Hello fellow Heihachi supporters!
I think Heihachi has very good chances to get in in the second round of DLC, as it will most likely have a fighter themed pack similar to how Ryu had one in Smash 4 and now Terry will have in the first DLC round of Ultimate.
I wanted to list up all the evidence that Heihachi has going on for him and that many arguments against his inclusion are futile.
First let's start with some genral stuff, comcerning his home-company, Bandai-Namco (who own Tekken) are developing Smash for the 2nd time but currently only have 1 character, while every other guest party (besides Microsoft and SNK, who are only on-board since this DLC cycle) already have more (SE have 2; Sega, Capcom and Konami even have 3).
Heihachi was considered for Smash 4 but making his moveset transform from 3d to 2d was too complicated. Sakurai couldn't come up with a moveset in time, and Pac-Man got in instead. And guess what? Pac-Man was originally considered too complicated to come up with a moveset in Brawl but came in the next game. Parallel between both? Also Ridley and Villager are also known to at first have been deemed impossible to implement by Sakurai. So with enough time and many years in the meantime, i think it's very plausible for him to get a moveset done for him.
Source:
https://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/06/26/800/
Back when I was developing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Shigeru Miyamoto asked me, “What do you think about Pac-Man as a guest character?” “There’s no way!”, I thought to myself as I envisioned that mascot oh-so reminiscent of a pizza missing a slice. I didn’t say it out loud, of course.
Interviewer: Between Bandai and Namco, were there any other strong candidates for inclusion as a fighter?
Sakurai: There were none. We basically thought of all the characters at the start of development. We decided on characters we knew we could make. However, there were a few in consideration, such as Heihachi from “Tekken.”
Interviewer: Heihachi!
Sakurai: That’s right. However, implementing Heihachi’s movement in Smash would be difficult…
Interviewer: It reminds me of the reaction when Snake was from “Metal Gear” was announced.
Now there are a few things to note: remember Sakurai always wants to finish his work, he planned Sonic and Snake for Melee, but had to postpone them for Brawl, as time ran out already. Now during Brawl he couldn't come up with how a moveset for Pac-Man would work, but one game later this hurdle could also be overcome. Heihachi and Geno are the only 3rd party characters Sakurai openly talked about considering, who are still not in. Then the interviewer also said the impact of such a reveal would basically break the internet like Snake back then; of course it will not be such a big shock, but you have to remember Tekken has such a big playerbase, it could help to draw in new fans, as the current fighting game community is very split between Smash players and traditional fighters with only small overlap. And that would also fit into the quote how Nintendo wants to apply for and grab new audiences with the DLC. While this statement does not fit Banjo, it fits Joker and would fit Heihachi too, because both are also more heavily affiliated with appeareances on Playstation and only appear in spin-offs on Nintendo plattforms until now.
quote:
https://www.gamesradar.com/heres-wh...vestor-qanda-new-online-switch-game-and-more/
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, we asked 'How could we reach not only fans of the Super Smash Bros. series, but also those who had never played it before?' If you look at the demographics of the consumers who purchased each of these titles, Iʼm not convinced weʼve completely overcome these challenges yet. So our aims are to keep working on them this year, to expand sales of these titles to new consumer demographics, and to keep selling these games for a long time, which is one of our strengths."
When talking about the Akira assist trophy Sakurai said he was especially proud how he figured out how he can move in 2d but it still looks exactly like it did in his 3d game. This newly gained knowledge might also help in developing Heihachi.
Now the next evidence, now that Dragon Quest is represented, Tekken and Resident Evil are the 2 highest selling franchises from Japan to not be in Smash yet (Monster Hunter technically is already represented through the Rathalos boss and AT). Both could get character for DLC spots.
Many people also claim Heihachi became impossible as he died ingame (so did Snake and some other characters like Ridley too) and his voice actor also passed away. But this will have no impact for 3 reasons. 1. As we now know with Banjo, DLC negotiations already happened around March 2018, but Heihachi's voice actor only passed away in August 2018, so his voice actor died after the DLC was already decided and wouldn't have affected its procedure (at least if he would be wave 1 DLC). 2. it's not the first time his voice actor died and got replaced. 3. King of Fighters: All Stars will add Heihachi and all characters in that game are voiced, so he will either get a new voice or recycled old clips. Same would apply for Smash
https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2019...rsions-billy-kane-chang-and-yashiro-nanakase/
Also many people cling to a quote by Sakurai that he will not add fighting game characters to Smash, but that was during the base-game development of Smash 4 and then he obviously changed his mind as he added Ryu as DLC for the same game.
https://nintendoeverything.com/why-sakurai-isnt-keen-on-adding-fighting-characters-to-smash-bros/
https://nintendotoday.com/sakurai-on-fighting-characters-in-smash/
Lastly, Lloyd often gets talked about, as if Sakurai once said he considered adding Lloyd. That is a misquote as when he answered only Lloyd was fitting, it was just about Mii costumes, and not fighters, it was the same interview where he said Geno often gets requested as a fighter by the fans.
https://www.sourcegaming.info/2016/02/21/nintendodream3/
Lloyd:
—The Tales series has 20 years of history, how did you decide on Lloyd for the costume?
Sakurai: I’m not sure if there was any other appropriate choice?
—For example, how about the protagonist of the first game, Cress? [TN: From Tales of Phantasia]
Sakurai: I really think it has to be Lloyd here (laughs).
Heihachi would come with his old self as default and his younger self as an alt.
Now one thing that is somehow controversial and could be the only evidence against Heihachi if it happens in the worst case scenario: When Joker was released, Sega alongside Persona costumes released all their old mii costumes from Smash 4 besides 2: Jacky and Akira. Those 2 most likely were saved for the Terry reveal as they fit the fighter theme, and parallel Smash 4 as Akira's and Heihachi's costumes were released alongside Ryu. There is pretty much no other reason why Sega wouldn't have all their mii costumes re-released, but because Sakurai wants to again have a fighter themed pack. Now you could argue that not all mii costumes will return like Geno and Chocobo, but i'm sure their current absence will have a meaning and they will be added later too.
The problem with this is, before Terry was revealed I had the firm believe that they were saved for Heihachi's reveal. Now it looks like they will be saved for Terry's reveal, which should happen very soon. But when this day comes, we all have to hope for one thing: That Heihachi's Mii Costume will not return at Terry's presentation too. That would be a real roadblock and a soft-deconfirm for me because it would not be explainable why they would incude it, had they planned for him to be a full character.
So we all have to hope at Terry's reveal that that costume never shows up again (unless it's at Heihachi's reveal itself and just there for people who liked the costume in Smash 4 and want it back too out of consistency). But on the bride side, Harada is the manager of Bandai-Namco, has good relations with Sakurai and Tekken is the best selling fighting game (besides Smash) with 48 million units. I'm sure we will get him in, he is a huge gaming icon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWM-SCjIuNg
Look how Heihachi's costume was presented at 11:18 and 16:32, those camera angles seem like a forshadow that he is special and could be a huge character in the game.
Anyways, what do you think about this?