Official Smash Ultimate Discussion

[Wambo]

K Rool joined the battle tho as a Mii Costume

But honestly, does it really matter at this point?

Some people are just butthurt and want to feel like they got their money's worth.

 

[Zinith]

God, in hindsight maybe I should've voted for Boshi at the time. It would've been at least be ONE recommendation for him that gets in front of Sakurai's face instead of zero.

 

[Impa4Smash]

I've never really done a genuine speculation post, as I'm usually too afraid to express what I think. But I think now is as good a time as any.

Given tonight's revelations regarding the Ballot, I'm gonna assume the Ballot was most likely used to gauge what the fans want for Smash. K.Rool, Isaac, Ashley, Geno and Bandana Dee (among others) were all very popular choices during Smash 4's DLC hype season.

Elma as a likely pick for a new Xenoblade rep who also has good timing as Ultimate was most likely in planning stages a few months after XCX released internationally. She has great moveset potential and a dedicated fanbase to boot.

Simon Belmont as a common choice these days due to having classic nintendo history, 'leaks' backing him up, a wide arrange of moves that guarantee a unique playstyle, and Konami not being awful this time and collaborating for Smash again.

Perhaps a Gen 7 Pokemon as well? Sun and Moon would be released in late 2016, presumably not too long after the initial planning stages of Ultimate. Another Greninja scenario could've been pulled, where designs of Gen 7 Pokemon could've been sent in, and considered for Smash based on moveset potential.

And whatever other 'surprise' characters that might be thrown in too, and the numerous possibilities of DLC fighters.

IMO, I'd say any of above characters are pretty likely. And, you know? With what we have already, having any the above would be icing on the cake.

I hate to get my hopes up, as I'm frequently disappointed, but I'd say a roster like this would deserve the title of Ultimate.

Those are all likely. And maybe Celica if we're lucky to get a FE newcomer

 

[Thirdkoopa]

https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/jsKF0d4U12rTFWu-Bf_nAKhUJgVakVf7

There's something

okay so let's say we look at this from a legal perspective,

"Post a video game character's name and we'll consider turning that character into a Smash fighter!"

1. consider (so we can toss Shrek and Goku out the window)
2. doesn't specify how (lol mii fighters)
3. business,

If my theory was right that the Ballot was initially intended for Smash 4 DLC but at some point through they decided to put those resources towards an immediate Smash game instead because of the Wii U's hopelessness and the necessity to get the Switch successful, from a business standpoint they had to be dishonest about it. If they came out and admitted it, not only would they have to reveal plans for the new Smash before it even began development, but it would kill the enthusiasm for Smash 4 and its DLC, significantly hurting one of their biggest sources of profit at a time they really needed it, as less additional copies of Smash 4 are sold and a lot less people are buying the DLC. So the cover story had to be made about Bayonetta being the "ballot winner" to close out Smash 4 DLC while they quietly shifted gears to making Smash Ultimate.

remember, smash ult was about to be a port so there's multiple ways they could have dodged the bullet as well

so basically they pulled a PR fast one on us and nobody noticed. I know why nobody noticed: they were probably too busy with ballot hype.

 

[ToddCam]

It's kind of funny to have seen all this moaning and groaning about how Sakurai/Nintendo "rigged" the ballot. I mean, weren't most of you here voting multiple times in the ballot? You broke any "contract" by attempting to "rig" the system already, so why the faux outrage? Is it just gimmetarianism? Would you care if the ballot "winner" (as in, was put in as DLC) had been your number one choice?

I didn't really care that Bayonetta (or Corrin, or whoever) "won" the ballot back then, whether or not it was a true democratic vote tally or not (and it wasn't either way; I remember loads of people talking about their cheating on Smashboards). I voted once for Ridley myself. For all this 17 years (on and off) of speculation, I have learned to not trust my interpretation of official words as being THE TRUTH, understanding that there are obstacles in transmission of information, especially when the primary source is Japanese, and my source is an English translation. I know a lot of people are not necessarily the self-reflective type, so questioning your assumptions may not be something you ever consider, but I would recommend we all do so. It makes you a lot less pointlessly angry, and helps you temper your expectations in future.

 

[Fenriraga]

So we're once again circling back to "the ballot was a sham", huh?

Exasperated Groan.

 

[PhantomShab]

K Rool joined the battle tho as a Mii Costume

But honestly, does it really matter at this point?

Considering it completely exposes the ballot and it's """winner""", yeah.

It also says "we'll consider turning that character into a Smash fighter!"

Literally anyone could've won the ballot. All it means is that they considered the idea. Let's say Geno won. It means they looked at him on the number 1 spot, considered it, like they said they would, and then decided against it.

This does nothing to disprove the ballot being a farce. In fact it just points to it even more.

 

[Impa4Smash]

God, in hindsight maybe I should've voted for Boshi at the time. It would've been at least be ONE recommendation for him that gets in front of Sakurai's face instead of zero.

I still think they'll try to combine unique newcomers and echo fighters into one trailer. Just imagine. Geno gets revealed. Then outta nowhere: Boshi.

 

[ThyCheshireCat]

Hold up.

Geno? Super Mario RPG wasn't sold in Europe until a few years ago on the Nintendo E-Shop. So the casual European player is unlikely to want him unless they specifically frequent places that talk about him.

That's true but you'd be surprised with how well known Geno is in the Smash community even over here.

 

[Zinith]

I still think they'll try to combine unique newcomers and echo fighters into one trailer. Just imagine. Geno gets revealed. Then outta nowhere: Boshi.

In my delusional fantasies, that's almost precisely how I imagine him to be revealed. "You all thought Geno was the only thing to come from this game? Oh you poor naive peasants!!!"

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

You kidding? I couldn't feel more smug and validated right now. I always knew the ballot was a sham and now it's basically as confirmed as can be.

You do realize that "among realizable characters" can mean a multitude of things right? Why would they have any reason to lie to us about how popular Bayonetta was? Just because there's vague evidence to support her choice before hand doesn't mean the Ballot was a "sham". They could have already known she was one of the more popular choices. Really all you're doing is insulting the people who DID vote for Bayonetta. And a lot of people did. Maybe realizable means that characters like King K. Rool, Isaac, and Ridley couldn't be built off of another characters skeleton to save time like Bayonetta's was.

Honestly, the ballot may have been misleading, I'll give you that, but calling it a sham is really insulting to the developers, Smash fans, and Bayonetta fans who all gave everything they had to give us that character. Datamining gives us the smallest of a glimpse into the inner workings of the developers and I've come to realize that Smash fans, me included, are incredibly undisputed at jumping to conclusions.

 

[KMDP]

It's kind of funny to have seen all this moaning and groaning about how Sakurai/Nintendo "rigged" the ballot. I mean, weren't most of you here voting multiple times in the ballot? You broke any "contract" by attempting to "rig" the system already, so why the faux outrage? Is it just gimmetarianism? Would you care if the ballot "winner" (as in, was put in as DLC) had been your number one choice?

I didn't really care that Bayonetta (or Corrin, or whoever) "won" the ballot back then, whether or not it was a true democratic vote tally or not (and it wasn't either way; I remember loads of people talking about their cheating on Smashboards). I voted once for Ridley myself. For all this 17 years (on and off) of speculation, I have learned to not trust my interpretation of official words as being THE TRUTH, understanding that there are obstacles in transmission of information, especially when the primary source is Japanese, and my source is an English translation. I know a lot of people are not necessarily the self-reflective type, so questioning your assumptions may not be something you ever consider, but I would recommend we all do so. It makes you a lot less pointlessly angry, and helps you temper your expectations in future.

To back up your statement about losing things in translation due to coming from Japanese. Both English and Japanese can be very vague languages. When you translate one to another you compound this issue.

Also, anyone who voted more than once on the ballot has no right to complain about this turn of events. Turnabout is fairplay, after all.

 

[Hinata]

Considering it completely exposes the ballot and it's """winner""", yeah.

Yeah, let's all complain about something we never had control over! Sakurai said he'd consider the fighters in the ballot, but he didn't consider hard enough! Let's all gang up on him for a topic that's been dead for 2 years! We demand justice for something we can't possibly change at this point!

I'm glad you feel vindicated, but your complaining will forever fall on deaf ears.

 

[Wambo]

Considering it completely exposes the ballot and it's """winner""", yeah.


This does nothing to disprove the ballot being a farce. In fact it just points to it even more.

If Geno was the #1 most requested ballot fighter, it'd be stupid for them to not add him in, but it'd be even stupider to stick him in a game on a failing console. Why add a fighter like Bayonetta if she wasn't the #1 most requested fighter then, right?

Nintendo isn't just gonna toss out that easy Geno money for a lesser character, but it'd be stupid to not save him for the next Smash game that had just started development. You need a good incentive to attract players to a new game on a new system somehow, and what better way than to include the most popular characters?

Of course, I'm using Geno as an example, but surely you must understand. Who cares if the ballot was a farce? If you have a Switch an extra money for the new Smash, you're gonna get more than your money's worth than was possible on the Wii U. They tried and failed with the Wii U, but the Switch is a success.

 

[PhantomShab]

I'm glad you feel vindicated, but your complaining will forever fall on deaf ears.

But I thought dissenting opinions were welcomed here. lol

 

[PSIGuy]

Elma supporters are people I don't understand at all. I played pretty far into Xenoblade Chronicles X, and while I liked it, it was a cheesy as **** game and Elma did little to nothing that made her stand out to me, outside of the being the only normal, non-moe "DESU-DESU" girl there. That little genius girl and Tatsu can go slit their throats and stay out of what would've been a much more kick-*** mech game without them.

I'll admit part of it is wanting an XBX rep in general with Elma or Cross being the best options - and I personally hate avatar characters in crossover games so I go with Elma. I like Cross - my Cross - but they only work in the context of being someone's second in command whose own legacy you build in optional content. In Smash they'd most likely go with default everything, meaning a bland design, weaponset and voice.

 

[NintenRob]

Regarding the leak. Regardless of its credibility, I like, and unspecific enough that it still holds surprises if it manages to be real.

I'll give my guesses

Newcomers
Whip: Simon Belmont, obviously
Pic related: Dark Matter or Skull Kid, maybe Vaati. Skull Kid is my most wanted but with Bandana Dee already listed, I'm OK with Dark Matter
Witch: Ashley
Sliced Apple: Bandana Waddle Dee definitely
Anime: I lean towards Rex and Pyra
Archer: Decidueye probably, But I would consider him odd at this point. Maybe Revali?
House: Chibi-Robo is what others say. Something from Animal Crossing would be interesting though
Science: Elma???? Cranky Kong is often associated with Science too. K Room once too. This is a weird one. Maybe Susie? Fawful???
Card: Hanafuda Character or Paper Mario I guess.

Echoes
Prime: Dark Samus
Edgy: Shadow is probably the obvious one, but there's also Dark Meta Knight
Dog: Isabelle I believe wouldn't work as an echo, but maybe I'm wrong?
Asthma: Ninten
Blue Hair: Chrom

 

[PhantomShab]

If Geno was the #1 most requested ballot fighter, it'd be stupid for them to not add him in, but it'd be even stupider to stick him in a game on a failing console. Why add a fighter like Bayonetta if she wasn't the #1 most requested fighter then, right?

Nintendo isn't just gonna toss out that easy Geno money for a lesser character, but it'd be stupid to not save him for the next Smash game that had just started development. You need a good incentive to attract players to a new game on a new system somehow, and what better way than to include the most popular characters?

Of course, I'm using Geno as an example, but surely you must understand. Who cares if the ballot was a farce? If you have a Switch an extra money for the new Smash, you're gonna get more than your money's worth than was possible on the Wii U. They tried and failed with the Wii U, but the Switch is a success.

You say this like Geno wouldn't have immediately have come back in Ultimate anyways. EVERYONE IS HERE and all that.

 

[Dracyoshi]

Alright so, my rough predictions are as follows. I'm not fully confident about any new characters being added because we've got pretty much every iconic Nintendo character out of the way, so it's hard to guess where we'll go from here and now we're left with dozens of B-Tier characters for Sakurai to pick from. Just gotta guess which the least B-Tier of the B-Tier is.

- Bandana Dee
Bandana Dee has a lot going for him. Prominent roles in recent Kirby titles and marketing, a potential for a unique moveset and the potential to round off the Kirby roster by adding the fourth and final main character in recent Kirby games.

There's one problem though, and it's that Bandana Dee is just a glorified Waddle Dee. Some people think that's what makes him so charming and interesting, while some think that makes him a boring pick. We don't know which side Sakurai & the Smash devs stand on yet. I do think this perception may change with his addition to Smash, though.

There's also something that hasn't gotten much attention: Yoshi's Woolly World 3DS is set up to have data for more than one Daisy and Waddle Dee amiibo, something that other one-amiibo characters don't have. Guess which character recently got confirmed for Smash afterwards and will get a second Amiibo? Daisy. If that meant anything for Daisy, then it may mean something for the Dee.

Although I'm still not fully confident, Bandana Dee is one of few characters that I feel like are more than likely to get into Ultimate.
Estimated Probability: 75%

- King K. Rool
One of the most consistently popular characters on fan polls across all regions and a likely top placer in the Smash Ballot. Despite not appearing in a game in over 10 years, his popularity might be great enough to signal that it's time to revive him for Smash. Besides, it's not like not appearing in 10 years has stopped a character from being added into Smash before. And there's a ton of potential for his moveset and unique abilities. But it's definitely possible that K. Rool will be pushed aside for Dixie Kong, or that he'll simply be overlooked due to the lack of recent appearances. It could go either way.
Estimated Probability: 55%

- Dark Samus (Echo or Semi-Clone)
The removal of the Dark Samus costume in the demo makes me extremely suspicious. Especially when they kept the other dark costumes; even Pit's Dark Pit costume! Either they're making certain costumes unlockable or purchasable, making horrible costume decisions by removing one of her most popular costumes or Dark Samus is planned as a future character.
Frankly, I wouldn't be predicting Dark Samus if not for this one small detail. I didn't think Dark Samus had a chance.
Estimated Probability: 50%

- Octoling (Echo)
This is such an obvious choice, yet there's also a ton of potential for them to be overlooked. Within the Splatoon community, Octolings are extremely popular and have been since Splatoon launched back in early 2015. People were speculating and dreaming about them being playable from the beginning. From using similar weaponry to sharing similar models and animations, they'd be a very easy inclusion to bolster the roster of Nintendo's latest breakout series. Seriously, have you seen how much the Splatoon series is selling? Splatoon 1 sold 4.93m on the Wii U of all consoles, only 0.41m short of Smash. And Splatoon 2 has sold 6.02m and rising, making it one of the best-selling Switch titles.
People occasionally cite ink color confusion between them and the Inklings being an issue, but I've already debunked that. It's not a problem.
Not to mention, Octolings have become even more popular as of late due to the recent Octoling DLC for Splatoon 2. If they weren't a part of the original project plan then it's still likely they'd have been quickly shoved in due to their ease of development, popularity, and ability to promote Splatoon 2.

The only thing stopping me from being confident of their inclusion is that they're not that popular outside of the Splatoon base. They're frequently overlooked, and Sakurai might do the same. It's also possible that simply adding another Splatoon character or echo won't be a priority. As with my other predictions, they're not guaranteed yet.
Estimated Probability: 65%

 

[Hinata]

But I thought dissenting opinions were welcomed here. lol

Your "dissenting opinion" is just you getting a smug sense of self-satisfaction out of something that literally doesn't matter. All you've been saying is "I knew the ballot was rigged all along and you're all idiots for not believing me".

 

[PhantomShab]

Your "dissenting opinion" is just you getting a smug sense of self-satisfaction out of something that literally doesn't matter. All you've been saying is "I knew the ballot was rigged all along and you're all idiots for not believing me".

Kind of hard not to feel smug when you've seen "haha u mad?" and "lol so delusional" posts from Bayonetta fans for the last few years whenever someone even hints at the ballot being rigged.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Speculation will be speculation.

Smooth Criminal

 

[KMDP]

That's true but you'd be surprised with how well known Geno is in the Smash community even over here.

Well, yeah. But would they have voted for Geno (and done so well, if the comment box meant anything) over their guy?

I'm British (a European Country), and I know nothing about Geno except that he is a puppet and appeared in Super Mario RPG, so I don't care for him one way or the other. Had I voted for him (and I didn't) any vote I could have cast would have been extremely shallow, and I was pretty casual back during the ballot.

Being well known in the Smash Community doesn't mean a whole lot when there were millions of votes.

 

[ToddCam]

Forgive me if this is obvious, but in "Pic related", is Pic referring to picture? I can't figure out what connection Skull Kid or Dark Matter has to pictures.

Edit: Post 300! That's about 17 posts per year!

 

[GaroMaster]

Well let'd have multiple games going at once.

What are your following answers to these roster scenarios

Best Outcome:

Satisfying Outcome:

Basic Outcome/Simply Meh:

Worst Outcome:



-----
Best Outcome: I, and most others get our most wanted through the base roster or DLC

Satisfying Outcome: At least half of of my top picks get in somehow

Basic Outcome: King K Rool gets in

Worst Outcome: We get a bunch of a niche nobodies and Echo fighters and no one else.

Sorry for the late response.
Best Scenario: Both King K. Rool and Rayman are included as newcomers as well as several fan favorites, Hanenbow, Fountain of Dreams, and Poke Floats are brought back, there's an amazing single player, and you can tilt the menu screen.

Satisfying Outcome: Either K. Rool or Rayman are included as well as an Adventure Mode.

Basic Outcome: Neither of my most wanted newcomers get in, but we get few more unique newcomers as well as more stages. I am 100% satisfied with Ultimate's content.

Worst Outcome: You can't tilt the menus with the C-stick.

Also, just some quick thoughts on the Ballot discovery:
As miffed as I was back then about Corrin and Bayonetta back then, I have grown to accept them as pretty unique additions (although I still find Bayo annoying). This whole thing with work on Bayonetta starting shortly after the Ballot opened would've been ten times worse if it was discovered shortly after the Final Smash Presentation. A lot of members here (myself included) were a little shook by these two at the time and I think it would've been much worse if for the two years between the end of DLC and Ultimate's announcement, we would hold a grudge against Sakurai for doing this. However, not only do I think complaining about it is redundant since Ultimate is shaping up to be the game we have dreamed of, but you're ridiculous in wanting to boycott this game just because of this incident. You didn't have to buy the DLC in the first place. Besides, why be this way when you can look forward to a 66+ character roster and 80+ stages coming in the base game on Day 1?
More power to you if you are just not interested, but it would be best for all parties if you didn't act obnoxious about a certain character not getting in.
Besides, we all know who the REAL Ballot winner was:

Spoiler

 

[Hinata]

Kind of hard not to feel smug when you've seen "haha u mad?" and "lol so delusional" posts from Bayonetta fans for the last few years whenever someone even hints at the ballot being rigged.

Well, now you can continue to be mad as you sit with the knowledge that the ballot was rigged, and there's not a thing you can do about it.

Forgive me if this is obvious, but in "Pic related", is Pic referring to picture? I can't figure out what connection Skull Kid or Dark Matter has to pictures.

"Pic Related" refers to this picture, which was included with the leak.

 

[Impa4Smash]

Forgive me if this is obvious, but in "Pic related", is Pic referring to picture? I can't figure out what connection Skull Kid or Dark Matter has to pictures.

Edit: Post 300! That's about 17 posts per year!

The "hahaha" is what seems Skull Kid related. Because of his iconic laugh. It also just kind of looks like Dark Matter from Kirby. Kind of

 

[PhantomShab]

Well, now you can continue to be mad as you sit with the knowledge that the ballot was rigged, and there's not a thing you can do about it.

One of us definitely seems mad here but it ain't me lol.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

the ballot, itself, is not a sham.

It's a much different story if Ultimate came out and they added no new characters or they didn't look like they were listening to fan choices and just added in the first character Sakurai said at the lunch table, but, so far this doesn't look to be the case.

"A lot of returning veterans were also requested on the ballot"

they were already working on this game and planned to bring them all back sooo

"There's not many newcomers, but here's one"

it's literally the most requested nintendo character

there really isn't much room for complaining, maybe there will be a little bit more once we see the newcomers, but i highly doubt it

also,

Besides, why act so entitled when you have a 66+ character roster and 80+ stages coming in the base game on Day 1?

While I'm not the biggest fan of the wording, he's right you know.

 

[KMDP]

Forgive me if this is obvious, but in "Pic related", is Pic referring to picture? I can't figure out what connection Skull Kid or Dark Matter has to pictures.

Edit: Post 300! That's about 17 posts per year!

The leaker is referring to the picture they use for the post's icon, a picture of a black sphere with a single eye laughing ominously.

 

[StormC]

Well, yeah. But would they have voted for Geno (and done so well, if the comment box meant anything) over their guy?

I'm British (a European Country), and I know nothing about Geno except that he is a puppet and appeared in Super Mario RPG, so I don't care for him one way or the other. Had I voted for him (and I didn't) any vote I could have cast would have been extremely shallow, and I was pretty casual back during the ballot.

Being well known in the Smash Community doesn't mean a whole lot when there were millions of votes.

The Smash community were the primary voters though. 1.8 million is not a huge sample size of votes considering how many copies these games sold, and how many of those votes were probably doubles. I don't think Geno placed especially high on the ballot but I think it's a safe bet that the people who were organizing and rallying characters were reflected in the ballot to a realistic degree.

 

[Zinith]

Edit: Post 300! That's about 17 posts per year!

I make like 17 posts per half a day!! That's either admirable or concerning for me...

 

[Wambo]

You say this like Geno wouldn't have immediately have come back in Ultimate anyways. EVERYONE IS HERE and all that.

It's like you didn't even read what I said.

If you wanted Geno in Smash, and you owned Smash Wii U and they announced him as DLC, that's fantastic! You can now play as Geno like you've always wanted!

But let's imagine he was your absolute most-wanted character, meaning you were satisfied with Smash Wii U's roster and everything it had to offer. Then, years later, Smash Ultimate is announced and it has everyone in it, including Geno; What is motivating you to buy a Switch and pick up this game? You already have Geno! You main him all the time online and absolutely love playing him in Smash Wii U, so why would you want Smash Switch if, regardless of who was eventually announced, you didn't like any of the veterans or newcomers?

I mean, personally, I think Smash Wii U is incredibly lacking in modes and decent stages, but someone out there thinks differently. Hell, you think differently. Believe me, from a marketing standpoint, it makes sense to include the ballot winners in the next Smash game. It's like a game of chess: if you take out all of your opponent's strongest pieces, all you're left with are pawns. And who likes playing with just pawns?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

The ballot thing doesn't much surprise me at all. It still comes off as being completely truthful for the most part. The only thing that seems to be wrong is Bayonetta was chosen because of the ballot. That's it. Her votes were still genuine, even if technically in vain. They still used it and said they'd "consider" a character for Smash 3DS and Wii U, meaning it didn't guarantee a character for the current game, and outright said it'd be used for potential future games.

Nothing was really rigged the way I see it. Because there was nothing to rig in the first place.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

It also says "we'll consider turning that character into a Smash fighter!"

You do realize that "among realizable characters" can mean a multitude of things right?

I think these two users summed things up quite nicely. Ya'll are grasping at straws at this point.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

It's kind of funny to have seen all this moaning and groaning about how Sakurai/Nintendo "rigged" the ballot. I mean, weren't most of you here voting multiple times in the ballot? You broke any "contract" by attempting to "rig" the system already, so why the faux outrage? Is it just gimmetarianism? Would you care if the ballot "winner" (as in, was put in as DLC) had been your number one choice?

I didn't really care that Bayonetta (or Corrin, or whoever) "won" the ballot back then, whether or not it was a true democratic vote tally or not (and it wasn't either way; I remember loads of people talking about their cheating on Smashboards). I voted once for Ridley myself. For all this 17 years (on and off) of speculation, I have learned to not trust my interpretation of official words as being THE TRUTH, understanding that there are obstacles in transmission of information, especially when the primary source is Japanese, and my source is an English translation. I know a lot of people are not necessarily the self-reflective type, so questioning your assumptions may not be something you ever consider, but I would recommend we all do so. It makes you a lot less pointlessly angry, and helps you temper your expectations in future.

....

You know for all the ******** we have done...

He's got us there....

Maybe we were all assholes.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

i'm just gonna say this flat-out so it's few enough words:

guys, the ballot is probably gonna help pick out the newcomers for this game, along with other fan requesting polls and stuff.

The ballot thing doesn't much surprise me at all. It still comes off as being completely truthful for the most part. The only thing that seems to be wrong is Bayonetta was chosen because of the ballot. That's it. Her votes were still genuine, even if technically in vain. They still used it and said they'd "consider" a character for Smash 3DS and Wii U, meaning it didn't guarantee a character for the current game, and outright said it'd be used for potential future games.

Nothing was really rigged the way I see it. Because there was nothing to rig in the first place.

hang on there just a second, without the exact statistics, we won't ever know that for sure.

Granted, it's silly to assume that they lied just to throw Bayonetta on there anyways, so...

 

[StormC]

If everyone could vote honestly 1 and done they would. But if everyone is going to cheat... then you have to cheat to win. It sucks but it's the nature of the game. If Nintendo was so concerned about the ballot being botted or something, they shouldn't have made it so easy. Force people to vote with Miiverse accounts or something.

 

[KMDP]

The Smash community were the primary voters though. 1.8 million is not a huge sample size of votes considering how many copies these games sold, and how many of those votes were probably doubles. I don't think Geno placed especially high on the ballot but I think it's a safe bet that the people who were organizing and rallying characters were reflected in the ballot to a realistic degree.

The Smash Community (or rather, the hardcore Smash Community: i.e. Smash Boards, GameFAQS, Reddit and 4Chan), is ultimately a small fish in a big pond. A few thousand people (maybe as high as 10 thousand) compared to the 1.8 million.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

You do realize that "among realizable characters" can mean a multitude of things right?

this. this so much.

also with bayo, I'll just say this much: even if bayo's results were a sham, it wouldn't be the first time a company in games has mishandled surveying statistics in their favor. frankly, who cares? unless you have forced ethics with actual consequences, they sure don't. end of story.

the rest can't really be argued as a sham, especially since, again, we're getting the roster that everyone back in the brawl days on smashboards and nsider would have killed for.