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

[ZealousGamer]

How do I feel about these characters? I'll make this quick; I'm disappointed. Don't feel excited for them at all. I actually dislike Incineroar.

 

[ShrekItRalph]

Satisfaction

Ken: 75%
- He looks really well done, and his model looks better than SF4, SF5, not a big SF fan though so I can't get too excited for him but it's well done.

Incineroar: 65%
- Looks like a fun character with a very original play style, don't care too much for the character and TBH I could have gone without a new Pokemon, but it looks very well executed

Piranha Plant: 100%
- Best newcomer since the Inklings, I love it when the Smash team pick a crazy idea and go all out with it. Its running animation is great, its Smashes are great... every thing about it is great.

And it's just fun, I feel like Smash fans take Smash too seriously. it's easy to forget that Smash is just meant to be fun

Spirit/World of Light: NA%
- Looks interesting, but I feel like it's something I'm going to have to play to decide if I like it or not.

Overall: 75%
- Not as good as a direct as the august one, but I'm looking forward to trying out everything from this all the same.

 

[ProfPeanut]

Because Blaziken has real popularity. Incineroar has artificial popularity because TPC is trying to promote him so much, but the fans clearly prefer Decidueye. I'm not saying that Blaziken is unique in any way. He's just a far more popular Pokemon than Incineroar if they HAD to go with a Fire starter.

Sakurai skipped Blaziken back in both Brawl and Smash 4, even when Greninja's popularity was still up for debate. Until time accommodates, Smash simply isn't going to go back to previous generations that aren't the first one.

-------------
Final Direct Satisfaction Ratings

Ken: Abstain
Never played Street Fighter, hardly know him. But he looks good, at least, and Sakurai gave him a lot of touches compared to most of the other echoes.

Incineroar: 80%
Great trailer, really great execution. Animations are lovely, textures are great, and having him automatically taunt after attacks is essential icing for anyone who wants to play the heel.

My issues are more with the kit, which seem like standard things barring Revenge and the Side-B. Is Side-B supposed to be his "grappling" component? Because his throws are otherwise not particularly noteworthy, unless labbing with him shows significant follow-up potential with most of his throws.

Greninja got in because of its character and opportunity, and the same pretty much went for Incineroar as well - a direct wrestling analogue that emulates a treasured modern Japanese figure. To think at the start of the year, we were bandwagoning instead on someone soft-deconfirmed by Pokken!

Piranha Plant: 90%
Sakurai has snuck into Make Your Move and taken a key lesson from it - that sometimes, the best movesets that Smash can ever have are locked onto characters that will never get into the roster. So considering the long list of third-parties, anime characters, and OCs that had been elected as the contest's winners in the past, a Mario enemy is a comparatively Smash-friendly choice.

I won't pretend part of the fun isn't in the absurdity of it - a Piranha Plant, fighting against the likes of Cloud, Ridley, and Pikachu? I mean, at least almost anyone in the world recognizes what a Piranha Plant is, if they don't attribute the trope of bulbous carnivorous plants to Little Shop of Horrors instead. So it's factually a better pick than using a random less-recognizable mook from a different series.

But people are ignoring a key thing with Piranha Plant that most mooks don't have - a demonstrably interesting play style, compiled from its numerous appearances in Mario games over the decades. Spitting poison clouds and spiked balls, whirling like a helicopter, extendable neck - Koopas and Goombas don't have nearly enough in comparison. Sure, the neutral attacks are a little standard, but it's in combining them with the idea of fighting as a potted plant that gives them a distinct appeal from fighting as any other creature with limbs.


Spirits: 75%
Part of me suspected we wouldn't see trophies again. Oh, boo hoo, but don't pretend for a second that those were trivial to implement. All the resources needed to develop full 3D models times a hundred, except no one would ever see them in the actual gameplay? How many 60 hour work weeks would you have pushed on the dev team to make that happen? Trophies, like most figurines, did little but gather dust on the shelf, a relic from the Melee days.

Spirits is a conglomerated solution. It's as easy as adding stickers, useful as equipment, interactable like amiibos, and are functionally little different from the cameos that trophies afforded - except that you can make hundreds more of them. And indeed, we're seeing a huger variety of cameos in these from the Direct alone, with more historical and obscure references onscreen at the same time than we've ever seen before. Without any dedicated customs mode, though, the whole thing might be little more than a distraction in the same way equipment was, but thankfully that's not the case.


World of Light: 75%
I'm not happy with the two-dimensional board, but I am happy that involving Spirits customizes the adventure more than I could've imagined. Know how a Castlevania mode would've been cool because you could send any character you had and liked to any part of the story? Now let's add the spiritual representation of almost every known Nintendo character into that mix - Kirby accompanied by the presences of Magolor, Dixie Kong, Shantae and/or whoever else you think deserves to help save the world. That's giving choice to your audience right there, especially when so many people have their own interpretations of who ought to be the stars of the story. Spirits, if they cover enough characters, mean that people aren't necessarily stuck with only whoever's playable, in that regard.

The fact that Kirby, of all the characters, survived (of course) means the story is probably as bare-bones Kirby as the SSE was, if not more so. But really, people shouldn't be expecting a better story to come along until a different director takes the wheels, because game stories are just not Sakurai's specialty, let alone directing the story of the equivalent of Infinity War.

 

[Erimir]

Oh whoops, I already kinda rated the characters. But I'll do it again because I've had a little longer to marinate...

Ken satisfaction: 50%
Mostly I don't care much. I don't care much about having Ryu and Ken from the perspective of characters. My Street Fighter II nostalgia was pretty satisfied by Ryu, and Ken doesn't add anything personality-wise IMO. In gameplay terms he might be more different than Lucina is from Marth, but still very similar to Ryu and thus doesn't change things much. I will probably play Ken sometimes, since I play Ryu sometimes.

Incineroar satisfaction 57%
Since I stopped playing Pokemon after Gold, so I don't have strong feelings about most of the newer Pokemon. But he looks a bit different from some of the others. More fun than Lucario or Greninja probably...

Incineroar/Ken reveal trailer was alright. Not amazing, but definitely way better than Isabelle's. Simon Belmont still has the best Smash reveal trailer of all time though. That moment when Death killed Luigi...

Piranha Plant

To repeat what I said before...

Piranha Plant is the most WTF character reveal ever. I literally thought it was a joke at first, and that it was just an AT, and they were going to reveal the real character eventually, until it kept going and showing more moves. I... still don't know what to think.

I still say that there are many characters I'd rather have seen BUT

-I now know that there are 5 DLC fighters besides Piranha Plant. Which I guess I should've figured out since it doesn't have a stage.
-And since I don't have a long list of characters I'd still really like to see*, mostly Dixie, Banjo-Kazooie, maybe something from Zelda (Impa or Tetra at this point I guess), and I've already gotten my top three for SSBU (Ridley, Simon, K Rool)... I guess I can't really complain. And the Direct didn't really hard disconfirm any of them.

*And have any hope that they would ever happen. I mean, Terra from FF6 or Beast Ganon would be cool, but I know the chances are nil.

And if I think about it... of the many recurring Mario mooks... Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Shy Guys, Boos, Lakitus, Thwomps, Hammer/Fire/etc Bros... Piranha Plant is somehow not one of the first ones I'd pick but turned out better and more unique than I think many of them would.

Piranha Plant satisfaction: 64%
So I guess I kind of like it. But still... WTF.

Secretly pleased by a couple of the character disconfirmations. But I guess to be nice, I won't elaborate on which ones.

And overall newcomer ranking...

Ridley
Simon
K Rool
Inkling
Piranha Plant
Dark Samus
Incineroar
Richter
Daisy
Isabelle
Ken
Chrom

From a pure gameplay perspective, I'd put every unique newcomer above every Echo but otherwise in the same order.

It also pisses me off how there has never been a Pokemon generation where the Grass starter was the most popular one out of it's trio.

Bulbasaur was the best starter, because that's the one I picked.

 

[DjinnandTonic]

So... I’m just now realizing that Random Mook Piranha Plant opens the door for Dragon Quest Slime to have a legit chance at being a fighter.
(And he doesn’t even need a hat...)

...I don’t know if I’m depressed or elated about this...

 

[Heatswave]

Ken
Satisfaction: 60 %
Looks like a more fun version of Ryu, what we've seen so far looks interesting, still in the bottom 4 of the newcomers for me.
Incineroar
Satisfaction: 5%
His design doesn't appeal to me and his moves look boring... There were so many better choices for a Pokemon imo
Piranha Plant
Satisfaction: 50%
The moveset does look like fun and a good implementation of the character. Still, there at least 6 better choices in the Mario series alone. (Toadette, (Captain) Toad, Waluigi, Birdo, Paper Mario, Geno) that I would have liked to see before the plant.
Spirits
Satisfaction: 80%
Essentially, it's Event matches with Spirit as reward and I'm looking forward to that. Regarding the abilities I definetly won't use them outside of Spirit and Adventure mode, so...
World of Light
Satisfaction: 100%
An Adventure mode was seriously missing in Smash 4, so excited that we got it back. Even if it's just the map and fights, still looks fun to me...

 

[YoshiandToad]

: 65%
He's deserving as the original echo fighter...or is that Luigi? Anyway, back to Ken: he looks the part and they've put a lot of effort into him, I just can't muster up much care for him. He's probably the most sensible Echo Fighter choice ever and I like the way they differentiated him to Ryu, I just don't even enjoy playing Ryu much so Ken isn't going to see much action.

:ultincinceroar:: 40%
Man. I've really fallen out of love with Pokemon. Before X and Y it was easily my most beloved franchise, and by all means Incineroar SHOULD excite me, but he weirdly feels like a generic wrestler to me. I do like the bouncing off the ropes move but it does look really weird. Would have honestly preferred the other villainous cat Pokemon. Still think he's slightly more interesting than Decidueye though as we didn't have any wrestlers prior.

: 90%
Actually the most interesting newcomer in all of Ultimate, but pretty much a slap in the face to Toad and Waluigi fans. Toad and Dee do benefit since this offiicially murders the Generic argument dead, but after years of 'Captain Toad can't jump how would he fight' and 'Toads are generic, that's why Sakurai passed up on him' arguements, we now have a POTTED plant mook running and jumping and they've certainly never done that in Super Mario.

It is weird that is a low effort echo fighter(edible Daisies. Recoloured Toad even though she could have her own species thing protecting her) and all the time saved may have been put into a generic Piranha Plant. I wonder how Daisy fans are feeling.

Overall, I did laugh. A lot. And Piranha Plant is just unique and neat enough to make me consider maining alongside my OTHER generic Mario species main . With Mario Tennis Aces claiming Chain Chomp, Super Mario Party claiming Goomba, maybe we should have expected some sort of mook enemy from Mario to make it...I'd still have predicted Koopa Troopa before him though.

 

[glovetheglove]

80%
I always liked Ken better than Ryu anyway, and the fact that he's faster and has fiery moves / multi-hitting tatsu / cool kicks just makes him a straight-up improvement, in my opinion. I knew he was coming and I was fine with his inclusion from day 1. It just makes too much sense.

:ultincinceroar: 60%
I would have preferred to not have another Pokemon rep, personally, but I think Incineroar is REALLY well-animated and fills a niche that we didn't have with a wrestling character. As far as first impressions go, not the best, but I think I'll warm up to him with time. He's at least better than Greninja.

20%
This was a slap in the face to the "Sakurai is giving people what they want based on the ballot" theory. I don't have much to say because the wound is still fresh. There's two good things going for him, though. 1: His abilities look fun, and 2: He's FREE so I don't have to PAY for him at least. This does NOT spell good things for whatever the DLC fighters are, however, if Sakurai decided to have Piranha Plant as one of the last things worked on. EVEN as a pre-order / early buyer incentive, it doesn't make much sense and just angered a lot of people.

Spirits Mode 30%
I'm torn on this because I do REALLY like event matches, but I despise gacha games and putting wait timers on doing stuff and "checking back in" on a game. I did NOT want this kind of **** in Smash at all and it really upset me and I felt most of the direct was WASTED on it. I think my dislike for its presentation and the "basically levelling up stickers from Subspace" aspect outweighs the "creative matches and abundance of references to other games" part, for me.

World of Light 70%
Now this one is SUPER interesting because we really don't have much info on it. Will there be more cutscenes of characters actually interacting? Or will it mostly be more of the same kind of matches in Spirit Mode? Is THIS how you unlock characters? How many bosses will be in here? There are so many questions but no answers til the game releases. I'm EXCITED about it, but I'm also remaining very cautious because Spirits mode was very much a letdown for me, I'm worried this might be, too. Also, why did they wait 'til the VERY END of the direct to show off an Adventure Mode? If they would have showed this off earlier, the direct would have bumped up at least 2 or 3 points, in my opinion.


Overall, a disappointing final direct for me. I'm sure others have echoed this sentiment, but I think the Simon and K Rool reveal direct was MUCH better than this and would have been a thousand times better in this spot as opposed to Ken and Incineroar and... the plant. I'd give this direct a 4/10. I honestly don't even want to watch other people's reactions to it because I don't want to have to sit through how boring and kind of upsetting the middle parts of this direct were.

 

[SupriceSupplies]

Ken: 50%
Can’t say I’m surprised, but you night as well have the original echo fighter (from a fighting game) join. He looks cool, but I won’t be using him.

Incineroar: 10%
My score would be higher if it weren’t for the fact that it just further solidifies Verg’s track record as near perfect (for smash anyway), and that just kills off any interest for me in speculating as we pretty much know 2 of the 5 already (sort of) and the rest is just going to be leaked anyway, Sakurai’s and Namco’s work be damned. As for the fighter itself, I’m just not interested in his style at all. But he does have quite a bit of purrsonality to him, I guess.

I couldn’t have plant for this: 30%
For many people, this is the salt that is being rubbed into the Assist Trophy inflicted wound, and I don’t blame them. I understand that it’s more of a joke character who I’ll be getting anyway, but... eh, I’ll have it around for parties. At least it’ll make the argument that Bandana Dee is “just a hat goomba” even more dumb than it already was.

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Ken't say I didn't see him coming
Satisfaction: 75%
What can I say, Ken is as inoffensive as a inclusion can get. I don't have any strong opinions on him. There's probably nothing they could've done differently with him that would change my rating.

Pokémon number ten
Satisfaction: 1%
He looks somewhat different from Charizard and he atleast BTFO all the annoying Grinch believers but that's the most positive things I could say. Incinaroar's inclusion is just unnecessary. It's sad that every Smash game will always have the "obligatory Pokémon" when it doesn't need them. Yeah sure, Pokémon is the most succesfull media franchise but imo that fact is actually a reason for why Smash does't need anymore playable Pokémon.

Pokémon is Pokémon. It sells amazingly on its own merits. Whether a Pokémon from the latest games makes it into Smash likely won't even make a spec of a difference in the sales numbers for those games.

Meanwhile Chibi-Robo is a rotting corpse, RH still isn't getting the love it deserves and Golden Sun fans have to sit this one out again.

Mean green mother from outta nowhere
Satisfaction: 95%
**** it. Not even mad. This is clearly the joke character to end all joke characters and I'm in on the joke.
A ****ing plant made it onto the roster over Geno and that's amazing.
It also makes the "Hat Goomba" argument against BanDee null and void. What, thought generic mooks weren't allowed on the roster? Guess again, nerd!

 

[Penroze]

ken? 20% satisfaction
incineroar? 0% satisfaction
piranha plant? infinitely positive and infinitely negative satisfaction simultaneously

 

[WeirdChillFever]

: 65%
He's deserving as the original echo fighter...or is that Luigi? Anyway, back to Ken: he looks the part and they've put a lot of effort into him, I just can't muster up much care for him. He's probably the most sensible Echo Fighter choice ever and I like the way they differentiated him to Ryu, I just don't even enjoy playing Ryu much so Ken isn't going to see much action.

:ultincinceroar:: 40%
Man. I've really fallen out of love with Pokemon. Before X and Y it was easily my most beloved franchise, and by all means Incineroar SHOULD excite me, but he weirdly feels like a generic wrestler to me. I do like the bouncing off the ropes move but it does look really weird. Would have honestly preferred the other villainous cat Pokemon. Still think he's slightly more interesting than Decidueye though as we didn't have any wrestlers prior.

: 90%
Actually the most interesting newcomer in all of Ultimate, but pretty much a slap in the face to Toad and Waluigi fans. Toad and Dee do benefit since this offiicially murders the Generic argument dead, but after years of 'Captain Toad can't jump how would he fight' and 'Toads are generic, that's why Sakurai passed up on him' arguements, we now have a POTTED plant mook running and jumping and they've certainly never done that in Super Mario.

It is weird that is a low effort echo fighter(edible Daisies. Recoloured Toad even though she could have her own species thing protecting her) and all the time saved may have been put into a generic Piranha Plant. I wonder how Daisy fans are feeling.

Overall, I did laugh. A lot. And Piranha Plant is just unique and neat enough to make me consider maining alongside my OTHER generic Mario species main . With Mario Tennis Aces claiming Chain Chomp, Super Mario Party claiming Goomba, maybe we should have expected some sort of mook enemy from Mario to make it...I'd still have predicted Koopa Troopa before him though.

I can't speak for all Daisy fans, but I'm just happy Daisy made it. Even among the possible Echoes, there was enough competition for Daisy not to have made it. If anything, Isabelle is the odd one out since she seems to tread the ground of semi-clone with retooled versions of an existing character's moves, a moveset style that Daisy would have benefitted immensly from.

Piranha Plant is an amazing additions that had me laughing throughout the entire trailer, and being a big Petey fan I'm glad the big boy has made it into Smash again.

Might as well rate them:

Ken: 75%
Looks good, cool character and he has all he needs to truly feel like Ken

Incineroar: 50%
I'm not a fan but I'm also not disappointed in him. His moveset looks fun but I just don't like his design all that much

Piranha Plant: 100%
I'm gonna do it, I'm maining Piranha Plant

 

[roymustang1990-]

Ken -4/5
Incineroar-4/5
Plant-2/5

 

[Diddy Kong]

Ken: 30%

He's a cool Echo, but I don't personally feel much for Street Fighter at all. He's got a lot of detail given to him, which I can appriciate. Just would've liked other Echoes better.

Incineroar: 60%

Finally a feline fighter in Smash, I can appriciate that at least. Might give him a actual try once in a while.

Piranha Plant: 70%

I cannot lie, he looks wicked to play as. A downright tricky character with lots of range, mindgames, and all that good stuff. A king of WTF-characters, and I love him for it.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

50% - I mean, it's Ken. Like, they did him well, but we all know exactly what to expect from him. A good addition, but not someone who feels like a huge deal either.

:ultincinceroar: 40% - Probably the most difficult satisfaction rating I've had to give. On one hand he looks like decent fun to play as, he's not getting near my list of most played characters, but he still looks like someone I'll be able to have a fun time with in a casual setting. He also shows a lot of personality, which is a running theme with the newcomers in this game, so that's good.

On the other hand, with only 6 unique newcomers in the base game, yet another Pokémon is just a bit meh, especially when the series already benefitted from Everyone Is Here more than any other. Now I'm not saying it's undeserved, I don't think I need to state how massive Pokémon is, but I do think there are a lot of other characters that'd have given more to the roster, doubly so when Incineroar isn't even a clear standout in his own series. I don't hate him or why he was included, but in comparison to the other 5 newcomers, all of which are big shots in different ways, he is just fairly underwhelming.

80% - I'm still a bit lost for words tbh, but there are a few things to note with this one. He's our joke character, and he also comes for free for a limited time, so while there are characters that'd make people happier, I just can't get mad at him, in fact I absolutely adore how they cranked the craziness of this game's surprise up to 11. He also looks pretty fun to play as, and extremely unique too, so yeah, I think he's a good and funny addition. I do hope he stays the only generic goon on the roster though (I don't count the likes of Bandana Dee or Captain Toad in that), otherwise the charm of the character is lost a bit.

Spirits: 40% - I'm not really sure what to make of this tbh, it just doesn't seem very engaging or fun to me. I like the idea of doing battles in unique conditions, in that way it's kinda a neat replacement for Event matches, but that's about all I care for with the concept. It's a bit too convoluted, and just doesn't seem like it has much of a purpose in the long run. Would have gotten a lower rating if we hadn't gotten an actual Adventure Mode on top of it.

World of Light: 60% - This is difficult to rate as we know so little about it, but it does seem promising, and the way they presented it was top notch.

 

[RealPokeFan11]

We're doing this again as a separate day? Gonna copy-paste what I said yesterday.

WANNABE RYU
Satisfaction rating: 55%
My score would've been higher if I played Ryu a lot in Smash 4. (Which I didn't btw) He seems much better than him and looks like a fun fighter. (If only he wasn't so difficult to play!)

JOHN CENAROAR
Satisfaction rating: 85%
Though I would've preferred Decidueye, (and especially Ya Boi Xurkitree!) Incineroar was on my list for wanted characters. He seems like a ton of fun and brings a new defensive play style. He packs a punch and I love it when he taunts after he lands a good hit.

Wait... Who let Bob the Pirahna out of the house? And why is he here!?
Satisfaction rating: 65%
This was HILARIOUS when I first saw him as a fighter, but he was revealed at a bad time where people were grieving over their disconfirmed characters, and Spirits being disappointing to many. He's a generic Mario enemy who somehow got in over Waluigi and potentially Geno??? (He is likely for DLC tho.) @Llort A. Ton almost got his wish in a way. He got a joke character in, and his Thwomp got in as an AT. I will be trying out Bob the Pirahna when he gets released, and he has a very tricky and interesting moveset.

Are we still doing noms? If so, Xurkitree x5
Still not disconfirmed yet!

 

[Rockaphin]

Ken:
100%

One of my most wanted characters/echos.

Fire Kitty:
50%

I originally didn't care for Incineroar but he looks somewhat fun to play.

Piranha Plant:
5%

The moveset at least looks ok. But I am not fond of the character being in Smash.

 

[fogbadge]

lets see

ken: 0%

inceneroar: 0% leats favourite gen 7 pokemon

piranha plant: 50% odd choice bit insulting to mario fans at least he looks fun

 

[UtopianPoyzin]

Considering most people think that the removal of all Custom Robo content from the last game was tied to the inaccurate assumptions towards the copyrights (see links in sig for more)? Seeing Custom Robo return in this way is a substantial upgraded from Smash 4...and, even, Brawl, since there's more Custom Robo content of actual worth (trophies, as stated in my opinion, had no applicable gameplay value past their collection). Plus, the costume sets the stage for potential DLC (more on that in the Custom Robo thread) if the concept of Assist Trophies not being promoted mid-entry is verified as a truth.

It's all about keeping the faith, my friend.

If he was only a trophy, then yeah, of course it was an upgrade. However, the difference is that he was an ASSIST trophy, and I don't know if moving from assist trophy to costume is that great of a move. He lost all of the abilities he had in his original game, as well as his custom attack he used as an AT. Now he is a costume for a Mii. Is that... good? You can technically play as him, but he won't retain any originality from his original game. It's an upgrade from Smash 4, but is it a net increase from Brawl?

 

[HenryZusa]

Ken: Meh. Leaks or not, everybody saw it coming.
Incineroar: Oh for ****'s sake, really? Generic Tony the Tiger instead of Decidueye?

Piranha Plant: HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! I DIDN'T KNOW WE NEEDED THIS BUT I LOVE IT!

 

[Mogisthelioma]

: New main, great to have him instead of Ryu! Also, reminds me of Johnny from Kobra Kai. 100%!
:ultincinceroar:: Great, fire and brawn! Wuld rather have a bit more fire than brawn, but otherwise amazing! 85%!
: Hype, destroys any and all arguments against Bandana Waddle Dee. Looks good, too! Can't wait! 80%!

 

[AquaSol]

Ken: 100%

Ken makes complete sense as an echo, and I'm all for him. Not much to say here, I'm definitely satisfied with him.

Incineroar: 45%

I sincerely don't believe that Incineroar's inclusion is justified. After Lucario and Greninja were revealed, they were met with instant popularity. It was natural for both of them, and they received special treatment because of it. Lucario got his own movie and a mega evolution, while Greninja got Ash-Greninja. Their popularity has persisted over the years as well. Incineroar was never met with this level of acceptance, and his inclusion seems really forced because of it. Gamefreak treats him no different than most seventh generation Pokemon - in fact, both Mimikyu and Dusk-Lycanroc are treated better. If Sakurai were really looking for a seventh generation mascot to put in, it probably should have been Mimikyu. I'm not saying that Incineroar looks like a lame character - because to me, he isn't. He looks like a lot of fun, and I'm excited for some Charizard vs. Incineroar battles. However, the super-Pokemon fan inside of me knows that there were a couple of better choices for a seventh generation rep.

Pirahna Plant: 40%

Truly proof that Sakurai can make anything a character. If anyone else had suggested this character with a similar moveset, people would have called it stupid. Part of me knows that it's a fun joke character that was probably intended to get a rise out of us, but another part can't help but not like it. Kind of wish Petey Pirahna was the character instead.

 

[Quetzal77]

Ken: 50%, in the sense of I don't think I'll ever play as him other than when it's mandatory, and I prefer Ryu, but I recognize he deserves to be here.

Incineroar: 0%. I don't think we needed a Pokemon newcomer at all, considering gen 7 is generally not well liked, and if we did then there were better options.

Plant: 0%. The team prioritized a bad joke over one more fan pleasing character, and this opens the door to generic characters that really have no place being playable fighters, when actual characters with support are doomed to be ATs. It also makes me not excited for DLC if it's going to be as tone deaf as this.

 

[ShinyRegice]

Ken satisfaction: 58%
As the original Echo fighter, plus the fact Street Fighter is a series about character matchups (thus making it feel like it fits better with more than one character), Ken's place in Smash is well deserved I have to admit, and his Final Smashes look awesome. However, I'm not very good at using Ryu's input commands and another character like that means I have a higher chance of getting one when playing random. He's otherwise gonna be an occasional pick to me.

Incineroar satisfaction: 83%
I wished for a playable generation VII representative and Incineroar quite delivered, even though it's not the choice I would have done myself. Even the special moveset is not what I expected, as Sakurai really chose to put the pro wrestling theme before faithfulness to Pokémon moves to the point of giving it a special move made from scratch (the side one). He did an excellent job at focusing on a Pokémon's theming with the given moveset and personality, which makes Incineroar feel more like a handsome addition rather than an obligatory generic Pokémon addition.

Piranha Plant satisfaction: 60%
Really a choise nobody saw coming, it's so random and unexpected it becomes absurd, and it's so absurd it becomes funny, funny enough to make up for how random and unexpected it is (unlike Bubsy). I'm not gonna give a super high satisfaction score because, well, it'll feel hard in hindsight to rationalize this character's inclusion besides the surprise/WTF factor (unlike Wii Fit Trainer or even Pichu), but it is without a doubt very creative with a lot of references to the different appearances of Piranha Plants in Mario games. The way it was presented (crouching in front of Mario as if it we were supposed to expect it to be an Assist Trophy for the real newcomer to come later, and later insting it's an actual fighter and not an assist) made it obvious Sakurai knows it was unexpected by the fanbase, and I'm really curious to discover his reasoning for this character choice. I'm even more impatient for the Famitsu column than usual now! Oh, and the recovery in particular is hilarious. I can't help but think "haters gonna hate" when I see it used in the trailer. But please Sakurai, while such a silly character inclusion is funny, make it the exception rather than the rule for DLC...

Also I wonder, since we know we will have five new characters by early 2020, and DLCs add less than a whole new Smash game, maybe we could slow down the game's pace? I think one thing to rate per day is overkill in such a context. Maybe two things to rate per week? So we can have multiple real world days to rate each character or concept. At the very least I personally know I'm not gonna participate daily.

I also think it's worth rating the concept of getting any Assist Trophy upgraded to playable as DLC; if the concept gets a low overall score then Assist Trophies are considered a waste of time to rate and we don't rate them, otherwise they might be eligible.

 

[Smasher 101]

Ken: 60%

Still meh on third party echoes and like Ryu more anyway, but Ken is a deserving choice. It's admittedly neat to have the original echo here. Still just ok with him.

Incineroar: 90%

I actually think a new Pokemon was a good idea, and while I wanted Decidueye, Incineroar was my second choice. I do like the wrestler, and his moveset looks really cool, he definitely brings something different. Only reason I have him last among the unique base newcomers is because I actively wanted the other five, but I'm satisfied with all of them.

Piranha Plant: 70%

I would have given this double zeroes and moved on if someone had been insane enough to nominate this, but you know what? Not even upset about it. I do have to take off points for how ridiculous the idea was, but it's so stupid and absurd that I couldn't help but laugh when it was revealed. It looks genuinely fun to use too. I'm definitely gonna try the plant out.

Final rankings for base roster:

1. King K. Rool
2. Ridley
3. Simon
4. Inkling
5. Isabelle
6. Dark Samus
7. Incineroar
8. Chrom
9. Ken
10. Daisy
11. Richter

 

[Artix]

Satisfaction Rating:

Ken Masters: 100%
I'm so happy that my boy has finally entered Smash Bros.! I've been a Ken main ever since SF4 and I'm very glad I could finally play as him in Ultimate. I like how he looks in the game, much better than what Cacpom did to him in SF4 and SF5.

Incineroar: 85%
While I was disappointed that he was chosen over Decidueye, I'm still glad he got in. I like his pro-wrestler style moves, it definitely fits on what this Pokemon is supposed to be: a wrestler. I might play him sometime once I got my hands on the game next month.

Piranha Plant: 30%
Okay, this one just came out of nowhere...Out of all the WTF characters the series got, this one takes the cake. I like the character, it defintely had some uniqueness in it's moveset, but...really? A generic Mario villain got in over someone like Waluigi? Let's hope the 5 DLC fighters are not some crazy addition like this one...

 

[Tew]

Ken: 1%
It´s not that I hate him or anything but he is by far the Newcomer I care the least About. Ryu is one of my least played (if not the least played Character) Character and I doubt I will Play Ken much more. I get it and think he deserves the spot, the Trailer was good and everything but my hype for him is nonexistent. Furthermore I am not a fan of the Street Fighter series, Echos in General don´t hype/satisfy very much and I am also not the biggest fan of his design/personality. (I think he also has some fire moves, but to that more in a bit)

Incineroar: 15%
Before the reveal he would have been even lower than Ken. I liked the Gen 7 games and even more the small but great Pokédex. It has tons of Pokémon I love, including Lycanroc (my new second favourite of all Gens), Decidueye (my favourite grass starter), Golisopod (my favourite bug) and many more, but Incineroar might be my least favourite out of Gen 7.
But aside from that, what annoys me even more, is that he is yet another fire Character. I already talked About that in my Fjorm text so only in short this time. I just think there are too many fire moves in Smash. Or fire in the whole gaming Branche. Pretty much every game with some Kind of Elements has fire, and usually the Focus on it. Nearly every jrpg or app with Elements has a Prota with the fire element. Fire her, fire there, fire everywhere. I am kinda sick of it. And all the other Elements barely get any love in Smash, there are like 3-4 ice moves, a few water and Electric moves, now some grass moves and Pretty much no rock and Ground moves.
Though now after the reveal, we now that he is primarly a grappler, Wrestler and only has some fire effects. And he does look interesting with some neat Elements, though it doesn´t completely make up for even more fire and a design I can´t stand.

Piranha Plant: 92%
Well, after the Inklings, my second favourite Newcomer (so far). Definitely the biggest wtf/surprise Character ever, adds more grass moves, Looks hella fun and unique and kills the stupid goomba with a hat Argument. Though it´s a bit of a double edged Sword to me, on the one Hand I get Petey Piranha (who is one of my bigger hopes) as a Final Smash, which is more than I ever expected, on the other Hand it does hurt a bit, if they already go for a Piranha, why not Petey?

 

[Troykv]

Piranha Plant: 92%
Well, after the Inklings, my second favourite Newcomer (so far). Definitely the biggest wtf/surprise Character ever, adds more grass moves, Looks hella fun and unique and kills the stupid goomba with a hat Argument. Though it´s a bit of a double edged Sword to me, on the one Hand I get Petey Piranha (who is one of my bigger hopes) as a Final Smash, which is more than I ever expected, on the other Hand it does hurt a bit, if they already go for a Piranha, why not Petey?

I think using a basic design for Piranha Plant is because it allowed to do more references with the whole Piranha kind

 

[Sid-cada]

Satisfaction Ratings

Ken - 50% - I can't really muster much opinion over Echo fighters. I don't care much either way.

Incineroar - 40% - I will probably warm up to him in time, but I feel like this choice was wasted potential. Compared to the likes of Decidueye, Nihilego, Mimikyu, etc. he feel kinda... bland? I was much more invested in his competition, just because they were much more interesting to me as fighters. While he looks fun, I just can't help but feel that someone else from the same generation would have been much better.

Piranah Plant - 30% - Not a good WTF pick, in my opinion. I feel a good WTF pick should make characters that seem forgoten a second chance to get in the spotlight. A new franchise is typically ideal for this, as they can show something that other franchises just can't do. Ice Climbers, ROB, Game and Watch are all examples of a good WTF pick. Piranah Plant isn't something that shines a light on something that would get overlooked, but rather a wacky idea mostly for the sake of a wacky idea. It wan't requested or particularly popular, especally when considering he comes from Mario, which has several other characters seemingly waiting in the wings. He looks creative and fun, but considering the next game is a potential roster reset, I don't know if this plant will survive.

 

[BrashCandicoot]

Satisfaction

Ken: 65%- He looks like a better version of Ryu so I am pretty hyped for him.

Incineroar: 65%- We've never had a wrestler fighter in Smash before and he fits right into the roster. Also I picked Litten in Moon so I guess I have some nostalgia for him.

Piranha Plant: 100%- Holy **** no one was expecting this guy, the joke character of this game and I'm all for it.

 

[AirMac1]

Ken:80%-Since he is gonna be faster than Ryu, count me in!
Incineroar:100%-Finally, a wrestler in Smash! I can’t wait to see if the NES pro wrestling game on the NES gets some spirits!
Piranha Plant:100%-Yes! Yes! Yes!-Daniel Bryan. It’s a joke character!

 

[PeridotGX]

- 50%. He's okay, he was very predictable. I wish he wasn't the last character revealed though, like I said, he was almost inevitable. I love strange choices, so seeing a shoe-in last was sad.

:ultincinceroar: - 5%. The grass type is my favorite type. Now that we have two fully evolved fire types but all the grass type has is a Pre-evolution from Gen 1, I'm disappointing.

- 100%. You know how I said I love suprises and the Grass Type? This fulfills both desires. Plus the "Goomba with a hat" argument is dead, so horray.

 

[Kirby Dragons]

: 25%. I dislike the concept of Echoes as a whole, but Ken was at least a good use of it.
:ultincinceroar:: 0%. MANY better choices than Incineroar, including no Pokemon at all. I've expressed my problems with this one already, but aside from those, I hate how Sakurai made up a side special when there are many actual Pokemon moves he could've used instead.
: 70%. The moveset looks interesting. The character shatters both fan rules AND official Sakurai rules. There were better choices for a joke character, but you can't go wrong with Mario.

 

[Kotor]

All three get 100% from me.

Ken was much more interesting to me than Shadow. Shadow just felt like a boring inclusion.

My boy Incineroar gets in! My starter from Moon joins the battle. Never thought much about him when Litten's final evo was leaked around Summer 2016. In fact, I never realized he was going to be a wrestler until the official reveal outright said it. I'm happy, and very happy that whole "Incineroar was leak bait" spiel was all just bull****.

Piranha Plant got in over Waluigi. How is that not hilarious? Waluigi became a bigger joke than he already was.

 

[DerErlenkonig]

: 75% We all knew he was coming, and he looks pretty great actually. Not really a Ryu player but Ken Masters is absolutely worthy of inclusion and his minor differences are a pleasant surprise since it would have been easily justifiable to make him a straight clone. I likely won't play him, but that's OK.

: 1%. I've already rambled about it elsewhere but I really... just hate Incineroar, for a wide array of reasons. There are a plethora of both more worthy and more popular pokemon in just Gen 7 and they just had to go with the super controversial Fire Starter. There is now a painful imbalance of starters that would have been solved by simply going with the more popular and far more unique Decidueye. It's a bummer through and through.

: 50%. I'm very conflicted. On the one hand, it's unfair to place blame on this character for unrelated Grinch disappointments. On the other hand, there are so many better options. Then again, one could easily argue that it's actually great that the bar has been lowered so much since it opens the doors to weirder DLC. Overall, a potentially interesting and truly surprising character, just one that leaves me disatisfied due to circumstances.

 

[EarlTamm]

85% for all. I liked each of them very much, it's just that there timing could have been a bit better.

 

[Troykv]

The Satisfaction Day:

Ken: 70%

I expected it; it was better than expected xD

Incineroar: 50%

I looks nice

Pirahna: 90%

Best meme character (?) I love how different is compared with the usual Brawlers and Sword Fighters... it makes me happy to see something so special and so unexpected.

 

[DaUsername]

:100%
When Echo Fighters were first announced, this was one of the first characters I thought of. I'm glad he made it in. While I don't really play as Ryu that much, I might pick up this character.

: 25%
I've never really liked this character, even way back when the starter designs were leaked, I thought they we're fake just because of Incineroar's design. And seriously, did we really need another Pokémon character? The only reason I can think of fr Incineroar's inclusion is "it's from the newest generation."
But who knows, he might be fun to play, and it's nice to have a wrestling character, I guess.

: 5%
The Hat Goomba argument is finally dead! Yes!
That is the only positive thing I can say about this.
Why didn't we get Toad? Why didn't we get Waluigi? Why didn't we get Paper Mario? Why didn't we get literally anyone else??
I usually like joke characters, but I don't understand this one. My opinion could change, it could end up being a fun character, but as of right now, I'm not a fan.

 

[Garteam]

Ken I join the battle? Shoryuken! - 95%: Ken feels like he's got a lot of love put into him. There's just such an attention to detail in everything about him that really gets to the heart of what Smash is, a celebration of video game history. The only reason he's not a perfect 100% is his awkward looking face and hair, but its also a step up from Street Fighter V, so I can't complain.
In retrospect, I should've cine this coming beroar - 5%: His presentation is really, really nice, but his gameplay looks really lacking. Sure, wrestling is cool and all, but he hits a lot of the same gameplay points as Bowser and King K. Rool: big, slow characters that hit hard to compensate. Even then, it doesn't seem like he hits that hard to compensate, so he'll just be a character with a bad approach game and nothing to balance it out. I was hoping to see a lot more regarding the grappler gimmick, but his throws (allegedly) don't kill until the opponent is over 100%. Not only do I feel that there were better Gen 7 Pokemon to take this spot, but Incineroar's moveset doesn't even reach its full potential, definitely a sour note to end on.
Plant - 50%: I'm really on the fence about this one. On one hand, its a crazy idea, and some of Smash's best qualities are crazy ideas. On the other hand, it still feels kind of weird to have a generic enemy as a playable character in Smash. His moveset looks kinda hit and miss as well. The lunging grab attack looks like it will be a ton of fun to use, but a lot of his other tools such as the spike ball and poison breath look very situational. At the very least, he's another nature themed character, so at least Ivysaur will have some company. It's a shame we'll inevitably need another 6 fire themed characters to balance this one out.

 

[SPEN18]

Ken - 1% satisfaction. Don't really care much for Street Fighter but he was just an Echo so I'm not upset about him.
Incineroar - 0% satisfaction. I didn't really want a Pokémon to begin with, even though I like Pokémon in general; I just feel like there are already plenty of 'em in the roster. Besides, even if we were getting a Pokémon I would prefer it to be from Hoenn, Sinnoh, or another older gen. And if it HAS to be a Sun & Moon rep, even then there are better mons in my eyes.
Piranha Plant - 0% satisfaction. Felt like a real slap to the face to all the fanbases, especially fans of other Mario characters. No Geno? No Waluigi? No Capt. Toad? Not even a unique Daisy? I don't even really support most of those but they'd all be better than the plant. Sure it was funny and surprising, but characters shouldn't be added just for kicks and giggles. I don't want a surprise just for the sake of having a surprise.

Hopefully that all didn't come off too harsh; I just really didn't get much personal satisfaction from that direct.