Even though fire is such a common element among the Smash fighters, it's still barely been explored. All of the current characters who use fire in prominent ways--Charizard, Captain Falcon, Mario, Roy--either wield it in its most basic forms to deal damage, or augment their physical attacks with it to strengthen them. They use fire as a raw, untamed force of nature.
Then you have the spellcasters: Robin and Zelda, although the Mother boys might or might not also count. Fire is just one of several elements in their repertoire, a tool for them to use when needed but not a key part of their abilities. In fact, for most of them,
lightning is more prominent in their movesets!
Despite everyone who currently uses fire...there's a whole side to it that Smash has yet to do anything with. Even though fire is still very much a dangerous thing that needs to be handled properly, it can also be much more. Fire can be warm and inviting, a welcome respite to someone sitting in its glow or to a group of companions gathered around, sharing stories. Fire can be elegant, graceful, and in its own way,
beautiful, from the way a candle flame dances on the end of its wick to artistic arrangements of fire to brilliant, multicolored fireworks displays (though those are much more beautiful than they are elegant, heh).
There's a lot to the element that we haven't seen yet in Smash Bros...and Delphox is the perfect character to utilize it.
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Delphox
Chance: 12%
I'm guessing many of you have a lot of different thoughts. I'll do what I can here to answer any skeptics and help settle any fears you many have.
First of all: that chance rating? The one that must seem so biased and unrealistic? Actually, Delphox
does have a small chance right now...and could even get into Smash
before they start implementing characters from the Ballot.
Here's how:
When the data miners first found the victory theme files for Roy and Ryu, they noticed five placeholder spots after Mewtwo for future DLC characters. Now that doesn't mean we'll only see six characters--they'd only need to add more placeholders as needed in future patches, and there was no placeholder for Mewtwo at first! What it might mean, though, is that they had five more characters already planned by the time Mewtwo was done. Lucas, Roy, and Ryu have been added...but it leaves two more unaccounted for.
Now who remembers how they originally chose Greninja? Since Pokémon X and Y were still over a year away, they obtained concept art, design notes, and other assets from Game Freak, and decided from there. It was a bold move, but considering X and Y were out for nearly a year before Smash 4, it made sense.
...But what other new Pokémon could they have looked at? Surely they would've considered more than just Greninja. And as a starter Pokémon of the popular Fire type, the first in four generations to not become part Fighting, and designed to resemble the always-popular mages and wizards, there's a high chance Delphox was among the 'mons they considered.
If they're revisiting characters they passed on early in development...there's a chance Delphox might've been brought back with them. And from there? Maybe she's already pretty far along.
"Wait a minute," some others are probably thinking. "But we already got Mewtwo! They won't add another Pokémon character now!"
To be honest? I don't see why they'd put a hard limit on one DLC character per series. When they've consistently added multiple newcomers from the same franchise in previous Smash games, and when they did so in this game for the series with the
most characters, why would that be a deal breaker for them
now if the potential was there?
As far as the roster goes, it isn't about how many "reps" a series has or "deserves". More than anything, and especially in Smash 4, the newcomers have been compelling characters first and foremost. Pokémon has a massive amount of characters due to its 721 (and counting!) different species, and many of them have high moveset potential due to the massive array of moves (621 so far!) there are in the Pokémon games.
And even then, Pokémon now has the same number of characters it had in Brawl while Super Mario gained three. Even the "reps" argument holds no water here!
Getting one or even two more Pokémon characters is possible if future DLC is extensive enough, especially since it's Nintendo's second biggest series and has so many compelling options for characters.
I'd imagine some more of you are a little worried, and might've gone wide-eyed just from the suggestion she had a chance. There're several characters you're interested in, and only so many spots to go around! Every character you're not particularly interested in could keep the ones you
are interested in from making it, right? Even Sakurai said he didn't know how long the dev team could stay together!
Based on what we know, though...maybe there's less reason to be worried than it seems.
While Sakurai has said his team won't be able to stay a team forever, we've repeatedly seen him err on the side of caution to avoid disappointing the fans. First he said he wasn't sure how much bigger Smash 4's roster would be compared to Brawl's, but we ended up with 10-12 more characters (depending on how many you view the Mii Fighters as), with four more as DLC. Speaking of DLC, he also said it wasn't on his radar...and then it was. Then he said he didn't think they'd be able to make much, but now he's clearly all in. He's not lying, per se, he's being defensive in case something happens, and as such we probably don't have to worry much about any limit on characters.
And while there're other characters that currently outrank Delphox in popularity while still having the same amount of potential, she still has characteristics the developers looked for in the initial newcomers: uniqueness, moveset potential, and enough prominence to be recognized by the majority of Smash fans.
If Delphox can garner more support, she'll still have a chance as the characters nominated the most are brought in, rejected, or put on the backburner.
There're a lot of Pokémon candidates, several of which have a head start in fan support. I won't cut corners; for Delphox to have a chance via the Smash Ballot, there's a lot of ground to make up. But despite that, it
can happen. All of the Kalos starters have their popularity, and I've personally seen people be won over by the idea of a new mage character with new powers. Some may question bringing in a second 'mon from Generation 6, but when Gen 1 already has four and it wouldn't
directly harm the chance of, say, someone from Gen 3 if the support was there, why can't we get a second character from the current, most relevant generation if there was
also support? Even Fennekin being a summon isn't necessarily a black mark; though it's a situation we haven't seen before, Delphox has a spellcaster motif and a secondary Psychic type, differentiating enough from Fennekin to keep either from feeling redundant.
And if she caught the developers' eyes, whether through fan support or from being considered early, shelved in favor of Greninja, then brought back once DLC was under way? Her abilities have enough potential that I doubt they'd veto her. Not even Charizard would present a problem, with how vastly different they are in build
and in how they wield fire.
That is where Delphox would stand out. Though not the developers' first pick for a Pokémon from the modern games, she is still prominent as a fully evolved starter Pokémon from the newest generation, and generally well-promoted by Game Freak and liked by the fans as much as all three of Kalos' starters are. Though we have mages that use fire, they use it in a supplemental role and not a major focus. Though we have characters that use fire in major roles, they're all physical fighters, not spellcasters.
...
And that isn't even getting into just how many forms her fire magic can take...or the psychic abilities she can supplement them with...or the more trickster-esque elements in her repertoire! There's a ton of creative potential within Delphox's available powers just waiting to be unlocked.
Is it likely? Not by any means...not yet. But there's a chance.
The niche of a pyromancer is wide open, and with all the ways she can utilize her powers, Delphox can play that role like no other.
Want: 100%
To give you an idea of why I'm so invested, let me show you what Delphox is capable of:
A calm, reserved personality and graceful movements could make her fire attacks almost seem to dance. A mastery of a wide range of Fire-typed techniques in the Pokémon games gives her a huge repertoire that allows her to do things with it no other character could dream of. Even her fire itself is extraordinary, augmented by her psychic and magic abilities, and in Smash it could burn in a rainbow of colors (derived from Mystical Fire, Delphox's signature move in the Pokémon games, which is tinted green and specifically described as being different from ordinary fire), giving her powers a distinct and visually commanding appearance in battle!
Or how about how many different ways her powers could be worked into a moveset?
There's a lot of room for interpretation to how Delphox would play. Depending on how her stats and moveset play off each other, she could fill quite a few different archetypes.
Her fire magic could serve any number of roles: powerful, long-reaching projectiles, concentrated blasts for long range sniping or to harass opponents who try to close in, long-lasting flames in the style of Arcfire that serve as traps, or even single flames or fireballs for simpler projectiles. Delphox's psychic powers can also serve multiple purposes in ways that are distinct from Mewtwo's, taking the forms of powerful mental blasts, delayed psychic flare-ups, non-damaging attacks that inflict status ailments, moves that disarm opponents or steal items from them, or even something like Calm Mind that buffs Delphox herself! There are even a handful of other techniques to pull from for a moveset, from Lucky Chant (a non-Psychic status buff the entire Fennekin line gets naturally) to the tutorable Signal Beam, Magic Coat, or Wonder Room to even the unconventional moves such as the self-strengthening Howl! And even those don't touch on the physical possibilities brought by the tree branches the species uses as staves!
By mixing and matching all the techniques she has to draw from, Delphox could fit into a number of different archetypes in Smash. She could be a projectile zoner and trapper, casting spells and setting fires to rack up damage as opponents struggle to approach her. She could be more of a hit-and-run specialist, pelting opponents with short or mid-range magic then using her mobility--a fast 104 base Speed in her home games combined with a fox's natural agility--to escape retaliation. She could even be a long range specialist, sniping her opponents with powerful projectiles from a distance then swatting them back once they get close. Or perhaps she'd be a paradigm shifter, playing it safe normally and using her spells to put her opponents in disadvantageous states from a safe distance, then rushing in to pursue them as long as she can hold the upper hand!
Perhaps it's because I get interested in the new mons more easily. Perhaps it's because I'm still a huge fan of mage characters. Perhaps it's other reasons. No matter the reason, Delphox is now one of my most wanted characters...and one worth giving a fighting chance.
Concept: Unpopular DLC Character
Chance: Abstain
Want: Abstain
I'll keep this short. I had a whole thing written up, then I accidentally pressed the Back button and erased it all...
I'm staying out of rating this one because it could mean a couple different things. If it means a wild card character no one was thinking of, that's already happened with Ryu. With potentially a character or two
before the Smash Ballot closes, or even afterward, the possibility is there, and I'd be interested in us getting blindsided by someone cool we weren't expecting. But if it's a character that isn't liked even
after they're revealed? Not only did that only happen with the bonus clones before--something that won't happen with DLC--Sakurai said from here on out they're focusing on "fan service". Not only does an outright disliked character seem very unlikely, I wouldn't want it to happen. I am not the kind of person who relishes in seeing someone hate a character.
There. That's about one third the length it originally was, and it still gets the point across.
Corrin Prediction: 8.12%
Will score a little higher than Azura thanks to quote-quote main character status...but not much higher.
Prediction for the Concept of a Secondary Ballot:
...Er...what is this one? Can whoever nominated it explain?
Deja vu...
Nominations:
Hey, @
XenoBrawler610, need a hand?
Amaterasu x5
), I'm sure that popular characters with much healthier ballot support will take higher priority over lesser characters with small support bases. Sakurai's recent "fan service" statement only made me more confident in this, though he has been unpredictable in the past, and of course there are popular characters with circumstances preventing their inclusion (Ice Climbers and their technical issues, Snake and the affair with Kojima and Konami, etc.).
