What are everyone's thoughts on Volume 2 being a mainly 3rd party vs. first party pass now that know that Imran Khan was only making those tweets to hint at Min Min? Do you still think it'll be mainly 1st party? 3:3 equal with 3rd parties, or even 4:2 3rd parties?
I personally think it's a bit too early to call still. I think we're getting at least 2 3rd parties based on a Famitsu column Sakurai wrote. Who they will be? Bias aside, I still think there's a pretty decent chance Dante is in there. While there's no proven connection between Mii Costumes and the parent company receiving a brand new fighter, we still haven't seen Monster Hunter and there's still an opportunity to add other Capcom properties in through Mii Costumes if that is the route they take (Ace Attorney, for example). Dante also has a console exclusive Definitive Edition for Devil May Cry 3, which comes after the infamous interview with Mr. Itsuno that said, "Well, I think Dante should be on a Nintendo console first before he's in Smash, don't you?" Said article was then followed by Dante appearing on Nintendo consoles, and a definitive version as well.
Does it mean he's in? No, but those are nothing but positives for him considering I believe DMC1 Switch was announced around the time decisions for Volume 2 would have been made. I could be wrong, however.
Otherwise, I think it's decently wide open. If we're seeing more 3rd parties, Travis Touchdown has a connection through Suda51 (friends with Sakurai), Crash is always a solid "dream matchup" pick (Mario v Sonic v Crash Bandicoot). 2B would be a mainstream "strike while the iron is hot" pick, similar to Joker in that respect (the thing with meeting Yoko Taro I'm not entirely sold on yet. Obviously they met for the first time at that event, but when in the timeline does the company meeting happen? If 2B is later in the pass, why would Sakurai need to meet with Yoko Taro upon acquisition?).
First parties, I almost feel like are straightforward. Rex and XC2 were considered for base so that could come in handy for selection now, but Nintendo is choosing AND XC2 isn't as relevant. Gen 8 Pokemon...maybe? Pokemon is big enough to be an exception to almost anything, but I think it's still notable that they didn't do a spirit event for Three Houses, and we got Byleth. I do get the argument that certain spirits are arguably fair game for now, but I think we'll have to wait and see for Pokemon. Aside from that...1st parties, or at least the demanded ones, rely a bit on more upgrades. With upgrades, I'm still not convinced we're gonna get some blowout of them.
What do you think?
