I had this on my mind a bit: I think ATs and Spirits are looked at too strictly when it comes to whether characters can get in or not.
Personally I think it doesn’t matter at all. The DLC was being planned and stuff sometime after Ultimate’s basegame was finished, and we already have cases of characters taking on multiple roles. Would it be weird if the AT showed up while the fighter was on stage? Sure, but they could just have the AT be disabled when the fighter is chosen, like Toon Link on Spirit Tracks becoming Alfonso when you play as Toon Link. Or do what other games do, if they don’t just do the same thing.
Really, I think the only reason why we didn’t get any AT promotions in Smash 4 was because other characters were prioritized; meaning, even if the AT characters weren’t ATs, they wouldn’t have been added anyway. We didn’t get any in Pass 1 because it was planned alongside part of the basegame’s development as well as the priority reason (plus I believe ARMS just helps strengthen this line of thinking since they could’ve put it in Pass 1 but no).
Could the same happen here? Of course, I’m not arguing against that, but it feels a bit too simplified and not very thoughtful or whatever (not exactly sure what words to use here) to say AT and Spirit characters can’t get in because “they’re already an AT and/or a Spirit.”
I think some users can be too cocky, but it’s not much different from how some conversations go in this thread to be honest. I do think people should have more of an open mind, though. I remember a few dudes being assuming of you and being rude, though, and that was very much unneeded.
Otherwise I think the Geno thread gets too much crap. Sometimes people can be overly defensive in there when a new dude comes in asking “why Geno?” I guess (tbh I don’t remember many cases of this, maybe one or two at most), though usually they’ll happily answer and only get mad when the person starts seeming rude or keep asking the same question over and over as if the answers they got, explaining exactly why people like Geno, weren’t enough, while seeming to word things rudely themselves.
Yes, people should ignore trolls, but it’s sometimes hard to resist even if you’re aware of that...and it doesn’t help that plenty of rude people have come in there before so personally I don’t really blame anyone in there for being on-edge (except in the case of being rude to someone for not talking about Geno much I guess, like how you were since I don’t recall you being rude to anyone, and it tends to be off-topic a lot anyway but still related to Geno’s chances and stuff mostly) even if I do think they should be calm about things. The “on-edge” people are just a few of them though and they still don’t deserve to be treated as a laughing stock or cult or whatever bullcrap people have come up.
Geno has had fans before Brawl, and iirc Sakurai didn’t say anything about Geno until Smash 4. He said he wanted him in Brawl in that same column. People like Geno because they genuinely like him, not because Sakurai said something about him and now they have to push for him. Sakurai’s comments did give people more hope and make them more confident in Ultimate speculation, but they genuinely want him. Not much different from Phil Spencer giving Banjo-Kazooie fans more hope and enough faith to feel it worthwhile speaking up and campaigning.
There are other Mario characters people including Geno fans would like as well, but still. SMRPG has also become better known nowadays even if it’s still not near as big as other Mario games.
Also, he does legally belong to the Mario series, he just isn’t owned by Nintendo due to weird rights stuff; but he’s still exclusive to the series, even in Smash where he and Mallow have the mushroom icon. He’s not just a standard side-character, either, being a party member and important to the plot.
Regarding Zelda stuff, a lot of people just want a new, unique Zelda character as a fighter, not caring about the series’ representation elsewhere when it comes to fighters. Most of these people also each want a specific character or multiple; for me, I’d really like Skull Kid and Midna.
