Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[NonSpecificGuy]

A leaker only has credibility as long as he continues leaking. If he expects us to keep paying attention to him when all he's had to say for months is 'Uh yeah I heard that too' he's got another thing coming.

I think that just proves that at this point he doesn't care whether we listen to him or not.

 

[Deleted member]

Yeah, it’s still Astral Chain at all my local 7 Elevens. I wonder where that photo was taken. Clearly it was a ****up, which means we should be getting a direct soon.

1) Mai is not gonna be the character

2) Vergeben has nothing to prove. We know he's legit. So even if this post from him is vague and safe, it doesn't have any effect (positive or negative) on his credibility as a leaker.

Bro, “leakers” do it SOLELY for attention. They ALWAYS have something to prove, their reputation is literally built on that. Lol.

That’s why I’m always and always will be skeptical of them, rather than fanboying over their every word like most people do. Their entire public persona is built upon trying to ruin surprises for attention on the internet.

 

[Ben Holt]

Well evidence IMO points it toward being Nakoruru and the only rumor that had her was that 5ch ones with Tales and RE. The guy also claimed that Hero would come with Slime Hat and Erdrick's Armor mii costumes which he did. So the last fighter is likely Tales or RE IMO.

I can live with that.
Lloyd is one of the characters I want most, and Leon is pretty cool too.

 

[ze9]

I don't think it's going to be Nakoruru, leaks be damned. Any SNK character would be kinda "obscure" (though not really), but Nakoruru is a bit of a step too far, imho.
I think it's going to be Terry/Kyo or just Metal Slug.

 

[Dust319]

I wasn’t sold on Nakoruru being a Samurai Showdown rep until I read this on her wiki page:

Keeping in key with her nature-loving persona, Nakoruru was used as a mascot for SNK's environmental awareness campaigns conducted together with city administrations in Mitakaand Kyotoin 1994.[65] In 2007, SNK Playmore also created a social action program for children using Nakoruru and the Fatal Furystar Terry Bogardas their mascots.[66] An image of praying Nakoruru was used to support the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamirelief fund-raising.[67][68]

So she’s become a bit of a cultural icon in Japan not just as a game character, but an environmentalist. That’s above the call of duty for a potential Smash fighter. Needless to say, I’m coming around on her now.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Sabi was posting on PapaGeno's discord earlier:

Spoiler

The 'obvious' part makes it sound like it's Terry lol

 

[AmphabulouSnake]

God damnit we're getting Ryu 2

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

God damnit we're getting Ryu 2

Ryu 2????

C'mon man, put some more respect on Terry's name...

 

[N3ON]

Sabi was posting on PapaGeno's discord earlier:

Spoiler

View attachment 236467View attachment 236468View attachment 236469

The 'obvious' part makes it sound like it's Terry lol

That's interesting. Never knew C&Ds were optional.

 

[Vycoul]

To quote one of my favorite Disgaea characters:
"I hate uhzer organisms zat have ding-a-lings!!"

In a vacuum, I'm neutral on Terry, but Mai and Nakoruru make him look like a total snoozefest. Why must fighting game protagonists be so dang dull?

 

[StormC]

I think it's basically Terry vs. Kyo with Terry being slightly more likely.

Terry feels like the more recognizable character but if Sakurai is a KOF fanboy he might opt for Kyo.

I don't think it's Nakoruru for frankly being too obscure and Mai getting in before Terry would be like Chun-Li getting in before Ryu.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

That's interesting. Never knew C&Ds were optional.

Fwiw, I did try and check and see if it was actually Sabi's account, and it totally was. It didn't help that people in the server we're rocking with it too.

Name-dropping the character seems to be the big no-no here, afaik at least.

 

[ze9]

Well, guess it's no Metal Slug then.

 

[N3ON]

Fwiw, I did try and check and see if it was actually Sabi's account, and it totally was. It didn't help that people in the server we're rocking with it too.

Name-dropping the character seems to be the big no-no here, afaik at least.

Well disclosing it seems contingent on what VR Plant says, not that pesky little Cease & Desist she allegedly received from Nintendo. Call me crazy, but it seems like divulging an unrevealed character falls under the jurisdiction of "Nintendo leaks" she was, you know, apparently done with lest she incur legal repercussions.

I guess the statute of limitations on that thing was just until she once again had something interesting to share. Sounds legit.

 

[Ben Holt]

So, Terry instead of Nakoruru?
I could see both as "obvious".
Nakoruru has the leaks.
Terry is the mascot.

 

[Ornl]

SNK characters & Google Trends
Google Trends can measure different popularities, although this is not enough and the benchmarks are not always right. It can not be completely representative.

World ranking:
1 - Mai Shiranui (34)
2 - Kyo Kusanagi (11)
3 - Nakoruru (6)
4- Terry Bogard (5)

Ranking in Japan:
1 - Mai Shiranui (38)
2 - Nakoruru (19)
2 - Kyo Kusanagi (7)
4- Terry Bogard (4)

 

[perfectchaos83]

Sabi was posting on PapaGeno's discord earlier:

Spoiler

View attachment 236467View attachment 236468View attachment 236469

The 'obvious' part makes it sound like it's Terry lol

Someone notable? It sounds like a new source either way. Depending on the identity of the source, it could be possible someone's ****ing with her with some slight misdirection, much the same way the Erdrick leaks were slightly misdirected. Curious to see how this plays out. I still think it's going to be Kyo.

 

[Deleted member]

After giving it some thought, I’m thinking it’s Nakoruru.

Take a step back and look at all the pieces:

-It’s SNK for sure.
-Milk Bosatsu correctly called the Hero release, Labo VR, and a few other things, and has been saying one of the fighters is female for a while.
-So FEMALE for sure.
-MB also gave the following three criteria - fighting game, female, has a “flying weapon” compared it to a boomerang.
Now, stop focusing on the Hawk for a bit, and look at this:

Look at the object on her back that she’s holding in her hand... What does it LOOK like? If you’re looking at a colorless 3D model on screen, it wouldn’t be hard to say that looks like a boomerang. Especially if you don’t know the character. Mamahaha would also be a seperate model animated and rigged seoerately, so it’s unlikely you’d see them together during the modeling process. Whereas Nako’s sword is an object within her model and would be placed alongside her.

Continuing on...
-There was the Starling leak on Sabi’s discord, people assumed it was a cryptic hint for Geno (STARling), no, it was way more obvious.
-This one’s a good one: Ryu Hayabusa was a serious point of discussion recently due to other leaks. What’s Hayabusa even mean in Japanese? 隼 (はやぶさ), is the Japanese word for Falcon, more specifically, the Peregrine Falcon. Look familiar to a certain hawk?
Often false leaks crop up due to connections to a legit character, Steve in relation to Banjo being a decent example.
-Last one, Nako is the only major SNK character not in any major 3rd party crossover. SNK Heroines and SamSho are her most recent appearances.

So, it’s not just one thing. But you’ve got multiple things pointing straight at Nakoruru. Like, there comes a point, where you do have to take a step back and look at where all the clues are pointing, like we had with Banjo right before E3. It’s too much, for at least me to ignore. Out of three-four SNK characters that could be in Smash, she has the most clues in her favor. I’m like, 90% sure she’s in.

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Well disclosing it seems contingent on what VR Plant says, not that pesky little Cease & Desist she allegedly received from Nintendo. Call me crazy, but it seems like divulging an unrevealed character falls under the jurisdiction of "Nintendo leaks" she was, you know, apparently done with lest she incur legal repercussions.

I guess the statute of limitations on that thing was just until she once again had something interesting to share. Sounds legit.

Odd. I thought that the C&D she got was just for the Nintendo direct...

 

[Deleted member]

After giving it some thought, I’m thinking it’s Nakoruru.

Take a step back and look at all the pieces:

-It’s SNK for sure.
-Milk Bosatsu correctly called the Hero release, Labo VR, and a few other things, and has been saying one of the fighters is female for a while.
-So FEMALE for sure.
-MB also gave the following three criteria - fighting game, female, has a “flying weapon” compared it to a boomerang.
Now, stop focusing on the Hawk for a bit, and look at this:
View attachment 236471

Look at the object on her back that she’s holding in her hand... What does it LOOK like? If you’re looking at a colorless 3D model on screen, it wouldn’t be hard to say that looks like a boomerang. Especially if you don’t know the character. Mamahaha would also be a seperate model animated and rigged seoerately, so it’s unlikely you’d see them together during the modeling process. Whereas Nako’s sword is an object within her model and would be placed alongside her.

Continuing on...
-There was the Starling leak on Sabi’s discord, people assumed it was a cryptic hint for Geno (STARling), no, it was way more obvious.
-This one’s a good one: Ryu Hayabusa was a serious point of discussion recently due to other leaks. What’s Hayabusa even mean in Japanese? 隼 (はやぶさ), is the Japanese word for Falcon, more specifically, the Peregrine Falcon. Look familiar to a certain hawk?
Often false leaks crop up due to connections to a legit character, Steve in relation to Banjo being a decent example.
-Last one, Nako is the only major SNK character not in any major 3rd party crossover. SNK Heroines and SamSho are her most recent appearances.

So, it’s not just one thing. But you’ve got multiple things pointing straight at Nakoruru. Like, there comes a point, where you do have to take a step back and look at where all the clues are pointing, like we had with Banjo right before E3. It’s too much, for at least me to ignore. Out of three-four SNK characters that could be in Smash, she has the most clues in her favor. I’m like, 90% sure she’s in.

 

[Ben Holt]

After giving it some thought, I’m thinking it’s Nakoruru.

Take a step back and look at all the pieces:

-It’s SNK for sure.
-Milk Bosatsu correctly called the Hero release, Labo VR, and a few other things, and has been saying one of the fighters is female for a while.
-So FEMALE for sure.
-MB also gave the following three criteria - fighting game, female, has a “flying weapon” compared it to a boomerang.
Now, stop focusing on the Hawk for a bit, and look at this:
View attachment 236471

Look at the object on her back that she’s holding in her hand... What does it LOOK like? If you’re looking at a colorless 3D model on screen, it wouldn’t be hard to say that looks like a boomerang. Especially if you don’t know the character. Mamahaha would also be a seperate model animated and rigged seoerately, so it’s unlikely you’d see them together during the modeling process. Whereas Nako’s sword is an object within her model and would be placed alongside her.

Continuing on...
-There was the Starling leak on Sabi’s discord, people assumed it was a cryptic hint for Geno (STARling), no, it was way more obvious.
-This one’s a good one: Ryu Hayabusa was a serious point of discussion recently due to other leaks. What’s Hayabusa even mean in Japanese? 隼 (はやぶさ), is the Japanese word for Falcon, more specifically, the Peregrine Falcon. Look familiar to a certain hawk?
Often false leaks crop up due to connections to a legit character, Steve in relation to Banjo being a decent example.
-Last one, Nako is the only major SNK character not in any major 3rd party crossover. SNK Heroines and SamSho are her most recent appearances.

So, it’s not just one thing. But you’ve got multiple things pointing straight at Nakoruru. Like, there comes a point, where you do have to take a step back and look at where all the clues are pointing, like we had with Banjo right before E3. It’s too much, for at least me to ignore. Out of three-four SNK characters that could be in Smash, she has the most clues in her favor. I’m like, 90% sure she’s in.

Unfortunately, I think you are 100% right.

 

[perfectchaos83]

-There was the Starling leak on Sabi’s discord, people assumed it was a cryptic hint for Geno (STARling), no, it was way more obvious.

This is 100% not related to smash

Spoiler

Image courtesy of GFAQs user Senselessbreak. He typically speaks for Sabi on GFAQs, acting as their voice, so to speak.

 

[AntagonisticGalaxyCetacea]

Sure, you could say that Terry is an obvious choice but I'm betting on Kyo now. He's the main character, so it's obvious in that sense. Theres also the fact that Ryu is already in the game; leading into the Capcom vs SNK rivalry deal, like how Smash 4 focused on Street Fighter vs Tekken

Even though I know Nakoruru is very popular, her being in over the main character of Samurai Shodown would be a first. Just I dunno. Kyo's the underdog in this fight

 

[Deleted member]

This is 100% not related to smash

Spoiler

Image courtesy of GFAQs user Senselessbreak. He typically speaks for Sabi on GFAQs, acting as their voice, so to speak.

Somehow I don’t believe their statement for a second. Wasn’t this person in question for saying they were under C&D and people were skeptical about that claim? I feel there’s a lot of pretense for trying to muddle the waters for Sabi no matter how much you slice it. Doubly so if you try to analyze their words and tone more closely.

At worst, I feel the starling could be an odd coincidence, because there’s way more things pointing at her at this pointI feel.

 

[Dust319]

After giving it some thought, I’m thinking it’s Nakoruru.

Take a step back and look at all the pieces:

-It’s SNK for sure.
-Milk Bosatsu correctly called the Hero release, Labo VR, and a few other things, and has been saying one of the fighters is female for a while.
-So FEMALE for sure.
-MB also gave the following three criteria - fighting game, female, has a “flying weapon” compared it to a boomerang.
Now, stop focusing on the Hawk for a bit, and look at this:
View attachment 236471

Look at the object on her back that she’s holding in her hand... What does it LOOK like? If you’re looking at a colorless 3D model on screen, it wouldn’t be hard to say that looks like a boomerang. Especially if you don’t know the character. Mamahaha would also be a seperate model animated and rigged seoerately, so it’s unlikely you’d see them together during the modeling process. Whereas Nako’s sword is an object within her model and would be placed alongside her.

Continuing on...
-There was the Starling leak on Sabi’s discord, people assumed it was a cryptic hint for Geno (STARling), no, it was way more obvious.
-This one’s a good one: Ryu Hayabusa was a serious point of discussion recently due to other leaks. What’s Hayabusa even mean in Japanese? 隼 (はやぶさ), is the Japanese word for Falcon, more specifically, the Peregrine Falcon. Look familiar to a certain hawk?
Often false leaks crop up due to connections to a legit character, Steve in relation to Banjo being a decent example.
-Last one, Nako is the only major SNK character not in any major 3rd party crossover. SNK Heroines and SamSho are her most recent appearances.

So, it’s not just one thing. But you’ve got multiple things pointing straight at Nakoruru. Like, there comes a point, where you do have to take a step back and look at where all the clues are pointing, like we had with Banjo right before E3. It’s too much, for at least me to ignore. Out of three-four SNK characters that could be in Smash, she has the most clues in her favor. I’m like, 90% sure she’s in.

Just to add to that, out of the few SNK characters that are being discussed, Nakoruru would be the most interesting from a design aspect.
Kyo and Terry may vary in their fighting style but their gameplan is not much different from Ryu or Ken’s.
Haohmaru while using a katana would still be a sword fighter in a game full of them.
Mai may be the most searched on Google, but it’s likely for her assets not her fighting style.

Nakoruru on the other hand has a bird that interacts with her as part of her move set, there is way more potential there when it comes to creating a new and unique character in comparison to the other candidates.

 

[perfectchaos83]

Somehow I don’t believe their statement for a second. Wasn’t this person in question for saying they were under C&D and people were skeptical about that claim? I feel there’s a lot of pretense for trying to muddle the waters for Sabi no matter how much you slice it. Doubly so if you try to analyze their words and tone more closely.

At worst, I feel the starling could be an odd coincidence, because there’s way more things pointing at her at this pointI feel.

Here's the thing, Sabi is still trying to be a reputable leaker, problem is, she can't be the one to make it public nor can it be traced back to them. That's why she's doing stupid **** and dancing around everything. Yes, I think Sabi is being vague and sketchy, but I don't think she's trying to actively misguide the train of thought. At this point, I believe she was honestly told it was Terry. Now, whether that is accurate or not is anyone's game. As I said earlier, I think that (depending on who this notable person is and where they work) the possibility she's being ****ed with exists in the form of some slight misdirection.

 

[Deleted member]

Just to add to that, out of the few SNK characters that are being discussed, Nakoruru would be the most interesting from a design aspect.
Kyo and Terry may vary in their fighting style but their gameplan is not much different from Ryu or Ken’s.
Haohmaru while using a katana would still be a sword fighter in a game full of them.
Mai may be the most searched on Google, but it’s likely for her assets not her fighting style.

Nakoruru on the other hand has a bird that interacts with her as part of her move set, there is way more potential there when it comes to creating a new and unique character in comparison to the other candidates.

Nakoruru could also introduce a counter-hit and a disarm mechanic into the game as her gimmicks as those are the two core elements of SamSho. If she hits someone on a counterhit, she does double damage and knock back, if she gets hit on counter hit, she takes double damage, if it’s a Smash attack, she has a chance to drop her weapon leaving her moveset limited until she picks it up again.

Bird Carry is an obvious UpB, and it would be a sort of fly move, except she can attack during and out of it. She has a reflector, a dive kick, two of her throws do NO damage but set up for combos instead...

She has a lot of potential.

 

[Wunderwaft]

More fighting game characters is always a good thing in my eye. I'm sad about no Heihachi but Terry/Kyo are a good choice as well.

 

[Gothitelle]

-Last one, Nako is the only major SNK character not in any major 3rd party crossover. SNK Heroines and SamSho are her most recent appearances.

I feel like I need to counter this point. Kyo and Iori from King of Fighters, the Metal Slug cast, and Athena are all major SNK characters who haven't made a crossover appearance in late.

 

[Deleted member]

I keep seeing this get posted around on /v/.

 

[Wunderwaft]

I keep seeing this get posted around on /v/.
View attachment 236473

Is there an actual source to the claims of this leak or is this another "I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend" situation?

 

[perfectchaos83]

I feel like I need to counter this point. Kyo and Iori from King of Fighters, the Metal Slug cast, and Athena are all major SNK characters who haven't made a crossover appearance in late.

Iori is in Arthur Million

I keep seeing this get posted around on /v/.
View attachment 236473

This suffers from the same issue one of the original 5ch posts did. It claims to be a leak from overseas that was never found

 

[Deleted member]

While you guys were discussing, how's the salt at Twitter?

 

[Korar]

As someone who has never played an SNK game, really hoping for nakoruru, since she seems the most interesting out of the candidates.

 

[Izanagi97]

While you guys were discussing, how's the salt at Twitter?

Haven't really payed attention to it

 

[Guybrush20X6]

So it'll either be the old mascot or the rising star.

Smash usually goes for the classics, but will have the modern depiction as well. Which one is pushed first is apparently on the 3rd party.

Sonic plays more like Classic Sonic but has his modern look
Snake is a mixture of the three then current metal gear games
Mega Man is a one for one of his NES self
Pac-Man is so classic it tries to pretend that Pac-Land is an icon of gaming.
Ryu has been the same character since Street Fighter 2 but takes influence from both that game and SF4 in his moveset
Ken ditches his Bannana hair and goes with the classic look
Cloud has his FF7 look as default and his Advent Children look as alt
Conversely Bayonetta has her Bayonetta 2 look as Default and Bayonetta 1 look as alt
Simon and Richter both use their original designs as opposed to the series standardised gothic look.
Joker is the newset character so doesn't have a classic design to speak of
Hero uses the newest one as the default but Marketing seems evenly split between him and the iconic one from three. (Solo and Eight ar just happy to be there.)
And or course, Banjo & Kazooie and in their classic N64 designs rather than their cubist ones from Nuts and Bolts.

 

[Gothitelle]

I keep seeing people say SNK characters aren't interesting, so I'd just like to quickly mention Athena Asamiya:

Originally the descendant of the Athena found in the Famicom/NES game of the same name, and first appearing as the protagonist of Psycho Soldier, Athena is consistently one of SNK's top ten characters in polls and has appeared in every King of Fighters released to date, as well as many spin-offs including Capcom vs SNK and her own title on the PS1, Athena: Awakening from the Ordinary Life. What makes her unique is that she has psychic abilities - in Psycho Soldier this manifested in being able to condense her psychic energy into a ball and fire it as a projectile (sound familiar?). She's also been shown to be able to move objects with her mind, use her psychic energy to make her own attacks more powerful, create a barrier, teleport, and heal wounds with her powers. Along with these highly versatile powers, she'd also bring with her some real funky music:

 

[Ridrool64]

I dunno if we are getting character 4 in the same month as Banjo's release, as that would steal his thunder and probably hamper sales of him rather than if the two were separate. The chances that somebody is show-off able already when they're still working on Banjo is probably tell-tale that Terryruru isn't coming yet.

Yet being the operative word. I feel like it would at least make more sense to wait on 4 until after Banjo is out for about a week, to not undercut sales of him.

 

[AmphabulouSnake]

I dunno if we are getting character 4 in the same month as Banjo's release, as that would steal his thunder and probably hamper sales of him rather than if the two were separate. The chances that somebody is show-off able already when they're still working on Banjo is probably tell-tale that Terryruru isn't coming yet.

Yet being the operative word. I feel like it would at least make more sense to wait on 4 until after Banjo is out for about a week, to not undercut sales of him.

I VERY MUCH doubt a SNK character will undercut sales for literally one of the most hyped character of smash history lol
The audience is just far too different between the two of them....and besides, most people bought the Fighters Pass anyway
Now of course fighter #4 won't release this month, but they'll get revealed this week most likely...

 

[SKX31]

Well, guess it's no Metal Slug then.

Hey, even if Metal Slug doesn't get into Smash at all, hope's not lost for the franchise. The app page for Metal Slug Attack, the sequel to Metal Slug Defense, claims an 8 million download count* (on top of Defense claiming 20 million+ downloads). I know, mobile games with all its trappings. But the fact that both games exist and SNK chose to make a sequel for Defense tells a lot. SNK's Chinese owners seem to be pretty lenient and letting SNK have a lot of freedom (even if said owners might want mobile games, a KOF anime series or whatever), so they're not an issue.

*(Taptap.com is a Chinese mobile game portal, tap.io is the English version)

Sure, you could say that Terry is an obvious choice but I'm betting on Kyo now. He's the main character, so it's obvious in that sense. Theres also the fact that Ryu is already in the game; leading into the Capcom vs SNK rivalry deal, like how Smash 4 focused on Street Fighter vs Tekken

Even though I know Nakoruru is very popular, her being in over the main character of Samurai Shodown would be a first. Just I dunno. Kyo's the underdog in this fight

I'm also leaning on Kyo personally, with Terry in close second and Nakoruru closely behind as third. Sakurai's own experience with and strong like for KOF is probably the most important factor here. They could go with the Capcom vs. SNK angle, true. If they wanted an easy contrast, they could choose to have the SNK character fight very differently from Ryu. Maybe even have the SNK character rising up from near defeat. As a reference to SNK's recent recovery and their return to grace.

I do also imagine that Sakurai knows about how influential SNK is in Japan, Latin America and China. And that only helps. Two of those regions already have well established Smash fanbases (Japan and LatAm). That said, there is one additional reason why I've been bringing up SNK's Chinese owners (Leyou / Ledo Millenium / 37 Games) a lot:

If SNK's in talks with Nintendo over a Smash appearance - Smash is huge worldwide - it would be really, really hard to miss. Again, the Chinese owners pretty much saved SNK from bankruptcy. And now Sakurai's approaching SNK over a DLC deal that reaches millions of people? All over the world? That only helps raise SNK's profile further. So the Chinese owners would very, very likely give the a-okay to SNK without issue.

That both Nintendo and SNK are cool with Tencent only helps in this case. The hype train wouldn't be limited to Latin America: I do guess that a SNK character in Smash would spark a major league hype train in China. The SNK character will be ready when the Switch launches in China - probably with Smash in tow.