Some thoughts from me about today's news, and what we may see on Saturday.
1) I am somebody who didn't think they'd add Steve. When I first saw how he looked, I cringed. He was jarring to look at in terms of movement, and the Enderman looked especially creepy with the tiny legs. However, Minecraft is a huge series and fits right in with series like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, and Final Fantasy. I will be joining a Minecraft server with friends to try it out...I've never played it before.
2) With Minecraft now included, this ends the "can they go bigger?" argument. In Brawl, it was Sonic. For Wii U, it was Cloud. For Ultimate, it was the return of Snake and now, Steven Minecraft. This is truly the biggest addition in terms of how much money/cultural impact a series has had, and that's nothing to scoff at. In terms of Smash there's simply no way to be literally "bigger" than Steve.
In terms of fan reaction overall, I think there are still some picks that would especially make folks pop off. Crash Bandicoot is one of them, bringing back the epic rivalry of Mario v Crash v Sonic, console mascots of the 90's. We have Cloud and Link matched up, another epic gaming crossover. Depending on how Nintendo/Sakurai views it, we could also have Dante crossing over to fight Bayonetta, which is something that Kamiya himself has said he wanted to happen, so there's always that too. I'm not saying this because Dante is my most wanted right now, I'm saying it because, frankly, I think the Smash fanbase underestimates just how popular and well known Dante is.
3) Sakurai mentioned today that he was essentially told he was going to add Steve. This tells us that not all characters are an open ended affair; some he is basically told to add, others he may get some flexibility. This seemingly fits...Joker/Persona 5 bring in one of his favorite art styles/UI, Terry Bogard/Fatal Fury bring in a console/series that means a lot to him. Byleth, on the other hand, seems more like a "you're adding from this" sort of pick.
Basically, not to say that we can all argue "You're adding this" for any and all characters. That, I doubt. However, it should at least change how we think about things- 3rd parties can be corporate picks too.
4) The narrative of "1st picks carries the pass" or "tells us the rest of the pass" is dead and gone. There is no "focus" on 1st or 3rd parties. But I will tell you what the storyline is. I've said this before and I'll say it again- new and unique gameplay, as well as, evidently, series/games that bring something inherently new to Smash as a game.
With Minecraft, we've now gotten a specific new game, with a new location for a stage, and a new selection of music, every time. Even if we look at Byleth, it's still from a new game that can provide a thematic character, stage, and set of music. For reference, in terms of this DLC, this is Seven in a row that this has held true. Some characters fit this, some don't.
-
Some may agree with me, some may not. I think we've got great things in store for this pass, and I'm especially interested to see what happens on Saturday. I expect a returning Mii Costume (at least 1, anyway. I don't know who it will be), and a premium costume. But I don't know who the premium will be. Master Chief would honestly be the most insane costume ever, but I don't know that I see it happening.
Either way, while I wasn't real big on Steve, I think it's fitting to be in Smash now and I can't really argue it was a "bad" decision. I just hope I can get used to the visuals.
