Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[I.D.]

I meant more along the lines of he's said things about FE, sword-fighters, and "big" series that people here more than elsewhere don't take kindly to.

Out of curiosity, which statement in particular are you referring to with this?

 

[TheBeastHimself]

I think he only have chance if Nintendo is planning something with the Earthbound franchise for the Switch, which I highly doubt but I guess it's not impossible. For now I'd say he has 0% chances, but if there's a Earthbound remake or something in the work it might change.

Unless Mother 3 finally materializes to everyone outside of Japan, the chances of a character like Porky, realistically speaking, are pretty low.

 

[7NATOR]

Unpopular Opinion, but I don't think we're getting more than 1 Fighter that's Focused heavily on their Sword

I don't think We'll get Lloyd, Dante (without his Sub-Weapons), and Travis in the Same pass for Instance, or Rex, Travis, and Dante. I think the Pass is gonna be more diverse in terms of how people Fight. Yes

 

[Megadoomer]

My ideal pass is pretty much the same as it ever was.

-Min Min
-Geno
-Dante
-Doomguy
-Elma
-Rayman

In terms of a realistic prediction, I have no idea. Taking my best guess (in no particular order)...

-Min Min
-Geno (much like with Banjo-Kazooie, I figure that high and consistent fan demand will play a large part in this)
-Rayman (Ubisoft made a full-on crossover with Mario)
-Ryu Hayabusa (an NES legacy character, and Koei-Tecmo helped make Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
-Sol Badguy (Kunio's inclusion as a spirit stands out, since Arc System Works doesn't have any other content in the game)

For the last one, I'm torn. On one hand, Namco-Bandai is loooooooong overdue for another character. On the other hand, there are a ton of potential Capcom characters with a lot of demand behind them. (Phoenix Wright, Dante, Monster Hunter, Amaterasu...) On a weird third mutant hand, I figure there's going to be a blatant promotional pick for Nintendo in there, unless Min Min already counts. (the guessing game surrounding her got more people talking about ARMS than the game itself did) On a fourth hand (we're now getting into Goro from Mortal Kombat territory), they're already working with Microsoft, and it seems like a major missed opportunity to not include someone like Master Chief or Steve from Minecraft in there.

I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume that they don't want to overdo it with Capcom characters, and that Min Min is the closest that we'll get to a promotional pick. In that case, I'll go with Master Chief. Namco-Bandai seems hesitant to include their own characters in Smash for whatever reason (modesty? Not wanting to seem biased? Either way, we should have gotten a Tekken character by now), and Master Chief seems like a good pick to throw into the middle of the pass to get people excited. (I doubt he'd end off the pass; Smash rarely seems to end the announcements with the biggest character)

TL;DR:

Ideal pass:

Prediction pass:

Travis Touchdown barely missed out on both lists. I probably could have included Crash in the prediction list, but I'm not sure how close Nintendo and Activision are aside from making the Skylander/Amiibo hybrids years back.

 

[SNEKeater]

I know nothing about Lyn and I wonder, what's so special about her? With her design she just look like a regular sword fighter, and her assist doesn't really sell me about how she can be unique. Is she just popular because her game is good or there's something that would make her stand out?

Well. Her game is good, and as people already told you, it was the first Fire Emblem game to be localized outside of Japan, so for a lot of people Lyn was the first protagonist for western fans.
Gameplay wise, she could use a bow but I doubt Sakurai would give her one because she only gains that when she's promoted. She would probably use the sword and nothing more.

But she isn't really a swordfighter in the vein of Marth or Roy. She's more like a samurai to put it in a way. I always imagined her being able to crit (she usually has decent chances to crit in her game). She would be like an assassin, if you get what I mean. I also picture her being a lightweight character, very fast, but with a high damage. She wouldn't need many strikes to take down a regular fighter.
Maybe I didn't explain very well, Sakurai would probably figure out a better way to represent her, but I'm totally convinced she could bring something new for FE sword users, honestly.

She has very cool crit animations, which could totally work as a Final Smash or as an inspiration for some of her specials.

I have no idea who Estelle is though.

She's the protagonist of the Trails in the Sky trilogy.

 

[Miles of SmashWiki]

Well, how about another Level-5 rep? I could see them adding Jibanyan to try and make Yo-kai Watch popular again (though I hear it's still somewhat popular in Japan, just not as much as before).

Didn't we already get our Level-5 rep?

 

[I.D.]

Gameplay wise, she could use a bow but I doubt Sakurai would give her one because she only gains that when she's promoted. She would probably use the sword and nothing more.

Sakurai gave Byleth the weapons of the other Lords because he thought "sword... that also extends" wasn't enough of a catch for the 8th fire emblem character

 

[7NATOR]

Can't Lyn also Clone herself because she's that fast?

 

[SNEKeater]

Sakurai gave Byleth the weapons of the other Lords because he thought "sword... that also extends" wasn't enough of a catch for the 8th fire emblem character

Well, you have a point there.
I'd say that a whip sword is enough to make a full moveset tho. I kinda wanted Byleth's moveset to focus only on that, even if I like the one we got.

 

[SuperSceptile15]

Nintendo’s own “mega” franchises like

Compared to Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon, Donkey Kong being a "mega" franchise is debatable imo. If we were still in the 90s I'd definitely agree with you, but the most recent DK games haven't sold as well as ones from those other franchises. I'd say even Fire Emblem is more financially relevant at the moment thanks to the gacha game. DK is definitely well-known and iconic to many people though, especially the arcade games. Maybe that's what you were referring to when you called DK a "mega" franchise?

 

[SharkLord]

Sakurai gave Byleth the weapons of the other Lords because he thought "sword... that also extends" wasn't enough of a catch for the 8th fire emblem character

Yeah, but those were the main weapons of the game, and a major change in Three Houses was everyone being able to use every weapon. Lyn is only associated with Sol Katti and Mani Katti, and the bow is rarely ever mentioned.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

Man now that I really think about it, Porky doesn't fit any of the typical standards to get in as a DLC character:

• Some form of relevancy (;;;;;)
• A large fan following (;;;)
• A promotional pick (;)

It kinda sucks, but Porky's best choice was the base roster. Technically, he doesn't even appear in Ultimate at all, and for being one of the primary antagonists of the Mother series, it's a bit odd; he wasn't a returning boss from Brawl, and he also doesn't have a spirit (unless you the Absolutely Safe Capsule, which I don't because that's a bit of a cop-out.)

I really think just from the fact that he's bound to his spider-mech, he could be a fresh new take on the character roster. His physics, abilities, and overall aesthetic would be vastly different from anyone else on the roster. I also believe he would spark the interest in more people to try out the Mother series because he isn't a PK Fire spamming boy, and, arguably, he's one of the more badass and intimidating Nintendo villains.

Mother 3 leaving Japan is a controversial subject itself, but if that ever happened, Porky could also help introduce the series to new fans. I feel like that'd be his best shot at getting in, as DLC at least. It'd just be so awesome to run around a stage as this:

And before anyone even says what they're thinking:

 

[I.D.]

I'd say that a whip sword is enough to make a full moveset tho. I kinda wanted Byleth's moveset to focus only on that, even if I like the one we got.

Sakurai stated that one of their goals for DLC fighters was to make them unique and stand out from the rest of the roster as much as possible (understandable, since people have to pay for these). A full moveset made of "sword but also whip sometimes" may be enough for a base game character but compared to the other DLC characters it most likely wouldn't be.

 

[SharkLord]

Sakurai stated that one of their goals for DLC fighters was to make them unique and stand out from the rest of the roster as much as possible (understandable, since people have to pay for these). A full moveset made of "sword but also whip sometimes" may be enough for a base game character but compared to the other DLC characters it most likely wouldn't be.

There's also the fact that Lyn is a lot more visually distinct from most other Lords compared to Byleth, and that might have pushed Sakurai to try and emphasize Byleth's differences. That, and we hadn't gotten the full weapon triangle before then, so that's another reason to give Byleth all the weapons.

 

[Deleted member]

Let me get in on this dream pass action:

Spoiler

 

[SuperSceptile15]

Man now that I really think about it, Porky doesn't fit any of the typical standards to get in as a DLC character:

• Some form of relevancy (;;;;;)
• A large fan following (;;;)
• A promotional pick (;)

It kinda sucks, but Porky's best choice was the base roster. Technically, he doesn't even appear in Ultimate at all, and for being one of the primary antagonists of the Mother series, it's a bit odd; he wasn't a returning boss from Brawl, and he also doesn't have a spirit (unless you the Absolutely Safe Capsule, which I don't because that's a bit of a cop-out.)

I really think just from the fact that he's bound to his spider-mech, he could be a fresh new take on the character roster. His physics, abilities, and overall aesthetic would be vastly different from anyone else on the roster. I also believe he would spark the interest in more people to try out the Mother series because he isn't a PK Fire spamming boy, and, arguably, he's one of the more badass and intimidating Nintendo villains.

Mother 3 leaving Japan is a controversial subject itself, but if that ever happened, Porky could also help introduce the series to new fans. I feel like that'd be his best shot at getting in, as DLC at least. It'd just be so awesome to run around a stage as this:

And before anyone even says what they're thinking:

I can understand wanting the main villain of the Mother series after getting other characters like K. Rool and Ridley, but I feel like Mother already has plenty of representation in Smash considering it hasn't been an active franchise since 2006. I wouldn't be upset if he got in, but there are many other characters I'd rather see first.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

I can understand wanting the main villain of the Mother series after getting other characters like K. Rool and Ridley, but I feel like Mother already has plenty of representation in Smash considering it hasn't been an active franchise since 2006. I wouldn't be upset if he got in, but there are many other characters I'd rather see first.

That's completely fair. I've gone on record to say that there is already an abundance of Mother content in Smash (which still makes me question why some Mother fans in certain corners of the internet demand more.) I just think he'd be an awesome choice personally, but if he never got in, I really wouldn't care. As long as Lucas is in the game, I'm good.......

But I do have a dreaded feeling that Lucas is gonna get cut from Smash 6 for being low priority. I don't think that boy ever achieved the level of "Smash staple," he's always been kinda there, alone in the corner, with a few hundred people playing him at best.

 

[SpectreJordan]

Oh boy! Dream passes again!

Just replace Spencer with Min Min for accuracy...

View attachment 283040

This would be pretty cool. I’d replace Kunio & Riki with Haggar though. That means there’d be 3 Capcom characters but they have the best library in gaming so it’s justified lmao

Compared to Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon, Donkey Kong being a "mega" franchise is debatable imo. If we were still in the 90s I'd definitely agree with you, but the most recent DK games haven't sold as well as ones from those other franchises. I'd say even Fire Emblem is more financially relevant at the moment thanks to the gacha game. DK is definitely well-known and iconic to many people though, especially the arcade games. Maybe that's what you were referring to when you called DK a "mega" franchise?

I was largely using series sales numbers as a main source of reference. The DK series is at a hefty 59 million.

As for recent DK games, there’s only been 2 in the last decade. DKC Returns is at an impressive 8 million between the Wii & 3DS versions. Tropical Freeze is at 4.5 million between Wii U & Switch.

It’s sort of puzzling why Nintendo doesn’t push the series that much anymore since it still does really good numbers. I imagine an entirely new DKC game for Switch would do similar numbers to Returns.

 

[I.D.]

I've said it before but it's hard to envision a promotional character from a game the public doesn't even know exists yet, over half a year later since they put season 2 on sale. So even if in the Direct next week Nintendo announces a Mother collection or Golden Sun HD or whatever for Switch, I wouldn't jump headfirst into thinking characters from those are likely.
HOWEVER, looking at it from another side, you could say that since those would be ports of old games, the characters technically already existed in the public consciousness even before their games were announced, lessening the need for time for the hypothetical games to settle in. But at the same time Smash historically doesn't seem to have given a lot of attention to promoting remakes, remasters, etc.

 

[GoodGrief741]

Time for me to dunk on other people's perfectly fine passes due to my picky-ass tastes.

Rate my pass:

76. Min Min
77. Sora
78. Crash Bandicoot
79. Euden
80. Cinderace
81. Sakura Shinguji

I'd buy it when Sora's announced, feel vindicated when Crash arrives, but by the end I think I might regret buying it. I'll rate it a 6/10.

We ratin' Passes

-Min Min
-Crash
-Estelle
-Sakura (Amamiya and Shinguji as a Hero type deal)
-Saber
-Sora

Am I too hopeful? yes 100%

EDIT:

I have a more realistic pack here as well

-Crash
-Phoenix/Dante
-Sakura/Saber/Estelle
-Euden/Inteleon
-Ryza/Yuri Lowell

I wouldn't buy either Pass, I only like Crash, Sora, Phoenix, and Dante out of those (Euden I kinda dig, depends on the day honestly)

76 Min Min (ARMS)
77 Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
78 Karate Joe (Rhythm Heaven)
79 Steve (Minecraft)
80 Elma (Xenoblade Chronicles X)
81 Farmer (Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons)

Aight, how are my tastes?


As for my overall predictions:

76 Min Min (ARMS)
77 Dante (Devil May Cry
78 Anges (Bravely Default)
79 Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
80 Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)
81 Demi-Fiend (Shin Megami Tensei)

Ooooh, why'd you have to put Steve in there? Aside from that, these are both 10/10 passes for me. Great taste mostly

Dream Pass:
Master Chief
Jill Valentine
Dante
Crash
2B

A bit more realistic:
Dante
Yuri
Urbosa & the Champions
Master Chief
Rex & Pyra

How would Urbosa and the Champions work as one character?

Would be okay with either Pass though. 10/10 for the Dream Pass and 7/10 for the other one.

We're rating passes now, eh? Guess I'll throw my hat in the ring. This is mainly based on realistic expectations, but listing everyone I could see happening would take forever, so I narrowed it down based on personal bias and aiming for roster diversity. I also threw in a couple darkhorses, so my choices wouldn't end up being too predictable.

• 76 - Min Min
• 77 - Crash Bandicoot
• 78 - Isaac
• 79 - Reimu Hakurei
• 80 - Prince of Persia
• 81 - Lloyd Irving

The end result, I feel is pretty well-balanced. Two first-parties, two Japanese third-parties, and two Western third-parties.

10/10 taste right here

Alright, here's a more realistic pass:

76. Min Min
77. Crash Bandicoot
78. Bandana Dee
79. Chosen Undead
80. Cinderace
81. Sora

Honestly I feel this is slightly less realistic than your other pass, but it's a better one imo. 7/10.

Well then, since everyone else is doing it:

Dream Pass

Min Min (ARMS)
Crash (Crash Bandicoot)
Bandana Dee (Kirby)
Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong Country)
Rayman (Rayman)
Wild Card (aka someone like Dante, Travis, Master Chief, Rex, etc)

Theoretical Pass

Min Min (ARMS)
Geno (Super Mario RPG)
Travis (No More Heroes)
Crash (Crash Bandicoot)
Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear)

10/10 for both.

My dream pass would be:
-Min Min
-Monster Hunter
-SMT Protag (either Demi Fiend or SMTV protag)
-Spyro
-Amaterasu
-Reimu

Odd selection, but I dig it. Maybe like a 9/10.

76. Min Min
77. Phoenix Wright
78. Elma
79. Reimu
80. Sylux
81. Crono

Here's a hypothetical. Thoughts?

Sylux is kind of the odd duck there, don't dislike him but... Sticks out. Still, Phoenix and Crono? That makes up for Sylux and 10/10.

I know I'm late to the party but
rate this pass:
76:Min-Min.
77:Crash Bandicoot.
78:Lloyd Irving.
79:Reimu Hakurei.
80:Scorpion.
81:Rex.

10/10 my man

Dream passes, huh?

View attachment 283041

Yuri kinda brings this down for me because I'm a Lloyd man myself, but aside from that this feels kinda like the perfect realistic pass.

Predictions almost feel like a fool's errand, but this is the most reasonable guess I can make based on the balance of fan requests vs marketability with DLC.

77) Crash Bandicoot
78) LLoyd Irving
79) Gen 8 Pokemon
80) Travis Touchdown
81) Geno

One more Western company, an obvious first/second party pick to tie into a major series, and some popular contemporary characters. The last one is essentially the least likely, but this has been a game for fulfilling big time requests and it feels like the kind of thing Sakurai and/or Nintendo might feel inclined to do.

As far as preferred characters:

77) Dr. Eggman
78) Amaterasu
79) Bomberman
80) Dixie Kong
81) Terra Branford

Both passes get a "this is amazing" from me, 8/10 for the realistic one and 10/10 for your personal picks.

Spoiler: Long list of rating your character passes

Ryu Hayabusa = Good (1)
Rizer & Bean = Good (1)
Arthur = Good (1)
Kunio & Riki = Meh (0)
Metal Slug = Meh (0)

3/10 Pass for me



Lloyd Irving = Meh (0)
Rex & Pyra = Meh (0)
Crash Bandicoot = Great (2)
Travis Touchdown = Great (2)
Geno = Great (2)

6/10 Pass for me



Crash Bandicoot = Great (2)
Lloyd Irving = Meh (0)
Reimu Hakurei = Meh (0)
Scorpion = Great (2)
Rex & Pyra = Meh (0)

4/10 Pass for me



Yuri Lowell = Meh (0)
Sora = Good (1)
Chun-Li = Good (1)
Dixie Kong = Meh (0)
Phoenix Wright = Good (1)

3/10 Pass for me



Piranha Plant = Meh (0)
Jill Valentine = Okayish (0.5)
Hero = Okayish (0.5)
Banjo & Kazooie = Excellent (3)
Euden = Meh (0)
Terry Bogard = Good (1)
Byleth = Meh (0)
Min Min = Meh (0)
Crash Bandicoot = Great (2)
Bandana Dee = Good (1)
Sakura Shinguji = Meh (0)
Cinderace = Meh (0)
Sora = Good (1)

10/26 Fighters pack for me



If you say so

Lloyd Irving = Meh (0)
Phoenix Wright = Good (1)
2B = Meh (0)
Estelle Bright = Meh (0)
Travis Touchdown = Great (2)

3/10 Pass for me



Your dreams
Dr. Eggman = Good (1)
Amaterasu = Good (1)
Bomberman = Good (1)
Dixie Kong = Meh (0)
Terra Branford = Meh (0)

3/10 Pass for me

Your predictions
Crash Bandicoot = Great (2)
Lloyd Irving = Meh (0)
Gen 8 (Cinderace) = Meh (0)
Travis Touchdown = Great (2)
Geno = Great (2)

6/10 Pass for me

Alright, I guess you can all judge my pass now that I've crapped on everyone else's.

View attachment 283055

I wouldn't even be mad if Cortez got in, even though TimeSplitters is nowhere near the caliber of franchises that should get in, my personal nostalgia + your constant memeing about it would make it impossible to complain. I wanna give an 8/10 but I know in my heart it'd be a 10/10.

We doing predictions/semi-realistic passes?

Well then:

• CP7: Dante (Devil May Cry)
• CP8: Ahri (League of Legends)
• CP9: Rex & Pyra (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
• CP10: Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)
• CP11: Steve (Minecraft)

Dante, R&P and Hayabusa are perfect picks, Ahri is okay but not for me, and Steve at the last minute would be the worst thing you could do to me.

And if you want me to make a Pass to slap back at me, too bad. I don't know who's getting in, and I don't make lists of my most wanteds.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

I've said it before but it's hard to envision a promotional character from a game the public doesn't even know exists yet, over half a year later since they put season 2 on sale. So even if in the Direct next week Nintendo announces a Mother collection or Golden Sun HD or whatever for Switch, I wouldn't jump headfirst into thinking characters from those are likely.
HOWEVER, looking at it from another side, you could say that since those would be ports of old games, the characters technically already existed in the public consciousness even before their games were announced, lessening the need for time for the hypothetical games to settle in. But at the same time Smash historically doesn't seem to have given a lot of attention to promoting remakes, remasters, etc.

UNLESS, here me out,

We live in the alternate timeline where a new mainline Golden Sun and Mother game are announced.

I'm not exactly sure on the current status of Golden Sun, but at least for Mother, Shigesato Itoi made it clear he's done making new games in the series, but he wants to leave the door open for someone else to step up if they choose to do so.

Now let's say a developer at Nintendo comes up with a more innovative and modern interpretation of the Mother series in the brand new "Mother 4," not a remake, remaster, port, or any of that nonsense; brand new content. That would have to make the Mother series at least slightly more likely to get a new character, right?

But at the end of the day, the chances of that happening are 0.000000000000001%. The last Mother game was in 2006. If someone wanted to step up, or if Nintendo thought the series was still marketable, a new game under a new development team would have already happened by now. If Nintendo just wants to keep the series as a trilogy and as Shigesato Itoi's crazy game experiment, that's one thing, and a respectable move nonetheless. But if that isn't the case, they're probably sleeping on Mother the way they sleep on F-Zero.

What was that Miyamoto quote about F-Zero again? "No new games because we got no innovative ideas for the series," something along those lines. I always thought that quote was funny because they're game developers, their job is to literally come up with innovative ideas for their IP. But it also comes down to IP's marketability, and that's something Miyamoto did not touch upon.

 

[PeridotGX]

I found some discord shenanigans that let me get my rosters posted. The first one is my wishlist, the second is my prediction

which one would you prefer (The wishlist was made pre-ARMS, so if a character needs to go, it'd be Kamek)

 

[Miles of SmashWiki]

Odd selection, but I dig it. Maybe like a 9/10.

Sylux is kind of the odd duck there, don't dislike him but... Sticks out. Still, Phoenix and Crono? That makes up for Sylux and 10/10.

Hey, nobody's batting an eye at "they're gonna do Urshifu/whoever to promote Pokemon SwSh". Just figured I'd point out another very plausible promotional-type pick they could do. They've been teasing Sylux as a big deal to Metroid Prime 4 for over a decade at this point, and I am assuming it'll either be out or close to it by the end of the Fighters Pass.

 

[3BitSaurus]

Dante, R&P and Hayabusa are perfect picks, Ahri is okay but not for me, and Steve at the last minute would be the worst thing you could do to me.

To be fair, I did say it was my prediction, not my wishlist. Ahri is the only one in there that I actively want. I'm fine with the rest, but they're not really for me.

I found some discord shenanigans that let me get my rosters posted. The first one is my wishlist, the second is my prediction

which one would you prefer (The wishlist was made pre-ARMS, so if a character needs to go, it'd be Kamek)

Let's see... right off the bat you have a LoL rep in the second one, so it gets points for that. I'm fine with either BWD or Waluigi, but second one also has Rex, so I think it's also better in terms of first party choices.

Both have a new Pokémon, and although I'm biased toward a Gen III mon, I could tolerate a Gen VIII one if the rest of the Pass was good. So it's a tie there.

Finally, I'm neutral on Steve and Maxwell, but the first one has X (despite being a Mega Man fan and liking the X games more than OG, even, I'd rather get another Capcom franchise than double-dip again) and Frisk, who I actively don't want.

So overall, I think I'd choose the second Pass. Seems more solid to me all around and I get one pick off my wishlist.

 

[SpectreJordan]

Time for me to dunk on other people's perfectly fine passes due to my picky-ass tastes.


I'd buy it when Sora's announced, feel vindicated when Crash arrives, but by the end I think I might regret buying it. I'll rate it a 6/10.

I wouldn't buy either Pass, I only like Crash, Sora, Phoenix, and Dante out of those (Euden I kinda dig, depends on the day honestly)

Ooooh, why'd you have to put Steve in there? Aside from that, these are both 10/10 passes for me. Great taste mostly

How would Urbosa and the Champions work as one character?

Would be okay with either Pass though. 10/10 for the Dream Pass and 7/10 for the other one.

10/10 taste right here

Honestly I feel this is slightly less realistic than your other pass, but it's a better one imo. 7/10.

10/10 for both.

Odd selection, but I dig it. Maybe like a 9/10.

Sylux is kind of the odd duck there, don't dislike him but... Sticks out. Still, Phoenix and Crono? That makes up for Sylux and 10/10.

10/10 my man

Yuri kinda brings this down for me because I'm a Lloyd man myself, but aside from that this feels kinda like the perfect realistic pass.

Both passes get a "this is amazing" from me, 8/10 for the realistic one and 10/10 for your personal picks.

I wouldn't even be mad if Cortez got in, even though TimeSplitters is nowhere near the caliber of franchises that should get in, my personal nostalgia + your constant memeing about it would make it impossible to complain. I wanna give an 8/10 but I know in my heart it'd be a 10/10.

Dante, R&P and Hayabusa are perfect picks, Ahri is okay but not for me, and Steve at the last minute would be the worst thing you could do to me.

And if you want me to make a Pass to slap back at me, too bad. I don't know who's getting in, and I don't make lists of my most wanteds.

I imagine Urbosa & The Champions would function similar to Captain Commando in the Marvel vs Capcom series. Urbosa would be the character you control & her jabs/tilts are all hers. But the other Champions would come in for the special moves & maybe even the Smashes.

 

[SharkLord]

I found some discord shenanigans that let me get my rosters posted. The first one is my wishlist, the second is my prediction

which one would you prefer (The wishlist was made pre-ARMS, so if a character needs to go, it'd be Kamek)

• Bandana Dee gets an instant like from me
• Steve? and Maxwell aren't characters I actively support, but I have some pretty big nostalgia value from them and would be quite pleased if they got in.
• X would be a pretty interesting underdog, even if I'd prefer Zero. No complaints here.
• An LoL rep would be interesting because A: Nobody really considers them outside of here, to my knowledge, and B: The internet would go up in flames if it happened, in ways both good and bad. I kinda want this to happen, if only to see how everyone would react.
• Everyone else is neutral.

So basically, I'd prefer a mix.

My ideal pass is pretty much the same as it ever was.

-Min Min
-Geno
-Dante
-Doomguy
-Elma
-Rayman

In terms of a realistic prediction, I have no idea. Taking my best guess (in no particular order)...

-Min Min
-Geno (much like with Banjo-Kazooie, I figure that high and consistent fan demand will play a large part in this)
-Rayman (Ubisoft made a full-on crossover with Mario)
-Ryu Hayabusa (an NES legacy character, and Koei-Tecmo helped make Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
-Sol Badguy (Kunio's inclusion as a spirit stands out, since Arc System Works doesn't have any other content in the game)

For the last one, I'm torn. On one hand, Namco-Bandai is loooooooong overdue for another character. On the other hand, there are a ton of potential Capcom characters with a lot of demand behind them. (Phoenix Wright, Dante, Monster Hunter, Amaterasu...) On a weird third mutant hand, I figure there's going to be a blatant promotional pick for Nintendo in there, unless Min Min already counts. (the guessing game surrounding her got more people talking about ARMS than the game itself did) On a fourth hand (we're now getting into Goro from Mortal Kombat territory), they're already working with Microsoft, and it seems like a major missed opportunity to not include someone like Master Chief or Steve from Minecraft in there.

I'm going to err on the side of caution and assume that they don't want to overdo it with Capcom characters, and that Min Min is the closest that we'll get to a promotional pick. In that case, I'll go with Master Chief. Namco-Bandai seems hesitant to include their own characters in Smash for whatever reason (modesty? Not wanting to seem biased? Either way, we should have gotten a Tekken character by now), and Master Chief seems like a good pick to throw into the middle of the pass to get people excited. (I doubt he'd end off the pass; Smash rarely seems to end the announcements with the biggest character)

TL;DR:

Ideal pass:

Prediction pass:

Travis Touchdown barely missed out on both lists. I probably could have included Crash in the prediction list, but I'm not sure how close Nintendo and Activision are aside from making the Skylander/Amiibo hybrids years back.

Funnily enough, I'd actually kinda prefer the prediction, though I do still like Dante and Doomguy. Rayman and Elma are neutral, not really sold on Geno.

 

[Blankiturayman]

Bit late to the party, but I wanted to share my "dream" pass:
76: Min Min
77: Geno
78: Rayman
79: Reimu Hakurei
80: KOS-MOS
81: Bomberman
Of course... in reality I don't think some of these are that likely, but hey, it's the "dream" one anyways. There's a lot of characters I'd like, but these are at the top.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

try this on for size:
76: Min Min
77: Neku Sakuraba
78: Octoling
79: Elma
80: Crash Bandicoot
81: KOS-MOS OR Black Shadow

 

[Perkilator]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Sentata was at it again earlier today.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Mother 3 leaving Japan is a controversial subject itself...

Nah, we all agree that it should be localized. We just also agree that it's a localization nightmare, and Nintendo probably doesn't want to touch that.

Sakurai stated that one of their goals for DLC fighters was to make them unique and stand out from the rest of the roster as much as possible (understandable, since people have to pay for these). A full moveset made of "sword but also whip sometimes" may be enough for a base game character but compared to the other DLC characters it most likely wouldn't be.

He's also proficient in brawling and light magic on top of his Divine Pulse ability and position as tactician (and three major characters for him to lead). There's definitely ways they could have given more focus to Byleth's personal abilities and still make him stand out. Heck, some sort of management mechanic for the three house leaders would already set him apart from everyone else since now he's got an abnormal win condition like the other DLC characters that aren't Banjo & Kazooie.

EDIT: I do see where they were going with the moveset they went with, and I don't think it's bad, it's just not what I would have done.

 

[SharkLord]

He's also proficient in brawling and light magic on top of his Divine Pulse ability and position as tactician (and three major characters for him to lead). There's definitely ways they could have given more focus to Byleth's personal abilities and still make him stand out. Heck, some sort of management mechanic for the three house leaders would already set him apart from everyone else since now he's got an abnormal win condition like the other DLC characters that aren't Banjo & Kazooie.

On one hand, yes, Bylleth has more than enough to work with on their own. On the other hand, Sakurai may have wanted to go for something more visually distinct, since a sword-punch-magic combo might not stand out from the other FE reps, even if the sword doubles as a whip half the time.

Or maybe Sakurai just really liked the concept of someone who uses the entire weapon triangle.

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

On the other hand, Sakurai may have wanted to go for something more visually distinct, since a sword-punch-magic combo might not stand out from the other FE reps, even if the sword doubles as a whip half the time.

Why not? The only other magic wielding Fire Emblem character is Robin, and Faith/Light Magic is both the only type that he doesn't use and quite a distinct type of magic on its own, Byleth's brand of brawling would be more akin to Mario than any of the swordfighters (espeically since it's usually limited to a punch -> kick -> slash combo), depending on how Divine Pulse is implemented, it could be one of the most unique abilities in the game, and anything involving summoning units with the danger of getting them killed and unusable for the rest of the stock would set him apart from everyone really.

Or maybe Sakurai just really liked the concept of someone who uses the entire weapon triangle.

And that could also be, though I suspect it's more that the most common criticism of Fire Emblem fighters is that they all have swords so he wanted to try and address that with Byleth by making his moveset about knowing when to use which weapons.

 

[I.D.]

There is a problem where there are too many swordsmen in Smash. So there I considered bringing in tactics only for that fighter, and from the intention brought in by the original game’s theme, I thought to adopt the 3 Hero Relics owned by the 3 house leaders into move input directions. I am also devising so that – for example – even with the same bow, they would have a largely different way of using it from Link or Pit.

Sakurai: "I felt like Byleth didn't have enough to work with on his own."
Smashboards: "No! Byleth has enough to work with on his own! Like... making him like a pokemon trainer and have him lead other characters!"

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Annnnnnnd back to Byleth

Yaaaaaaaaaaay

 

[7NATOR]

Sakurai: "I felt like Byleth didn't have enough to work with on his own."
Smashboards: "No! Byleth has enough to work with on his own! Like... making him like a pokemon trainer and have him lead other characters!"

That's why I feel we not going to get more than 1 Character that's Heavily focused on their Sword. If Sakurai straight up said himself there are too many Swordfighters, I can't see Rex, Travis, and Lloyd in the Same Pass for example

on the note of calling characters though, Thinking about it I've seen that idea not just for Byleth, but also for Paper Mario, Crono, Wonder Red, Hell even Geno with Mallow. I also think Rex would work well with that idea too. It seems though the team just doesn't want to do that sort of thing for some reason though

 

[SharkLord]

Sakurai: "I felt like Byleth didn't have enough to work with on his own."
Smashboards: "No! Byleth has enough to work with on his own! Like... making him like a pokemon trainer and have him lead other characters!"

Yeah, what I was saying. I don't doubt that Byleth could have a unique moveset, but visually, they're pretty close to Marth and Ike. Sakurai wanted to try and make them stand out a bit, I believe.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

Sentata was at it again earlier today.

How reliable and accurate is he?

 

[SMAASH! Puppy]

Sakurai: "I felt like Byleth didn't have enough to work with on his own."
Smashboards: "No! Byleth has enough to work with on his own! Like... making him like a pokemon trainer and have him lead other characters!"

First of all, that's not what Sakurai's implying here.
Second of all, I'm not suggesting that he be like the Pokémon Trainer (i.e. not a character), and I brought up other mechanics he could take advantage of as well.

 

[I.D.]

If Sakurai was just a user on the site there are more than a few opinions you guys would roast him for, lol.

QED

 

[Perkilator]

How reliable and accurate is he?

Don't know, never heard of him. Can we PLEASE wait before shutting him out?