Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Guynamednelson]

Had James Bond made the cut in an alternate universe, Goku probably would had been an option as with other non-gaming characters.

It depends on how long it takes to get another. If Bond is the sole exception for years, people would be making the case that he only got in because of how iconic Goldeneye 64 is, and there aren't enough iconic Nintendo games involving non-video-game brands except maybe the Popeye arcade game.

 

[pupNapoleon]

In hind sight, they probably dodged a bullet with not including him. The scope of gaming is already ridiculous. Throwing in all of media as well...I don't even know they exist, and I still pity the devs in the alternate universes in which this is a thing.

That said, I would love a fighting game with just a random assortment of licensed properties.
I'm sure there are many fanmade ones.

 

[7NATOR]

That said, I would love a fighting game with just a random assortment of licensed properties.
I'm sure there are many fanmade ones.

Well until we get a game like that officially, there's always MUGEN!

 

[Ben Holt]

Wow. People are still salty that the main protagonist of Three Houses got picked over the side characters.

But if I really have to spell it out, here's why I picked Marth, Lucina, Ike, Chrom, and Byleth.

: The OG.
: The mandatory Echo Fighter, but see Chrom for side-reasoning.
: The Character that popularized Fire Emblem internationally.
: Awakening supposedly saved the series according to Nintendo. Was also at one point the best selling and most critically acclaimed Fire Emblem game ever.
: The protagonist of the best selling Fire Emblem game of all time.

 

[Lamperouge]

This chat needs some Golden Deers love, ngl.

I can never choose between Golden Deer and Blue Lions for my favorite house; I just love them both so damn much. Claude is definitely the most immediately likeable and charming one out of the house leaders, though.

 

[7NATOR]

Wow. People are still salty that the main protagonist of Three Houses got picked over the side characters.

But if I really have to spell it out, here's why I picked Marth, Lucina, Ike, Chrom, and Byleth.

: The OG.
: The mandatory Echo Fighter, but see Chrom for side-reasoning.
: The Character that popularized Fire Emblem internationally.
: Awakening supposedly saved the series according to Nintendo. Was also at one point the best selling and most critically acclaimed Fire Emblem game ever.
: The protagonist of the best selling Fire Emblem game of all time.

Man looking at this Post really makes me realize how much Blue Hair is such a Reoccurring thing in Fire Emblem

 

[Deleted member]

I can never choose between Golden Deer and Blue Lions for my favorite house; I just love them both so damn much. Claude is definitely the most immediately likeable and charming one out of the house leaders, though.

I completely agree!

 

[Glaciacott]

Wow. People are still salty that the main protagonist of Three Houses got picked over the side characters.

Your comment was about popularity, that's why people are saying dimitri/edelgard since they are far more popular than Byleth. This has nothing to do with salt, just the criteria you established.

 

[Ben Holt]

For the record, I mean no disrespect to Roy. Roy was actually.... *sigh* my boy when I played a Fire Emblem character in Smash until Chrom came around, but it's pretty undeniable that Roy was a shill pick at the time like Corrin.

 

[Opossum]

Wow. People are still salty that the main protagonist of Three Houses got picked over the side characters.

But if I really have to spell it out, here's why I picked Marth, Lucina, Ike, Chrom, and Byleth.

: The OG.
: The mandatory Echo Fighter, but see Chrom for side-reasoning.
: The Character that popularized Fire Emblem internationally.
: Awakening supposedly saved the series according to Nintendo. Was also at one point the best selling and most critically acclaimed Fire Emblem game ever.
: The protagonist of the best selling Fire Emblem game of all time.

Honestly calling the House Leaders "side characters" is proof you didn't play the game.

 

[Megadoomer]

Man looking at this Post really makes me realize how much Blue Hair is such a Reoccurring thing in Fire Emblem

You gotta have blue hair!

 

[Deleted member]

Between Rie Sonomura 's challenge of choosing a character for a trailer themed about the final battle against Galleem and Darkhon and Megadoomer 's James Bond concept I just came up with a really fun and clever idea for a trailer:

The Smash Splash screen appears, and we cut to all the Smash fighters watching from a cliff the fight between Galleem and Darkhon. Together they start running together towards them, for the decisive Battle. However, just as they are close to clash... A missile falls in the middle of the battle and covers everything in smokes.

Spoiler: While the smokes slowly vanish, a familiar figure starts popping out of It... And shouts a legendary scream

Sega Satan Shiro!!!

And just like that, Segata Sanshiro makes a legendary return in the definitive gaming crossover, when the world of trophies needed him most.

A really crazy and unlikely idea, but I found It fun to share.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

aight here's my WoL-adjacent newcomer trailer concepts

Light Realm:

Spoiler: Octoling - "Into The Light"

Title is a reference to the Octo Expansion credits theme, Into The Light.
Assumes Min Min is the ARMS rep (and the first Spirit promotion) and Neku is FP7, making Octoling FP8. Octoling is also the second Spirit promotion (Octoling Girl & Octoling Boy).
cross flash

This music starts playing:

Galeem can be seen in the sky as the camera shifts to underwater as Galeem fades into the distance. The camera keeps descending into the sea until you see an area that looks like the Fake Plastic Station in Deepsea Metro. Four characters controlled by Galeem - Mario, Luigi (who yes I know is canonically controlled by Dharkon in WoL; I'm trying to make this a counterpart to Hero's which had Dharkon controlling peeps normally controlled by Galeem, you'll see why Galeem though soon), Female Corrin (see Luigi and it was technically Male Corrin controlled by Dharkon in canon but I digress) and Female Byleth, patrol the outside of some mysterious building as green ink with a weird sanitizer like texture surrounds the ground ahead of them. (Now you see why I chose Galeem and their aura for this - the light blue represents Sanitization.)

Dialogue boxes appear throughout the trailer, with the mentioned characters' Octo Expansion portraits starting with:

Marina: What kind of place is this...?

Pearl: Yo, that light thingy up there is givin' me reeeeeal bad vibes...

Cap'n Cuttlefish: But we can't get outta here long as those guys are patrollin'.

Just then, a stream of peach-colored ink cuts across the green "sanitizer" ink, followed by a purplish-pink stream.

Cap'n Cuttlefish: WHOA!

Pearl: No way... could that be?

The music stops as two moving ripples form on the streams of ink, before:

"Oonay!"

This music starts playing:

A shot of purplish pink ink shoots from a Charger-type weapon and hits the Galeem-controlled Mario, sending him flying. The remaining "guards" turn their attention to the puddles of ink as two Octolings emerge from the ink: a female purplish-pink haired one with a female leather suit, and a male with peach colored hair and a similar suit, as the song reaches 0:10.

Marina: It's Agent 8!!

Title card shows at 0:12:

Octoling Paints The Town Pink!

Pearl: Excuse YOU, their name's Eight!

Gameplay starts as the song resumes, with various Galeem-controlled characters representing "Sanitized" versions of the Smash characters, even again, ones canonically controlled by Dharkon in WoL proper, like Cloud, Wolf, Lucina and Daisy, and actual canon Galeem-controlled Smashers like Captain Falcon, Ness, Bowser, and at one point Inkling with the yellow Agent 3 alt, a throwback to Hijacked Agent 3. Octolings use a variety of weapons the Inklings don't, like Dualies (which they can also use to dodge), Chargers, Umbrellas, and Splatlings, and their Bomb is a Toxic Mist which slows opponents down instead of the standard Splat Bomb. At one point, some DLC characters NOT controlled by Galeem appear, including the DQ8 Hero (pun on both of them being nicknamed Eight), and Neku. At one point, the Chaos Gold Female Octoling taunts with a Mii Swordfighter wearing Rex's Outfit, Male Byleth, Min Min and the Spring Man AT (Switch fam represent). Other alts are shown: Order Silver (Male), Mayo Pale Yellow (Female), Ketchup Orange-Red (Male), Unicorn Periwinkle (Female), and Narwhal Lavender (Male). (Those are all Splatfest colors in 2, with the exception of the first two which are taken straight from Octo Expansion.) Dialogue continues:

Cap'n Cuttlefish: You got a lotta weapons at yer disposal, kid. Use 'em wisely!

C. Q. Cumber: You're in Smash instead of the Deepsea Metro - test fai--

Pearl: OUTTA HERE, ya slimeball!

When the song gets to 0:25, cut back to CGI briefly as the Octolings get in their Ballers and charge in on the remaining three guards. Back to gameplay, the Octolings' Final Smash is shown - Baller. They can move around and hit opponents a few times before automatically detonating, instantly KOing anyone in point blank range. It can also be detonated early by pressing B. Gameplay resumes until 0:37, with another brief cut back to CGI as a Galeem controlled Agent 3 (Yellow Female Inkling) leaps down from the top of the building.

Marina: Agent 3?! How?!

Pearl: Don't have a seacow, Marina. I'll take it from here!

As the song resumes, gameplay continues as Octoling's stage, MC. Princess Diaries (the Final Fest Shifty Station) is shown, with the ruins of the NILS statue in the distance and Pearl and Marina in a helicopter above. It eventually cuts to Pearl descending from the helicopter with her special ready, and the Octoling getting her to whip out her Princess Cannon to blast a Galeem-controlled Agent 3 to the right with the Chaos ink blast (to the left, it's the Order ink blast).

Pearl: Boo-YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

the dialogue of Boo-YAHHHHHHH lines up with Pearl actually shouting it until the song ends with the fade out at 1:00 and the Smash Ultimate logo appears, stylized in the Octo Expansion's style ("Super Smash Bros" has a synthwave chrome look, and "Ultimate" is a neon pink).

... and there's more!

This starts playing as both Octolings, Min Min, and Neku stand at the cliffs before Galeem attacks, seeing all the Master Hands in the sky ready to take them down, before Galeem appears before them.

Pearl: AYO! We got you!
Off The Hook's helicopter hovers above them and Pearl leaps down in front of the fighters.

Pearl: Vocal chords ready!.... AYO, LIGHT THINGY!

It's pretty much the same as when Pearl uses the Princess Cannon against the NILS Statue in Octo Expansion except it's against Galeem, down to Pearl's BOOYAAAAAAAAH and the fluctuating turf war meters (Galeem's "Bad Guy" bar is a glimmering yellow instead) but when the Bad Guy bar almost completely overpowers the Good Guys bar, the trailer cuts to black and ends, for a suspenseful effect

Final Battle:

Spoiler: Elma - "We're Up Against A Big Target"

Elma is treated as FP9. Previous reveals are Min Min, Neku and Octoling. And you know how Shulk's trailer is titled "Looks like we don't have a choice!" when you're up against a high level UM? Elma says "We're Up Against A Big Target" as a soul voice when fighting a large enemy.
The trailer opens at this part in Uncontrollable, fading in:

Right after the Final Battle area intro FMV with Galeem and Dharkon firing laser beams at each other while Mario, Sonic, Simon, Greninja, Pit et al. look on. It's a direct continuation as Galeem and Dharkon notice the other fighters and start generating Phantom Fighters for each fighter save for Kirby, based on where they're found.

Every time I ask the smallest thing

It doesn't go over well. Some fighters can be seen lying on the ground, like Lucina struggling to get up as her dark clone points its sword at her chest, and Captain Falcon being grabbed by the collar by his light clone. The light and dark clones of Palutena and Bayonetta respectively double team the real ones as you can hear their cries. Shulk murmurs fearfully, "No, not again... Another future I can't change..."

You get mad, or just ignore

Even Joker, Terry, Min Min, Neku and Banjo are having a tough time trying to protect Kirby and pick off the others' phantoms. Octoling Girl calls out to the Luminary to try to take both Galeem and Dharkon on their own and stop all this, only to be stopped by a light clone of the Luminary and a dark clone of Octoling Girl. The real ones look shocked - how were Galeem and Dharkon able to replicate them?!

I don't want to hear (Every time I...)

"Executioner!”

Carefully aimed gunshots in all directions pick off the phantoms that were attacking the distressed fighters, including the clones of Hero and Octo Girl.

How long we've been here (Smallest thing...)

Standing before them is Elma, the BLADE Colonel and leader of the Reclaimers.

There's no chance for fear (You get mad...)

Smiling at them, she tells Hero, Octoling and the others, "You've all done your best, and put a dent in them." Turning to Galeem and Dharkon, she draws her twin swords and announces, "Time to move in and keep the rhythm going!"

Elma Shifts Into Overdrive!


Gameplay is shown where Elma shows off her various moves, all against Galeem and Dharkon created puppet fighters, some on her included stage (Sylvalum, even showing some of the various weather effects). There's even some divergences like puppet fighters with the opposite "alignment" of their bases' canon "alignment" and phantoms of the DLC fighters like Terry (Dark) and Min Min (Light).

Back to FMV as these lyrics play, Elma fights off more phantoms:
...Can we find the key to life?
I don't want to be a part
There's a spaceship we can ride...

"They really did crank up the difficulty this time... But you've had your chance," Elma taunts Galeem and Dharkon, climbing into the Ares 90 Skell close by.

Now it's time to ride....!

Back to gameplay, Elma now has her True Form alt from the end of X, initiating her Final Smash - Ares 90, a cockpit view with Overdrive ("LEGION") enabled, as she unleashes various Skell arts on the opponents, finishing with Aghasura Cannon (idk if I'm spelling that right). Back again to FMV, a cockpit view of Galeem and Dharkon with lock on targeting on them is shown as Elma murmurs, "Locked on."

Let's get started again
Do not tire yourself
We'll get back the life for ourselves today

"I'm putting an end to this!"

Aghasura Cannon is fired at Galeem and Dharkon as they explode in bursts of yellow and purple light.

Let's get started again
Do not scare yourself
We can take this ride for ourselves

The song fades out as the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate logo appears.

("They really did crank up the difficulty this time" is a reference to Elma's Xenoblade 2 appearance where she says, "Only this many though? I should tell them to crank up the difficulty next time")

Speaking of @JDCabrera’s post above, thought I’d re-plug my concepts

 

[Ben Holt]

Your comment was about popularity, that's why people are saying dimitri/edelgard since they are far more popular than Byleth. This has nothing to do with salt, just the criteria you established.

Popularity is subjective. To the core Fire Emblem fans, they may prefer the House Leaders, but among casuals (which is at least 70% of the audience), the default characters are the most popular.

This also applies to Spring Man and Min Min. Min Min may have won the Party Crash, but Spring Man is the most recognizable among casuals.

Honestly calling the House Leaders "side characters" is proof you didn't play the game.

Any character that is not the main character is a side character.

 

[Will]

"Edelgard" this, "Dimitri" that. I knew from the start that Byleth was going to be the choice but I knew deep down the objectively correct choice was Claude.

If Decidueye fans were still salty about not having a dedicated archer, this was their second chance. And he's the best house leader and has best route, that's a win-win.

 

[Opossum]

Popularity is subjective. To the core Fire Emblem fans, they may prefer the House Leaders, but among casuals (which is at least 70% of the audience), the default characters are the most popular.

This also applies to Spring Man and Min Min. Min Min may have won the Party Crash, but Spring Man is the most recognizable among casuals.

No, it's pretty damn objective. Do you know who the three highest scorers on Choose Your Legends 4 were?

Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude. In that order. Female Byleth? Seventh. Male Byleth? Seventeenth.

And combined they barely beat out Marth for fourth.

Byleth is, objectively, significantly less popular than the House Leaders.

 

[Glaciacott]

Popularity is subjective. To the core Fire Emblem fans, they may prefer the House Leaders, but among casuals (which is at least 70% of the audience), the default characters are the most popular.

This also applies to Spring Man and Min Min. Min Min may have won the Party Crash, but Spring Man is the most recognizable among casuals.

No, popularity is based on data. There's a FEH poll on the favorite characters in the series that is fairly followed by everyone in the FE community. That's why we know which characters are most popular.

The party crash bash is a data source for the claim of Min Min being popular, though that one is also affected by metrics such as skill (how many min min players win versus other characters). Besides, for this one you have other metrics like the poll above, the poll in the Arms thread, and devs sharing the most popular characters being used across different patches.

 

[Schnee117]

Ike didn't popularise Fire Emblem internationally. His games are the worst selling entries alongside Thracia.

 

[Idon]

Any character that is not the main character is a side character.

THE THEME SONG OF THE ****ING GAME IS WRITTEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A SO-CALLED "SIDE CHARACTER."

 

[Ben Holt]

Well, I can already tell this conversation's going nowhere.
Byleth's the playable Smash character, and the House Leaders are not.
There's very clear reasoning for that, but people are jumping all over me for stating the obvious.

 

[Deleted member]

Any character that is not the main character is a side character.

Mate the plot wouldn't function without the three lords. The entire game is literally about the THREE HOUSES you lead, and what defines them is the lord who actually runs the story while Byleth just provides backseat perspective. They're the most marketed characters in the game! They're more important than Byleth in every regard.

Well, I can already tell this conversation's going nowhere.
Byleth's the playable Smash character, and the House Leaders are not.
There's very clear reasoning for that, but people are jumping all over me for stating the obvious.

The obvious is that you're making up bull**** for an argument that doesn't need it.

 

[BZL8]

Any character that is not the main character is a side character.

Just because a character isn't a protagonist doesn't mean they are "side characters". Are Bowser and Sephiroth side characters then?

 

[Ben Holt]

THE THEME SONG OF THE ****ING GAME IS WRITTEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A SO-CALLED "SIDE CHARACTER."

Jump Up Super Star.
Pauline's easily a side character.

Just because a character isn't a protagonist doesn't mean they are "side characters". Are Bowser and Sephiroth side characters then?

Yes.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Between Rie Sonomura 's challenge of choosing a character for a trailer themed about the final battle against Galleem and Darkhon and Megadoomer 's James Bond concept I just came up with a really fun and clever idea for a trailer:

The Smash Splash screen appears, and we cut to all the Smash fighters watching from a cliff the fight between Galleem and Darkhon. Together they start running together towards them, for the decisive Battle. However, just as they are close to clash... A missile falls in the middle of the battle and covers everything in smokes.

Spoiler: While the smokes slowly vanish, a familiar figure starts popping out of It... And shouts a legendary scream

Sega Satan Shiro!!!

And just like that, Segata Sanshiro makes a legendary return in the definitive gaming crossover, when the world of trophies needed him most.

A really crazy and unlikely idea, but I found It fun to share.

For some reason, I could also see this working with Captain N. Minus the missile, of course.

 

[Opossum]

Well, I can already tell this conversation's going nowhere.
Byleth's the playable Smash character, and the House Leaders are not.
There's very clear reasoning for that, but people are jumping all over me for stating the obvious.

Don't be daft. You said the bafflingly ill-formed claim of "Byleth is more popular than the House Leaders," and the equally as preposterous "the House Leaders are side characters." You got rightfully called out for it. You proved you didn't know what you were talking about pretty plainly and people corrected you. Instead of playing the victim you could just admit you were wrong, because this is not the hill you wanna die on.

 

[Ben Holt]

Don't be daft. You said the bafflingly ill-formed claim of "Byleth is more popular than the House Leaders," and the equally as preposterous "the House Leaders are side characters." You got rightfully called out for it. You proved you didn't know what you were talking about pretty plainly and people corrected you. Instead of playing the victim you could just admit you were wrong, because this is not the hill you wanna die on.

I'd prefer not to start a flame war. I stand by everything I said. I HAVE played Three Houses, but I wouldn't call Fire Emblem one of my top 10 favorite franchises.
If you're passionate about it, fine. You claim that I'm being refuted, but everything I said is vindicated by the simple fact that Byleth is the playable Smash character from Three Houses.
I'm not a ****ing idiot.
And you are free to come back in June when Spring Man is the ARMS character and ask me how I had such keen foresight.

I could be a smartass too, but again, I'm not about to engage in a flame war.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Between Rie Sonomura 's challenge of choosing a character for a trailer themed about the final battle against Galleem and Darkhon and Megadoomer 's James Bond concept I just came up with a really fun and clever idea for a trailer:

The Smash Splash screen appears, and we cut to all the Smash fighters watching from a cliff the fight between Galleem and Darkhon. Together they start running together towards them, for the decisive Battle. However, just as they are close to clash... A missile falls in the middle of the battle and covers everything in smokes.

Spoiler: While the smokes slowly vanish, a familiar figure starts popping out of It... And shouts a legendary scream

Sega Satan Shiro!!!

And just like that, Segata Sanshiro makes a legendary return in the definitive gaming crossover, when the world of trophies needed him most.

A really crazy and unlikely idea, but I found It fun to share.

This sounds incredible, Sonics appearance in subspace but in a much larger scale.

Bonus:

He lands on the ground in front of the Sega characters and they watch in awe at his magnificence.

 

[Megadoomer]

Well, I can already tell this conversation's going nowhere.
Byleth's the playable Smash character, and the House Leaders are not.
There's very clear reasoning for that, but people are jumping all over me for stating the obvious.

The reasoning could be that Byleth's the player character in Three Houses, or that Byleth's a neutral option - that way, nobody can act as though one storyline is considered more "canon" or "important" than the others. Either way, it certainly wasn't due to his/her popularity.

 

[Lamperouge]

Jump Up Super Star.
Pauline's easily a side character.

Super Mario Odyssey doesn't place an equal focus on its narrative like Three Houses does. One of these so called "side characters" is responsible for many of the events and conflicts that transpire in TH while Byleth doesn't contribute much of anything besides being an onlooker to whatever is currently happening.

 

[Opossum]

I'd prefer not to start a flame war. I stand by everything I said. I HAVE played Three Houses, but I wouldn't call Fire Emblem one of my top 10 favorite franchises.
If you're passionate about it, fine. But you claim that I'm being refuted, but everything I said is vindicated by the simple fact that Byleth is the playable Smash character from Three Houses.
I'm not a ****ing idiot.
And you are free to come back in June when Spring Man is the ARMS character and ask me how I had such keen foresight.

I could be a smartass too, but again, I'm not about to engage in a flame war.

What does being playable in Smash have anything to do with in-series popularity?

 

[BZL8]

Narrative-wise, "side characters" implies that these are characters who have nothing to do with a work's primary storyline. In re Three Houses, the three house lords are not side characters as their character arcs are strongly intertwined and connected with the game's primary storyline.

 

[Will]

Ike didn't popularise Fire Emblem internationally. His games are the worst selling entries alongside Thracia.

You know, this sounds like a perfect time to shill Leif. Give it ten years and an FE4 remake prior, we'll get our my boi that never got in 64/Melee.

Did I mention I ****ing love Thracia 776?

 

[Super Devon]

Spoiler: FE Three Houses spoilers.... I think

Byleth is considered the main character obviously, but the houses leaders play a major role in the game's plot, it'd be a bit silly to just call them "side characters"

 

[Deleted member]

I'd prefer not to start a flame war. I stand by everything I said. I HAVE played Three Houses, but I wouldn't call Fire Emblem one of my top 10 favorite franchises.
If you're passionate about it, fine. You claim that I'm being refuted, but everything I said is vindicated by the simple fact that Byleth is the playable Smash character from Three Houses.
I'm not a ****ing idiot.
And you are free to come back in June when Spring Man is the ARMS character and ask me how I had such keen foresight.

I could be a smartass too, but again, I'm not about to engage in a flame war.

Guess Robin's the main character of Awakening and Chrom was just a side character by your logic. GTFO with this inability to actually define storytelling on the basis of Smash Bros character selections of all things.

I'm not a ****ing idiot.

If you made a good argument, I'd believe you.

 

[Deleted member]

Jump Up Super Star.
Pauline's easily a side character.


Yes.

Ok, I need to come into this as a Pauline fan.

No. You are freaking wrong.

Jump Up Super Star may be one of Odyssey's most popular songs, but It technically isn't the main theme

This, is the main theme.


And comparing the simple plot of a Mario game with a game with a heavier plot such as Fire Emblem Three Houses is just wrong.

 

[Ben Holt]

What does being playable in Smash have anything to do with in-series popularity?

I'm referring to general popularity, not only the core base.
I've been in core fanbases before.
I admit that this is completely anecdotal, but I was once in a group determining the favorite Mario character, and do you know who won the popularity contest?
Yoshi.
But in the big real world, Mario is 1,000 times more popular than Yoshi.

 

[Will]

The reasoning could be that Byleth's the player character in Three Houses, or that Byleth's a neutral option - that way, nobody can act as though one storyline is considered more "canon" or "important" than the others. Either way, it certainly wasn't due to his/her popularity.

I've been preaching the same thing months before Byleth was even revealed

That's why I side with Byleth. He/she leads any of the four paths you choose and it's the most neutral, non-favored selection choice. I'm a Golden Deer boy myself and I understand that favoritism will get me nowhere. Corrin doesn't make reference to the specific path chosen in the Fates line, so I imagine Byleth fills the same gap by not advertising one route as the true route because holy Sakurai included that specific character from that specific route.

And at the end of the day they aren't gonna accept that as a real reason.

Spoiler: FE Three Houses spoilers.... I think

Byleth is considered the main character obviously, but the houses leaders play a major role in the game's plot, it'd be a bit silly to just call them "side characters"

That's hardly a spoiler. Hell, that's not even a spoiler, that's just common knowledge.

 

[Opossum]

I'm referring to general popularity, not only the core base.
I've been in core fanbases before.
I admit that this is completely anecdotal, but I was once in a group determining the favorite Mario character, and do you know who won the popularity contest?
Yoshi.
But in the big real world, Mario is 1,000 times more popular than Yoshi.

And we've provided countless pieces of "real world" evidence contradicting what you've claimed and you haven't provided any to back up your point. So I'll ask again. Where is your proof that Byleth is more popular than the House Leaders?

 

[Glaciacott]

I'm referring to general popularity, not only the core base.
I've been in core fanbases before.
I admit that this is completely anecdotal, but I was once in a group determining the favorite Mario character, and do you know who won the popularity contest?
Yoshi.
But in the big real world, Mario is 1,000 times more popular than Yoshi.

How are you measuring this general popularity? If polls only represent core popularity, are you claiming that you know the will and likes of the general, casual crowd that doesn't engage with content online and is normally a silent majority?

Because I don't buy for a second that anyone can really know what that group will go for outside of sheer sales numbers and play data. And I strongly doubt this is evidence you have. It ultimately sounds like you're claiming objective data isn't correct because 80% of the player base didn't participate in it, but somehow you know what those players care about.

 

[Deleted member]

I'm referring to general popularity, not only the core base.
I've been in core fanbases before.
I admit that this is completely anecdotal, but I was once in a group determining the favorite Mario character, and do you know who won the popularity contest?
Yoshi.
But in the big real world, Mario is 1,000 times more popular than Yoshi.

This is like saying Mickey Mouse is the most popular Disney character because everybody knows him despite probably never watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon. General knowledge does not equate to "He's my favorite."