Oh god more Pokémon debates. Since everyone has been talking about Lycanroc recently, I might as well go deeper into this (obviously).
So starting off with the obvious question. Why would Sakurai pick Lycanroc of all things?
One of the things Sakurai looks when selecting new characters, and essentially a new Pokémon, is it’s uniqueness. Can this character stand out and bring in something new from the cast? Lycanroc easily fills this out, we’ve yet to see any character in Smash use earth like abilities, and the only move that was Rock based “Rock Smash” was removed. Having an earth based fighter can lead to interesting moves like spawning pillars and rock edges for Smash attacks and specials, etc. in ways that the cast hasn’t done. And that isn’t taking into account the other things like different forms, whatever boost mechanic Dusk has, and each forms unique attack and ability, and having two forms being a quadruped, this already kills a lot of birds with a single damn stone.
You can argue another character, Isaac can fill this motif, but even then, Isaac would include so many other things that he is well known that he can possibly pull from his gargantuan move list that Isaac and Lycanroc would be distinct enough to not be in each other’s way, with varying different playstyles. (Not to mention the whole being a wolf and a Human sorcerer).
Now onto the next question, There’s tons of other possible unique Gen 7 Pokémon that can be unique, why does Lycanroc have an edge over them?
This is where it’s presence comes into play. Another aspect that Sakurai looks when selecting a new Pokémon is if the Pokémon is going to play a big part of the current generation, since A) usually the character who is main focus is the one that gets into Smash, and B) it would usually determine which is the most likely to be popular.
Lycanroc also wins here. Ever since the beginning of Sun and Moon’s run, Lycanroc has been played up to be a big part of Sun and Moon. The Midday and Midnight forms were big when they were first revealed and were being shown in the things like merchandise, advertising, and even held important roles during the Rockruff arc and were shown off the earliest in the anime. Not to mention the Midnight and Midday forms were shown to be popular among the Pokémon crowd. Not to mention, that Ash’s main Pokémon is a Lycanroc, and a new form, Dusk, which leads into another whole can of worms. Dusk has been one of the biggest Pokémon to have a presence this generation, ever since 2017 when it was first revealed to be advertised for USUM and became Ash’s main Pokémon for an entire year.
Incoming small rant:
Forget your damn murals, forget how Incineroar is out of the blue suddenly going to become this big thing for Ash when it’s been two years of development for Ash’s team, when his Litten JUST evolved into a torrocat a month ago when his Lycanroc/Rockruff had a major plot points for the past entire anime run, and the upcoming arc seems nothing related to Torrocat in any ways. It’s clear, Lycanroc was pushed from the start and has surpassed that of the starters. Even if Dusk wasn’t available, the Midday and Midnight forms still had a big presence even for the beginning of Gen 7.
End small rant.
Lycanroc has the benefit of BOTH presence AND uniqueness. That’s why they are people pushing the damn thing in the first place, if it didn’t have it’s unique abilities it would’ve been another Chrom situation, and clearly a lot of us learned that unless your an easy echo, this isn’t likely.
Finally, here’s one last question. What about their concept art? It doesn’t really stand out as much compared to the starters.
That is in fact a good question. However, one reference sheet alone isn’t enough to make a character.
In fact, Sakurai even said he received SEVERAL illustrations and references from Game Freak to decide on Greninja. The concept art is solely meant to show how they look like and maybe some in character actions, however, he most likely had more reference sheet at his disposal to simulate moves. And even then, Sakurai made sure he waited until X and Y were near the end of development to get more information about the Pokémon in general. The same could possibly apply here,with by waiting until early mid 2016, Sun and Moon, were practically done at that point and had more finalized design for all the Pokemon, allowing Sakurai more information about each of them to allow him to pick which is possibly the best option to choose from.
So what does this have to with Lycanroc? Well, Sakurai would have known about them being the planned big Pokémon stars of the seventh generation, and with how Sakurai always first looks into the characters’ potential moveset, he would’ve ended up learning more about them and with them being earth benders with multiple forms and unique abilites, and even it’s Dusk form, and exposed to what makes Lycanroc stand apart from everyone else.
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So this is why I think Lycanroc is likely in my eyes. I used to believe that it would’ve been Decidueye and even Incineroar as a possibility when I first speculated about Smash Ultimate, but as the recent events unfolded and the more I learned about Lycanroc and what they can bring, they suddenly seemed like one of the most likely characters. Even with the recent speculation about Incineroar, I looked more into it and so far, Ash’s Litten JUST evolved in a previous episode with Kukui’s (Masked Royal’s) Incineroar, and with another arc that seems to be even more focused on Necromza and hints at Lycanroc playing a part yet again near the end of this year, it doesn’t seem plausible with how much their building Ash’s and his Lycanroc’s relationship so far.
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