Sunrise, Sunset - Isaac for Smash Ultimate #GoldenSunday

[Skyblade12]

To change the topic, check this poll and how well Isaac did in it.

"Darean" is apparently Robin.

Why Robin is one of the most wanted to be cut and least wanted to return is beyond me. Fire Emblem may have too many characters, but why cut the one that represents the series best, has the most unique play style, and is the most fun to play?

 

[Skyblade12]

Hey, guys; someone on GFaqs (energyman-2289) posted this playlist of a YouTuber called Delzethin who makes (imo) really good character speculation for Smash.

Here is the Isaac one:

And here's the full playlist for those interested:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpD1oPUmLkSeoVAThbnpx7AM72jnqlSJg

I got a shout out in this video. I'm the Skyblade he mentions at the end who is the huge Isaac fan and his Patreon supporter. Del does good work, I think. I wish he would get more exposure. He could use it.

And this may be an ungimmicky moveset, but that's the thing about Isaac. It still represents him well and there's still dozens of other movesets and gimmicks that would work well for him. So much variety and potential.


Oh, shoot. Sorry for the double post. Stupid page was acting weird.

 

[Ura]

It's not really about justifying it. If you curse Golden Sun for this sin, then you have to really take a full look at your entire RPG library and ask the same question. I can understand if it gets on your nerves because of the talking sound effect sort of droning in your ear. This is doubly the case if you, like many others, are especially mindful of the length of the dialogue during scenes like that, but when isn't that the case with something that grinds your gears?

If there were not this full exposition happening and building up of lore, I posit that Golden Sun would be hurt because of it. In that scene there, they're building up the mystique of Lemuria. Anyone who has played the game remembers how neat it was that we finally got to go there to explore. Would it still have that mystique if you had scenes with minimal effort and even more minimal dialogue? How many stories in RPGs or video games in general have failed because they're terrible at explaining lore or what's occurring at the moment?

I understand the admonishment of the text and empathize with it, but it's a bit silly to impale the series and give it that stigma. Then you end up with the situation that we see now where most new players go through and only concentrate on how long and drawn out the dialogue is without even knowing what is being said in it. We'll agree to disagree on this, I guess.

Dude I love Golden Sun. The GBA games are among my favorite games of all time. I'm just saying that the scene didn't nearly have to be that long. There's a way you could work around that.

And I was half-joking about the scene. My post was intended for humorous effect lol.

 

[DogManStar]

I got a shout out in this video. I'm the Skyblade he mentions at the end who is the huge Isaac fan and his Patreon supporter. Del does good work, I think. I wish he would get more exposure. He could use it.

And this may be an ungimmicky moveset, but that's the thing about Isaac. It still represents him well and there's still dozens of other movesets and gimmicks that would work well for him. So much variety and potential.

Agreed. I just really want to see Isaac because I think he could be implemented in a variety of really interesting ways. I think he has some of the greatest moveset potential out of the popular suggestions I've seen for Smash so far.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

Hopefully Camelot can hurry up and get Aces out the door, finish up on their inevitable Mario Golf title, and finally focus on crafting a Golden Sun game for Switch. It's been far too long since Dark Dawn and it seems like they have finally dipped their toe into HD development enough to get the handle on it without it being too stressful. Hell, maybe we'll even see it before 2030.

 

[Ura]

Hell, maybe we'll even see it before 2030.

That's very assuring.

 

[LasermasterA]

Hopefully Camelot can hurry up and get Aces out the door, finish up on their inevitable Mario Golf title, and finally focus on crafting a Golden Sun game for Switch.

You forgot Mario Sports Superstars Switch.

 

[Hydewell]

Today, the results from the ballot which did r/smashbros 2 weeks ago were published: https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/89n2gq/official_rsmashbros_smash_switch_character/
Isaac was 6th, and, if we only count the 1st choice, he would be 2nd.
Full results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o-l2YWOx5yNDw6c-sl3_sZAsOoFgh-piXJa1iCyvQ48/edit#gid=0

You forgot Mario Sports Superstars Switch.

That title was done by Bandai Namco, except the golf and tennis ones, which were ported by Camelot.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Today, the results from the ballot which did r/smashbros 2 weeks ago were published: https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/89n2gq/official_rsmashbros_smash_switch_character/
Isaac was 6th, and, if we only count the 1st choice, he would be 2nd.
Full results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o-l2YWOx5yNDw6c-sl3_sZAsOoFgh-piXJa1iCyvQ48/edit#gid=0


That title was done by Bandai Namco, except the golf and tennis one, which were ported by Camelot

The hatred regarding the "cut veteran" poll is hilarious.

"Why are people voting for X character instead of Y?!? Y sucks more!!!"

 

[Arteen]

Today, the results from the ballot which did r/smashbros 2 weeks ago were published: https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/89n2gq/official_rsmashbros_smash_switch_character/
Isaac was 6th, and, if we only count the 1st choice, he would be 2nd.
Full results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o-l2YWOx5yNDw6c-sl3_sZAsOoFgh-piXJa1iCyvQ48/edit#gid=0

The love for Golden Sun after all these years never ceases to amaze me.

Isaac's poll placement is really good considering that he's only beaten by Assist Trophy poster child Waluigi, three third-party characters, and the perennially shafted King K. Rool.

He got more votes than Ridley.

 

[DustyPumpkin]

I know Dark Dawn isn't especially liked but god damn, Issac.
What a good, handsome design he got.

Also here's a neat animation by piikeisandaa on tumblr, who I will not personally link because NSFW

 

[Metocles]

The love for Golden Sun after all these years never ceases to amaze me.

Isaac's poll placement is really good considering that he's only beaten by Assist Trophy poster child Waluigi, three third-party characters, and the perennially shafted King K. Rool.

He got more votes than Ridley.

Golden Sun has always had that special allure that most good RPGs and games in general have. Something unique and memorable that you can't find elsewhere, which is really Nintendo games in general. How many games out there try to emulate the Legend of Zelda for instance? That's why it's pretty unfair we don't see more in a genre where sequels in some series are released like they're going out of style, even if they're not particularly interesting or warranted.

It was released on the wrong platform and under the wrong company. Should be a crime to sit on a great franchise and say, "Well RPGs aren't really us". Handhelds seem to be where great RPGs in general go to die (RIP Suikoden)

 

[Skyblade12]

Golden Sun has always had that special allure that most good RPGs and games in general have. Something unique and memorable that you can't find elsewhere, which is really Nintendo games in general. How many games out there try to emulate the Legend of Zelda for instance? That's why it's pretty unfair we don't see more in a genre where sequels in some series are released like they're going out of style, even if they're not particularly interesting or warranted.

It was released on the wrong platform and under the wrong company. Should be a crime to sit on a great franchise and say, "Well RPGs aren't really us". Handhelds seem to be where great RPGs in general go to die (RIP Suikoden)

There are plenty of games that try to emulate Zelda. Most just don’t have the polish, care, attention to detail, and focus on fun that makes Nintendo what they are.

 

[Accursed]

Uhh.

Is this thread supposed to be this dead?

 

[Organization XIII]

We're trying to match the series......

 

[Deleted member]

Uhh.

Is this thread supposed to be this dead?

To be fair, there's not a lot to talk about now, and most of the topics we could disscuss have already been discussed,and you can only talk so much about 1:17 of footage.

I could go back and post Golden Sun to make this thread more lively but....

...oh who am i kidding i love doing this:

Golden Sun 4-Koma posting is back BAYYYYYYBE!

 

[DogManStar]

Good to see some activity on here again, I was thinking of posting something to get some activity going again but I've had a busy past few days.

 

[Skyblade12]

I just didn’t want to double post.

If Djinn aren’t part of an Isaac move set, they should be items. Flint would make a great attack item.

 

[DogManStar]

I just didn’t want to double post.

If Djinn aren’t part of an Isaac move set, they should be items. Flint would make a great attack item.

Yeah, Djinn would be a neat item. Maybe even an assist trophy, should Isaac make the jump to playable. If Djinn are part of his moveset, I think a character like Saturos or one of the other Proxians could make a neat assist trophy.

 

[Metocles]

I just didn’t want to double post.

If Djinn aren’t part of an Isaac move set, they should be items. Flint would make a great attack item.

I actually really like the idea of using the djinni more in a moveset more than psynergy in some cases. An ideal moveset for me would have 2 or 3 psynergy moves but a bunch of djinn mixed in as well. There's Bane, Geode, Granite and Sap off the top of my head. And that's if you only stick to Venus. Since Isaac would probably be the only possible rep, you could have him use one of each element to really get the most out of the djinn potential. For instance the Jupiter djinn Zephr could be a recover move and Kite could maybe have you summon a clone to follow your moves for extra power when you attack.

Dunno about about everyone else but psynergy is probably what I least used in the game in favor of weapon releases and djinn/summons.

 

[Skyblade12]

Same here. Mostly because Psynergy took PP, while Djinn just had to be reset. Always afraid of running dry on PP. I used them fairly heavily on bosses, especially spells like Ragnarok and healing abilities, though. I did use Psynergy more on my later playthroughs.

We could make Djinn Isaac’s Smash attacks. Uncharged side Smash is Flint. Fully charged is Geode. Get different elemental Djinn for different directions. Then use Psynergy for Specials.

 

[Nauzgo]

So, there's one topic that only comes up here very rarely: do you prefer Isaac over Matthew and would you be pissed if Matthew makes it in instead of Isaac or would most of you be happy to at least have a Golden Sun rep at all? Personally I think there's too little talk about Matthew because he'll be most likely the main protagonist of further GS games (though the cliffhanger at the end of GS3 leaves room for speculation since Isaac has vanished I think). And I liked Matthew & GS3 pretty much tbh.

tl;dr, would you be okay with Matthew instead of Isaac?

 

[Skyblade12]

I wouldn't really like it.

There's a couple of big problems with Matthew, and his game. The first is that it resolved basically nothing. The entire story was a fetch quest. It was fun, but you wind up back exactly where you started, and with the entire conflict you're introduced to at the beginning of the game only having gotten worse, feeling as though not a single step has been taken towards solving it. And, since Dark Dawn also did nothing to resolve Isaac's conflict with Alex (as set up at the end of The Lost Age), it makes it hard to pass the torch. Matthew's on story was a fetch quest of minimal importance, and Isaac has a world shaking conflict built up that needs to be resolved.

Until Isaac's story can be finished and Matthew can actually start adventuring on his own, Isaac is going to feel like the primary hero of the series.

 

[Deleted member]

So, there's one topic that only comes up here very rarely: do you prefer Isaac over Matthew and would you be pissed if Matthew makes it in instead of Isaac or would most of you be happy to at least have a Golden Sun rep at all? Personally I think there's too little talk about Matthew because he'll be most likely the main protagonist of further GS games (though the cliffhanger at the end of GS3 leaves room for speculation since Isaac has vanished I think). And I liked Matthew & GS3 pretty much tbh.

tl;dr, would you be okay with Matthew instead of Isaac?

I'd rather have Isaac, but this is a case of "I'll take what I'm given".

 

[Hydewell]

Sakurai can always do an Olimar&Alph, considering both characters are very similar. But, honestly, i would take any character if that means Golden Sun has representation in the game except Kraden, death to this guy

 

[Deleted member]

Now I ain’t sayin’ he a gold digger, but he ain’t messin’ with no broke –

 

[SorrowOfAcheron]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I wouldn't like to see Move or a Psynergy hand at all for Isaac's specials. As a tether grab it'd be pretty cool.

I have something in mind for Djinn implementation into the character's Smashes & Specials, but it's probably going to sound very overly complicated/unnecessary.
Might try to think of normals, tils and aerials later.

Anyway, it's really long but here goes:

- Isaac starts a battle with 4 Djinn sorrounding him; one each for Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Mercury. They fly around him and are done in a similar manner to Pikmin ghosts, kinda translucent just so Isaac doesn't look too cluttered.

I will refer to each Djinn as their Element instead of a name just to make it easier:

​

- The 4 Djinn circle Isaac and have two states; Set and in Recovery.

- Djinn are Set by default. Set Djinn allow Isaac to use his Specials. For example, if Mars is in Recovery, Isaac cannot use Planetary and so on.

- Every time Isaac accumulates 36% damage, a Djinn will enter Recovery. This is decided by the element of the last attack Isaac performed. For example, if Isaac last used Plume Edge, and reaches 36% (from 0), Mercury will enter Recovery. Applies to Ragnarok, Wild Growth/Nettle and Stone Spire (Smash attacks) and Plume Edge, Death Leap, Cure and Planetary (Specials).

- Recovery lasts 8 seconds; Isaac cannot use the special corresponding to this element for that period. Taking damage while a Djinn is in Recovery adds 2 seconds to the Recovery timer.

- No more than one Djinn will enter Recovery at a time. It is possible to have multiple Djinn in Recovery if you continually take damage while a Djinn is already in Recovery.

- Healing does not slows down Djinn from going into Recovery. If Isaac is at 30% and heals 8%, you will still only need to deal 6% (meaning a Djinn would now go into recovery at 26%) to put a Djinn into Recovery. Healing with Cure reduces the Recovery timer by 1 second for every 3% healed.

- Every time a Djinn goes into Recovery, the % needed for the next one is reset i.e if Mars goes into Recovery, Jupiter now has the standard 36% damage threshold before they go into Recovery.

- Djinn cannot be hit and do not have any hit-related properties.

- Venus grants Isaac special benefits if it is in a Set state. Detailed after each applicable attack below.


Forward Smash - Ragnarok

- Isaac plunges his sword in front of him, Ragnarok style. Good, low-hitting range.
If Venus is Set, a mirage of Ragnarok begins forming as Isaac charges, dealing very light damage. If the A button is pressed again after the initial stab (similar to Toon Link's Forward Smash), Isaac plunges the blade further into the ground and causes Ragnarok to crash into the ground in front of him.
The second part of this attack leaves a blind spot right in front of Isaac
At max charge, when the giant sword plunges into the ground, it additionally creates an AoE (similar to the games, looks nice) that deals light damage and covers Isaac's blind spot in front of him.
This attack does not ignore elevation; if there is a platform between the sword and the ground it would hit, it will stop at the platform. If used on empty air, it will continue travelling downwards and dissipate after around an Isaac's worth of height below Isaac.

Down Smash - Wild Growth/Nettle

/

- Similar in pose to Megaman's Down Smash, Isaac kneels on one leg and touches his hands to either side. While this move is being charged, the ground lightly erupts, dealing light damage and stun.
Releasing the attack creates a violent explosion of thorned vines (or nettles, I like those more) that grow upward, up to about two Isaac's worth of height.
The mass of thorns then persists for up to 3 seconds, depending on how long the attack is charged. Hits after the initial explosion deal light to moderate damage, also depending on charge time.
If Venus is Set, the initial explosion is followed by a second, stronger explosion of thorns. Does not persist like the first version.

Up Smash - Stone Spire

- Isaac manifests a rockfall around two Isaac heights above him, with the number of rocks appearing depending on how long the attack is charged. During the charge, small debris falls from the source of the rockfall, dealing light damage and stun.
The rocks do not immediately come out after release, but Isaac is free to move as soon as they appear.
If Venus is Set, the rockfall is preceded by an outward explosion of debris in all directions, trickling down to match the Recovery version of this move.

Pretty quirky smash attacks, but I think it'd be pretty cool since they're all Psynergy from the games and they cover a good amount of area.
Thought of these with having Isaac play a zoner/stage control character.

On to specials.

Neutral Special - Plume Edge

- A chargeable move. Isaac places his hand on the ground in front of him. Water begins bubbling around 1/4 of a meter from his hand, dealing light damage. This charge can be stored.
When released, Isaac pushes towards the ground and a geyser, ranging from knee-height to 2 Isaac-worths of height depending on amount of time spent charging, erupts. This is a multi-hit move, with the last hit of the geyser having the kill power.
Additionally, you can press B again during the geyser to have Isaac uppercut any caught enemies with his sword.
When done in the air, Isaac instead unleashing this attack as ice, slashing twice in succession. The first slash leaves a trail of ice and the second shatters it, creating a shower of ice shards in a fan shape in front of Isaac.

Side Special - Death Leap

- Isaac teleports behind you. "Nothen pers-"
- Isaac leaps forward with his sword in a stabbing position. This is a command grab when used on the ground.
If it lands, Isaac takes his victim with him into the air, shocks them and then kicks them down.
If performed in the air, Isaac makes a shorter jump that causes him to leap off anyone he comes into contact with, also electrocuting them.

Down Special - Mind Read

A Counter.

Jk

Cure

- Isaac raises his palm skyward and is bathed in a light; after being held for 1.5 seconds, he begins to heal at a rate of 1% every 1.5 seconds. This increases to 2% every 1 second after 4 seconds.
Has considerable ending lag to avoid easy/unpunishable healing.
If Venus is Set, Cure increases your launch resistance for 4 seconds. Launch resistance buff has an internal cooldown of 8 seconds.

Up Special - Jump/Planetary

- When grounded, Isaac charges for a max of 4 seconds. When activated again, Isaac does a jumping somersault, distance depending on how much he has charged (ranging from a normal full jump to 6 times as high), and becomes able to activate Planetary any time during this jump. The jump can be aimed like a normal jump.
Planetary causes Isaac to become enveloped in dragon-shaped flames and, if activated while the first jump is still active, also causes him to carry all of the momentum towards his original destination.

Notes about this move:
- Damage, knockback and speed depend on how much time was originally spent charging.
- Planetary (second part of the move) can be completely re-aimed if the full jump is used but will start losing momentum if it is re-aimed more than 60° in either direction from its center. Otherwise, it continues in the direction of the jump.
- Grounded opponents take 25% more damage (+25% of what they would normally take, not a flat 25%) from Planetary.
- Planetary will deal additional damage and knock back based on how long it has been travelling downwards or at a downward angle (gravity, yay).
- Performing Up B in the air will not yield the charging portion. Since Planetary is a momentum-based move, it will be very short when used upwards in the air. Should be used right after a jump for best aerial results.
- This move does not put Isaac in free-fall at any point, but aerial Planetary cannot be used again until you land.
- Charging this move and then going off-stage and activating it will not yield a longer Planetary.

I probably ran with it way too much but I had fun thinking about it.

 

[Metocles]

It's probably a tad complicated but it does highlight the fact that there's so much to work with that Isaac is never is jeopardy of having a bland moveset. I would actually be interested to see what kind of character Sakurai would make for him seeing as he generally does a good job with newcomers. Shulk comes to mind, for instance.

I think maybe the only things missing from some of these moveset is something Sakurai basically thinks about constantly and that's how they can be a smash character instead of a strange outlier. For instance, taking a look at Isaac's ground psynergy and how it would translate on each stage that is made or considering what may look awkward if implemented. (Spire comes to mind, does it just randomly appear from the sky?)

He may come up with something similar to the suggestions here, but it may be something we haven't thought of as well, even if the same kind of ideas are brought to the table.

 

[SorrowOfAcheron]

It's probably a tad complicated but it does highlight the fact that there's so much to work with that Isaac is never is jeopardy of having a bland moveset. I would actually be interested to see what kind of character Sakurai would make for him seeing as he generally does a good job with newcomers. Shulk comes to mind, for instance.

I think maybe the only things missing from some of these moveset is something Sakurai basically thinks about constantly and that's how they can be a smash character instead of a strange outlier. For instance, taking a look at Isaac's ground psynergy and how it would translate on each stage that is made or considering what may look awkward if implemented. (Spire comes to mind, does it just randomly appear from the sky?)

He may come up with something similar to the suggestions here, but it may be something we haven't thought of as well, even if the same kind of ideas are brought to the table.

I see what you mean with the stage factor; having vines grow from the top of a spaceship would be kind of weird and boulders appearing out of thin air as well. I kinda did think about that but ultimately decided that it doesn't really have to be 100% faithful to the Golden Sun universe or common sense.
I mainly chose Spire for the Up Smash because I wanted to keep all the Smashes as Venus attacks, and I didn't want to include Grand Gaia since I felt it was too similar to Palutena's Up Smash.

I definitely agree that if Sakurai were to include Isaac we'd have a different character to what I'm personally expecting if he makes it.
I'm hoping at least Isaac's specials include some involving his sword, just because I tend to not really like zoning/projectile-based characters that much.
I'm very excited to see his take on Alchemy if he has noticed us

 

[Ura]

We're trying to match the series......

This is brilliant.

 

[Metocles]

I see what you mean with the stage factor; having vines grow from the top of a spaceship would be kind of weird and boulders appearing out of thin air as well. I kinda did think about that but ultimately decided that it doesn't really have to be 100% faithful to the Golden Sun universe or common sense.
I mainly chose Spire for the Up Smash because I wanted to keep all the Smashes as Venus attacks, and I didn't want to include Grand Gaia since I felt it was too similar to Palutena's Up Smash.

I definitely agree that if Sakurai were to include Isaac we'd have a different character to what I'm personally expecting if he makes it.
I'm hoping at least Isaac's specials include some involving his sword, just because I tend to not really like zoning/projectile-based characters that much.
I'm very excited to see his take on Alchemy if he has noticed us

I'd like to see some sword usage as well. Smashified actually got it wrong with the weapon they have him holding because the most iconic weapons in the series are not that, but the Sol Blade, Excalibur and Dark Sword which are all two-handed. While I think having Megiddo in a moveset is a little overboard, you could probably have some flashing effects as he swings the Sol Blade. There's a lot to work with there. He doesn't even need to be a zoner like many projected movesets have him doing, but instead a heavy hitter that mixes in some faster magic to put opponents on edge as they approach.

 

[DogManStar]

I'd like to see some sword usage as well. Smashified actually got it wrong with the weapon they have him holding because the most iconic weapons in the series are not that, but the Sol Blade, Excalibur and Dark Sword which are all two-handed. While I think having Megiddo in a moveset is a little overboard, you could probably have some flashing effects as he swings the Sol Blade. There's a lot to work with there. He doesn't even need to be a zoner like many projected movesets have him doing, but instead a heavy hitter that mixes in some faster magic to put opponents on edge as they approach.

If Sakurai works the Sol Blade and djinn into Isaac's moveset, it would be neat to see something where, if you haven't used enough djinn for a summon, Megiddo could be the final smash instead. That would be a really neat touch.

 

[Xenigma]

So I saw something I'd never seen before at PAX East this weekend: an Isaac cosplayer! Didn't catch his name unfortunately, but was great to talk with a fellow fan about Golden Sun and the possibility of Isaac in Smash.

 

[Skyblade12]

Man, I'm just imagining how much Smash could change the future of Golden Sun.

 

[N3ON]

Man, I'm just imagining how much Smash could change the future of Golden Sun.

Pretty immensely. Series playable in Smash are blessed and/or cursed to never really become forgotten by the Nintendo fanbase. Now... Nintendo themselves is another story.

Just really unfortunate the series could never get the timing right. :/

 

[DogManStar]

Man, I'm just imagining how much Smash could change the future of Golden Sun.

Smash could potentially totally revitalize it, which is why I wonder- why is Sakurai averse to adding more “dead series”? We could totally see Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and other series like that return if they appeared in Smash.

 

[N3ON]

Smash could potentially totally revitalize it, which is why I wonder- why is Sakurai averse to adding more “dead series”? We could totally see Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and other series like that return if they appeared in Smash.

I don't know why Sakurai would be adverse to adding content from non-recent games. I know why Nintendo would be adverse to it, which makes me wonder if they don't have more of a sway than we realize.

But who knows.

 

[DogManStar]

I don't know why Sakurai would be adverse to adding content from non-recent games. I know why Nintendo would be adverse to it, which makes me wonder if they don't have more of a sway than we realize.

But who knows.

Good point, it’s probably unfair of me to put the blame on Sakurai. I think Nintendo definitely has a sway over the roster, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have gotten Corrin.

 

[N3ON]

Good point, it’s probably unfair of me to put the blame on Sakurai. I think Nintendo definitely has a sway over the roster, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have gotten Corrin.

Well I mean if Sakurai had wanted to add Isaac, Nintendo probably wouldn't say no, I just think there's some force at play that likes to keep things primarily recent. There obviously can be exceptions here and there though.

But I can't imagine why that force would be Sakurai. Sakurai seems like the kind of guy that enjoys celebrating Nintendo, not just Nintendo's last five years or whatever.

 

[DogManStar]

Well I mean if Sakurai had wanted to add Isaac, Nintendo probably wouldn't say no, I just think there's some force at play that likes to keep things primarily recent. There obviously can be exceptions here and there though.

But I can't imagine why that force would be Sakurai. Sakurai seems like the kind of guy that enjoys celebrating Nintendo, not just Nintendo's last five years or whatever.

I agree that Sakurai seems like the type to enjoy celebrating Nintendo's history as a whole, seeing as how he's considered characters like Takamaru and Ayumi Tachibana in the past. Nintendo is probably keeping him from adding mostly older characters like Isaac, Andy, Ray, and Saki- however, I think if we do get any of those, Isaac would probably be one of the first to join. I don't think Nintendo would object too much to Sakurai adding Isaac and other less recent characters like him if they had a lot of fan demand, which Isaac does seem to have.