Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[HansShotFirst20]

Nintendo Corporate's logic in pushing an ARMS character for DLC is interesting.

DLC slots differ from base-game slots in that Nintendo expects a return on investment for each individual character slot. This isn't the case for base game characters, where you can have a higher investment (like Pokemon Trainer, who takes 3x the effort of any other character slot) or a lower expectation of returns (like King K. Rool, who was added to appease Smash fans who were going to buy the game anyway). DLC slots, however, are barred by a $5.99 price of entry, so Nintendo has to be sure that they can expect a return on investment for said character.

- Joker was a popular character from a game with a wide audience, but a completely different install base than Smash (PS4 exclusive), therefore driving interest for Smash among Playsation owners.

- Hero was the mascot of a megafranchise with a huge audience, and helped Nintendo cut a promotion deal for the port of the newest DQ game on their console.

- Banjo, while seemingly lacking modern relevance, was the star of a pack-in title for the XBox One (as well as being the face of N64 nostalgia), thusly driving interest for Smash among XBox owners. I have personal anecdote to back this up -- my uncle bought a switch for his daughters when they wanted to play as Banjo in smash -- who they had been exposed to by Rare Replay.

- Terry, as well as being popular in Latin America, was likely to drive more interest in Smash among the FGC -- who are the video game fans that are going to express the most hardcore interest in smash.

- Byleth was likely to drive interest is Smash among all the new Fire Emblem fans who's first game was Three Houses (which Nintendo totally knew was gonna be big).

'ARMS', on the other hand, is totally different from these picks. Smash's fanbase totally eclipses ARMS's -- the ARMS installbase likely comprises entirely of people who also own Smash, whereas there are many more people who own Smash, but not ARMS. This makes me think that an ARMS rep is being added not to promote Smash among ARMS fans, but ARMS among Smash fans -- meaning Nintendo expects the return on their investment to be an increase in the sales of ARMS, rather than of Smash. This is an interesting move by Nintendo -- and could point to them using Smash DLC to promote dead (like Golden Sun or ARMS) or Zombie (like Starfox or Metroid) franchises in the future, especially if Smash DLC continues past the second Fighters Pass.

 

[Cyberfire]

I think the way they showed off the roster of Arms, and not just outright saying who it is - makes me think it's going to be a fighter with multiple characters as it's alts like Bowser Jr and Hero.

I've only ever played the demo of Arms, but I'd imagine they could find 4-8 characters that could realistically play the same?

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Nintendo Corporate's logic in pushing an ARMS character for DLC is interesting.

DLC slots differ from base-game slots in that Nintendo expects a return on investment for each individual character slot. This isn't the case for base game characters, where you can have a higher investment (like Pokemon Trainer, who takes 3x the effort of any other character slot) or a lower expectation of returns (like King K. Rool, who was added to appease Smash fans who were going to buy the game anyway). DLC slots, however, are barred by a $5.99 price of entry, so Nintendo has to be sure that they can expect a return on investment for said character.
.

One of the characters confirmed to have ranked highly in a 1.8 million ballot that everyone voting thought would be used as DLC qualifies as a “lower expectation of returns”? This is false.

 

[Pwnz0rz Man]

I think the way they showed off the roster of Arms, and not just outright saying who it is - makes me think it's going to be a fighter with multiple characters as it's alts like Bowser Jr and Hero.

I've only ever played the demo of Arms, but I'd imagine they could find 4-8 characters that could realistically play the same?

If you wanna get technical, those aren't even the first time they did it. Each Yoshi color is a completely different Yoshi. I welcome our new Arms overlords and hope they're just as annoying as Dhalsim is in Street Fighter.

 

[ARandomFruit]

Does anyone else feel like we're gonna have an ARMS waifu war in the midst of this?

I have already seen a discord chat debate on who'd they rather have between Min-Min and Twintelle.

Why do we need a waifu war when the perfect waifu already exists in the form of Helix?

 

[Kokiden]

Could be hard to say at this point but does anyone here legitmately think they could see themselves maining an ARMS character in Smash?

No.

I only main characters whose games I've actually played.

It's not often I pick up a random character and play as them. There's no connection or desire for me to do so since I'm not familiar with them.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

One of the characters confirmed to have ranked highly in a 1.8 million ballot that everyone voting thought would be used as DLC qualifies as a “lower expectation of returns”? This is false.

The ballot was among smash fans, who are going to buy the game and DLC's anyway. The other DLC's (at least for ultimate) have a significant audience outside smash, even if there is a big overlap between the two (Like Banjo or Byleth).

 

[TechPowah]

The fact that they're acting as if Spring Man even has a chance and not just automatically Chrom'd, is killing me
cause I know, in my heart, that he's not gonna be the character
but at the same time, they left just enough there that forces me to hope for "but what if tho"

i've already made my peace, Nintendo
just let me die

 

[HansShotFirst20]

The fact that they're acting as if Spring Man even has a chance and not just automatically Chrom'd, is killing me
cause I know, in my heart, that he's not gonna be the character
but at the same time, they left just enough there that forces me to hope for "but what if tho"

i've already made my peace, Nintendo
just let me die

I hope that it's some sort of ARMS 2 redsign , if it is Springman. Something about his design is just sooo grating for me.

 

[Mamboo07]

I hope that it's some sort of ARMS 2 redsign , if it is Springman. Something about his design is just sooo grating for me.

Is it the toothpaste hair?

 

[True Blue Warrior]

The ballot was among smash fans, who are going to buy the game and DLC's anyway. The other DLC's (at least for ultimate) have a significant audience outside smash, even if there is a big overlap between the two (Like Banjo or Byleth).

This is irrelevant, as it doesn’t counter the idea that K. Rool wouldn’t have been seen as a pointless DLC addition by Nintendo because of how well he scored.
Also that second sentence implies only Smash fans care about K. Rool and Donkey Kong fans don’t which is silly considering how much criticism DKCR got for not including the Kremlings.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

Is it the toothpaste hair?

That, the weird mask, and the bubblegum colorscheme.

This is irrelevant, as it doesn’t counter the idea that K. Rool wouldn’t have been seen as a pointless DLC addition by Nintendo because of how well he scored.

Yes, he had high appeal among smash fans -- but seeing as he hadn't appeared in a DKC game since the 90's, and didn't have the luxury of being in something like Rare Replay like Banjo, Nintendo didn't have confidence in his ability to carry a $5.99 DLC pass outside of Smash's core audience. The ballot was to see which characters the smash fanbase was interested in, but it's unlikely that very many non-smash fans voted on it, and Nintendo wanted to maximize the return on investment by choosing characters with a wider audience than just the core smash fanbase -- hence why characters like Ridley, K Rool, and some of the Smash veterans like Ice Climbers (who are popular among smash fans but pretty irrelevant otherwise) were chosen for the base game instead of DLC.

Someone like Banjo had just as big of a following within Smash's fanbase, but also had fans in the XBox install base due to Rare Replay being a pack-in title for the XBOne, meaning that Banjo wouldn't just sell among smash fans, but also pull new people in from the XBox audience.

I believe nintendo made this choice after seeing that characters like Ryu, Cloud, and Bayo sold better than characters like Roy or Lucas during smash 4 DLC, but I have no data or anything to back that up.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

That, the weird mask, and the bubblegum colorscheme.



Yes, he had high appeal among smash fans -- but seeing as he hadn't appeared in a DKC game since the 90's, and didn't have the luxury of being in something like Rare Replay like Banjo, Nintendo didn't have confidence in his ability to carry a $5.99 DLC pass outside of Smash's core audience. The ballot was to see which characters the smash fanbase was interested in, but it's unlikely that very many non-smash fans voted on it, and Nintendo wanted to maximize the return on investment by choosing characters with a wider audience than just the core smash fanbase -- hence why characters like Ridley, K Rool, and some of the Smash veterans like Ice Climbers (who are popular among smash fans but pretty irrelevant otherwise) were chosen for the base game instead of DLC.

Someone like Banjo had just as big of a following within Smash's fanbase, but also had fans in the XBox install base due to Rare Replay being a pack-in title for the XBOne, meaning that Banjo wouldn't just sell among smash fans, but also pull new people in from the XBox audience.

I believe nintendo made this choice after seeing that characters like Ryu, Cloud, and Bayo sold better than characters like Roy or Lucas during smash 4 DLC, but I have no data or anything to back that up.

All of this is based off assumptions, especially the idea that Bayonetta sold better than Lucas and Roy despite being even more obscure than them, considering they were veterans from highly selling games going for them.

Also, the ballot wasn’t just advertised in a widely viewed Direct, but people could have also watched it on their 3DS and Wii U.

Also in regard to K. Rool’s last DKC appearance, that was Jungle Climber released in 2007. Aside of that, all the original DKC trilogy games were re-released for the Wii, Wii U and New 3DS, with DK64 being rereleased for the Wii U. Heck, DKC was part of the SNES mini which sold at least 5 million.

Also, the idea that the likes of K. Rool and Ridley are comparable to the Ice Climbers doesn’t work considering they are beloved among the DK and Metroid fanbases respectively. There really is no Ice Climber fanbase considering people don’t even fondly remember the game.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

All of this is based off assumptions, especially the idea that Bayonetta sold better than Lucas and Roy despite being even more obscure than them, considering they were veterans from highly selling games going for them.

Also, the ballot wasn’t just advertised in a widely viewed Direct, but people could have also watched it on their 3DS and Wii U.

Also in regard to K. Rool’s last DKC appearance, that was Jungle Climber released in 2007. Aside of that, all the original DKC trilogy games were re-released for the Wii, Wii U and New 3DS, with DK64 being rereleased for the Wii U. Heck, DKC was part of the SNES mini which sold at least 5 million.

Also, the idea that the likes of K. Rool and Ridley are comparable to the Ice Climbers doesn’t work considering they are beloved among the DK and Metroid fanbases respectively. There really is no Ice Climber fanbase considering people don’t even fondly remember the game.

This has gone so far off track from my original point -- that the logic behind picking an ARMS character was different from the logic that went into picking the Fighter Pass volume 1 roster -- that I don't even know why I'm still replying. Besides, I never said that K Rool would have been a pointless pick -- just that Nintendo chose Banjo over him to be DLC because Banjo hit an even wider audience than K Rool (and likely so that Microsoft could get a bigger cut of the paycheck).

 

[True Blue Warrior]

This has gone so far off track from my original point -- that the logic behind picking an ARMS character was different from the logic that went into picking the Fighter Pass volume 1 roster -- that I don't even know why I'm still replying.

Because we all love arguing?

 

[HansShotFirst20]

Because we all love arguing?

I don't like arguing on the internet

 

[Strider_Bond00J]

What a wild day it's been. ARMS is getting a second shot in Smash Bros and I couldn't be any happier. This small IP is well-worth including in Smash's legacy and I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing who the fighter could be.
Yeah I don't have much to contribute to the discussion - been busy with Animal Crossing New Horizons. But here's to a Xenoblade Character hopefully being on the table for Volume 2! (Go Rex & Pyra/Mythra, Fiora or Melia!)

 

[osby]

Does anyone else feel like we're gonna have an ARMS waifu war in the midst of this?

I have already seen a discord chat debate on who'd they rather have between Min-Min and Twintelle.

We're already having that.

A lot of people act like ARMS fans only care about waifus.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

Whichever ARMS rep gets in, I hope they just **** **** up in the Snake and Palutena matchups -- bad matchups against those characters are the reasons so many characters are seen as low-tier in this game, and being able to pick up a secondary to win against those characters would really help the meta

 

[True Blue Warrior]

We're already having that.

A lot of people act like ARMS fans only care about waifus.

This, also I’m pretty sure Persona, Xenoblade, Pokemon and Fire Emblem fans also have been witnesses to these types of wars in their fanbases.

 

[kirbsmash]

can....can I have the beefcake in smash please?

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Nintendo Corporate's logic in pushing an ARMS character for DLC is interesting.

DLC slots differ from base-game slots in that Nintendo expects a return on investment for each individual character slot. This isn't the case for base game characters, where you can have a higher investment (like Pokemon Trainer, who takes 3x the effort of any other character slot) or a lower expectation of returns (like King K. Rool, who was added to appease Smash fans who were going to buy the game anyway). DLC slots, however, are barred by a $5.99 price of entry, so Nintendo has to be sure that they can expect a return on investment for said character.

- Joker was a popular character from a game with a wide audience, but a completely different install base than Smash (PS4 exclusive), therefore driving interest for Smash among Playsation owners.

- Hero was the mascot of a megafranchise with a huge audience, and helped Nintendo cut a promotion deal for the port of the newest DQ game on their console.

- Banjo, while seemingly lacking modern relevance, was the star of a pack-in title for the XBox One (as well as being the face of N64 nostalgia), thusly driving interest for Smash among XBox owners. I have personal anecdote to back this up -- my uncle bought a switch for his daughters when they wanted to play as Banjo in smash -- who they had been exposed to by Rare Replay.

- Terry, as well as being popular in Latin America, was likely to drive more interest in Smash among the FGC -- who are the video game fans that are going to express the most hardcore interest in smash.

- Byleth was likely to drive interest is Smash among all the new Fire Emblem fans who's first game was Three Houses (which Nintendo totally knew was gonna be big).

'ARMS', on the other hand, is totally different from these picks. Smash's fanbase totally eclipses ARMS's -- the ARMS installbase likely comprises entirely of people who also own Smash, whereas there are many more people who own Smash, but not ARMS. This makes me think that an ARMS rep is being added not to promote Smash among ARMS fans, but ARMS among Smash fans -- meaning Nintendo expects the return on their investment to be an increase in the sales of ARMS, rather than of Smash. This is an interesting move by Nintendo -- and could point to them using Smash DLC to promote dead (like Golden Sun or ARMS) or Zombie (like Starfox or Metroid) franchises in the future, especially if Smash DLC continues past the second Fighters Pass.

Well Shulk was demanded a lot when Xenoblade Chronicles was just "that game that fan demand brought stateside" and from there Shulk got in and the game got two sequels and two remakes. I think Nintendo may go in for a sequel to ARMS.

Did that ARMS comic ever come out BTW?

 

[True Blue Warrior]

can....can I have the beefcake in smash please?

Don’t you mean Johnny Bravo Boxer?

 

[MagnesD3]

Does anyone else feel like we're gonna have an ARMS waifu war in the midst of this?

I have already seen a discord chat debate on who'd they rather have between Min-Min and Twintelle.

Yeah like min min stand alone is the worst outcome imo based her look, Twintelle was the first character I saw design wise when arms was releasing that made me think wow that’s a good design, not just because the waifu bait (although she seems the most popular in the West probably in part due to that). Imo min min Just looks like a young girl with nothing particularly interesting design look wise, (which eastern audiences seems to love to waifu bait) but japan rules when it comes to smash so I think they are gonna get what they want tbh, I’d much rather have the protagonist Spring Man or a combination character instead.

 

[Deleted member]

Nintendo Corporate's logic in pushing an ARMS character for DLC is interesting.

DLC slots differ from base-game slots in that Nintendo expects a return on investment for each individual character slot. This isn't the case for base game characters, where you can have a higher investment (like Pokemon Trainer, who takes 3x the effort of any other character slot) or a lower expectation of returns (like King K. Rool, who was added to appease Smash fans who were going to buy the game anyway). DLC slots, however, are barred by a $5.99 price of entry, so Nintendo has to be sure that they can expect a return on investment for said character.

- Joker was a popular character from a game with a wide audience, but a completely different install base than Smash (PS4 exclusive), therefore driving interest for Smash among Playsation owners.

- Hero was the mascot of a megafranchise with a huge audience, and helped Nintendo cut a promotion deal for the port of the newest DQ game on their console.

- Banjo, while seemingly lacking modern relevance, was the star of a pack-in title for the XBox One (as well as being the face of N64 nostalgia), thusly driving interest for Smash among XBox owners. I have personal anecdote to back this up -- my uncle bought a switch for his daughters when they wanted to play as Banjo in smash -- who they had been exposed to by Rare Replay.

- Terry, as well as being popular in Latin America, was likely to drive more interest in Smash among the FGC -- who are the video game fans that are going to express the most hardcore interest in smash.

- Byleth was likely to drive interest is Smash among all the new Fire Emblem fans who's first game was Three Houses (which Nintendo totally knew was gonna be big).

'ARMS', on the other hand, is totally different from these picks. Smash's fanbase totally eclipses ARMS's -- the ARMS installbase likely comprises entirely of people who also own Smash, whereas there are many more people who own Smash, but not ARMS. This makes me think that an ARMS rep is being added not to promote Smash among ARMS fans, but ARMS among Smash fans -- meaning Nintendo expects the return on their investment to be an increase in the sales of ARMS, rather than of Smash. This is an interesting move by Nintendo -- and could point to them using Smash DLC to promote dead (like Golden Sun or ARMS) or Zombie (like Starfox or Metroid) franchises in the future, especially if Smash DLC continues past the second Fighters Pass.

All that leads me to believe even more that this might be more of a Promotional Pick and either ARMS is getting a sequel (with this character being in to hype it up) or ARMS is getting some kind of re-release or DLC expansion (with, again, this DLC character coming out to help promote it). It would help to advertise and be another character from a Switch exclusive IP, so it fits a dual purpose.

Just look at Byleth; of course it was a new FE generation rep and the first actual Switch game to get a character in the new Smash, but it also helped to advertise and bring attention to the game when a new expansion pass, Ashen Wolves, was coming out.

The ARMS character will likely serve the same purpose. Come June, we'll learn that ARMS is getting another game (or some kind of large DLC pass or something) so the Smash character will come out as a bit of cross promotion. The ARMS characters all differ in design, but most of it comes form customizable stuff you can do within game. Aside from Twin Tail, they all fight with extendable arms (hence the title name lol), so they all share very similar body types and designs; enough so that they can be alternate costumes like Hero or the Koopalings. Echoes actually differ slightly (some of them EXTREMELY slightly) in things like frame data for attacks or in attack effects (like Samus having Fire effects while Dark Samus has Electric), so there's really no need to make Echoes. Not to mention they had already stated in the beginning that there won't be Echoes in the Expansion Pass (and I assume that still holds true for the 2nd pass).

Of course, if it ends up being a new game entirely, it might just be a brand new ARMS character altogether with more Spirits being added (or a stage that features these guys in the background).

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Don’t you mean Johnny Bravo Gladiator Boxer?

Fixed it for you

 

[HansShotFirst20]

Don’t you mean Johnny Bravo Boxer?

Don't you mean All Might boxer?

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

A lot of y’all are still pushing this idea that an ARMS character/upgrade increases the odds of another upgrade? Still?

I already Jonesposted yesterday. Look, I get we’re excited about this potentially being an upgrade but it’s not the same thing for every character. Going in with the expectation that suddenly we’re getting several upgrades is absolutely getting ahead of ourselves.

Instead of broad strokes, take it one character at a time. What makes them independently likely instead of lumping them together with another pick...as in, what we used for Season 1 and got COMPLETELY wrong?

Most of the upgrade candidates appeal to me, so it’s not even me disliking the picks. I just don’t understand how that ties in with “business”, as I don’t actually consider it likely that Nintendo is picking based on “who can we upgrade”, when there are likely other business decisions that contribute to this choice.

Also, saw the SNES mini used to suggest interest in K.Rool. That’s pretty shaky to me considering DKC is simply one piece of it, and there were several other things involved, like the fact that it was a limited Nintendo collectible which ALWAYS sells out.

 

[I.D.]

A lot of y’all are still pushing this idea that an ARMS character/upgrade increases the odds of another upgrade? Still?

It proves they are possible. That alone makes the odds go up from 0%.

 

[HansShotFirst20]

A lot of y’all are still pushing this idea that an ARMS character/upgrade increases the odds of another upgrade? Still?

I already Jonesposted yesterday. Look, I get we’re excited about this potentially being an upgrade but it’s not the same thing for every character. Going in with the expectation that suddenly we’re getting several upgrades is absolutely getting ahead of ourselves.

Instead of broad strokes, take it one character at a time. What makes them independently likely instead of lumping them together with another pick...as in, what we used for Season 1 and got COMPLETELY wrong?

Most of the upgrade candidates appeal to me, so it’s not even me disliking the picks. I just don’t understand how that ties in with “business”, as I don’t actually consider it likely that Nintendo is picking based on “who can we upgrade”, when there are likely other business decisions that contribute to this choice.

Also, saw the SNES mini used to suggest interest in K.Rool. That’s pretty shaky to me considering DKC is simply one piece of it, and there were several other things involved, like the fact that it was a limited Nintendo collectible which ALWAYS sells out.

I think it would increase the odds of other upgrades -- on the grounds that a lot of characters the are spirits/AT's have things going for them, but them being a Spirit/AT lowers their chances to 0%.

Waluigi, for example, has had lots of fan demand, especially since E3 2018. However, seeing as he's an AT, lots of people say he has no chance.

Springman getting in would remove the argument that AT's and spirits cannot be promoted, and thereby increase Waluigi's chances from 0% to whatever % he would otherwise be -- which is what I think a lot of people mean when they say they expect more upgrades if Springman gets in.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Also, saw the SNES mini used to suggest interest in K.Rool. That’s pretty shaky to me considering DKC is simply one piece of it, and there were several other things involved, like the fact that it was a limited Nintendo collectible which ALWAYS sells out.

Never meant to imply a correlation between the SNES mini selling and interest in K. Rool. Thought it definitely gave him more exposure.

 

[Deleted member]

Never meant to imply a correlation between the SNES mini selling and interest in K. Rool. Thought it definitely gave him more exposure.

That's like saying Metroid being available on the Minis helped get Ridley in.

Both Ridley and K Rool have had MASSIVE fan request for ages. Sakurai wanted this to be the 'Ultimate' Smash Bros and got as much of the highly requested characters in as he could. That's why we've got Ridley, K Rool, Banjo, and all previously cut characters in here. The Mini consoles had no real part in this whatsoever.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Could be hard to say at this point but does anyone here legitmately think they could see themselves maining an ARMS character in Smash?

Hell yes I could! I love Mac, but obviously, he's an extra level of bad. If an ARMS character ends up being a Mac with a far better neutral and at least workable recovery, in exchange for lacking super armor and KO Punch of course, the character could join my other mains :3

 

[EricTheGamerman]

Nintendo Corporate's logic in pushing an ARMS character for DLC is interesting.

DLC slots differ from base-game slots in that Nintendo expects a return on investment for each individual character slot. This isn't the case for base game characters, where you can have a higher investment (like Pokemon Trainer, who takes 3x the effort of any other character slot) or a lower expectation of returns (like King K. Rool, who was added to appease Smash fans who were going to buy the game anyway). DLC slots, however, are barred by a $5.99 price of entry, so Nintendo has to be sure that they can expect a return on investment for said character.

- Joker was a popular character from a game with a wide audience, but a completely different install base than Smash (PS4 exclusive), therefore driving interest for Smash among Playsation owners.

- Hero was the mascot of a megafranchise with a huge audience, and helped Nintendo cut a promotion deal for the port of the newest DQ game on their console.

- Banjo, while seemingly lacking modern relevance, was the star of a pack-in title for the XBox One (as well as being the face of N64 nostalgia), thusly driving interest for Smash among XBox owners. I have personal anecdote to back this up -- my uncle bought a switch for his daughters when they wanted to play as Banjo in smash -- who they had been exposed to by Rare Replay.

- Terry, as well as being popular in Latin America, was likely to drive more interest in Smash among the FGC -- who are the video game fans that are going to express the most hardcore interest in smash.

- Byleth was likely to drive interest is Smash among all the new Fire Emblem fans who's first game was Three Houses (which Nintendo totally knew was gonna be big).

'ARMS', on the other hand, is totally different from these picks. Smash's fanbase totally eclipses ARMS's -- the ARMS installbase likely comprises entirely of people who also own Smash, whereas there are many more people who own Smash, but not ARMS. This makes me think that an ARMS rep is being added not to promote Smash among ARMS fans, but ARMS among Smash fans -- meaning Nintendo expects the return on their investment to be an increase in the sales of ARMS, rather than of Smash. This is an interesting move by Nintendo -- and could point to them using Smash DLC to promote dead (like Golden Sun or ARMS) or Zombie (like Starfox or Metroid) franchises in the future, especially if Smash DLC continues past the second Fighters Pass.

See, Nintendo would actually have to care about Golden Sun again to decide to promote it as a "dead franchise" in Smash, and I'm unfortunately like 99% certain Camelot is just going to be making Mario Golf for Switch instead of being allowed to return to Golden Sun again...

But I do agree with the gist of your point, ARMS is definitely Nintendo looking to promote ARMS as the brand and make a few Smash fans happy in the process that wanted to see it in. I do, however, feel like ARMS is rather uniquely qualified to be in a place where they can try to relaunch it as a brand with less overall effort since they could still build upon the original ARMS as a base, it's still an active online game they can promote, and it's recent enough that you're not having to fully relaunch the brand. I also don't really think Metroid or Star Fox are getting more content when they're arguably in incredible shape Smash wise at this point.

Also, saw the SNES mini used to suggest interest in K.Rool. That’s pretty shaky to me considering DKC is simply one piece of it, and there were several other things involved, like the fact that it was a limited Nintendo collectible which ALWAYS sells out.

Anybody who uses the SNES Mini as justification for characters clearly does not understand what the Minis are or what they were meant for. They were stop gap products that Nintendo released during the holidays when the Wii U was absolutely cratering. They certainly put a lot of effort into them, but you cannot extrapolate one game's existence on to mean anything for Smash. Geno fans used to do this a lot and it drove me wild every single time because it's just an illogical frame to try to look at Smash speculation through a wholly unrelated product that people bought for largely unrelated reasons.

 

[dezeray112]

Did that ARMS comic ever come out BTW?

"The graphic novel series based on Nintendo's ARMS franchise is still in development with no current projected release date. This information comes directly from a representative of Dark Horse at Toy Fair NY this past weekend.

Dark Horse is set to publish the ARMS graphic novel series which was announced back in late 2017 and originally slated to have a fall 2018 release date. The project was then delayed to January 2019. A short preview of ARMS was given out as a promotional item during Free Comic Book Day in 2018, but little has been heard about the project since."

Source: https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/53020/arms-graphic-novel-status-update

 

[CureParfait]

If it is Spring Man then I could see Nintendo acting like he is a surprise because most people would never expect for an Assist Trophy to be upgraded in the same game.

 

[Aerospherology]

If it is Spring Man then I could see Nintendo acting like he is a surprise because most people would never expect for an Assist Trophy to be upgraded in the same game.

True, we should consider the people who aren't in this echo chamber in who the ARMS character is.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

If it is Spring Man then I could see Nintendo acting like he is a surprise because most people would never expect for an Assist Trophy to be upgraded in the same game.

Well, then they wasted that surprise on saying it was an ARMS character. I think it's incredibly short sighted to try to make a mystery of who the ARMS rep will be, just to go with Spring Man in the end.

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

Well, then they wasted that surprise on saying it was an ARMS character. I think it's incredibly short sighted to try to make a mystery of who the ARMS rep will be, just to go with Spring Man in the end.

It's why I think Spring Man being standalone with no alts is unlikely to happen. The real surprise would be him being paired with other characters like Ribbon Girl and Min Min.

 

[osby]

'ARMS', on the other hand, is totally different from these picks. Smash's fanbase totally eclipses ARMS's -- the ARMS installbase likely comprises entirely of people who also own Smash, whereas there are many more people who own Smash, but not ARMS. This makes me think that an ARMS rep is being added not to promote Smash among ARMS fans, but ARMS among Smash fans -- meaning Nintendo expects the return on their investment to be an increase in the sales of ARMS, rather than of Smash. This is an interesting move by Nintendo -- and could point to them using Smash DLC to promote dead (like Golden Sun or ARMS) or Zombie (like Starfox or Metroid) franchises in the future, especially if Smash DLC continues past the second Fighters Pass.

ARMS came out a couple of years ago and still has a dedicated player base, so comparing it to Golden Sun makes little sense.

We got only two first-party characters in the fighters passes so far and they were both created for Switch. I don't see how this is a point for Nintendo wanting to revive dead franchises.