SSB4 Rumours and Leaks

[Kirbunny431]

SSB64 was also the first game in the series, so you could argue that they weren't even really trying that hard to find retro/WTF reps at the time. The pattern didn't become truly apparent until Melee and Brawl each had a WTF and a retro rep.

 

[Gaxel]

I wouldn't want that roster mainly b/c of Chrom, I think FE's new rep HAS to be female. The females are too awesome in that game not to have one represent them.

As for the rest of the leaks:

ALL Brawl veterans- Ok with this
Mewtwo is coming back.- WANT

Newcomers:
Ridley- Ok with, but I still don't think he's in.
Isaac- Please stay an AT, I didn't want Little Mac either
King K. Rool- I'm ok with him, he's one of my top ten I guess
Andy- Don't know him that well but the game he comes from seems cool so I'd be ok with
Saki- Once again, stay an AT
Ghirahim- Don't want a Zelda newcomer but i we have to have one make it Mask Salesman or Tingle (Which both won't happen either)
Palutena- HECK YES!! Most wanted besides Micaiah
Chrom- See above. I don't want him.
Mii- No just no......
Pac-Man- Just like the Miis I don't want him at all. I rather have Prof. Layton or Phoenix Wright.

It's like you want all of your newcomers to be female, not just the FE reps...

 

[The Light Music Club]

It's like you want all of your newcomers to be female, not just the FE reps...

My top ten wants at this point are:
Micaiah, Palutena, Prof. Layton, Mewtwo, Neku, Roy, Chrono, Phoenix Wright, King K Rool, Donbe + Hikari, and Gold Trainer

 

[esmooov]

So, I was crunching some numbers on Nintendo franchise sales (source: vgchartz.com) and I thought I'd share some observations on how sales data might inform how many reps each franchise will receive. This analysis is entirely hypothetical based on the premise that the more titles a franchise moves, the more reps it should have in Smash Bros. The idea here is that the more games sold, the more consumers are familiar with the cast from the series. More familiarity means more fantasy "who would win in a fight"s, more fan service, more interest to non-core buyers of the Smash series. After all, Smash fans are a pretty invariant group of consumers. They are vary likely to purchase the game, regardless of roster. To be clear, I'm neither arguing that this is the metric Sakurai should use, nor claiming that this is the metric he does use. Merely, IF sales are considered, this is how they would/shoukd inform the decision.

Throughout the following I will use the measure of "representativeness" which is (millions of games sold before of slightly after smash bros release) / (number of reps). Basically "representativeness" means each rep carries how many millions of copies of thier franchise, representing it in Smash. You can't compare representativeness in absolute numbers from Smash to Smash because more games have been sold total. I consider all games sold in the franchise, not just the recent ones, assuming that even 20 year-old hits still inform general awareness of a game property.

That said, what I noticed:

- Currently, with 5 confirmed reps, the Pokemon and Mario franchises (Bros, Kart, Party, etc) are still the most underrepresented.
Pokemon: 230 million sales total, 94 million since 2005. Every confirmed SSB4 Pokemon rep stands for 115 million sales
Mario: 500 million sales in total and 247 million since 2005, every confirmed SSB4 Mario rep stands for 100 million sales.

In Brawl, every Mario rep stood for 80 million in sales, and every Pokemon for 48 million. Even if Pokemon gets the 2 expected (Trainer and Puff), it will still be grossly underrepresented (compared to sales: 1 pokemon for 57 million in sales). The same goes for the 2 expected mario vets. Mario will still pull 77 million per rep. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see more than 2 additional reps from each of these series.

- Donkey Kong looks poised for a third slot.
From 2005-2009 DK only moved 2.93 million copies. From 2010 to now it has moved 10.05 million. Already the fourth most underrepresented franchise at 32 million copies / rep, a third DK rep seems all-but-inevitable. DK is behind WiiFit (which moved 44 million copies). It's unlikely WiiFit would get another rep.

- Animal Crossing has a huge market share for its single rep
Animal Crossing has moved 26 million total and 23 million since 2005. Only, DK, Mario, Kirby, Pokemon, Zelda, and Wii Fit have moved more. Indeed, Animal Crossing, with one rep, has sold more copies than Metroid and Fire Emblem combined, yet both Metroid and FE have 2 reps a piece. (Counting ZSS as a separate rep)

- Starfox may only have 2-3 reps.
Starfox has only moved 11.27 million copies total and only 2.39 since 2005. Even with just one confirmed rep, that's 11 million per rep (the lowest of the 3+ rep franchises). Of course, in Brawl every rep backed only 3.5 million copies sold.

- F-Zero hasn't had a new game out in the 2005 - Now era

- Kid Icarus is already over-represented
Not to dishearten Palutena supporters but the KI franchise has only moved 2.88 million copies total. With 2 reps, KI would hold 1.4 million copies per rep. Compare to Fire Emblem's likely 2 reps at 3.5 million a piece.

- Mother/Earthbound is in a world of its own
With 1.67 million in total sales, it's hard to justify even two reps.

Those are all the interesting bits I've observed for now. Lemme know what ya'll think.

 

[TheAnvil]

I don't see how Chrom would play anything like Marth or Ike

- Hair -- Have you seen that guys hair? Seriously
- Falcion
- Support System
- Counter

That's just off the top of my head. Hell, he could even use skills from the other classes.

Dixie is just another generic monkey from a long line of games that do average (at best) sales. If you want to stay true to the character, his only real tool is her hair, and who in the hell wants to fight with hair?. Even if every move she had was different, she still wouldn't be unique because he wouldn't do anything that isn't already done. There are only so many ways a character can be a monkey and still have a compelling moveset.

And even if Chrom was a clone, which he wouldn't be. He's from Fire Emblem. A game series that has sold roughly 100 trillion games, and has appeared in huge amounts of popular culture (including The Simpsons and Futurama). Fire Emblem is a gaming icon, comparing the Fire Emblem franchise to DK is laughable.

Nice try, it would have been funnier had you finished it after the "he could even use skills from other classes" bit though.

 

[Gaxel]

I like how much bickering goes on before every single Smash Bros release on who should get in and who shouldn't...

Sakurai always ends up getting us to like every single newcomer that he adds to any Smash game, it's freaking magic.

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

Exactly why are people arguing about the validity of Chrom and Dixie?

This entire thread is a fiasco.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

This entire thread is a fiasco.

Saying that as if it's news.

I wonder if they'll show off a bunch of Final Smashes in the direct. That could do something to the Palutena leak.

 

[StupendousMike]

I was looking at this and was just about to post something about it. I'm fine with this list of Newcomers (though im sick of everybody wanting Chibi-Robo all o the sudden), but i do think this is fake.

Also am I the only one getting sick of people calling lists like this "too safe" because there arent 2 WTF characters. If you think about it in the past we Havent had 2 WTF characters, we've had 1 WTF character and a Retro newcomer, since the original game:
SSB64: WTF:Captain Falcon (Did anybody know who he even was before this game) Retro:Ness
Melee: WTF: Mr.Game and Watch Retro: Ice Climbers
Brawl: WTF: R.O.B. Retro: Pit
and then if we go off this "leak" and the comments following...
SSB4 WTF: WFT Retro:Takamaru

The only reason whjy people are expecting Takamaru/Sable Prince/Chibi-Robo and think they are too safe of picks are eacuse they are in every leak since this past winter (or earlier)

Ness was Retro? How? There were only five years between EarthBound and Smash 64. EarthBound even came out the same year as Super Metroid, which was Samus's most recent appearance by the time Smash came out. Was Samus Retro, too?

 

[Midge]

Ness was Retro? How? There were only five years between EarthBound and Smash 64. EarthBound even came out the same year as Super Metroid, which was Samus's most recent appearance by the time Smash came out. Was Samus Retro, too?

Ok even if the point about Ness was flawed, see Kirbunny's post above. My point about people taking this whole "too safe picks" thing way too seriously still stands.

 

[BKupa666]

Exactly why are people arguing about the validity of Chrom and Dixie?

This entire thread is a fiasco.

Pointing out hypocrisy, that's all.

@ Extrain , are you copying over one of this Zerooooooooo guy's responses, or are you commenting on his earlier posts? I can't tell up there.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

SSB64 was also the first game in the series, so you could argue that they weren't even really trying that hard to find retro/WTF reps at the time. The pattern didn't become truly apparent until Melee and Brawl each had a WTF and a retro rep.

While I do agree with this, I will say that 2 a pattern does not make. If it happens the same way in Smash 4, then yes, it might as well be a pattern, but as of now, it's difficult to tell.

 

[Taojaz]

Nice try, it would have been funnier had you finished it after the "he could even use skills from other classes" bit though.

Oh god, you're on here too...guess I have to defend Chrom now.

Chrom has more possible gimmicks than almost any other possible newcomer. He could use Pair Up with Robin, Lucina or Lissa, he could use the convoy to switch between a sword and a lance and become a dual-stance character, he could use the class-change system and utilize powers from other classes, etc. etc. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he doesn't have anything to offer.

 

[EmbersToAshes]

So, I was crunching some numbers on Nintendo franchise sales (source: vgchartz.com) and I thought I'd share some observations on how sales data might inform how many reps each franchise will receive. This analysis is entirely hypothetical based on the premise that the more titles a franchise moves, the more reps it should have in Smash Bros. The idea here is that the more games sold, the more consumers are familiar with the cast from the series. More familiarity means more fantasy "who would win in a fight"s, more fan service, more interest to non-core buyers of the Smash series. After all, Smash fans are a pretty invariant group of consumers. They are vary likely to purchase the game, regardless of roster. To be clear, I'm neither arguing that this is the metric Sakurai should use, nor claiming that this is the metric he does use. Merely, IF sales are considered, this is how they would/shoukd inform the decision.

Throughout the following I will use the measure of "representativeness" which is (millions of games sold before of slightly after smash bros release) / (number of reps). Basically "representativeness" means each rep carries how many millions of copies of thier franchise, representing it in Smash. You can't compare representativeness in absolute numbers from Smash to Smash because more games have been sold total. I consider all games sold in the franchise, not just the recent ones, assuming that even 20 year-old hits still inform general awareness of a game property.

That said, what I noticed:

- Currently, with 5 confirmed reps, the Pokemon and Mario franchises (Bros, Kart, Party, etc) are still the most underrepresented.
Pokemon: 230 million sales total, 94 million since 2005. Every confirmed SSB4 Pokemon rep stands for 115 million sales
Mario: 500 million sales in total and 247 million since 2005, every confirmed SSB4 Mario rep stands for 100 million sales.

In Brawl, every Mario rep stood for 80 million in sales, and every Pokemon for 48 million. Even if Pokemon gets the 2 expected (Trainer and Puff), it will still be grossly underrepresented (compared to sales: 1 pokemon for 57 million in sales). The same goes for the 2 expected mario vets. Mario will still pull 77 million per rep. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see more than 2 additional reps from each of these series.

- Donkey Kong looks poised for a third slot.
From 2005-2009 DK only moved 2.93 million copies. From 2010 to now it has moved 10.05 million. Already the fourth most underrepresented franchise at 32 million copies / rep, a third DK rep seems all-but-inevitable. DK is behind WiiFit (which moved 44 million copies). It's unlikely WiiFit would get another rep.

- Animal Crossing has a huge market share for its single rep
Animal Crossing has moved 26 million total and 23 million since 2005. Only, DK, Mario, Kirby, Pokemon, Zelda, and Wii Fit have moved more. Indeed, Animal Crossing, with one rep, has sold more copies than Metroid and Fire Emblem combined, yet both Metroid and FE have 2 reps a piece. (Counting ZSS as a separate rep)

- Starfox may only have 2-3 reps.
Starfox has only moved 11.27 million copies total and only 2.39 since 2005. Even with just one confirmed rep, that's 11 million per rep (the lowest of the 3+ rep franchises). Of course, in Brawl every rep backed only 3.5 million copies sold.

- F-Zero hasn't had a new game out in the 2005 - Now era

- Kid Icarus is already over-represented
Not to dishearten Palutena supporters but the KI franchise has only moved 2.88 million copies total. With 2 reps, KI would hold 1.4 million copies per rep. Compare to Fire Emblem's likely 2 reps at 3.5 million a piece.

- Mother/Earthbound is in a world of its own
With 1.67 million in total sales, it's hard to justify even two reps.

Those are all the interesting bits I've observed for now. Lemme know what ya'll think.

While what you have found is very interesting, I think this just goes to show that sales statistics mean bugger all when it comes to selecting newcomers. The gross over-representation of Star Fox, Earthbound etc. statistically only proves that it doesn't really make too much of an impact upon who's in and who's out. It seems to me that popularity and fan response to characters are the primary categories for inclusion, as is the use of Smash as a re-launch pad for retro characters.

 

[BiscuitTricks]

New leak, not that great, but we might as well keep track of them all to have more fun throwing them out later:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

Changing knockback, damage and priority?

That sounds really odd and highly unlikely.

 

[Extrain]

The worst thought for me is that any of these fake leakers could be the exact same people using a different account and we'll never know.

Pointing out hypocrisy, that's all.

@ Extrain , are you copying over one of this Zerooooooooo guy's responses, or are you commenting on his earlier posts? I can't tell up there.

I was copying his post. I should have pointed that out, my apologies.

Nina'd I see.
Not sure how I feel about that "Direct Leak".

 

[KaBlamJamDan]

The worst thought for me is that any of these fake leakers could be the exact same people using a different account and we'll never know.

I was copying his post. I should have pointed that out, my apologies.

Has this been posted? http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

Uh

New leak, not that great, but we might as well keep track of them all to have more fun throwing them out later:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

Anyway, I'm not a fan of that whole changing the balancing thing; seem like it would get broken very easily.

 

[Z25]

Interesting new leak although I feel someone completely left field like sandbag will be shown.

 

[Redmagpie93]

Yeah...man, why do the one-shot Zelda villain characters have to be so cool and interesting and Smash-moveset-makeable, only to be...one shot Zelda villains with virtually no chance? Sigh.

I'd take Girahim, Zant, Midna+Wolf Link over any other 5th zelda rep possibility.

Vaati wasn't one-shot and has pretty cool potential (and due to the visual similarities a Girahim alt-skin wouldn't be too big of a stretch xD )

 

[Starbound]

New leak, not that great, but we might as well keep track of them all to have more fun throwing them out later:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

This would be pretty fantastic. Too bad it probably isn't true.

 

[Creo]

So, I was crunching some numbers on Nintendo franchise sales (source: vgchartz.com) and I thought I'd share some observations on how sales data might inform how many reps each franchise will receive. This analysis is entirely hypothetical based on the premise that the more titles a franchise moves, the more reps it should have in Smash Bros. The idea here is that the more games sold, the more consumers are familiar with the cast from the series. More familiarity means more fantasy "who would win in a fight"s, more fan service, more interest to non-core buyers of the Smash series. After all, Smash fans are a pretty invariant group of consumers. They are vary likely to purchase the game, regardless of roster. To be clear, I'm neither arguing that this is the metric Sakurai should use, nor claiming that this is the metric he does use. Merely, IF sales are considered, this is how they would/shoukd inform the decision.

Throughout the following I will use the measure of "representativeness" which is (millions of games sold before of slightly after smash bros release) / (number of reps). Basically "representativeness" means each rep carries how many millions of copies of thier franchise, representing it in Smash. You can't compare representativeness in absolute numbers from Smash to Smash because more games have been sold total. I consider all games sold in the franchise, not just the recent ones, assuming that even 20 year-old hits still inform general awareness of a game property.

That said, what I noticed:

- Currently, with 5 confirmed reps, the Pokemon and Mario franchises (Bros, Kart, Party, etc) are still the most underrepresented.
Pokemon: 230 million sales total, 94 million since 2005. Every confirmed SSB4 Pokemon rep stands for 115 million sales
Mario: 500 million sales in total and 247 million since 2005, every confirmed SSB4 Mario rep stands for 100 million sales.

In Brawl, every Mario rep stood for 80 million in sales, and every Pokemon for 48 million. Even if Pokemon gets the 2 expected (Trainer and Puff), it will still be grossly underrepresented (compared to sales: 1 pokemon for 57 million in sales). The same goes for the 2 expected mario vets. Mario will still pull 77 million per rep. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see more than 2 additional reps from each of these series.

- Donkey Kong looks poised for a third slot.
From 2005-2009 DK only moved 2.93 million copies. From 2010 to now it has moved 10.05 million. Already the fourth most underrepresented franchise at 32 million copies / rep, a third DK rep seems all-but-inevitable. DK is behind WiiFit (which moved 44 million copies). It's unlikely WiiFit would get another rep.

- Animal Crossing has a huge market share for its single rep
Animal Crossing has moved 26 million total and 23 million since 2005. Only, DK, Mario, Kirby, Pokemon, Zelda, and Wii Fit have moved more. Indeed, Animal Crossing, with one rep, has sold more copies than Metroid and Fire Emblem combined, yet both Metroid and FE have 2 reps a piece. (Counting ZSS as a separate rep)

- Starfox may only have 2-3 reps.
Starfox has only moved 11.27 million copies total and only 2.39 since 2005. Even with just one confirmed rep, that's 11 million per rep (the lowest of the 3+ rep franchises). Of course, in Brawl every rep backed only 3.5 million copies sold.

- F-Zero hasn't had a new game out in the 2005 - Now era

- Kid Icarus is already over-represented
Not to dishearten Palutena supporters but the KI franchise has only moved 2.88 million copies total. With 2 reps, KI would hold 1.4 million copies per rep. Compare to Fire Emblem's likely 2 reps at 3.5 million a piece.

- Mother/Earthbound is in a world of its own
With 1.67 million in total sales, it's hard to justify even two reps.

Those are all the interesting bits I've observed for now. Lemme know what ya'll think.

With this, I feel that it is safe to conclude that sales of any said franchise are not conclusive to the amount of character's that they receive. Although none of us can be 100% certain as to what exactly qualifies a character, I'd assume character demand, popularity, history and fandom / appeal are notable factors that we can go by, if any at all.

By the way, that's quite the first post. Welcome to the community, my friend.

 

[Zynux]

New leak, not that great, but we might as well keep track of them all to have more fun throwing them out later:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

...Namco sure loves to leak things don't they?

With that said, not much can be said about train of thought behind this leak (except for maybe Namco themselves leaking the trailer...would it really be someone from Namco?), however I am glad that it's very specific so it won't live for very long if it even gets a slight detail wrong. We'll know Tuesday for sure.

 

[Hinata]

- Kid Icarus is already over-represented
Not to dishearten Palutena supporters but the KI franchise has only moved 2.88 million copies total. With 2 reps, KI would hold 1.4 million copies per rep. Compare to Fire Emblem's likely 2 reps at 3.5 million a piece.

I know this is entirely hypothetical, and is based on numbers that aren't even considered as far as Smash goes, but this statement makes me really angry for some reason.

 

[Banjodorf]

New leak, not that great, but we might as well keep track of them all to have more fun throwing them out later:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/68968849

Spoiler

It seems that some information on the SSB Direct has been leaked through Namco, the leaks are:
-The Direct will start with a general trailer like the E3 one with the reveal of Shulk
-Gameplay changes will be discussed by Sakurai
-A new stage based on Kirby's Triple Deluxe is planned to be shown
-Sakurai will discuss about character customization, which involves changing the knockback, damage and priority of the moves. There is a limit on how much you can change to balance the system
-Stage builder is shown, Sakurai uses an example to show how much it has improved
-Finally, Sakurai shows in-depth view of Rosalina, Little Mac and Shulk just like the developer's direct
-Some veterans have some changes, Ganondorf is used as an example
-The directs ends with a Mewtwo trailer

Well, that sure is an awesome one. Shame it doesn't mention a release date, or I'd love it 100%. But Shulk, Mewtwo, revamped Ganon and nothing terrible? Sounds like my kind of ****ing direct. Shame it's so fake.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Man these leaks are going to ruin the surprise for me if these are true.

 

[Con0rrrr]

Hey guys. I'm new to the website but I've lurked on this post since before this went past 100 pages so I'm no stranger. This isn't the place to introduce myself so I'll end that here.

What If find confusing though is why the "leakers" are choosing certain characters in all the leaks like they're playing it safe, and the characters they choose. I don't see the reason for Nintendo to add all these Japanese/unpopular in the US characters to the game. I would however expect Nintendo to give more representation to popular franchises instead of some crazy JRPG character no kid in the US has heard of. Not to say "US dominance" or something. But that is their biggest/2nd biggest market maybe after Japan so why add these characters no one really cares about. These characters like Prince Sable, Takamaru (maybe less him because he was in Nintendo World), and all these other characters with Japanese names, i just honestly don't understand those characters being in the game over a popular Mario or Pokemon character. Why would a kid want to buy a game with a bunch of crazy Japanese characters all with generic swords and JRPG weapons, when he could have Toad or Bowser Jr fighting Dixie Kong or Mewtwo or even their Mii for example?

I want to hear you guys' thoughts. I know a lot of you really like these characters in these Japanese titles (I do not care for those games, but to each their own. Maybe people in this thread enjoy those games and are biased to having them in Smash. I'm not, so here's some bias in the other direction) but when you look at Brawl's list of newcomers there is barely a name in there that no Western fan would know. Maybe not Lucas or Ike or even ROB, but you get my point when you look at the newcomers in that game. So that's just another thought to consider when reading these leaks mostly from 4chan that list a lot of names that barely anyone in the US or UK would recognize.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Hey guys. I'm new to the website but I've lurked on this post since before this went past 100 pages so I'm no stranger. This isn't the place to introduce myself so I'll end that here.

What If find confusing though is why the "leakers" are choosing certain characters in all the leaks like they're playing it safe, and the characters they choose. I don't see the reason for Nintendo to add all these Japanese/unpopular in the US characters to the game. I would however expect Nintendo to give more representation to popular franchises instead of some crazy JRPG character no kid in the US has heard of. Not to say "US dominance" or something. But that is their biggest/2nd biggest market maybe after Japan so why add these characters no one really cares about. These characters like Prince Sable, Takamaru (maybe less him because he was in Nintendo World), and all these other characters with Japanese names, i just honestly don't understand those characters being in the game over a popular Mario or Pokemon character. Why would a kid want to buy a game with a bunch of crazy Japanese characters all with generic swords and JRPG weapons, when he could have Toad or Bowser Jr fighting Dixie Kong or Mewtwo or even their Mii for example?

I want to hear you guys' thoughts. I know a lot of you really like these characters in these Japanese titles (I care for those games, but to each their own. Maybe people in this thread enjoy those games and are biased to having them in Smash. I'm not, so here's some bias in the other direction) but when you look at Brawl's list of newcomers there is barely a name in there that no Western fan would know. Maybe not Lucas or Ike or even ROB, but you get my point when you look at the newcomers in that game. So that's just another thought to consider when reading these leaks mostly from 4chan that list a lot of names that barely anyone in the US or UK would recognize.

You don't really know about these characters to justify that statement by looking at the words "Generic swords and JRPG weapons."

 

[Con0rrrr]

You don't really know about these characters to justify that statement by looking at the words "Generic swords and JRPG weapons."

While I'll admit I haven't played the games much. By looking them up I don't picture them+Characters we already had in Smash. Most names in Smash should be recognizable to people no matter where they live or where their interests are. Characters in your sig like Anna or Lip are what I'm talking about. And judging by the announced newcomers for Smash, they are catering towards Western fans.

 

[Taojaz]

While I'll admit I haven't played the games much. By looking them up I don't picture them+Characters we already had in Smash. Most names in Smash should be recognizable to people no matter where they live or where their interests are. Characters in your sig like Anna or Lip are what I'm talking about. And judging by the announced newcomers for Smash, they are catering towards Western fans.

Marth, Roy, Mr. Game & Watch, ROB, Ice Climbers, Pit, and Lucas all disagree.

 

[BluePikmin11]

While I'll admit I haven't played the games much. By looking them up I don't picture them+Characters we already had in Smash. Most names in Smash should be recognizable to people no matter where they live or where their interests are.

Your viewpoint is wrong, because Sakurai gave the opportunity to add the "used to be exclusive in Japan" FE characters in Melee.

 

[Sehnsucht]

Smash is partly about catering to the fans -- East and West -- but it is also meant to be a showcase of Nintendo's history. Ergo, more "obscure" characters have merit, since they serve to represent different aspects and era of Nintendo's gaming library.

 

[Wario Bros.]

Man these leaks are going to ruin the surprise for me if these are true.

Don't worry, NO ONE has EVER been successful at leaking Nintendo Direct.

Plus why are people are using Bandai Namco? Yes, they're developing Smash, but they haven't been acknowledged or heard from in MONTHS.

Sigh... people can't do their damn homework.

 

[HipsandChips]

K. Rool, Chibi-Robo, and Ridley?
Its not the most credible leak but I like it.

 

[Con0rrrr]

Marth, Roy, Mr. Game & Watch, ROB, Ice Climbers, Pit, and Lucas all disagree.

The thing with those characters is they all added something new to the game. And you could argue that the Ice Climbers, Pit, and G&W weren't recognizable anywhere at any time because they hadn't had a game in awhile. That!s the only reason i could see Takamaru. If they're gonna be in Smash, and not just be a WTF character like I said just now, they should have had a following and have had sales around the world. That's the reason I could see Shulk being in is because Xenoblade was really well received in the US and UK. I don't want my first impression here to be a bad one. I'm just giving another argument here because I do not think there will be more than one (if there even is one) Japanese centered character in Smash 4.

 

[gameb0ybryan]

"Okay this is "Zeroooo0" I managed to get ahold of a parody account I made from the Naruto Storm boards before.

I do understand that. No one has to believe anything, I'm just passing on information. I'm not forcing anyone to believe anything that I have to say. People can believe, people don't have to. He could be lying, or it could be the truth.

I don't mind the roster. Although it lacks a second Sonic rep (which I was holding out for but understand it's not likely), K. Rool's in. Not a fan of Chibi-Robi, as I have no clue who that is. Takamaru, Shulk don't interest me personally. The Mii is awful IMO, but the rest even though I don't know much about them, peak my interest."

This snark has to be Eren, the tone of voice is the same.
Honestly, this leak is GREAT, but we'll see in two days.
Nothing against Eren, but i'm sure this is him.

 

[Con0rrrr]

About the leak that was being discussed before I made my post. I like it all except for the customization idea. Unless it's sort of silly like Special Brawl, then it seems like another layer of smash that doesnt need to be added. Instead of tier lists, we'll have some crazy SS tier character because of some ridiculous customization someone online makes.

 

[Sehnsucht]

The thing with those characters is they all added something new to the game. And you could argue that the Ice Climbers, Pit, and G&W weren't recognizable anywhere at any time because they hadn't had a game in awhile. That!s the only reason i could see Takamaru. If they're gonna be in Smash, and not just be a WTF character like I said just now, they should have had a following and have had sales around the world. That's the reason I could see Shulk being in is because Xenoblade was really well received in the US and UK. I don't want my first impression here to be a bad one. I'm just giving another argument here because I do not one if not any character being only Japanese centric in Smash 4.

Have you seen the reaction of the Japanese fanbase to Little Mac's reveal, by any chance?

In the East, Little Mac (and by extension, the Punch-Out franchise) is not a very popular or known character. He is popular in the West, however, which implies that Sakurai is taking into account both Eastern and Western fanbases into account.

Mac's reception in the East is not unlike the West's reception to the Fire Emblem Boyz in Melee (Marth & Roy), as the Fire Emblem games were Japan-exclusive in that era. We're going to get characters that make more noise among Eastern audiences (e.g. Takamaru), and (if Mac is of any indication) we're going to get characters that make more noise among to Western audiences (e.g. Shulk, Ridley). That's just the way it is, because Sakurai can't afford to overly focus on one demographic at the detriment of another.

Sales are an indication of popularity, but popularity is not the sole factor for consideration. There is also moveset/playstyle potential, the uniqueness quotient, whether the character is deserving as someone who represents an aspect of Nintendo history, and so forth. The final roster needs to have a balance in terms of the different categories of characters it possesses.

Also, I'm fairly sure that Shulk is pretty popular in Japan. Perhaps someone with the numbers on hand could clarify this point.

 

[Banjodorf]

The thing with those characters is they all added something new to the game. And you could argue that the Ice Climbers, Pit, and G&W weren't recognizable anywhere at any time because they hadn't had a game in awhile. That!s the only reason i could see Takamaru. If they're gonna be in Smash, and not just be a WTF character like I said just now, they should have had a following and have had sales around the world. That's the reason I could see Shulk being in is because Xenoblade was really well received in the US and UK. I don't want my first impression here to be a bad one. I'm just giving another argument here because I do not think there will be more than one (if there even is one) Japanese centered character in Smash 4.

Shulk isn't really a "Japanese centered character." He's got an incredible following here in the US, just a much larger one in Japan. Operation Rainfall was noted by the developers, and according to Reggie, they'd planned for the game to be international all along. So really, he's just another Nintendo character, he's not lesser than anyone on the roster, and his popularity/the uniqueness of the sword he wields can really help his odds. And as far as I know, he would be the first of his genre to be repped in Smash.

Really obscurity is not a factor. Nor is recognizability, considering Sakurai mentioned no one asked for the Wii Fit Trainer, and honestly, I get the feeling no one even considered her to be her own actual character. Plus, the biggest thing is Roy, who was quite literally an advertisement for a Japan only game. Takamaru's been getting some Western exposure lately too, so that helps him quite a bit.

"Oh, that guy from the Nintendoland thing", they'll say. Just do remember, Smash often serves as a way to introduce characters to people. Ike was even a fairly obscure character to people who weren't up on Fire Emblem, because of how poorly advertised and niche it was prior to Brawl's release. Now Ike has all the fans.

Welcome to Smashboards, by the way!

 

[Con0rrrr]

Have you seen the reaction of the Japanese fanbase to Little Mac's reveal, by any chance?

In the East, Little Mac (and by extension, the Punch-Out franchise) is not a very popular or known character. He is popular in the West, however, which implies that Sakurai is taking into account both Eastern and Western fanbases into account.

Mac's reception in the East is not unlike the West's reception to the Fire Emblem Boyz in Melee (Marth & Roy), as the Fire Emblem games were Japan-exclusive in that era. We're going to get characters that make more noise among Eastern audiences (e.g. Takamaru), and (if Mac is of any indication) we're going to get characters that make more noise among to Western audiences (e.g. Shulk, Ridley). That's just the way it is, because Sakurai can't afford to overly focus one demographic at the detriment of another.

Sales are an indication of popularity, but popularity is not the sole factor for consideration. There is also moveset/playstyle potential, the uniqueness quotient, whether the character is deserving as someone who represents an aspect of Nintendo history, and so forth. The final roster needs to have a balance in terms of the different categories of characters it possesses.

Also, I'm fairly sure that Shulk is pretty popular in Japan. Perhaps someone with the numbers on hand could clarify this point.

Takamaru hasn't had a game in years if I'm not mistaken so I'm not sure if numbers will help. I do think he'll be in as a retro character though probably with a brand new design. And you're reassuring my point. Brawl (the most recent smash game as statistics from melee aren't necessarily accurate anymore) had barely any Eastern centric characters and the ones that you may consider easter centric either had some sort of big following in the west or were WTF characters no matter where you lived. When you look at Brawl's cast, the newcomers were either very recognizable all over the world, or were more western centric. And we're already seeing that same idea reflected in the announced newcomers. They're all big names, even Little Mac is recognizable. No one "leaked" Rosalina when she should have been more expected from the beginning rather than these Japanese characters, yet still before and after she was revealed the leakers are still resorting to these crazy one off Eastern characters.

And thanks Banjodorf for the welcome! What you're saying was sort of what I was trying to say. That at least Shulk and Takamaru have some chance over these other characters.