Official Newcomer/DLC Speculation Discussion

[3BitSaurus]

"What's that? Smash players are complaining that I'm way too powerful and OP and that no character has a good match up against me?"

"TOO BAD, WALUIGI TIME!"

Sakurai: "Finally, I put that one character people kept pestering me about, even after everything else I had put into Ultimate. He was the last character made for the game, as Challenger Pack 11. It took a lot of work. Let's see how everyone likes him."

(Insert clips of people getting comboed to 3-stock in tournaments and ranting online about how Waluigi is broken and shuts down most other characters.)

 

[SKX31]

Sakurai is going to give him Bayo Smash 4 ladder combos to dunk on the nerds.

"137 % Waluigi Ladder Triple Footstool Quadruple Jab Lock ZERO TO DEATH! Is Waluigi broken?!"

I get why most Smash fans were disappointed, nay, infuriated by Byleth, especially after the third party characters that came before them raised the hype bar so high, but I feel so agitated whenever I see someone take the piss on Byleth just because “lol Fire Emblem sucks” and not giving them a chance. Poor Byleth is the fandom’s whipping boy/girl/yes right now, and that quite frankly makes me sad.

As strange as it sounds, reactions would've likely been better for had and swapped places, so Min Min's in FP1 and Byleth in FP2.

Yes, Min Min would still be hit with some dissapointment over "No Dante!" and first party stuff, and Byleth would still be hit by FE-related complaints... but by the time Byleth's any close to being revealed Three Houses would've been a game people would've been more familiar with. Instead of "They did this purely to promote Three Houses regardless of how well it would've done!".

The only question mark I'd have with this scenario is that a lot of people would've gotten their hopes up due to the Spirit rule being broken earlier... and then comes Byleth.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

On the subject of the dlc characters so far, I was rewatching NYC Nintendo Store reaction videos and the one for Byleth made me sad.

When Byleth was confirmed, I was legit “jumping out of my seat and yelling” hyped, because of how much I love Three Houses. And I was even more excited when the House Leaders’ Relic weapons came crashing down in the trailer, confirming my theory that Byleth would multi-wield to reflect the gameplay changes in 3H.

I get why most Smash fans were disappointed, nay, infuriated by Byleth, especially after the third party characters that came before them raised the hype bar so high, but I feel so agitated whenever I see someone take the piss on Byleth just because “lol Fire Emblem sucks” and not giving them a chance. Poor Byleth is the fandom’s whipping boy/girl/yes right now, and that quite frankly makes me sad.

It's ok I was excited because I got GOTY 2019 in Smash and I had vomited blood a few hours before the reveal.


That's right, I am a master in sacrificial witchcraft, pay attention to who my most wanted characters are if I feel like making another blood sacrifice

 

[GoodGrief741]

but by the time Byleth's any close to being revealed Three Houses would've been a game people would've been more familiar with

Three Houses had already been out for months, Byleth being familiar or not played no part in the hate. You could reveal him in December 2021 and he'd still get hate, he'd still be Fire Emblem character #9.

 

[Michael the Spikester]

And with everything lining up for it, like the “NEW” tab being removed from the Smash Ultimate website?

I still gotta ask though. The NEW tab is still on Minmin. When the NEW was removed from FIGHTERS did any fighter that was the latest revealed still have the NEW on them?

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

On the subject of the dlc characters so far, I was rewatching NYC Nintendo Store reaction videos and the one for Byleth made me sad.

When Byleth was confirmed, I was legit “jumping out of my seat and yelling” hyped, because of how much I love Three Houses. And I was even more excited when the House Leaders’ Relic weapons came crashing down in the trailer, confirming my theory that Byleth would multi-wield to reflect the gameplay changes in 3H.

I get why most Smash fans were disappointed, nay, infuriated by Byleth, especially after the third party characters that came before them raised the hype bar so high, but I feel so agitated whenever I see someone take the piss on Byleth just because “lol Fire Emblem sucks” and not giving them a chance. Poor Byleth is the fandom’s whipping boy/girl/yes right now, and that quite frankly makes me sad.

Honestly Byleth had basically everything working against him/her unless you were specifically a fan of them.

The last character of a fairly hype fighters pass that had been all new IP's, heavily spotlighted with a reveal for just them, with a trailer that (one amusing joke aside) wasn't all that well paced, from a franchise that's gotten knocks for having too many fighters already, and being a character that wasn't even the preferred favorite of many who loved Three Houses.

What didn't help was the fact that Byleth didn't come in a General Nintendo Direct that might have had him/her sandwiched in between other announcements that could have had even dissatisfied fans happy with what was shown before or after. It was a presentation that would reveal both the character and detail them, so if you weren't excited for that fighter well, all you really had to look forward to were potential fun Mii costumes and the aforementioned hope that the FP 6 would be announced.

I admit I'm not the biggest FE fan, but they did the character no favors in that reveal.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

As strange as it sounds, reactions would've likely been better for had and swapped places, so Min Min's in FP1 and Byleth in FP2.

Yes, Min Min would still be hit with some dissapointment over "No Dante!" and first party stuff, and Byleth would still be hit by FE-related complaints... but by the time Byleth's any close to being revealed Three Houses would've been a game people would've been more familiar with. Instead of "They did this purely to promote Three Houses regardless of how well it would've done!".

The only question mark I'd have with this scenario is that a lot of people would've gotten their hopes up due to the Spirit rule being broken earlier... and then comes Byleth.

So instead of a guessing game for ARMS, we would have had one for TH?

I dread that thought

I've seen the house leader debates, they ain't pretty

 

[Perkilator]

I still gotta ask though. The NEW tab is still on Minmin. When the NEW was removed from FIGHTERS did any fighter that was the latest revealed still have the NEW on them?

There was a tweet that answers your question:

The new tab has mysteriously been removed from the smash website. Keep in mind I believe Byleth’s was their up until Min Min was revealed. Fighter number 7 being revealed soon hmmm 🤔 pic.twitter.com/G33q9gSip3

— Shreds the wolf (@edgyfox99) July 13, 2020

Granted, this is an old Tweet, but I'm still willing to take their word for it.

 

[MooMew64]

On the subject of the dlc characters so far, I was rewatching NYC Nintendo Store reaction videos and the one for Byleth made me sad.

When Byleth was confirmed, I was legit “jumping out of my seat and yelling” hyped, because of how much I love Three Houses. And I was even more excited when the House Leaders’ Relic weapons came crashing down in the trailer, confirming my theory that Byleth would multi-wield to reflect the gameplay changes in 3H.

I get why most Smash fans were disappointed, nay, infuriated by Byleth, especially after the third party characters that came before them raised the hype bar so high, but I feel so agitated whenever I see someone take the piss on Byleth just because “lol Fire Emblem sucks” and not giving them a chance. Poor Byleth is the fandom’s whipping boy/girl/yes right now, and that quite frankly makes me sad.

Yo, I love Byleth. They're an extremely cool character who I still play pretty often, and I was happilly yellin' up a storm too when they were announced, so I'm right there with ya. Heck, I hadn't even played Three Houses yet when they were announced, I just thought Byleth looked awesome! After the announcement, I played through the game, and it's one of my all time favorite games now.

 

[Cosmic77]

Three Houses had already been out for months, Byleth being familiar or not played no part in the hate. You could reveal him in December 2021 and he'd still get hate, he'd still be Fire Emblem character #9.

Either F7-F11 leaked and there's another FE character somewhere in there, or you miscounted and said 9 instead of 8.



Eight will likely be the cap for Ultimate.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

A few things I'm thinking about:

Spoiler: My thoughts

1) With Paper Mario coming out this Friday, there's always the possibility that if the rumored Direct does air the 20th, Paper Mario could be the reveal. This would obviously be a 3rd Mario in a similar way to how we already have 3 Link's. However, while it sounds cringe to consider Sakurai saying, "What is Super Mario?", what about the possibility of him asking instead, "What is Paper Mario?". It still sounds silly, but I could see it.

This would capitalize on a recent release and also bring in what is likely another unique gameplay archetype. I'm not super into the idea of a 3rd Mario, nor am I a huge fan of adding another Mario character when we have so many and limited open spots left. But Paper Mario has always been a lowkey want of mine, and I think he'd probably be pretty cool.

I would say to keep that as a potential outcome for the next reveal. I'm not so sure about it happening too far out after that though, but I could absolutely be wrong. If Paper Mario isn't next, it's plausible that The Origami King gets a Spirit Event in the two weeks after, which leads me to my next point...

2) Obviously Dante is one of my most wanted characters. I was recently thinking about how spirits have been handled in base game and then post-launch. When Pokemon Sword and Shield received Spirits and Fire Emblem: Three Houses did not, it was speculated this was an indication that a Three Houses character stood a chance despite many fans still believing that Vol. 1 would be entirely 3rd party based. Sure enough, the game that everyone pointed out as "telling" got a playable character after not receiving Spirits.

During Volume 1, we received spirits for Astral Chain, Ring Fit Adventure, Resident Evil, and Trials of Mana, among others. Trails of Mana specifically stands out to me right now on the basis that it was a 3rd party release that was brought into Smash with spirits around the time of release. Devil May Cry 1-3 has recently released on Switch, and prior to that the series itself had next to know history on Nintendo platforms. With those releases, there hasn't been any Spirit Event. Devil May Cry 3, being a "Definitive Edition" also didn't get spirits. One might think this is strange overall, especially if another series like Trials of Mana got a Spirit event.

To be fair, with Ace Attorney Trilogy releasing on April 9th, 2019, there was no Spirit event for that either.

The case for Dante right now at the least is circumstantial, but it does seem interesting. We have the interview with Mr. Itsuno about Dante in Smash and how, "He should probably be on a Nintendo console first before being in Smash", which was followed by DMC1-3 being ported to Switch, thus putting Dante on Nintendo consoles. You then have DMC3 as a special edition on Switch, including particular changes that DMC fans were long asking for. Another character added on the heels of a Definitive Edition, granted with much more publicity in official material? Hero and Dragon Quest.

There's nothing that definitively puts Dante as a top contender for Vol. 2, but circumstantially these bits of information could be related. We received Octopath Traveler Spirits recently, which was based on the anniversary of the game releasing, so it's not out of the question that Devil May Cry could get an "anniversary" Spirit event either.

3) Not really something that I was thinking about, but to explain and conclude: Spirits, obviously, are simple representations of mostly non-playable characters. As with Min-Min, it's clear that becoming a Spirit is not a death warrant for the odds of becoming playable. The more compelling point, I feel, is the timing of Spirit events and releases relating to the potential of becoming a playable character.

We know that there wasn't a Three Houses spirit event, and we later learned that it was most likely because the spirits would come with a playable fighter. To make the fighter a more complete package, you wouldn't necessarily want to add content post-game that you already have a slot for later on. It's speculated that the choices for Volume 2 were finalized between June- November (at the ABSOLUTE LATEST) of 2019.

Fire Emblem Three Houses released nearly a year ago (July 2019), yet we didn't get Byleth until late January of 2020. Pokemon Sword & Shield released in November 2019, and we got the spirit event shortly following the release of the game. Trials of Mana released on April 24th, 2020 and we got the Spirit event shortly following the release. Ring Fit Adventure released October 2019, and spirits were revealed in March. Astral Chain released in August 2019, and the spirits came just before Byleth was revealed in January. Resident Evil received spirits in late November 2019, which was on the heels of nearly the entire series being announced for Switch around E3 (RE5+6 on Switch released on October 29th, 2019). Animal Crossing New Horizons released in March 2020, and we got spirits shortly afterwards on April 2nd, 2020. It seems that around particular releases (not all), there are spirit events included within a week or two, but this wasn't the case with any of the DMC games. DMC 1 released in June 2019, DMC 2 released in September 2019, and DMC 3 came out in February 2020.

This is highly circumstantial, I will not deny that. However I do think that keeping these things is mind is important to take a deeper look at what we could get.

It should also be noted that we've never gotten Crash Bandicoot Spirits either.

Thanks for reading the Jonespost. I'm not claiming any of this confirms any particular characters, because much could change. Might I have just jinxed Dante, Crash, or Phoenix Wright? What do I know? I just think it's interesting that certain games get Spirit Events, and others don't. The timing suggests that certain games got events while characters were chosen for Vol. 2, and Byleth/Three Houses missing an event eventually led to their eventual inclusion as playable. Based on the timing of the choices for Volume 2, this would suggest that Ring Fit Adventure, Astral Chain, Resident Evil, Trials of Mana, and potentially Pokemon are out of contention. Pokemon is arguably an exception because of being Pokemon, and I would agree that it could still get a playable character considering the context of the spirits we received.

This isn't anything concrete necessarily but I think it's worth paying attention to.

EDIT: Another spirit event was for Link's Awakening. It released on September 20th, and we got a Spirit event PRIOR to it releasing in June. This appears to be an outlier in a similar sense to Octopath Traveler with the anniversary spirits.

EDIT 2: Daemon X Machina also had a Spirit Event. It was released on September 13th, with a spirit event revealed September 24th.

EDIT 3: I questioned when spirit events started and if that would affect Ace Attorney at all. The first "event" was Super Mario Party, despite Pikachu and Eevee spirits released based on whichever game data you had. SMP was in late December 2018, while the Ace Attorney Collection didn't release until 2019.

 

[ZelDan]

As a huge Three Houses fan, I had a few different thoughts running throughout my mind:

"I would have preferred Edelgard"
"Oh? They're giving the House leader relics to the Byleth's? That's actually pretty damn rad and makes me appreciate Byleth more"
"Smash discussions are going to get more crinegy and dumb than they already are, aren't they?"

 

[DuskFleur]

On another random note on Byleth: my only nitpick is that their Specials are just the names of the respective weapons used during them. I would have preferred they use the names of the Combat Arts that each weapon has unique to them; those would’ve been cooler sounding names for Special Attacks.

Neutral Special: Fallen Star
Side Special: Atrocity
Down Special: Raging Storm
Up Special: Ruptured Sky

 

[SharkLord]

I was legitimately happy with Byleth. They were the only one out of FP1 that I actually wanted, even if I was satisfied with them all either way. I was expecting more emphasis on the whip-sword and the Divine Pulse, so while the Relics were cool, I was kinda surprised there wasn't any DP. Still, they became my main for a while, so I'm happy either way.

On another random note on Byleth: my only nitpick is that their Specials are just the names of the respective weapons used during them. I would have preferred they use the names of the Combat Arts that each weapon has unique to them; those would’ve been cooler sounding names for Special Attacks.

Neutral Special: Fallen Star
Side Special: Atrocity
Down Special: Raging Storm
Up Special: Ruptured Sky

Yeah, it's pretty odd. I get stuff like Simon's Cross or Link's Boomerang because that's the only move they use them in. With Byleth, they use the weapons for multiple moves, so it doesn't work. I don't think the Combat Arts would work, though, since those are exclusive to their wielders. Byleth could use the weapons because of their Crest, but I don't think they can use the Combat Arts. I was thinking they should be names after the different parts instead, i.e. Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, etc.

 

[DuskFleur]

I was legitimately happy with Byleth. They were the only one out of FP1 that I actually wanted, even if I was satisfied with them all either way. I was expecting more emphasis on the whip-sword and the Divine Pulse, so while the Relics were cool, I was kinda surprised there wasn't any DP. Still, they became my main for a while, so I'm happy either way.

Yeah, it's pretty odd. I get stuff like Simon's Cross or Link's Boomerang because that's the only move they use them in. With Byleth, they use the weapons for multiple moves, so it doesn't work. I don't think the Combat Arts would work, though, since those are exclusive to their wielders. Byleth could use the weapons because of their Crest, but I don't think they can use the Combat Arts. I was thinking they should be names after the different parts instead, i.e. Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, etc.

Now that’s a good idea! That sounds cool too~

 

[MooMew64]

A few things I'm thinking about:

Spoiler: My thoughts

1) With Paper Mario coming out this Friday, there's always the possibility that if the rumored Direct does air the 20th, Paper Mario could be the reveal. This would obviously be a 3rd Mario in a similar way to how we already have 3 Link's. However, while it sounds cringe to consider Sakurai saying, "What is Super Mario?", what about the possibility of him asking instead, "What is Paper Mario?". It still sounds silly, but I could see it.

This would capitalize on a recent release and also bring in what is likely another unique gameplay archetype. I'm not super into the idea of a 3rd Mario, nor am I a huge fan of adding another Mario character when we have so many and limited open spots left. But Paper Mario has always been a lowkey want of mine, and I think he'd probably be pretty cool.

I would say to keep that as a potential outcome for the next reveal. I'm not so sure about it happening too far out after that though, but I could absolutely be wrong. If Paper Mario isn't next, it's plausible that The Origami King gets a Spirit Event in the two weeks after, which leads me to my next point...

2) Obviously Dante is one of my most wanted characters. I was recently thinking about how spirits have been handled in base game and then post-launch. When Pokemon Sword and Shield received Spirits and Fire Emblem: Three Houses did not, it was speculated this was an indication that a Three Houses character stood a chance despite many fans still believing that Vol. 1 would be entirely 3rd party based. Sure enough, the game that everyone pointed out as "telling" got a playable character after not receiving Spirits.

During Volume 1, we received spirits for Astral Chain, Ring Fit Adventure, Resident Evil, and Trials of Mana, among others. Trails of Mana specifically stands out to me right now on the basis that it was a 3rd party release that was brought into Smash with spirits around the time of release. Devil May Cry 1-3 has recently released on Switch, and prior to that the series itself had next to know history on Nintendo platforms. With those releases, there hasn't been any Spirit Event. Devil May Cry 3, being a "Definitive Edition" also didn't get spirits. One might think this is strange overall, especially if another series like Trials of Mana got a Spirit event.

To be fair, with Ace Attorney Trilogy releasing on April 9th, 2019, there was no Spirit event for that either.

The case for Dante right now at the least is circumstantial, but it does seem interesting. We have the interview with Mr. Itsuno about Dante in Smash and how, "He should probably be on a Nintendo console first before being in Smash", which was followed by DMC1-3 being ported to Switch, thus putting Dante on Nintendo consoles. You then have DMC3 as a special edition on Switch, including particular changes that DMC fans were long asking for. Another character added on the heels of a Definitive Edition, granted with much more publicity in official material? Hero and Dragon Quest.

There's nothing that definitively puts Dante as a top contender for Vol. 2, but circumstantially these bits of information could be related. We received Octopath Traveler Spirits recently, which was based on the anniversary of the game releasing, so it's not out of the question that Devil May Cry could get an "anniversary" Spirit event either.

3) Not really something that I was thinking about, but to explain and conclude: Spirits, obviously, are simple representations of mostly non-playable characters. As with Min-Min, it's clear that becoming a Spirit is not a death warrant for the odds of becoming playable. The more compelling point, I feel, is the timing of Spirit events and releases relating to the potential of becoming a playable character.

We know that there wasn't a Three Houses spirit event, and we later learned that it was most likely because the spirits would come with a playable fighter. To make the fighter a more complete package, you wouldn't necessarily want to add content post-game that you already have a slot for later on. It's speculated that the choices for Volume 2 were finalized between June- November (at the ABSOLUTE LATEST) of 2019.

Fire Emblem Three Houses released nearly a year ago (July 2019), yet we didn't get Byleth until late January of 2020. Pokemon Sword & Shield released in November 2019, and we got the spirit event shortly following the release of the game. Trials of Mana released on April 24th, 2020 and we got the Spirit event shortly following the release. Ring Fit Adventure released October 2019, and spirits were revealed in March. Astral Chain released in August 2019, and the spirits came just before Byleth was revealed in January. Resident Evil received spirits in late November 2019, which was on the heels of nearly the entire series being announced for Switch around E3 (RE5+6 on Switch released on October 29th, 2019). Animal Crossing New Horizons released in March 2020, and we got spirits shortly afterwards on April 2nd, 2020. It seems that around particular releases (not all), there are spirit events included within a week or two, but this wasn't the case with any of the DMC games. DMC 1 released in June 2019, DMC 2 released in September 2019, and DMC 3 came out in February 2020.

This is highly circumstantial, I will not deny that. However I do think that keeping these things is mind is important to take a deeper look at what we could get.

It should also be noted that we've never gotten Crash Bandicoot Spirits either.

Thanks for reading the Jonespost. I'm not claiming any of this confirms any particular characters, because much could change. Might I have just jinxed Dante, Crash, or Phoenix Wright? What do I know? I just think it's interesting that certain game get Spirit Events, and other don't. The timing suggests that certain games got events while characters were chosen for Vol. 2, and Byleth/Three Houses missing an event eventually led to their eventual inclusion as playable. Based on the timing of the choices for Volume 2, this would suggest that Ring Fit Adventure, Astral Chain, Resident Evil, Trials of Mana, and potentially Pokemon are out of contention. Pokemon is arguably an exception because of being Pokemon, and I would agree that it could still get a playable character considering the context of the spirits we received.

This isn't anything concrete necessarily but I think it's worth paying attention to.

EDIT: Another spirit event was for Link's Awakening. It released on September 20th, and we got a Spirit event PRIOR to it releasing in June. This appears to be an outlier in a similar sense to Octopath Traveler with the anniversary spirits.

EDIT 2: Daemon X Machina also had a Spirit Event. It was released on September 13th, with a spirit event revealed September 24th.

Getting Paper Mario would be wild for me because Paper Mario was my most wanted back in the Smash 4 days. It'd be kinda cool to see an old wish fulfilled, so I'd be down with it. Hopefully Sakurai would be allowed to acknowledge Paper Marios not made by Tanabe exist, though: I'd be worried he'd be based off of modern Paper Mario and nothing else.

 

[I.D.]

Yeah, poor Byleth making it as a playable character. Fire Emblem was once again a victim of circumstance.

 

[Speed Weed]

Getting Paper Mario would be wild for me because Paper Mario was my most wanted back in the Smash 4 days. It'd be kinda cool to see an old wish fulfilled, so I'd be down with it. Hopefully Sakurai would be allowed to acknowledge Paper Marios not made by Tanabe exist, though: I'd be worried he'd be based off of modern Paper Mario and nothing else.

i honestly trust sakurai to include stuff from the pre-tanabe games, smash is a game that loves the **** out of its characters and loves showing off their history. unless nintendo is actively trying to scrub those from history which i think veers just a bit into tinfoil hat territory

 

[SpectreJordan]

A few things I'm thinking about:

Spoiler: My thoughts

1) With Paper Mario coming out this Friday, there's always the possibility that if the rumored Direct does air the 20th, Paper Mario could be the reveal. This would obviously be a 3rd Mario in a similar way to how we already have 3 Link's. However, while it sounds cringe to consider Sakurai saying, "What is Super Mario?", what about the possibility of him asking instead, "What is Paper Mario?". It still sounds silly, but I could see it.

This would capitalize on a recent release and also bring in what is likely another unique gameplay archetype. I'm not super into the idea of a 3rd Mario, nor am I a huge fan of adding another Mario character when we have so many and limited open spots left. But Paper Mario has always been a lowkey want of mine, and I think he'd probably be pretty cool.

I would say to keep that as a potential outcome for the next reveal. I'm not so sure about it happening too far out after that though, but I could absolutely be wrong. If Paper Mario isn't next, it's plausible that The Origami King gets a Spirit Event in the two weeks after, which leads me to my next point...

2) Obviously Dante is one of my most wanted characters. I was recently thinking about how spirits have been handled in base game and then post-launch. When Pokemon Sword and Shield received Spirits and Fire Emblem: Three Houses did not, it was speculated this was an indication that a Three Houses character stood a chance despite many fans still believing that Vol. 1 would be entirely 3rd party based. Sure enough, the game that everyone pointed out as "telling" got a playable character after not receiving Spirits.

During Volume 1, we received spirits for Astral Chain, Ring Fit Adventure, Resident Evil, and Trials of Mana, among others. Trails of Mana specifically stands out to me right now on the basis that it was a 3rd party release that was brought into Smash with spirits around the time of release. Devil May Cry 1-3 has recently released on Switch, and prior to that the series itself had next to know history on Nintendo platforms. With those releases, there hasn't been any Spirit Event. Devil May Cry 3, being a "Definitive Edition" also didn't get spirits. One might think this is strange overall, especially if another series like Trials of Mana got a Spirit event.

To be fair, with Ace Attorney Trilogy releasing on April 9th, 2019, there was no Spirit event for that either.

The case for Dante right now at the least is circumstantial, but it does seem interesting. We have the interview with Mr. Itsuno about Dante in Smash and how, "He should probably be on a Nintendo console first before being in Smash", which was followed by DMC1-3 being ported to Switch, thus putting Dante on Nintendo consoles. You then have DMC3 as a special edition on Switch, including particular changes that DMC fans were long asking for. Another character added on the heels of a Definitive Edition, granted with much more publicity in official material? Hero and Dragon Quest.

There's nothing that definitively puts Dante as a top contender for Vol. 2, but circumstantially these bits of information could be related. We received Octopath Traveler Spirits recently, which was based on the anniversary of the game releasing, so it's not out of the question that Devil May Cry could get an "anniversary" Spirit event either.

3) Not really something that I was thinking about, but to explain and conclude: Spirits, obviously, are simple representations of mostly non-playable characters. As with Min-Min, it's clear that becoming a Spirit is not a death warrant for the odds of becoming playable. The more compelling point, I feel, is the timing of Spirit events and releases relating to the potential of becoming a playable character.

We know that there wasn't a Three Houses spirit event, and we later learned that it was most likely because the spirits would come with a playable fighter. To make the fighter a more complete package, you wouldn't necessarily want to add content post-game that you already have a slot for later on. It's speculated that the choices for Volume 2 were finalized between June- November (at the ABSOLUTE LATEST) of 2019.

Fire Emblem Three Houses released nearly a year ago (July 2019), yet we didn't get Byleth until late January of 2020. Pokemon Sword & Shield released in November 2019, and we got the spirit event shortly following the release of the game. Trials of Mana released on April 24th, 2020 and we got the Spirit event shortly following the release. Ring Fit Adventure released October 2019, and spirits were revealed in March. Astral Chain released in August 2019, and the spirits came just before Byleth was revealed in January. Resident Evil received spirits in late November 2019, which was on the heels of nearly the entire series being announced for Switch around E3 (RE5+6 on Switch released on October 29th, 2019). Animal Crossing New Horizons released in March 2020, and we got spirits shortly afterwards on April 2nd, 2020. It seems that around particular releases (not all), there are spirit events included within a week or two, but this wasn't the case with any of the DMC games. DMC 1 released in June 2019, DMC 2 released in September 2019, and DMC 3 came out in February 2020.

This is highly circumstantial, I will not deny that. However I do think that keeping these things is mind is important to take a deeper look at what we could get.

It should also be noted that we've never gotten Crash Bandicoot Spirits either.

Thanks for reading the Jonespost. I'm not claiming any of this confirms any particular characters, because much could change. Might I have just jinxed Dante, Crash, or Phoenix Wright? What do I know? I just think it's interesting that certain games get Spirit Events, and others don't. The timing suggests that certain games got events while characters were chosen for Vol. 2, and Byleth/Three Houses missing an event eventually led to their eventual inclusion as playable. Based on the timing of the choices for Volume 2, this would suggest that Ring Fit Adventure, Astral Chain, Resident Evil, Trials of Mana, and potentially Pokemon are out of contention. Pokemon is arguably an exception because of being Pokemon, and I would agree that it could still get a playable character considering the context of the spirits we received.

This isn't anything concrete necessarily but I think it's worth paying attention to.

EDIT: Another spirit event was for Link's Awakening. It released on September 20th, and we got a Spirit event PRIOR to it releasing in June. This appears to be an outlier in a similar sense to Octopath Traveler with the anniversary spirits.

EDIT 2: Daemon X Machina also had a Spirit Event. It was released on September 13th, with a spirit event revealed September 24th.

EDIT 3: I questioned when spirit events started and if that would affect Ace Attorney at all. The first "event" was Super Mario Party, despite Pikachu and Eevee spirits released based on whichever game data you had. SMP was in late December 2018, while the Ace Attorney Collection didn't release until 2019.

Fingers crossed that you’re onto something with the lack of DMC spirits.

I don’t know why but I’ve had a good feeling about Dante lately. I feel he’s a character they could get pretty easily with the added bonus of having a lot of hype from the Smash community & overall gaming community right now.

I know people are speculating that the budget for Fighters Pass 2 is lower than FP1. But I feel it could be that they’re not spreading the budget out as much as they did for FP1. Hero was probably the only “expensive” character for that Pass & even then he might’ve not been since he was partially there to promote DQXI on Switch. I really doubt that Joker, Banjo or Terry were expensive picks; they were probably the cheapest 3rd party picks besides Pac-Man & Bayonetta.

My idea is that we’ll see something more along the lines of Smash 4’s DLC. Mostly Nintendo characters but with two big names to anchor the Pass. These two characters would be akin to Ryu & Cloud. These two would help bring attention to the Fighter Pass & the other games represented in the Fighter Pass like Arms.

I imagine one will be a Western character & the other would be a Japanese character, I’m leaning towards Dante at the moment.

So we’d see two more Nintendo characters & two big third parties. The last spot would either go to another Nintendo character or it could go to a smaller third party with strong Nintendo ties like Travis, a Bravely Default character or maaaaaybe Lloyd or Geno. Similar to Bayonetta.

 

[Cosmic77]

If they continue the tradition Corrin and Byleth set of them trying to add a character from a recent game, I think we might get another first-party toward the end of the pass that fulfills that quota. BotW2 is all that comes to mind, but I'm sure there's other games coming out in the future that we're unaware of.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

i honestly trust sakurai to include stuff from the pre-tanabe games, smash is a game that loves the **** out of its characters and loves showing off their history. unless nintendo is actively trying to scrub those from history which i think veers just a bit into tinfoil hat territory

Luckily for most Paper Mario fans, Sakurai will in fact include a partner from the original games to help out with various attacks.

Unluckily for a large segment of such fans, that partner will in fact be Flurrie.

 

[GoodGrief741]

Either F7-F11 leaked and there's another FE character somewhere in there, or you miscounted and said 9 instead of 8.



Eight will likely be the cap for Ultimate.

Heh sorry losers, forgot to mention I come from the timeline where Lyn got in

*quiet sobs*

 

[CornOnTheCob]

Luckily for most Paper Mario fans, Sakurai will in fact include a partner from the original games to help out with various attacks.

Unluckily for a large segment of such fans, that partner will in fact be Flurrie.

Hey, I'd be happy for Flurrie...

*remembers the Gust Bellow debates*

oh, yeah. I don't want to know what will happen if someone whose moves in their original game have to do with blowing enemies off the screen came to Smash.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I am perfectly willing to accept Fighter Pass 2 as the end of Ultimate.

But at the same time... I really don't want it to be.

 

[Professor Pumpkaboo]

I am perfectly willing to accept Fighter Pass 2 as the end of Ultimate.

But at the same time... I really don't want it to be.

Im looking forward to thr end because then I can stop hoping for characters Ill never get

 

[WeirdChillFever]

To be fair, five more packs means we still have a Joker-to-Byleth speculation scene left.

 

[PeridotGX]

Didn't we get mostly post 2000s content in the first pass outside of two characters? Hell strictly speaking, only one character in the first pass was done with a pre-2000 game in mind (Banjo-Kazooie). jury's out on Terry, he is still gettin games unlike the poor bear so i don't know if to count him as old or new.

Two characters primarily from the 90's (,), two characters from the 2010's (,) and one character from everywhere ().

...Meanwhile, nothing but an alt for the 2000's. I can't wait for my nostalgia to be profitable in about 10 years!

 

[Garteam]

was one of my most wanted characters, so any negative reaction regarding his reaction just sort of rang hollow in a "Oh well, more for me." type way. I really couldn't have cared less if Reddit was angry or the Nintendo Store was screaming, I was ecstatic. The only thing that really surpassed his inclusion for me was , who I thought was a never-ever in the wake of Erdrick. Probably the only reveal I physically popped off at other than .

 

[N3ON]

I am perfectly willing to accept Fighter Pass 2 as the end of Ultimate.

But at the same time... I really don't want it to be.

But Sakurai hasn't fed his cat, talked to his wife, or slept in nine years.

 

[Cyberfire]

I am perfectly willing to accept Fighter Pass 2 as the end of Ultimate.

But at the same time... I really don't want it to be.

Smash Ultimate’s hype cycle is like a reverse of Brawl and Smash 4. I got to play the game within 9 months of its announcement, which was unheard of since Melee - yet nearly 2 years later (and it’ll be 3 years when FP2 is finished) and I’m still hanging on waiting for hype character reveals.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

But Sakurai hasn't fed his cat, talked to his wife, or slept in nine years.

I mean, Sakurai is already a reverse aging god. Sleep probably isn't that important.

 

[Faso115]

There has been no leaks, therefore it has to be a plumber. And who is a plumber related to the colour purple? I got the answer:

Kind of a weird pick but maybe they wanted to represent newer genres

 

[N3ON]

I mean, Sakurai is already a reverse aging god. Sleep probably isn't that important.

True. He hasn't given his body a chance to realize how old it is.

 

[Nekoo]

Smash Ultimate’s hype cycle is like a reverse of Brawl and Smash 4. I got to play the game within 9 months of its announcement, which was unheard of since Melee - yet nearly 2 years later (and it’ll be 3 years when FP2 is finished) and I’m still hanging on waiting for hype character reveals.

That reminds me how ****ed up Brawl's cycle was.
Remember waiting 6months between the announcement of Brawl and the first character announcement being ****ing Fox being back?
Because I do.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I need a new Smash Bros character trailer already

I

NEED

IT

Smash fans when the July 20th Direct finally arrives, 2020 colorized

I got your newcomer right here fam.

 

[Cyberfire]

That reminds me how ****ed up Brawl's cycle was.
Remember waiting 6months between the announcement of Brawl and the first character announcement being ****ing Fox being back?
Because I do.

Haha yeah in retrospect that was nuts, but I can remember people being actually super excited to see him back!

Until the Brawl Dojo game marketing was nothing like the modern day hype cycles. The Dojo was truly something special.

 

[ZelDan]

My clearest memory of the Brawl Dojo site was when I went on the webite, saw a picture of Isaac, was like "OH ****!" Then noticed the lack of the newcomer banner and the words "assist trophy" in his description and immediately died on the inside.

had a somewhat similar reaction to Lyn, though getting Ike beforehand made her disconfirmation a bit more easier to swallow.

 

[DarthEnderX]

I adore how everyone can agree Ice Climber is a ****ing garbage ass game that would have been forgotten had it not been for Smash but how despite this, everyone was happy to see them back

Smash has a lot of characters that I wish had never been made playable in the first place. But "EVERYONE IS HERE!" is a dopamine hit that just liquifies my completionist brain.

Wish they were never here, but now that they are, I'm stuck needing them to always be here!

At least until I complete my time machine...

 

[TheHeartbreakKid]

Either F7-F11 leaked and there's another FE character somewhere in there, or you miscounted and said 9 instead of 8.



Eight will likely be the cap for Ultimate.

"for Ultimate"

The notion of even MORE FE characters in future Smash games literally turns my stomach. I'm sorry, I have no animosity toward FE as a franchise, but it seems to me that people overlook Sakurai himself saying "there are too many Fire Emblem characters in the game"

Additional FE characters would just mean Sakurai was being forced to work on more characters he didn't care about, just because Nintendo told him to.

That's also part of what made Byleth such a disappointing end to the first FP. There wasn't a single character that felt like they were only included with financial incentive in mind. Banjo comes from a competing console manufacturer, Joker comes from a game that isn't even available on Nintendo systems, etc. Closest you could even argue is Hero, but Dragon Quest was so evidently an IP Sakurai had a lot of passion for, that you can't pretend like Sakurai wouldn't have wanted to work with that franchise.

Byleth's inclusion was such a sour end to the pass for so many cause it was reality hitting. It was Nintendo saying "yeah y'all had your fun, but we've got **** to sell." It wasn't about creativity, or imaginative gameplay, or pleasing fans, or celebrating history. It was about cramming one product into another product to promote a third product.

Byleth is pretty fun to play as, and I'm glad that their inclusion pleased a lot of you. But unlike Terry, Banjo, and the others... Byleth wasn't included for those reasons.

 

[ZenythSmash]

christians when the new testament happens or something idk i never played bible adventures for the nes

Spiritual Warfare is a pretty great Zelda 1 clone tbh