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

[Perkilator]

Before I get my ratings out of the way, is it alright if we replace Claude with another character, since he’s been shot down for a playable spot?

Anyways:

Byleth: 80%
Im super happy they got in, but certainly not how I would’ve ended Vol. 1. The moveset may not be what I originally had in mind, but I’d still at least take it over any Pokémon Trainer-style toss. And hey, at least the 3rd party purists can shut up about future DLC. Only thing I’m not iffy in the music selection (Paths That Will Never Cross over God-Shattering Star? No offense, but really?).

Fighter’s Pass Vol. 1: 95%
Wasn’t sure about , or at first (and most certainly not Byleth; like I said, not how I would’ve ended Vol. 1), but I came out happy in the end.

Vol. 2 Predictions:
-Euden
-Crash Bandicoot
-Adeleine and Ribbon
-Sora
-Ring Fit Adventurer
-Any other 3rd party character

Noms: Ring Fit Adventurer x5

 

[Ridrool64]

You can't spell Byleth without bleh.

Satisfaction: 50%. The moveset is fantastic, and that's really the only positive thing I can say about the character. While I now understand why Byleth is a part of Volume 1 and not Volume 2, that doesn't really change the fact that they're a Fire Emblem character in a post-Corrin world. At this point I can't be assed to believe Sakurai that Spring Man and Rex were too late and needed minor representation in the base game if he also found the time to make Byleth in pass 1. I'm not salty about Arle, though, even I knew it'd be too good to be true (my heart wanted it to be so, but alas, I was better than that), but I was massively disappointed in the inevitable arguments. And I don't really care for the character behind the moveset. But the moveset itself is a beautiful love letter to both Fire Emblem: Three Houses and FE in general. That alone is worth 50%.

Now this doesn't take associated content into account. If it does, change that to an 80%. Garreg Mach Monastery is a stage I always wanted to see in Super Smash Bros. It's finally time for an actually not **** Fire Emblem stage like the ones that are based on concepts, even if it's gonna be banned because walkoffs that last too long. My only gripe is the lack of Bernadetta, regardless of how reasonable it is (not even a Spirit? Come on, also it'd help with Arle if Bernie were on the stage with a voice because both are voiced by Mendez and I'm greedy and desperate for more hope). The music in Three Houses ranges from phenomenal to outstanding with very few, if any bad pieces, though I agree that God-Shattering Star is an idiot tier exclusion. And we should've gotten way more songs than this, considering there's way more FE songs they could've added, like basically any Sacred Stones song that isn't the ****ing preparations theme or Twilight of the Gods from Gaiden.

Smash or Pass?

Satisfaction: 80%. The Heroes of Dragon Quest, the rare sights Banjo & Kazooie, and the Fatal one himself Terry Bogard are all stellar picks, and Mementos and Garreg Mach Monastery are fantastic stages as well. All of them come with absolute bangers, though Terry is the only one who's package doesn't leave me wanting more. The spirit boards are great: standouts include the Legend Spirit battles. Overall, I think the Pass is full of great things. But it also has Joker, who not only still has a tiny chip off my block, but I also think is grossly overpowered, even in casual play. He's fun to use, but also really ****ing good. (Maybe in comp he's not obviously best in the game, but I think he is still a top 3 contender at worst). Byleth is Byleth, but now I can't really give the moveset pass since all of them have stellar movesets. I guess it's still unique, though.

First: Finish the week. Then, take every character who has at least 50 noms, everybody else who you think is worth talking about, and (if I could let my bias roam) any character who had gotten nominations yesterday. That makes up the fixed schedule and should account for every character that could feasibly be in Volume 2, among characters who aren't.

 

[DaUsername]

Byleth Satisfaction: 0% (You all knew this was coming.)
Seriously, Sakurai? Of all of all the potential Nintendo characters to add you pick another Fire Emblem character.
Why do you keep doing this?
What's wrong with Zelda? Or Kirby? Or Xenoblade?
Or all the series that have no characters, like ARMS or Golden Sun or Wars or Rhythm Heaven (among others)?
Why does it always have to be Fire Emblem? Why does it get a guaranteed new character with every game it releases while most new games are lucky just to be represented with a stage, music, costume, or Spirits?

And the worst part of this? The DLC characters were apparently picked over a year ago. Can you guess which game wasn't released yet over a year ago?
That's right! Fire Emblem: Three Houses! Sakurai did the same exact thing he did with Corrin and no one seems to care.
But I care.


Fighter Pass satisfaction: N/A
I can't even give this a fair rating, because it contains one of the best Smash characters (), but also the worst (see above).
Either way, I wasted $25.

As far as rerates go, I say we do those ASAP.
Noms: Rillaboom x5

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Byleth Satisfaction: 40% - Considering the character, the moveset is alright, it's easy to understand and not overdone, although it probably isn't distinct enough to win over any FE skeptics. The character is the issue for me though, as Byleth is just a completely blank and uninteresting to me, and ultimately took the now-or-never spot that I was hoping Edelgard would get. I don't hate Byleth, and I'm most certainly not outright offended by him like so many others seem to be, but it is still a fairly dull note for the Fighters Pass to go out on. But hey, we got some of the amazing Three Houses music, so it's not all bad.

Fighters Pass Satisfaction: 75% - Overall I think it turned out quite well, while still not being as amazing as the base game newcomers were. Banjo and Terry were the clear standouts imo, with the latter having grown on me immensily since his addition, he's just so much fun. Hero was good too, a little too wack in some areas, but still good. Joker was just alright to me, while Byleth is slightly mediocre. It was an unpredictable and pretty crazy ride, my opinions on the characters vary a bit, but I'd still say it was a hell of a lot better than Smash 4's DLC. I do think Fighters Pass 2 has a good shot at being even better though, at least I'm hopeful that some of the great candidates out there are in a strong position now.

Nominations:
Mii Costume: Hollow Knight x5

 

[Jomosensual]

Basically did this yesterday so I'm drop it again here.

Cool thanks! Reactions time:

I'd give my hype over finding out the character is Byleth to be about 6/10. Lean towards happy but I really wanted Edelgard so a bitter sweet reveal. That being said, she got a spirit, character background, and alt costume. That's a pretty good haul for someone who isn't playable. Also, the music made it in which is what I wanted at the bare minimum. Overall just happy that 3H didn't get spirit boarded like some other series I wanted in. I liked the trailer too, although it took so long to show the splash art that I thought we were getting faked out and a house leader was getting in instead. The Sothis line about too many swordfighters was fantastic too. Both a funny reference and the type of thing she'd absolutely say. Nailed it completely there.

Moveset for Byleth looks good and interesting. Sakurai went so far to make Byleth different that he didn't even give him/her a counter. instead we have all 3 of the house leaders weapons and the Sword of the Creator. Can't be happier with that. All of it looks good, and finding a way to jam all 4 weapons in equally and well without turning to a wheel like Shulk has is cool. Overall it looks like Byleth might be a character I'm pretty good with and I'm excited to play him/her

Overall, I liked the rest of the direct too. Gonna have to rewatch the start of Sakurai's reveal stuff because I didn't feel like I needed him to explain who Byleth was or what Fire Emblem is(Really Sakurai? It won a fan vote at the VGAs and we already have a ton of characters from the series) but like I said above, pretty much all the characters I wanted to see as backgrounds or extras got in, while the Mii Costumes didn't kill anyone off I wanted.

Also on the topic of Mii Costumes, can we talk about how great that Cuphead one is? My god. I'm still kinda laughing over it. Fantastic work. Really love the fully suited versions of those. Makes me wonder about the indies getting in the game as playable but those Mii Costumes with a music track work pretty well for me. If Hollow Knight was the next one to be shown off like that I wouldn't mind.

Finally 6 MORE FIGHTERS! I was hoping for one more fighters pass but wasn't sure if it would be reality. DLC is going until the end of 2021 too so we'll have a lot more time for this stuff. Honestly, it's going to kinda suck when it's all over given that we would have spent what, about 3-4 years on speculation? Overall, 6 is more than enough and I'm really happy to get it. My stance on who gets in stays the same, which is give me just one more extremely hype moment and the rest is yours to do what you please Sakurai, cricitism free from me unless it's a 4th party character or one of the few I really do not want.

Overall, I'm gonna go 8/10. Was a little bummed over the character not being the 3H rep I wanted but it was well done and I was pleased with the rest of the direct. When I stopped to think about it, if it was Edelgard instead I would have given it a 9 or 10, so when that much of the direct is good it's hard to be disappointed

Edit: Forgot to give my fighters pass overall ratings, so I'll do that now

For how hyped I was over all the characters, I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Joker broke my brain to the point where I woke people up with my reactions to him. Hero and Banjo I didn't really want but I was happy to just get them in after 6 months of the Banjo vs. Steve and Erdrick is a literal who wars. Terry I was disappointed with, and I already explained Byleth above. Was hoping for maybe a little more oomph(no pun intended) with one more character but I was won over with each either in the trailer or when Sakurai showed them off.

For gameplay I give it a 9 or maybe even a 10. Hero is my absolute favorite to play and one of my mains now. Joker is a good deal of fun too, although my brother mains him so I don't always play him. Byleth looks good and fun although its hard to say until I play him. Terry and Banjo I've only played a little bit of but both are well designed at least. Terry's vocals make me love playing against as or against him, and even though Banjo is fairly generic I still enjoy seeing him out there. Not sure what about it I like exactly but sometimes its just fun to see a cartoon bear hit people with his bird friend.

For the extra content I'm giving it a full 10. The KoF stages is one of my favorites. Mementos is fantastic. Spiral Mountain is unique and not something I thought would work until I saw it. Hero's stage is fairly bland and Byleths looks fine but the top 3 are some really great stuff. The music is perfect for all of them. I always wanted some Persona 5 and 3H tracks in the game since I started playing those games. Hero and Banjo had some happy and upbeat tracks come with them and I always like some songs like that in the game. I don't think I've even heard all of Terry's yet but I really like Psycho Solider. And the Mii Costumes they've absolutely nailed, especially the Sans and Cuphead ones. Usually I don't care about them too much but they really made those worth the purchase.

For a final pass rating I'll give it a 9/10. All the characters fit. Most of the stages are good and none of them are outright bad. The music is perfect and the gameplay is fun. Only thing I ask for is one more big moment and this is an easy 10/10 from me. If FP2 is anywhere close to this level of good(which is probably will be) then Smash Ultimate will be forever one of my favorite games of all time

Will quote this post with a prediction if/when we find out what that is

Noms
Big Daddy x5

Housekeeping stuff for rerates. I’m thinking either folding the characters left on the schedule into the rerate schedule or finishing the week and then do rerates. What are all your thoughts on that?

I'd say finish the week first. Think we're fairly close anyways

Predictions for the final 6:
Sora
Phoenix
Crash
Geno
Arle
Gen 8 Pokemon

Noms:
Big Daddy x5

 

[GoodGrief741]

I as well jumped the gun and did this yesterday, so I'll just quote myself

Guess I might as well post my reactions

I'm whelmed. I think I would have been much more excited if I'd actually been expecting Byleth or any other first party, but I wasn't, so my initial reaction was more of a "Byleth? That's random". And then I thought it's kind of weird that Fire Emblem keeps getting the red carpet treatment like this. Then I started dreading reactions to him. But all in all, Byleth is a great choice from a great game, so in a vacuum he's an excellent character. Garreg Mach looks neat, the moveset looks neat, the stage cameos only increased my uncertainty on what house I'm gonna pick when I play Three Houses (initial impressions are that Dimitri gang is too vanilla and Edelgard house is too waifu cringe, but then again what do I know). So I'm really happy that Byleth is in, and I wish things were different so that everyone could appreciate him for what he is. I'll give a 75% satisfaction rating.

The rest of the presentation was OK. I think everyone could've done without the Fire Emblem history lesson after being in the series since Melee. But Sakurai was funny throughout. And the fight was mercifully short. I'd give a 6.5/10.

Now if we're doing a rating for the whole Pass... It's been a great Pass. To think I only bought it when E3 came around, but I have zero complaints. Joker's moveset I still don't like and feel like it misrepresents the character, but other than that the selection is great, the stages are great, the music is great. Hero and Banjo are probably main material for me. I love all the heroes in Hero's alts (started DQXI yesterday!) and that the ones that didn't make it get shown off in his FS. I love how unique and balls to the wall awesome Terry is (even if I don't like the more complex inputs on principle), and the stadium might be the best DLC stage. And I love everything about Banjo, just a dream come true. So I'd give a 90% satisfaction rating.

And Mii Costumes. Good selection. Aside from Cuphead, no character with great chances was killed (sorry X). Glad to see both Mega Man Costumes back as they're some of the best. Altair was random but increases my hope for Ezio. AND Rabbids are disconformes which is always great. Now Cuphead, he could have been a contender, but his costume is great and it comes with music. And honestly he was pretty low-key so if anything this should really increase support going forward, so I see it as a good thing.

Noms: Kiryu

Note to future self: my nominations are also in there

As for what to do next, I think we might as well finish the current week before starting the rerate schedule.

 

[warpenguin55]

Quoting what I posted yesterday. Noms are Echo Fighters post pass x5

Ratings:

Byleth: 7/10
I'm OK with it. Fire Emblem 3 Houses is a great game and deserves a place in Smash. Nintendo really wants to push Fire Emblem as one of their top franchises, so another Fire Emblem character was going to happen at some point. My biggest issue with the choice is that I wanted Edelgard. Byleth is the boring choice imo. At least Sakurai knew the House Leaders were important enough to make them alt costumes. The Claude and Edelgard colors look really close to the actual characters, if you wanted them over Byleth maybe you can still feel like you're playing them.


Direct: 8/10
I don't have much to say on the direct. It did what it needed to do. Byleth's moveset was explain well, the stage and tracks are good. Cuphead's Mii costume is great and I'm buying that. I like that the next fighters pass was confirmed with an extra character. I think they should have revealed the 1st fighter in the new pass. Byleth was going to be a divisive pick, and I think the blow could been softened by announcing another character. I do think people over hyped themselves for it.

Fighters Pass: 9/10
Overall, pretty good pass, but not perfect. For fun, my rankings of each pass character

1: Joker
Objectively the best DLC fighter. Joker's reveal was absolutely amazing. He was a character I wanted pretty badly, but I thought he was an unrealistic pick and never gave him a chance for inclusion. Good thing I was wrong too. Joker is my favorite fighter in Ultimate. I spammed the crap out of him and I wasn't disappointed. The stage is cool and the tracks are good. I do see people complain that Joker's moveset doesn't rep him the best. It doesn't bother me but I can see why people think that. Only 1 persona showing up is a strange choice and you probably could have kept the rebellion gage and just got other personas involved with other moves instead of just Arsene. It doesn't bug me too much though.

2: Hero
I love Hero. I actually really like the amount of RNG he has. Every game feels unique and I love spamming command menus. Hero has made some really funny moments for me and my family when he's in the game. A few examples, I got a game winning Whack with 2 seconds left on the clock, my random Kamakaze out of a Hocus Pocus resulting in the game being paused for about 3 minutes while my brother and I laughed our asses off, and 2 more minutes for me to stop raging about it. A few times the hero player gets too excited at the start of the fight, rapid fires the first thing on the command menu and either gets either Kamakaze or Magic Burst. Another reason I like Hero's inclusion was that it got me into Dragon Quest. When I found out about the Dragon Quest 11 demo on switch, I was super bored and said f it, why not. I ended up buying the full game and I'm still playing it. It's a really fun game.


My major complaint is that I think Hero's execution was botched. 2 Tracks per hero. The spirit board having mostly generic enemies. The stage isn't very fun imo either. Square Enix, why are you like this? The good out weighs the bad imo, it's definitely confusing as to why Square didn't want to go all out. Wasn't the rumor that they wanted Dragon Quest in smash to get more people in the west to play it. I think they should have had more tracks than 2 per hero, and the spirit board should have had some party members from games that weren't DQ11.

3: Terry
I had some serious doubts about this one. When the website leaked SNK, my first though was "What's SNK?". Then for the 2 or so days between the website leak and the direct where Terry was being speculated on, it was "Literally Who?". When Terry was revealed, I wasn't hyped for him, but still was going to give him a shot. I had never heard of him at all until the website leak, so screw it, I'll wait for more info. Turns out I like playing him. Terry also came with the best stage. KOF Stadium is one of my favorite Battle Royal stages, along side Temple and New Pork City. The only reason Terry isn't #2 is because Hero got me to give the Dragon Quest demo a shot, and it's a game I really enjoy.


4: Byleth
Byleth could leapfrog Terry, but on paper he doesn't have what it takes. There's not really alot more to say about him that I didn't already put above. One thing I did want to talk about is that I don't think Fire Emblem is over repped. Nintendo clearly thinks Fire Emblem has the potential to be a major franchise and therefore, it does deserve to get attention in Smash. The complaint of "Anime Swordfighter" isn't a good complaint either. It's a stupid and illogical complaint. By this kind of logic, Donkey Kong doesn't deserve more reps because it's just a bunch of monkeys. Earthbound reps, nah we don't need any more magical little kids. Pokemon? Why do we need another mutant animal? Kirby is a hard pass too, we have enough cute blobs. See how stupid that sounds? It's such a lazy comment to make.

I do agree Corrin didn't deserve his smash invite though.


5: Banjo-Kazooie
I like the fact that Banjo-Kazooie made it in. They've been wanted for a long time, and probably were the character of the pass for a lot of people. Banjo-Kazooie doesn't do much for me though, which is why they get the bottom slot for me. I didn't grow up with Banjo, I really only knew them from people wanting them in Smash. Banjo is kinda fun to play, but prefer other characters much more. I don't really like the stage that much either. When I play Battle Royals on it I always lose myself. What I do like is the music. Spiral Mountain is my favorite. It's such a happy and fun track. I listened to it to help cool down after that rant I went on about Byleth.


Noms:
Echo Fighters post pass x5

 

[Sari]

I also jumped the gun so I'll just quote what I wrote yesterday:

Direct reactions:

Gotta say I am really glad with how things turned out. Three Houses is one of my favorite Switch games, and although I would've preferred Edelgard I am still really happy Byleth got in. I know people are tired of yet another FE character, but damn did Sakurai make Byleth stand out through the use of the Hero Relics.

I still can't believe Between Heaven and Earth actually got into Smash. I can die happy now.

Only nitpicks were the lack of God-Shattering Star as one of the music tracks as well as a few more cameos I would've liked to see (mainly Annette and Bernie). But overall I can't be dissapointed in what we got.

Mii costumes were great and that Cuphead outfit is one of the best costumes they've ever released. Also, 6 more characters! I honestly wasn't expecting that many.

And on a personal note, no characters I want had their chances harmed as a result of this Direct (barring Edelgard and Dimitri of course). In fact Byleth's inclusion shows that first parties aren't dead so their inclusion even boosted a lot of character's chances.

Oh yeah and although my predictions were mostly wrong, two of them were spot on:



Overall, I give this Direct a 9.3/10.

--------------------

For how hype I was for the Fighter Pass characters, I rank them in the following order:

> Byleth > > >

No one except for Kyo could ever top Terry's reveal. Even Banjo who I don't really have much personal connection to was still an amazing reveal for me.

I give the fighter's pass as a whole a 9.5/10. They made some really amazing choices with those picks and I can't wait to see how they top it in the future.

Nominations:
Chun-Li x5

In short, Byleth gets a 9/10 from me. While I would've preferred Edelgard I'm happy for just about any TH representation. Byleth even turned out better than I thought since I love how they incorporated the House Leader's Hero Relics into his moveset. In a way it's like 4 characters in one. Also the stage/music selection are great.

Fighters pass as a whole gets a 9.5/10. All around amazing picks and it'll be hard to top this pass. In the order of how much I liked the characters:

> Byleth > > >

Joker: His reveal was without a doubt one of the most memorable in Smash history. Came completely out of nowhere and it was great. No connection to P5 but I still think he was a great inclusion.

Hero: I really enjoy the DQ series so when I heard Erdrick was in leaks I was hoping it'd be real. Hero's trailer was great and seeing Eight as an alt costume made the entire trailer even more hype.

Banjo: Like Joker I have no personal connection to Banjo. But seeing people be happy over his inclusion was great.

Terry: Do I really have to explain this part? He was one of my top 3 most wanted characters way before the SNK leak happened. Seeing him in Smash was a dream come true and I still can't believe he actually made it in.

Byleth: Explained above.

Nominations:
Chun-Li x5

 

[Ninjaed]

I can't even give this a fair rating, because it contains one of the best Smash characters (), but also the worst (see above).
Either way, I wasted $25.

Not wasted, the money you spent on the pass is a stone that was used to build up that 2nd Fighters Pass.

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Byleth: 0.5%
-Not as bad as Corrin, I atleast expected them at some point
-Despite that, still doesn't fit at all in FP1
-Atleast they're First-party
-Could just be FE getting special treatment tho
-Moveset doesn't excite me cause I never really cared for the weapon triangle drama
-Trailer sucked, bro
-Likely not buying them ever

FP1: 50%
I joked about a score like this in my last post here but I guess it does describe my feelings towards this lineup. Some characters were great, some weren't, still none of them belonged to my most wanted. Terry is incredibly fun and my favorite in the pass. Banjo and Kazooie I have no attachment towards but I'm still glad they got in, they deserved it. Hero definitely also deserves his place despite me originally being against him back when I thought it would just be Erdrick like everyone else. DQ11 is on my radar now. Joker however, has kinda dissapointed me in hindsight. To me he kinda feels like Sakurai bias: the character. Not only do I think he's way to good gameplay wise and overal feels like Sakurai wanted him to have as little weaknesses as possible, in terms of content, while not getting 50 music tracks like Terry did, did get alot of special details other fighters normally wouldn't get and that just makes me roll my eyes. Also, P5 still isn't on Switch and I don't know why. Byleth I already said enough about and I kinda just want to forget them and move on from them.

Hollow Knight costume x5

 

[GoodGrief741]

Spoiler: Nominations post-1/16 Livestream Reactions pre-Byleth & Fighter Pass satisfaction

Toxtricity x115
Freddy Fazbear x115
Kazuma Kiryu x110
The Blob (De Blob) x105
Crypto x100
Carmen Sandiego x100
[Rerate] Ryu Hayabusa x90
Mii Costume: Hollow Knight x90

100 - 51

Gex x85
Ryo Hazuki x80
Proto Man x75
Papyrus x75
Sackboy x70
Brian (Quest 64) x65
Decidueye x62
Reporter & Wrestler x60
[Rerate] Waluigi x58
Chun-Li x58
[Rerate] Bandana Dee x55
Meowth x55
Concept: Echo Fighters post-Fighter Pass x55
Concept: Pokéball Pokémon becomes playable x53

50 - 25

Dwight Fairfield (Dead by Daylight) x50
[Rerate] Dante x50
Earthworm Jim x45
Echo: Zeraora (41e) x40
Kasumi (Dead or Alive) x35
[Rerate] Reimu Hakurei x35
Concept: Octopath Traveler rep x35
Concept: Devolver Digital rep x35
Ring Fit Adventurer x35
Urbosa x25
Big Daddy (BioShock) x25

Under 25

Boss: Ender Dragon x24
Giygas x23
[Rerate] Crash Bandicoot x20
Concept: Assist Trophies added in updates x20
[Rerate] Paper Mario x20
[Rerate] Travis Touchdown x20
Rival Pokémon Trainer x17
[Rerate] Rayman x15
Echo: Lord Fredrik (67e) x15
Echo: Dark Bowser (14e) x14
[Rerate] Skull Kid x12
[Rerate] Doomguy x10
[Rerate] Jin Kazama x10
Terra Branford x8
Black Shadow x7
Sparky (Clash Royale) x5
Concept: Overwatch character x5
Gordon Freeman x5
Asha (Wonder Boy) x5
Nightmare (Soul Calibur) x5
[Rerate] Monster Hunter x5
[Rerate] Isaac x5
Alucard (Castlevania) x5
Concept: Darksiders rep x5
Urshifu x5
Segata Sanshiro x5
Rillaboom x5
Chell x3
[Rerate] Andy x2
Taranza x1

Kazuma Kiryu fights past The Blob and steals second place. Freddy Fazbear runs past The Blob and Kiryu and ties with Toxtricity for first. Mii Costume: Hollow Knight joins the top seven and ties with Ryu Hayabusa for seventh.

Meowth, and the concepts for Echo Fighters post-Fighter Pass and Pokéball Pokémon becomes playable cross 50 noms.

Ring Fit Adventurer and Big Daddy trek out of the under 25 club.

Your new challenger is Rillaboom, with 5 noms.

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Spoiler: Nominations post-1/16 Livestream Reactions pre-Byleth & Fighter Pass satisfaction

Toxtricity x115
Freddy Fazbear x115
Kazuma Kiryu x110
The Blob (De Blob) x105
Crypto x100
Carmen Sandiego x100
[Rerate] Ryu Hayabusa x90
Mii Costume: Hollow Knight x90

100 - 51

Gex x85
Ryo Hazuki x80
Proto Man x75
Papyrus x75
Sackboy x70
Brian (Quest 64) x65
Decidueye x62
Reporter & Wrestler x60
[Rerate] Waluigi x58
Chun-Li x58
[Rerate] Bandana Dee x55
Meowth x55
Concept: Echo Fighters post-Fighter Pass x55
Concept: Pokéball Pokémon becomes playable x53

50 - 25

Dwight Fairfield (Dead by Daylight) x50
[Rerate] Dante x50
Earthworm Jim x45
Echo: Zeraora (41e) x40
Kasumi (Dead or Alive) x35
[Rerate] Reimu Hakurei x35
Concept: Octopath Traveler rep x35
Concept: Devolver Digital rep x35
Ring Fit Adventurer x35
Urbosa x25
Big Daddy (BioShock) x25

Under 25

Boss: Ender Dragon x24
Giygas x23
[Rerate] Crash Bandicoot x20
Concept: Assist Trophies added in updates x20
[Rerate] Paper Mario x20
[Rerate] Travis Touchdown x20
Rival Pokémon Trainer x17
[Rerate] Rayman x15
Echo: Lord Fredrik (67e) x15
Echo: Dark Bowser (14e) x14
[Rerate] Skull Kid x12
[Rerate] Doomguy x10
[Rerate] Jin Kazama x10
Terra Branford x8
Black Shadow x7
Sparky (Clash Royale) x5
Concept: Overwatch character x5
Gordon Freeman x5
Asha (Wonder Boy) x5
Nightmare (Soul Calibur) x5
[Rerate] Monster Hunter x5
[Rerate] Isaac x5
Alucard (Castlevania) x5
Concept: Darksiders rep x5
Urshifu x5
Segata Sanshiro x5
Rillaboom x5
Chell x3
[Rerate] Andy x2
Taranza x1

Kazuma Kiryu fights past The Blob and steals second place. Freddy Fazbear runs past The Blob and Kiryu and ties with Toxtricity for first. Mii Costume: Hollow Knight joins the top seven and ties with Ryu Hayabusa for seventh.

Meowth, and the concepts for Echo Fighters post-Fighter Pass and Pokéball Pokémon becomes playable cross 50 noms.

Ring Fit Adventurer and Big Daddy trek out of the under 25 club.

Your new challenger is Rillaboom, with 5 noms.

I'll ask this in advance.

Who the hell is Crypto and what are they from?

 

[Jomosensual]

do I think he's way to good gameplay wise and overal feels like Sakurai wanted him to have as little weaknesses as possible, in terms of content, while not getting 50 music tracks, did get alot of special details other fighters normally wouldn't get and that just makes me roll my eyes. Also, P5 still isn't on Switch and I don't know why

Think you might have got your wires crossed a little with the DLC characters. Terry was the one that got 50 songs. Joker had 11

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Think you might have got your wires crossed a little with the DLC characters. Terry was the one that got 50 songs. Joker had 11

I was actually referring to Terry there. I'll edit it to be more specific.

 

[DaUsername]

Not wasted, the money you spent on the pass is a stone that was used to build up that 2nd Fighters Pass.

Yeah, I can't wait to see what Pokémon newcomer we'll get.

I'll ask this in advance.

Who the hell is Crypto and what are they from?

I think it's the main character from Destroy All Humans.

 

[Sari]

I'll ask this in advance.

Who the hell is Crypto and what are they from?

Pretty sure it's supposed to be the alien Crypto from the Destroy All Humans series.

EDIT: Yep it is.

 

[I.D.]

Yeah, I can't wait to see what Pokémon newcomer we'll get.

Don't forget there will be a new Fire Emblem title announced before the end of 2021!

 

[chocolatejr9]

Byleth Satisfaction: 80%
Unlike most people on social media, I actually PLAYED Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and I liked it, too. I always knew the game would get SOMETHING in Smash, but I'll admit, I was still surprised all the same. Byleth is easily the most unique FE character in the game, Garreg Mach is a lovely stage, and the music needs no introduction (although no God-Shattering Star is very odd to me). Also, to anyone complaining, keep in mind that A) this proves that first-parties still have some sort of chance, and B) Sakurai already gave us Ridley, K. Rool, and Banjo, characters people had been asking for FOR YEARS. Let him add a character he wants, he's clearly an FE fan.

FP1 Satisfaction: 95%
Overall, I think this was worth it. The characters are all diverse, the new stages are some of the best, and more music is never a bad thing. The only downside is, with the exception of Byleth, I don't have any sort of attachment to these characters, as I haven't played their games.

Nominations: Freddy Fazbear x5
Also, I personally think it would be a good idea to get the rerates over with, so that we can go straight back to the normal schedule when we're done.

 

[BowserKing]

Byleth Satisfaction: 80%

First of all, I honestly think Byleth would be a fun addition to the cast. Having different weapons like an Axe and a bow makes Byleth unique amoung the cast of Fire Emblem. The Stage is fun, music would be great and overall, Byleth would be a fun character, and that what matters. Also the costumes are great as well.

FP1 Satisfaction: 90%. Of the ones, is the best of the bunch, but the others are fun and cool to be in the game. That is all I'm saying to this, besides brilliant fighter's pass.

Predictions of fighter's pass 2: Adeleine and Sylux (amoung others)

Noms: 3 for Boss: Ender Dragon and 2 for Chun Li

 

[Calamitas]

Byleth satisfaction: 65%
I wanted Byleth - or any rep for Three Houses - eventually, but I'd much rather have had another first-party character for FP5, especially since my most wanted just had a significant drop in their chance with this. My biggest hope right now is that any future first-party DLC character isn't just some promotional character again, and that if they are, they're at least from a series that could use a newcomer for once, like Xenoblade, Zelda or Kirby.

Fighter Pass 1 satisfaction: 30%
Pretty harsh, huh? Well, let's break it down. Every one of the five fighters can add a maximum of 20% to my rating here.
Joker is my absolute least favourite addition to all of Ultimate. He represents just about everything that I don't want in a third-party character, being from a series that, sure, has been successful and is widely recognized, but has pretty much no history with Nintendo unless you really stretch it. I really don't want any more characters of this sort. Joker gets 0% out of the possible 20%.
Hero isn't much better. I'll admit this is some personal bias to me with regards to the Dragon Quest series - I'm just really not a fan of Akira Toriyama's character designs, and what I've heard of the DQ music in Smash, it's. . . just not really good. And in terms of gameplay, it just comes off as far too generic for my tastes. Hero's moveset is kinda fun, but nowhere near enough to really overcome my bias. Also 0% out of the possible 20%.
Banjo is marginally better than the previous two, but not by much. Again, there is in large part my bias speaking, but I just really don't like the general look and feel of their home series. I like how they're basically a Nintendo character returning after decades, and think their moveset is fun, but they're still just thoroughly uninteresting to me. They make up 5% of my overall satisfaction with this pass.
Terry I like a surprising amount. I'm not really big on traditional fighting games, but he's quite fun all around, I like the amount of songs his pack has, and his stage is pretty unique. More than anything though, the not-so-warm reception that he got upon release actually endeared him to me to an extent. Overall, he makes up 10% of my overall satisfaction.
As for Byleth, they make up 15% out of a possible 20%. For my reasoning, see above.
So in all. . . I really hope that the second pass takes a different direction in terms of character choices, but I don't really have any hope for that.

Nominating Any Octopath Traveler rep x5.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Byleth satisfaction: 98%
FE: 3H was my GotY 2019, and the only game I got borderline addicted to during 2019.
The weapons were a nice touch since Byleth can use any weapon in the game and it gives a reference to the house leaders, whom I feel got a nice inclusion between background cameos, their iconic weapons and those awesome alts.

Those palettes btw are incredible. Usually alts are half assed but this Byleths represent the three houses, Sothis who is integeral to their being and a sort of spoiler for both genders later on down the game.

The cameos in Garreg Mach are perfect: whilst I'm surprised Sylvain and Felix who are super popular Blue Lions didn't make the cut over Ingrid and Dedue, Golden Deer and Black Eagles got some of the best options. Plus the glory that is Gatekeeper.

The only thing preventing it from being a perfect 100 for me is the lack of God Shattering Star which is an absolute banger. If you've not played a Fire Emblem game yet, for the love of Sothis try this one and see what all the fuss is about.

Lastly I'm glad Nintendo characters aren't off the table. Smash shouldn't be embarrassed to showcase their own franchises.

FP1 satisfaction: 0%
I'm really really glad I didn't purchase the FP if I'm honest. Banjo and Terry are middling to good for me, Hero I kinda think is neat but likely won't purchase and Joker is a flat old nope.

Byleth, the one everyone hated, is ironically the only must buy for me.

I'll wait and see on FP2 but unless say...Captain Toad is fighter 6(or 7 if we count Plant) I'll likely only buy the fighters I want.

 

[Kaliskonig91]

Byleth: 10% and that is only because it's a first party character. However the Reveal trailer was cringy as heck and its just another FE character. Byleth is not even popular in his own game and is arguably worse than Corrin due to Byleth being a blank slate for no reason. Nintendo really needs to ease up. I get that they are happy it was saved from cancellation but jeez.

FP1; I give a 2.5/5. Hero is arguably the most logical choice. Banjo while I was never a fan he helped define the N64 era and definitely represents rare and Nintendo/Microsofts love story lol. Terry I am mixed on. SNK deserves so me love I suppose but Terry is still kind of derivative imo. So I give him half a point. the Negatives: Joker. I LOVE Persona but Im sorry...just no. The P5 protags are milked and forgotten once its time to milk the next with Atlus. This was clear cut dev relations pandering and we dont even have P5 on switch. Byleth...lol I don't even need to go into this one.

FP2 expectations I no longer have any but I'll be happy if at least 3 characters come from this list:
1. Wonder Red
2. Akira Howard
3. Rex w/ Pyra + Mythra
4. Paper Mario
5. Sora
6. Reiji Arisu
7. Bomberman
8. Geno
9. Elma
10. Kranky Kong
11. 2B
12. Lute + ratha
13. Travis Touchdown
14. Kunio
15. Zeraora
16. Urshifu (style change mechanic)

 

[Frizz]

Byleth Satisfaction: 100%

I’ve always had a thing for self-insert characters where I treat them as their own character and take on their role instead of treating them as an extension of myself. It happened with Robin and he got into Smash, and when I played Three Houses, I saw the potential in Byleth as well. We already had 7 Fire Emblem characters at the time, so adding any more would be controversial for sure. I didn’t care though, I just wanted him in the game, and sure enough, I got him. Could they have revealed him better? Definitely. A really fair point is that they could’ve made him a bonus DLC fighter similar to Piranha Plant, or revealing him later in the second fighter pass. In the end, Byleth might end up being a secondary of mine.

FP1 Satisfaction: 80%

I’m not too picky when it comes to characters because I had already been gifted Robin, Hero, and Byleth from Sakurai, so there honestly isn’t much characters I desperately want besides PaRappa. That being said, I’d be happy with most characters getting in. Joker was great, it further introduced me into Persona which I already knew little about, but wasn’t too intrigued by it enough to do research on my own. Hero got me into Dragon Quest, as I’ve always loved medieval settings and JRPGs. Banjo is a hard miss for me. He didn’t really do anything for me. Terry, although I played no traditional fighting games, was a cool inclusion nonetheless. Despite not knowing any of the inputs, he’s still really fun to play.

Overall, the DLC has been great so far, at least in my opinion. Then again, I didn’t have to pay for it since my friend graciously bought it for me.

 

[WingedSupernova]

Oh boy I've been looking for a place to air out my thoughts on everything so far, and I just remembered this thread existed so here we go!

Byleth: 75%.
I love Three Houses. It was my favorite game of 2019, and I'm still finding new things to do in it even half a year later. To be honest, out of every possible Nintendo character DLC pick he's one of my top 5. So why did I dock him 25%? Simply put, his stage consists of all walk-offs, there are a few songs missing from his soundtrack list (only 11 songs even though he's a first party pick WTF), and his trailer was the most anti-climactic of all DLC characters barring Corrin. I honestly think he should have been fighter 4, or even held off for next pass. The thing I do give Sakurai points for is having the guts to choose a Fire Emblem character in a world where people get up in arms over the fact that there are too many characters from a single series. Sakurai looked past the label of "Fire Emblem", saw the character had potential to be really fun, and had the gall to add him despite the very likely backlash he'd receive. Good for him.

Other DLC Fighters:

Joker: 100%.
I screamed so loud when he was announced. Hands down the best DLC fighter we've ever gotten.

Hero: 50%.
Square Enix continues their tradition of being stingy. The stage was great, the character was definitely unique, and he had a really nice reveal trailer. I don't really care for fantasy style RPGs though, and the way Hero feels in Smash is really off-putting to me. As such this character was the most underwhelming of the pass for me.

Banjo Kazooie: 60%
What a comeback this was. The trailer was extra hype being a repeat with variations, Spiral Mountain in HD looks beautiful, and the character has a lot of charm. However, I didn't really like how he played. There was just something about him that felt basic and uninspired. I still play him every now and then, but not as often as most others.

Terry: 70%
I've never been much of a traditional fighting game fan, but the amount of love and care this guy has is fantastic. His stage is fantastic, the music selection is crazy, his reveal trailer was great, and his moves are so flashy and cool looking. I've really only docked him points because I find Joker and Byleth (possibly) much more interesting to play.

Overall Pass Ranking: 8/10.
I am wholly satisfied with this pass. We got quite a few crazy surprises, legacy picks, and a bit of controversy with this pass. My $25 was well spent, and I am definitely purchasing the next pass.

 

[Deleted member]

I rated Byleth with 85% during the reaction post. Since it was a day ago of the reveal, my rating still remains in tact.

As for the Fighter Pass overall: 75%

I didn't know anything about Joker before the reveal, and the only things I did know about Persona 5 was that it was the game that was taking down LPs during release because they wanted to avoid people getting spoiled and getting nominated for GOTY. I'm pretty glad he's in because it introduced me to Persona 5. Watching FWOB's LP of the game and other cutscenes in the games made me understand why a lot of people have such high praises for the game. Mementos is the best looking stage of the 5, and Joker's playstyle fits me. However, I don't really play him as much as I do with the other DLC fighter I'll talk about next.

Hero was the most unique out of the 5 with him having 3 different alts of other DQ protagonists. He happened to be the DLC character I played the most because of how goofy he is in Smash. This dude made the competitive scene lose their **** because of him having the greatest down B in all of Smash and for the random crits that occur in his Smash attacks, and it really made me really love that he's in Smash. Plus, he's got a sick Frieza alt, so Hero's got the best alt of the 5. It's a shame the music composer for DQ is not a good dude. The fact that Smash didn't get the orchestral versions of DQ music when the trailer did is a downer.

Banjo and Kazooie made a lot of people happy, but that was the 1 thing I liked about his inclusion. Personally, I didn't really care about them or a Microsoft rep being in Smash cause I don't have as much investment in the franchise or how big of a crossover it would be for a Microsoft owned character to be in Smash. By the time they were revealed, I was already waiting to find out who the next 2 DLC characters will be. I find Banjo and Kazooie's alts to be pretty ugly except for the Gruntilda alt, and their playstyle isn't for me. They were the only fighter in the pass that I could live without which sounds pretty harsh for me to say, but at least the stage and music were good.

Terry came at around the time I was super adamant that Hayabusa was going to be FP4, so you could probably imagine how hard my heart sank when the SNK leak happened. Other than that, Terry was a pretty hype character as time went on thanks to Maximilian Dood's Terry Legacy videos. Terry's moveset is ****ing wild; his stage has the best design out of the 5; and the fact that Terry came with 50 tracks is incredible. I just wish there were more SNK spirits in the Pack thoe. It doesn't feel right for there to be 50 songs and only 11 spirit battles in Terry's board.

Byleth was a major shocker for being the last character. While I am a bit disappointed it wasn't who I wanted it to be like most others, Byleth was the only 1st Party character I'd gladly take for DLC. Three Houses was given a lot of high praise during the time of its release and was also developed by Koei-Tecmo, so I'm glad that this game's finally in Smash. Would I have preferred for Byleth to come at a later Fighter Pack? Certainly, but right now, I'm completely fine with him being in Smash.

Overall, I enjoyed 4 out of the 5 characters in the Fighter Pass. I do wish they had characters that would make me go ****ing mental if I saw them being revealed, but I'm not gonna be upset about it with how great most of the additions were and Vol 2 being in the works. The 1 thing I hope the next Fighter Packs get are Spirit Boards with more spirit battles than Castlevania cause man I don't want Sakurai to cap the number at 13 (excluding the Tockles spirit for DQ cause that was available after Hero released).
-----------
Noms:
Devolver Digital Rep x5

 

[NintenRob]

Appreciate the extra 100 noms, probably gonna hold on to the for now.

Satisfaction

Byleth
70%. He came at good time for me. I was getting really tired third parties absolutely dominating discussion. People were so convinced that it had to be all third party, even after the pass. That it's nice to see this wake up call. Also I kinda wanted all 3 house leaders and he does use their weapons.

The fighters pass
80%

Banjo >>>>> Byleth = Hero >>> Terry > Joker.

Banjo was among most wanted so he carries the score a lot. But I thought Hero made a ton of sense and the alts were an awesome surprise. Eight is my favourite there, really want to play them. Terry and Joker were kinda duds for me, especially Joker who lacks Nintendo presence.

Other stuff was nice, Mii costumes were neat. Will probably get Cuphead for song (even though it doesn't quite have same impact as megalovania) again hoping for something first party but we got Byleth.


Really happy about Garreg Mach Monastery. To me it was the perfect Fire Emblem stage with how much time you spend there.


Nominate Carmen Sandiego x5

I'll just quote this to make sure it's seen

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Aight, here I go:

Byleth
100%
You don't know how happy I am. Byleth was among my top 5 most wanted, so to see em in is just so... surreal. Never actually played TH itself, I mostly wanted them for the moveset potential (I mean, F!Byleth being quite the QT doesn't hurt either, but that's beside the point), more specifically the whipsword, which was put to excellent use btw. I'm probably gonna abuse that up special. I also love how the relics were implemented. A lot people were campaigning for one of the three lords just so we could get an FE character that used something other than simply a sword. With Byleth using their weapons on top of the whipsword, I'd say we got a nice comprise. It's gonna make for a very unique fighter. Definitely the highlight of the pass for me. The 28th can't come soon enough

Other DLC characters
Joker: 90%
What a shocker this one was. "Never saw it coming" jokes aside, he made so much sense in hindsight. Persona 5 is widely heralded as one of the best JRPGs and was a notable competitor for 2017 GOTY, ya know, the same year that gave us stinkin' Breath of the Wild? Dare I say it, it's pretty much the modern day equivalent of Final Fantasy VII. It was only a matter of time before the smash invite was sent. Smashwise, Joker is so much fun to play, love his quick and nimble playstyle and pulling off moves with arsene is so satisfying

Hero: 60%
Hero is character whose inclusion I simply respect. Dragon Quest more than earned it's spot in Smash imo. This is a series with serious legacy and impact, especially in japan. Hero in Smash however is kind okf a mixed bag. The heavy reliance on RNG makes it hard to use this character seriously, but I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a fun character to fool around with. Probably not a character I'm gonna be adding to my list of mains, but still fun when your in the right mood.

Banjo: 50%
Imma be real here, I'm the wrong demographic for this character. The first Banjo-Kazooie came out when I was still in the womb and after playing it recently, yeah not really a fan. His Smash moveset's alright, but it doesn't really have the oomph the other characters in the pass have. Personally would've preferred Steve or Master Chief when it came to Microsoft representation. That being said, I will give him points due to my brother being a huge fan and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't freaking out like everyone else when the jiggy bounced by

Terry: 90%
Ryu and Ken are pretty fun characters, yet I can't quite fully grasp their potential. Terry on the other hand is much more my thing. The inputs work so smoothly and power dunk is definitely up there when it comes to most satisfying moves to pull off Also, he currently comes with the most fun stage and best selection of music out of the entire pass. 50 songs is nuts man.

Overall:
78%
Banjo I can take or leave, and Hero can be fun when I'm in the right mood, but Terry, Joker, and especially Byleth made this more than worth the 25 dollars. These are fun characters that I'll probably never put down. If fighters pass 2 is as good as this one was, I can't wait.

Noms: Wrestler & Reporter x5

 

[DaUsername]

You don't know how happy I am. Byleth was among my top 5 most wanted, so to see em in is just so... surreal. Never actually played TH itself, I mostly wanted them for the moveset potential

Am I getting trolled right now?

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Am I getting trolled right now?

nope

I mean, If you kept on reading, you could see my genuine reasonings

last I checked, it wasn't a requirement that you needed to play the character's game

Like, I highly doubt all the Geno fans have

 

[DanganZilla5]

1/16 Presentation Reaction

Not gonna lie, I was super salty with Byleth when there was so much evidence for 3rd party characters. But I've calmed down now. I don't care about Fire Emblem so I'm not super excited to play him. His moveset and stage do look cool though.

I really like the Altair and especially the Cuphead Mii costumes. I wanted Cuphead, so to see him make it in with a music track is great. And the announcement of 6 more characters was hype.

Overall, I give this direct a 5/10. I will eventually embrace Byleth and the Cuphead and 6 characters announcements made it up for me.

Fighters Pass Rating

Joker: What a hell of a surprise he was. I'm not a big fan of his moveset, but his stage and music is great. Never played Persona 5 before his inclusion though and so far his game hasn't sucked me in yet.

Hero: At first he was an underwhelming pick for me, but I got around to him and I'm glad he's in the game. His gimmick is fantastic with great troll and replay-worthy moments. Plus it got me to try Dragon Quest 11 which I really enjoy.

Banjo: My favorite when it comes to the character themself and what it means for the DLC. Banjo was the only character out of this pass that I actually had a decent connection with before his announcement. Having Microsoft allow one of their characters in Smash is a huge deal and Banjo is pretty fun to play as. His music is very good as well. Banjo proved that highly requested characters can get in.

Terry: I really like Terry. I'm not a fighting game fan, but his moveset is super fun and his stage is one of my favorites. And 50 songs is a stunningly high amount.

Overall, I give the fighters pass a 7.5/10. Honestly I don't have a lot of attachment to any of these characters. Banjo was the only one I wanted and he wasn't even in my top 10. But this pass has proven to me that I don't have to recognize a character for them to make their inclusion in Smash meaningful to me, or for me to enjoy their moveset and the content they bring.

Noms: Crypto x5 (not using my extra ones yet)

Pretty sure I jumped the gun too yesterday so I'll just quote myself. Same noms.

 

[colder_than_ice]

Byleth satisfaction: 90% - Although I can definitely understand why many would be disappointed to see another Fire Emblem character, Three Houses was my favourite game of 2019 so naturally I’m excited to see it represented Smash. I’m also relieved to see that they have a far more unique move pool than I was expecting even if that final smash looks absolutely hideous.

Fighterpass overall: 100%
Banjo & Kazooie alone is enough to make this a worthwhile fighterpass. The fact that Sakurai and his team were able to give us a character owned by a rival console manufacturer shows their dedication to making Smash the perfect video game crossover. Joker is also a fantastic choice representing what is easily one my favourite games of the decade. I also find Hero and Terry to be pretty cool even if I’m unlikely to use them much.

 

[I.D.]

Nintendo NY's crowds' figthers pass ratings:

https://old.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/eq6zq6/heres_the_crowds_reaction_for_byleth_compared_to/

 

[ProfPeanut]

Demon King of Hell, FIsher of Students, and Collector of Lost and Found Items

"If there are no slots for Fire Emblem characters, then I will create them." - Sakurai

Satisfaction: 75%
Wow, to think this pass would lead our expectations so far away that its final surprise would work by stabbing us in the back. The fear of a Three Houses rep is as primal as the very notion of Ultimate DLC before the game's release, and when one considers that all five characters were decided in that uncertain month before Ultimate's launch, one could say that this was exactly the kind of advertising that we were all afraid of.

Well, except for the fact that Three Houses has been out for almost six months already. Byleth would have been a lot, lot more effective as an advertisement if he came out in Hero's release spot instead.

Instead, we get Byleth repping a game that quite righteously deserves the spot - a Fire Emblem game that pushes the franchise's boundaries in every way that Pokemon didn't, an effort to evolve that did not go unnoticed. So I'm pretty glad that they were able to scoop up this game after all, before some sequel took away the spotlight in the future; Three Houses would be welcomed to a spot if only all the other circumstances around Ultimate didn't make the prospect so delicate. But Sakurai logic strikes luckily regardless - if it deserves a spot despite everything else, then it gets an invitation anyway.

(It's a good thing that it did end up deserving Smash representation on its own - imagine if it turned out like Sword and Shield. Now that would've been a lousy ending note.)

Something I really like about Byleth's multiple weapons is that they've all got a little of their original owners in them. Edelgard's axe powers through enemy attacks and shields alike, showing a ruthless resolve to succeed. Dimitri's lance reaches far, strikes widely, and kills swiftly, a furious and indiscriminate blow against the otherwise-untouchable. Claude's bow fires far and with no half-measures, an incorrigible but effective scheme that could fold into a bigger one at any moment.

I do wish the whip-sword made more use of the fact that it was a whip-sword - maybe in the grab game? And I wish Garreg Mach had more than three cameos per stage that weren't limited in design by Smash's dwindled DLC team, because the place is generally livelier than that. And one would think that Sothis would appear as more than just a GIF (although TBF, that's not new.) If Byleth came out a year later, then maybe their representation might be better filled out.

But it's good enough, looks fun enough, and so it's all right by me.


Smash Loot Box #1

Jack: 95%
Brave: 85%
Buddy: 92%
Dolly: 95%
Teach: 90%

Rating: 90%
If the DLC pack consisted of four literal trash picks and Banjo, a lot of people would be satisfied. I daresay four literal trash picks and Joker would've left a lot of people satisfied too.

It wasn't perfect - Byleth was a big outlier to end with, and makes one wonder if the sequencing of newcomers couldn't have been ordered better to make the lone first-party pick more palatable. And it's hard to ignore that some of these characters didn't have perfect demographic appeal - certainly, the only one here that was just as surprising as Joker was...well, Joker. But Banjo was the last great Nintendo exclusion to finally bring justice to, making everyone else that follows pretty much just icing on the most decadent cake imaginable. (And what tasty icing that Three Houses rep is.)

If there was one thing predictable about this batch, it was its sheer unpredictability. There was no lone rule (beyond the only known rule) that really governed who would've been picked - try anything solid, and at least one of the picks here would've had to be an exception.

I remember being worried about what a Nintendo-decided list would be, fearing nothing but cheap promotional picks. Instead, we got Dragon Quest, an old but influential fighting game, a young but influential RPG, Banjo-Kazooie, and a single overdue promotional pick. Last I checked, four welcome surprises out of five was a passing grade, and I'm partial to the last one anyway.

Am I buying the next Fighters Pass just as easily? We don't know now if they'll all be winners, or if they'll have who we're hoping for. Good thing I'm just here to play some fun movesets, though.


Nominations:
Hat Kid (Mii Costume) x5

 

[Nemuresu]

Satisfaction: 80%
I'll just quote myself like other's

You know, I said that I didn't mind who came after Terry, mainly because he set such a high bar on content that I honestly can't really ask every single fighter to live up to him, and on the context of Byleth being just another character, I'm still totally fine. You know what's the effed up thing about it? The fact that THIS was their ideal closure for this Pass. After everything that the past four characters offered, the guy they chose to close this season was the eighth Fire Emblem character. Not to mention the obscene heat going on everywhere. Not in the mood to break down all the rage, the lame jokes about all that rage or the infantile attempts at sounding badass for liking things others don't. They're all ****ty for the same reason. Not worth anyone's time.

[...]

As far as the overall Fighters Pass, here are my scores:
9/10
8/10
7/10
10/10
6/10

In general, the pass was worth it.

Don't really have that much to add, other than why the reasoning for Joker to Banjo's rates (since Terry and Byleth are in the quote):
Joker: Didn't even think a character like him would inaugurate the pass. He's fun and the songs are great (although P5 alone has such a kickass soundtrack, it doesn't feel like it went far enough). Granted, I'm not a big fan of Arsene being a comeback mechaninc, but still.
Hero: For a character I didn't care that much, it was great from a gameplay standpoint. Not so much on everything else outside the stage being nice.
Banjo: I know he was a top-favourite, but otherwise, couldn't bring myself to care much about the dude. I only ever grabbed him to finish his Spirit Board, but haven't done anything with him ever since.

Nominations: Dante x5

 

[RealPokeFan11]

Byleth
Satisfaction: 40%

Overall presentation: 30%

I was expecting something either satisfying or disappointing, and we got the latter. At this point, I'm sick and tired of Fire Emblem characters, mainly because most of them share similar movesets and feel like carbon copies of each other. However, while the reveal was disappointing, Byleth looks like a lot of fun to play, and at least has enough of a moveset to feel unique as a character. And for once he/she doesn't have a counter as a down special. I would've rather seen this in the second pass though. I also like the stage design, and I'll need to listen to the new music after the update.

Most of the presentation was taken up by Sakurai blabbering on about the Fire Emblem series, and it got tiresome pretty quickly.

The Cuphead Mii costume was the most exciting thing (content wise) in this direct for me, and while he isn't technically a fighter, it looks like you're actually playing as Cuphead himself, despite a Mii being underneath the costume. I couldn't say the same for Sans with that Gaster Blaster arm cannon. I also supported Cuphead's inclusion at one point, but I feel this Mii costume did him really well.

(Also glad those stupid Rabbids are a Mii costume and not a fighter...)

The most exciting reveal for me was the 2nd Fighters Pass with 6 SLOTS! I definitely feel like Crash is gonna make it this time.

Individual DLC satisfaction
(Best to Worst)

>>>>>>>>>>>

>>

100%
My former most wanted character made it in, his moveset was perfect and balanced, the stage was amazing, and his inclusion had barely any issues whatsoever. (Outside of Click Clock Wood missing.)
95%
Never saw this one coming. A very pleasant surprise here, Joker introduced me to the masterpiece that is Persona 5, and I absolutely loved the characters and music it had to offer. I just wish his moveset utilized his wildcard attributes from P5 instead of just using Arsene as a comeback mechanic. (Also, WHERE IS LIFE WILL CHANGE!?)
80%
Not the most exciting reveal for me (mostly due to Nintendo dun goofing on the UK website), and I'm not the biggest fan of command input characters like and, but Terry was surprising easily for me to pick up, and super fun to play. I still use him from time to time on Quickplay.

45%
The low satisfaction rating stems from how disappointing the overall reveal was, and the fact that we got yet another Fire Emblem character. However, he/she at least looks somewhat fun to play, and probably won't temporarily destroy the game, unlike...
35%
This guy. His reveal was predictable, but not disappointing or anything. Execution is another story. Almost all of his neutrals come from Link and Marth, but his specials really put the nail in the coffin here. He has a mana system for his special moves that recharges when hitting neutral attacks. His neutral, side, and up specials all have a 3 stage charging system. The third stage usually does a lot more damage than it should. His down special however, was absolutely ridiculous. It has around 20 something moves that can randomly appear in a drop down menu. All of these moves ranged from useless to busted, and the RNG mechanics this character came with really pissed off the community. Thankfully the outrage died down eventually, and people figured out how to counter the Hero. I haven't seen him much online since, and I've also dropped him, as I wasn't really feeling it. While I admire the amount of work that went into the Hero, you can tell that Sakurai got carried away with his moveset, and his inclusion just didn't feel healthy for the game.

Overall Fighters Pass Satisfaction: 75%

I liked a lot of what the pass had to offer, but the disappointing reveal of Byleth and awful execution of the Hero brought it down a bit. The fact that Sakurai was willing to put this much work into this pass made me feel thankful that we got this in the first place, and I feel you should all be thankful as well, especially since we're getting a whole new pass with an extra bonus character this time. Here's to hoping next pass is even better than the last.

Predictions for Vol. 2

1. Doom Slayer
2. Bandana Dee
3. Crash Bandicoot (maybe a Coco echo?)
4. Toxtricity/another gen 8 mon
5. Ryu Hayabusa
6. Untitled Goose (ultimate meme pick for the bonus slot)

2B: 8.32%

Toxtricity x5

 

[jamesster445]

Season 1 results

CP1: What a let down. For as much build up they made for this one character between multiple trailers, interviews, and teases, Joker did not live up to the hype. Borrowed animations and even his very gimmick is just Limit Break 2.0, the only reason this character isn't reviled enough is because he's top tier. Maybe I'm just tired of this character because of Atlus, but regardless as a Smash character, fail. At least the Persona content is great, and somehow they took the worst part of P5, Mementos, and made it cool.
Joker: Thumbs Down
Mementos: Thumbs Up
OST: Thumbs Up

CP2: If you told me in 2017 that Luminary from Dragon Quest 11 and Joker from Persona 5 were going to be in Smash, and that I was going to like the Luminary more, I would've called you crazy. But damnit Hero's fun. It's funny to me that for a character everyone thought would be boring ended up being as wacky as he ended up being. Unfortunately the rest of his content falters, limited and awful music and his stage is neutral at best.
Hero: Thumbs up
Yggdrasil: Neutral
OST: Thumbs Down

CP3: I have no attachment to Banjo as a series. But I really appreciated his simplistic design, he feels like a lost Smash 64 character and that's for the best keeps him honest. But I'll admit I'm not a big fan of how he plays overall, I'll stick to Mario thanks. I'm also not a big fan of his stage, but the OST is good.
Banjo: neutral
Spiral Mountain: neutral
Ost: Thumbs up

CP4: I like how the shotos play so I was always going to like Terry. And guess what he's a fun character and even I still prefer Ryu, I can always play a few rounds with Terry. His stage is my favorite of the bunch and 50 songs. Yeah CP4 is easily the best overall.
Terry: Thumbs Up
KoF Stadium: Thumbs Up
OST: Thumbs Up

CP5: When I first watched the trailer, I was apathetic but the more time passed the angrier I started to become. So much of this character and the circumstances that allowed them to appear rubbed me the wrong way. And considering this came after the deconfirmation of the Astral Chain twins. It did not help that their trailer was awful, Hell Corrin had a better trailer. I'm still not over this but... I am willing to give Byleth a chance. But Goddamn was this not the right call. At least the OST is great, but really no God Shattering Star?
Byleth: Abstain
Garret Mach: Abstain
OST: Thumbs Up

My thoughts on Season 2 are in another thread which I'll edit in here.

Spoiler

I made two based on 1st and 3rd parties.
View attachment 258456

View attachment 258455

For 1st parties it's simple, do they have a spirit or existing role? I have seen no reason to believe that Spirits can be playable...yet. and so far these are the only characters that don't have spirits.

You're free to ask about anything else.

 

[BravadoMan_13]

Reaction to Byleth and the satisfaction of the first fighters pass:

First off Byleth: 75%

I gotta say it's times like this in which reveals like Byleth really split the Smash fandom in half. One side is exuberant and the other side loathes the selection because yes it's another Fire Emblem character. Honestly I was quite surprised any 1st party character in this pass, though I still consider Banjo & Kazooie 1st/2nd party characters because of their history with Nintendo and direct connection to Diddy. Back when Corrin was announced back in 2015, I admit I was pretty salty at that time. It was more of the fact that DK and Metroid didn't get a single newcomer back in the Smash 4 days and FE got 3 characters and it sucked because DK and Metroid are among Nintendo's most illustrious franchises that got little content and a lesser known franchise like FE got more than they did, though in the process Lucina has become one of my top characters of Nintendo.

Fast forward to Ultimate. As a DK and Metroid fan, I got a bunch of joy when K. Rool, Ridley, and Dark Samus got confirmed after years of denial. Of course Chrom was a part of that illustrious August 8th direct and I was happy for his fans after he didn't get the nod in Smash 4. I was also fortunate to get Banjo & Kazooie too and my thought process was that I would be definitely fine if more Fire Emblem characters were added.

Okay back to Byleth now. Three Houses was definitely one of the top sellers of the Switch last year and people really enjoy the game. I do want to get the game myself eventually. Fire Emblem is a series in which there is a revolving cast in each title. Each game introduces new characters and those characters get the limelight moreso. It's nice to see some different weapons in Byleth's moveset as opposed to seeing another counter (though I wouldn't have a problem with that). I will definitely try Byleth out the release date comes. I'm happy for the Byleth supporters plus I'm thankful that a 1st party character got in as DLC. It's nice to see that Nintendo's own characters are still on the table for future DLC perhaps. I'm still hope for Waluigi and Dixie to get their chance.

The First Fighters Pass satisfaction: 80%

This pass definitely exceeded my expectations. I admit that I wasn't as hopeful in the beginning when the pass was announced but it turned out great
- Banjo & Kazooie are by far the best addition in this pass. These are a treasured part of my childhood and I couldn't have been more excited when they were confirmed. Their moveset is an excellent reference to their games. I enjoy my time that I play as them. Sakurai did a wonderful job with them.
Byleth - *see above*
- Joker was a big surprise to me. I didn't care at first, but he grew on me over time.
- Hero was nice addition too. It was a given that a long-time JRPG series like Dragon Quest would get representation. Getting four DQ protagonists is a nice treat too.
- I admit that I haven't played as Terry yet. But hearing that King of Fighters was an inspiration to Sakurai when he and Iwata first worked on Super Smash Bros. is a pretty amazing fact. I have been playing Luigi's Mansion 3 and Astral Chain a lot lately and I haven't played Smash that much, but I hope to jump back into action soon.

 

[PokéfreakofBACON]

Ugh.

Byleth rating: 0/10

It's not exactly an unpopular opinion that Fire Emblem has too many reps in Smash. That just got even worse. I would be totally fine with Fire Emblem getting another rep, since FE3H was apparently really good, but... I would only be "totally fine" with it if, said character were actually unique and interesting. I'm okay with pretty much ANY character getting into Smash, as long as they have a cool moveset that would be fun to play with.

Byleth is... Not that. We have blue-haired anime fire emblem swordsman #5. Absolutely NOTHING about his moveset is unique. "But he doesn't just use a sword," I hear you saying. You're right. Except, the other three weapons he uses may as well be swords for every move except neutral B.

As for the spear/lance/whatever, F-Air, B-Air, and F-Smash, are nothing we haven't already seen done by Corrin and Simon, and other than range and the exact animation, it's not too different from just a stab forward with a sword. Side B is such a generic boring move that I have no idea how it got out of the first draft. It's a special move that basically equates to any other swordie's F-Air/F-Tilt, except you move forward while doing it... Incredible.

As for the axe, Down B is literally just Ganon's F-Smash. Or Ike's F-Smash. Functionally, it's more like Ganon's neutral B. D-Air is literally exactly the same as Ike's D-Air, and several other similar moves. Down Smash can be and has been done by swords several times.

As for the Bow... it's used for 2 moves. Neutral B, which is just Link's with a different charge mechanic (I suppose it's kind of unique because it can kill a lot more easily??) and N-Air, which... isn't even a projectile move. It's just another weapon twirl move like dozens of characters already do. It would've been super cool if N-Air could've been a projectile or something, since projectile aerials are SO underused. But nah, here's the same N-Air 20 other characters have.

Then there's the sword moves. AKA, 90% of his moveset. I'm going to be totally honest... They managed to take one of the coolest kinds of swords that exist in fiction, the whip sword, and managed to make ONE cool move with it. What's worse is that ONE cool move is just Joker's Up B except with a spike hitbox. GG Sakurai, you've really outdone yourself.

I can think of a number of ways to make the SAME CHARACTER have a more interesting moveset, let alone a more interesting/deserving character from a less oversaturated franchise, but...

Instead of using the concept of "weapon master" for something pointless and 100% aesthetic, why not have them switch weapons with a move? In Fire Emblem, the weapon triangle is a major part of gameplay, so why not make Byleth REALLY show that off? Sure, it'd be a bit of extra work, but imagine a Down+B That swapped between weapons, and each move (or at least the moves that aren't a sword right now, so you don't have to change the WHOLE moveset) was changed to the weapon you've chosen? For example, with the Bow, F-Air and B-Air and D-Air would be projectiles. With the axe, F-Air and D-Air would be a lot slower but REALLY strong. Maybe while you have the axe chosen, Byleth's run speed is slower. His run speed could be higher with the lance/bow. Then with the lance, REALLY lean into that "distance demon" concept.

The other possible way to make the moveset cooler is, (and hear me out here) remove the extra weapons. If you leaned FULLY into that cool-ass whip sword, and made every move use it in different ways, you could create something totally unique. A hybrid between Simon/Richter and Marth, maybe? Up B is very clearly Byleth's coolest move, do more grab moves with it. Take some inspiration from Ivy in Soul Calibur, where she uses exclusively a whip sword, and has a DOPE moveset.

Or, if you hate all of those options... go with Edelgard? Or one of the other two house masters? Then you could lean fully into an axe/bow/lance moveset. A moveset comprised ENTIRELY of bow moves?? That'd be insanely cool. (I guess Pit kinda already does that sorta, but he splits his in half to two sword-things, so eh.) An axe moveset for Edelgard would also be insanely cool. A fast girl with light movement, but she hits super hard and puts all her strength into every swing- A glass cannon that plays like a faster Ganondorf, maybe?

No matter how you look at it, Byleth's moveset is underwhelming from a gameplay standpoint. There is so much untapped potential from FE3H that I'm honestly doubting if Sakurai made this moveset himself. You'd think he'd be better than this by now...

...Anyway. Rant aside, Byleth's moveset does NOTHING for me. Since moveset is literally all I have to care about, I am left to wonder why they picked him in the first place despite fans clearly hating FE reps and swordsmen- especially since they clearly KNOW we hate swordsmen... Thus, 0/10

As for the pass overall? Eh.

Pass Rating: 5/10

I was feeling a lot worse about it the other day, but now that I've (partially) gotten over my Byleth salt, it wasn't that bad. Sure, not a single one of the characters in the pass were from games I liked or cared about, and I had absolutely no joy seeing them "finally in smash," but at least 4 of them had really cool and interesting movesets, and at least 3 of them had INSANELY unique mechanics/moves we've seen nothing like before.

That said I still don't care about any of them. Here's to hoping the next pass is good... I won't be buying the whole pass at once this time, I'm buying them individually. Byleth made that decision for me.

(Sorry for the wall of text, if anyone wants me to I'll spoiler the long Byleth rant)

 

[Jomosensual]

Any plans as to when the we start again?

 

[GoodGrief741]

Any plans as to when the we start again?

We're setting up the schedule, but it should be soon. Sorry I'm not able to give a more specific answer, but you're gonna have to trust us on this one.