Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[SharkLord]

https://twitter.com/SSBUNews/status/1275849135271424000

Thought this would be interesting to post.

Didn't we have a bit of discussion involving this before?

 

[Iko MattOrr]

Damn right. Despite years of neglect, its status as a classic and Falcon in Smash have kept F-Zero alive and kicking in people's minds. A new F-Zero would sell, that's a guarantee. Nintendo can be incredibly short-sighted, but not capitalizing on a franchise that they've literally been advertising for decades because Miyamoto won't come up with a gimmick is one of their dumbest.

The problem with F-Zero is that it's part of a genre that was popular in the late '90s and early 2000s, and lost appeal later.
Futuristic racers don't sell much outside of their niche... occasionally some clone of F-Zero or Wipeout comes out but fades in the obscurity almost instantly.
Add that F-Zero is a very difficult game that would not be enjoyed by the casual gamers, and that's it.

The thing is that F-Zero has a lot of potential, they just need to think out of the box.
My personal favorite game is F-Zero GP Legend, because I like the more compact track design (unlike the 3D games that are usually way more linear), the easier controls compared to the old SNES version, and the fact that it adds the innovations of F-Zero X to the classic formula (adjust the acceleration/top speed balance, the side attacks to destroy the opponents, and the car's energy used for boost).
Something that I also liked a lot of GP-Legend was the Zero Test: a mode inspired by Gran Turismo's license tests, that puts you into small challenges where you have to be as fast as possible in order to get a bronze, silver or gold cup.

They also have Captain Falcon and all the other characters, along with some iconic locations like mute city and port town.
I think that they can expand the game to something bigger and more complex than just a futuristic racer. They can put in some adventure parts where you explore the cities on several planets as Cpt Falcon and go after some bad guys (to Falcon Punch them), with action gameplay, free roaming, side quests, places where you can upgrade your car and buy new components and all.
They can make several classes of races, and limit the old gameplay to only the higher class; the lower classes are slower and easier to play so that even beginners can enjoy the game (use the license system to allow access to the higher classes, each class should have completely different looking vehicles and maybe some differences in gameplay too, such as the way how you obtain and activate boosts, and destroying the opponents is not possible on the lower classes).
Add a track editor, a garage where you can build your own custom cars, some minigames, a lot of extra content like this and you have a game that will keep you playing for 100+ hours even if you suck at racing.

so, my opinion is: move the focus away from racing and make it into a full adventure game with lots of content; include the old gameplay but only as the final part of the game, when people are already familiar with the controls; in the first part of the game you should drive slower vehicles on smaller tracks; as you win, you get into higher categories of races with better vehichles but harder difficulty.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Thanks.

It's true they could do it with characters outside of Nintendo, and I could definitively see it happening with Braverly Default. I guess it's not the only reason why this pass could be first party dominated. It's telling they started with an ARMS character over something they would get people excited like Joker did. I think it was interesting that he said that and the website is changed to advertise games through these characters (doubt he knew it was changed. I mean, who religiously checks a page with just some pictures).

I figure that all the characters in this pass would have this. The first run was decided while they were still making the game, but now they can have Vol 2 have that cross promotion aspect now that they are doing it from the start. As for Joker, I guess it's because the game he actually represents, Persona 5, is not on Switch and it would seem weird to do the spin off. Like if they added Rex or Elma and advertised Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. Still a little odd but whatever.

Smashchu why are you thanking someone for your 'first' post? You should know alts are banned

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Honestly as far as the rest of the Nintendo's 2020 first party releases, color me skeptical until we see specifically what they are and the actual number of titles. A reassuring message at a shareholder's meeting is nice, but its only just above a generically positive PR release in terms of actual substance.

 

[CannonStreak]

I'd recommend AskHistorians for this (the only subreddit I can recommend - Reddit has generally too low of a bar and thus have allowed massive problems to fester for years.).

Still though, I'll try (this answer took me quite a bit to write, and even a whole re-write because I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt last night):

Hiroshi Yamauchi is a major reason why - he assumed the position of President in 1949, and stepped down in 2002. Because Japan's conservative social mores was still a major force in corporate culture back then, his status as the grandson of Nintendo's founder Fusajiro Yamauchi (President 1889 - 1929, died 1940) and the only boy born in the Yamauchi clan in three generations meant that Hiroshi was next in line after Fusajiro's son-in-law Sekiryo Kaneda (President 1929-1949). Kaneda suffered a stroke in 1948, and as such called in Hiroshi to inherit the family business. Hiroshi had just one demand to the ailing Sekiryo - Hiroshi wanted to be the only family member left in the company. As such, the weakened Sekiryo reluctantly agreed and fired Hiroshi's older cousin. It didn't take long until Sekiryo died and Hiroshi took over.

Having become President at age 21, Hiroshi proceeded to fire every manager left from Fusajiro's reign. Hiroshi was not a popular President early on - his inexperience and the sweep of long time employees did that. And his efforts to modernize and consolidate the hanafuda business resulted in deep-seated tension. Including a hunger strike in 1955. Although details of the strike (and other labor conflicts) are scant, the President wouldn't budge at all. After apparently having issued termination letters to his rivals within Nintendo, he brought his remaining workers under his heel.

“I couldn’t stand being taken for a guy who would only be the boss through blood ties,” Yamauchi was later quoted as saying about the early days. “More than anything else, I wanted to prove them wrong for underestimating me.”

Starting to sound like Kazuya there.

This is further highlighted when Yamauchi started a taxi company, Daiya. And sure, it was successful... but Yamauchi shut Daiya down because he grew tired of negotiating with the evidently powerful taxi unions. And while Yamauchi started other businesses like the trivia favorite the love hotels, Yamauchi wanted Nintendo to expand. And fast. Hanafuda didn't have a high ceiling, even if Nintendo's Disney cards were a major success. And the other ventures wasn't doing so hot (heh).

Thus he would go on to help establish Nintendo's "Games" division in 1969 - hiring people like Gunpei Yokoi for this endavour. And he demanded a lot out of Yokoi and other engineers - new toys, new ways to play. Since Yamauchi used both praise and scorn for this, Yokoi and other engineers effectively "lived for his [Yamauchi's] praise". So yeah, Yamauchi effectively stifled any sort of union-forming and made the executive / engineer ties the norm within Nintendo.

It didn't take long until Yokoi experimented with electronic toys, and by the 70s Nintendo were releasing light gun games and cooperating with Sharp and Mitsubishi. Yamauchi continued to pressure Yokoi and later hires like Miyamoto (hired in 1977) to come up with new ways to play. And no, Yamauchi was not satisfied with Color TV Game (you know, the AT) even if it sold a million, and pressed further. This lead Yokoi to look at the then new electronic calculators... and voila, . Meanwhile, many of Nintendo's other engineers held many, many late night meetings with Yamauchi to discuss their project modelled after Atari's consoles. A Family Computer, if you will.

It's worth to remember that Yamauchi's Nintendo was close to outright collapsing twice. First in 1975, when the oil crisis caused an economic crisis in Japan and effectively shut down Nintendo's light gun ranges. Yamauchi, Yokoi etc. saw the potential in the Pong games and made the call to shift over to video games. Which is what lead to Color TV Game. And the second time in 1980 - when Radar Scope failed miserably in America and NoA head Arakawa pleaded for help. So Yamauchi tasked Miyamoto to rework the unsold Radar Scope cabinets, with Yokoi overseeing the project. No one else was available.

The result? .. The rest, as they say, is history.

But Yamauchi's actions helped establish the R&D department and Nintendo's current culture. Yes, he's been gone from the post for 18 years now - but people like Miyamoto were hired by him and even Sakurai started his career when Yamauchi was still the head honcho. Other people in Nintendo like Iwata have helped perpetuate this culture - case in point: Iwata's work with Pokemon Gold / Silver, which was done post-haste and in relative secrecy. People like Miyamoto, Iwata and Sakurai essentially grew used to Yamauchi's ways and kept the focus around R&D and the organization contractor-centric.

Outside of Yamauchi's lingering influence, Nintendo's anti-union stance comes from their R&D section and need to minimize costs. Nintendo's consoles have generally not been powerhouses. And they've intentionally been built so Nintendo can gain profit per console sold (Sony and Microsoft lose money per console sold and make the difference back in software). Video games is, after all, the overwhelming focus for Nintendo - compare the Wii U's relative failure with the Wii and Switch's successes, and one can see how Nintendo's fortunes rest on them being successful.

Sources:

Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World. Google Books link here.

History of Nintendo: 1889-1980

So it is a combination of things, like Yamauchi having bad experiences with unions with his taxi business and other things? Sounds like Yamauchi was a bad president, if you ask me. Especially early on.

 

[cosmicB]

https://twitter.com/SSBUNews/status/1275849135271424000

Thought this would be interesting to post.

Like the poll itself or that it was tweeted out specifically by that account? It'd be more interesting if SSBUNews was affiliated with Nintendo in any way. You don't get much "official" acknowledgement of the fan requests, so it's a relatively big deal when it happens.

 

[AceAttorney9000]

They showed the first wave of amiibo in the Persona focused presention, I really don't understand this gotcha?

People keep saying that the Hero presentation was meant to be completely "Dragon Quest-focused" (as in, no content relating to anything other than Smash and Dragon Quest was shown) as a way to justify why the Geno costume and Chocobo hat weren't shown. Problem is, if that really were the case, why were the Isabelle, Pokemon Trainer, and Pichu amiibos shown off? Those have nothing to do with Dragon Quest and make even less sense to show off in the presentation than the Geno costumes and Chocobo hat (which would've fit at least somewhat, considering they're both Square Enix characters like Hero).

The Persona presentation may have been Persona-focused, but they had no problems with releasing the two Sonic costumes with Joker, so why not release Geno and Chocobo with Hero?

 

[Cosmic77]

The Persona presentation may have been Persona-focused, but they had no problems with releasing the two Sonic costumes with Joker, so why not release Geno and Chocobo with Hero?

I get what you're trying to say, but I don't think your argument is very strong. I'm pretty sure amiibo will always be shown off as soon as possible regardless of whether or not they're relevant to the presentation.

Why separate the four Mega Man Mii costumes instead of releasing them all together? Why leave out Heihachi from the Mii costumes released with Terry? They don't really need to follow any patterns with these Mii costumes. If they had five Dragon Quest outfits planned and wanted to keep them in packs of five, then it makes sense why they wouldn't release Geno then. There's nothing saying that they have to release every SE costume with a SE character.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

If they had five Dragon Quest outfits planned and wanted to keep them in packs of five, then it makes sense why they wouldn't release Geno then. There's nothing saying that they have to release every SE costume with a SE character

The Dragon Quest wave had only four costumes though...

The stronger point would be that Geno himself doesn't fit with a DQ-themed wave because his inspiration is closer to Final Fantasy because it's the Enix half that did the DQ games, meaning that back when SMRPG released, Dragon Quest was NOT a Square IP.

Still not that strong of a point, but it's stronger than the amiibo argument.

 

[Nekoo]

I think that the reasons that Hero only had DQ costumes is because the DQ team is different and almost separated from the others teams in Square-Enix. Self contained.
If you go and discuss Dragon Quest stuff, you'll only have Dragon Quest members, like Horii and such.
Unlike others Square-IP where for Exemple Nomura/Hashimoto and such basically are involved in almost everything from KH to FF to TWEWY and so on and on.

 

[Nemuresu]

The Persona presentation may have been Persona-focused, but they had no problems with releasing the two Sonic costumes with Joker, so why not release Geno and Chocobo with Hero?

To be fair, I don't think there's any good reason as to why the Heihachi costume had to wait a little longer to come back when it could've been part of Terry's costume batch, which was more fitting given how all costumes were from fighting games, unlike Min Min's.

Part of me just thinks it's a schedule thing. And with only six costumes left, most of them being released in pairs and five character announcements; I don't see any reason to not expect Geno and Chocobo to pop-up in another batch.

 

[Koopaul]

At the end of the day, it was pretty evident min min had all the resources needed to be selected imo.
popularity, a versatile kit, developer favoritism, iconic/unique design, unique name, etc.

whether you feel spring man "deserves" the spot or not is subjective. i agree with the notion that every character is leading, because they all lead their own story. the only notion that would suggest otherwise is the ARMS teaser comic released for free comic book day a couple years ago, and who knows if that will remain relevant when or if ever we get the comic.
Spring Man and Ribbon Girl were the faces for the Switch reveal event and appeared on the box art, sure. But that support was only really early when ARMS was just being revealed.
Beyond that, ALL of the characters got promotional art. Every character were given motivations and goals to lead their own story for Grand Prix. Spring Man and Ribbon Girl are merely a couple of the many competitors in the game. As far as the in-game universe is concerned, the only characters actually pivotal to the world are really Dr. Coyle and Max Brass for creating the sport and being the acting champion.

i mean sure spring man would have been picked if they added a character earlier, but not because he's an assist trophy now, it's because he would have been the only character with a ready design to give to the smash team / sakurai. please don't fool yourself otherwise.


this argument/take is just the perfect encapsulation of "just because you try hard doesn't mean you join the battle".

I'd like to dispel the myth that Spring Man's strong prevelance was only used in promotional material and on the box. A lot of the stuff I'm talking about is unlockable artwork and lore within the game. These pictures were designed to flesh out the ARMS universe rather than promote the game. I'd also like to throw out there that Spring Man is pivotal to that world considering "Spring Man" is a title that is passed down implying that there is importance to the name. This is something Yabuki stated himself.

I'm not arguing that Spring Man deserved to be in Smash and Min Min didn't. I'm arguing that Spring Man is a significantly important character in the ARMS universe and not just the guy they put on the box/ads. This has nothing to do with Smash, I'm just sick of hearing the same misinformation that theres nothing special about Spring Man in the ARMS universe.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I'd like to dispel the myth that Spring Man's strong prevelance was only used in promotional material and on the box. A lot of the stuff I'm talking about is unlockable artwork and lore within the game. These pictures were designed to flesh out the ARMS universe rather than promote the game. I'd also like to throw out there that Spring Man is pivotal to that world considering "Spring Man" is a title that is passed down implying that there is importance to the name. This is something Yabuki stated himself.

I'm not arguing that Spring Man deserved to be in Smash and Min Min didn't. I'm arguing that Spring Man is a significantly important character in the ARMS universe and not just the guy they put on the box/ads. This has nothing to do with Smash, I'm just sick of hearing the same misinformation that theres nothing special about Spring Man in the ARMS universe.

Springtron's existence is enough for me to know there's more to Spring Man than just being "box dude"

 

[Goombaic]

At least games with multiple important or iconic characters won't have discussion surrounding them revolve entirely around the main mascot now. For example, instead of just talking about Nightmare for Soul Calibur, characters like Mitsurugi and Sophitia could now have an ever so slightly bigger presence in speculation.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

All we know about Mii costumes is that it's 5-6 per character and there's only one "premium costume" (replaces head) per pack, if at all. They also tend to bring costumes related to the series of the character but that's not a guarantee as seen with Banjo. Also Fighting game characters are always accompanied with Mii costumes of characters from another fighting game.

 

[Koopaul]

At least games with multiple important or iconic characters won't have discussion surrounding them revolve entirely around the main mascot now. For example, instead of just talking about Nightmare for Soul Calibur, characters like Mitsurugi and Sophitia could now have an ever so slightly bigger presence in speculation.

I don't know. I think ARMS will be the exception. But who knows right? Some people thought Slime would be chosen as the DQ rep because it's the mascot. Series have multiple options to go with. But it's either going to be the fan favorite, the mascot, or the protagonist. I don't see them using anyone else but those three.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

I don't know. I think ARMS will be the exception. But who knows right? Some people thought Slime would be chosen as the DQ rep because it's the mascot. Series have multiple options to go with. But it's either going to be the fan favorite, the mascot, or the protagonist. I don't see them using anyone else but those three.

And even so, when it comes to ARMS, it’s a Monkey’s Paw in which every character is a protagonist, so while we didn’t get the cover mascot, we did get a protagonist from the game from Sakurai’s and Yabuki’s own words.

 

[Koopaul]

I feel like that's less of a Monkey's Paw situation and more of a loophole technicality. Technically everyone is a protagonist.

F-Zero was in the same pool as ARMS. Everyone was the protagonist. Captian Falcon was just one of many playable racers. It wasn't until GX that he became THE protagonist.

 

[cothero]

So, it looks like a Gen 8 Pokémon is the most obvious addition to the 2nd fighter pass at this point. Which Mon you guys think it's going to be?

To be truth, i don't really care for another Pokémon at this point, i'm just bored.

 

[CureParfait]

So, it looks like a Gen 8 Pokémon is the most obvious addition to the 2nd fighter pass at this point. Which Mon you guys think it's going to be?

To be truth, i don't really care for another Pokémon at this point, i'm just bored.

I feel like it might be either Cinderace or Inteleon for Gen 8 Pokemon.

 

[Will]

So, it looks like a Gen 8 Pokémon is the most obvious addition to the 2nd fighter pass at this point. Which Mon you guys think it's going to be?

To be truth, i don't really care for another Pokémon at this point, i'm just bored.

i am but a simple man

i like monke

 

[GoodGrief741]

The problem with F-Zero is that it's part of a genre that was popular in the late '90s and early 2000s, and lost appeal later.
Futuristic racers don't sell much outside of their niche... occasionally some clone of F-Zero or Wipeout comes out but fades in the obscurity almost instantly.
Add that F-Zero is a very difficult game that would not be enjoyed by the casual gamers, and that's it.

The thing is that F-Zero has a lot of potential, they just need to think out of the box.
My personal favorite game is F-Zero GP Legend, because I like the more compact track design (unlike the 3D games that are usually way more linear), the easier controls compared to the old SNES version, and the fact that it adds the innovations of F-Zero X to the classic formula (adjust the acceleration/top speed balance, the side attacks to destroy the opponents, and the car's energy used for boost).
Something that I also liked a lot of GP-Legend was the Zero Test: a mode inspired by Gran Turismo's license tests, that puts you into small challenges where you have to be as fast as possible in order to get a bronze, silver or gold cup.

They also have Captain Falcon and all the other characters, along with some iconic locations like mute city and port town.
I think that they can expand the game to something bigger and more complex than just a futuristic racer. They can put in some adventure parts where you explore the cities on several planets as Cpt Falcon and go after some bad guys (to Falcon Punch them), with action gameplay, free roaming, side quests, places where you can upgrade your car and buy new components and all.
They can make several classes of races, and limit the old gameplay to only the higher class; the lower classes are slower and easier to play so that even beginners can enjoy the game (use the license system to allow access to the higher classes, each class should have completely different looking vehicles and maybe some differences in gameplay too, such as the way how you obtain and activate boosts, and destroying the opponents is not possible on the lower classes).
Add a track editor, a garage where you can build your own custom cars, some minigames, a lot of extra content like this and you have a game that will keep you playing for 100+ hours even if you suck at racing.

so, my opinion is: move the focus away from racing and make it into a full adventure game with lots of content; include the old gameplay but only as the final part of the game, when people are already familiar with the controls; in the first part of the game you should drive slower vehicles on smaller tracks; as you win, you get into higher categories of races with better vehichles but harder difficulty.

I don't think they need to do that, in fact, just making it a racing game will probably keep the budget down. And while the genre is niche, it's not like success can't be found - there's the Fast games, and even WipeOut gets a collection or re-release every so often. If they make a good game that's priced and advertised appropriately, the IP will sell it.

Make it an adventure game, and the budget'll balloon to the point where the bar for profitability will be much higher. Plus it's really unnecessary, with modern technology you can make a louder, rougher, faster and better-looking F-Zero. Keep the solid single player content the series has always had, add more racers, track builder, good online, and you already have the serial escalation needed to sell the game as a sequel.

I feel like that's less of a Monkey's Paw situation and more of a loophole technicality. Technically everyone is a protagonist.

F-Zero was in the same pool as ARMS. Everyone was the protagonist. Captian Falcon was just one of many playable racers. It wasn't until GX that he became THE protagonist.

I dunno, Falcon, too, was like Spring Man in that ancillary stuff (boxart, comics, etc) had him as the clear protagonist.

 

[CosmicQuark]

Spring Man was the first character to be revealed to represent ARMS in Smash, Spring Man’s stage is the ARMS stage, Spring Man was the first one featured prominently in Min Min’s trailer. Pretty much everything points to Spring Man being the de facto mascot/protagonist outside of the playable character and Sakurai’s comments on what the producer said.

I bet if Spring Man wasn’t an assist trophy, Spring Man would have been the character. No way to know that, but feels like it given what’s been shown to us.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

A Gen 8 fighter feels like its in the weird spot of seeming equally likely in appearing or not appearing. One showing up would probably be the most significant Pokemon paid DLC to pop up in another franchise, yet I can so easily envision a fighter's pass without it.

Its a contrast to something like Fire Emblem where I always expected a fighter showing up at some point (even if my initial instinct was that it would be the second pass and not the first).

 

[Cosmic77]

A Gen 8 fighter feels like its in the weird spot of seeming equally likely in appearing or not appearing. One showing up would probably be the most significant Pokemon paid DLC to pop up in another franchise, yet I can so easily envision a fighter's pass without it.

Its a contrast to something like Fire Emblem where I always expected a fighter showing up at some point (even if my initial instinct was that it would be the second pass and not the first).

Personally, I don't think Pokemon and FE are all that different when it comes to characters getting in Smash. If one can get a character from its latest game, then I don't understand why the other couldn't or why it would be significantly less likely.

 

[Smash Monkey]

I bet if Spring Man wasn’t an assist trophy, Spring Man would have been the character. No way to know that, but feels like it given what’s been shown to us.

Feel like if they added ARMS into the base game, it would have been Spring Man for sure. Maybe we live in the best timeline.

 

[Goombaic]

But it's either going to be a fan favorite, a mascot, or a protagonist. I don't see them using anyone else but those three.

I feel like that's a better way of wording it. It's not like every series only has one of each of those.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Feel like if they added ARMS into the base game, it would have been Spring Man for sure. Maybe we live in the best timeline.

There's also a chance the moveset may not have been as unique because with DLC, they have significantly less things to work on than base game.

Sure, there's a smaller staff and a smaller budget, but being able to to focus on only one character and stage is really not much compared to the titan that is a base launch Smash game.

 

[SNEKeater]

I'd like to dispel the myth that Spring Man's strong prevelance was only used in promotional material and on the box. A lot of the stuff I'm talking about is unlockable artwork and lore within the game. These pictures were designed to flesh out the ARMS universe rather than promote the game. I'd also like to throw out there that Spring Man is pivotal to that world considering "Spring Man" is a title that is passed down implying that there is importance to the name. This is something Yabuki stated himself.

I'm not arguing that Spring Man deserved to be in Smash and Min Min didn't. I'm arguing that Spring Man is a significantly important character in the ARMS universe and not just the guy they put on the box/ads. This has nothing to do with Smash, I'm just sick of hearing the same misinformation that theres nothing special about Spring Man in the ARMS universe.

Yeah, it's a bit tiring to read people considering Spring Man "just another character from ARMS". He's not, and all we saw in the previous presentation should be enough proof that he's an important character. If ARMS 2 is a thing in the future, I'm 100% convinced Spring Man will be in the box art with a strong presence in the marketing and all the promotional work.

Certainly, ARMS is not Street Fighter, so in that regard choosing another character over the mascot isn't a sin or something like that. ARMS doesn't have the influency and legacy of other fighting games, maybe it will in the future, but I'm pretty sure if ARMS was a 15 old year popular franchise Spring Man would be the chosen one.
In comparison to SF or other series, ARMS just has one game at this point and if the franchise gets more games we will see where things will go.

 

[Deleted member]

Alright time to make a quick prediction list for the rest of Vol 2. I don't recall ever saying who I think are going to be in Vol 2 cause there were only 2 series I think will have a strong probability of being in it, but today, I'm throwing them out with brief explanations (in no particular order).

-Dynasty Warriors Rep: sticking to my guns on this 1 since I'm super biased about it and for various reasons: spawned the Musou genre, KT's flagship franchise, their relationship with Nintendo, and the games they've developed under their IPs.

-Billy & Jimmy: thinking there's going to be a retro NES rep in Vol 2, and the series in question will be Double Dragon. The Beat Em up genre is unrepped with a fighter, so my bets are going on the Lee brothers (and if possible, 1 of them could even be an echo).

-Gen 8 Pokemon: Even though there was a spirit event for SwSh back in November, there's still a lot of content to pull from the games. Plus, Three Houses and ARMS are Switch titles with a slot on a Fighter Pass; it wouldn't surprise me if we see a Gen 8 Pokemon making the list too since it's also a Switch title.

-Crash: mostly because he's a big want from the community since the conception of the 1st Fighter Pass, so he'll probably be in Smash out of mass fan requests

-Geralt: He's my wildcard pick of Vol 2. Yeah I get the novels came first, but really, it's possible that The Switcher port opened doors for negotiations to add The Witcher to Smash.


Pretty much the only 2 predictable characters on this list are Crash and a SwSh Pokemon. Everyone else isn't really a hot commodity within speculation except maybe Geralt since I've seen decent discussions on him pop up more than the other 2. The 1 major thing this list lacks are reoccurring 3rd party companies, so it's definitely possible that a SEGA or Capcom rep can just swoop in and **** up my predictions. I can't wait for a year and a half to pass by to see how close my predictions got to the actual lineup.

 

[Faso115]

I still believe Min Min was chosen because they messed up and made Spring Man an AT. Plus, he is kinda basic unlike Min Min

Most of the franchise that have several player characters, like Pokemon, Street Fighter or Fatal Fury have gone with their main players.

All except F-Zero, who i'm not sure if Falcon was the main guy before he was chosen for Smash.

 

[MooMew64]

I think some assumptions are being made in assuming SM would've been chosen had he not been AT'd.

Yes, SM is popular, and was used in marketing materials for ARMS, but Min Min has been a character that's rising the ranks in popularity and was specifically requested by the ARMS Director. Plus, given Yabuki's claims of ARMS having no specific protagonist, I'd say there's the possibility Min Min might pull a Morrigan and take a more forefront place in ARMS marketing alongside Spring Man, especially being the one chosen for Smash.

 

[SharkLord]

So from what I know, the only real leak at the moment is LoL leak. As for dead/life support leaks:
Doujin leak. Reimu for Smash and all that, it's dragged on forever but we're still unable to deconfirm it. FP7 is probably the killswitch date.
CacoMallow. If the models are done, you'd think we'd get them around the time of Byleth or Min Min. By now, we've gotten a grand total of twelve costumes, including a non-Cacodemon Bethesda costume. Again, FP7 will put this one to rest.
Flying weapon girl. This was for FP4, and yet we keep dragging it back up due to some funny little coincidences. Let the dead rest, guys.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I think some assumptions are being made in assuming SM would've been chosen had he not been AT'd.

Yes, SM is popular, and was used in marketing materials for ARMS, but Min Min has been a character that's rising the ranks in popularity and was specifically requested by the ARMS Director. Plus, given Yabuki's claims of ARMS having no specific protagonist, I'd say there's the possibility Min Min might pull a Morrigan and take a more forefront place in ARMS marketing alongside Spring Man, especially being the one chosen for Smash.

But if we had gotten an ARMS character in the base game, it would've been decided long before the game released, long before we knew Min Min would be a character.

So picking one of the people who introduces the game, by being the first revealed, having a lot of pre-launch promotion and a lot of pictures in the gallery, not to mention everything else that makes Spring Man major, he would've very likely been the chosen pick.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I still believe Min Min was chosen because they messed up and made Spring Man an AT. Plus, he is kinda basic unlike Min Min

Most of the franchise that have several player characters, like Pokemon, Street Fighter or Fatal Fury have gone with their main players.

All except F-Zero, who i'm not sure if Falcon was the main guy before he was chosen for Smash.

Falcon was the main guy in fzero, at least his car was.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Falcon was the main guy in fzero, at least his car was.

His car is the most prominent one on the boxes of both F-Zero SNES and F-Zero X.

Funny enough this is not the case for X's cartridge, as Samurai Goroh's Fire Stingray can be easily seen while the Blue Falcon is obscured by logos and the ESRB rating.

 

[Will]

All except F-Zero, who i'm not sure if Falcon was the main guy before he was chosen for Smash.

i don't recall samurai goroh getting a whole comic packaged with the SNES game with him as the protagonist

 

[Michael the Spikester]

I'd say there's the possibility Min Min might pull a Morrigan and take a more forefront place in ARMS marketing alongside Spring Man, especially being the one chosen for Smash.

What I'm suspecting too.

I still believe Min Min was chosen because they messed up and made Spring Man an AT. Plus, he is kinda basic unlike Min Min

Most of the franchise that have several player characters, like Pokemon, Street Fighter or Fatal Fury have gone with their main players.

All except F-Zero, who i'm not sure if Falcon was the main guy before he was chosen for Smash.

"Everyone is the protagonist in ARMS" - Sakurai

"Min Min was chosen because ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuki said 'I want Min Min'". - Sakurai

 

[Faso115]

"Everyone is the protagonist in ARMS" - Sakurai

"Min Min was chosen because ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuki said 'I want Min Min'". - Sakurai

The truth is never enough, that's why smashers must speculate, because without speculation there is no smashboards! /s

Real talk, Min Min is a very specific chance because her game has a roster of playable characters and that's why she was chosen. I find it unlikely other newcomers will have the same situation UNLESS we are talking about Pokemon, then we should discuss if it's a starter, a legendary or even a random out of left field pick.

I would love Corviknight myself, spirit be damned.

 

[GaroMaster]

I saw some people mention the possibility of a Gen 8 Pokemon as DLC, and while I'm not exactly down for it to happen, I would be open minded to it since they injected so much life into Incineroar, so whoever they choose will offer something new to the table.

That being said, there is something that I would be sad about, and it's how unlikely it is they would add Gen 8 Pokemon to the Poke Ball rotation.

It'd just feel weird to have a new generation of Pokemon join Smash and it's only the playable Pokemon and Spirits to an extent.