Shantae, the Half Genie Protector of Scuttle Town! (A Switch To A New WayForward)

[LaBeteNoire]

Ridley was a character I wanted in Smash for the longest time.
So him and Inkling already made the game worth it for me.

And honestly, I don't get how one can possibly say Fighter's Pass was a complete waste.
I agree with that statement only for Byleth.
A character that was obviously a brand deal.
Who didn't bring a new series into Smash and added just one more character to a series that already has much more representation in Smash, than it actually deserves.
Fire Emblem isn't even close to being one of the bigger Nintendo franchises, and yet it is one of the top 3 represented franchises in Smash.
Beating even giants like Zelda, Sonic or Metal Gear by a mile.

But the rest of the Fighter's Pass was far from a waste.
Joker is an amazing character and protagonist of a highly acclaimed JRPG.
Hero represents one of the biggest RPGs in Japan.
Banjo-Kazooie is a cult classic,
And Terry is from a beloved fighting game series, from Capcom-rival SNK, bringing them back into the public eye.

And most important of all. All of these characters brought a new franchise into Smash Bros.
Franchises that were all fairly popular and far from unknown nobody's.
How anyone could say the whole Fighter's Pass was a waste, is beyond me... :/

It's really all subjective. What is a big deal to some may not matter much at all for others.

Personally, aside from B&K I didn't really care about any of the other franchises represented in the fighters pass. I played DQ 9 and liked it a lot, but that was the most I ever went with that franchise and played even less from the others.

Byleth didn't need to be there because of FE bloat already in the game. Joker may be fine, but I never liked characters without substantial ties to Nintendo getting in (didn't care when Snake was removed and never bought Cloud in 4 because of this) so I didn;t really like him being in.

Terry had a few things working against him for me. First off, of the wealth of SNK characters to get in, he is one of the far less interesting ones and got in simply because of the main character bias. This already annoyed me with Ryu. Then as if he wasn't interesting enough when compared to his SNK cohorts, he became aesthetically redundant by Ken already being in the game. Yes, you can talk as much about nuance as you want. but at the end of the day you still have two muscly street brawlers with blond hair and red clothes who both have fire affects to the punches and kicks. Visually and thematically Terry is just so much more boring an addition when you look at all the other SNK characters they could have gone with: A Smaurai, a sword and shield wielding warrior princess, Military operatives who hop into little tank mechs, a catgirl with a giant boomerang and monkey sidekick... And they picked basically the one character SNK had who already had a parallel universe self in the game already.

Now, I'm not saying anyone shouldn't be happy with the pass if they are, I'm just pointing out how everyone has different priorities when it comes to these things. You say that they were all worth it because they brought new worlds to Smash, but I would argue there are still so many untouched worlds out there that would have had better characters to include. And because of that, the pass we got just leaves me mostly cold with a 2 out of 5 approval rating.

 

[RetrogamerMax]

When you're someone like me who owes Smash for learning about 70% of the franchises that I play today, you realize that it's more fun to not pine too hard for specific characters, because sometimes the fighters that leave the biggest impressions are the ones that you know the least about or have little attachment to.

Ridley's inclusion struck a chord for me not necessarily just for being a fighter, but because of the personality he shows that was at risk of being forgotten due to his usual roles not really giving the chance to show it. It opens many windows for future appearances to flesh him out more, and new faces to Ultimate can see the full extent of who, rather than what, Ridley is.

And to this day, most crossover appearances I see in games that I play, not just Smash, have led to strong game recommendations. I don't know how many people will say they first learned about CrossCode and Lea from playing One Step From Eden, but I am one of them.

This is a major reason why I want Goemon in as a playable character because I want more people to know about and play the Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja games. It's a severely underrated series and I want more folks to know about it. Smash would greatly help. He is already a Mii costume so that's a first step.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

It's really all subjective. What is a big deal to some may not matter much at all for others.

Personally, aside from B&K I didn't really care about any of the other franchises represented in the fighters pass.
[...]

And that might be the problem here.

I too don't really care about Dragon Quest for instance.
Never played any games of that franchise, nor did the inclusion of Hero do anything to awake interest in me for that series.
But even then, I can clearly see why he earned this spot.
Because if I look at things from a different viewpoint, other than just my wants, I can clearly see that Dragon Quest is a beloved RPG in Japan.
Hero isn't from a series that interests me personally.
But I can clearly see why he made it and can understand and agree with the many reasons speaking for his inclusion.

And that is just my viewpoint on Hero.
I have the same opinion for all the other characters in the Fighter's Pass, except for Byleth.

Except maybe for the "interest" part. I also grew up with Banjo-Kazooie, so for that, I kinda favour them the most.
But I can see the legacy and weight behind Joker, Hero and Terry as well.
So they aren't worthless to me, even if they didn't come from a series that interests me or they themselves don't interest me much.

 

[MattX20]

Just 13 pages left. Excellent work so far

 

[RetrogamerMax]

So what should Shantae's Classic Mode Congratulations picture be referencing?

 

[WingedSupernova]

Video is finally done. Editing for 8+ hours in a row has me feeling like Shantae.

Spoiler

If there's one character I'd want in just for the promotion it would give the series, I'd say Reiji and Xiaomu from the Namco X Capcom series of crossover RPGs are up there, as is Arle Nadja from Madou Monogatari/Puyo Puyo fame.

 

[Teeb147]

Different artsyle I saw on twitter, but cute:

https://twitter.com/wodahS720/status/1284848286306906112

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

I've been wondering...
What would be feasible picks for the remaining 5 characters?
It's ultimately unpredictable, so really any video game character could make it.

However, going with the pattern of the first fighters pass, we have popular/legacy characters and one brand deal character.
And if Fighter's Pass 2 follows a similar pattern, who would be feasible?

If Fighter's Pass 2 has a brand-deal character (if Min Min wasn't that already), I think a Pokemon or another Fire Emblem character would be very possible.
And at this point, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another Fire Emblem character.

As for popular/Legacy picks... Who would fit the bill?
Shantae does of course. But what about others?

 

[WingedSupernova]

I've been wondering...
What would be feasible picks for the remaining 5 characters?
It's ultimately unpredictable, so really any video game character could make it.

However, going with the pattern of the first fighters pass, we have popular/legacy characters and one brand deal character.
And if Fighter's Pass 2 follows a similar pattern, who would be feasible?

If Fighter's Pass 2 has a brand-deal character (if Min Min wasn't that already), I think a Pokemon or another Fire Emblem character would be very possible.
And at this point, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another Fire Emblem character.

As for popular/Legacy picks... Who would fit the bill?
Shantae does of course. But what about others?

It would deeply surprise me if we got another Fire Emblem character. There will be no new game for at least 2 more years. Pokemon, sure, but I still think Xenoblade fits that a lot. Zelda as well, but they need to introduce a new and cool BOTW2 original character for that to make sense. A 2nd Ganondorf or 3rd Zelda would not be a good idea.

Legacy picks though? Shantae, Phoenix, Geno, Crash, Arle, Ryu Hayabusa, there are plenty options and all of them could make fun characters.

 

[Teeb147]

I've been wondering...
What would be feasible picks for the remaining 5 characters?
It's ultimately unpredictable, so really any video game character could make it.

However, going with the pattern of the first fighters pass, we have popular/legacy characters and one brand deal character.
And if Fighter's Pass 2 follows a similar pattern, who would be feasible?

If Fighter's Pass 2 has a brand-deal character (if Min Min wasn't that already), I think a Pokemon or another Fire Emblem character would be very possible.
And at this point, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another Fire Emblem character.

As for popular/Legacy picks... Who would fit the bill?
Shantae does of course. But what about others?

A Pokemon, Bandana Dee, a popular 3rd party pick, Shantae, and some niche 3rd party pick

 

[Captain Hazama]

I've been wondering...
What would be feasible picks for the remaining 5 characters?
It's ultimately unpredictable, so really any video game character could make it.

However, going with the pattern of the first fighters pass, we have popular/legacy characters and one brand deal character.
And if Fighter's Pass 2 follows a similar pattern, who would be feasible?

If Fighter's Pass 2 has a brand-deal character (if Min Min wasn't that already), I think a Pokemon or another Fire Emblem character would be very possible.
And at this point, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another Fire Emblem character.

As for popular/Legacy picks... Who would fit the bill?
Shantae does of course. But what about others?

If there was another FE choice that took a place in this second pass. There will be no rock for Nintendo to hide from the amount of hatred and salt from at least the American side of the Smash fandom. Not sure about Japanese side. They seemed ok with the 3 House rep.

 

[LaBeteNoire]

My tastes aren't inline enough with the average smash player to really call what is "probable" so instead I will just say what I would like to happen regardless of how impossible a few of them are.

Shantae, Dixie Kong, Morrigan of Felicia, Master Higgins, and Luxray

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

It would deeply surprise me if we got another Fire Emblem character. There will be no new game for at least 2 more years. Pokemon, sure, but I still think Xenoblade fits that a lot. Zelda as well, but they need to introduce a new and cool BOTW2 original character for that to make sense. A 2nd Ganondorf or 3rd Zelda would not be a good idea.

I don't think Xenoblade exactly fits the bill, since the latest release is a remaster of a game that is already represented with Shulk.
Xenoblade 2... Maybe. But I think that would be more of a pick, because of fan demand or to tie up loose ends, rather than only for business.

Legacy picks though? Shantae, Phoenix, Geno, Crash, Arle, Ryu Hayabusa, there are plenty options and all of them could make fun characters.

While I would like Ace Attorney representation (and I'm surprised it got nothing so far), I'm not sure about Phoenix...
And Ryu Hayabusa (who even is that?) I think might be hindered by his name alone.
After all, Sakurai has some wierd OCD sometimes (not to mention inconsistent).
Arle... I don't know who that is.

The others, I can see happening...

A Pokemon, Bandana Dee, a popular 3rd party pick, Shantae, and some niche 3rd party pick

I wonder if Sakurai has some wierd bias against the new Kirby after he left, that could prevent Bandana Dee from entering.
I'm kinda perplexed as to why he didn't add a new Kirby character, when he otherwise puts Kirby on the highest pedestal imaginable.

But otherwise, good list.

If there was another FE choice that took a place in this second pass. There will be no rock for Nintendo to hide from the amount of hatred and salt from at least the American side of the Smash fandom. Not sure about Japanese side. They seemed ok with the 3 House rep.

Do you seriously think they give a damn?
Because if they did, I think they would've learned their lesson with Corrin.

My tastes aren't inline enough with the average smash player to really call what is "probable" so instead I will just say what I would like to happen regardless of how impossible a few of them are.

Shantae, Dixie Kong, Morrigan of Felicia, Master Higgins, and Luxray

Which ultimately doesn't answer my question though... oO

 

[WingedSupernova]

And Ryu Hayabusa (who even is that?)
Arle... I don't know who that is.

Ryu is from Ninja Gaiden and Arle is from Puyo Puyo/Madou Monogatari.
Both series have quite the legacy.
in particular, the Puyo Puyo series took the Japanese arcades by storm and saw success that hadn't been seen since the Street Fighter 2 days. Kinda similar to Terry in a way, but instead of a 2D fighting game character you have a mage who could also implement some puzzle mechanics into their moveset.

 

[Captain Hazama]

I don't think Xenoblade exactly fits the bill, since the latest release is a remaster of a game that is already represented with Shulk.
Xenoblade 2... Maybe. But I think that would be more of a pick, because of fan demand or to tie up loose ends, rather than only for business.


While I would like Ace Attorney representation (and I'm surprised it got nothing so far), I'm not sure about Phoenix...
And Ryu Hayabusa (who even is that?) I think might be hindered by his name alone.
After all, Sakurai has some wierd OCD sometimes (not to mention inconsistent).
Arle... I don't know who that is.

The others, I can see happening...


I wonder if Sakurai has some wierd bias against the new Kirby after he left, that could prevent Bandana Dee from entering.
I'm kinda perplexed as to why he didn't add a new Kirby character, when he otherwise puts Kirby on the highest pedestal imaginable.

But otherwise, good list.

Do you seriously think they give a damn?
Because if they did, I think they would've learned their lesson with Corrin.


Which ultimately doesn't answer my question though... oO

I imagine so. Cause itll definitely hurt sales pretty good.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

Ryu is from Ninja Gaiden and Arle is from Puyo Puyo/Madou Monogatari.
Both series have quite the legacy.
in particular, the Puyo Puyo series took the Japanese arcades by storm and saw success that hadn't been seen since the Street Fighter 2 days. Kinda similar to Terry in a way, but instead of a 2D fighting game character you have a mage who could also implement some puzzle mechanics into their moveset.

Interesting.
Still, Ryu I can see having a hard time, just because of the name,
But otherwise, I can see these characters happening.

I imagine so. Cause itll definitely hurt sales pretty good.

I think it takes more than that, to seriously hurt sales.
Smash Bros has become a big franchise now and because of that, it is protected by something called "Brand Loyality".
And once you have a big fanbase that is loyal to you, there is not much that can be done to break it.
I mean seriously, Pokemon Sword and Shield should be enough proof for that.

 

[meleebrawler]

We could always ask Roy and Roy to see how they would feel about there being two characters named Ryu.

I imagine so. Cause itll definitely hurt sales pretty good.

First of all, just the fact that Byleth happened, along with another first party to start the second pass will probably have already tempered the expectations that everything will be third party or at least doesn't have to be something unheard of in Smash. Second of all, Nintendo isn't going to lose sleep over people not liking one DLC pack out of 11 when there's still a silent majority to please, and there are no backsies on full pass buyers. The only thing stopping them would be any further options of Fire Emblem not being as marketable as anything else currently available.

 

[Megadoomer]

Interesting.
Still, Ryu I can see having a hard time, just because of the name,
But otherwise, I can see these characters happening.

(EDIT: that's supposed to be Roy and Roy, but the images aren't loading)

Also, Dead or Alive just calls him Hayabusa, so they could do that if he was added to Smash.

In more relevant news, I'm continuing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. (I started it a while back, though I don't think I finished the tutorial) I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what to do (I got a Petrification Tablet, though I don't know what it does or why I need it), but I'll use a guide if I need to.

 

[meleebrawler]

(EDIT: that's supposed to be Roy and Roy, but the images aren't loading)

Also, Dead or Alive just calls him Hayabusa, so they could do that if he was added to Smash.

In more relevant news, I'm continuing Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. (I started it a while back, though I don't think I finished the tutorial) I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what to do (I got a Petrification Tablet, though I don't know what it does or why I need it), but I'll use a guide if I need to.

If you haven't found the petrification-related place you're supposed to use the tablet at yet, you should be able to just check your map by pressing minus/Select for places you haven't yet been.

 

[Blackwolf666]

I didn't even know there was even a rumor of a direct tomorrow until I read this thread... Well (if its true) I hope we at least get to know who gets in instead of hearing the series or genre the new character belongs to this time. Praying for Shantae.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

(EDIT: that's supposed to be Roy and Roy, but the images aren't loading)

Also, Dead or Alive just calls him Hayabusa, so they could do that if he was added to Smash.

Fair enough.
Still, I think the situation is a little bit different with the Roy's.
Since one of them is just an alt of Bowser Jr., who is the actual fighter.

But yeah, calling him by his surname, to avoid name confusion, might be a simple enough solution.

 

[M00NFIRE94]

I had to double check to make sure I wasn't in the Hayabusa thread O_o

Looks like that Direct and all the leaks for it were fake. Oh no what a shocker...

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

I was just opening up a discussion, where we could talk about character picks that are feasible for the remaining 5 Fighters.
And this Hayabusa guy ended up being one of the suggestions. o_O

 

[Teeb147]

Ryu is definitely a popular retro pick. Personaly I would not be excited at all for him, but I can understand why some people would like it.

 

[WingedSupernova]

I had to double check to make sure I wasn't in the Hayabusa thread O_o

Looks like that Direct and all the leaks for it were fake. Oh no what a shocker...

I'm waiting until midnight before I assume they're fake. Kelios has doubled down and said the announcement is at midnight EST.

 

[Shinuto]

I'm waiting until midnight before I assume they're fake. Kelios has doubled down and said the announcement is at midnight EST.

the hell? No ones gonna catch that.

 

[Teeb147]

the hell?

It's weird, but he did say the announcement would be at midnight eastern time.

Altho he also said take a grain of salt with it.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

I don't think midnight would be a good time to announce something. ^^;

 

[Teeb147]

I don't think midnight would be a good time to announce something. ^^;

It's not, but it's happened at odd times before a few times, maybe cuz of japan time.
But the thing is, it would be weird because the direct is supposed to be only 10 hours after that.

 

[WingedSupernova]

It's not, but it's happened at odd times before a few times, maybe cuz of japan time.
But the thing is, it would be weird because the direct is supposed to be only 10 hours after that.

It's possible they do a switch. What if the Direct itself is at 7 or 8 pm EST? That would screw over Europeans since I think that'd make it at 1 or 2 am for them, but in Japan that's at 8 or 9 am the next day.

 

[Teeb147]

It's possible they do a switch. What if the Direct itself is at 7 or 8 pm EST? That would screw over Europeans since I think that'd make it at 1 or 2 am for them, but in Japan that's at 8 or 9 am the next day.

I guess. It's just what the person who got the march direct said tho.
In any case, we just gotta see what happens tomorow.If there is or isn't one

 

[WingedSupernova]

The mad lad got it right oh man
Se y'all in the morning.

On 7/20 we'll debut the first #NintendoDirect Mini: Partner Showcase, a series focused on titles from our development & publishing partners. We'll share a few updates on a small group of previously-announced #NintendoSwitch games. Check out the full video release at 7am PT. pic.twitter.com/GbEbxVL6fD

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 20, 2020

 

[Shinuto]

GET DOWN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYYnQn4SfEo

Hell YES!

 

[zferolie]

you guys don't get too excited. It seems to be only 10 minutes long, and may only be 3rd party news. don't go in expecting a lot of news, or even any smash news

 

[Shinuto]

good enough for me! I jsut want NEWS

 

[WingedSupernova]

It's a bummer there will likely be no new games and only 10 minutes worth. This won't satiate people's hunger for a Direct at all.

 

[M00NFIRE94]

The mad lad got it right oh man
Se y'all in the morning.

On 7/20 we'll debut the first #NintendoDirect Mini: Partner Showcase, a series focused on titles from our development & publishing partners. We'll share a few updates on a small group of previously-announced #NintendoSwitch games. Check out the full video release at 7am PT. pic.twitter.com/GbEbxVL6fD

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 20, 2020

Welp. Time to go eat my words. A'ight BYE.

Edit: Actually, no. I'm only gonna eat about a half, I'm still right about the leaks for it that talked about new games being wrong-o.

 

[LaBeteNoire]

Yeah, with 10 minutes of third party announcements I don't see there could be a Smash reveal after. A Smash reveal trailer would take at least 2 minutes so they wouldn't have much time for other trailers.

The ONLY way I could see there being a Smash reveal is if it is on the tail end of an announcement for a third party game and a character from that game is coming to smash. Even then I think that's highly unlikely since that would then mean devoting at least 4 minutes to that franchise, two for game announcement/trailer and then another two for a "one more thing" Smash reveal.

Now perhaps if the game being announced was something smaller like a port of an old game coming to the switch, Like an old Gameboy Color game and an old DSi ware title... then maybe they wouldn't have to spend so much time talking about them and could quickly move on to the main character's Smash reveal... But I'm not counting on that.

 

[Biometal]

I've seen people going bonkers about it allegedly going revealed Ryza for FP7. I'm taking it as another baseless, overly-hyped KOS-MOS debacle.
It says "previously-announced" games, so there shouldn't be any Smash content.

Autocorrect brutally butchered that. Not fixing it.

 

[WingedSupernova]

So now that I've woken up let's dissect this announcement message.

On 7/20 we'll debut the first #NintendoDirect Mini: Partner Showcase, a series focused on titles from our development & publishing partners. We'll share a few updates on a small group of previously-announced #NintendoSwitch games. Check out the full video release at 7am PT.

So it seems like this is

- The first direct in a series. Will this be a type of direct they utilize when necessary and plan to keep well into the future, or part of a series of upcoming mini Directs over the next 3 or so months? Time will tell.

- Just a small update on a couple games we already knew about, so we may be able to expect those games out soon.


I honestly have to wonder what Nintendo's plan is here. There's not going to be anything new, and they know that's the main thing that makes Nintendo Directs exciting. It seems like all of the "insiders" on ResetEra were heavily supporting the idea this would be a general presentation with a decent amount of info, so only getting info on games we already know about is a huge curveball. This Direct will help ease the anticipation for a day or so, but those unannounced games we know exist are still coming. Could be the same week, could be in a couple months. Who knows? I just hope we get release dates for NMH3 and Bravely Default 2.