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Rate Their Chances - Smash Ultimate Edition! Day 672: Five Most Likely First and Third Parties for Smash 6, and Final Goodbyes

KingofPhantoms

The Spook Factor
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Sora Chance: 15%

Explaining it again when so many others in this thread have already would be beating a dead horse, so I'm gonna get straight to the point; as much as I love Disney, they are unfortunately very strict with the handling and licensing of their properties, characters included. So Sora, while not impossible, would be extremely difficult for Nintendo to get their hands on for Smash. I'd like to think Sakurai has at least had the character on his mind before, being fairly well known at this point in time as the lead of a highly successful video game f ranchise, but there's no telling if he's tried or would be willing to go through the battle to do. There's no questioning that it'd be a hell of a battle to do pull it off, and likely wouldn't be a successful one in the end.

Want: 80%

Say what you will about this series, but I love Kingdom Hearts and I really do think Sora's a great character, and as far as Smash as concerned, he's got boatloads of moveset possibilities. I'd be pretty happy to see the character in Smash, even if he's not my most wanted third-party.

Nominations: Tetra x5
 

Edgelord_197

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 28, 2018
Messages
68
Sora
Chance : 10%
Disney is really stingy

Want : 90%
Would love if this character came

I wonder why he wasn't in Wreck-it-Ralph
 

MasterWarlord

Smash Champion
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Not wasting countless hours on a 10 man community
Sora Chance 0%: Disney single handedly destroyed the roster of MvC:I. They would demand Mickey or something. On the other side of it, Square Enix already has Cloud and would likely just opt for more Final Fantasy characters or a Dragon Quest character, something that isn't caught up in legal red tape. I don't think demand for him is particularly high at all, I'd legit sooner see Geno than Sora as far as an unlikely pick from them.

Sora Want 0%: I don't even like Kingdom Hearts. The Disney properties feel poorly used, not a fan of the gameplay style or most of the original characters.

Nominate Blue Bowser x5
 

DaUsername

Smash Ace
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Sora
Chance: .01%
As far as I know, he's owned or at least partially owned by Disney. And after the disaster known as Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, I don't see anything Disney related appearing in a fighting game anytime soon,
The .01% is only there because Nothing Is Impossible.
Want: N/A
Haven't played any KH games.

Dark Matter prediction: 5%
Noms: Mike Jones x5
 
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andimidna

Smash Master
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
3,330
Location
Gusty garden galaxy
Sora:
He’s easily a big name and a big asset worth trying to get, but Disney idk
I’d put him lower for the 3rd parties just bc of that
There’s also immense competition
Chance: 8%
Want: 55%
Sure I have a friend that likes this ho
Dark Matter prediction: 7%
x3 Ghirahim
x1 Viridi
x1 Palutena
 
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Parallel_Falchion

Smash Lord
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
1,336
Sora
Chance: 20%
There's a lot going against him, but I'm certain he did well on the ballot and he'd be perfect for a big 3rd party name, not many of which still exist. Licensing might be a nightmare, but if Sakurai cares enough, I think it would be possible.

Want: 25%
Back in the pre-Brawl days this score would likely be more like 80%. So, what happened? Honestly, it really is just me and not the character or games. I loved the games then (only 1 & 2, none of the spin-offs), but the me of today would pass on them without a second thought, and they weren't a strong enough part of my childhood that I feel very nostalgic for them, either. So, while I do think it could be kinda cool, I can't bring myself to care.
 
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Smasher 101

Smash Lord
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Jul 21, 2013
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1,046
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Sora

Chance: 1%

Don't like to give out absolutes to the notable characters but the last two have come preeeeetty close to 0. Haven't been able to do my chance writeup this time but others have said everything I would have anyway. He's notable and popular and likely did well on the ballot but I'm in the camp that thinks his status as a Disney character makes him extremely unlikely regardless.

Want: 0%

I've played the two main Kingdom Hearts games. They were ok but never favorites of mine, and I've lost interest in the series and don't currently have any plans to play another title. The main reason I ever cared about the series was the Disney content anyway, and I don't want any of that in Smash. I don't care about Sora himself. I've never been interested in the series being represented or him as a fighter, and there's a lot of other third parties I'd rather see. Sorry to his fans.

Dark Matter prediction: 12.58%

Nominations: Isabelle x5
 

nirvanafan

Smash Champion
Premium
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Oct 14, 2016
Messages
2,465
Sora

Chances: 15%
I am not really sure how the liscensing goes for this. If we are just dealing with square there is aabout a 50% shot this can happen but if we are dealing with disney as well I see this becoming a lot more less likely.

Want: 75%
Kingdom Hearts looks like a fun series and I know many people who would be excited by this, I would personally have the same reaction that I did for Cloud (meh although acknowledge how big of a deal and how excited some people are about this and then watch him become one of my mains since I really like sword fighters).

Nomination: Linkle X5
 

TCT~Phantom

Smash Master
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Sora

40% Chance

I know licensing may be an issue. But KHIII being such a big deal within this time period makes me more optimistic on Sora's chances. His credentials are there, but let us see how things pan out.


100% Want

I am a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts. I literally have beat all the games on proud/critical mode. I still need work on BBSFM but I plan on doing that. I am hype for him.


Nominating Spyro x 5

DAY OVER, I am DOING CALCS NOW, WAIT FOR THEM
 

BluePikmin11

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Sora's RTC day was one of the most engaging RTC days I have ever participated in. It was so much fun to discuss all the inner aspects that could favor or not help Sora's chances. I dunno if I will ever be that engaged again, unless Isabelle and Tom Nook provide an interesting amount of perspectives to argue against.
 

TCT~Phantom

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Sora

8.38% Chance
45.63% Want

It seems that Sora got held up in some red tape. Me and BluePikmin11 BluePikmin11 may personally think he is more likely, but when the most common response in chance is a 0 or a 1 what can ya do. Also for want what surprised me was how divisive Sora was. The most common responses were either super high or super low. Either way, he did fine for want, maybe a KHIII announcement for Switch would boost him.


Today we are rating Dark Matter (Blade), the villain rep for Kirby people wanted before Marx was a thing again. Please rate Dark Matter in chance and want. Also predict the scores for Henry Flemming.

@Pikablu Pikachu wins the noms for Sora, have 5 extra noms.
 

BluePikmin11

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I considered Marx to be a possible brief consideration for a Kirby newcomer, but Dark Matter is less likely to be seriously considered IMO. He might be a recurring villain that played huge roles in Kirby games Sakurai has worked in, but he is not as notably remembered of a villain as Marx. Again, I feel Sakurai is content with the current Kirby representation, and Dark Matter is just a more unlikely matter.

x5 Tom Nook
 

Kirby Dragons

Smash Hero
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Aug 30, 2014
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Another Dimension
Chance: 5%

Super irrelevant, and kinda upstaged by other Kirby characters.

Want: 42%

DM's actually a decent idea for a Kirby rep. Posts I've seen easily convinced me he'd work.

Nominations: Urban Champion ×5
 

Cosmic77

Smash Hero
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On a planet far far away...
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Dark Matter

Chance: 10%
I'm being extremely generous here. Aside from the fact that he's one of Sakurai's Kirby characters, there isn't much to warrant him being in Smash.

Want: 20%
He's a Kirby character, and I want more Kirby characters. Aside from that, there's not much else this guy offers me. I don't care for his character, and I'd much rather get Bandana Dee or Marx before him.

Henry Flemming prediction: 9.6%

Nominations: Mipha x5
 
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Opossum

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Dark Matter
Chance: 1%

Not requested at all, and he doesn't even fit in with the "Sakurai is biased toward his own Kirby games" train of thought considering Sakurai didn't work on the Dark Matter trilogy. There are at least three characters from Kirby I'd see getting in first.

Want: 1%
No real attachment, but he was cool in Brawl in the Family, so that's neat.

Predicting a 9.2 for Henry RIP
Nominating English Marth x5
 

ProfPeanut

Smash Ace
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
727
Dark Matter

Chance: 5%
Kirby's a tight-enough category, and Kirby villains more so. Dark Matter's neither recent enough nor close enough to Sakurai to be really within consideration.

Want: 4%
Never fought him, and I don't really see the big deal. "Cosmic horror" is baseline for Kirby final bosses anyway, and Dark Matter doesn't exactly spice it up enough to stand out.


Prediction:
Henry Flemming: 13%

Nominations:
Papyrus (Undertale) x5
 

KingofPhantoms

The Spook Factor
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Dark Matter Chance: 10%

All this character has going for it aside from moveset possibilities (which is something nearly all candidates have to varying degrees; it's not enough to get characters in all on it's own) is that it's been one of the main antagonists of the Kirby series. Surely that does count for something, but it's still not much. I see very little, albeit dedicated support for the character around here, and with how little relevance it has nowadays, there's no reason to believe it's a character that gets a lot of requests from fans or attention from the devs, Sakurai included.

Want: 55%

Far from one my most wanted characters, but not to the point where I'm indifferent to him or don't want him in at all. I like the Dark Matter Kirby games a lot, so if the character got in and could do some neat things, I think I'd be fairly satisfied.

Henry Prediction: 7%

Nominations: Tetra x5
 
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TheFritzle

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
104
Dark Matter Chance:
15%
I don't think he is totally unlikely. He is one of the most prominent recurring characters in the Kirby franchise. His chances aren't all that great, because there are more likely Kirby characters like Bandana Dee and maybe Marx. I wouldn't count him out because he seems more important to Kirby as a whole than Marx and Bandana Dee.

Dark Matter Want:
30%
I don't really care if he makes it in or not, but I would like an actual Kirby villain, and I like his design.

Henry Fleming Prediction:
7.18%

Nominations:
Sylux x5
 

MasterOfKnees

Space Pirate
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Dark Matter:

Chance:
3% - There's no significant demand for him and he has faded a bit into obscurity, he's been limited to references and a short cameo boss fight in recent times. He's the closest the series has to an actual main villain, but still doesn't fulfill that quota seeing as how it has moved on from him. Then there's also tough competition from Bandana Dee, and even Marx is more likely.

Want: 80% - Kirby was at its peak during the period stretching from Dream Land 2 to Amazing Mirror imo, and of course Dark Matter had a significant presence in a lot of the games during that time. For me he is in combination with Zero the best Kirby villain that was, incredibly simple in concept, but very memorable. Unlike a lot of other people I'd actually prefer his standard form to his swordsman form, I'd certainly be happy with the latter aswell, but I think there's a ton of stuff you could do with the former.

Nominations:
Mewtwo x5
 

AlphaSSB

Bring Back Star Fox
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Dark Matter

Chance: 1% - Highly unlikely, and has Bandanna Dee and Marx to compete with. He'd be lucky to become an assist trophy.

Want: 1% - I wouldn't mind another Kirby character, but I've no attachment. Would much rather see Bandanna Dee, too.

Nominations: Slippy Toad x5
 

Kitty-chan

Happy Pyromaniac Neko
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Buried 10 feet under nya
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1203-9800-8781
Dark Matter

Chance: 5%
He's pretty irrelevant nya, and with his competition being Bandana Dee and nyao even Marx... Dark Matter is just unlikely to happen nya.

Want: 50%
Nyo objections, but I'm nyot asking for him either nya~

Nyominations
Isabelle: x5
 

Dr. Jojo Phantasma

The Chessmaster
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
2,079
Dark Matter
Chance: 5%
Even worse off then Marx is as he is way irrelevant and Bandana Dee is the most likely Kirby newcomer to come.

Want: 0%
If I had to pick a Kirby villain I rather a form of Zero.

x5 to Geno
 

wildvine47

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
964
Dark Matter Blade




So here we are, Dark Matter’s rating day. Time for me to break out all the arguments I have in favor of this shadowy swordsman and why I think he’s got a non-ignorable shot for Smash Switch.


Dark Matter’s Pros​


1. Dark Matter is the most prominent Kirby villain, and the closest thing the Kirby franchise has to an arch-nemesis for the Pink Puffball.

“But wildvine,” you say “Dark Matter’s only been in three or four Kirby games!” This is the part where I tell you that’s wrong. Dark Matter has canonically been involved in almost every Kirby game in some fashion. There’s exceptions, like Epic Yarn and Super Star, but the majority of mainline Kirby titles have involved Dark Matter’s presence.

There’s the obvious Dreamland 2, 3 and Kirby 64, but there are plenty of less obvious and less well well-known appearances. Dark Nebula from Squeak Squad was confirmed in the Kirby 20th anniversary book to instance of Dark Matter. Dark Mind from Amazing Mirror is the Mirror World’s version of Zero, the Dark Matter leader, literally being called “Dark Zero” in the Japanese version. Even Rainbow Curse features Dark Matter, as it becomes very clear what Dark Crafter actually is once you strip away it’s paint coating.


The predilection for possessing people helps with identifying too. And this isn’t even getting into the recent Kirby games. That’s the next point.

2. Dark Matter is going through a relevancy renaissance, and it’s been perfectly timed for Smash Switch. Warning: This section is very long and contains heavy spoilers!

After the GBA and DS era, Kirby took his time with a hiatus that ended with the experimental and cutesy Epic Yarn. With the hiatus officially ended, Kirby’s next outing then went back to the tried and true classic formula. A scheming alien named Magolor tricked Kirby and his buddies into helping him obtain a powerful artifact known as the Master Crown. And when Magolor obtained and put on the Master Crown, the little egg-shaped alien was eventually turned into this.



A dark, shadowy mass possessed Magolor, and where his mouth once was, was a telltale red eyeball. Return to Dreamland started a trend in recent Kirby games: an underlying focus on the lore of the Kirby universe and how it all interconnects. And right at the middle of this lore is Dark Matter. It's telling that after the hiatus and the experimental title Epic Yarn, Dark Matter was brought back in the "back to basics" Return to Dreamland. While not always outright stated, Dark Matter’s influence and presence has been felt in all of the mainline Kirby titles since Return to Dreamland.

Triple Deluxe’s story features an evil insect queen known as Sectonia who tries to take over Dreamland to make it part of her beauty. While at first the game seems to have very little relevance to Dark Matter at first, playing through the secondary Dededetour mode makes everything clear.



Yep, that’s the Amazing Mirror, as well as a Mirror World version of King Dedede. Word of God has officially said that Sectonia’s motivation to enact her evil plot was due to the influence of the Amazing Mirror and the beings within it. A realm we know was ruled by Dark Mind, the Mirror World version of Dark Matter leader Zero. As if that wasn’t enough, during the fight, Shadow Dedede does this.



That triangular pattern on Dedede’s stomach turns into a toothed mouth, something we’ve actually seen before: when King Dedede is possessed by Dark Matter. The events of Triple Deluxe all occur because of Dark Matter’s influence over Sectonia from within the Amazing Mirror. This isn’t fan theory or anything, this is canon and confirmed by the game’s director via Miiverse postings. Here’s a link if you don’t believe me: https://web.archive.org/web/20170730215657/https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkVe0VpUw

Robobot was the big one. Rather than exerting influence over the big bad or possessing someone from within a crown, Dark Matter made a grand re-entry to the series proper.



Well, not quite. The Dark Matter that appears in Robobot is a clone, not the original, but it brought back the most important Kirby villain, in the best suited form to be playable, Blade, in a very-well performing game that lies squarely in the sweet spot for when Smash Switch’s roster was being decided. It’s as if K. Rool was a cameo secret boss battle in Tropical Freeze. That’s nothing to sniff at.

Bonus points for Robobot’s main villain, Star Dream, both implying that the original Dark Matter is still alive, and directly saying that it wasn’t powerful enough to clone Dark Matter properly. Considering that Star Dream ends up being a reality-bending wish-granting clockwork star like Nova, the fact that cloning Dark Matter fully was impossible for it speaks volumes about Dark Matter by comparison.

Star Allies goes one step further, if you can imagine that. The main villains of Star Allies are a cult that worship Dark Matter, or rather, the incubator that creates Dark Matter, Void Termina. The Core of Void Termina ends up being a primordial version of Dark Matter, and it was Void Termina’s past summoning that caused the events of Dreamland 2 through Kirby 64. Hell, the game further confirms Magolor was possessed by Dark Matter by showing Void Termina summoning the Master Crown that possessed him. It may have come too late to be considered for Smash Switch, but Star Allies giving us an origin story for Dark Matter and once again hinting that the original batch of Dark Matter is still alive shows that it’s still central to HAL’s vision for the Kirby universe.



One last thing in favor of specifically the Blade form of Dark Matter, it was included as a purchaseable armor/weapon set in Kirby Clash Deluxe, with the blade’s description hinting once again that Dark Matter is still alive. Overall, it’s very clear that HAL is leaving plenty of hints that we haven’t seen the last of Dark Matter in the Kirby franchise. It also confirms at least that Blade’s gender is male, using the word “his” to refer to him.




Overall, Dark Matter is a very big focus for modern HAL, and there’s been plenty of games featuring Dark Matter that have been well-timed to influence his potential inclusion into Smash Switch. Saying he's irrelevant now is looking only at things at face value. Dig past the surface and he's more relevant now than he ever has been.

3. Dark Matter absolutely oozes moveset potential

Whew, that last one was a long ‘un. This one is way simpler though, as you can tell from the title. It’s also probably literal in some cases. Through all of Dark Matter’s appearances, there’s plenty of material to draw from for a moveset, and he has a perfectly suitable form for playability with Blade. Robobot’s bossfight with the clone alone has enough material for a full moveset, and that’s not even factoring in unique concepts Dark Matter offers like possession, it’s malleable, non-solid body, and mid-battle form changing. While there’s definitely other strong Kirby contenders (I’ll get to that in a bit), I think amongst them Dark Matter stands out the most in terms of unique moveset possibilities, and I feel like that’s something Sakurai would look for.

4. Dark Matter would give the Kirby series proper villain representation

King Dedede and Meta Knight haven’t been real villains for a long, long time. While they both started out antagonistic, they’ve mellowed a lot since due to Kirby warming their hearts and hand-delivering them consistent beatdowns. Since then they’ve acted more as friendly rivals and possession targets instead of actual villains. The strongest newcomer competitor from Kirby, Bandana Dee, is also a buddy. Even the recently resurfacing Marx appears to have had a change of heart in Star Allies, though the canonicity of the Dream Friends is admittedly in question. Dark Matter is through-and-through a villain, and would therefore fulfill a unique role amongst the Kirby cast in Smash.


With that done, let’s look at the odds against Dark Matter.

1. Heavy competition in the Kirby series

Bandana Dee’s tiny little nubs have a chokehold on the title of “most likely Kirby character”. Playable appearances as the fourth ranger after Kirby, Meta Knight and Dedede is very very impressive, and it seems likely that he’ll continue that streak in Smash. However, Dark Matter does have franchise importance and history on his side, so I don’t think it’s as clean of a sweep as many others. Marx is an up-and-coming candidate as well with his Star Allies resurgence, but that likely came much too late to affect anything pre-DLC and he’s got a far less impressive resume. He does have the dubious distinction of being a Sakurai made character that Dee and Dark Matter, for what it’s worth. Most expect that unspoken rule to be broken this time around though.

2. Lacking Fan Support

This is what I think hurts Dark Matter most. His Smash support base is rather small compared to other Kirby characters, and the spoilery and/or obtuse nature of his continued appearances has really impacted his potential Smash fanbase. He certainly has the relevancy and importance. I feel like with an increased push of fan support, Dark Matter could become a very very strong candidate for Smash Bros. in the future. For now though, it causes his chances to be lessened, but not completely extinguished.

With all that in mind, let’s do the final score rundown.


Dark Matter Blade

Chance: 27% - This is as high as I’m willing to give Dark Matter. I love the guy, so my bias is probably putting it too high as is, but I think he’s got an underdog’s chance to beat Dee to the roster, and a similar underdog chance to join as a fifth Kirby character after Dee. With those two opportunities combined, I’d say about a 27% chance seems fair. We’ll see what other people think.

Want: 100% - Dark Matter is one of my most wanted characters, with only Ridley and K. Rool beating him out in want. Can you tell?

Prediction

Henry Fleming: 6.71% -
STEAM was a flop and it’s gotten zero attention since it’s release. It’ll be lucky to get music and trophies, let alone a stage.

Nominations

Impa x 5


A little bummed I missed the beginning of today's day seeing as how a lot of people are mistakenly calling him irrelevant. I feel like I could have prevented some of that by getting in early on but oh well, you win some you lose some.
 
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Ura

Smash Legend
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Cosmic Nightmare Fuel

Double Abstain

Don't know much about the franchise. Vaguely remember Dark Matter aside from my playthrough of Kirby 64.

Prediction: Henry Flemming

Chance: 5%
Want: 18%

Nominations


Concept: Decloned Ganondorf X5
 
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CaptainAmerica

Smash Master
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Aug 21, 2014
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New York
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TomOfHyrule
Dark Matter

Chance: 5%
Want: 0%

I think Kirby is well represented as is, and BDee would be the obvious next in line. Kirby’s already got his major antagonist in the game, so I can’t really see the addition of anyone else.

Prediction for Fleming: 5.93%
Nom: Skyrim something x5
 

waddledeeonredyoshi

Smash Lord
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Jul 29, 2014
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1,515
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Drenthe, NL
Dark Matter

Chance: 5%

Better timing than Marx, but he just stands no chance against Bandana Dee.

Want: 0%

Dee or bust!

Predictions for Henry Fleming: 7.34%

Nominations: Canon DK/Bowser/Diddy voices x3 Qbby x2
 

Quetzal77

Smash Journeyman
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yomugo
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Dark Matter
Chance: 1%
I dunno, he just doesn't seem likely especially over the other more requested Kirby newcomers. There's always a slight possibility but I honestly do not see it.

Want: 1%
He doesn't interest me, but he's a villain and we need more of those, so meh.

Henry Fleming: 10.55%
Nominations: Starfy x5
 
D

Deleted member

Guest
He might be a recurring villain that played huge roles in Kirby games Sakurai has worked in
He didn't. The Dark Matter trilogy was made by Shinichi Shimomura.

Anyway...
Dark Matter Blade

Chance: 2%

While Dark Matter as a whole has a lot of presence across the Kirby series, it's typically the black blob with an eye, rather than the Samurai form - that form's only canonical appearence was in Dream Land 2.
Dreamland 3? Black Blob with an eye + the most disturbing Nintendo boss of all time... oh, and Gooey.
64? MULTIPLE black blobs with an eye (which confirms that Dark Matter is actually not a specific character, but rather a species) + white Icosahedron with millions of eyes + the zombie version of the previously mentioned disturbing boss (I didn't find it nearly as bad until I noticed the bandage and wanted to throw up)
Those games, along with DL2, are collectively known as "the Dark Matter trilogy", and while people tend to say Dark Matter hasn't made a canonical appearance since those games, that's actually not true... supposedly, at least.
Dark Nebula is actually listed under the "Dark Matter invaders" in a japanese only artbook or something like that, which confirms that it's part of that race.
Dark Crafter from Rainbow's Curse shares multiple traits with Dark Matter including the ability to posses people and being a black blob with an eye, although it looks more like a black cloud and it looks more hellish than the generic invaders (its eye is actually its mouth. took me a while to realize that it keeps the sunglasses in its "true form").
And of course I'm gonna talk about the elephant in the room - Kirby Star Allies' final boss, Destroyer of the Worlds... Void Termina.
Void_Termina_(Dark_Matter).png

That's certainly a Dark Matter if I've ever seen one.
So do these help Dark Matter Blade's chances in any way? I... don't think so.
They're completely different forms with different designs and they don't even reference the Swordsman form, which is the only form of Dark Matter that's workable. Hell, they're not even explicitly referred to as Dark Matter, so said form is unlikely to even be on Sakurai's mind when he looks at them. Only the most hardcore of Kirby fans would be able to make the connection between those bosses and Dark Matter aside from the fact it has an eye because casuals don't read into things like that.
It is worth mentioning that Blade had a nostalgic boss fight in Planet Robobot's Meta Knightmare Returns, but I don't think it gives him enough relevancy to be playable. If anytying, I'd say that game helps Susie more if anyone.

tl;dr: while Dark Matter may be the most important villain in the Kirby series, but a lack of consistent design makes him unlikely to considered.
I wrote all of that without even mentioning my boy Bandana Dee. Relative lack of fan demand is not doing him any favours, either.

Want: 0.2% (see what I did there?)
If you asked me a few months ago, I'd tell you that Dark Matter Blade would be my second choice for a Kirby rep after Bandana Dee.
However, the more people hyped the possibility of Dark Matter returning, the more I realized that it's Zero that people are excited for, not blade form, which made me realize that it's less iconic than the black blob... The spoilery stuff explain things much better.
Then the Dream friends happened... I already thought most Kirby reps would be great, but that helped me to visualize their playstyles a lot better. However, I also realized that there is no way that Dark Matter would be chosen as a Dream Friend, and after a month of gushing about how amazing Dee and Marx would be in Smash I just stopped caring for the idea of DMB in Smash.
Look, I'm a huge Kirby fan. I like Dark Matter and think it's an important villain that should have some form of representation in Smash... but I'd rather have a boss fight against him than have him playable.
There are a lot of Kirby characters that I'd like to see in Smash as playable characters, but this isn't one of them. Sorry.

Susie x3, Mimikyu x2
 
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GoodGrief741

Smash Legend
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
10,169
Dark Matter

Chance: 4%
Not exactly relevant or highly demanded.

Want: 0%
Great character, great villain, great boss fight, don’t care about him in Smash.

Noms
Mike Jones x5
 

Graizen

Smash Champion
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
2,995
Dark Matter
Chances:
20%
Want: 50%

I like him. Any Kirby new rep for me is fine!

Nomination: Agumon x5
 

Pazzo.

「Livin' On A Prayer」
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
9,187
Unproven Science but edgy name:

Chance: 15%

DM's just not cut out for the next Kirby character.

Want: 30%
One of those "oh neat" characters for Kirby. Waddle Dee, Adeleine, Gooey, these three I'd prefer.

Nominations:
x5 Porygon
:233:
 

Zerp

Formerly "ZeroSoul"
Administrator
Writing Team
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
4,609
Location
South Carolina
Dark Matter (Blade)
Chances: 15%
Chances if Sakurai's the director: 10%
Chances if Sakurai's not the director: 20%
If you're wondering why I made multiple chance scores, it's because I feel Sakurai's biases could potentially alter Dark Matter's chances because despite him working on Kirby during the era Dark Matter was created, he never actually directed any of the games starring Dark Matter as the main antagonist and well, almost everything to do with Kirby in Smash comes from the games he's directed and there's a noticeable lack of representation for the other games in the series.

Anyway, Dark Matter also has to compete with other Kirby characters, most notably Bandana Dee and Marx, one of which probably did extremely well on the ballot, is the 4th main character, and is relevant, and the other probably didn't do so amazing on the ballot but is still a very popular character, is pretty iconic, recently had a playable role and has the bias on his side awesome perk of being strongly associated with Kirby Superstar. I don't think Dark Matter is as likely as they are, but he isn't incomparable to them however, the Dark Matter are recurring antagonists in the Kirby series and definitely the most important ones in the franchise outside of Dedede, and I'd argue in terms of importance to the Kirby franchise, Dark Matter is on par with Bandana Dee, they've had less (confirmed) roles overall but the roles they had were consistently very important ones, being the main antagonist and all.

Here's a list of Kirby final bosses with possible ties to Dark Matter to show what I mean:
Confirmed: Dreamland 2 (Final boss is Dark Matter (Blade))
Confirmed: Dreamland 3 (Final boss is Dark Matter and the leader of the Dark Matter Invaders, Zero)
Confirmed: 64 (Final boss is Zero-Two)
Half?: Amazing Mirror (Dark Mind isn't confirmed by any sources to be related to Dark Matter but it's pretty obviously Dark Matter/Zero's mirror world counterpart, but that's as far as that goes, just a mirror world counterpart, whether or not that counts as Dark Matter is up to you.)
Maybe: Canvas Curse (There's no dialogue suggesting Drawcia is related to Dark Matter, but Drawcia's robes look extremely similar to Dark Matter Blade and she spawns personal minions called Para-Matters in her soul form, which just happen to be floating eyeballs)
Confirmed: Squeak Squad (Dark Nebula/Dark Zero is a confirmed member of the Dark Matter Invaders)
Maybe: Return to Dreamland (The Master Crown may or may not be related to Dark Matter given that it can possess characters foolish enough to wear it, make them into a black ball with an eye for a mouth that totally doesn't look like Dark Matter and the first theme you hear when fighting the crown and Magolor, "Under My Control", is actually a remix of Dark Matter's DL3 theme)
Maybe: Rainbow Curse (Dark Crafter, well, sounds like Dark Matter doesn't it? It's design also happens to be a technicolor eyeball wearing sunglasses that happens to be able to possess people, also it isn't really technicolor, those colors were stolen from the rest of the world, it's actually a black cloud with an eye (and sunglasses), like Dark Matter)
Half?: Team Clash Deluxe (It's Dark Mind again, this time possessing either Dedede or Shadow Dedede)
I'm not spoiling it outside of the spoiler box: Star Allies (And no, that song up there doesn't play during the final boss, you haven't been spoiled :p )

Thing is, even if all of those maybes and halfs aren't Dark Matter, the designers making those characters were clearly inspired by Dark Matter when making them, Dark Matter is just that influential, it's very important to the Kirby series.
Void_Termina_P5.png

Void_Termina_(Dark_Matter).png


Almost Confirmed: Say hello to the final boss of Star Allies, Void Termina/End Nil in it's true form(s). The thing constantly shifts between the Dark Matter form and Kirby form during it's boss fight. Horrifying implications about Kirby and Dark Matter probably being related aside, this thing's fight plays exactly like you'd imagine a Dark Matter fight would. It (and no other enemy in the series except for Dark Matter + Zero) takes damage from hearts, it's death involves a ton of light bursting out of it and the game gently fading out to white with no explosion or effects afterwards (like Zero-Two and literally no other boss in the series). Also, it can possess your helpers, it has a carbon copy of Miracle Matter's spike move, the arena where you fight it (the insides of the shell of Void Termina) heavily resembles Dark Star from Kirby 64's Zero-Two fight, it makes a face almost exactly the same Zero-Two's fake smile, and like Zero it spawns miniature Dark Matters, except this time they're not just Dark Matter, they're Dark Matter-Kirby abominations.


Here's the smiles, side by side:

And here's that Kirby-Dark Matter thingy:
Dark Matter Kirby hellspawn babies.png






Anyways, as if that wasn't enough, the game's secondary antagonist and the person who ends up reviving Void Termina, Hyness mentions that his people are "the masters of a matter most dark" and speaking of Void Termina, Void and Nil are both words that can have the same meaning as Zero, less so for Void (which can also mean an empty space) but Nil basically means "a value equal to zero", all of them can be used to mean the same thing though, that something is empty and/or doesn't exist. Given that Void Termina was sealed/killed before the plot of the game and was only recently revived, this statement
"...Void Termina may rise again in other forms depending on whether positive or negative energy is gathered. It seems this being of darkness will wander the galaxy until one day he is reborn into a new existence. "
has some fun implications. Does it mean Zero, the guy with a literal synonym of Void's name is a negative incarnation of it? Who knows! Either way though, with all these similarities, the Dark Matters and Void Termina are extremely likely to be related to each other.

Also, remember how I said the Master Crown is maybe related to Dark Matter? I lied, along with Void Termina I'm going to say it also belongs in the category of almost confirmed to be related to Dark Matter. Void Termina summoned a gigantic version of the Master Crown in it's boss fight, which suggests that the original Master Crown is related to Void Termina, which well, as we already went over, is extremely likely to be strongly related to Dark Matter, so you do the math.

TLDR: Void Termina is almost certainly related to Dark Matter and the Master Crown.



Also, since we're technically rating Dark Matter Blade and not just Dark Matter, the reason why I think they're almost 100% likely to go with form over it's true form is that while the true form is more recognizable, it's a floating ball with no limbs, and could easily be incorporated into Blade's moveset, they're the same character after all. It's also not like the Blade form isn't relevant, they brought it back as part of the final boss fight of a sub-game in Kirby Mass Attack, again as a secret bossfight in Planet Robobot and also as a costume in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, Dark Matter Blade would be a good choice to represent the Dark Matter invaders and Zero, and I think it's by far the most likely choice for representing the/those character/s.
(It's a bit messy if the Dark Matter not named Gooey are all the same entity as Zero or not, it's unclear whether or not they have their own minds or wills, and the small backstory given to Dark Matter Blade in the guide that says that "... Dark Matter targeted Planet Popstar because it grew jealous of Dream Land's lifestyle and suffered from loneliness due to the fact no one wanted to be its friend." could easily apply to Zero as well as Dark Matter Blade)

Want: 100%
Dark Matter and Zero/Zero-Two are easily my favorite villains in any form of media and Dark Matter has been my most wanted newcomer since before Brawl came out. Actually, I'd be hype if it gets anything in Smash, an assist trophy, a stage related to it, more songs related to it, even just a couple trophies, anything really, but if it became a playable character I'd be beyond happy!

Predictions: Henry Fleming 2.02%.
Nominations: Sans x 5
 

Megaban

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
72
DARK MATTER
Chance -6%
(Let us ignore the theory that Kirby is Dark Matter that absorbed positive energy, that would mean 100%)
Unlikely. Just doesn't seem to have a "solidified" character per say. Many final bosses relate to it, you fight Dark Matter itself few times, most recent one would be in Planet Robobot. But like. *Who* is "Dark Matter"? Maybe I'm not explaining it well enough, but that and fact some other Kirby characters are easier to transfer into Smash makes it unlikely.

Want: 33%
Wouldn't rly mind, but one of my most wanted characters is from Kirby series and I'd be kinda mad if Dark Matter got in and not him.

Nomination: Lana x5

Prediction: Henry Fleming -4%
 
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