We might not get an SNK character at all.
True. I never said we would.
But when I stop to think of gaming icons, like genuine gaming icons still not on the roster, I struggle to think of many, and Mai is one of the few still remaining. I mean, from there we got, what? Doomguy, Master Chief, Ryu Hyabusa... There's not many left, and Doomguy and Chief have a lot standing in their way. Chief already getting bested by Banjo, and Doomguy having heavy violence as his most defining trait. Western characters also fall lower on the rungs than Japanese ones I guess Monster Hunter, Leon, Jill, and Dante also make a case. From the Bamco side, any Tekken character is second to Mai, as she's more iconic than any of them remaining fighting game IP characters, Tales of really isn't that iconic, and no Tales character holds a candle to Mai.
She's not a shoe in by any means, but I think there's a very strong case to be made in her favor, as she's one of the few gaming icons left with a reasonable chance of being in the game.
Sure, you can say it's anecdotal, but your original point was that people unanimously ask for her and love her more than any other SNK character.
I never said that. I said that she was the most popular, and I gave more than enough evidence to back up that fact.
Yes, she is popular in Asia and appears in a lot of region-exclusive games and merch, but that is by no means a lock for Mai.
Yes, and the Asian market is more significant than the western one. Not only are the more consumers, but Japan and Japanese developers are more in tune with the trends and demands over here, than what goes on in the west.
This is what I've been trying to say for the past 5 posts or so. Sure, they could go with her. There's nothing really stopping SNK or Nintendo in that regard. But there's nothing stopping them from picking literally any other popular SNK character either.
I think you're creating a "what if" statement for the sake of having an argument, when the most logical option is that they'd go for the most popular character, doubly so given SNK's propernsity for putting her into other crossover, as well as the ridiculous amount of merch she moves and her status as a major female gaming icon. Once again, the argument I'M making is that you're letting your western bias blind you. Just cause you're not aware of how popular the character is in Asia due to region exclusive games, doesn't mean it doesn't matter, or that it doesn't factor in. Tons of trends are born in Asia, that never make it over to the west. Many of those trends affect what developers decide. Mai's popularity in Asia is a HUGE contributing factor for why she'd be chosen. I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who lives in Asia. I'm offering a new POV to people who don't have access to that side of the coin. People are dismissing that due to their own perception of things, but reality is much different on this side of the world.
Mai is VERY popular, and that popularity is not to be underestimated.
Also, "unless you're asking 10s of thousands of people from all over the world and different groups"? Sounds like a fanrule to dismiss fan polls if you ask me.
It's not a fan rule. It's called a "logical fallacy." The use of anectdotal evidence in place for existing evidence is a logical fallacy and not valid in any debate. Sorry.
"She's too sexy" is a dumb fanrule. You can see where it got us with Bayo. However, "I'd prefer Terry" is not a fanrule. It's personal preference. You're disregarding the opinions of people who would rather see Kyo or Nakoruru or who see Terry as SNK's mascot
because they push him forward a lot as a "dumb fanrule". Do you see why that's a hole in your arguments?
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.. Yes and no. Sure, if you go to SNK-related threads, people talk about Terry and Nakoruru a lot, but in general? The Smash community really sleeps on anything SNK. Look up any predictions. Almost no one predicts Terry or Nakoruru, most people just stick with the more heavily speculated characters right now, like a Resident Evil character or Crash.
Again, you're citing a very small sample. What the Smash community speculates is not indicative of the sorts of characters that make it in. No one predicted:
Cloud, Snake, Pac-Man, Ryu, Bayonetta (actually, I did predict that one, and I got called out just the same as I'm getting called out for Mai rn), Yuusha, Joker, etc... and they're all characters that in hindsignt, make a lot of sense. Mai falls under that same group. Her significance and popularity as a female gaming icon is staggering, it's not something people should overlook due to personal bias.
Sure, it's relatively small for a poll, but we have used other fanpolls just as big as a basis for speculation in the past. It's not hard evidence of anything, and I did not present it as such. My goal by presenting the poll was not to say that Terry is a lock because of that poll's results, but to say that Mai isn't a lock. Do you see the difference?
Have you ever taken a statistics class? Your sample cannot be extrapolated as the data is varied enough to represent all the possible groups. It's meaningless, and offers no meaningful evidence outside of "in this one very small poll, Terry got the most votes." Also, I never said she was a lock in. She is however, the character of choice for either fighting game IP, or a female character. I struggle to think of anyone on either side that are as iconic as Mai. Maybe on the female side, characters like Jill, Lara Croft, or even an off the wall pick like Hatsune Miku, or Reimu from Touhou could take a spot, but these are all characters with ridiculous amount of popularity. That's where Mai stands. Chun Li can't get in cause Ryu and Ken, Samus is already in. Who else is left who holds as much weight? Kasumi is a Mai clone.
It really doesn't matter if it's from a magazine or not - it's a japanese poll with over a thousand votes where three other characters placed above Mai. That alone is proof enough she's not an obvious pick and that SNK has other iconic characters besides her. That's my point, not what you're assuming my point is.
See my statement above. Have you taken a statistics class? This data sample isn't varied enough to be extrapolated. It's meaningless.
I did not disregard her merch at any point. I severely recommend you go back and check my posts. Because you're just assuming I'm saying things without me actually saying the words at any point.
You're giving more weight to things that hold no value over things that hold actual value to confirm your own bias that Terry or Nako are more significant than Mai, when there is significantly more evidence to support the opposite.
) could be loads of fun. I think he's dis-confirmed though. I think the other CAPCOM owned Platinum characters have also gotten a soft dis-conformation.