Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Zerp]

I want to ask in terms of the Smash Ballot. do you believe what has been said about the results?

I refuse to put absolute and total trust in anything where they don't show me the actual data. That said, I doubt Bayonetta winning was a lie, she probably did win among "realizable" characters. You might bring up that uh hey, datamining suggests Bayonetta started development early through the ballot (in 1.0.6 they put in a ZSS clone slot that later became Bayo and a Ike one that became Cloud) which also means they'd have to plan it before that. Which would mean that hey, your vote likely did nothing in Smash 4 and the only thing it probably changed was the order between Cloud and Bayonetta. But believe it or not, that still doesn't invalidate it.

Now why's that? Because "realizable" is the verbal equivalent to a cheat code, it's so incredibly vague it can mean whatever you want it to. For example, "realizable" could really just mean among people who were already going to get in. As in she beat Ryu, Roy, Lucas, Corrin and Cloud. Not a lie, just not what people would've wanted to hear at the time. It's not like they'd actually straight up tell you "Uh actually your votes amounted to NOTHING this game, the big ballot winners are all being saved for next game lol". Is this very misleading? Yeah. An outright lie? Nah, it might feel like one but it technically isn't lol.

Now for Sora and Banjo being number 1 and 2 (among newcomers), yeah I can believe that. Quite frankly it's a million times less weird than Bayo was, and I wouldn't even view her as super weird without the datamining. Sora was HUGE and Banjo had an incredibly dedicated support base. It's a very realistic result and I doubt they'd feel a need to lie about it. Like, really, who's going to riot because Banjo was actually #3 instead of #2? Not many people, it's not like the Bayo thing where it'd be like your vote having zero impact for that game lol.

So like, would I bet my life savings on them winning? Never. There's no hard data so we can't verify it, even if it's a 1% chance that's still a chance to lose everything lol. Do I think they won legitimately? Yes, I think it's significantly more probable than not that they won, I really don't doubt it.

 

[BrawlX10]

Sorry for begin a bit off-topic, but talking about the Smash 4 days gives me so much nostalgia. Those were the days xD.

 

[Shinuto]

I refuse to put absolute and total trust in anything where they don't show me the actual data. That said, I doubt Bayonetta winning was a lie, she probably did win among "realizable" characters. You might bring up that uh hey, datamining suggests Bayonetta started development early through the ballot (in 1.0.6 they put in a ZSS clone slot that later became Bayo and a Ike one that became Cloud) which also means they'd have to plan it before that. Which would mean that hey, your vote likely did nothing in Smash 4 and the only thing it probably changed was the order between Cloud and Bayonetta. But believe it or not, that still doesn't invalidate it.

Now why's that? Because "realizable" is the verbal equivalent to a cheat code, it's so incredibly vague it can mean whatever you want it to. For example, "realizable" could really just mean among people who were already going to get in. As in she beat Ryu, Roy, Lucas, Corrin and Cloud. Not a lie, just not what people would've wanted to hear at the time. It's not like they'd actually straight up tell you "Uh actually your votes amounted to NOTHING this game, the big ballot winners are all being saved for next game lol". Is this very misleading? Yeah. An outright lie? Nah, it might feel like one but it technically isn't lol.

Now for Sora and Banjo being number 1 and 2 (among newcomers), yeah I can believe that. Quite frankly it's a million times less weird than Bayo was, and I wouldn't even view her as super weird without the datamining. Sora was HUGE and Banjo had an incredibly dedicated support base. It's a very realistic result and I doubt they'd feel a need to lie about it. Like, really, who's going to riot because Banjo was actually #3 instead of #2? Not many people, it's not like the Bayo thing where it'd be like your vote having zero impact for that game lol.

So like, would I bet my life savings on them winning? Never. There's no hard data so we can't verify it, even if it's a 1% chance that's still a chance to lose everything lol. Do I think they won legitimately? Yes, I think it's significantly more probable than not that they won, I really don't doubt it.

I mean they probably used early results cause lets face it most of the votes were likely sent within the first few months. It would make sense if Bayonetta within 2 months of the ballot had like 30,000 votes or whatever and she was right up at the top.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Before it was said when Smash 4 DLC concluded that Bayonetta was the decisive winner of the ballot but somehow it said Sora was the winner and Banjo a close second for Ultimate

Bayonetta was never explicitly said to be the decisive winner of the Ballot. On the very reveal of her having been the "winner" of the Ballot, there was this "among realizable characters" asterisk on the corner that gave the implication that she was never the true winner to begin with.

And knowing the top 2 is Sora and Banjo (barring potential meme-picks like Shrek), it makes sense why Bayo would be the best realistic choice, given how Disney was in 2015 (there's a reason why we thought Sora was impossible until his reveal) and how Microsoft and Nintendo were just starting to dip their toes in collaborating together by working on Minecraft's Mario stuff.

It also helps that she was already actively being worked on months before the Ballot ended which we know thanks to datamines but even without them, do you really think Sakurai and his team would have done enough work to fully showcase everything about Bayonetta in just the two months between the ballot's end and the final Smash 4 Direct? I genuinely believe they saw that she did very well and thought "welp, might as well say she won" out of sheer convenience.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

About the Ballot, this might be a little obvious, but I wonder how Sakurai handled the non-video game requests he had received during the days of the ballot? (Shrek, Spongebob, Goku) I wonder if he just laughed or shook his head, and how many of such requests were there overall in comparison to actual video game characters?

 

[Watuna4343]

I'm personally more hestiant to cut 64, Melee and Brawl characters unless they're Roy, Dr. Mario, Young Link or Pichu or some characters that have been cut before.
I personally think 64, Melee and Brawl characters that haven't ever been cut have been around for so many years as playable characters in Smash Bros. that they can stick around simply for begin popular or mainstays at this point (Ex: Sheik,, Ike, Jigglypuff, Ness, ROB) even if they're not really relevant anymore outside Smash Bros.
But that's just my take of coure.

64 I 100% get and I actually agree, they are special. Melee, to a smaller degree but I too could see it to a lesser extent but Brawl? The Brawl fighters only had 1 chance to not get the axe and that was when basically Sakurai ported as much from Brawl as possible. There are definitely characters that are prime to get cut that have appeared in every game since Brawl with the most prime example being Lucas. I'd personally be shocked to see Lucas return. Other characters that I'd feel are more than understandable cuts are Toon Link and ROB, the former for being a 2nd Link basically and the latter for not even being a video game character and for probably being lower priority among the NES/retro reps. I could even see ZSS getting axed given that she already exists on the roster in her more iconic form but she is slightly more likely to stick around. Point is, I'd say there's definitely fluff in Brawl's newcomers selection that might be left out once Smash 6 comes around depending on the cuts.

 

[Zerp]

I mean they probably used early results cause lets face it most of the votes were likely sent within the first few months. It would make sense if Bayonetta within 2 months of the ballot had like 30,000 votes or whatever and she was right up at the top.

Problem here is they didn't have two months, the Smash Fighter Ballot began on April 1st, 2015. That patch came out on April 15th, so literally just two weeks after.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

I mean, I can see why Bayonetta winning was no lie, though I do not think she was actually the true winner. Still, whatever, because she was being made at just the right time. Regardless of her performance on the ballot, she was a character from a game from a company with good relations to Nintendo, and she was appearing on Nintendo consoles. So why not? I think it would have been harder for her to be the last character as DLC for Smash 4 had she come at some other time, winner of the ballot or not.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Yeah, I remember it being two weeks as well. A huge difference from two months. Two months wouldn't have even been anything but a shrug-worthy factor. That's plenty of time to finish negotiations and start work on it. Two weeks? Not so. It's blatantly clear Bayonetta was already planned. The key point obviously was that she was the only one realizable and happened to do well on the ballot. That's all they were saying. It's very easy for it to be misleading, of course. The ballot isn't why she's playable.

People were clamoring for "somebody from the ballot to be DLC", as the translated Ballot Information didn't bother to make it clear that "they could be DLC for Smash For", which led to even more confusion. The ballot didn't influence the DLC characters, but it likely helped our costume options. Especially as we learned King K. Rool was also chosen due to the ballot(as was Sora, Castlevania in general, Banjo & Kazooie, Ridley, and there's a good chance that it where the data for Chrom and Dark Samus came from. Daisy, like Isabelle, would've obviously been popular on it too, but not the main reason. They were easy to add or a massive addition that was easy to expect. Then you got the veteran votes, which heavily helped bring them all back. And there's a bunch of content in Ultimate among costumes, spirits, and AT's, so... it's a very useful ballot).

Besides, the ballot was more like a suggestion piece, not meant to have one true winner anyway. When multiple characters "won" and got in as confirmed, it's pretty clear what its purpose was. It's only during Smash For's times that it was easy to misunderstand that it's not a straight-out popularity contest.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

Yeah, I remember it being two weeks as well. A huge difference from two months. Two months wouldn't have even been anything but a shrug-worthy factor. That's plenty of time to finish negotiations and start work on it. Two weeks? Not so. It's blatantly clear Bayonetta was already planned. The key point obviously was that she was the only one realizable and happened to do well on the ballot. That's all they were saying. It's very easy for it to be misleading, of course. The ballot isn't why she's playable.

People were clamoring for "somebody from the ballot to be DLC", as the translated Ballot Information didn't bother to make it clear that "they could be DLC for Smash For", which led to even more confusion. The ballot didn't influence the DLC characters, but it likely helped our costume options. Especially as we learned King K. Rool was also chosen due to the ballot(as was Sora, Castlevania in general, Banjo & Kazooie, Ridley, and there's a good chance that it where the data for Chrom and Dark Samus came from. Daisy, like Isabelle, would've obviously been popular on it too, but not the main reason. They were easy to add or a massive addition that was easy to expect. Then you got the veteran votes, which heavily helped bring them all back. And there's a bunch of content in Ultimate among costumes, spirits, and AT's, so... it's a very useful ballot).

Besides, the ballot was more like a suggestion piece, not meant to have one true winner anyway. When multiple characters "won" and got in as confirmed, it's pretty clear what its purpose was. It's only during Smash For's times that it was easy to misunderstand that it's not a straight-out popularity contest.

I am surprised that I did not think of that before. I mean, if there was a ballot winner, we would just have something like only one character who won the ballot be added into Smash Bros., would we not? I mean, Smash Bros., in my belief, is too big to have just a single winner from something like the ballot, anyways.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I feel like it was a happy coincidence that Bayonetta did well on the Ballot, especially in European regions if I remember right.

It probably didn't really influence her selection, though it definitely looked like it at the time. It's more likely imo that it was always intended to be for the next game (sorta like the old Smash 2 poll for Melee) and for Mii Costumes and things in Smash 4 in the interim, hence things like the K. Rool costume.

Still hoping its influence lets Isaac get in next game, but also wouldn't mind them taking another swing at a Ballot like this after next game tbh

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

Anyway, in the case, Sora was said to have received the most votes out of any character, but that does not mean he won, as like what was said before, there were multiple "winners", like King K. Rool, Ridley and Simon. To have just one character win the ballot would mean there would be "no time for losers" to add into Ultimate, if you know what I mean, and like I said, Smash is big, too big for just one character to just win at something like a ballot. I don't think many fans would be happy if there was just one winner, and I think the number of votes for each character did not really matter in the end.

 

[RileyXY1]

Although they literally added an extra slot to FP2 just to slot Sora in there because they had finally gotten the rights to use him.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Anyway, in the case, Sora was said to have received the most votes out of any character, but that does not mean he won, as like what was said before, there were multiple "winners", like King K. Rool, Ridley and Simon. To have just one character win the ballot would mean there would be "no time for losers" to add into Ultimate, if you know what I mean, and like I said, Smash is big, too big for just one character to just win at something like a ballot. I don't think many fans would be happy if there was just one winner, and I think the number of votes for each character did not really matter in the end.

Well not necessarily. I do think Sora "won" overall as in had the most votes, it's just Ultimate added a bunch of highly voted characters, so Sora was the overall winner but a good number of "winners" ended up getting added anyway, like Ridley, K. Rool, Banjo, etc. lol

It's like how Bowser "won" the Smash 2 poll, but they still added characters like Peach, Mewtwo, Ganondorf, Child Link/Zelda/Sheik (who all tied for second for Zelda characters), Falco potentially...

 

[fogbadge]

About the Ballot, this might be a little obvious, but I wonder how Sakurai handled the non-video game requests he had received during the days of the ballot? (Shrek, Spongebob, Goku) I wonder if he just laughed or shook his head, and how many of such requests were there overall in comparison to actual video game characters?

I imagine he largely ignored them. as how many there were, knowing the internet loads

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

Well not necessarily. I do think Sora "won" overall as in had the most votes, it's just Ultimate added a bunch of highly voted characters, so Sora was the overall winner but a good number of "winners" ended up getting added anyway, like Ridley, K. Rool, Banjo, etc. lol

Again, like a few others said, which I agreed to, I don't think there was just one winner. I mean, in my eyes, if Sora truly won, others would not have been chosen aside from him, as they would not have been winners as well, and would not have been in the game, Smash Bros. Ultimate by now, It is like how multiple players or teams in a sports game can' win the first place trophy at the same time. I don't think many fans realized what kind of ballot this was. If there were just one winner, even if they had the most votes, I can see many fans still be angry. Just ask those back then from when Bayonetta was announced as the winner of the ballot during the end of the Smash 4 days.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Although they literally added an extra slot to FP2 just to slot Sora in there because they had finally gotten the rights to use him.

It's not that they were fighting for the rights to use him, it's that Sakurai never even had the opportunity to until he bumped into a Disney executive out of sheer luck.

The moment this happened, it seemingly was a very smooth process to secure the rights to him given they were able to confidently say FP2 had 6 characters the second they announced that Pass.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

It is funny in hindsight that with all the speculation on whether Disney would be an issue with Sora (and I include myself there) that Nomura flat out revealed they were completely fine with it, and he was the one who was reluctant because of its place in the KH timeline:

"Another area where we saw Kingdom Hearts’ popularity surge was seeing Sora in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Can you talk about your feelings on having Sora involved?

Obviously, I was very happy that we were able to have Sora make an appearance in Smash Bros. Ultimate. Most of the feedback when Sora was [announced] for Smash Bros. Ultimate was, ‘I can’t believe Disney okayed for him to be in this game.’ Behind the scenes, I was actually the one being very picky about his appearance in Smash Bros. Disney was the one that was like, ‘Go ahead! This is a great opportunity.’ I thought it would be tough to pull off because it might clash with the established lore in Kingdom Hearts and the Disney worlds, so it was an opportunity I had to consider very carefully. After seeing how happy everybody was in welcoming Sora to Smash Bros., I feel like the end result was really great."


Given Disney's own struggles in the video game marketplace it does make complete sense that they saw the chance to have their character in the best-selling fighting game of all time and in the hands of an acclaimed director was probably some of the easiest money and promotion they could ever get.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

It is funny in hindsight that with all the speculation on whether Disney would be an issue with Sora (and I include myself there) that Nomura flat out revealed they were completely fine with it, and he was the one who was reluctant because of its place in the KH timeline:

"Another area where we saw Kingdom Hearts’ popularity surge was seeing Sora in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Can you talk about your feelings on having Sora involved?

Obviously, I was very happy that we were able to have Sora make an appearance in Smash Bros. Ultimate. Most of the feedback when Sora was [announced] for Smash Bros. Ultimate was, ‘I can’t believe Disney okayed for him to be in this game.’ Behind the scenes, I was actually the one being very picky about his appearance in Smash Bros. Disney was the one that was like, ‘Go ahead! This is a great opportunity.’ I thought it would be tough to pull off because it might clash with the established lore in Kingdom Hearts and the Disney worlds, so it was an opportunity I had to consider very carefully. After seeing how happy everybody was in welcoming Sora to Smash Bros., I feel like the end result was really great."


Given Disney's own struggles in the video game marketplace it does make complete sense that they saw the chance to have their character in the best-selling fighting game of all time and in the hands of an acclaimed director was probably some of the easiest money and promotion they could ever get.

This is also part of the reason I think Sora coming back is more likely than people make him out to be lol

Everyone's reason is usually because of Disney, but they saw it as a great opportunity and were perfectly fine with it likely since they don't have a big hold in the video game industry. I could see them MAYBE hold him off for a bit because they don't really have many other names as big to leverage for more DLC if they want specifically the DLC money that bad rather than just general licensing costs, but I could also just as easily see Sora just come back, especially since he's the biggest fan request of all time.

 

[RileyXY1]

This is also part of the reason I think Sora coming back is more likely than people make him out to be lol

Everyone's reason is usually because of Disney, but they saw it as a great opportunity and were perfectly fine with it likely since they don't have a big hold in the video game industry. I could see them MAYBE hold him off for a bit because they don't really have many other names as big to leverage for more DLC if they want specifically the DLC money that bad rather than just general licensing costs, but I could also just as easily see Sora just come back.

I think he'll be DLC again simply due to him being a Square Enix character. I don't think that we will ever have any SE reps in the base roster unless they do Everyone is Here again.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

I think he'll be DLC again simply due to him being a Square Enix character. I don't think that we will ever have any SE reps in the base roster unless they do Everyone is Here again.

He's not a Square Enix character though. Disney fully owns him which is why Disney shows up in the copyrights list when booting up Ultimate.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

I feel like with Bayonetta they picked a character who they basically could guarantee would get a hefty amount of votes. Due to Bayo 1 & 2 being a BIG Wii U release and 2 being a critical darling Bayonetta was going to get a good bit of votes. So they picked her well in advance.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I think he'll be DLC again simply due to him being a Square Enix character. I don't think that we will ever have any SE reps in the base roster unless they do Everyone is Here again.

I'm of the opinion that Cloud and Sephiroth will be a DLC dual pack thing since the FF7 installments are kinda huge for SE right now, but Hero is likely to return since Dragon Quest is very Nintendo-adjacent and it's a huge name in Smash's home country (I mean they have an internal rule at SE that they can only release those games on weekends so people don't skip school/work for them as far as I recall). Not to mention Square want to go multi-platform again because being Sony exclusive tanked their profit line, so Nintendo is a possible avenue for that even for FF7.

You'd probably have to talk to them a little bit anyway for Sora's magic, even though he's fully owned by Disney (though admittedly I don't know if that's how that works), so I feel like this would be a good way for Square to still be involved while also making bank off of some of their most popular characters while also advertising the FF7 remake that may also come out on Switch 2 if rumors are correct. This way just feels like a win-win of sorts to me.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

He's not a Square Enix character though. Disney fully owns him which is why Disney shows up in the copyrights list when booting up Ultimate.

Actually, it's been researched and Square-Enix partially owns him too. It's kind of complicated.

...That said, he's not going to be hard to get the rights to again anyway. It's way overblown. Disney owns most of the character, which is the key point. Meanwhile it's a lot more complicated for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Hero.

 

[SharkLord]

Actually, it's been researched and Square-Enix partially owns him too. It's kind of complicated.

...That said, he's not going to be hard to get the rights to again anyway. It's way overblown. Disney owns most of the character, which is the key point. Meanwhile it's a lot more complicated for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Hero.

I think it's also been established that the biggest problem with SE is that the rights to the songs and artwork are scattered throughout multiple holders, making it tricky to coordinate everything. Cloud might get saddled with the "two spirits and two songs" curse again unless they go through some hoops. With Hero, Sugiyama and Toriyama both passed away recently, and I don't know how much that complicates the rights.

 

[fogbadge]

Actually, it's been researched and Square-Enix partially owns him too. It's kind of complicated.

...That said, he's not going to be hard to get the rights to again anyway. It's way overblown. Disney owns most of the character, which is the key point. Meanwhile it's a lot more complicated for Cloud, Sephiroth, and Hero.

then how come they’re not credited as co owning him in the games?

 

[ninjahmos]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

I said something about the former the other day. I believe they may pull more characters from the ballot. I don’t know about a new one, though.

 

[fogbadge]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

my guess is no

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

I hope they do, at least for some of them. Not really a reason not to, especially for the base game, and doubly so if we have a more standard number of newcomers in the base game.

I'd like them to do another Ballot once next game's DLC is wrapping up, since it's been about a decade, definitely more by the time next Smash's DLC is finished, and I feel like it's an easy way to keep your finger on the pulse of a huge fanbase like Smash's to inform more non-contemporary character choices, like I'm hoping they'll do for Isaac.

 

[Ivander]

I said something about the former the other day. I believe they may pull more characters from the ballot. I don’t know about a new one, though.

Maybe. It'd probably be good as a way of looking at popular characters back then before the influx of new characters. Could even serve a bit of "Oh wow, didn't think these characters would ever get in." or something along the lines.
--
That aside, slow month.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

Well, with the previous ballot, there were some characters voted for that did not get in or become playable, with the Everyone is Here in the base game being one reason why. I think next game is a good time to add those characters in.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

Given that the previous Ballot occurred nearly 10 years ago, I think we'll feel less and less of its influence as time goes on because it's starting to be an outdated view of the fanbase's opinions and wants.

We could always get a newcomer taken from it as a thank you for longtime fans of Smash but I don't see another Ultimate where the Ballot is a key part of roster decisions...

I also don't see them make another Ballot because now it's not too hard to find what people want if you know where to look on social media, something that wasn't as convenient in 2015.

 

[Þe 1 → Way]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

On one hand, we have gotten presumably a lot of the ballots top contenders by this point, and Internet culture has changed so much that half the votes were probably for Shrek and Goku. It might be good to get a new look at the community's understanding of popular character requests now that years have passed and the aforementioned winners have cleared out.

On the other hand, a ballot could attract a lot of toxicity, especially if the community doesn't immediately get Crash or Master Chief and 11 other massive requests they all now think are locks, although there will be people who act like that regardless. If there was a time to do it, maybe alongside the main game announcement to prepare in advance for DLC?

 

[DarthEnderX]

I want to ask in terms of the Smash Ballot. do you believe what has been said about the results?

Not even a little. Because they suggested Bayonetta got into Smash 4 because of the Ballot. And we know damn well that Smash characters aren't made in 6 months. ESPECIALLY 3rd Party ones.

So if they lied about that, anything they say in relation to the Ballot could be a lie.

About the Ballot, this might be a little obvious, but I wonder how Sakurai handled the non-video game requests he had received during the days of the ballot?

I assume just ignored.


I'm still annoyed they never showed us the results. Even if they left off 4th Party characters.

Having a ballot and then not announcing the results is really lame.

 

[Among Waddle Dees]

People are forgetting that they did lie about the ballot; just not in the way that was perceived colloquially. I go back and forth on whether the Final Smash 4 Direct statements are in any way factual, but whether or not Bayonetta truly was the realizable ballot winner, or just a placeholder campaign for Sora, is not that important to the overall falsity. Fact is, there was not supposed to be a "ballot winner"; the original marketing pitch in April 2015 was for Nintendo to consider the votes of who should get in as a fighter. They had an entire section requiring us to give an explanation as to why they should be added. Yet in the end, all they did was tally the votes. I realize the weight of votes would take a while to sift through, but then why market the ballot this way if there was no intention to use logic behind the fighter choices? That's where most of the ballot's dishonesty comes from, not any one fighter choice.

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

I'd be more inclined to believe the former than the latter, which is frustrating since they should've switched tactics by now. 2015 was not all that great a time to ask for fighter candidates, and we've basically been pulling from that same well for almost 10 years.

 

[SharkLord]

Do you guys think they'll pull newcomers from Smash Ballot/Poll requests and/or do another Ballot/Poll for the next game?

I think we've discussed this before? In any case, my bet's that some fighters would've made the cut had it not been for EiH eating up lots of resources, and Sakurai might think "y'know, these guys did do pretty well but there was no time last game. Let's give them another go." That said, with how much time it's been and how big Ultimate got, a second ballot sounds like a reasonable idea.

 

[SuperSonicFlyer]

I think I should say that there is more history, some of which we don't know, about Bayonetta "winning" the ballot back then. Wasn't she and Corrin chosen before the Ballot ended? Either way, I don't think their saying she won the ballot was that much of a lie, as she may have been a placeholder. In fact, a placeholder may not be the right word here, as there are multiple winners and picks from the ballot, and given Platinum Games' relations with Nintendo about Bayonetta and the timing of that, as I said, I can see why fans would have voted for Bayonetta significantly to make her a pick from the ballot at the time. I do think her performance on the Ballot as they said back then and her company's relations with Nintendo and all, that was more so of a coincidence behind her being chosen if anything.

 

[Shinuto]

you know what I just realized? Since it IS a mobile game series despite being a multimedia franchise...Umamusume COULD technically get a character in.

just saying.

 

[BrawlX10]

64 I 100% get and I actually agree, they are special. Melee, to a smaller degree but I too could see it to a lesser extent but Brawl? The Brawl fighters only had 1 chance to not get the axe and that was when basically Sakurai ported as much from Brawl as possible. There are definitely characters that are prime to get cut that have appeared in every game since Brawl with the most prime example being Lucas. I'd personally be shocked to see Lucas return. Other characters that I'd feel are more than understandable cuts are Toon Link and ROB, the former for being a 2nd Link basically and the latter for not even being a video game character and for probably being lower priority among the NES/retro reps. I could even see ZSS getting axed given that she already exists on the roster in her more iconic form but she is slightly more likely to stick around. Point is, I'd say there's definitely fluff in Brawl's newcomers selection that might be left out once Smash 6 comes around depending on the cuts.

Smash 4 ported heavily from Brawl? Woah, i didn't know this, i through i was made from (mostly) the ground up, it looks so diferent from Brawl.
You learn something every day!