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

[3DSNinja]

abstain on Adol.
Ryu Hayubusa
Chance: 85%: Ryu is a very high contender. He's got a probable remake of the Modern trilogy coming, the original game was one of the first games on NES Online, and Koei Tecmo is a huge company. As well, he's been leaked several times, and he's very popular. Add that to the fact that he's one of the NES originals alongside Mario, Link, Simon, Samus, and Mega Man. As well, the games have generally sold well and are beloved even today, including the Modern trilogy. He's easily one of if not the most likely character to get one of the last spots in FP2.
Want: 100%: Ninja Gaiden is one of my favorite games of all time. They're all very fun, and Ryu has a vast and diverse moveset, and the MUSIC. The music is just perfection, from Stage 1 to the end. And that's just the NES games! The modern games have even better music and are even more fun and challenging! As well, Koei Tecmo is a companythat deserves a spot in the game at this point, so. .Yes. I would pay for him multiple times over.
Nominations: Peppino x10?

 

[TCT~Phantom]

Guys and Adol

30% Chance

Last time around, I feel I kind of slightly overrated Adol. It just felt with the research I did and what was going on in the thread, it made sense. Now, I think this is a fairer rating.

Falcom is one of those old school Japanese gaming companies that has a strong legacy and is not in smash. Their games are super influential in the RPG genre. Falcom is a company that has a strong history in games and has a solid relationship with Nintendo.

Guys and Adol

45% Chance

Now, I wanted to make sure I was well informed for this one, I did my research. When I was not looking into the election, I was listening to the Ys Soundtrack, looking up videos, and reading posts on Adol. And right now, I feel pretty good about our guy here.

Lets start with with Falcom's legacy. Falcom is one of those old school Japanese companies that could easily get representation. Dragon Slayer was a hugely influential game back in the day, and the legacy of Falcom's games continues to this day. While Falcom has strong PC roots, it has plenty of Nintendo history. In particular, modern Falcom is quite friendly with Nintendo.

So we got the legacy down, what about competition? Well, there's Estelle and Rean. I think Ys has the slight edge due to its legacy tho. Estelle and Rean to me both make sense, Ys to me strikes harder to to how old the series is and how even today it is still going strong. I think that if Nintendo chose a Falcom rep, legacy would be a huge factor and that helps Ys.

Finally, the leak. Look, I am not the biggest sucker for leaks, but leaks that have some solid ground I will look at with interest. I see value in the Crash Five Year Plan, Vergeben, and now this. If the other few things get called right, I will bump this higher. For now, I am watching this with great interest.

One last thing, I am getting major Terry vibes. A character that has far stronger Japanese roots that is not a big name in smash speculation, but has a solid case for themselves. The pieces are not all the same, but it rhymes to me.

So why did his chances dip a bit? Well, tbh I think I underrated the odds of us getting Estelle or Rean instead. I think Ys makes the most sense for a Falcom rep, but it is a situation where we could get any of the three. I think a Falcom rep in general I would rate around a 45% nowadays. The other thing that mainly changed is that I do not have as much stock in the leak after doing some digging, even some strong Falcom fans have thrown their suspicions towards it.

That being said, this still makes sense to me. I could see something like Adol or Reimu being a Terry styled pick as I said last time.

100% Want

The one thing that did not change is that Adol crept onto my most wanted in a strong way. I started playing Ys III, the black sheep, and I like it. I also started YS VIII and like it a lot too, so I know I am going to love this franchise. Combine that with the awesome music, and you got a pick I would be 100% down with. Seriously, to anyone on the fence about Adol, listen to some of the music in Ys. It slaps so hard it pushed me so far over the edge. I would also suggest trying the games. I have seen plenty of people have that one game/series they end up trying due to RTC, and this was that one for me. Great games, would love to see in Smash.

Smash Always Triumphs

70% Chance

Oh wow I went with a high rating for the safe pick. Let me say this before I do a deep dive. There are really only three characters I consider "safe" picks at this point. If you put a gun to my head, I would say the safest picks are Rex, Crash Bandicoot, and Ryu Hayabusa. I'll go more in depth on those two but lets focus on Ryu for a second.

I am gonna start off by saying that I think his internal competition is more or less bunk to me. I do not think Kasumi has that strong a chance, and I have low faith in a Dynasty Warriors rep. With Adol, I could see the other two being the chosen Falcom picks. Here, I see Hayabusa as the clear choice.

Nintendo really gets along with Koei Tecmo. Like, trusts them to work on Zelda twice gets along with. Like outsources Three Houses to them gets along with. The two have a strong relationship, and I would be surprised if Ryu did not get in due to that.

Ryu has just one of those resume's for smash that just... makes sense. Ninja Gaiden I would make the bold claim is the second most iconic NES franchise to not have a fighter in smash (I am saving my tetris rant for if we do DLC Stages). Ninja Gaiden is one of those long running, iconic franchises dating way back. Much like Castlevania, it had a modern reboot a little bit back so it ain't completely dead. Heck, Ryu still shows up in Dead or Alive. Besides, Banjo and Terry show that legacy or fan demand can overcome how dead your franchise is.

Overall, Hayabusa is just one of those choices that makes a ton of sense. It would be hard for me to see a scenario where he does not end up becoming a playable character, either in this game or an Ultimate DX. For me, this is a clear when, not if type of character.

Also I will just say, while Vergeben did say that talks between KT and Nintendo happened, it could have been due to details over Byleth's trailer. Verge has a solid track record, but it is not gospel.

100% Want

What? Ninja Gaiden is a classic. I have made it no secret that I despise the "smash is Nintendo history" mindset. In my eyes, this gatekeeping idea should have been dead after Snake showed up in Brawl, and at the very least it is certainly dead now. Despite that, I do think rounding out the NES library would be a great choice. To me, in terms of third party picks, only Hayabusa and Tetris would complete the NES for me. And as much as I would want Tetris to get in, it probably ain't happening. Hayabusa is this cool, iconic character that would be super flashy and fit into smash perfectly. I was super happy when Simon came along in the base game. Hayabusa gives me that sort of vibe.

Mike Haggar x 10
Neku x 10

 

[Inue Houji]

Hayabusa
Chance: 35%
He's been rumored for ages now, and he has the credentials to prove his worth. The only thing he's been missing is relevancy, and with the Sigma trilogy on the horizon, even that seems to be in order. His chance is decreasing with every character however. In my mind, there's really only two slots left for a character of this size, so he better hurry up if he wants in.

Want: 60%
While I haven't played the games myself, I watched my uncle play the original Ninja Gaiden Black for the Xbox when I was younger. Though I have played him in Dead or Alive and Warriors Orochi.
He has a varied arsenal of weapons, martial arts and gadgets. We lack a true ninja in Smash, and his outfit is the exemplification of it.
Though the character is cool, I would kinda be disappointed. Not because of Hayabusa himself, but the fact that his revival is accompanied by the inferior Sigma version of the trilogy, and not the original. Still, maybe it'll inspire Tecmo to return to their roots!... Though I doubt it.


Adol Christin
Chance: 10%
I rated Adol 15% last time, but I'm rating him a bit lower this time due to the fact there's less slots available.
As many people have said already, his situation is somewhat reminiscent of Terry and SNK's. There are some differences however.
First off, the platform. Adol's games were PC games, and later console. Terry's games were arcade games, making them much more accessible. Along with this, Ys is an RPG, making them more difficult to translate than Fatal Fury and KOF, meaning Ys wouldn't get official translations until way later. This all compounds into the main issue, being Ys' relative irrelevance outside Japan until recent years.
This doesn't mean Adol is out of the running though, as Ys is still one of the most storied RPG franchises in existence.

Want: 100%
Ys VIII pulled me out of a gaming slump, and revitalized my love for games. Still planning on playing the other games. One day....
Ys music. It exists, it's amazing, and it could get arrangements from the star studded cast of composers in Smash. Yes please.


Predictions
KOS-MOS: 4.1%
Sakura: 3.3%

Nominations
Beat x20

 

[Neosonic97]

with the 16th and 17th main games being on Steam.

It's not just 16 and 17. Every mainline game since Mountain of Faith (That's Touhou 10) is on there, as well as a few official spinoffs, those being Double Spoiler (12.5), Fairy Wars (12.8), Impossible Spell Card (14.3), Antinomy of Common Flowers (15.5) and Violet Detector (16.5).

Oh, and uh, I'm abstaining from both characters this time.

 

[Ridrool64]

From indie sibs to sword bros. Fatha's of another genre. (That sounded funnier in my head.)

Hayabusa's Ratings: In every speculation cycle, we have at least a few characters that always feel perpetually likely and never actually come to fruition. Hayabusa, I think, is not one of these characters. 45%, since I do have a few reservations on him, and he could get Swordfighter'd anytime now, but overall my thoughts from a year ago haven't changed much.

He was on top of the world...

Chance: 50%. Koei-Tecmo is actually already involved with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, because of the Yuri Kozukata Assist Trophy, so I can't imagine it'd be too hard for Sakurai and Ninty's legal crew to work something out with them. Ryu Hayabusa is well known as a strong NES icon, among the three left who have no presence in SSBU (the others being Bill Rizer and Bimmy Billy & Jimmy), but he also has notoriety for his 6th generation era and his fighting game appearances. The latter, plus the fact that we have nobody who uses a katana, and last but definitely not least his powerups in the NES games, give him more of a moveset to work with than ever.

But here's the problem. He's kinda got... not that much relevance, and doesn't have the fan demand to break out of that. Until Ultimate, he wasn't a particularly popular character, and during the ballot, we had plenty more NES icons to go through, not the least of which Simon Belmont probably stood in his way the hardest. I guess he also "competes" with other Koei-Tecmo characters, but it's about as one sided as Sonic vs. literally any other SEGA character in Brawl is, if you ask me. Overall while he's not on my short list, I can see him slotting in as another Terry-type character; not exactly the most relevant or popular fan request, but somebody with a strong legacy. I do think I could see a Mii Costume event in his future, though.

Want: 70%. I have not actually beaten Ninja Gaiden yet, but that game alone has told me everything I need to know about the potential of Hayabusa in Smash. A more strategic, speedy character who is vulnerable to getting combo'd but has all the tools he needs to overwhelm and keep opponents at bay sound pretty nice. Also, Unbreakable Determination in Smash. That alone sells him to me.

The want is more or less the same, though I have gotten close to finishing the NES original.

Adol's Ratings: On the other hand, this is a character who lost a fair amount of steam to me through Sephiroth's reveal, though not enough that I would go lower than 35% in chance. Want is the same as before.

Roy when he no longer has a monopoly on being a red haired swordsman:

Chance: I will go with a 40%. I believe in this case where there's smoke, there may or may not be fire, but even without the leak Adol has a genuine case to be made for Super Smash Bros. Like others have said, this guy is quite a bit like the Terry of RPGs when it comes to Smash speculation. Not the most famous guy out there, nor a blockbuster legend, but somebody who commands respect for anybody fond of the Action RPG genre or arguably even some Action-Adventure games like Zelda... well, his company, that is. But Ys seems to be one of the most prominent games outside of Trails. I'm not very well versed in Falcom stuff, so I'm not sure if he has a moveset that could catch Sakurai's eye, but in this case I feel like giving Falcom a seat at gaming's hall of fame is not unwarranted regardless.

That being said, this guy doesn't strike me as anything immune to a Mii Swordfighter costume or a Spirit Event. Granted, I won't hold it against him because I probably would have said that about Terry before the SNK leak, but like any other third party death's door could be coming for him. Even the leak that implicates him is not specific about the Falcom representative to be included, and it may be other characters from other series. Still, I would not sleep on him. He's actually a contender for my predictions, mostly scuffling characters like Ryu Hayabusa or Professor Layton as a new third party from Japan.

Want: I will have to abstain here. I simply have never touched anything related to Falcom. I know, I know, a gaming gaff for somebody a fair bit into RPG's like me, but I just got into stuff like Grand Theft Auto and Animal Crossing this year. Gimme a break, I'm broadening my horizons bit by bit.

Also sorry for not playing Ys, I was a born-again TF2 player instead. Speaking of, TF2 rep x max. KOS-MOS and Sakura are fairly similar in a few regards, enough so that I don't think one will come after the other. They'll hit a similar ballpark; 15.20% for KOS-MOS, 17.77% for Sakura.

 

[Perkilator]

Can we start the next day, please?

 

[Deleted member]

Abstaining on Adol. I don't know anything about Falcom and Ys to comment on chance and want.
-------------------
Hayabusa

Chance: 45%

For this rating, I'd give a Koei-Tecmo rep a 100% chance rating if we were rating on that concept, so 45% is based on Hayabusa being a possibility with the other 45% going to a Dynasty Warriors rep and the 10% going to Nioh despite the series reportedly being finished a couple of days ago. Koei-Tecmo's partnership with Nintendo, Ninja Gaiden's NES origins, and Team Ninja's handiwork in various Nintendo [published] games point in favor of Hayabusa more than a good amount of other characters. Despite the series being on hiatus for about 6 years now, Koei-Tecmo and Team Ninja make appearances for Hayabusa and references to Ninja Gaiden in some recent games outside of DoA with Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate adding him to their already huge roster and Nioh putting ancient members of the Hayabusa clan in DLC, so it's not like the series is being forgotten about. The modern games also add a lot more to Hayabusa's potential moveset than the NES games do, and it's not like you have to include any weapons other than the Dragon Sword to flesh it out. Overall, he's pretty much has a ****load of things that point in his favor than most characters people have talked about in regards to Smash. The 2 things you could see that wouldn't point in his favor pretty much comes down to whether if you believe Sephiroth wearing black and wielding a sword wouldn't differentiate Hayabusa enough to add him in Vol 2 (which really if they are planning to add Hayabusa to Vol 2 it just means they aren't going to release him straight after Seph) or if you believe Dynasty Warriors has as much, if not more of a chance than Ninja Gaiden does, and considering there aren't many people that believe that, it makes him appear as the most favorable Koei-Tecmo rep out of everyone else.

Want: 99%

I still want him in Smash, but it isn't a 100% want rating with how incredibly predicted he is at the moment. Even though predictable =/= bad, you need a cast of doubt for something predictable to end up becoming great. The only thing is there's not much to doubt about Hayabusa's chances because of Koei-Tecmo's connections with Nintendo and Ninja Gaiden being an NES title, so it's a lot more expected than otherwise. Other than that, he's pretty much great in other categories. His moveset would most likely suit me for Smash, and Unbreakable Determination is groundbreaking enough for a Smash remix. He'd certainly be a fantastic addition to Smash, albeit a very predictable addition.
-------------------
Predictions:
KOS-MOS - 16%
Sakura - 21%
-------------------

Noms:
A Challenger Pack with 2 Fighters x10

 

[Commander_Alph]

This is my first time going into this thread and giving a rating at the same time and believe me that this isn't a good first impression if I'm being honest.

First off, I'm abstaining Adol because I don't know nothing about Ys and Falcom until recently. And now let's get started!

Mr. Hayabusa...​

Chance? 35%

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that hesitant to put heavily rumored and talked character like Crash, DoomGuy, and Master Chief (not you, key boi) way above 50% but just for Hayabusa I can't really give him the benefit of the doubt and rank him closer to perfection like many people in this thread and call it a safe pick which is totally bogus. And no, the reason why I stepping all over Hayabusa's corpse is not because he's a niche old forgotten game in an old dusty console that got a massive boom only because a certain leaker throw around a wild guess after hearing a discussion from both Koei-Tecmo and Nintendo, but it's because that he is probably the most oversaturated character in speculation not long after coming out of the woodwork.

Ahem, let me get over the positive first in a quick succession: He has a legacy on a Nintendo console and would appeal to the Boomers and Nintendo Fans. He also appeal to zoomers and other console fans because of his remake. Koei has been really close with Nintendo recently because of Age of Calamity so having a character a character from the company isn't that surprising. Has an interesting moveset potential with all of his High Fantasy Ninjutsu Ninja Magic. And that's it!


While I appreciate his legacy I can't get enough of everyone saying that Ninja Gaiden is such an important game series that he is basically a big puzzle piece that could fill an entire puzzle set in one go. He's not that far off or one step better than Castlevania which you could take that as a compliment but he's literally just that, NES has a lot of memorable game and Ninja Gaiden is one of them and usually resides in the back of your mind and filled with something like Battletoads and Contra as a game that is not made by Nintendo and ridiculously infamous for it's difficulty and even with the remake it's still yet being overshadowed by a far more superior hack n' slash series like DMC, MG Rising, and God of War (I purposely don't mentioned Bayonetta because she's literally sneak her way into Smash with the help of being published by Nintendo which give her an instant recognition). I suppose to quote someone in this thread that say he's basically the equivalent of "Sonic VS the whole entire SEGA game" is certainly inaccurate because c'mon, SEGA used to make a console and put Sonic in the frontline to battle Mario head on in a heated console, it's not like Ninja Gaiden achieve something like that once or am I suffering from a mandela effect? Tho his comparison is basically the same as "Bomberman VS the whole entire Konami game". He basically fit everything I had mentioned about the positives for Hayabusa and his series but cut the part where the company is recently getting close with Nintendo. And surprise surprise! He is an AT and a mii costume while Castlevania got a full treatment even tho I compare them to Ninja Gaiden the series barely get a better treatment along with Silent Hill from Konami and even barely escape from being turned into a marketable Pachinko Machine and with how simplistic Hayabusa design is and he also wield a sword it doesn't feel far off that he has a possibility to be a mii costume.


Content wise tho, a stage and music from the series practically possible but spirits... Even if you yourself have played Ninja Gaiden and it's remake, the villains and the supporting character basically easily forgotten even if they're THAT important to the story and characters like Ayane, Kasumi and Momiji get a boost from DoA which we all accepted as a part of the Ninja Gaiden universe tho it wouldn't hurt anyone if he's just repping DoA too. And from speculation wise I can't help by smirking that the Sigma Trilogy coming to Switch is the only indication that could benefit him, as of now and not even the date has been confirmed yet which raises a lot of eyebrow and from my speculation standpoint it's kinda odd that KT release and announced effing 2 Warriors style game (one being AOC which has been released and P5 Strikers which was announced not too long ago) and you can't deny that it feel off to drop Hayabusa in the middle of the track when we're not even that deep into 2021 that KT announced a new Dynasty Warriors game coming in somewhere in the horizon of 2021, last year. Seems suspicious or is it just me?




Want? 0,5%

Isn't it obvious that this will happen from someone who's most wanted is from the same company? But I will tell you that I'm actually interested in the game tho it doesn't really going to affect my rating too much.







That's the end. And on another note, I still can't understand what with these "noms" and "prediction" thing? An explanation will be appreciated.

 

[chocolatejr9]

This is my first time going into this thread and giving a rating at the same time and believe me that this isn't a good first impression if I'm being honest.

First off, I'm abstaining Adol because I don't know nothing about Ys and Falcom until recently. And now let's get started!

Mr. Hayabusa...​

Chance? 35%

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that hesitant to put heavily rumored and talked character like Crash, DoomGuy, and Master Chief (not you, key boi) way above 50% but just for Hayabusa I can't really give him the benefit of the doubt and rank him closer to perfection like many people in this thread and call it a safe pick which is totally bogus. And no, the reason why I stepping all over Hayabusa's corpse is not because he's a niche old forgotten game in an old dusty console that got a massive boom only because a certain leaker throw around a wild guess after hearing a discussion from both Koei-Tecmo and Nintendo, but it's because that he is probably the most oversaturated character in speculation not long after coming out of the woodwork.

Ahem, let me get over the positive first in a quick succession: He has a legacy on a Nintendo console and would appeal to the Boomers and Nintendo Fans. He also appeal to zoomers and other console fans because of his remake. Koei has been really close with Nintendo recently because of Age of Calamity so having a character a character from the company isn't that surprising. Has an interesting moveset potential with all of his High Fantasy Ninjutsu Ninja Magic. And that's it!


While I appreciate his legacy I can't get enough of everyone saying that Ninja Gaiden is such an important game series that he is basically a big puzzle piece that could fill an entire puzzle set in one go. He's not that far off or one step better than Castlevania which you could take that as a compliment but he's literally just that, NES has a lot of memorable game and Ninja Gaiden is one of them and usually resides in the back of your mind and filled with something like Battletoads and Contra as a game that is not made by Nintendo and ridiculously infamous for it's difficulty and even with the remake it's still yet being overshadowed by a far more superior hack n' slash series like DMC, MG Rising, and God of War (I purposely don't mentioned Bayonetta because she's literally sneak her way into Smash with the help of being published by Nintendo which give her an instant recognition). I suppose to quote someone in this thread that say he's basically the equivalent of "Sonic VS the whole entire SEGA game" is certainly inaccurate because c'mon, SEGA used to make a console and put Sonic in the frontline to battle Mario head on in a heated console, it's not like Ninja Gaiden achieve something like that once or am I suffering from a mandela effect? Tho his comparison is basically the same as "Bomberman VS the whole entire Konami game". He basically fit everything I had mentioned about the positives for Hayabusa and his series but cut the part where the company is recently getting close with Nintendo. And surprise surprise! He is an AT and a mii costume while Castlevania got a full treatment even tho I compare them to Ninja Gaiden the series barely get a better treatment along with Silent Hill from Konami and even barely escape from being turned into a marketable Pachinko Machine and with how simplistic Hayabusa design is and he also wield a sword it doesn't feel far off that he has a possibility to be a mii costume.


Content wise tho, a stage and music from the series practically possible but spirits... Even if you yourself have played Ninja Gaiden and it's remake, the villains and the supporting character basically easily forgotten even if they're THAT important to the story and characters like Ayane, Kasumi and Kasumi get a boost from DoA which we all accepted as a part of the Ninja Gaiden universe tho it wouldn't hurt anyone if he's just repping DoA too. And from speculation wise I can't help by laughing that the Sigma Trilogy coming to Switch is the only indication that could benefit him and not even the date has been confirmed yet which raises a lot of eyebrow and from my speculation standpoint it's kinda odd that KT release and announced effing 2 Warriors style game (one being AOC which has been released and P5 Strikers which was announced not too long ago) and you can't deny that it feel off to drop Hayabusa in the middle of the track when not we're not even that deep into 2021 that KT announced a new Dynasty Warriors game coming in somewhere in the horizon of 2021. Seems suspicious or is it just me?




Want? 0,5%

Isn't it obvious that this will happen from someone who's most wanted is from the same company? But I will tell you that I'm actually interested in the game tho it doesn't really going to affect my rating too much.







That's the end. And on another note, I still can't understand what with these "noms" and "prediction" thing? An explanation will be appreciated.

We have a list of characters that you can nominate to be rated at some point. How many noms you can use depends on how you go about rating the current character. Abstaining grants you 5 noms, and giving at least a paragraph for both chance AND want will grant you 10. Keep in mind, however, you need at least 2 sentances to get noms at all. Also, when nominating a character, said character NEEDS to have a Support Thread (unless it's some kind of concept). This is to prevent joke ratings (we had to rate Freddie Fish and Brash the Bear at one point...).

As for predictions, basically you have to predict what the total chance percentage of the next character getting rated is. The user with the closest percentage gets extra noms.

 

[Commander_Alph]

We have a list of characters that you can nominate to be rated at some point. How many noms you can use depends on how you go about rating the current character. Abstaining grants you 5 noms, and giving at least a paragraph for both chance AND want will grant you 10. Keep in mind, however, you need at least 2 sentances to get noms at all. Also, when nominating a character, said character NEEDS to have a Support Thread (unless it's some kind of concept). This is to prevent joke ratings (we had to rate Freddie Fish and Brash the Bear at one point...).

As for predictions, basically you have to predict what the total chance percentage of the next character getting rated is. The user with the closest percentage gets extra noms.

Ah! I see, but just this time. Could you or anyone else do me a favor and counting all of the noms that I have (I know that I get 2 for abstaining Adol) and for nomination.. come again on which will be the next character that is going to be rated? I really need an example to count them.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Ah! I see, but just this time. Could you or anyone else do me a favor and counting all of the noms that I have (I know that I get 2 for abstaining Adol) and for nomination.. come again on which will be the next character that is going to be rated? I really need an example to count them.

Hey, GoodGrief741 you mind helping this guy out?

 

[TCT~Phantom]

And on another note, I still can't understand what with these "noms" and "prediction" thing? An explanation will be appreciated.

I'll do my best to explain noms, I currently plan on making an edit to the rules page explaining this further as well, since I know it is a little confusing.

So we usually only do fixed schedules like the one we are on after a certain number of characters or time. It allows us to revisit popular characters and see if we think their chances have changed much since their last rating. However, most of the stuff we discuss are things that other users suggest via the nominations list. For example, right now I am nominating Neku from TWEWY and Haggar from Final Fight.

In terms of how many nominations you get, it depends. A flat abstention is granted 5 noms. If you only post like 2 sentences, the bare minimum, in each score, you still get the 5 noms but your scores count in the final average. If you write an exceptional amount (the minimum is 5 sentences) per score, you can get double nominations. Now, if you write a lot in one section, like you did, but only a little in the other, it depends on how much you wrote, but using your post as an example I would say it qualifies for double noms.

Double noms stack as well for multiple characters. For example, today we rated Hayabusa and Adol. Write the paragraph each for chance and want you get up to 20 noms.

As for predictions, it is basically predicting what the final average is gonna be of everyone's scores. Closest prediction gets 5 extra noms (though this might be upped in the future), getting super close to the actual score gets more and more noms.

If you have any further questions on the noms process, me, Sari , and GoodGrief741 all can answer them.

 

[GoodGrief741]

Ah! I see, but just this time. Could you or anyone else do me a favor and counting all of the noms that I have (I know that I get 2 for abstaining Adol) and for nomination.. come again on which will be the next character that is going to be rated? I really need an example to count them.

From your post as is you have 10 nominations to give. You can give them all to one character (ex: Master Chief) or one concept (ex: a new Capcom character), or you can split them between several of them as long as they add up to 10 or less (ex: 5 noms to Sora and 5 noms to Dante).

There's a list that gets updated daily with everyone's nominations added, and at the end of the schedule we're currently on, the top seven from that list will become the next schedule. Of course, you probably won't get a character on the top of the list by yourself on one day; the idea is that you return daily or regularly to boost the character you're nominating until they get to the top.

To help you do that, there's predictions, where you try to guess what the chance score for the next day will be. The chance score is a simple average of all the scores everyone gives a character. Tomorrow we're rating KOS-MOS from Xenosaga and Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars, so you'd have to guess the average percentage they'd get. The person who guesses closest gets extra noms that they can use whenever they want.

I hope that answered your questions, but if there are any further doubts please ask away.

 

[warpenguin55]

abstain
Noms: LoL rep x5

 

[DaUsername]

The Cooler Ryu
Chance: 75%
He just makes sense.
Okay, but seriously, there isn't really much going against him. Koei-Tecmo has been super close with Nintendo for years, Hayabusa is probably their most well known character, and easily their most requested. There's only really two things going against his inclusion. One, it's been quite a while since the last Ninja Gaiden game, but then again, that didn't stop , , or from getting in. And two, we could always get some other Koei-Tecmo character, but I'm not sure who else they'd pick. Someone from Dynasty Warriors, maybe? I don't know.
Want: 70%
I haven't played much Ninja Gaiden, but I know Ryu is a pretty cool guy, and his series has cool music. Honestly, I just think he's long overdue at this point, he's pretty much the last "big" NES era third party that isn't represented in Smash. What's taking him so long?

Alabama Department of Labor (This was what I saw when I searched Adol)
Chance: N/A
Want: 5%
Sorry, guys. I know everyone else here loves him, but I just don't see the appeal. I'm sure my opinion might change when I play the game(s) at some point, but currently I just see him as another generic JRPG dude with a sword.

Sakura prediction: 18%
KOS-MOS prediction: 14%
Noms: Senator Armstrong x10

 

[Sari]

Day over.

Rate KOS-MOS from Xenosaga as well as Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars.

Tomorrow is Capcom day so predict Dante, Phoenix Wright, and Monster Hunter.

Megadoomer

-----

Some songs for today's characters:

KOS-MOS

Spoiler: Xenosaga Music

Sakura

Spoiler: Sakura Wars Music

 

[3DSNinja]

Double abstain
Nominations: Peppino x10

 

[DrifloonEmpire]

Sakura

Chance: 1% - Oh boy, where do we begin? Her franchise is big in Japan but remains exclusively there. Most of her franchise remains unlocalized and the most recent game didn't do too well, even in Japan. Granted, Sakura Wars did win a big SEGA poll recently, but that's way too late for Smash consideration. Sakura Wars hasn't had any recent Nintendo releases and Nintendo seems to have little to no interest in promoting it. And with Nintendo picking the characters, a lack of interest from Nintendo is basically a death sentence. Her franchise's influence remains completely within Japan, and even similarities with western games like Mass Effect are purely coincidental.

SEGA has been promoting and building up a ton of their non-Sonic franchises lately and a lot of Sakura's supporters try to use this in her favor. And I have to say, you're dead ****ing wrong. Yakuza's become a more mainstream success, and even with it losing some steam it still remains a priority for SEGA. Puyo Puyo's been growin in the west with the Tetris crossovers and SEGA's been marketing them very heavily. Arle basically outclasses Sakura in every way. Super Monkey Ball is making a comeback with Banana Blitz HD and the rumored Super Monkey Ball Retro. They're even bringing back older franchises like Space Channel 5! Notice something? Sakura Wars is not among them. With this, a lack of interest from Nintendo, and a lack of worldwide presence that hinders a DLC character and kept other characters like Takamaru out (and Sakurai specifically mentioned that he's not interested in pulling another Roy), Sakura's simply not happening. The money isn't there when her competition is both the entire Sonic franchise and the many MANY franchises SEGA is actually promoting. Want a SEGA girl who's primarily big in Japan but has actually had her games being localized for the past 15 years? SEGA's got yopu covered.

Want: 0% - I have literally no interest in this character. Her design doesn't interest me, cutesy traditional Japanese has been milked to death at this point. Her fanbase irritates me, and that does affect one's first perception of a character. I have no interest in playing her games (though I do like the concept of picking up your story where you left off between games, kinda like save conversion in Paradox games), and there are so many other SEGA reps I'd much rather have. A second Sonic rep is by far one of my most wanted, and someone like Arle or Aiai would be awesome, too. Sakura's influence is almost completely confined to one region and hasn't had the same impact as most franchises in Smash. Same could be said for Adol, but at least Nintendo is promoting his games and they're actually localized. Granted, I'm a bit of a hypocrite in this regard since a character I like, Don-chan, is in the same position, I still gave him a reasonable and realistic score, not an 80-100%. Like in her chance score, there's simply too muhc stacked against her for me to even consider wanting her,


KOS-MOS

Chance: 0.5% - OH BOY, where do we begin? The concept of discussing this character is on life support, just like her. A bandwagon pick from the Game Awards days, her only real merit is being shilled back and forth by her creators despite the obvious lack of success of her franchise. All considerations for a Xenosaga remaster kicked the can when their marketing survey showed it wouldn't be profitable. Her games have had little to no historical influence, and while there are a few shared concepts in Xenoblade, her franchise is otherwise unknown and obscure. And it's not like her many crossover appearences have convinced people to try her games either. Her franchise hasn't had a new game for 15 years and she is a character on life support. Let's not forget the competition from two sides. A second Namco rep is by far one of the most competitive catagories in Smash speculation, and even with Heihachi gone her franchise is overshadowed vastly by Tales of, Katamari, Taiko no Tatsujin, Soul Calibur, Dark Souls, even Klonoa! On the other side, Nintendo's going to want to promote their OWN Xeno franchise, and to quote a successful rhyme from last time, when your competition is one of the most likely characters for Fighter's Pass 2, things are not looking good for you.

How does she keep ending up on these fixed schedules?

Want: 0% - Another one for the chopping block, I see no reason to care for KOS-MOS. Never played her games, I don't see any value of having her in Smash, and she would deconfirm my most wanted character, The Prince of All Cosmos. And even then, Namco has so many great options, why go for KOS-MOS when she has almost no fan demand compared to her competition. And when it comes to Xeno content, I'd rather have Rex (even if I found his game too tedious to finish) since he got screwed over by his game's timing, and I at least have some experience with him. Let's not forget how smug people would be if she got in somehow. Do people really WANT another Byleth situation? Do people seriously still find HOES MAD funny?


Nominations:
4x Strategy rep x5
Concept: Miles Edgeworth as Phoenix Wright's alt/echo

Predictions:
Phoenix Wright - 45.22% - His 20th anniversary is this year and the next reveal likely won't be at a big event, so I'm expecting some raised confidence on his part.

Monster Hunter - 56.94% - Hype has died down a bit and soft confirmation of all of the Smash 4 Mii Costumes coming back will bring the scores down a bit, but expecting a lot of confident scores, both well-written ones and bandwagon-y ones.

Dante - 36.88% - His hype really has died down as of late, and while he has his ports he doesn't have any big evidence going in his favor.

 

[Perkilator]

Abstain on KOS-MOS.

Cant wait for people to act like Sakurai would be disgusted to include someone like Sakura in Smash

Chance: 20%
I‘ve said it before and I’ll day it again: I know Sakura Wars isn't exactly big compared to other SEGA franchises (especially not, thanks to but people are grossly underestimating the series' popularity. There is a legacy to this series, even if only a small one. Yes, lack of relevancy does sort of hinder a character, as stated by Sakurai with why Takamaru is an Assist Trophy. But this is the same man who later said (and I quote):

For those who want a more in-depth history of the series:

The video’s a bit old, but it should still give you some semblance of actual thought.

Want: 100%
I don’t give a flying goose pimple if Sakura isn’t as well known as other franchises. Sakura Wars has become one of my favorite SEGA game series, and I’d be overjoyed to see it represented in Smash.

Not to say I don’t want any other SEGA franchise to be represented (’s reveal has opened me up a little to Eggman, and I’m equally an Arle supporter), but obscurity isn’t gonna stop me from rooting for Sakura.

There's plenty of content to supply her Challenger Pack as well, so I don't want people acting like there isn't.

Spoiler: Here's my full personal list of songs, btw

1. Declaration! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe - Sakura Wars
2. Declaration! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe - Sakura Wars
3. The Heartwarming Life of the TeiGeki - Sakura Wars
4. Move Out! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe - Sakura Wars
5. Try Your Best! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe - Sakura Wars
6. Enemy Battle Medley - Sakura Wars
7. Decisive Battle! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe - Sakura Wars 2
8. Final Battle - Sakura Wars 2
9. Imperial Capital - Sakura Wars 2
10. Under the Imperial Flag - Sakura Wars 3
11. Chattes Noires - Sakura Wars 3
12. Clash - Sakura Wars 3
13. Paris Floral Assault Troupe, Debut! - Sakura Wars 3
14. The Musical Dance of Battle - Sakura Wars 3
15. Earth Warriors - Sakura Wars 5
16. Go Go NYCR! - Sakura Wars 5
17. Declaration! Imperial Floral Assault Troupe (New Chapter)
18. Imperial Capital City - New Sakura Wars
19. Beyond the Rainbow - New Sakura Wars
20. Round Table Knight - New Sakura Wars
21. Iron Star - New Sakura Wars

Noms:
Crazy Dave x5

 

[GoodGrief741]

Spoiler: Calcs

Cooking Mama
5.39% Chance - 47.60% Want
The winner of predictions was Mr. MR with 5.555%

Eggman
23.82% Chance - 69.23% Want
Last time we rated him he got 17.40% chance and 76.28% want. Obviously Sephiroth has made people consider him, but interestingly, his want score dropped when he became a realistic possibility rather than a pipe dream.
The winner of predictions was Lyncario with a precise 24.00%
The good doctor is now the fifth most wanted third party character, edging out his fellow man of science Professor Layton.

Chun Li
30.41% Chance - 56.33% Want
Last time we rated her she got 11.01% chance and 57.30% want. The clear winner after Sephiroth is her, though to be fair that low score was from before Min Min so Spirits being in play also helped her rise. Though again, lower want. Do people just want what they can't have?
The winner of predictions was Perkilator with a precise 30.00%

Alucard
6.03% Chance - 63.00% Want
Last time we rated him he got 9.29% chance and 58.63% want. Sephiroth gets announced and his chance drops? What? Unless there's a notion that we can't have another silver-haired sword wielder (and thankfully I didn't see that laughable argument made) I have no explanation for this one. But at least people want him more now, which is nice.
The winner of predictions was Lyncario with 6.80%

Raiden
5.82% Chance - 57.40% Want
The winner of predictions was Blankiturayman with a precise 5.00%

Zero
0.99% Chance - 69.00% Want
The winner of predictions was Jomosensual with an almost exact 1.00%. So close, but you still get 10 extra noms!

Quote
9.68% Chance - 60.06% Want
His previous ratings were, in order: 8.54% - 52.92% (before Joker's release), 15.36% - 63.83% (after Terry), and 13.50% - 53.26% (after Min Min)
The winner of predictions was waddledeeonredyoshi with 10.36%

Reimu
19.28% Chance - 67.33% Want
Her previous ratings were, in order: 18.14% - 53.85% (before Joker's release), 33.34% - 54.29% (after Banjo-Kazooie), 24.98% - 60.05% (after Byleth), and 24.17% - 63.27% (after Min Min)
The winners of predictions were Jomosensual and Blankiturayman both with a precise 20.00%

And now, the list

3BitSaurus 5
Artix 15
Awakining 5
Blankiturayman 15
DanganZilla5 10
DaUsername 102
Delzethin 5
GoodGrief741 83
Inue Houji 20
Jomosensual 15
Lyncario 15
Mr. MR 70
NintenRob 55
Nemuresu 10
Ninjaed 20
Perkilator 5
SKX31 5
Troykv 15
waddledeeonredyoshi 59
WeirdChillFever 10
Wunderwaft 5

 

[GoodGrief741]

These two characters are the epitome of "nothing's changed for them", especially KOS-MOS whose series is so dead that if it did get any further developments I would nominate her myself. Hence, I'm quoting my latest ratings for both. My KOS-MOS post only had 7 sentences so I'm adding some of the further points I made in debates and rebuttals afterwards. I can't be bothered to write 3 more sentences honestly, in fact I care so little that I'm not going to change my score for Sakura (I was originally going to give her 0% in chance as well). The short version of it is that I'd give these two 1% - technically possible - if I was confident we're getting Sega and Bandai Namco characters, and I'm not.

D.Va

Sakura Wars is a Sega franchise that consists of 6 main games and a handful of spin-offs. The genre is a unique combination of strategy with... dating sim VN. It's a series that has sold 4 million copies - which isn't great but hey, it's Japan only. It also spawned somewhat of a multimedia empire, with manga, anime shows and OVAs. And by all critical standards they're very well made games for the most part.

Thing is I don't think it's Smash caliber. Only two of the games were released outside Japan, the fifth and sixth games. The fifth one was the poorest selling title in the series, even in Japan, and the sixth one got middling reviews (and it doesn't appear like it's sold great in the West either). So, yeah, Dragon Quest this ain't. Which kinda kills its chances imo. We're talking about a series that, due to its very specific combination of genres, is very, very niche in appeal, and hasn't been very influential for those same reasons (I guess you could point at Valkyria Chronicles - which was made by many of the same people - but that's about it). Part of its appeal is steeped in nostalgia for the Saturn, a console that was successful in its home country but a bomb everywhere else. This is the epitome of a local phenomenon; say what you will about Puyo Puyo, or Mortal Kombat, or Touhou, or Halo, but those games have worldwide, if lopsided, audiences, and in some way or another changed their genres, and impacted the industry. Sakura Wars is just a very good series of games that most of the world has no reason to know or care about. I won't even pretend to want this in Smash, it hasn't earned it. But I'm not concerned because it's a Sega game, and the competition is just that much stronger. Yakuza, Puyo Puyo, Streets of Rage, Shin Megami Tensei. I'm not gonna get into comparisons, but I really don't see how Sakura Wars doesn't get absolutely trounced by these franchises.

Chance: 1%
Want: 0%

Noms: Scorpion x10
Zelda prediction: now this will be interesting. 23.51%

Her chances are like a speck of dust in the cosmos

Double zeroes. This is usually the part where I'd counter common arguments in her favor but I've yet to see any. She's just a character from a hoax that caught on because "Sakurai always surprises us". Xenosaga is a failed series, had no impact, got no accolades, and sadly barely even got a cult following. It's not coming back anytime soon, we have confirmation of that. What reason would there be for KOS-MOS to be in Smash? From Nintendo's perspective, from Sakurai's perspective, from the consumer's perspective, there's none. She'd be lucky to get a Mii Costume, though I dunno if I'd want that because

The guys at Monolith sure do love her, but they aren't picking characters.

The ARMS devs didn't decide there would be an ARMS character, Nintendo did. All we know is that Sakurai asked for Yabuki's input on who it was. And that's not precedent for Nintendo telling Sakurai to get a rep from a specific company or developer, only a series.

Being a good and prolific subsidiary in no way means they're going to get a rep just for that. We don't see characters added because they're "the EPD rep" or "the Retro rep" or "the Intelligent Systems rep", we get characters because of the characters themselves.

Occam's Razor, what's likelier? That Namco lets a guy make poor business decisions because of some grudge or that market analysis determined that there isn't an audience for a series of games that already failed to find one?

Hell, even if it's wrong, the fact remains that Namco went public with a market analysis that says "KOS-MOS + Switch = no money". Why would Nintendo take a gamble and make her a fighter you need to pay for?

Sadly, as great as it'd be if people were aware of the developers behind the games they love, they're just gonna connect the games to Nintendo (the most famous name attached to them). I don't think Monolith's name is getting any more famous than it already is.

We do know that Nintendo chooses characters because that's what we were told. Any statement arguing the opposite should have some evidence backing it. Even if the ARMS devs requesting a character to Nintendo is what's led to its inclusion, the buck still stops at Nintendo. And there's a clear financial distinction between the ARMS devs requesting that Nintendo include a character they own and benefit from including, and Monlith theoretically asking for a character they created, only to then clarify that they actually want a third party character that would require licensing and wouldn't benefit Nintendo in the slightest. It's a pretty ludicrous scenario, and since it's the only one that leads to KOS-MOS being selected, that makes her chances ludicrously low.

Noms: Marina x10 47 x10
Predictions: Mon Hun 21.12% This should be interesting given the contradictory information. On one hand Rise releases in March and its costumes are still MIA. On the other hand Chun-Li is now a thing, she has a "leak" on her side and Imran heavily implied Byleth took their moveset. I'm leaning towards more people believing the latter
Phoenix 30.67% This one should also be interesting given AA7 and the DGS collection leaked. But if people aren't aware of those this will be boring
Dante 33.33% This one shouldn't be interesting at all, sadly I think this cowboy's time in the limelight is over

And with that I'm going to be off the thread for the rest of the day. I'm allergic to fallacies. I'll just drop noms and then disappear. If anyone needs me, tag me, otherwise I won't come back until I see the thread name change.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Abstaining for both


Velvet Crowe x5
Zagreus x5

 

[fogbadge]

ah kos-mos i reckon i can do this one.

chances: ill go with 10% as others have said her series isnt really doing anything at this time. sure there are those who conflate all the xeno games but they really shouldnt, as i understand it xenogears is owned by SE (monolith wasnt even involved in the first one) xeno saga is owned BN and xenoblade is owned by monolith and nintendo. more to the point xenoblade wasnt even gonna be called that at first it was originally gonna be called monado beginning of the world. and lets face it theres probably be a bunch more NB characters nintendo would suggest first. sure you they could ask BN at monolith suggestion but its also likely that they would suggest anyone from any of their games. even disaster day of crisis. and sure shes used in crossovers all the time but that doesnt really matter to smash. in short not a lot going for her.

want: 45% i have limited experience with her but she was cool in XC2 so im not against the idea. so long as she doesnt bring that creepy t-elos or whatever she was called.

now i take it this isnt the cardcaptor sakura? ill abstain on her then and nom qbby x10

 

[Lionfranky]

Sakura

Chance: 0.5%

This is DLC we are talking about. For third party, the candidates have to be popular and huge to draw crowds cover up licensing fee and development cost. Sakura fails on that regard. Within Sega, she's outclassed by pretty much every heavy contender: Arle, Eggman and Kiryu (This guy is toss up addmitely with yakuza is something that Nintendo may want to avoid) From what I've gathered, Sakura Wars seem to be on bottom of barrel when it comes to franchises that Sega promotes. I think Sephiroth greatly lowered chance of another katana user. It seems Sakurai wants to avoid putting characters with the similar/same weapon in the same path. When you have Sephiroth and put someone who has the same weapon type but with much less hype, that pretty much kills hype for rest of pass.

Want: Abstain.

I never got into the series, so I cannot judge fairly. However, with Sephiroth in, I don't want another katana user. Yes, that applies to 2B as well. I want variety even in aesthetic point of view.

KOS-MOS

Chance: 1%

The fact that Bandai Namco stated that Xenosaga remake wouldn't be profitable is pretty much nail in the coffin. If they feel her series is not worth effort, why would Nintendo care about her? Like Sakura, KOS-MOS has too much competition in her hand: Lloyd, Nightmare, Don-chan and lastly Agumon. Digimon is getting momentum with new games not too long ago on top of on going anime reboot. If I were them, I would push Agumon hard. There isn't any kind of incentive to choose her over other characters. And Nintendo is choosing characters, so good luck convincing them she can make lots of money.

Want: 30%

I'm neutral on her. Her diverse weaponry would make interesting moveset. She was interesting in Project X. She's also aesthetically unique. But, my most wanted Bandi Namco rep is Agumon. So sorry. But I have to take point off from her.

Nom: Character that don't have their games on Nintendo platform x 10
3rd party company gets more than one fighter in the same pass x 10

 

[Jomosensual]

Alright, welp, let's do this.

I'll start by redoing my KOS MOS post since the last time I rated her was about a year ago

KOS MOS

Chance 1 - If it isn't Ms Fake Leak herself. I honestly doubt we'd even be rating her right now if she wasn't in literally every single fake leak from Terry's reveal until the 2019 game awards. Anyways, enough of that, let's get moving onto the merits of the character. There's a connection with the Xenoblade franchise and I believe she's even playable in one Xenoblade game. She's also developed by Monolith and published by Bandi Namco. I shouldn't have to explain the Namco part, but I believe that Monolith has a solid relationship with Nintendo so there's that. So why am I so low? Well there's the obvious issue with Bandi Namco characters not being added, but we don't even need to really talk about that because it's pretty irrelevant given the other piece of info out there. That piece of info being that Xenosaga failed a market analysis for profitability and a remaster was scrapped because of it. I'm not even sure you run that type of test if you know a character is coming to Smash since Smash has boosted the sales of games in the past. I really can't see any other points combatting this one either. No, it doesn't matter that she's been in crossovers. Neither does it matter that Sakurai likes Xenoblade or anything else really. And no, Harada isn't lying, why on earth would he lie about that? So yeah, she's big time dead for this pass. Honestly that feels like a killer for potentially future DLC passes too but I'll leave the door open a little bit just in case. Overall though, not looking good at all here.

NOTE: I'm not sure if KOS MOS being published by BN matters now since them and Monolith split apparently, but it seems that the split happened after Xenosaga 3 so IDK who had rights to what there. The Harada quote I dropped above makes it sound like BN does own the rights to her still but I've seen some push back on that so I'm not sure.


Want 35 - Despite everything I said above, I think KOS MOS had a lot of potential as a playable character. It's hard to say that she wouldn't have moveset potential. There's a lot more BN characters I'd like to get first though and with limited spots I'm OK with her not happening. Also kinda want to see Rex get in first as well and I don't think there's enough room in this pass for both of them.


Sakura
Chance 1 - I don't really see this happening. Being from Sega is good but the series isn't localized, which is a massive hit since Sakurai's comments about Lucas(who let's remember, was cut from Smash 4 originally) and Takamaru among others. There are 2 games released in the west but I'm not sure that's enough to make up for it. There's also a lot more iconic and well known series to pick from with Sega, with most of those characters having better cases. Sonic reps, especially the likes of Tails and Eggman, being back on the table add more competition as well. Then there's also the likes of Arle, who was extremely requested by the Japanese fanbase and Kiryu, who is in a bit of a Joker spot with how well known but under speculated he is. I have a hard time seeing her as a likely rep with that much plus localization standing in the way. And no, before we get people screaming about crossover queens again, that does not matter to Smash as we've seen to the character selection so far. That all being said there's nothing actually saying she is out of the running I suppose, so a 1 percent she gets.

Want 0 - Pass. The Japan only characters(no matter in popularity or release) are the characters I have just no interest in, especially when we have so many western characters with great legacies not in the game yet. Eventually down the road I might be more interested in seeing these characters in, but for now it feels like the western reps have gotten the shaft so much lately that I want to see a lot of them make it in first. And to clarify, I do not count Dragon Quest among those as DQ is absolutely legendary in Japan and has at least some western exposure. Sakura Wars isn't close to that yet.

Predictions:
Dante - 45%
Phoenix - 42%
Monster Hunter - 25%

Noms:
Far Cry rep x 10
Bioshock protagonist x10
John Martson x10
Riptor x5

 

[DanganZilla5]

Sakura

Chance: 10%

The first Sakura Wars was an ambitious title by Sega with its blending of tactical role playing, dating sim, and visual novel gameplay, plus its heavy use of voice acting. It was released for the Saturn and was a critical and commercial success, leading to 4 sequels and a soft reboot in 2019. It’s a very popular multimedia franchise in Japan, with anime, concerts, music albums, and manga being produced over the years. It’s also worth noting that several characters from Sakura Wars have appeared in crossovers like Project X Zone.

With all that said, Sakura does have numerous obstacles in her way. The big one is that outside of Japan, Sakura Wars is relatively obscure in foreign countries. It was not until the 5th entry that it finally got a release in North America, but due to the series’ mix of niche gameplay styles it never left a big mark in the West. We all know about Sakurai’s hesitancy to add internationally obscure characters and before anyone brings up Dragon Quest because “It’s not popular in America too”, it is on a whole nother league on it’s own, so there is no comparing it to Sakura Wars.

Also, if we are talking about Japanese centric characters owned by Sega, Arle Nadja is a big competitor for Sakura as Puyo Puyo has been getting popular in recent years in the West and has been getting pushed by Nintendo and Sega. Not to mention competition with Sega’s other solid contenders like Eggman. Overall, I do think Sakura has the merits to potentially push above her obstacles, but it’s hard to imagine Nintendo picking her of all characters when there are numerous Japanese characters that are more appealing to international audiences.

Want: 75%

I have been playing the PS4 game and I’ve been really enjoying it. I dig it’s combination of character-heavy story, dialogue choices, and action gameplay sections. I am hoping to try out the 5th game sometime since it’s localized and I will try to obtain a fan translation of the first 4 games as I have seen reviews of them and I have seen some video essays on the impact of the first game. It’s definitely a charming series that I want to get immersed in and the music is really good too. And of course you can’t forget about the mechs. Mechs are cool and if they can get it to work in Smash, I would be totally down for it.

_______________________

Another fellow Project X Zone guest

Chance: 0%

I feel confident in this not happening. Xenosaga is a dead series and one of the top people at Bamco said that a HD collection would not be profitable enough and plans for it have stopped. If KOS-MOS’ owners do not deem her series as profitable enough to bring back, what will make Nintendo think that it would be a good idea to give her a challenger pack?

Now this is where I bring up the common arguments that I see all the time and will happily tear them down.

“But Bamco and Monolith Soft like her and they put her in a bunch of games and crossovers. She is their crossover queen!”

So what? They are not choosing the characters and not just any character can be in Smash. Just because KOS-MOS appears as a rare weapon in Xenoblade 2 does not mean they will pick her over Rex, who is the main character of the game. Moving onto Bamco, why would Nintendo choose KOS-MOS over Lloyd Irving, Agumon, Nightmare, Chosen Undead, etc? All of these are more well known choices and their series are active and/or had a notable impact for the company or the industry as a whole.

“But you cannot count out KOS-MOS yet just because there are bigger series. We have been blind-sided many times!”

While it’s true that smaller series have gotten in over bigger series time in and time again, the big thing to take into account is that all of those unexpected choices makes sense. For example, Joker blind-sided us but that is because Persona 5 blew up into the mainstream so he makes a lot of sense. Not many people seriously considered Terry but he makes sense because he directly influenced Smash, plus Sakurai is a big Fatal Fury fanboy. Sephiroth was completely unexpected but, well come on he’s one of the biggest villains in gaming and FF7 Remake came out in the same year.

The point is that there is absolutely nothing pointing towards KOS-MOS. Her series didn’t influence Smash, it’s not a very popular or widely known series, there is no big push for her in Smash (aside from when leaks give her attention as we saw a couple years ago), and keep in mind that the article I linked to was from 2019. So right now there are no plans to do anything with Xenosaga and it’s not available on Switch or any of the recent systems. I see absolutely no avenue where Nintendo wants to put this character into Smash. Even if Monolith Soft begged Nintendo to put one of their characters in as DLC, they will absolutely choose Rex as he is highly requested in Japan and is the main character of a successful Switch game.

Want: 0%

Look, I got nothing against KOS-MOS. I think she is cool and I like her in Project X Zone. But I just have no interest in her being in Smash. Plus she is owned by Bamco so she would kill the chances of multiple characters I really want.

Predictions:
Phoenix - 60%
Dante - 45%
Monster Hunter - 38%

Noms:
Among Us character x10
Excitebiker x10

 

[waddledeeonredyoshi]

Kose Mose
Chance: 0.1%
What really needs to be said at this point? A remake getting canned confirms that Xenosaga is dead and without a future. KOS MOS herself might be kept alive by Namco and Monolith devs who hold her dear but that adoration has to spread to the Nintendo higher-ups for her to be Smash material. Considering the state of her series, that will not happen. They are much likelier to go for a franchise that basically isn't bottom of the barrel. Even with Tekken out of the picture there's still Tales of, Soulcalibur, Dark Souls, Katamari and Digimon to be prioritized over Xenosaga. Heck, if the Heihachi and Gil costumes are any indication we may not even get anymore Namco characters.

Want: 0%
There are many better Namco picks. I haven't any game she's in so maybe I shouldn't judge but she's got nothing going for her for me to believe she'd be a good choice for DLC.

Most generic Japanese girl name
Chance: 1%
Like Touhou, Sakura Wars is another series hugely popular in Japan but not so much worldwide. From what I can gauge, Touhou might actually be more popular than it in the west and probably Japan as well maybe. Japanese popularity often isn't enough tho. Sakura Wars isn't very accessible for most people. It only has about two games localised, one being over a decade old and the other being a mixed received PS4 exclusive. That does not sound like a franchise Nintendo would be interested in promoting. This certainly isn't another Dragon Quest we're talking about here. Really, if they wanted another SEGA franchise with big Japanese popularity they'd just be better of with Puyo Puyo or SMT.

Speaking of Sakura herself, she wields a katana and I don't want to make any ignorant claims but I doubt her moveset would impress many people after we just got Sephiroth.

Want: 0%
Accessibility matters and so does quality. If I'll get a ps4 down the line Sakura Wars won't really be on my radar. Also there are numerous other SEGA characters that would appeal to me more. Arle would bring some much appreciated puzzle representation, Beat would bring some wicked Naganuma music tracks with him, Eggman is universally liked and would make for an interesting heavyweight and I now am a owner of Yakuza 0 so Kiryu might quickly shoot up my wanted list. Any of these charcters would bring way more hype to me than SEGA's Fire Emblem equivelant.

Phoenix: 37.75%
Dante: 36.12%
Monster Hunter: 28.36%
Henry Stickmin x15

 

[Commander_Alph]

Ms. KOS-MOS​

Chances 0,9%

Look, I can't do anything about her, she's already dead before even crossing the line. Her only grace is that she gets revived for the second goddamn time when she appear in XC2 and that only save her as a character not her whole entire series and even then the chances of finding and acquiring her is pretty rare and not worth the effort as her presence is not easily accessible unlike her previous appearance in Project X Zone. And to add insult to injury I've heard that Namco Bandai hold a marketing survey for Xenosaga and in the end the series's journey ends there as the series is deemed unmarketable, and this is not made up by them and I don't believe that they pulled out a sneaky little trick and just says "F the analysis, here's your trilogy!".

And in the speculation standpoint she is yet another bandwagon character picking up all the hype after appearing in XC2 and continue onward into the sunset, kinda hard to take her seriously when people expecting her to appear in 2019 TGA and be the last fighter for Pass 1, shouting her name out loud and clear.

She's basically slowly turning into Namco's very own Morrigan but that isn't entirely correct since Monolith is kinda the only one that care about her which honestly hurts a lot when she's not the only Bandai and Namco series that they themselves actually care and competing for the same spot, cause as we all know that Tales have been the talk of the town recently, followed by the likes of Soul Calibur, Dark Souls, Digimon and even Idolm@ster (yes, Idolm@ster is higher than Xenoblade but still being the bottom of the barrel) and you know how much we need a second Bandai-Namco character ASAP when Sakurai himself literally cared so much about the missing chuncks from the Final Fantasy series in the base game that the only way to do that is at least have someone from Final Fantasy gets as a DLC which is Sephiroth, you gotta make something worth it.



Want 3%

Yeah, no thanks. I felt like Xenosaga is the type of game that want to be taken seriously with its bleak and dark filtered all over the game but the poor yet unsettling attempt at making a 3D model is pushing the seriousness away but that doesn't mean I'm not interested them game tho

Shinguji-san​

Chance 25%

Honestly, I'm not really surprised. Anything that is considered an out of left field pick has always been welcoming cause nobody know what their status are as a game and among them is Sakura Taisen.

Yakuza, Puyo Puyo and Sakura Wars is like the 3 Sega games that Sega themselves has been involved recently, either new entries poping up here and there or introducing the world about a new game that has been kept inside for too long one of which is Sakura Wars. Yes, I know that the reboot and So Long, My Love isn't the best in the series but who am I kidding that new players know if these game is good or not in the first place, there's honestly not a problem when their series have to be localized when we all know that the Fire Emblem series all get a localization after Marth and Roy got into Meelee which honestly a good business tactic for Sega as they could actually release all of the remaining Sakura Wars games at the peak of her popularity and the logic behind Lucas and Takamaru doesn't applied to Shinguji as she's kinda a big deal in Japan moreso than Earthbound and Mysterious Murasame Castle and I could clearly see her inclusion being heavily influence by the Japanese fans and the whole "but, there is other character that the Japanese want" schtick seems to get redundant really fast when people act as if the Japanese religiously enjoying every game the same way as something like DQ and Sakura Wars


But, the main reason why I rate her considerably lower is by the fact that Arle and Kiryu exist along with their series and has been successfully thriving for the past years and kinda overshadowed the series a little bit with one being insanely popular around the world while the other, while not that popular overseas still fairly recognizable and also Shinguji a run for her money.




Want 25%

She would be a cool character if I'm being honest and I would like to see her operating around a mech gimmick which the reason why I'm excited about her and having a music that gives you a flow of nostalgia as if you are back watching a 90s anime Opening, but I don't have any experience about the game not I'm interested in playing one.




Zhao Yun/Dynasty Warriors character ×10
Laharl/Disgaea character ×5
Agumon ×5


Phoenix (43,6%)
Monster Hunter (17,1%)
Dante (57,4%)

 

[Phoenix Douchebag]

Cosmos from the Fairly Odd Franchise.

Chance: 1%

Yeah im on "It's Lloyd or no one" camp here. Xenosaga is part of the "Xeno" META series, as in it has similar ideas to Xenogears and Xenoblade (which is in Smash) But that's it.......

The franchise, in the words of Namco, was a financial dissapointement and hasn't gotten a new entry since 2006, with no plans of continuing it foward. Yeah, Kos-Mos appears in Namco crossovers, but that doesn't mean anything. Morrigan appears in Most VS games, but her series is SUPER dead, and i don't see her making it over Dante and/or Phoenix Wright.

Terry's franchise, Fatal Fury, hasn't gotten a new game since 98, but he lives on as a legacy character, he is the symbol of how far SNK has come along and his perfect attendance in KOF is proof of that, it helps that is Terry is among THE most popular SNK characters alongside KOF icons like Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, so he's a top dog in SNK circles. Banjo hasn't gotten a new game since '08, but Banjo Kazooie in its heyday was FAR more iconic, popular and talked about than Xenosaga has been in its entire life, the BK series is seen as the most iconic franchise of Rare (one of the most fondly remembered developers of the 90's) in the eyes of many, and it's popularity among the Smash fanbase EXPLODED into the heavens the second Phil Spencer said a word. Kos-Mos? Can barely remember some people talking about her at all. Not in Smash 4 days, not in Base game days, and certainly not nowadays.

There's almost no major interest in having this character in Smash like Banjo (meaning she is not popular among Smash/Nintendo-centric circles), nor is this character a top dog among the compnay like Terry Bogard (meaning she is not popular among outsider/non-Nintendo) circles. This wouldn't be such an issue if Xenosaga was decently successful and was still going, but for a franchise that has been dead around the time Third Party talk in Smash became popular (Snake was announced at E3 '06) and only lives by cameos of Namco games that only really, really, REALLY hardcore gamers care about..........yeah, not a chance at all. Especially with all the competition from outside (Nintendo characters now on the table, Third Parties like Crash and Steve) and even inside (if Heihachi couldn't even make it, i don't see any reason or circumstance would she could, espcially when Lloyd is pretty much the obvious choice in every single step)

and no, the Xenoblade 2 cameo means nothing to me. I see her as Spirit fodder at best.

Want: 0%
and thank Venus for that, because i really did not want Kos-Mos. I still remember when everybody though Kos-Mos was this super likely character for Fighter Pass 1 to end with.........and then we got Byleth instead. This is the ONE time im happy Byleth got in, no irony here.

Im not a fan of Creator's Pets, and Kos-Mos gives me vibes of this. Despite the franchise beign dead, they still keep pushing this character over and over as if it was this super iconic mascot, and while im happy to see lesser known characters get the spotlight sometimes, it's getting really tired with this one.

Doesn't help im not a fan of her character archetype at all, and her moveset doesn't appeal to me in the slightlest. Next

Nothing has changed here. I don't see why she would be chosen over Lloyd Irving (Tales is one of the most popular JRPG series out there, and its already got its footing in Smash in the last entry with Lloyd as the sole representative) Yuri Lowell (most popular Tales protagonist) Nightmare (who i rated low but still see as more likely than her) or even a Dark Souls character.

The only real claim to fame she is being crossover fodder, and i have noticed how almost every single appereance comes from a game developed by Monolith Soft, the same ones who made the Xenosaga games. She isn't added because she is some famous gaming icon, she is added in those crossovers like Namco X Capcom and Project X Zone because the developers have a soft spot for her, that's it. She is just a director darling, and those who were in charge of these games don't have a say in Smash DLC, Nintendo does (the same ones who wanted Steve). The only 2 games that had Kos-Mos but not Monolith were Soul Calibur 3 where Kos-Mos had a costume for custom characters, and a costume in Tales of Vesperia. Suddenly her resume isn't that impressive anymore (not that it was that impressive to begin with)

Chosing her for Smash, for me is like this. Imagine if Namco had its own Smash, and it started getting GUEST characters by the third game, Sega's Sonic, Capcom's Mega Man, SNK's Terry, Konami's Belmonts and so on. Now after Nintendo added Mario as a guest, they want to double dip with another one and have many choices:

You have Link, you Kirby, you have Samus, you have Yoshi, you have Donkey Kong, and for some reason, people start overrating one character: Captain Falcon, a character from a long gone franchise who has become crossover fodder for games like Nintendo Land (which was developed by EAD, the same EAD behind F-Zero, sounds familiar?) why would you chose HIM over the rest of the ones i mentioned? That's what i see Kos-Mos as, Namco's Captain Falcon.

as for want, yeah nothing has changed.

Sakura. Not to be confused with Sakura Haruno............or Sakura Kinomoto.............or Sakura Kasugano.............or all the other games with "Sakura" on it.

Chance: 1%

I could have made wall of text, but DrifloonEmpire took the words right out of my mouth in every single way. Both in Chance and want.

If there's anything else i want to add....................we should stop using "MUH JAPAN" as an excuse for Niche Japanese characters. Smash is now a worldwide phenomenon. FE got localized after Melee, we got Little Mac in 4 who was SPECIFICALLY from a franchise meant to appeal to American Audiences. Western made characters like Dark Samus, Banjo and King K Rool are part of the roster. Ridley from Metroid was the Newcomer highlight from E3 when Ultimate was revealed, and Metroid sells like crap in Japan. and also we just got recently the star of the best selling game in the world, and it wasn't made in Japan.

Smash is always gonna be japan-centric to an extent, but Sakura, like Reimu (i really should have just given her a 1%) is a character i can't see happen now. We are likely gonna get western characters like Crash before we get her. "MUH UNPOPULARITY IN JAPAN" be damned, at least they get localized to there, which i can't say for the likes of Sakura. It says something when the most well known game of Sakura's Western appereance before the PS4 was Project X Zone, you know there's a problem here (and don't you dare go with the "MARTH AND ROY IN MELEE" excsue, that was a very difference scenario that happened over a DECADE ago, and it will likely never happen again)

Most of her games do not appeal to western audiences, so much so that most of them don't even got localized outside of the recent PS4 that will likely not come to Switch anytime soon. I could go on and on but again, Drif's post is all you need to read to see where i stand. It's one thing to be unappealing to a certain region, but to be unaccessible? no no, that is a big no no in Sakurai's recent roster choices.

Want: 0%

No thanks. Again, Drift took the words right out of my mouth. Better Sega reps out there, Takamaru is a better choice for our token Samurai, her fanbase has rabid members whose reasoning for her being likely are absurd, etc etc.

Nothing really has changed that much when it comes to circumstances. Despite that, i will raise Sakurai's chance to 5%, simply because while i still think she's unlikely as ****, historical value is historical value, plus the PS4 game proves that there is an audience for these games worldwide to an extent and may find an audience in the future, giving it a chance of greater success (ironically the first Sakura Wars game released Riiiiiiiiight around DBZ airing on the US when the US anime Boom took place, makes me wonder how Sakura Wars would have fared back then and if that could have helped the game) despite that, i still think her chances are small compared to Arle, who does the whole "MUH JAPAN" shtick and then some, so i still think she's the most likely SEGA rep around, but at least i see Sakura as lkely as Eggman/Robotnik, if not a little more due to her braining a whole new franchise.

Im gonna give Sakura at least a higher chance also because i don't need to use fan patches to play the newest game in the series. But outside of that, i fail to see why anyone would rate her above the 25% percent if im honest.

Still don't want her though.

Here are the "updated" scores:

Kos-Mos:

Chance: 1%

Want: 0%


Sakura:

Chance: 5%

Want: 0%

 

[Lyncario]

Fixed schedule part 5: waifus wind

Sakura Shinguji

Chances: 13%

I believe that I gave Sakura a 10% chance rating last time. Considering that I've been more on the "lowering chances" train for most characters, why oes she have an highter score? Because Kiryu and Arle both got disconfirmation that could be counted as either soft or hard disconfimation, and also last time I rated her chances, I said that her main competition was: a character from Sin Megami Tensei, Arle Nadja, and Kazuma Kiryu. With 2 of those seemingly out of the way, this pretty much only does well for Sakura and someone from SMT, and the fact that we got Sephiroth who put Tails and Eggman back on the table doesn't lower her chances too much for me see I see Sephiroth more as an exception rather than what the rest of the pass will follow. Miku could also be an hugh roadblock for her if she counts since they have man ysimilar positives except that Miku's positives are not only highter, but she also doesn't have the negative of being on the niche side worldwide, but I don't think that Miku is in the running, despite how cool it would be to have her in Smash. And said positives and negatives for Sakura did not change except for the competition from other Sega characters since, well, Kiryu and Arle are mostly out now. Popular in japan, niche worldwide, important to the genre she originates from, that's the in a nutshell version of it.

Want: 65%

Sakura has a cool design, she would represent a series that is more important than what most think, she would bring cool tracks and a cool stage, and could also have a very interesting moveset if it goes with the idea of her getting in and out of her merch based on a meter that's like Arsene or something, except it's more on command. I'm not very into Sakura Wars ,but I very much respect the series, so I would be cool with her joining Smash since I have absolutely nothing against her, with the closest thing being that one of my most wanted is Demi-Fiend from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and she would pretty much kill his chances to get in, but it's not like it would be that terrible to me anyway.

KOS-MOS

Chances: 3%

So, KOS-MOS is a major character from Xenosaga (not the protagonist, which is notable), a series that did ok for the first episode (around 1 million sales which is not great but still pretty good for a post PS1 era jrpg), but way worse for episode 2 and episode 3. Furthermore, Xenosaga is purely a PS2 era game, and has almost no relevancy today, which is fortified by how Harada said that the market analysis for a Xenosaga rematesr showed that it wouldn't be worth it, meaning that yes, KOS-MOS is irrelevant, despite how she had multiple crossover apearances in for example Soul Calibur 3 where you cuold make her in the character creator, or in Project X-Zone where it's fully her. An argument against her irrevelancy is how she's a rare blade in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but that's like saying that Reimu is relevant thanks to how she's in Grafiti Kingdom as a secret unlokcable character, what matters is the game where's she put in front or having many visible apearance for revelancy, both that KOS-MOS lack. She does have a more notable role in the dlc for Xenoblade 2, which I'll give to her, even if it's not that big in the grand scheme of things. And now, we come to the argument that is the most used for KOS-MOS, being that she is still very beloved by Monolith Soft, to the point where she's still a mascot for Monotlih, despite how Xenoblade is far more sucessfull. That argument is debunked most of the time by how she's owned by Bandai Namco rather than Monolith Soft. However, coupled with some other things, the argument that Monolith likes her a lot is why I gave her 5%.

The pass started with Min-Min, who got in not because Nintendo said to Sakurai that they wanted her in Smash, but rather they said "put a character from Arms in Smash, it's your choice for this one", or something along the line, which leaded to Sakurai asking Kosuke Yabuki which Arms character he wants in Smash, and he answered Min-Min. And so, as we all know, Min-Min is in Smash now. Now, it's possible that Nintendo also said to Sakurai to "put a characters of Monolith Soft in Smash, it's also your choice for this one", and it is possible that he asked to Monolith Soft (like he did with Yabuk), and they asked for KOS-MOS because they are huge simps for her. And while it should be impossible normaly because neither Nintendo or Monolith own KOS-MOS as a character, it is possible that it was made possible by Bandai Namco working with Sakurai for Smahs, so a character they have should be easy to licence for Smash, even if Bandai Namco would be hugely confused by this. Nintendo could very well refuse, or Sakurai could also just choose Rex, but either way, it's still a possibility, even if it's an improbable one.

Also another thing, I don't think that Nintendo asked for a Bandai Namco character as part of the Fighter Pass, and KOS-MOS is one of them, but she would be asked by Monolith rather than Nintendo, even if she would still would be a Bandai Namco character in the end. Also for the "too sexy for Smash", she can be easily censored enough to be ok.

Also there was that post-Steve leak that said that Sephiroth, Crash, Reimu, and KOS-MOS were the final fighters, and while I would definitively keep an eye on that leak since it did say Sephiroth who was though as an insane choice for a prediction, I would still wait until at least another character of the leak gets in to really count it as a plus for KOS-MOS (or for Reimu and Crash).

Want: 70%

Sure, I like Xenosaga, and I think that KOS-MOS has a pretty cool design, and could especialy have a very cool moveset since she has many cool things she could use, so I would rather like her, even if she's nowhere one of my most wanted. But especialy, I would laughs becuase my insane theory would be most likely true, which would also result to me reffering to Monolith Soft as Monolith SIMP for at least a very long time, and I think that it would be hilarious, even if it would be very sad for other Bandai Namco characters as let's be honest, she doesn't deserve to be in over Heihachi, Lloyd, Chosen Undead, or a bunch of other characters. And also there was that one leak that said that she would be in and that Reimu would also be another character part of the fighter pass, so that would be nice to me if the leak was real.

And if there's anything to remember about what I just said, it would definitively be Monolith SIMP.

Nominations

Madeline Mii x20

Predictions

Dante: 47.8%

Phoenix Wright: 29.7%

Monster Hunter: 51.9%

 

[BowserKing]

KOS-MOS

Chance: 10%. Her chance of getting in still at that, but we can’t rule her chances out. But most likely case, Lloyd would be more likely, but then again, the characters we got in the second fighter’s pass are fighters some people did not see coming, and KOS-MOS would be a surprising character.

Want: 50%. She would be fun to play as and I can see her team up with Shulk in a round. Overall, she has the potential to be a decent rep in Smash Bros and possibly more then that.

Sakura

Chance: 15%. Her franchise is quite popular in the East, so that could give her a chance. But there are quite a bit of other Sega reps that could show up, but if history shows us, then the unexpected can show up in Smash.

Want: 55%. She would be fun to play as, and I can see her team up with Sonic, Bayonetta or Joker against multiple opponents. Overall, she would make a decent choice for a Smash Bros fighter, and possibly even more if she got in.

Prediction: Dante (20%), Phoenix (15%) and Monster Hunter (50%)

Noms: 5 for Giygas and 5 for Boss: Rayquaza

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

Sakura

Chance: 1% - Oh boy, where do we begin? Her franchise is big in Japan but remains exclusively there. Most of her franchise remains unlocalized and the most recent game didn't do too well, even in Japan. Granted, Sakura Wars did win a big SEGA poll recently, but that's way too late for Smash consideration. Sakura Wars hasn't had any recent Nintendo releases and Nintendo seems to have little to no interest in promoting it. And with Nintendo picking the characters, a lack of interest from Nintendo is basically a death sentence. Her franchise's influence remains completely within Japan, and even similarities with western games like Mass Effect are purely coincidental.

SEGA has been promoting and building up a ton of their non-Sonic franchises lately and a lot of Sakura's supporters try to use this in her favor. And I have to say, you're dead ****ing wrong. Yakuza's become a more mainstream success, and even with it losing some steam it still remains a priority for SEGA. Puyo Puyo's been growin in the west with the Tetris crossovers and SEGA's been marketing them very heavily. Arle basically outclasses Sakura in every way. Super Monkey Ball is making a comeback with Banana Blitz HD and the rumored Super Monkey Ball Retro. They're even bringing back older franchises like Space Channel 5! Notice something? Sakura Wars is not among them. With this, a lack of interest from Nintendo, and a lack of worldwide presence that hinders a DLC character and kept other characters like Takamaru out (and Sakurai specifically mentioned that he's not interested in pulling another Roy), Sakura's simply not happening. The money isn't there when her competition is both the entire Sonic franchise and the many MANY franchises SEGA is actually promoting. Want a SEGA girl who's primarily big in Japan but has actually had her games being localized for the past 15 years? SEGA's got yopu covered.

Want: 0% - I have literally no interest in this character. Her design doesn't interest me, cutesy traditional Japanese has been milked to death at this point. Her fanbase irritates me, and that does affect one's first perception of a character. I have no interest in playing her games (though I do like the concept of picking up your story where you left off between games, kinda like save conversion in Paradox games), and there are so many other SEGA reps I'd much rather have. A second Sonic rep is by far one of my most wanted, and someone like Arle or Aiai would be awesome, too. Sakura's influence is almost completely confined to one region and hasn't had the same impact as most franchises in Smash. Same could be said for Adol, but at least Nintendo is promoting his games and they're actually localized. Granted, I'm a bit of a hypocrite in this regard since a character I like, Don-chan, is in the same position, I still gave him a reasonable and realistic score, not an 80-100%. Like in her chance score, there's simply too muhc stacked against her for me to even consider wanting her,


KOS-MOS

Chance: 0.5% - OH BOY, where do we begin? The concept of discussing this character is on life support, just like her. A bandwagon pick from the Game Awards days, her only real merit is being shilled back and forth by her creators despite the obvious lack of success of her franchise. All considerations for a Xenosaga remaster kicked the can when their marketing survey showed it wouldn't be profitable. Her games have had little to no historical influence, and while there are a few shared concepts in Xenoblade, her franchise is otherwise unknown and obscure. And it's not like her many crossover appearences have convinced people to try her games either. Her franchise hasn't had a new game for 15 years and she is a character on life support. Let's not forget the competition from two sides. A second Namco rep is by far one of the most competitive catagories in Smash speculation, and even with Heihachi gone her franchise is overshadowed vastly by Tales of, Katamari, Taiko no Tatsujin, Soul Calibur, Dark Souls, even Klonoa! On the other side, Nintendo's going to want to promote their OWN Xeno franchise, and to quote a successful rhyme from last time, when your competition is one of the most likely characters for Fighter's Pass 2, things are not looking good for you.

How does she keep ending up on these fixed schedules?

Want: 0% - Another one for the chopping block, I see no reason to care for KOS-MOS. Never played her games, I don't see any value of having her in Smash, and she would deconfirm my most wanted character, The Prince of All Cosmos. And even then, Namco has so many great options, why go for KOS-MOS when she has almost no fan demand compared to her competition. And when it comes to Xeno content, I'd rather have Rex (even if I found his game too tedious to finish) since he got screwed over by his game's timing, and I at least have some experience with him. Let's not forget how smug people would be if she got in somehow. Do people really WANT another Byleth situation? Do people seriously still find HOES MAD funny?


Nominations:
4x Strategy rep x5
Concept: Miles Edgeworth as Phoenix Wright's alt/echo

Predictions:
Phoenix Wright - 45.22% - His 20th anniversary is this year and the next reveal likely won't be at a big event, so I'm expecting some raised confidence on his part.

Monster Hunter - 56.94% - Hype has died down a bit and soft confirmation of all of the Smash 4 Mii Costumes coming back will bring the scores down a bit, but expecting a lot of confident scores, both well-written ones and bandwagon-y ones.

Dante - 36.88% - His hype really has died down as of late, and while he has his ports he doesn't have any big evidence going in his favor.

“They’re bringing back older franchises and Sakura Wars is not among them”

uhh sure buddy

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

KOS-MOS

Chance: 10%

Like some others have stated here, outside of the first game the Xenosaga trilogy hasn't enjoyed a big deal of success and the Namco higher-ups have shot down an HD remake of the trilogy from being green-lighted. KOS-MOS's only real feats are that she appears in plenty of Namco crossovers and is considered a crossover queen like Morrigan and Chun-Li are for Capcom crossovers, and Monolith Soft has a soft spot for her as evident in her being front and center in the Monolith Soft 20th anniversary art and her appearance as a rare blade in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The only way I see KOS-MOS being in is if Monolith makes a special request to Nintendo and they approve it, otherwise we can expect another Namco franchise like Tales or Soul Calibur to be in the pass.

Want: 90%

I love her design and I think she would be very fun to play with. People talk about Dante having a lot of moveset potential, but so would KOS-MOS with her guns, blasters, energy swords, mechas, etc.


Sakura Shinguji

Chance: 5%

The Sakura Wars franchise is very popular in Japan, but so is the Puyo Puyo franchise which is also owned by SEGA and the latter is getting pushed hard by the company to try and make it more notable in the west. I mean hell PPT2 actually came out two days in the west before the Japanese release! I cannot see any reason why Sakura would get in over Arle with everything that the latter has going for her. The best I can see Sakura getting is being a Mii Swordfighter that comes with a new SEGA character.

Want: 40%

I haven't played the games, but I have a soft spot for characters that fight in an eastern sword style like Vergil, so I would welcome Sakura if she somehow does become playable.

Noms: Velvet Crowe x5

 

[chocolatejr9]

Abstain. I know nothing about either of these characters. Though I know NintenZ is pretty knowledgeable, so I'd suggest asking him.

Nominations: [Rerate] Monokuma x5

Ms. KOS-MOS​

Chances 0,9%

Look, I can't do anything about her, she's already dead before even crossing the line. Her only grace is that she gets revived for the second goddamn time when she appear in XC2 and that only save her as a character not her whole entire series and even then the chances of finding and acquiring her is pretty rare and not worth the effort as her presence is not easily accessible unlike her previous appearance in Project X Zone. And to add insult to injury I've heard that Namco Bandai hold a marketing survey for Xenosaga and in the end the series's journey ends there as the series is deemed unmarketable, and this is not made up by them and I don't believe that they pulled out a sneaky little trick and just says "F the analysis, here's your trilogy!".

And in the speculation standpoint she is yet another bandwagon character picking up all the hype after appearing in XC2 and continue onward into the sunset, kinda hard to take her seriously when people expecting her to appear in 2019 TGA and be the last fighter for Pass 1, shouting her name out loud and clear.

She's basically slowly turning into Namco's very own Morrigan but that isn't entirely correct since Monolith is kinda the only one that care about her which honestly hurts a lot when she's not the only Bandai and Namco series that they themselves actually care and competing for the same spot, cause as we all know that Tales have been the talk of the town recently, followed by the likes of Soul Calibur, Dark Souls, Digimon and even Idolm@ster (yes, Idolm@ster is higher than Xenoblade but still being the bottom of the barrel) and you know how much we need a second Bandai-Namco character ASAP when Sakurai himself literally cared so much about the missing chuncks from the Final Fantasy series in the base game that the only way to do that is at least have someone from Final Fantasy gets as a DLC which is Sephiroth, you gotta make something worth it.



Want 3%

Yeah, no thanks. I felt like Xenosaga is the type of game that want to be taken seriously with its bleak and dark filtered all over the game but the poor yet unsettling attempt at making a 3D model is pushing the seriousness away but that doesn't mean I'm not interested them game tho

Shinguji-san​

Chance 25%

Honestly, I'm not really surprised. Anything that is considered an out of left field pick has always been welcoming cause nobody know what their status are as a game and among them is Sakura Taisen.

Yakuza, Puyo Puyo and Sakura Wars is like the 3 Sega games that Sega themselves has been involved recently, either new entries poping up here and there or introducing the world about a new game that has been kept inside for too long one of which is Sakura Wars. Yes, I know that the reboot and So Long, My Love isn't the best in the series but who am I kidding that new players know if these game is good or not in the first place, there's honestly not a problem when their series have to be localized when we all know that the Fire Emblem series all get a localization after Marth and Roy got into Meelee which honestly a good business tactic for Sega as they could actually release all of the remaining Sakura Wars games at the peak of her popularity and the logic behind Lucas and Takamaru doesn't applied to Shinguji as she's kinda a big deal in Japan moreso than Earthbound and Mysterious Murasame Castle and I could clearly see her inclusion being heavily influence by the Japanese fans and the whole "but, there is other character that the Japanese want" schtick seems to get redundant really fast when people act as if the Japanese religiously enjoying every game the same way as something like DQ and Sakura Wars


But, the main reason why I rate her considerably lower is by the fact that Arle and Kiryu exist along with their series and has been successfully thriving for the past years and kinda overshadowed the series a little bit with one being insanely popular around the world while the other, while not that popular overseas still fairly recognizable and also Shinguji a run for her money.




Want 25%

She would be a cool character if I'm being honest and I would like to see her operating around a mech gimmick which the reason why I'm excited about her and having a music that gives you a flow of nostalgia as if you are back watching a 90s anime Opening, but I don't have any experience about the game not I'm interested in playing one.




Zhao Yun/Dynasty Warriors character ×15
Laharl/Disgaea character ×15
Agumon ×15


Phoenix (43,6%)
Monster Hunter (17,1%)
Dante (57,4%)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you only have 40 noms for today, given what you've written. You might want to update that part accordingly.

 

[RouffWestie]

KOS-MOS
Chance: 25%
She's somewhat more recognizable among Bandai-Namco characters, appearing often in their crossover titles. She lacks relevancy and popularity when it comes to overall gaming, but the bar doesn't seem that high anymore after everyone that Ultimate has added. I wouldn't be blindsided by her inclusion, but I could more easily see her being repped in some lesser way.
Want: 0%
I don't have an interest in the Xeno series. Shulk's just kinda here for me, the other 2 candidates aren't anywhere on my want list, and there's way more characters from the company I'd prefer seeing playable before Kos-Mos.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

KOS-MOS

Chance: 40%

There are other Xeno characters that might be easier to get and other Namco characters that have more relevancy, but she still has some star power among the crossover titles, not unlike Captain Falcon and Morrigan. She's not super likely, yet not impossible either.

Want: 100%

She'd be a great character that'd bring an interesting moveset to Smash. She was very fun in Project X Zone so I'd love to see her here. I also love her design and feel it would bring a unique presence to Smash's roster.

Sakura Shinguji

Chance: 40%

There are other Sega series that might be higher up on the totem pole in terms of chances, but she's certainly not at the bottom. Sakura Wars has it's main presence in Japan, but it's been slowly growing a fandom here, with the most recent PS4 release being released worldwide just this year.

Want: 100%

I think Sakura Wars is a great franchise and that Sakura would bring a unique samurai moveset to Smash. Among Sega characters, she'd certainly fit right in with Sonic, Bayonetta, and Joker. Like KOS-MOS, I also like her design a lot as well and think she'd bring a unique presence to the roster.

 

[NintenZ]

I wasn’t originally gonna make a post cause of how last time went but I do feel like it wouldn’t be great if I stayed silent altogether

I’ll just post what I did the last time

For what it's worth I can understand where y'all are coming from.

It's predominantly a Japanese-centric franchise that only recently started to resurge and make it's way over to the West and as a result with most people on Smashboards being from the west it's easy for us to look past these things and have holes in our info due to the lack of apparent concrete info relating to it and it not being promenent in the places we're from. Our attachment and familiarity with these things also plays a role in how we make inferences.

However, this is why it's important we do more research on these things and listen to what other people have to say on them before making ill-informed statements, and this goes for anything, I saw this happen a lot before Hero was announced where people would write off the idea of a Dragon Quest rep either because they wanted someone like Sora more or because they weren't well-informed on the impact of Dragon Quest. Bubble arguments and echo chambers are a VERY dangerous trap we can fall into, so it's good to be mindful of these things when collecting information on things we aren't familiar with. Just wanted to preface that.

In the instance of Sakura Wars, this is a good video to watch if you want to be informed on it's history and impact:
I also recommend reading this blog post meant for educational purposes for information on Sakura Shinguji and her cultural impact in Japan as a character, it's a really good read especially if you're looking to learn more about Japanese cultural values: https://jp.learnoutlive.com/japanese-culture-sakura-shinguji/

I guess I can also contribute to the rating as well, have some music to listen to while I do it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvKh0hEoFp5T-f6gow7YQBDcEMD3AcT7i

Chance: 50%

It really depends honestly, Nintendo has had a relationship with the series in the past (They distributed the Game Boy game and released a special Sakura Wars Game Boy model, this was before SEGA dropped out of the console business and predates Sonic Advance by a year making it the first game they entirely owned to be released on a Nintendo system. Plus there was a DS dungeon crawler called Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars that was released back in 2008 but I'm unsure if Nintendo was as involved with it as the GB game), SEGA also has expressed interest in continuing the series after the 2019 game and has continued to push it with it getting a new mobile game quite soon and them expressing interest on bringing the rest of the series to more platforms. (On a side-note, I also just want to point out not all of the games are inaccessible overseas, the original games have been localized in Chinese and Russian, So Long My Love and 2019 were localized in English territories and South Korea, and all of the anime including the OVAs, TV series, film, and the new series are available worldwide and fully translated in English, so while not prominent overseas, it's not outright inaccessible) In addition the characters have continued to make appearances in various other games via crossovers, such as Star Ocean Anamnesis, Langrisser, Granblue Fantasy, and Phantasy Star Online 2 among others with the 2019 characters being the most recent characters to crossover to them. I personally think her inclusion depends on what SEGA's plans are for the future of her series and what Nintendo's stake in that relationship for the series is, so imo it's a coin flip. I do think a SEGA character is likely due to their current business strategy involving them wanting to bring their IPs to a larger audience in wake of their 60th anniversary and Sakura may be good for that since they have attempted for years to bring it to worldwide recognition (Sans the Sakura Wars World project and the ports of Sakura Wars PS2 and Thou Shalt Not Die which had to be put on ice because of the licensing issues regarding translation and importation costs at the time). I just want to quickly bring up, SEGA of America's marketing at launch was admittedly abysmal and it gave off the impression they sent it out to die over here, I fully acknowledge that lmao, but this would be more of a SEGA Japan decision which SOA wouldn't really have any stake in. And after launch they admittedly did improve with marketing it but it was most certainly a rocky start, not really relevant to my point though. I also personally want to judge her on her own merits and not her competition with other SEGA characters, I think it's more fair to judge her by herself (This really goes for any company, imo competition doesn't really exist it's more individualized on a case-by-case basis on what Nintendo or Sakurai find best). I also think that if she were to be included, Sakura Amamiya, the protagonist of the new game, would be included with her, whether it be as an alt, an Echo, idk, I just think SEGA would push to include her as well since they've been marketing her as a new face of the series with her getting a lot of merchandise recently and her overall being the more recent character. Really it depends on what Nintendo and SEGA have in mind for future marketing, and it also depends on if any Sakura Wars projects will be headed to the Switch, though with the staff's comments on the matter and SEGA's statement on multi-platform releases after the very successful release of Persona 4 Golden on PC, it's possible at the very least it could happen in the foreseeable future.

Want: 100%

This actually has a bit of a story. I admit, at first I was pretty skeptical of Sakura. For many years I was a pretty big supporter of fellow SEGA character Arle Nadja from Puyo Puyo (And still am) and the thought of Sakura getting in before her quite frankly mortified me as I didn't really know as much about her series and was a huge Puyo Puyo fan lol. Come the end of November I started to actively predict Sakura since there were some interesting things pointing towards her I found around the time the Game Awards was going on (Don't really remember what they were at the time but ah well). It was actually the same feeling I felt for Terry Bogard over the summer of 2019, who eventually got in. Eventually I started looking more into the series for research purposes regarding Smash predictions, I became very interested at the series' rich history, interesting characters, fantastic music, and very unique gameplay. I decided I'd play the 2019 game when it released. When I played it in April I fell in love with the series. From Kohei Tanaka's beautiful score, the lush production values, interesting story with admittedly heart-wrenching moments, and the wonderful characters you really felt for. It was a really great time and throughout I thought of ways it could be included in Smash. Looking at some of the things Sakura could do from research I felt she could make for a really interesting character, we also don't really have a katana user and I felt she'd be a good fit for that. The fact that she isn't just a typical katana user, combining elemental properties with her moves, made her all the more interesting. Her rich history coming from a legacy SRPG/dating sim franchise thats' impact reaches even Western games despite it only being from Japan made me feel all the more reason why it could be a good inclusion. The music she would also bring is quite frankly ear-melting, Kohei Tanaka is a very famous Japanese composer who has done other projects you might know such as One Piece and Gravity Rush, seeing another legendary Japanese composer's songs joining the ranks of Smash would be really cool to see. Overall would be pretty on-board, quite the turnaround for me honestly.

I must say it was actually a lot more fun to do this than I expected! I hope I was able to be insightful with my stance on her!

My score and want haven’t changed, neither did what I said at the beginning about the dangers of echo chambers and biases. I do think she’s a choice that’s slept on for a variety of reasons, while I’m 50/50 on her getting in (I’m 50/50 on most characters getting in who aren’t named Chun-Li) she is still definitely a choice on my radar, and I would want her given her rich history and would welcome her with open arms.

With that I’m going to bail, it’s a bit difficult doing this thread with it being every 48 hours now so I don’t think I’m going to continue, I just wanted to drop this here is all.

 

[Louie G.]

KOS-MOS

Chance - 5%
I think people are unfairly hard on poor KOS-MOS. Granted I don't think she's likely, which should be clear in my rating already, but she seems like an unfortunate scapegoat for the community after a number of leaks popped up and made her more prominent for a short period of time. Not a frontrunner of Namco by any means, not exactly a massive iconic character, but I think people are judging her under a particularly strict lens because she left a bad taste in their mouths.

Like I said though, I don't think she's likely either. She has a lot of hurdles to jump - her series isn't exactly the most popular or easily accessible at the moment, she has competition with far more significant and popular names within her own company and also against Xenoblade characters like Rex who would not only be cheaper but far more profitable of a move for Nintendo.

The main (and only) thing KOS-MOS really has in her favor is that Monolith Soft adores her and likes to use her wherever they can. If Nintendo wants to specifically throw Monolith a bone and bring in their baby then by all means KOS-MOS stands a sliver of a chance. But otherwise, again, you may as well go with Rex or even Elma in that case since Xenoblade is both more relevant and popular than Xenosaga.

Chance - 80%
It's a shame too, I've never played Xenosaga but I've really come around to KOS-MOS. Her moveset potential looks incredible and I feel like watching her / playing as her in Smash would be a real spectacle with her giant gatling guns shooting around and prompting big explosions around the stage. As far as Namco picks go she's actually one of my favorites, I think she would stand out a lot in a good way.

SAKURA

Chance - 5%
I think we should give Sakura Wars a little bit more time. It's been growing more and more and has seen increasing presence worldwide, Sega seems to have a lot of faith in it lately, but I still think it gets outclassed by various other Sega characters / franchises that have been more prominent for a longer period of time - such as Puyo Puyo or Yakuza. I don't have much to say about Sakura in general, but I think she's a choice that may make more sense in the future if/when the series continues to grow into a worldwide powerhouse. Just not yet. Sit tight Sakura!

Want - ABSTAIN
I'd probably end up rating Sakura quite low since a lot of her direct competition within Sega are characters who I really love and have an attachment to. I'm gonna pass though, because Sakura Wars is another series that I've yet to dig into very much. A lot of people seem to enjoy it so I'd feel bad giving her a baselessly poor want rating without putting in the time to get to know her.

Wew, Capcom day tomorrow. Should be fun.

PREDICTIONS:
Dante - 40%
Phoenix - 25%
Monster Hunter - 35%

NOMINATIONS - BILLY & JIMMY LEE x5

 

[zferolie]

Man, I got to say, Smash boards a full of idiots who hate JRPG characters it seems like. If it isn;t Sora, Ryu, or Geno, I don't want them basically.

Everyone keeps mentioning their own dumb ass fan rules is sad. Is KOS-MOS or Sakura highly likely? Probably not, but 0's for them mostly? Sad sad people.

KOSMOS:

Chance: 30%

People seem to only care about popularity, or relveance, when we have been shown those 2 don't always matter for a 3rd party DLC. Banjo: Not relvant for the past 20 years, yet still got it. Terry: He's a Sakurai pick, and is repping the dead Fatal Fury Series, not the ongoing King of Fighters series. Heck, hes not even the main character of the KoF series. One of them yes, but its arguable others are the main character and more popular.

So to kill a character off based on those 2 rules is assanine, but I guess one cannot ewxpect much from people on the RTC board sometimes. Let me educatre you guys.

Only Nintendo and Sakuari pick. If they want them, they get in. And let me tell you: Sakurai is a huge Xeno series fanboy. He has said it before, he has vastly enjoyed all the games, and has wished he had the time to put in Rex and Pyra from the newest game. KOSMOS is the basically mascot for Monolith and the Xeno series, and has appeared Xenoblade chronicals 2. Know what else Sakurai is a fanboy of? Fatal Fury and Persona/SMT. both Terry and Joker had high Sakurai favortisim for getting it, and KOS-MOS fits that bill too.

Now I can't put her higher then 30% because of other factors mentioned by other users. The Marketing assesment hurts her, but I always hated Marketing tests. It killed Darkstalkers, and ruins many games and movies. The people in marketing don't know what the **** they are doing or the actual audience. But higher ups always seem to listen to them, so they may not look at KOS-MOS too highly. However, they would probably still throw her name into a hat of characters that they own. And if Nintendo and Sakurai picked her, thats all that matters.

Want: 75%

She would be very fun, a cool character for sure. I think she could have some unique styles to her, like different weapon modes, or something like that.

While I would like to vote on Sakura: I sadly haven't played her games so I cannot give a good analusys on her, so got to Absatin on her.

And watch, everyone is going to give high votes for Dante and stuff despite him being on every fake leak ever, but everyone is such a capcom fanboy on this thread it sad.

Nom: MArina Lightyears x5 (had reimu, but i think she was voted recenty)

 

[Luty]

Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars

Chance - 40%
Sakura has had a long running in an RPG franchise, with her last main game being Sakura Taisen V on the Wii back in 2010. There was a recent Sakura Wars title released two years ago, though not on the Nintendo Switch. Neither was Sakura in the game. She is the most iconic face of the franchise since she is one of the few faces I recognize from a game I have not played. Another would be that red-headed cowgirl who also wields a katana, Gemini(which would work as an alternate color palette). She has been in many crossover games for the Nintendo DS, including Project X Zone and it's sequel. She would not be the first Japanese sword-wielder in the game since Sephiroth showed up, but she would be the first to wield the most prolific of Japanese weapons: an actual katana. JRPG characters are commonplace in Smash as well as Ultimate DLC (4 of 7). Smash Ultimate is a Japanese game for Japanese and international players, but I have a feeling Japanese characters are going to take precedence.

What hurts her chances? The cries of a million fanboys who do not want another swordfighter, maybe? I think a Koubu(mecha) might make up for unique attacks, though. The more I think about this character, the more likely I see her getting into Ultimate.

Want - 50%
Whilst I have not played the Sakura Taisen games, the aesthetic of a Japanese swordsman in a kimono is something sorely missing in this game. Sakura Shinguji looks the part, and I think she would have a more unique dynamic in her gameplay than just another sword user. The Koubu would make sure of that. Her story is over in the video games she appeared in, but that is far from proving a character does not belong in Smash Ultimate.
_____________________________

KOS-MOS from Xenosaga

Chance - 40%
KOS-MOS comes from an RPG franchise that lasted three games, her last main game was Xenosaga III on the PS2 back in 2006. Her last main game on Nintendo was in 2006 with Xenosaga 1&2 being made into one game on the Nintendo DS. Since then, KOS-MOS has shown up in Nintendo games such as Super Robot Wars Taisen, Namco X Capcom, both Project X Zone games, as well as a spiritual successor of Xenosaga, Xenoblade 2, as a guest character. Her chances are arguably as good, if not better than Banjo's chance of getting in just due to the fact that she has shown up on a Nintendo console in the last decade according to my search. While fan demand may not be KOS-MOS' strong point, Sakurai said all it takes is to be fun. Frankly, I am sure the Ultimate team can make any character fun. KOS-MOS has a lot of weapons, so I am sure she has a reasonable amount of material to make her diverse from the rest of the Ultimate cast so far. JRPG characters are a popular pick for the DLC of Ultimate, and I would not be surprised if another one or two got into the roster.

What hurts KOS-MOS' chances of getting into Smash Bros Ultimate? Lloyd Irving is the main competitor since they are both JRPG characters from games developed by Namco. Both have made guest appearances in other Bandai Namco games, KOS-MOS's outfit making an appearance in Tales of Vesparia, too. Not sure if characters are picked based on mass marketability, but Banjo and Kazooie has not been marketed yet on the Switch. So, KOS-MOS does have a decent chance, especially if there are plans to put her in a new game.

Want - 100%
Of any character I want in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, KOS-MOS is my number one pick. I played all three of the games she was in over a decade ago. KOS-MOS' appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was a key deciding factor that made me buy the Nintendo Switch, aside from Smash Bros. Ultimate. I would love to see KOS-MOS in more games, preferably a new game than just on the roster of Ultimate. Plus, I am positive her moveset would be tight. Maybe people will call me a bandwagoner, but I jumped on back in 2007 when Monolith Soft was bought by Nintendo. I have wanted KOS-MOS in Smash since then, and to hear people bemoan her name makes me feel bad if she does make it into Ultimate. I do not want people to hate KOS-MOS. I just want my favorite character, scorned cruelly for whatever reason, to be playable again. Not just another side-puppet like she was in XB2. KOS-MOS may not be cool enough for Smash Bros., but she is too cool to be sidelined in the games she appears in.

Nominate: Marina Liteyears x5