Remember Gematsu Leak guys?
Chance: 10%
A little high some may say, but hear me out.
We must go back to the old days before Smash 4. Back in 2012, the roster of Smash 4 was beign decided due to the game starting development. During those days there were only 3 games of the series, the Japanese Exclusive GBA game, it's sequel that was released worldwide for the DS and a Wii Game released in 2011. The Chorus Kids (known as Gee Club in-game) were one of the most well known minigames of the DS Installment, hell they even appear in Game's main boxart in all versions! Sure Karate Joe appeared in the GBA game before and Wii game after, but to call him the main mascot at this point in time would be............exaggerating to say the least.
Come Smash 4's reveal, and just a few days before, a guy named Sal Romano did a "Prediction list" which included Mega Man, Pac-Man, Little Mac, Mii, Wii Fit Trainer and Villager. Half of the were confirmed (Wii Fit Trainer beign probably the really odd one out), which lead to the wild ride known as the "Gematsu Leak", and that wasn't the last we saw of it, because shortly before the Smash '14 Direct was streamed (by this time Little Mac was confirmed too, another point for it), Sal's source was at it again this time stating that the newcomers were an XY Pokémon (later turned out to be Greninja) Palutena, Chrom, Shulk, and you guessed it, the Chorus Kids. After the April Direct of '14 where Greninja was confirmed, the leak was seen as gospel in the eyes of many, basically the Vergeben of Smash 4 if you will.
Not only that, but in E3 of that same year, Pac-Man, Mii Fighters and Palutena were confirmed too, meaning that most of the leak's roster was becoming real, and in the Smash 3ds demo, a Sneaky Spirit enemy was found in Smash Run, and almost all enemies in Smash Run come from franchises that have a playable rep. (the only exceptions are all of those Namco enemies, but they are represented by Pac-Man by Proxy, and the Polar Bear, but we know for a fact that Icies were meant to be Playable in Smash 4) Chorus Kids were seen as one of the most likely characters for Smash 4, and the timing seemed great too. Rhythm Heaven was released worldwide and had the benefit of beign released in the "casual era" of Nintendo, so a quirky game that relied on more unsual control scheme (the Touch Screen) felt right at home, making it the best selling RH game. It only made sense to include a character from a at-the-time, rising franchise that proved itself in the DS and later the Wii (Smash 4's development started at the tail end of the Wii/DS era and very early beggining of the Wii U/3DS era, which is evident by the inlcusion of gaming content such as the Spirit Tracks Stage for example) so what went wrong?
Well............the leak wasn't 100% right. In July 14th, 2014 Robin and Lucina were confirmed to be playable in Smash for Wii U/3DS. Not only that, but Chrom was shown to be part of Robin's Final Smash, which disqualified him from beign playable (i know that sounds stupid now, but bear with me) this meant the leak got one character wrong (and in the pre-Smash 4 release days, Chrom was seen as THE most likely FE rep in Smash, and one of the most likely period) sure Shulk later got confirmed too, but it was too late by that point, as one new leak known as the ESRB leak took the gaming scene by storm.
After that, the idea of a RH rep was seen as less and less likely and by the time of Ultimate pre-release speculation, it was barely even talked about. Even though we got a new game for the 3DS in 2015, it didn't make a difference in the eyes of most speculators (it didn't even get a Physical Release in American regions to make matters worse) and the very crowded competition of Smash newcomers that were left were few, but far more talked about. The only time The Chorus Kids and RH in general came back to the scene was thanks to the Grinch Hoax and we all know how that ended up.
If this was Smash 4, even without the Gematsu Leak, one could argue these characters and franchise were beign slept-on and could be dark horse candidates, but now?
Well, The RH is one of those series that while niche, is actually popular enough to be considered for a Smash spot. The DS installment sold over a million copies in Japan alone, and while we don't know the estimates of the worldwide sales, i wouldn't be surprised if they were good due to the release of this game beign in the "Casual Era" of Nintendo. It sold better any of the pre-Awakening FE games, the Mother Trilogy, and most F-Zero games that weren't the SNES original or its 64 Sequel. It managed to survive well into the 3DS era too, meaning that except for the Wii U, it has been featured in most recent Nintendo systems since its debut. It also is developed by Nintendo SPD (now merged with EAD to become Nintendo EPD) the same team behind WarioWare and Tomodachi games, so it doesn't suffer from the same development issue as Golden Sun's Camelot, a much smaller and less important studio overall.
I also firmly believe that the Chorus Kids or at the very least a RH rep was indeed planned for Smash 4. Files referring to a RH logo were found in the game's files in the fighter section, plus the Sneaky Spirit could easily be a leftover from those early plans of RH getting more content in the game, in a similar manner to the Polar Bear. But honestly i think that's it. The best merits a RH rep has been sucesss from the Past and the fact that it was seemingley considered for Smash 4.
However, the biggest disadvantages are
1-: Lack of interest and demand by both the casual outisder and Hardcore crowd. It's no secret that a large majority of the Smash sphere doesn't care or even knows about RH in general, which is evident as a lot of people said "WHO?" when Sal Romano mentioned the Chorus Kids (or "Chorus Men") which means lack of demand. While not all characters have to be big talking point is the eyes of the Smash bubble to get in (Isabelle, Joker, Hero prove this) a franchise could benefit for this due to:
2-:The uncertain future of the franchise. The 3DS installment while not a failure, it didn't measured up to it's DS predecessor sales-wise, and we haven't gotten new installment for the Swich yet. This is more than likely because of Tsunku. Tsunku is a japanese musician who is one of the most important members behind RH's creation (you know, since the series is Rhtym-based) if not the main driving force of this franchise. He's been very busy lately, and the RH series seems to have the same issue as the Mother series meaning its very creator based so if Tsunku doesn't have the time or interest to make a RH game on the Switch, it's likely gonna stay that way. Unless you're King K.Rool or Banjo where you have fan demand that trascends time and space, relevance is king and can easily be a deal maker of breaker, and RH skews towards the later nowadays.
Now, thanks to Min-Min, Spirits are no longer an issue, and the idea of an ARMS rep was something Sakurai had in mind but coulnd't make it happen until now, so maybe RH still has a chance. If im honest RH is probably the 4th most likely Nintendo character to be part of FP2, behind Rex, Bandanna Dee and Dixie Kong. Which isn't saying much honestly. If RH has any chance of beign in Smash, this is probably gonna be the last chance to be in Smash in a Loooong time.
Oh and PD: Im giving Karate Joe and Rhtyhm Girl the same chance score. This is easily a "EVERYONE IS A PROTAGONIST" situation, and i could see it going in any direction here. It helps that Joe, The CK and RG are all in Megamix too.
Want: 70%, 50% for the Other Two.
The RH series is something i never played fully, but dear god i want to. I do have a knack for playing a Rhtyhm Games, and you can thank Mario RPG's timed hits for giving me a sense of Rhythm. Unfotunately the games haven't been acessible to me so i couldn't play any of them. The GBA one is Japan Only, I don't have a DS and by the time i got a 3DS DS games were no longer beign sold on local stores, same goes for the Wii Game, and the 3DS is ESHOP EXCLUSIVE which is a deal breaker for me. So for now i have to resign with the 3DS demo, damn.
But still, just by playing the Demo alone, i can say i love the idea of a RH rep. The quirky wacky characters could easily rival Mr. Game and Watch, and the music and stage they could bring would be really bopping. Im sure that if RH got a rep in Smash 4, Megamix would have been released physically and that for me is enough reason, it gives the series enough expousure that is well deserved. Im okay with any of them, but i do want Chorus Kids due to Nostalgia alone. I mentioned before that i have lot of fond memories looking back on the pre-release days of Smash 4. Pic of Day, the Gematsu Leak, E3 hype and all that ****. Sure some of it is rose-colored-glasses, but it does bring me back, if nothing because i miss when Nintendo characters were the one that dominated speculation and guests felt meaingful in my opinion. I remember beign all like "NOOOOOO NOT THE CHORUS KIDS" and now i realize how much i would have preferred them over most of Smash 4's base and DLC roster and Fighter Pass 1. Bayo, Corrin, Incineroar, PP, Joker, Byleth, etc.
Yeah, this is another one of the reason i kinda wish the Grinch Leak was real. But look i already wrote a Bible above so im gonna shut up here. Who's ne.....
....oh **** we are rating Geno next? I guess i gotta better start writing that Geno pharagraph in advance.
earlier this year
