Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[Deleted member]

You know I’ve actually seen people here discussing Ryu Hayabusa less and less. He used to be a top contender in many ppl’s eyes alongside Doom Slayer.

What happened?

I think that was mostly due to "leaks". People weren't really talking about him much beforehand (unlike Doom Slayer), and once the leaks faded away, people again basically left the topic.

Even with those leaks being debunked, Ryu Hayabusa was still the least talked about character when compared to Erdrick (the character whose name had already been a part of leaks beforehand), Steve (the character that a lot of people suspected would be in Smash and questioned how he'd work), and Doom Slayer (the character that made a lot of people wonder how he'd fit in Smash without the excessive violence).

A reason to why he probably isn't talked about so much has to do with recency. Doom Slayer's name gets brought up quite often for Ultimate since DOOM 2016 exists and got ported to the Switch, and while I haven't been around to see DLC speculation around Smash 4, I suspect Doomguy was way less talked about around that time than compared to now. When you look at Ninja Gaiden, it hasn't had a new game in years, and the most recent news about the series was the modern trilogy (NGB, NG2, and NG3:RE) being backwards compatible for the Xbox One (and we all know Switch ports makes people think a character might be in Smash).

 

[perfectchaos83]

I didn't touch on it because it's not enough to otherwise effect the rating or change the perception (I bet most people don't even know it's there).

A keychain ring isn't nearly over-the-top enough to make that gun somehow unrealistic. Especially when you contrast its realism with how out-there so much of Smash is. Like, if you added a keychain ring to Doom Slayer's shotgun, it's still going to receive the treatment of a normal shotgun.

A couple of pixels on Palutena's stockings would have effected the rating of Smash Wii U in Japan. It's why Palutena had a model used in the Japanese version and a different one used internationally. If that is enough to change the rating, then I can imagine a key ring being enough to portray the gun as a toy.

 

[DarthEnderX]

You know I’ve actually seen people here discussing Ryu Hayabusa less and less. He used to be a top contender in many ppl’s eyes alongside Doom Slayer.

What happened?

Folks probably just get tired of repeating the same thing over and over.

 

[TheCJBrine]

Guns in Smash are weird.

They look like guns.

They act like guns.

The people rating the game may as well count them as guns.

Then we have Snake’s explosive weapons; explosions are brutal, but they’re not counted much in these sorts of games since they don’t cause brutal injury in ‘em, I guess.

As long as there’s no blood and a character just takes some damage, I don’t see why it’s a big deal.

 

[Idon]

Have you people never heard of "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck..."

It's a realistic looking gun with minute detailing, has the sound effect of an actual ballistic bullet being shot, and muzzle flashes clearly implying a shot bullet. The fact that a barely noticeable key ring that can only be seen when paused, zoomed up on, and pointed out, doesn't suddenly make it not a realistic looking gun.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

And yet you fail to touch upon the keychain ring on the gun. It's a detail that was added specifically for Smash and is not a detail that exists at all in Persona 5. It obviously must have been added for a reason.

Uhh, that's a Lanyard Loop... they're on MULTIPLE real life firearms...

Joker's gun in this game is so damn realistic it hurts.

 

[N3ON]

A couple of pixels on Palutena's stockings would have effected the rating of Smash Wii U in Japan. It's why Palutena had a model used in the Japanese version and a different one used internationally. If that is enough to change the rating, then I can imagine a key ring being enough to portray the gun as a toy.

I guess we've found the solution to Doom Slayer bringing a shotgun, assault rifle, and chainsaw into battle!

 

[cmbsfm]

And yet you fail to touch upon the keychain ring on the gun. It's a detail that was added specifically for Smash and is not a detail that exists at all in Persona 5. It obviously must have been added for a reason.

You can’t seriously be arguing this right now. It looks and acts like a real gun. To anyone who hasn’t played Persona 5, it’s a gun. There isn’t any mention of it being a fake gun at all, so how the hell would the common player know? Just because of a keychain ring that you can barely see?

 

[Ozzy_SSB]

And yet you fail to touch upon the keychain ring on the gun. It's a detail that was added specifically for Smash and is not a detail that exists at all in Persona 5. It obviously must have been added for a reason.

Actually, the real-life firearm Joker's gun is based on (the Tokarev TT-33) features that exact same "key ring":

It was a missing detail in Persona 5 that was added by the Smash team themselves. Not only does this speak for Sakurai's sheer attention to detail, it's also pretty telling that Smash got away with making Joker's gun MORE realistic despite supposed rating issues.
Let this sink in: Joker in Smash uses an exact replica of a real-life firearm that you can go out and buy for yourself right now.

Doom's sci-fi weapons don't sound too bad now, do they?

 

[YoshiandToad]

It's a long story, but the answer is "because it's DLC, not the base roster."

A character like Andy/Sami/Chibi Robo/Bandana Dee/Karate Joe etc. is the type of character that makes more sense on the base roster. Sure if you had them as DLC they would bring excitement for some people, and they would still sell to those people, or people who want a complete roster. But it's an undeniably smaller audience they'd be selling to, and an undeniably smaller base of people who would be enthusiastic about those characters.

The way Smash typically works, is that it mixes in popular characters that people really want, with niche characters that people didn't know they wanted. That way, people are reeled in by the bigger names to buy the entire product, and then in doing so find some new surprises and learn to enjoy characters they'd never considered before. So for example, you come for Mario and Link, you stay for Ness and Ice Climbers.

But with DLC it just doesn't work like that. Each DLC character is being sold individually. They have to reel in customers themselves, without bigger characters to do it for them.

Whilst I understand this argument it's slightly undermined by the fact many people already bought the Fighter's Pass blindly and even more people who haven't yet have admitted to eventually buying every fighter regardless of whom it is just for the 'full roster'. As you said, people want a complete roster.

Corrin was recieved very poorly. People still bought him.
Bayonetta was met with mixed reactions amongst the fanbase. People still bought her.
People who missed the registration for Piranha Plant are still more than likely going to pick him up.

"Everyone is Here" is the tagline for Ultimate and a combination of OCD, fear of missing out on the fun and just the general obsession with collecting everything, that we've seen Pokemon make it's name on, is an overwhelming desire for most people.

You could have Magikarp and a Moblin as the last two fighters and a large chunk of the fanbase would still buy it for that full roster. Hell, most people probably already have thanks to the pass.

 

[DarthEnderX]

It's a realistic looking gun with minute detailing, has the sound effect of an actual ballistic bullet being shot, and muzzle flashes clearly implying a shot bullet. The fact that a barely noticeable key ring that can only be seen when paused, zoomed up on, and pointed out, doesn't suddenly make it not a realistic looking gun.

You can argue how realistic it is all day, it doesn't change the fact that it is not a real gun.

You can argue that nobody that hasn't played P5 would know it's not a real gun. Still doesn't change the fact that it's not a real gun.

You can’t seriously be arguing this right now. It looks and acts like a real gun. To anyone who hasn’t played Persona 5, it’s a gun. There isn’t any mention of it being a fake gun at all, so how the hell would the common player know?

The player's ignorance doesn't change the reality of a thing.

 

[perfectchaos83]

Fine, allow me to revise my argument. Sakurai has, on two separate occasions, said guns were off limits. I think it is no coincidence that the only character that "breaks" that rule is the very same character that doesn't use an actual real gun and instead uses replicas/toys.

Doom's sci-fi weapons don't sound too bad now, do they?

There's plenty of reasons why I don't think Doom Guy's gonna be in Smash, his weaponry is not one of those reasons.

 

[ze9]

Ceci n'est pas une pistolet.

 

[DrifloonEmpire]

There's plenty of reasons why I don't think Doom Guy's gonna be in Smash, his weaponry is not one of those reasons.

Little to no presence in Japan either. While he appreciates John Carmack as a developer he likely doesn't see Doom fit for Smash. For quite awhile Doom Slayer's been ripples to waves.

 

[tenworldsguy]

A character like Andy/Sami/Chibi Robo/Bandana Dee/Karate Joe etc. is the type of character that makes more sense on the base roster. Sure if you had them as DLC they would bring excitement for some people, and they would still sell to those people, or people who want a complete roster. But it's an undeniably smaller audience they'd be selling to, and an undeniably smaller base of people who would be enthusiastic about those characters.

The way Smash typically works, is that it mixes in popular characters that people really want, with niche characters that people didn't know they wanted. That way, people are reeled in by the bigger names to buy the entire product, and then in doing so find some new surprises and learn to enjoy characters they'd never considered before. So for example, you come for Mario and Link, you stay for Ness and Ice Climbers.

Spoiler: bad argument

As a Sami/Andy supporter I admit that unless they have made a remake a couple years ago those two would probably be "who"-s to the majority of smash fans. But on the flip note, characters like Ness or the FE swordies were made popular as characters as well as their host series, because of their inclusion in smash. The reason FE7 onwards (excluding that one remake that wasn't) was translated and localized was partially because of American interest (led in by Smash), and the reason that Mother 3's lack of translation has become such a widely-known thing among the gaming community is because Smash brought the Mother series into the american eye.

Let's suppose for a moment Isabelle wasn't base roster but DLC, and Villager was never added. Would people still buy her in spite of being an "underwhelming addition"? She is usually regarded as one of the more underwhelming base roster additions of Ult, if echoes are ignored. I argue that yes, she'd sell well, in spite of being a member of a "lesser" Nintendo series. People would probably want to see more of AC in Smash, and any recently released or soon to be (that new one for the switch, in this case) would explode in sales. Even if she's a low-teir and a literal who to the smash community (I know she's not but let's pretend), that interest will lead many to buy her. Do you suppose Joker was only purchased by diehard smash fans or persona fans?

Tl, dr: Adding a "who" character as DLC will sell just as well as any other DLC, if designed as an actual character. Corrin was purchased by casual non-FE fans as common (if not moreso) as diehard Fates fans because she was fun and unique, not because she was from a series that was super popular. Joker was a "who" before but now every smash player knows Persona and Joker. If a character is made as important as DLC, people are gonna be attracted to them and buy them.

 

[3BitSaurus]

I must say, I'm a bit confused by Kasumi's sudden spike in popularity. Is it just because of those "female fighting game character" rumors?

Personally, I don't see many reasons for her being picked over Hayabusa if we get a Tecmo character. On fighting game franchises, I really don't see DoA being a priority. Even if we're talking about female characters in general, I'd say Jill is the safest bet for now.

So... is there any particular reason why she suddenly became more likely? Or is it just the "leaks"?

 

[SKX31]

Little to no presence in Japan either. While he appreciates John Carmack as a developer he likely doesn't see Doom fit for Smash. For quite awhile Doom Slayer's been ripples to waves.

It's a major negative unless someone like him (or someone else very much niche / obscure in Japan, like Tracer) gets in. Introducing Japanese people to other characters can be actually a good thing - I mean, a lot of people here got their first exposure to Earthbound via Smash.

But to reemphasize my point, a character that's a fan request pick in one region might not be (completely) so in another. Hero's a really good example of that. Also, one only has to look at neighboring South Korea with their "PC Bang" ("PC room", aka. Internet café) legacy, which is where games like StarCraft, LoL and Overwatch found some really fertile ground. Also, South Korea is Tekken country. And guess what else is Tekken country? Pakistan. No, really. A Tekken character (like Heihachi) could easily be a fan pick in not just Japan, but also places like South Korea and Pakistan. An Overwatch character (like Tracer) would not be a fan pick in Japan, but absolutely would be in South Korea. Other examples abound depending on where you look.

The main point is something that goes often unstated, but video games as a medium has become incredibly global the last 10-15 years or so. Sure it's fractured, but it's always been fractured between categories - even back in the NES days when the box labels were categorized. And as the video game industry gets more global, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo and Sakurai agree on a character who's niche or obscure in Japan. Because it is an important character and a fan pick somewhere. Doom Guy would absolutely be a fan pick in the West, based on how people have responded favorably to his possible inclusion.

 

[Nquoid]

I must say, I'm a bit confused by Kasumi's sudden spike in popularity. Is it just because of those "female fighting game character" rumors?

Personally, I don't see many reasons for her being piked over Hayabusa if we get a Tecmo character. On fighting game franchises, I really don't see DoA being a priority. Even if we're talking about female characters in general, I'd say Jill is the safest bet for now.

So... is there any particular reason why she suddenly became more likely? Or is it just the "leaks"?

As with any character, sometimes it feels like if it gets mentioned enough it becomes more ingrained as possible to people. I could name names, but there are certainly some characters in speculation at the moment that only seem to hang around out of sheer force of will from their fan base (which is not a bad thing at all!)

 

[3BitSaurus]

As with any character, sometimes it feels like if it gets mentioned enough it becomes more ingrained as possible to people. I could name names, but there are certainly some characters in speculation at the moment that only seem to hang around out of sheer force of will from their fan base (which is not a bad thing at all!)

Yeah, I agree. It's not like we haven't had rumors making people realize they didn't know they wanted character A or B. It happens, and that's good, because it keeps speculation fresh, at least. I'm mostly just curious, really, because even back when these rumors first appeared, Kasumi didn't take off like this, so I wonder if there is something else to this change...

I know the DoA director mentioned her when talking about characters he'd like to see in Smash, but I don't know if that means much.

 

[Strong-Arm]

Yeah, I agree. It's not like we haven't had rumors making people realize they didn't know they wanted character A or B. It happens, and that's good, because it keeps speculation fresh, at least. I'm mostly just curious, really, because even back when these rumors first appeared, Kasumi didn't take off like this, so I wonder if there is something else to this change...

I know the DoA director mentioned her when talking about characters he'd like to see in Smash, but I don't know if that means much.

Part of it might be process of elimination maybe. Were running out of realistic characters and shes one of the very few possible female characters that could get in so i guess it makes sense. Shes also a good choice for the weeb crowd.

 

[cmbsfm]

Fine, allow me to revise my argument. Sakurai has, on two separate occasions, said guns were off limits. I think it is no coincidence that the only character that "breaks" that rule is the very same character that doesn't use an actual real gun and instead uses replicas/toys.



There's plenty of reasons why I don't think Doom Guy's gonna be in Smash, his weaponry is not one of those reasons.

“One of the first things they say in overseas ratings reviews is “no guns”

So it seems he only doesn’t add guns because of the ESRB. So it seems all you need to do get past it is just tell them it’s a fake gun, right? It can have all the characteristics of a real gun, but if it’s fake in lore, then the ESRB is totally cool with it, right?

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

Eh, sometimes it seems like folks in the Smash fanbase are too focused on what can’t happen. Then our choices become extremely limited.

If we kept out expectations limited, we’d have never guess Cloud, Ryu, Snake, Joker, or others! Oh wait...if it were up to quite a number of Smash fans, we’d have never gotten those characters in the first place because of rules!

If you ask me, Joker broke the “fan rule” about guns, just like several other characters broke the rules. Adding Resident Evil, Tracer, or DOOM isn’t going to suddenly not happen because, “Only one character uses guns!”. They may not get in, but I’d argue it’s irrelevant to the reasons why. It’s not what you use, but how you use it.

I just think the Smash fanbase in particular rejects plenty of awesome ideas in favor of sales, relationship to Nintendo, or made up rules. Since Wii U, I went from being a part of that to now caring far more about gameplay. That’s why I think folks should be open to Tracer: she’d be way different than folks give her credit for.

At least we had a broken up discussion from the same old thing 30x per day.

 

[YoshiandToad]

I must say, I'm a bit confused by Kasumi's sudden spike in popularity. Is it just because of those "female fighting game character" rumors?

Personally, I don't see many reasons for her being piked over Hayabusa if we get a Tecmo character. On fighting game franchises, I really don't see DoA being a priority. Even if we're talking about female characters in general, I'd say Jill is the safest bet for now.

So... is there any particular reason why she suddenly became more likely? Or is it just the "leaks"?

Tbf to Kasumi she's appeared in most of KT's various game franchises and as a result is seen as a bit of a mascot character for the company. Apart from Dead or Alive, she's also a monster in their Monster Rancher series, appeared in Ninja Gaiden and appeared in the Musou games which are a big chunk of Koei Tecmo's IPs.

She's as much of their mascot as Ryu Hayabusa is at this point.

 

[Ozzy_SSB]

Sakurai has, on two separate occasions, said guns were off limits.

Take a look at this quote from the first interview you linked:

things like knives, automatic weapons, and realistic guns were off-limits.
things like knives

Well pack it up boys, Joker can't happen because Sakurai said knives are too realistic to be included in Smash.
Oh wait.

There he is, wielding not only a knife but a realistic gun as well. A realistic looking gun that sounds and functions like one too - for all intents and purposes, especially as far as the ESRB is concerned, it is a real gun, canon be damned. If canon had mattered, Joker wouldn't be wearing his thief attire in the real world anyway.

Remember, Sakurai has said before that characters like Villager and Ridley weren't feasible additions. Things change, and taking 13 year old interviews as fact won't do us any good in this chapter of Smash speculation. Practically every fan rule has been blown away, and characters that were seen as jokes in the past are right here as part of our massive roster.
Rather than trying to keep ancient fan rules alive through ridiculous justifications (the same happened with Bayonetta and her "magical" guns), we need to accept our current reality:
The post-Joker world of almost endless possibilities.

 

[YezenIRl]

Whilst I understand this argument it's slightly undermined by the fact many people already bought the Fighter's Pass blindly and even more people who haven't yet have admitted to eventually buying every fighter regardless of whom it is just for the 'full roster'. As you said, people want a complete roster.

Some people. Definitely not everyone. Not as many as Nintend wants.

Corrin was recieved very poorly. People still bought him.
Bayonetta was met with mixed reactions amongst the fanbase. People still bought her.
People who missed the registration for Piranha Plant are still more than likely going to pick him up.

Again. Some people. Not as many as Nintendo can get.

You could have Magikarp and a Moblin as the last two fighters and a large chunk of the fanbase would still buy it for that full roster. Hell, most people probably already have thanks to the pass.

I don't really understand this argument tbh. It's like you're acknowledging that said characters won't sell as well, but figuring that Nintendo should include them in the DLC anyways because people might buy them begrudgingly or be tricked into buying them with the fighter pass based on a misleading precedent. Like the fighter pass should advertise the first half with three big name third parties to get people to buy it, and then close with niche first parties as a way of tricking people? Isn't that kinda an awful thing to do?

Like, I get that some people still have first party characters they want really badly, but "maybe Nintendo can trick people into buying them" is a weird argument.

Tl, dr: Adding a "who" character as DLC will sell just as well as any other DLC

We have no raw data here, but this probably isn't true at all, otherwise Nintendo wouldn't have bothered sharing revenue with all these third party DLC characters.

I think too much discussion on this topic is dictated by people's wants.

Eh, sometimes it seems like folks in the Smash fanbase are too focused on what can’t happen. Then our choices become extremely limited.

If we kept out expectations limited, we’d have never guess Cloud, Ryu, Snake, Joker, or others! Oh wait...if it were up to quite a number of Smash fans, we’d have never gotten those characters in the first place because of rules!

Very true.

 

[Guynamednelson]

"maybe Nintendo can trick people into buying them"

Not necessarily tricking as it is convincing. Just like how they convinced the West to try out the DQ Heroes by showcasing their numerous spells.

 

[Nquoid]

Some people. Definitely not everyone. Not as many as Nintend wants.

Again. Some people. Not as many as Nintendo can get.

I mean no one has access to how any of the DLC has sold, so saying this makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[YezenIRl]

Not necessarily tricking as it is convincing. Just like how they convinced the West to try out the DQ Heroes by showcasing their numerous spells.

That's what showcases and trailers are for. I'm talking about the premise of Nintendo saying that Joker is an example of what to expect from the fighter pass, following him up with two more big name third party franchises, and then closing out with two niche first party franchises or first party characters from already represented series. I'm saying it's false advertising to use the first half of the fighter pass to sell the second half, even though the second half is totally different.

I mean no one has access to how any of the DLC has sold, so saying this makes no sense whatsoever.

If the next two characters are niche first party then I'm wrong.

 

[ze9]

I don't think they'll pull a Corrin again. Up until now with Ultimate it's only been big 3rd party characters or very popular fan-favorites (plus Plant, the token WTF character) and I'm expecting it to stay that way.
After all, the whole point of this series is having fights between characters that people actually like.

 

[YoshiandToad]

I don't really understand this argument tbh. It's like you're acknowledging that said characters won't sell as well, but figuring that Nintendo should include them in the DLC anyways because people might buy them begrudgingly or be tricked into buying them with the fighter pass based on a misleading precedent. Like the fighter pass should advertise the first half with three big name third parties to get people to buy it, and then close with niche first parties as a way of tricking people? Isn't that kinda an awful thing to do?

Like, I get that some people still have first party characters they want really badly, but "maybe Nintendo can trick people into buying them" is a weird argument.

My argument is they're not that requested, not that they wouldn't sell as well. I used those two as an extreme, but I don't buy that only certain characters will sell well when Plant of all things managed to excite people and even with the likes of Corrin, he still got bought up.

Anything will sell.
Smash DLC will sell regardless of who the character actually is because those who are interested in Smash always want more.

On a different point though: Smash has traditionally never ended on what these boards have considered 'big hype' characters and I don't have a reason to think it will this time either.
Didn't for 64, Melee, Brawl, Sm4sh, Sm4sh DLC or Ultimate's base roster. I don't expect Ultimate's DLC to end in any other way.

I'll be surprised if we don't get a nicher character just based on every other game we've had prior.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I must say, I'm a bit confused by Kasumi's sudden spike in popularity. Is it just because of those "female fighting game character" rumors?

Personally, I don't see many reasons for her being picked over Hayabusa if we get a Tecmo character.

Me neither. Why add a character that only reps DoA when you can add a character that reps DoA, a classic NES action platform series, AND a modern hack n' slash series?

 

[ze9]

Anything will sell, but why sell lame things when you can sell hype things? Smash is not a lame game; in fact it's a very hype one. New characters gotta live up to its name.
ESPECIALLY if you have to pay for them. I didn't buy Corrin back in Smash 4 and I know a lot of people who didn't.

 

[YezenIRl]

Anything will sell.

Again, I don't understand this argument. Does anyone genuinely believe that Moblin would sell as well as Master Chief? Or that Byleth would sell as well as Sora? The idea that there is a floor where a certain population of people will get pretty much anything doesn't negate that the ceiling is different for different characters.

Didn't for 64, Melee, Brawl, Sm4sh, Sm4sh DLC or Ultimate's base roster. I don't expect Ultimate's DLC to end in any other way.

This is DLC. Not base roster.

 

[Megadoomer]

Anything will sell, but why sell lame things when you can sell hype things? Smash is not a lame game; in fact it's a very hype one. New characters gotta live up to its name.
ESPECIALLY if you have to pay for them. I didn't buy Corrin back in Smash 4 and I know a lot of people who didn't.

The thing is what's "lame" or "hype" varies heavily from person to person. I didn't exactly find Corrin or Piranha Plant to be exciting inclusions when they were first announced, but I'm sure there were some people that had been following Fire Emblem Fates closely who were really excited for Corrin, and people latched on to #PlantGang really quickly.

Likewise, I was incredibly excited for Bayonetta's addition to Smash because I really enjoyed her games, but I thought she didn't stand a chance of making it. However, looking at the reactions online (there are still people making elaborate conspiracy theories about how their favourite character was the REAL ballot winner), there are times where it feels like I'm the only one who was excited about it.

Even with how incredible Smash Ultimate's roster is, there are still people out there who say that it's not that great because it doesn't have one extremely specific character, or people who still insist that Ridley is too big to work in Smash Bros., or any number of divisive opinions. With how fractured Smash's fanbase is (seeing as it's made up of dozens of other fanbases, on top of Smash's competitive scene, plus fans of other franchises that want to see their series of choice done justice), it seems increasingly unlikely that there's going to be any one or two characters who are hype-worthy for the majority of people.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Do we even know officially the sales number for Smash 4 DLC and Ultimate's fighter pass? I always read argument like "Corrin is the Smash 4 DLC that sold the least" or "all DLC sold well whoever the character was", but do we even have official source on that?

 

[YezenIRl]

We have no official sources on DLC sales.

 

[3BitSaurus]

Tbf to Kasumi she's appeared in most of KT's various game franchises and as a result is seen as a bit of a mascot character for the company. Apart from Dead or Alive, she's also a monster in their Monster Rancher series, appeared in Ninja Gaiden and appeared in the Musou games which are a big chunk of Koei Tecmo's IPs.

She's as much of their mascot as Ryu Hayabusa is at this point.

Oh, I'm aware, but she wasn't brought up with him, at least not until very recently. I'm not questioning her popularity, just what brought up discussions for her. Not that I'm complaining, I like how we have characters like Doom Slayer and Hayabusa on the table, because they weren't even talked about in previous games. Same for picks like Kazumi.

On a sidenote, holy ****, I can't believe I forgot about Monster Rancher. Wow, now I remember the anime that aired when I was a kid, but the series' existence had been completely erased from my mind.

 

[Opossum]

I don't think they'll pull a Corrin again. Up until now with Ultimate it's only been big 3rd party characters or very popular fan-favorites (plus Plant, the token WTF character) and I'm expecting it to stay that way.
After all, the whole point of this series is having fights between characters that people actually like.

If people are requesting them, that generally means people like them. I'm not even sure what you mean by implying people don't like potential first party picks.

 

[Staarih]

So apparently Emily Rogers is saying a Direct is happening next week.

So, more on Banjo maybe? Or Fighter #4?

 

[Opossum]

Honestly I don't expect fighter four to be announced until, like, the last week of October at the absolute earliest.