Reveals should've been bookended with Ridley and KRool

[S_B]

Judging by your avatar and signature, you were rooting for King Rool, right? Didn't you feel better and more secure knowing that he was confirmed early on into the roster in the August Direct?

Funny you should mention that: once he was revealed, I immediately wondered what else Sakurai had to be saving for his late hype-cycle reveals. I also pondered the notion that maybe he had fired off the hype cannon early and would have little left to show us at the end.

Either way, it's basic advertising/showmanship that dictates that you don't follow a two month drought with a direct as lackluster as this one. There's a reason they pick popular singers/performers for the Superbowl halftime show every year instead of some random cover band no one has heard of.

Sakurai could've done two things differently that would've made this whole thing less off-putting to a lot of people:

1. Saved either Ridley or KKR for the final direct, or at the very least, saved the Belmonts.

2. Shown us the assist trophy parade in the very first SSB direct, instead of leaving players to speculate about which characters might be playable based upon their appearance as ATs. Isaac and Skullkid, for example, are very popular characters and showed as such on the polls. If they're not playable, deconfirming them immediately instead of waiting for the VERY last direct in the series would be a mercy to all of those players whose hopes were so high.

This direct was underwhelming, and that's not even counting the character reveals (especially when all of the Pokémon fans I talked to didn't even like Garfireld). It showed us a single player mode which boils down to event battles, the removal of trophies, and the reveal of no new multiplayer modes in what is absolutely a multiplayer-centric game (a lot of folks were hoping for Smash Run to make a return).

People get hyped about these directs for a reason: because there's very often some incredible things revealed in them that are reasons enough to get hyped about. There just happened to be nothing of the kind in the final direct they showed after a two month drought. General disappointment was inevitable.

If people can't think retroactively, that's their own problem. Most people gain this ability when they are toddlers at latest.

If the general reaction to this direct was, "Well, at least all the stuff that was announced BEFORE this direct was exiting...", what more evidence do you need that this direct was a big pile of "meh"?

 

[StormC]

I would have swapped the Incineroar and Castlevania trailers. Get the expected Pokemon out of the way, reveal the hyped up evil lizards early, then end on the surprise addition of a classic third party series.

But hey, I like Incineroar, so I'm fine with how it turned out.

 

[osby]

I would have swapped the Incineroar and Castlevania trailers. Get the expected Pokemon out of the way, reveal the hyped up evil lizards early, then end on the surprise addition of a classic third party series.

But hey, I like Incineroar, so I'm fine with how it turned out.

Dunno, I think it was a good idea to leave a new character to the end.

Plus, reveal orders likely affected by creation orders, Simon simply would be a bigger priority.

 

[TMNTSSB4]

I think the way they revealed all the characters were revealed. Inklings being revealed first and being used to announce Smash Ultimate was the smartest thing they did while getting Ken/Inceneroar out the way for the much more important World of Light trailer was for the better

 

[Impa4Smash]

People are disappointed right now since the grinch leak turned out to be a fake, and Incineroar wasn't the top pick for a gen 7 rep. If these announcements were made in August, and K. Rool announced in November the mood people would be in at the current moment would be a lot different. People would be extremely hyped, and K. Rool would make up for any disappointment.

The Grinch Leak was fake. It’s everyones fault for believing in it. And K Rool is in the game, so why doesn’t he still make up for disappointment?

This just seems like people unable to remember what was just revealed months before.

But I won’t argue it anymore. People can be disappointed any way they want

 

[Kholdstare]

They were pretty great hype builders, you don't want to sit and wait on that sort of hype.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

The Grinch Leak was fake. It’s everyones fault for believing in it. And K Rool is in the game, so why doesn’t he still make up for disappointment?

This just seems like people unable to remember what was just revealed months before.

But I won’t argue it anymore. People can be disappointed any way they want

That's exactly my point. People set themselves up completely by believing in the Grinch leak, and completely forgot all of the effort Sakurai put into this in the process. If K. Rool was announced after Incineroar, people would forget their disappointment about him and be thanking Sakurai for K. Rool.

 

[Impa4Smash]

That's exactly my point. People set themselves up completely by believing in the Grinch leak, and completely forgot all of the effort Sakurai put into this in the process. If K. Rool was announced after Incineroar, people would forget their disappointment about him and be thanking Sakurai for K. Rool.

Ah gotcha. I mistook that point and thought you were defending the disappointment over the Grinch Leaks.

I see where you’re coming from, yeah. People are short minded and K Rool being last could of helped. Sakurai probably just expected better of everyone lol

 

[letsgetsmashing]

I'm just gonna chime in real quick by saying that revealing Ken and Incineroar in the final direct of one of the most hyped up games of all time was not the right decision. I'm not saying Ridley and K. Rool shouldn't have been revealed early on. I think this easily could've been fixed by switching Incineroar with Simon or just having all 3 characters in the final direct. People's expectations were high from the grinch leak, yes, but even so every direct had revealed such highly requested fighters that people expected the same out of the last one. Now you have what's happening in the community right now, where hal of the people are happy and half sad because the reveals were not distrubuted equally. I honestly don't care, but rather echoing others opinion.

 

[S_B]

The Grinch Leak was fake. It’s everyones fault for believing in it. And K Rool is in the game, so why doesn’t he still make up for disappointment?

This just seems like people unable to remember what was just revealed months before.

But I won’t argue it anymore. People can be disappointed any way they want

TBH, the final direct was still weaksauce without even factoring the roster into it.

The best news we got was that SSBU will feature some sort of ranking and matchmaking system, though it's not entirely clear on how it'll work.

But again, no Smash Run or new multiplayer modes of any kind were announced, just a bunch of single player stuff that appears to draw inspiration from mobile games (just without paying real money).

All of this came on the heels of two months of no news at all, which only made the anticipation worse.

Basically, it was a direct that the smash fanbase waited a relatively long time for, filled with content that wasn't really worth the wait.

 

[toonito]

i dont get the whole hypest character MUST be revealed last when that's never been the case

Snake, Sonic, Mega Man, Cloud, Ridley and K Rool are the hypest reveals of their respective games and none of them were last

next time hype responsibly: A character is NOT confirmed until the official splash screen. No more blurry leaks = 100% proof. This community tends to let their imaginations run rampant then get whiny when reality doesn't live up to them. Don't blame Sakurai or fans of other characters, you did that to yourself.

order of reveals were fine people let a well done fake get the better of them and are now blaming Sakurai for their own expectations running wild smh

 

[S_B]

order of reveals were fine people let a well done fake get the better of them and are now blaming Sakurai for their own expectations running wild smh

The direct could've been fine without any character reveals, so long as the rest of the features that were discussed were exciting but they really weren't.

No Smash Run or any new multiplayer modes, no discussion of official online tournaments or a real ladder system, and worst of all, no demo.

If tossing stickers onto things in a mobile game version of event mode is your idea of a good time, sure, you may have been pleased with the direct, but if you're primarily in it for the multiplayer like I am, this direct was a huge letdown.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Let's just try to remember that as future software updates are made, new game modes could potentially show up. Mario Kart 8 never had a 200cc option when it was first released.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

I still maintain my stance on this matter. People are going to be overreacting now because of the emotional outburts, but they'll get over it in a month. At this point, its very likely that almost everyone has gotten their most requested in already, so there are very few reasons to be dissatisfied with the roster. At least to me, anyone that they could have announced in the last direct would have merely been more icing on the cake.

If for some reason someone didn't get their most wanted, that is fine. Those things happen and losing your mind on the internet over it is pointless. Life is too short and there's a thousand more serious problems to address in the tapestry of existence.

 

[S_B]

I still maintain my stance on this matter. People are going to be overreacting now because of the emotional outburts, but they'll get over it in a month. At this point, its very likely that almost everyone has gotten their most requested in already, so there are very few reasons to be dissatisfied with the roster. At least to me, anyone that they could have announced in the last direct would have merely been more icing on the cake.

If for some reason someone didn't get their most wanted, that is fine. Those things happen and losing your mind on the internet over is pointless. Life is too short and there's a thousand more serious problems to address in the tapestry of existence.

Still not seeing anyone here "losing their mind", but you don't seem to realize that this is your opinion.

But that aside, you're still arguing against a point that no one was arguing for.

KRool or Ridley would've made the direct world's better because we know they would've been well received, but as I've said, the direct could've had no character reveals at all and still be extremely well received by simply announcing popular features, like new multiplayer modes, a real online ladder system, or the announcement of an upcoming playable demo.

Even the single player features that were announced were disappointing by the standards of previous SSB games.

If you want to debate the merit of pointing it out, not sure why that's an issue on a board dedicated to the discussion of all things SSBU.

 

[DarthEnderX]

8.8 should have been Simon/Richter and then Ken/Icineroar.
11.1 should have been K.Rool, Chrom, Dark Samus, and then...*sigh*...Piranha Plant...

 

[UserKev]

The last Direct does feel like a cliffhanger. More has to be in store in DLC.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

Still not seeing anyone here "losing their mind", but you don't seem to realize that this is your opinion.

But that aside, you're still arguing against a point that no one was arguing for.

KRool or Ridley would've made the direct world's better because we know they would've been well received, but as I've said, the direct could've had no character reveals at all and still be extremely well received by simply announcing popular features, like new multiplayer modes, a real online ladder system, or the announcement of an upcoming playable demo.

Even the single player features that were announced were disappointing by the standards of previous SSB games.

If you want to debate the merit of pointing it out, not sure why that's an issue on a board dedicated to the discussion of all things SSBU.

If you haven't seen any overreactions then you haven't walked outside this thread. Heck, you are saying that the lack of a demo is one of the worst things, that itself is an overreaction.

Adventure mode looks... fine, I guess? I've seen some people say that is worse than Smash Tour, but I'm willing to reserve my final judgement until I play it. I honestly don't see where they are coming from when saying that its bad. What I saw from the World of Light trailer doesn't give me that impression so far.
We also did get an online ranking system, and I don't see how the lack of playable demo is such a deal breaker with the game releasing in a month.

I saw them play Classic Mode, and each run seems to be personalized depending on the character you pick. Ryu, for instance, fights in Omega stages only. I thought that was a neat touch.

Yes, I do realize its my opinion, but I know how to stay cool headed and objective which is something that some people lack when discussing the subject matter.

 

[MrRoidley]

The only change I'd make would be Ken/Incineroar in the August Direct and Simon/Richter in the final Direct

 

[S_B]

If you haven't seen any overreactions then you haven't walked outside this thread. Heck, you are saying that the lack of a demo is one of the worst things, that itself is an overreaction.

Adventure mode looks... fine, I guess? I've seen some people say that is worse than Smash Tour, but I'm willing to reserve my final judgement until I play it. I honestly don't see where they are coming from when saying that its bad. What I saw from the World of Light trailer doesn't give me that impression so far.
We also did get an online ranking system, and I don't see how the lack of playable demo is such a deal breaker with the game releasing in a month.

I saw them play Classic Mode, and each run seems to be personalized depending on the character you pick. Ryu, for instance, fights in Omega stages only. I thought that was a neat touch.

Yes, I do realize its my opinion, but I know how to stay cool headed and objective which is something that some people lack when discussing the subject matter.

Again, I've seen some sad people, but I've not heard of anyone sending Sakurai death threats or anything beyond frustrated disappointment.

A demo isn't a dealbreaker (though I feel better when launch day isn't the very first day the matchmaking server gets stress tested...), but it would've been nice to have and most other first party Switch titles with online play have had a stress test demo three weeks prior to release.

The adventure modes are alright, but again, SSB has always been about the multiplayer and the direct was rather anemic in new features for multiplayer.

Something like online competitive seasons with regional rankings would've been insanely hype. They could've announced Sakurai's grandmother as a playable character and I wouldn't have batted an eye because I'd be too excited for competitive seasons to care.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Whoever they revealed last was going to disappoint someone somewhere. Look at Sm4sh.

Bowser Jr was a ridiculously popular character who's main hatebase disliked because he erased the Koopalings from existance...he gets revealed WITH the Koopalings, and everyone still thought he was a lackluster finale to Sm4sh's base roster.

Duck Hunt is one of most famous retro video games of all time. He's easily a better choice for a goofball retro Nintendo star than anyone we've had prior. People were disappointed with him because he wasn't a fan favourite.

Even if we got Isaac, Geno and Banjo someone was going to be disappointed. These are all nostalgia driven individuals that mean next to nothing to the kids of today whilst a character like Incineroar could very well be their very first Pokemon. This game isn't just for 90s kids and I think a lot of people forget that.

 

[ProfPeanut]

We've been through this junk before for two whole sequels, and yet it still surprises people when it happens.

Smash 4? Our last reveal was "who dis" Shulk. Our last DLC reveal was "not even out yet lol" Corrin.

Brawl? We got Sonic in the middle of the whole thing, and ended on the dreadfully-predictable note of Olimar.

There's just no precedent that Smash Bros ever bothers ending speculation season on a high note. Heck, the very last reveal we get is inherently going to be compromised, since there's always going to be some disappointed party out there that'll be bummed out that their character pick wasn't the last one.

A month's long enough for most people to get over the Direct, at any rate, at which point Nintendo will likely be pushing full-banner "Everyone is Here" promotions for Ultimate and people remember why they were going to buy it even way back in E3. Just this week alone is doing a good job of making up for the Direct, with people sharing all the balance changes and flavor additions that the full demo has to offer.

 

[lucasla]

Reveal Ken and Incineroar on the final direct was something anticlimactic. But people should remember that these are not the last fighters of the game.
5 more are coming (6 with piranha plant), and since the first direct, when Sakurai said for us to not expect much more new comers, this number of new fighters was totally not predictable or expected. More characters are coming, just not now, we need to wait more or less one year.

 

[Peachach]

I noticed the roster as it is now requires 2 more spots to be a full rectangle. I wonder if that's for Piranha Plant + one more char Sakurai is holding back. He can be quite the troll. Maybe on release day he'll totally surprise us and drop the final non-DLC char...

 

[Wiziliz]

I noticed the roster as it is now requires 2 more spots to be a full rectangle. I wonder if that's for Piranha Plant + one more char Sakurai is holding back. He can be quite the troll. Maybe on release day he'll totally surprise us and drop the final non-DLC char...

God I hope so. Geno reveal as free DLC dropping a day after Piranha Plant, maybe? Then the paid fighters could have their own section, or something.

 

[S_B]

We've been through this junk before for two whole sequels, and yet it still surprises people when it happens.

Smash 4? Our last reveal was "who dis" Shulk. Our last DLC reveal was "not even out yet lol" Corrin.

Brawl? We got Sonic in the middle of the whole thing, and ended on the dreadfully-predictable note of Olimar.

There's just no precedent that Smash Bros ever bothers ending speculation season on a high note. Heck, the very last reveal we get is inherently going to be compromised, since there's always going to be some disappointed party out there that'll be bummed out that their character pick wasn't the last one.

A month's long enough for most people to get over the Direct, at any rate, at which point Nintendo will likely be pushing full-banner "Everyone is Here" promotions for Ultimate and people remember why they were going to buy it even way back in E3. Just this week alone is doing a good job of making up for the Direct, with people sharing all the balance changes and flavor additions that the full demo has to offer.

This is true, which is why I feel they should've done this in order to end on a high note.

Ending on a low note may be a habit but it's long overdue to be broken.

And if not ending with a hype character, end with some amazing online features or a Smash League announcement or SOMETHING...

I can't fathom Nintendo not doing something with esports this time around, what with the Splatoon 2 league and all.

Discussion of their official esports plans would've also been a good note to finish on.

 

[KickleCubiclist]

I'd say putting the reveals in this order would've worked better:
Incineroar
E3:
Daisy
K Rool
Smash Direct:
Isabelle
Rest of the echoes (except Richter and Ken)
Inkling
9.13.18:
Simon + Richter
Final Smash Direct:
Piranha Plant
Ken
Ridley


I'd say put Incineroar at the front to start off the hype, then at E3 keep it going with "Everyone is here!" and K Rool, the Smash Direct would have Isabelle, Inkling, and the echoes to continue hype, then for the 9.13.18 one would have Simon + Richter to kind of lay low before the storm, and then end it with Ridley.


The problem with bookending it with K Rool and Ridley would be hype. Sorry, but Isabelle and Daisy aren't huge game-sellers.

 

[osby]

I'd say putting the reveals in this order would've worked better:
Incineroar
E3:
Daisy
K Rool
Smash Direct:
Isabelle
Rest of the echoes (except Richter and Ken)
Inkling
9.13.18:
Simon + Richter
Final Smash Direct:
Piranha Plant
Ken
Ridley


I'd say put Incineroar at the front to start off the hype, then at E3 keep it going with "Everyone is here!" and K Rool, the Smash Direct would have Isabelle, Inkling, and the echoes to continue hype, then for the 9.13.18 one would have Simon + Richter to kind of lay low before the storm, and then end it with Ridley.


The problem with bookending it with K Rool and Ridley would be hype. Sorry, but Isabelle and Daisy aren't huge game-sellers.

There are multiple problems with this but most glaring one is that you're holding Inklings off until the Smash direct.

 

[PsySmasher]

I feel like if Sakurai switched Incineroar and K. Rool, then people probably wouldn't have a problem with the timing the newcomers were revealed.

 

[staindgrey]

And yet absolutely none of this will matter once the game is released.

Seriously. All of us will struggle to remember the exact order of reveals without looking it up in a year.

 

[S_B]

And yet absolutely none of this will matter once the game is released.

Seriously. All of us will struggle to remember the exact order of reveals without looking it up in a year.

This is discussion about a video game. None of it "matters". This entire site is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things yet we still congregate here to talk about SSB.

Sakurai managed to make all of the SSB directs insanely hype except this one. Had he saved a fat reptile or the Belmonts for the final, I doubt we'd even be seeing threads about disappointment at all.

 

[-crump-]

I definitely agree that Kencineroar was a bad call for the final reveal. Neither one are bad choices for characters, but a predictable echo and yet another Pokémon are not really big players when you’re following in the footsteps of community favorites like Ridley and K. Rool.
The trailer was nice, but I can’t help but see it as “...uh, oh, and these guys are in, too.” They make sense (and Ken is actually a really good pick imo), but they were underwhelming, Vergeben or no Vergeben.

That said, I’m actually glad K. Rool was shown when he was. This speculation cycle would have been much more painful and nail-biting for me if the big Kroc was left uncertain.

 

[CHAMPIONX9]

It doesn't really matter, it's all the same content anyway.

 

[staindgrey]

This is discussion about a video game. None of it "matters". This entire site is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things yet we still congregate here to talk about SSB.

Sakurai managed to make all of the SSB directs insanely hype except this one. Had he saved a fat reptile or the Belmonts for the final, I doubt we'd even be seeing threads about disappointment at all.

I disagree. We as individuals have LOTS of desires, and in fanservice games like this one, people get their expectations far too high. The roster could be 200 strong and we'd still have disappointment threads. My point still remains: once the game is out, none of this will matter.

That said, assuming that everyone would have been hyped by K. Rool and the Belmonts is a wide-ranging assumption. I'm happy both communities got what they wanted, but I don't care for either. Where do people like me factor into your assertion? How does the Grinch leak factor in? How do Geno, Isaac, Shadow and any other deconfirmed fan favorite factor in? How does the lack of any Stadium modes factor in? How does Spirits not being what we expected factor in? It doesn't matter who is shown last, because A) people still won't get what they want because it's easier to want than to provide, and B) we won't remember any of this soon enough anyway.

 

[ProfPeanut]

I'm...not sure if information about e-sports formats is the kind of info that everyone wants to hear about. But, I do wish/hope that Nintendo has some more concrete plans for Smash beyond the promotional Invitational that we got. The Smash scene could definitely use the help.

I do think that the last big reveal for this Direct was supposed to be World of Light instead of a character. True, it's not everyone's cup of tea, and it doesn't look as promising as the SSE without either the cutscenes or platforming segments. But given the suddenness of its appearance and the Super Mario Odyssey-esque song number it got, they were certainly trying to portray like it was a grand reveal. There's been more than enough people this speculation season who were clamouring for a great single-player mode above all else, so I'm sure World of Light pleased them more than most newcomers would have.