I think the Smash community loses its mind far too easily. When a new Smash game is announced, of course the first thing one will do is speculate about what newcomers will be added, but I think most people tend to get so caught up in their beloved characters that they expect them. Its OK to expect a character, (so long as you're willing to bear the disappointment if they don't get in), but I feel that a lot of people either 1: come up with their own basis for character addition that fits the characters they want and judge everything by it, 2: make assumptions that haven't been confirmed by Sakurai or other legitimate sources and judge only by those standards, 3: corrupt something said by an official source or otherwise use it out of context to support the characters they want and attack the characters they don't want. Speculation in the community is alright, but it's ridiculous that people always assume that what is commonly speculated is just as good as confirmed.
If Sakurai has shown us anything, it's how narrow-minded we are as a community. If we're ever going to predict what Sakurai will do next, we need to stop judging a character's chances on the basis of where they fit in their own game, and start judging based on what that character would do for Smash. That's not to say representation of a series doesn't mean a lot to Smash, which it does. It's to say we need to think outside the box if we want to have a chance at predicting which characters will get in.
We need to think of characters as their own entities, and ask ourselves "what would this character do for Smash?" Only Sakurai's judgement of the answer will determine whether or not a character will be in. I only hope for the best from the remainder of Sakurai's work on SSB WiiU and 3DS. Even if "the best" isn't the same as what I want. I've trusted Sakurai to get it right every time, and he's never disappointed me. I'll be pleased with his decision no matter what.
Spazzy_D
, @SmashChu and
PushDustIn
discuss how speculation has gone on for over three years within the Smash Community. The topics covered are Smash Speculation Before DLC, DLC Development, Is the Ballot More Suggestion than Popularity, the Onslaught of Rumors, and Questions from Fans. For the full list of articles mentioned in the podcast, refer to the guidepost for the SourceCast written by the Source Gaming team.
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