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Shrine Maiden of Paradise ~ Reimu Hakurei (Touhou Project)

Thatchner

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
28
If she were to get in, what do you guys think her classic mode could be like? I'm thinking they could recreate Touhou 6:

Stage 1: Peach in her black costume for Rumia
Stage 2: Ice Climbers (maybe solo Nana?) for Cirno
Stage 3: Shiek in her green outfit or ZSS in her green outfit for Hong Meiling
Stage 4: Zelda in her more purple outfit for Patchouli
Stage 5: Bayonetta in her gray outfit for Sakuya (because of Witch Time)
Boss stage: Dracula to represent Remilia

You could even put Zelda and Bayonetta in the Dracula's Castle stage. Not sure about the others.

Not sure if this has been done, but I thought it'd be fun! :)
 
D

Deleted member

Guest
But what about the Touhou Spirits? If Marisa became an Echo Fighter?
 

3D Dillon

Smash Ace
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
654
If she were to get in, what do you guys think her classic mode could be like? I'm thinking they could recreate Touhou 6:

Stage 1: Peach in her black costume for Rumia
Stage 2: Ice Climbers (maybe solo Nana?) for Cirno
Stage 3: Shiek in her green outfit or ZSS in her green outfit for Hong Meiling
Stage 4: Zelda in her more purple outfit for Patchouli
Stage 5: Bayonetta in her gray outfit for Sakuya (because of Witch Time)
Boss stage: Dracula to represent Remilia

You could even put Zelda and Bayonetta in the Dracula's Castle stage. Not sure about the others.

Not sure if this has been done, but I thought it'd be fun! :)
You missed a stage.
Besides, I'd switch Zelda with Pink Female Robin (Pink is the closest to being purple for the female version) as Patchouli while Remilia-colored Reimu will be Remilia. Marx should be the boss to represent Flandre.
 

Thatchner

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
28
You missed a stage.
Besides, I'd switch Zelda with Pink Female Robin (Pink is the closest to being purple for the female version) as Patchouli while Remilia-colored Reimu will be Remilia. Marx should be the boss to represent Flandre.
Oh yeah, I wasn't really thinking so much about stages, cause this was all just off the top of my head. But those are some good changes! Pink Robin and Remilia-colored Reimu (if they go with a color scheme like that for her) would be better fit. And I totally forgot about Marx honestly! That's an even better fit.
 

Thatchner

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
28
But what about the Touhou Spirits? If Marisa became an Echo Fighter?
They have a lot of options for spirits, honestly. Yukari, Marisa, most if not all of the Touhou 6 cast, Alice, Sanae, and so on.

I'm not sure if Marisa would work so well as an echo fighter, since they might use some of Reimu's spell cards in some way. Also, her model might not match up so well with Reimu's, as much as I would love having her as an echo.
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
If she were to get in, what do you guys think her classic mode could be like? I'm thinking they could recreate Touhou 6:
I would give her Classic mode Title "The Smash Bros Incident". The Main rules would be "Enemy Suddenly has Final Smash" and "Enemy favors Projectiles"

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Megaman
4. Samus (Upon defeat Zero Suit Samus comes in)
5. Ness and Lucas
6. Palutena
Boss: Marx

Main idea was to try to make it as much like a danmaku as possible and have the Final Smashes be the equivalent of Spell cards.
 

8-peacock-8

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Messages
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Somewhere
Been seeing a silly argument against Reimu being how the Touhou community is mainly from the anime fandom. But honestly, you can say the same about Saber from the Fate series and that’s a rather popular request too.

I don’t think what community a franchise is more popular with is a good argument against a character’s chances if they are eligible for Smash.
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
Been seeing a silly argument against Reimu being how the Touhou community is mainly from the anime fandom. But honestly, you can say the same about Saber from the Fate series and that’s a rather popular request too.

I don’t think what community a franchise is more popular with is a good argument against a character’s chances if they are eligible for Smash.
I've often used that point as a reason Smash players never heard of Touhou, but I haven't heard that as a reason for exclusion.
 

Thatchner

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
28
I don't think this has been posted here, so I'll share it here:


One thing that the account claims in the replies is that ZUN has stated that he has wanted to collaborate with Nintendo. Does anybody have a source to that claim? I couldn't find one when searching myself.
 

TheTuninator

Smash Champion
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
2,315
As far as Marisa goes, there's no way she could work as an echo, unfortunately. Her moveset demands an entirely different set of projectiles at the bare minimum. There'd be no way to give her any laser-based attacks as an echo, since Reimu doesn't have any, but it just wouldn't be Marisa without her barfing lasers everywhere.

If Reimu were to get in, Marisa would necessarily have to appear in some capacity, and I imagine it'd be as part of Reimu's Final Smash (think like Robin, Hero, Mega Man, etc.) A Fantasy Nature/Master Spark Final Smash would be pretty hype.

If she were to get in, what do you guys think her classic mode could be like? I'm thinking they could recreate Touhou 6:

Stage 1: Peach in her black costume for Rumia
Stage 2: Ice Climbers (maybe solo Nana?) for Cirno
Stage 3: Shiek in her green outfit or ZSS in her green outfit for Hong Meiling
Stage 4: Zelda in her more purple outfit for Patchouli
Stage 5: Bayonetta in her gray outfit for Sakuya (because of Witch Time)
Boss stage: Dracula to represent Remilia

You could even put Zelda and Bayonetta in the Dracula's Castle stage. Not sure about the others.

Not sure if this has been done, but I thought it'd be fun! :)
Neat idea! I'm not sure if I personally would want her classic mode dedicated entirely to EoSD as I feel that game tends to suck up an undue amount of attention, but the presence of Castlevania does make that by far the easiest game to homage.
 

zferolie

Smash Hero
Joined
Jul 2, 2013
Messages
5,002
I don't think this has been posted here, so I'll share it here:


One thing that the account claims in the replies is that ZUN has stated that he has wanted to collaborate with Nintendo. Does anybody have a source to that claim? I couldn't find one when searching myself.
Hang on, i may have missed this, but how did her genre got sakurai into development?
 

Rangez

Dimensional Dile-Up
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
2,481
Hello, Reimu supporters! Just wanted to come back to showcase this moveset concept for the little shrine maiden created by TKOWL. He's a pretty good artist and also has an account on here:

 

Rikarte

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 4, 2019
Messages
566
Location
Germany
As far as Marisa goes, there's no way she could work as an echo, unfortunately. Her moveset demands an entirely different set of projectiles at the bare minimum. There'd be no way to give her any laser-based attacks as an echo, since Reimu doesn't have any, but it just wouldn't be Marisa without her barfing lasers everywhere.

If Reimu were to get in, Marisa would necessarily have to appear in some capacity, and I imagine it'd be as part of Reimu's Final Smash (think like Robin, Hero, Mega Man, etc.) A Fantasy Nature/Master Spark Final Smash would be pretty hype.



Neat idea! I'm not sure if I personally would want her classic mode dedicated entirely to EoSD as I feel that game tends to suck up an undue amount of attention, but the presence of Castlevania does make that by far the easiest game to homage.
I've already said this in the Reimu Discord but I think letting Marisa take over the spotlight for her final smash would be a disservice to the character. Reimu has just so many different options for a solo ultimate attack. Marisa would be better suited as a hazard on our potential Hakurei Shrine stage imo.
Hang on, i may have missed this, but how did her genre got sakurai into development?
 

TheTuninator

Smash Champion
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
2,315
I've already said this in the Reimu Discord but I think letting Marisa take over the spotlight for her final smash would be a disservice to the character. Reimu has just so many different options for a solo ultimate attack. Marisa would be better suited as a hazard on our potential Hakurei Shrine stage imo.
Oh, I agree that Marisa shouldn't steal the spotlight. That's why I suggested a Fantasy Nature/Master Spark tag-team; it'd be 50/50. With that said, Marisa is just as important to the series as Reimu and goes everywhere she does, which means Marisa definitely deserves more than a minor stage hazard cameo. I think sharing a Final Smash is pretty appropriate. If they could fit her into a taunt like Morgana, that'd be fine too, but the taunts are awfully fast these days, so that might be tough.
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
One thing that the account claims in the replies is that ZUN has stated that he has wanted to collaborate with Nintendo. Does anybody have a source to that claim? I couldn't find one when searching myself.
It's in here somewhere: http://theylivewesleep.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-50.html?sp

Translated its:
Z: "Wowwow Well ... in the future ... Well ... I wish I could make a good talk with Nintendo-san, it was today's broadcast that makes me feel such a dream."
Z: "I want to make friends with Nintendo, not only Sony is making friends"
Z: "Because Toho is not so much something, there is a healthy Toho world"
 

NobleClamtasm

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Messages
305
Hello, Reimu supporters! Just wanted to come back to showcase this moveset concept for the little shrine maiden created by TKOWL. He's a pretty good artist and also has an account on here:

I really like how this one is more heavily inspired by the traditional shmups. It would be interesting if she also had a power system that would increase her bullet density with more power, but will lower whenever you Bomb (like in MoF and SA). Instead of it being a meter, her power can be visually indicated by the amount of yin yang orbs orbiting around her. Damn, moveset theory really is fun with Reimu.
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
This is more neat trivia more than anything else, but after doing some digging, of the 9 companies represented in Smash, 5 of them have worked with Touhou in one form or another.

Nintendo and Sega have both sold Touhou CDs. Sega also makes/made Touhou figures as well
Namco has perhaps worked with Touhou the most. Featured in Taiko Drum Master games and even in the PSP game Nendoroid Generation
Konami is a bit similar with Namco. Touhou content typically appears in their Benmani rhythm arcade games like DDR and Pop N' Music.
Square Enix added Reimu and Yuyuko in their arcade game Lords of Vermilion.

Like I said, this is more trivia than anything concrete as evidence toward her being in the game
 

zferolie

Smash Hero
Joined
Jul 2, 2013
Messages
5,002
It just shows that Touhou is just so big in japan, even if some people still consider it Niche. It would just make sense for Reimu to be added into smash.

Would she be the final character in the DLC pass though? thats a hard one to say. I think he chances are much higher for the other ones though
 

Ayumi Tachibana

Smash Ace
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
537
What's amazing about Touhou is that it succeeded generation shift perfectly.

https://togetter.com/li/1410643
This article just got buzzed in Japan recently. It's about parents confusing about their kids finding Touhou and attached to the characters so much thanks to YouTube and Yukkuri.
As you may know, Minecraft is huge in Japan especially among kids and if you crawl Japanese Minecraft videos on YouTube, you'll notice that almost half of them are with Yukkuri commentaries. And not only that, Yukkuri are literally everywhere. You can watch Yukkuri playing with toys kids want, you can hear everyday news and explanations from Yukkuri, you can learn arithmetic or history or whatever from Yukkuri.
Dojin people are saying that so many elementary kids are now coming to Touhou conventions and Touhou stores in Akihabara are full of kids and their parents so old typical otaku are running away just not to get into any troubles.

Touhou is holding a character popularity poll every year and the amount of votes from teenagers is big.
They are late teen to early 20s right now. I do think Touhou rep matches with the major volume of Smash consumers in Japan.
http://tateito1.blog48.fc2.com/blog-entry-2592.html
https://togetter.com/li/1074143
 
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sam☆jam

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
106
NNID
MiracleJeanacle
3DS FC
1032-1249-3789

Yet another Touhou fan game coming to switch! This one focuses on Koishi and is horror. (Wish I could play but I can’t stand horror anything)

Amazing how much of an impact touhou has on all kinds of media from games, art, animation, music, writing etc. The floodgates of this series are just waiting to be opened by Reimu appearing in a high profile game like Smash
 

zferolie

Smash Hero
Joined
Jul 2, 2013
Messages
5,002

Yet another Touhou fan game coming to switch! This one focuses on Koishi and is horror. (Wish I could play but I can’t stand horror anything)

Amazing how much of an impact touhou has on all kinds of media from games, art, animation, music, writing etc. The floodgates of this series are just waiting to be opened by Reimu appearing in a high profile game like Smash
Oh wow i remember that game. Looks so weord and spooky
 

AustarusIV

Chariffic
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Oct 27, 2013
Messages
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AustarusIV
3DS FC
1951-0995-8868
Switch FC
SW-2630-2447-9223
Just gotta say, Touhou music is really banger. I’d love to see Reimu playable in Smash for the chance to listen to some of its music.
 

KarneraMythos

Smash Champion
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Messages
2,769
Hello, Reimu supporters! Just wanted to come back to showcase this moveset concept for the little shrine maiden created by TKOWL. He's a pretty good artist and also has an account on here:

Huh... Smashboards hasn't kept me up to date-on-all the recent posts lately. This looks amazing! Theory-crafting move-sets like this is probably the funnest part of speculating how these characters can make it into Smash.


Yet another Touhou fan game coming to switch! This one focuses on Koishi and is horror. (Wish I could play but I can’t stand horror anything)

Amazing how much of an impact touhou has on all kinds of media from games, art, animation, music, writing etc. The floodgates of this series are just waiting to be opened by Reimu appearing in a high profile game like Smash
Wait, a fan-game with Koto Inari's Tim-Burton–esque art style? And on the month of Halloween no less? Sign me up!

Now if only Okahi was still alive... ;_;
 

Ayumi Tachibana

Smash Ace
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
537
Interesting.
 

Sc_Ev0lution

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jun 22, 2016
Messages
318
Interesting.
I think it's interesting as well, but I would like to point out Google Trends is an imperfect measuring stick for awareness, as I think it better illustrates growth of popularity/interest than popularity in general, and there are other way for people to come across or learn about Touhou and Reimu (direct links, alternate search engines), plus established fans generally won't be using google to look up Touhou. Google trends should be one piece of data towards analyzing Reimu's likelihood. Still, in lieu of alternate measurements of popularity or awareness, it will have to do. And so far, it's telling us Reimu is probably more well known than people give her credit for, or at least more are taking an interest in her.

Also hi, you can put me down as a Reimu supporter. I don't expect to be too active, either in this thread or elsewhere on smashboards, but I lurk and will speak up if I feel like I can add something valuable.
 
D

Deleted member

Guest
Ayo.

I've never heard of Touhou Project up until I've read a fanfic by Game2002 that primarily crosses over My Hero Academia and the DC Universe. In the fic, he wedges in a bit Touhou, and I decided to take it upon myself and do some research. turns out, I kinda like this concept. Really fits with the Japanese-y flavor that Smash has, so even though I'm not a player, I find it very interesting.

Lending my hand to support.

"Sniper ready, give me a target."
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
What's amazing about Touhou is that it succeeded generation shift perfectly.

https://togetter.com/li/1410643
This article just got buzzed in Japan recently. It's about parents confusing about their kids finding Touhou and attached to the characters so much thanks to YouTube and Yukkuri.
As you may know, Minecraft is huge in Japan especially among kids and if you crawl Japanese Minecraft videos on YouTube, you'll notice that almost half of them are with Yukkuri commentaries. And not only that, Yukkuri are literally everywhere. You can watch Yukkuri playing with toys kids want, you can hear everyday news and explanations from Yukkuri, you can learn arithmetic or history or whatever from Yukkuri.
Dojin people are saying that so many elementary kids are now coming to Touhou conventions and Touhou stores in Akihabara are full of kids and their parents so old typical otaku are running away just not to get into any troubles.

Touhou is holding a character popularity poll every year and the amount of votes from teenagers is big.
They are late teen to early 20s right now. I do think Touhou rep matches with the major volume of Smash consumers in Japan.
http://tateito1.blog48.fc2.com/blog-entry-2592.html
https://togetter.com/li/1074143
I know from the bit I've delved into trying to find JP most wanted lists that a lot of them tend to use Yukkuri that speak with Microsoft SAM like voices. Didn't realize it was a huge trend.

Interesting.
In particular, this is why I always bring up Touhou's notoriety in the western anime community. Western interest in Touhou is there, it's just in a community that itself doesn't overlap all that much with Smash (Especially because it's a fanbase that ironically 'hates' anime). I went to an anime con last year and Touhou merch was just as prevalent as Fate, My Hero Academia and others.
 

Sysreq

Smash Ace
Joined
Nov 4, 2018
Messages
716
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The Wired
Oh, Reimu would be sweet. I had a blast playing Touhou doujinshi games a long time ago. I think Reimu's biggest problem for Smash is that her fanbase isn't loud enough. Because, let's be real--Geno isn't actually that popular. But there's a possibility Geno might get in solely because his fanbase has been making so much noise for so long. If Reimu fans made noise or showed support with fan art and stuff it'd help, because her popularity is already there--it's just not vocal.
Exhibit A:
luk6fgacd0v21.jpg
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
Oh, Reimu would be sweet. I had a blast playing Touhou doujinshi games a long time ago. I think Reimu's biggest problem for Smash is that her fanbase isn't loud enough. Because, let's be real--Geno isn't actually that popular. But there's a possibility Geno might get in solely because his fanbase has been making so much noise for so long. If Reimu fans made noise or showed support with fan art and stuff it'd help, because her popularity is already there--it's just not vocal.
Exhibit A:
I don't think being vocal is all that important. For now, anyway. Joker, Hero nor Terry had any vocal support from fans. For as Popular as Dragon Quest is in Japan, I've never once seen it on JP polls prior to late 2018 when the leaks were running rampant. Now, this isn't to say that support for these characters didn't exist, it was just never quite vocal, especially prior to them being selected.
 

Sysreq

Smash Ace
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I don't think being vocal is all that important. For now, anyway. Joker, Hero nor Terry had any vocal support from fans. For as Popular as Dragon Quest is in Japan, I've never once seen it on JP polls prior to late 2018 when the leaks were running rampant. Now, this isn't to say that support for these characters didn't exist, it was just never quite vocal, especially prior to them being selected.
Very true. Depending on how many DLC characters we get though, fan popularity could become a major factor.
 

Yoshi Kirishima

Smash Lord
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
1,501
Location
Rochester Hills
Wow, great to see something so unique (the horror touhou fan game). It's amazing that since ZUN is releasing official games on Switch and Steam, that fans can now do so too. For the first time in history, fans can create and commercially distribute/sell Touhou fan games (rather than only being able to do it at cons). This is life changing as a Touhou fan who potentially might want to make a living off of making Touhou stuff!!!

Also HI EVERYONE, haven't really used Smashboards in years but it's great seeing newcomer speculation threads like this. Been lurking this thread and just wanted to share some quick thoughts!

First off, Reimu has a LOT going for, she checks a lot of the criteria Nintendo is looking for.
Now her biggest weakness is NOT her popularity. It's common for people like Smashers who aren't familiar with her to say things like "who is she? she's not popular" or like "she's only popular in Japan right? and more with the anime crowd not the gamer crowd".

We as Touhou fans, known she's undoubtly popular worldwide. Let's not be weak in our resolve just because others don't feel she is. But then, why does it seem to many that Touhou is unpopular in the West?

So, I finally realized the answer. Yes, part of it is because the fandom naturally leads to attracting a lot more of the "anime" crowd than the gaming crowd (and part of this is because, unlike a game like Undertale which is accessible and can be bought as a full package complete with a story and all, Touhou games are good games that have had to be played on PC and while the world gives a TON of room for fans to explore the story and lore, that kind of fan content must be experienced OUTSIDE the game hence why it feels like it doesn't overlap so much with the gamer base).

But the REAL answer is not that it's not popular (we know it is) or that it's too niche in the west. It's simply because Touhou as a series has been a dominantly PC game series, which naturally has always had a bit of a rift from the console gaming crowd. Evidence towards this? Well, now that Smash is about bringing in HUGE gaming icons with legacy and a piece of gaming history, is it not strange that we don't hear high demand or discussion about characters like Tracer or Arthas (Warcraft)? I've not seen anyone mention Arthas despite being one of the biggest, hugest game characters ever (and would represent both RTS and MMO genres), and only seen people mention Tracer mostly because of the rumor that Overwatch would be released on Switch and thus she may be added. We've seen some mentions of Heavy from TF2, but it's still much less compared to console game icons like Crash.

So obviously, just from the relative lack of demand/discussion for two of the biggest game franchises ever, it shows that there is NO direct correlation between how "big" a character is, to how much demand/discussion they are getting from Smashers. Thus, the relative lack of knowledge of Reimu within the console gaming community and Smash community is NOT proof that she is not popular enough. It only shows the divide between PC gamer and console gamer, which unfortunately, is much bigger of a challenge than I thought, when it comes to whether Reimu will make it into Smash. I think that it really is the biggest reason holding her back. If she had more games on consoles OR more time had passed and more Touhou games were released on Steam/Switch and more console gamers have been able to experience Touhou, we'd be getting a lot more Reimu requests.

Sorry that this has gotten so long -- I want to touch on another point.It's great seeing everyone thinking critically about any studies/surveys we see, because the methods those are conducted are so important to consider when trying to get a big picture idea of popularity. I do want to share a couple things that also may make it seem like Touhou is not that popular:

The lack of girls on the internet, compared to how many girls are gamers and are fans of Touhou. I think it's safe to say that girls have more of an aversion to participating in and posting in online forums, social media, etc. about games. These platforms are HEAVILY male dominated. Add to this the fact that Smash is naturally more appealing to males than female gamers, AND also the fact that Touhou actually has a pretty big female fanbase (compared to other game series), it simply means that a lot of the popularity Touhou has is NOT voiced on the Internet, or at least not in the kind of places that Smash gamers normally frequent (Twitter, Reddit, Smashboards, etc.). I have many female friends who I know do not use these platforms to talk about games, yet they know or are fans of Touhou. They instead talk within their own friend circles or use sites like Tumblr, Facebook, etc.

Apologies if anything I said was a little weird or sounds inaccurate, I may have just been uncareful with my wording.

To sum it up, the big reason holding Reimu (and her popularity back when it comes to Smash requests) is because of there has always been a natural divide between PC gamers and console gamers, NOT because she's "more of the anime crowd". PC gamers play games on PC, console games play games that are on consoles. And you can't legally play an official Touhou game the way you can other indie games, until very recently on Steam and soon Switch, so it has been even more inaccessible to console gamers who might want to try to play it on PC.

And a big reason people who are against a Touhou rep have the notion that Touhou is not popular in the west, is because female gamers and fans of Touhou simply do not frequent or share their voices in the places that seasoned Smashers use. And, if anything, the audience not directly overlapping with Smash's community would only go towards HELPING Reimu's chances because, unlike the base roster which was Sakurai trying to fulfill all the highly requested Nintendo characters and Smash ballot characters, DLC is about getting BIG characters with legacy that would bring a lot of media buzz while also drawing in a new audience that may not have previously been too attracted to Smash, which would be a very high priority because it would lead to more Switch sales and Smash Ultimate sales, compared to releasing simply a highly requested Nintendo character which would sell mainly only the few bucks needed to buy that DLC character. Attracting a new crowd sounds to me like it would be WAY more beneficial and profitable than simply adding characters like Bandana Dee even if they're highly requested. We've seen how much buzz Ultimate got when Joker and Hero were added, representing two big JRPG series, and Terry who represents SNK games which has not been highly associated with Nintendo's core audience.

Reimu would bring that kind of buzz, she's already ingrained in pop culture especially in Japan, and her high number of crossover appearances is just a testmament to that. She also popular in many different communities (anime community, Internet meme community especially in Japan with all the freaking Yukkuri memes running more rampant than ever, gaming community, manga community, music remix and music performance communities, art community, game dev community, etc.), AND she appeals to both males and females, both casuals and hardcore fans. Reimu's legacy and influence is absolutely top tier, at least when it comes to the remaining possible characters, and it would also be incredibly easy for Nintendo to get the rights to her as ZUN would only need to say "sure!"
 
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Tabbender

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 1, 2019
Messages
18
I think it's interesting as well, but I would like to point out Google Trends is an imperfect measuring stick for awareness, as I think it better illustrates growth of popularity/interest than popularity in general, and there are other way for people to come across or learn about Touhou and Reimu (direct links, alternate search engines), plus established fans generally won't be using google to look up Touhou. Google trends should be one piece of data towards analyzing Reimu's likelihood. Still, in lieu of alternate measurements of popularity or awareness, it will have to do. And so far, it's telling us Reimu is probably more well known than people give her credit for, or at least more are taking an interest in her.

Also hi, you can put me down as a Reimu supporter. I don't expect to be too active, either in this thread or elsewhere on smashboards, but I lurk and will speak up if I feel like I can add something valuable.
Google Trends is pretty reliable. There's a reason why even professionals are okay with using it. Keep in mind that it isn't just search terms, it's interest pertaining to a concept in general. Considering Google's near omnipresence on the internet (go to any web page's source code and ctrl+f google, more often than not you're gonna get at least one result), it's pretty easy for them to gauge interest for a concept over time, especially with the crazy algorithms they come up with. Google is literally Big Brother, they would know better than anyone what is popular.
While not perfect Google Trends is easily the best way we have to measure popularity. It definitely shouldn't be dismissed, nothing comes even close to its accuracy.
 

Thatchner

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
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And a big reason people who are against a Touhou rep have the notion that Touhou is not popular in the west, is because female gamers and fans of Touhou simply do not frequent or share their voices in the places that seasoned Smashers use. And, if anything, the audience not directly overlapping with Smash's community would only go towards HELPING Reimu's chances because, unlike the base roster which was Sakurai trying to fulfill all the highly requested Nintendo characters and Smash ballot characters, DLC is about getting BIG characters with legacy that would bring a lot of media buzz while also drawing in a new audience that may not have previously been too attracted to Smash, which would be a very high priority because it would lead to more Switch sales and Smash Ultimate sales, compared to releasing simply a highly requested Nintendo character which would sell mainly only the few bucks needed to buy that DLC character. Attracting a new crowd sounds to me like it would be WAY more beneficial and profitable than simply adding characters like Bandana Dee even if they're highly requested. We've seen how much buzz Ultimate got when Joker and Hero were added, representing two big JRPG series, and Terry who represents SNK games which has not been highly associated with Nintendo's core audience.

Reimu would bring that kind of buzz, she's already ingrained in pop culture especially in Japan, and her high number of crossover appearances is just a testmament to that. She also popular in many different communities (anime community, Internet meme community especially in Japan with all the freaking Yukkuri memes running more rampant than ever, gaming community, manga community, music remix and music performance communities, art community, game dev community, etc.), AND she appeals to both males and females, both casuals and hardcore fans. Reimu's legacy and influence is absolutely top tier, at least when it comes to the remaining possible characters, and it would also be incredibly easy for Nintendo to get the rights to her as ZUN would only need to say "sure!"
I think your point about the "new audience" is spot on. Nintendo definitely wants to target new audiences not incredibly attached to Smash to generate sales. If you add in a Nintendo character, such as Bandana Dee, it'd appeal to the core Nintendo audience, but not too many people outside of that, which is the "problem." Most core Nintendo fans already have Smash Bros. But if you include a character, such as Terry, you appeal to a different audience that now might pick up Smash Bros. if only for Terry himself. On top of that, many dedicated Smash fans will buy Terry anyway, because he's a new, interesting character. I know I'm getting him when he comes out for sure.

The issue for Nintendo comes down to, "What characters do we chose to target other audiences?" Reimu could definitely be one of those choices. However, I think there are a lot of other characters that could also be one of those choices. A big western character, like the Doom Slayer or the Dovakiin, could fit that bill as well, since there's probably a sizable audience there that don't have/haven't played Smash Bros. I believe other characters like a Resident Evil rep, Dante, Tales of, or Lara Croft could also fit. Not to mention, since I'm sure Banjo appealed mainly to Nintendo fans and core Smash fans alike, we could see another character or two get picked to appeal to that crowd as well.

So Reimu's got a lot of competition, and we don't know how many more characters we'll be getting. At the very least, we're getting three more, but probably a few more past that. However, I'm still hopeful that she might have a shot.
 

Exiliify

Smash Apprentice
Joined
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I think your point about the "new audience" is spot on. Nintendo definitely wants to target new audiences not incredibly attached to Smash to generate sales. If you add in a Nintendo character, such as Bandana Dee, it'd appeal to the core Nintendo audience, but not too many people outside of that, which is the "problem." Most core Nintendo fans already have Smash Bros. But if you include a character, such as Terry, you appeal to a different audience that now might pick up Smash Bros. if only for Terry himself. On top of that, many dedicated Smash fans will buy Terry anyway, because he's a new, interesting character. I know I'm getting him when he comes out for sure.

The issue for Nintendo comes down to, "What characters do we chose to target other audiences?" Reimu could definitely be one of those choices. However, I think there are a lot of other characters that could also be one of those choices. A big western character, like the Doom Slayer or the Dovakiin, could fit that bill as well, since there's probably a sizable audience there that don't have/haven't played Smash Bros. I believe other characters like a Resident Evil rep, Dante, Tales of, or Lara Croft could also fit. Not to mention, since I'm sure Banjo appealed mainly to Nintendo fans and core Smash fans alike, we could see another character or two get picked to appeal to that crowd as well.

So Reimu's got a lot of competition, and we don't know how many more characters we'll be getting. At the very least, we're getting three more, but probably a few more past that. However, I'm still hopeful that she might have a shot.
I still doubt Nintendo would just decide to please western fans without considering how popular a western series is in Japan. Master Chief and Doom are more niche in Japan than Touhou is in the west. Even Elder Scrolls is considered niche over there. Considering how big Japanese gaming icons are compared to most western icons, western characters are arguably less likely than Japanese icons. Really only Crash has a good chance to get in as a fighter. I understand that it’s possible other western characters could get in, but I doubt their chances.
 

KarneraMythos

Smash Champion
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Messages
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I still doubt Nintendo would just decide to please western fans without considering how popular a western series is in Japan. Master Chief and Doom are more niche in Japan than Touhou is in the west. Even Elder Scrolls is considered niche over there. Considering how big Japanese gaming icons are compared to most western icons, western characters are arguably less likely than Japanese icons. Really only Crash has a good chance to get in as a fighter. I understand that it’s possible other western characters could get in, but I doubt their chances.
The problem is that too many people assume it has to lean toward Eastern homeland fighters or Western ones. In truth, the ideal is giving everyone a little bit of both. In a perfect world, we get Reimu, Sora, Dante, and Saber from Japan, along with Crash, Doom Slayer, Ryu Hayabusa, and Master Chief from the West.

Right now though, there isn't a single Mouth of Sauron with any info to drop regarding what we'll get in the future, and there's no telling if Nintendo or Sakurai even know what the limit is going to be. We just need to play the waiting game.
 

perfectchaos83

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,814
To sum it up, the big reason holding Reimu (and her popularity back when it comes to Smash requests) is because of there has always been a natural divide between PC gamers and console gamers, NOT because she's "more of the anime crowd". PC gamers play games on PC, console games play games that are on consoles. And you can't legally play an official Touhou game the way you can other indie games, until very recently on Steam and soon Switch, so it has been even more inaccessible to console gamers who might want to try to play it on PC.
I agree with a lot of your post, but this part is probably a bit more relevant to what I'm about to say.

It also doesn't help that a huge amount of the western player base resorts to piracy (For fairly obvious reasons). It's not exactly a series you can tell someone to get on steam (Though, that has changed, but still only in Japanese). Telling someone to pirate a game to be able to play it isn't something a lot of people would be willing to do, even if it is as simple as downloading an executable. It's really only within the past 3 years (When NISA released Genso Rondo) That Touhou has been officially penetrating the western market rather than through the essential Internet Black Market.
 

Exiliify

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 16, 2019
Messages
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The problem is that too many people assume it has to lean toward Eastern homeland fighters or Western ones. In truth, the ideal is giving everyone a little bit of both. In a perfect world, we get Reimu, Sora, Dante, and Saber from Japan, along with Crash, Doom Slayer, Ryu Hayabusa, and Master Chief from the West.

Right now though, there isn't a single Mouth of Sauron with any info to drop regarding what we'll get in the future, and there's no telling if Nintendo or Sakurai even know what the limit is going to be. We just need to play the waiting game.
Due to that been researching the most requested characters for DLC and come up with arguments for both and against their inclusion into smash. Hopefully i can then come up with a more realistic list of characters that are most likely. Of course there many that still can be considered.
 
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