So the Smash 4 Mii costumes came in waves, and the fourth wave specifically included these characters:
K. Rool and Chrom have both made it in, Flying Man is (still) a stage hazard. That leaves Lloyd Irving and the Black Knight.
A quick refresher on who those two are:
Black Knight
The Black Knight is a major antagonist and Ike's rival in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Regarded by both his allies and his enemies as virtually invincible, in addition to his immense strength and talent as a swordsman, he wields goddess-blessed armor and his sword Alondite, the counterpart blade to Ike's ultimate weapon, Ragnell. Ike first encounters the Black Knight early in Path of Radiance, when he witnesses the death of his father at the hands of the Black Knight in a duel. Ike's desire to defeat the Black Knight and avenge his father's death is one of his primary motivations as he fights in the war against Daein.
Lloyd Irving
Lloyd Irving is the main protagonist of Tales of Symphonia, the fifth major release in the Tales series. Once a simple country boy, Lloyd is thrust into the outside world following a raid on his village. The Chosen of Regeneration is one of his closest friends, and after being exiled from his hometown of Iselia, Lloyd joins her on the Journey of Regeneration. Although the young warrior himself plays no part in the prophecy, he is still a strong optimist and a fair leader.
With that in mind, I'd say that the Black Knight would make for a great FE villain pick, and could either be a character/echo himself (given that Fire Emblem has only received Chrom thus far), or serve a similar role as Dracula.
Lloyd seems less likely to be featured as a stage hazard or assist trophy as he is in a weird spot where his series has yet to be featured in Smash beyond the Mii costume, yet it also seems too successful (over 25 million in core title sales alone). He would, however, would be
a great character fit for Smash (specially since a lot of his moves are already in the game), and the arte system would ensure that he'd be very unique compared to other sword fighters. He's one of the poster boys of the Tales franchise and the protagonist of its most successful entry (also the first to break out in the west).
For those not familiar with Tales, it is the biggest traditional JRPG franchise after Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Bigger than Persona, bigger than Yakuza, bigger than Paper Mario, bigger than Kingdom Hearts. It's bigger than Ni no kuni, Disgaea, Chrono, Yo-Kai Watch, Golden Sun, Bravely Default, Atelier, Xeno, Suikoden, and Etrian Odyssey combined, and then some. It has spawned two dozen mangas, several animes, some movies, drama CDs, arcade machines, gambling machines, an entirely absurd amount of merchandise, and an annual festival that sees more than 20k visitors every year, and was considered for a ride at Universal Studios Japan alongside franchises like Final Fantasy, Sailor Moon, and Detective Conan. The series is absolutely enormous, and also just so happens to have a new mothership title due for announcement right around the time Smash Ultimate drops.
The point I'm trying to make is that the fourth wave of Mii costumes looks like it might feature one or two more fighters, one of which might very well stem from an as-yet unrepresented franchise owned by one of Smash Ultimate's co-developers. I might just be dreaming, but I thought it worthy of a write-up.
Cheers to
NessAtc for pointing this out to me, and check out
The Definitive Lloyd Irving Thread if you'd like to find out more about these two potential newcomers.
. Glad that K. Rool got in, though! I also never expected there to be so many echoes, we’ve gotten three already! My new prediction list is now this:
