to address people who go "Uh no Terry's reveal wasn't lukewarm so this comparison doesn't work"

Insofar as those people were still comparing the two reveals, sure, but 95% of my post was saying that people shouldn't be comparing them, because one was an actual reveal and one was a half-step. It's apples and oranges.

 

[Animegamingnerd]

If Season 1 taught the Smash community anything, is that there will always be someone will gets angry when a characters get added. For ****s sake, we got characters from critcally acclaim series like Persona and Dragon Quest, Retro iconics like Terry, and long requested characters like Banjo. I have seen all of these characters been called "literal whose" and "waste of a slot"

Its absurd how many people in this fandom expect every single newcomer to be appealing to them.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

If Season 1 taught the Smash community anything, is that there will always be someone will gets angry when a characters get added.

If Season 1 taught the Smash community anything,

taught the Smash community anything,

taught the Smash community anything,

This implies this wasn’t an obvious lesson already. all got their fair share of flack when they were newcomers.

 

[Proceleon]

It'd work as far as getting people to talk about them, which I agree might very well have been Nintendo's strategy. But I still think the hype levels would come up short. You really need a series that will hype people on it joining Smash alone, because that's literally all that's being revealed.

So, would Tekken just joining Smash get people really hype? Perhaps, it's a fairly established, successful series. But it joining probably wouldn't surprise that many people. So, y'know, maybe. It wouldn't be the worst series to reveal that way. Dead or Alive I'm not so sure about, because while it fits from a structural basis, I'm not sure many people would actually care that much about the concept of the series joining.

I think it'd be more a cases of, "Dead or Alive? Ok, neat.", rather than people freaking out. Putting aside the "Smash is for good girls and boys", ofc.


Insofar as those people were still comparing the two reveals, sure, but 95% of my post was saying that people shouldn't be comparing them, because one was an actual reveal and one was a half-step. It's apples and oranges.

I mean from a speculation standpoint, it got people talking, therefore driving more eyes towards the game. The hype isn't really needed because people investigating Arms to figure out who's joining will push up interest and sales. It's really quite a devious move, even by Nintendo standards.

 

[Ben Holt]

This implies this wasn’t an obvious lesson already. all got their fair share of flack when they were newcomers.

Who the **** complained about Cloud?
And I don't mean competitive snobs. I mean people that want characters, not tools for competition.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

I dunno, people calling Terry a Darkhorse just kind of gets me every time. Like, we didn’t see him coming but, granted, that’s our fault for being so narrow minded.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Who the **** complained about Cloud?
And I don't mean competitive snobs. I mean people that want characters, not tools for competition.

Nintendo purists, for one

 

[SmashChu]

Seeing the whole Smash fan base go “What’s an SNK” shocked me.

It would only shock you if you took a time machine from the 90s to today. SNK hasn't been relevant for the better part of a decade. Their bread and butter was fighting games and only lasted up to the mid-90s as the craze died out. Fighting games have been on a decline. Even then, SNK was left behind in the fighting game scene. Companies like Namco, Capcom, and Arc Systems are far and beyond more relevant. The only fighting game claim to fame they've had recently is Samurai Showdown which will probably see massive decline at EVO this year as folks don't care that much anymore. I'm sure a lot of people in this thread don't realize there was another King of Fighters game announced at EVO because no one cares about King of Fighters.

SNK was relevant only for a small amount of time and if you weren't specifically involved in fighting games they you wouldn't know who they are or care. How is it a surprise folks wouldn't know a company who's biggest claim to fame in recent years was one Samurai game and a bunch of re-releases on Switch. I never got this mentality where people would clutch their pearl when someone didn't know who SNK was, as if they committed an egregious sin. Some people can't put things into perspective I guess.

 

[PLATINUM7]

Who the **** complained about Cloud?
And I don't mean competitive snobs. I mean people that want characters, not tools for competition.

Cloud had a bunch of people complaining here because he had little Nintendo presence, or people thought he had none at all. The vocal salt was astounding.

Also I swear, like only 5 people on here had played any Final Fantasy games at the time.

 

[Goombaic]

I dunno, people calling Terry a Darkhorse just kind of gets me every time. Like, we didn’t see him coming but, granted, that’s our fault for being so narrow minded.

That's partly why he's called a darkhorse. No one expected him and there weren't a lot of people advocating for him either.

 

[Guynamednelson]

I never got this mentality where people would clutch their pearl when someone didn't know who SNK was, as if they committed an egregious sin. Some people can't put things into perspective I guess.

They want cult followings to be BTFO by this DLC, while not realizing that just because a character isn't a "Smash bubble" character doesn't mean their game is the most mainstream thing ever.

 

[Dinoman96]

I don't remember anyone complaining about Little Mac when he was announced. I recall him being one of the most anticipated characters prior to his reveal after Punch-Out!! Wii revived the series.

 

[PLATINUM7]

I don't remember anyone complaining about Little Mac when he was announced. I recall him being one of the most anticipated characters prior to his reveal after Punch-Out!! Wii revived the series.

Wasn't there a thread about why Punch-Out!! shouldn't get characters in Smash?

 

[N3ON]

Who the **** complained about Cloud?
And I don't mean competitive snobs. I mean people that want characters, not tools for competition.

A lot of people.

I guess the belief is that the current perspectives and desires people have are static and have always been the case, lest it be challenging to reconcile why some people weren't happy with Cloud. But that would also suggest that people would've always been behind characters like Master Chief, Doom Slayer, Steve, Dante, 2B, etc etc etc. It would be complete revisionism to suggest that the attitude towards third-party was always as laissez-faire as it is now.

What people wanted and valued out of Smash is a shifting process that is informed by what we receive. If we hadn't gotten Cloud and Ryu, the stage wouldn't be set to want/expect characters will more tenuous Nintendo ties. Before Bayo and Joker, people wouldn't have expected guns.

Before Cloud, the belief held by many was that the character needed decently strong ties to Nintendo (let alone not have stronger ties to Playstation), and whoever shook that belief was set to receive some pushback.

And it's easy to cast judgment on what people thought about Smash back then, but keep in mind that what people think now will eventually become outdated and ridiculed, so whatever. It's not really a matter of a past stance being "bad", just antiquated.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Nintendo fan will call Terry "literally who", "not relevant" and "not iconic" but will act like Banjo is the 8th wonder of the world (not trying to hate on Banjo, just pointing out the irony).

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Ironic that despite his series being the inspiration for Smash that Terry was really overlooked.

 

[N3ON]

I dunno, people calling Terry a Darkhorse just kind of gets me every time. Like, we didn’t see him coming but, granted, that’s our fault for being so narrow minded.

If you're going to start anticipating every character around Terry's level, the pool widens to the extent there are so many possible choices the chance of getting any individual one is pretty low, and therefore... they'd still be a dark horse.

I mean, that's sort of what's going on right now, isn't it? Things are quite open-ended, there are a myriad of possible options, but apart from maybe a dozen or so characters (the expectation surrounding the majority of whom stemming seemingly just from Smash popularity or extreme notoriety, which really weren't huge factors last pass), everyone else is seen as possible but maybe not overly likely. Or in other words, a dark horse.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Nintendo fan will call Terry "literally who", "not relevant" and "not iconic" but will act like Banjo is the 8th wonder of the world (not trying to hate on Banjo, just pointing out the irony).

I mean, it’s not as if are anywhere near close to being as iconic as as far as DLC characters go. In comparison, pretty much any hypothetical first party DLC character would come across as less of a “step down” in comparison to the former three. I don’t say this because I hate any of those guys because I don’t, but rather to point out the fallacy of talking about first parties not living up to the hype of the third-party FP characters we got because they’d be “bottom of the barrel”

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

If you're going to start anticipating every character around Terry's level, the pool widens to the extent there are so many possible choices the chance of getting any individual one is pretty low, and therefore... they'd still be a dark horse.

I mean, that's sort of what's going on right now, isn't it? Things are quite open-ended, there are a myriad of possible options, but apart from maybe a dozen or so characters (the expectation surrounding the majority of whom stemming seemingly just from Smash popularity or being a highly notable character, which really weren't huge factors last pass), everyone else is seen as possible but maybe not overly likely. Or in other words, a dark horse.

This is kinda why speculation for Challenger Pack 7's character kinda boils down to "Quick! Who do think it'll be!"
...
...
...
...
*collective shrugging*

"Let's do some forum games!"

 

[Ben Holt]

A lot of people.

I guess the belief is that the current perspectives and desires people have are static and have always been the case, lest it be challenging to reconcile why some people weren't happy with Cloud. But that would also suggest that people would've always been behind characters like Master Chief, Doom Slayer, Steve, Dante, 2B, etc etc etc. It would be complete revisionism to suggest that the attitude towards third-party was always as laissez-faire as it is now.

What people wanted and valued out of Smash is a shifting process that is informed by what we receive. If we hadn't gotten Cloud and Ryu, the stage wouldn't be set to want/expect characters will more tenuous Nintendo ties. Before Bayo and Joker, people wouldn't have expected guns.

Before Cloud, the belief held by many was that the character needed decently strong ties to Nintendo (let alone not have stronger ties to Playstation), and whoever shook that belief was set to receive some pushback.

And it's easy to cast judgment on what people thought about Smash back then, but keep in mind that what people think now will eventually become outdated and ridiculed, so whatever. It's not really a matter of a past stance being "bad", just antiquated.

Maybe I'm in my own bubble, because I nearly **** myself when Cloud was revealed. I always wanted him, but I had always written him off because of his status as a PlayStation character. But when Cloud was revealed for Smash 4, it was October 29th, 2007 all over again. I was once again the 13 year old kid that lost his mind when Sonic was revealed for Brawl.
So in my little bubble, Cloud hate is just about on par with Sonic hate.

 

[Dinoman96]

Nintendo fan will call Terry "literally who", "not relevant" and "not iconic" but will act like Banjo is the 8th wonder of the world (not trying to hate on Banjo, just pointing out the irony).

I mean, it makes sense. Banjo-Kazooie and Rare in general was a big deal to western gamers during the N64 era. SNK never really took off here like it did in other nations like Japan and Latin America. It's all about perspective.

 

[N3ON]

Nintendo fan will call Terry "literally who", "not relevant" and "not iconic" but will act like Banjo is the 8th wonder of the world (not trying to hate on Banjo, just pointing out the irony).

Banjo gets the treatment of a first-party by fans because he used to be one.

If some third-party snatched up any other successful first-party, fans would probably give that inordinate deference too.

Ironic that despite his series being the inspiration for Smash that Terry was really overlooked.

Not really. If Sakurai had said his series was an inspiration for Smash prior to the fact, people probably would've always kept Terry in mind. Probably to a fault.

This is kinda why speculation for Challenger Pack 7's character kinda boils down to "Quick! Who do think it'll be!"
...
...
...
...
*collective shrugging*

"Let's do some forum games!"

Pretty much.

Can't beat yourself up for not anticipating an inclusion that was anything but obvious.

 

[Animegamingnerd]

Who the **** complained about Cloud?
And I don't mean competitive snobs. I mean people that want characters, not tools for competition.

I've had people legit try to argue with me that it should have been Geno instead of Cloud.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Nintendo fan will call Terry "literally who", "not relevant" and "not iconic" but will act like Banjo is the 8th wonder of the world (not trying to hate on Banjo, just pointing out the irony).

It's actually interesting to me how the same people who bashed Banjo for not being the most mainstream thing ever and mainly relevant to 90s kids, and those that bashed Terry for the same things, are two separate groups entirely.

I've had people legit try to argue with me that it should have been Geno instead of Cloud.

Geno fans should instead be thankful that Cloud helped revive support for him.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

I've had people legit try to argue with me that it should have been Geno instead of Cloud.

Speaking of Geno, I remember there was a Geno vs Spongebob debate back in 2015 on this forum.

 

[Animegamingnerd]

It's actually interesting to me how the same people who bashed Banjo for not being the most mainstream thing ever and mainly relevant to 90s kids, and those that bashed Terry for the same things, are two separate groups entirely.

The main people that were bashing Banjo, I notice tended to be kids and teenagers who are Minecraft fans. Like the ones who made the ugly steve character models and spam them everywhere.

Speaking of Geno, I remember there was a Geno vs Spongebob debate back in 2015 on this forum.

I have many questions.

 

[Dark Bagel]

Speaking of Geno, I remember there was a Geno vs Spongebob debate back in 2015 on this forum.

I'm sorry, what

 

[True Blue Warrior]

I'm sorry, what

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Speaking of Geno, I remember there was a Geno vs Spongebob debate back in 2015 on this forum.

If it was a Death Battle, then Spongebob wins. Nothing can stop Toon Force. Nothing.

 

[Dark Bagel]

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

That's not exactly less confusing than what you said before. Can we get some context?

 

[TheCJBrine]

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

This reminds me, Samus and Geno appeared alongside each other as cameos in a Transformers comic.
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Geno

 

[MrElectroG64]

Whelp, I don't know if anyone has said anything about it in this thread, or have heard, but the Soldier from Team Fortress 2's voice actor Rick May just recently died due to the virus. I had a Solly moveset that I had written a good while ago that I had never made into an image, due to favoring a moveset that somehow incorporated all of the mercs in one, so it ended up getting shelved.
Due to the circumstances, I figured this was a good time to finally finish it and sort of dedicate this to Rick May I guess.

Here's a link to it on Flickr, since Smashboards severely scales down images and will make it really hard to read: https://www.flickr.com/photos/184893183@N07/49782684351/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

 

[Proceleon]

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

There was a W.H.A.T.?!?

 

[Icedragonadam]

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

Anyways. I feel that none of the 3rd party characters this volume won't be the huge iconic ones people are predicting. Like Master Chief, Sora, Crash etc. Maybe it has something to do with the even smaller dev team to me, I don't know.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I still stand that Crash might be the only big 3rd party I can see happening. In fact he's my FP7 prediction.

 

[Ben Holt]

Whelp, I don't know if anyone has said anything about it in this thread, or have heard, but the Soldier from Team Fortress 2's voice actor Rick May just recently died due to the virus. I had a Solly moveset that I had written a good while ago that I had never made into an image, due to favoring a moveset that somehow incorporated all of the mercs in one, so it ended up getting shelved.
Due to the circumstances, I figured this was a good time to finally finish it and sort of dedicate this to Rick May I guess.

View attachment 269441

Here's a link to it on Flickr, since Smashboards severely scales down images and will make it really hard to read: https://www.flickr.com/photos/184893183@N07/49782684351/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

The Soldier was my TF2 main, but I severely doubt we're getting any TF2 content, much less Soldier. It also doesn't help that he's a completely over the top American stereotype.
But then again, Street Fighter 2 is National Stereotypes: The Fighting Game.

 

[Garteam]

I'm also on team "We're getting one big third party and that's it". We only got one really big, mainstream character last time and that was Hero, so I assume history is going to repeat itself on this one. Maybe we'll get another big name if Nintendo really wants to go all out.

I'm feeling Crash, with Heihachi as a close second. It could definitely be someone like Master Chief or Dante as well, but I'd put money on one of those two.

 

[MrElectroG64]

The Soldier was my TF2 main, but I severely doubt we're getting any TF2 content, much less Soldier. It also doesn't help that he's a completely over the top American stereotype.
But then again, Street Fighter 2 is National Stereotypes: The Fighting Game.

Oh definitely. The odds of getting a TF2 rep are next to none, but its always been a pipe dream of mine, really just something I made for the fun of it.

 

[Animegamingnerd]

No wait, I actually misremembered. It was a Geno vs Optimus Prime debate.

And stuff like this why Smash fans often get made fun when they react negatively to character reveals.