Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Cosmic77]

I've played ARMS, and I can safely say that there is no protagonist. The "protagonist" is whoever you choose to play as.

The terms "protagonist" and "mascot" are completely different. Spring Man is definitely not the protagonist of ARMS, but yeah, I would argue that he is indeed the mascot, with Ribbon Girl not far behind. Spring Man is usually the go-to guy whenever Nintendo wants to promote ARMS. He's featured on the game's boxart, he was featured in the game's special animated reveal trailer, and he was ultimately chosen over the other 14 characters when Sakurai needed an ARMS character for his AT idea.

I do think Spring Man has the slight edge, but I'll acknowledge other possibilities where he isn't chosen.

 

[Spongeboob]

But yeah, the whole "it has a straight protagonist" is pretty clearly not the case. It does have straight mascots, but trying to base it solely on a protagonist factor is silly.

How do you know they're straight?

I just wanted to make that joke.

If you're meaning game companies, its more of game franchises.

Cloud's the face of Final Fantasy, Banjo is of his titular series and Hero alongside Erdrick, Solo and Eight are of their titular games.

Yeah, I get that. Cloud is a major gaming icon and possibly the most popular character of the Final Fantasy franchise. Also, yeah. The protagonists listed are the faces of their respective games. But I thought the Moogle was the mascot of the franchise? Isn't Slime the mascot of the Dragon Quest franchise? I also remember Master Chief being the posterboy for XBOX. But again, they might be anecdotal evidence so...

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Yeah, I get that. Cloud is a major gaming icon and possibly the most popular character of the Final Fantasy franchise. But I thought the Moogle was the mascot of the franchise? Isn't Slime the mascot of the Dragon Quest franchise? I also remember Master Chief being the posterboy for XBOX. But again, they might be anecdotal evidence so...

There's also protagonist first alongside mascot first.

Also Banjo wasn't always an Microsoft rep having been once 2nd party with Nintendo.

 

[pupNapoleon]

On a more interesting topic, since Lip is back in the minds of so many--

What are some other magical girl archetypes that you could see as a spotlight character?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Yeah, I get that. Cloud is a major gaming icon and possibly the most popular character of the Final Fantasy franchise. Also, yeah. The protagonists listed are the faces of their respective games. But I thought the Moogle was the mascot of the franchise? Isn't Slime the mascot of the Dragon Quest franchise? I also remember Master Chief being the posterboy for XBOX. But again, they might be anecdotal evidence so...

I can answer this; there's two main types of mascots. Mascots of a franchise and mascots of a specific game. It can vary for the specific game one, and sometimes a game can have more than one mascot for different things. Pokemon has Pikachu as the mascot of the franchise. But you have the Starters and Legendaries(not all Legendaries, but some) who serve as their own kind of mascot.

Basically there's multiple categories. Pichu is the mascot for baby Pokemon, for instance. Plusle & Minun are the mascots for team battles. So you could say there's even a mascot for a specific concept on its own.

 

[Speed Weed]

On a more interesting topic, since Lip is back in the minds of so many--

What are some other magical girl archetypes that you could see as a spotlight character?

wdym wario's already in anymore magical girls would be redundant

 

[ZephyrZ]

Honestly I doubt Nintendo thinks as hard about the protagonist/mascot "rule" as we do. I think they look at it more like "which character from this franchise would make the most sense?", and they usually end up on a mascot or protagonist first as a result.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

On a more interesting topic, since Lip is back in the minds of so many--

What are some other magical girl archetypes that you could see as a spotlight character?

Ribbon Girl kinda looks like a Sailor Moon character...

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Here's a new topic.

I had not seen the copyright data before.

Do you think it means anything?

 

[Cosmic77]

It's an "either or" situation. In most cases, either the mascot is chosen, or one of the franchise's (if there's more than one) protagonists are chosen.

ARMS doesn't have a protagonist, so that leaves the mascots. In order for this fan rule to be broken, I'd argue that the character would need to be someone who isn't Spring Man or Ribbon Girl.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Here's a new topic.

I had not seen the copyright data before.

Do you think it means anything?

Be quite an coincidence. Two fighters announced in June that relies using their ARMS (Get it?).

 

[Deleted member]

Here's a new topic.

I had not seen the copyright data before.

Do you think it means anything?

I've seen the Rayman stuff around Discord.

Overall: I feel It could help out a bit the chances of an Ubisoft rep in general, although not specifically Rayman.

Other possible Ubisoft reps could be Ezio and the Prince from Prince Of Persia.

With that said, I would love to see Rayman in since his games have a lot of awesome stuff for Smash (stage and Mii potential, great music and fun ideas for Spirit Battles).

 

[Michael the Spikester]

It didn't occur to me but what if we get an cinematic reveal trailer that reveals both characters like Kencineroar?

It'd be fitting given said ARMS rep and Rayman relies on their arms.

 

[Garteam]

Are people arguing that a character who is literally named "The Hero" isn't the protagonist of their own game?

 

[TheCJBrine]

It didn't occur to me but what if we get an animated cinematic trailer that reveals both characters like Kencineroar?

It'd be fitting given said ARMS rep and Rayman relies on their arms.

Or, in Rayman’s case...his lack of arms

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Or, in Rayman’s case...his lack of arms

That too.

Regardless they both revolve around those.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Are people arguing that a character who is literally named "The Hero" isn't the protagonist of their own game?

Who argued that?

Protagonist =/= mascot.

 

[Speed Weed]

i'll admit i'm weird about rayman
i love his games, but for whatever reason i don't care much for the prospect of him in smash

 

[Cosmic77]

Imagine this becoming a reality.

An amiibo that's worth every penny of that $15.99 price tag.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Are people arguing that a character who is literally named "The Hero" isn't the protagonist of their own game?

I don't think so?

That said, the character's official name is just Hero. "The" was only part of the presentation cause it makes sense in a sentence. The Hero Draws Near sounds better than Hero Draws Near. They could've just went with A Hero Draws Near for a similar effect. Considering it's 4 Heroes in one, "A" probably would've made more sense in context though. It's close enough either way to get the idea down. Hero is a Class, so either way, it still fits the idea.

Probably the funniest one is them screwing up Banjo-Kazooie. That's the name of the franchise. Banjo & Kazooie is the characters.

 

[Deleted member]

I don't think so?

That said, the character's official name is just Hero. "The" was only part of the presentation cause it makes sense in a sentence. The Hero Draws Near sounds better than Hero Draws Near. They could've just went with A Hero Draws Near for a similar effect. Considering it's 4 Heroes in one, "A" probably would've made more sense in context though.

Nah, using "The" instead of "a" made sense for the surprise factor.

People would expect at first to just be one Hero, just so some minutes later they get taken by surprise with the twist of Three more Heroes being alts.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

When I originally made the argument that we usually get the protagonist/mascot as the first pick, I based that on...every single series that has ever gotten a character.

While I wouldn’t say it’s like this “unbreakable” wall, it’s worth considering the fact that’s it’s a mascot fighter we’re talking about. It’s what Smash is. No matter the series in Smash, we’ve gotten either the mascot (ex: Pikachu) or a protagonist (ex: Marth, Simon, Link, etc...).

What makes the ARMS situation unique is the fact that a series got their “mascot” in as an Assist Trophy before getting a playable character in for the same game. This hasn’t happened before. As someone who used to not really think we’d get “promotions” or upgrades, I’ve found that it may not be as much of a stretch (heh) if we were to get one with Spring Man. After all, Chrom can get Final Smashed by Chrom and then clap for Chrom in Robin’s victory screen.

It comes down to two “rules” or maybe we’d be better calling them “guidelines”. One is that every single series, without exception, in Smash history has started with the mascot/protagonist. The other is that Assist Trophies don’t become playable in the same game.

It’s an interesting conversation, really. Min-Min is arguably the most popular female character, but will that make her the fighter? I’m not so sure. If the aim is the make the fighter show off what ARMS is, then wouldn’t the simplest fighter make sense then? Who’s to say?

I myself get the feeling it’s Spring Man with a potential Ribbon Girl outfit, or it’s a Spring Man/Ribbon Girl/ Min Min/ Ninjara composite. Though, with the composite idea, I can get why folks are against it. Making a composite pick doesn’t allow the moveset to really flesh out what makes each character unique, and making each character seem the same may not be what Nintendo wants to make ARMS look like to consumers.

I do think it’s between Spring Man or Min-Min, but I have to give the edge to Spring Man myself.

 

[Garteam]

Who argued that?

Protagonist =/= mascot.

My bad, misread the original post.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Nah, using "The" instead of "a" made sense for the surprise factor.

People would expect at first to just be one Hero, just so some minutes later they get taken by surprise with the twist of Three more Heroes being alts.

Yeah, that makes sense. Both are still accurate, and I like "A" since it fits the idea of how the Monsters appear, which it's obviously a reference to.

 

[Will]

Yeah, that makes sense. Both are still accurate, and I like "A" since it fits the idea of how the Monsters appear, which it's obviously a reference to.

Plus, it makes for good "I Need a Hero" memes

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Plus, it makes for good "I Need a Hero" memes

Heh, true.

But hey, a Hero named Hero is still great~

 

[pupNapoleon]

When I originally made the argument that we usually get the protagonist/mascot as the first pick, I based that on...every single series that has ever gotten a character.

While I wouldn’t say it’s like this “unbreakable” wall, it’s worth considering the fact that’s it’s a mascot fighter we’re talking about. It’s what Smash is. No matter the series in Smash, we’ve gotten either the mascot (ex: Pikachu) or a protagonist (ex: Marth, Simon, Link, etc...).

What makes the ARMS situation unique is the fact that a series got their “mascot” in as an Assist Trophy before getting a playable character in for the same game. This hasn’t happened before. As someone who used to not really think we’d get “promotions” or upgrades, I’ve found that it may not be as much of a stretch (heh) if we were to get one with Spring Man. After all, Chrom can get Final Smashed by Chrom and then clap for Chrom in Robin’s victory screen.

It comes down to two “rules” or maybe we’d be better calling them “guidelines”. One is that every single series, without exception, in Smash history has started with the mascot/protagonist. The other is that Assist Trophies don’t become playable in the same game.

It’s an interesting conversation, really. Min-Min is arguably the most popular female character, but will that make her the fighter? I’m not so sure. If the aim is the make the fighter show off what ARMS is, then wouldn’t the simplest fighter make sense then? Who’s to say?

I myself get the feeling it’s Spring Man with a potential Ribbon Girl outfit, or it’s a Spring Man/Ribbon Girl/ Min Min/ Ninjara composite. Though, with the composite idea, I can get why folks are against it. Making a composite pick doesn’t allow the moveset to really flesh out what makes each character unique, and making each character seem the same may not be what Nintendo wants to make ARMS look like to consumers.

I do think it’s between Spring Man or Min-Min, but I have to give the edge to Spring Man myself.

I would argue that the most popular character from a game, de facto, is the mascot. Or at least becomes the mascot quite quickly.

 

[GoodGrief741]

On a more interesting topic, since Lip is back in the minds of so many--

What are some other magical girl archetypes that you could see as a spotlight character?

Lip wearing shades.

Dude, I didn't wait years for Panel de Pon to get international recognition to see discussion punted off to other characters. I sees Lip, I talks about Lip.

 

[N3ON]

Getting into semantics about what a protagonist is or what a mascot is is missing the forest for the trees. It's not about labels and terms, since it's not a rigid rule. It's just a precedent that favours the top-billed character, whoever they may be, due to their position at the forefront of their franchise, which is a trait Smash has historically valued above other factors. And therefore the expectation that it will maintain is not inherently infallible, but it is well reasoned.

 

[Ben Holt]

Here's a new topic.

I had not seen the copyright data before.

Do you think it means anything?

In my 100% accurate, completely infallible speculation, Rayman is going to be a Deluxe Mii Brawler costume like Sans and Cuphead are for Gunner.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Imagine this becoming a reality.

View attachment 271960

An amiibo that's worth every penny of that $15.99 price tag.

If the Paper Mario amiibo isn't actually made of real paper then why even bother?

 

[Perkilator]

If the Paper Mario amiibo isn't actually made of real paper then why even bother?

We’d have to make it using the LABO materials if we wanna make it worth the money.

 

[Ben Holt]

If the Paper Mario amiibo isn't actually made of real paper then why even bother?

Can we make it out of hardwood and call it "extra thicc paper"?

 

[Rie Sonomura]

In my 100% accurate, completely infallible speculation, Rayman is going to be a Deluxe Mii Brawler costume like Sans and Cuphead are for Gunner.

what song would it come with? Cuphead and Sans came with songs

 

[Ben Holt]

what song would it come with? Cuphead and Sans came with songs

Probably either the title theme for the first Rayman:

or the first level from Legends:

 

[Gribbo]

Dunno if this has been mentioned before, but if you go to the official website's character section, you'll notice that the slot where the ARMS character will go has a little note on it saying "Coming June 2020". What's interesting about this, you say? It's the color. It's a very ARMS-like yellow. If you look back at older versions of the site (like here on the Wayback Machine), you can see that Hero and Banjo have these same notices, with each corresponding to their character color. Could the yellow be the ARMS character's color? Could this tell us something? I dunno.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Dunno if this has been mentioned before, but if you go to the official website's character section, you'll notice that the slot where the ARMS character will go has a little note on it saying "Coming June 2020". What's interesting about this, you say? It's the color. It's a very ARMS-like yellow. If you look back at older versions of the site (like here on the Wayback Machine), you can see that Hero and Banjo have these same notices, with each corresponding to their character color. Could the yellow be the ARMS character's color? Could this tell us something? I dunno.

Considering yellow is the color of the ARMS logo, I don't think it means much.

That aside, Lola Pop is the only ARMS character who's main color is yellow. I doubt it's her.

Other more realistic options like Ribbon Girl or Min Min have yellow in their design but they're associated with other colors more.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

There's also Mechanica, doubtful its her though.

I think it means nothing really and its being really over think.

 

[Ben Holt]

If it's not Spring Man, I will record myself eating a grilled cheese while wearing a jester's hat.

 

[Perkilator]

If it's not Spring Man, I will record myself eating a grilled cheese while wearing a jester's hat.

Record it on YouTube and post it in the character’s support thread when it becomes a social thread. That’d be HILARIOUS!