The Legendary Heroes of Galar - Zacian and Zamazenta for Smash

[LukeRNG]

So... I wasn't expecting that. It's a 3rd party, but I didn't think Steve would be today.

And we're getting that Presents in 2 days. To me it feels like we won't be seeing fighter #8 this year (unless they do it at The Game Awards again, since Geoff Keighley mentioned something of wanting to have an annoucement on the level of Joker, which could be anything but we should pay attention to it).

i think WWIII within the fandom happened over the dex

there were people who played FE who were disappointed with byleth

arms is one of the best selling switch games

The thing is there was plenty of disinterest given how quickly Arms dropped in popularity. Being among the best sellers doesn't mean the game is super popular or beloved.

 

[zacian]

Honestly I think Steve getting in is great cuz it shows how really funny Smash is

 

[Cosmic77]

As unexpected as today's reveal was, I don't think it really changes that much for us. It showed us that the pass won't be exclusively first-party, but that's about it.

We still have four more characters, and I have a feeling next year is the best time for a Pokémon. Not only because of the anniversary, but also because Sakurai will likely have had enough time to judge the candidates after SwSh launched and reach a decision. That is, assuming Nintendo themselves didn't already decide who the Pokémon would be, but I don't think they actually care that much so long as it's from Gen 8.

 

[Pokelego999]

As unexpected as today's reveal was, I don't think it really changes that much for us. It showed us that the pass won't be exclusively first-party, but that's about it.

We still have four more characters, and I have a feeling next year is the best time for a Pokémon. Not only because of the anniversary, but also because Sakurai will likely have had enough time to judge the candidates after SwSh launched and reach a decision. That is, assuming Nintendo themselves didn't already decide who the Pokémon would be, but I don't think they actually care that much so long as it's from Gen 8.

Yeah, it is the 25th anniversary next year, right?

 

[fogbadge]

The thing is there was plenty of disinterest given how quickly Arms dropped in popularity. Being among the best sellers doesn't mean the game is super popular or beloved.

i wonder how many people are gonna use that one about steve

 

[LukeRNG]

i wonder how many people are gonna use that one about steve

Wasn't there an era where Minecraft dominated youtube, where they were the 2nd most common videos on the platform just behind music?
And we can't undermine the enormus 200 million sales it has going for it.

Plus I believe the playerbase hasn't even dropped from 100 million ever from what I could tell.

As unexpected as today's reveal was, I don't think it really changes that much for us. It showed us that the pass won't be exclusively first-party, but that's about it.

We still have four more characters, and I have a feeling next year is the best time for a Pokémon. Not only because of the anniversary, but also because Sakurai will likely have had enough time to judge the candidates after SwSh launched and reach a decision. That is, assuming Nintendo themselves didn't already decide who the Pokémon would be, but I don't think they actually care that much so long as it's from Gen 8.

Another takeaway I have from this inclusion and Min Min is that Sakurai is willing to develop complex or time consuming characters if he does have the ideas for said character. I've seen people say that the characters in this pass would be on the "cheap" side, as in the characters would be simpler than past characters.

 

[fogbadge]

Wasn't there an era where Minecraft dominated youtube, where they were the 2nd most common videos on the platform just behind music?
And we can't undermine the enormus 200 million sales it has going for it.

Plus I believe the playerbase hasn't even dropped from 100 million ever from what I could tell.

so not many is what youre saying

 

[LukeRNG]

so not many is what youre saying

Basically.

I've just realized that the wait for fighter #8 could be just as painful as fighter #7 in terms of waiting. We're most likely going to be left in the dark till next year unless something happens at The Game Awards (which wouldn't require gameplay). And we don't know yet if fighter #11 will be pushed to 2022.

And there's not really much after the Crown Tundra to look foward to up till Pokemon Day. At least next year will be jam packed for the 25th anniversary of pokemon.

Lastly, how possible is it that Min Min is our only 1st party character; who was revealed first to get the "dissapointing" reveal out of the way?

 

[fogbadge]

Lastly, how possible is it that Min Min is our only 1st party character; who was revealed first to get the "dissapointing" reveal out of the way?

highly likely id say

 

[Staarih]

Lastly, how possible is it that Min Min is our only 1st party character; who was revealed first to get the "dissapointing" reveal out of the way?

I mean, it's possible she's the only first party (like Byleth was in FP1), but I don't think it's a matter of getting someone "disappointing" out of the way. Byleth was the last character in FP1 after all.

Impossible to say what's to come, I feel like a first party could still happen, at least keeping my hopes up Pokemon-wise haha!

 

[Cosmic77]

I'm not sure why people are always so quick to rule out first-parties. Is a single third-party enough to make people think the remaining four characters will also be third-party?

I think we're getting at least one more so they can continue the "character from very recent game" pattern that they've started with Corrin and Byleth, though I could easily see us getting two first-parties as well. Three might be wishful thinking, but maybe not depending on who the next character is.

 

[LukeRNG]

Which 1st party series would you say are frontrunners to get another character? As of now it feels like it's up in the air due to how actual leaks have been basically nonexistent & so far the picks have some level of unpredictability.

I'm torn between Pokemon & Zelda.

 

[fogbadge]

Which 1st party series would you say are frontrunners to get another character? As of now it feels like it's up in the air due to how actual leaks have been basically nonexistent & so far the picks have some level of unpredictability.

I'm torn between Pokemon & Zelda.

well based on byleth and min min i would guess nintendo would suggest characters from other big switch games like seord/shield, xenoblade 2, botw, odyessy, lm3 etc

 

[Pokelego999]

Which 1st party series would you say are frontrunners to get another character? As of now it feels like it's up in the air due to how actual leaks have been basically nonexistent & so far the picks have some level of unpredictability.

I'm torn between Pokemon & Zelda.

I feel Bandana Dee has some good chances.

 

[LukeRNG]

I feel Bandana Dee has some good chances.

Speaking of, the new render from Fighters 2 screams Smash Ultimate.
And for other characters, I found the KH3 DLC render for Sora to also feel very Smash Ultimate.

Man, I Cannot wait to see a gen 8 pokemon in the smash style.

 

[Delzethin]

As unexpected as today's reveal was, I don't think it really changes that much for us. It showed us that the pass won't be exclusively first-party, but that's about it.

We still have four more characters, and I have a feeling next year is the best time for a Pokémon. Not only because of the anniversary, but also because Sakurai will likely have had enough time to judge the candidates after SwSh launched and reach a decision. That is, assuming Nintendo themselves didn't already decide who the Pokémon would be, but I don't think they actually care that much so long as it's from Gen 8.

Aye. Aside from there being only four chances left instead of five, this was a pretty neutral result for us. We weren't going to be the E3 spot--Fighter #8-10 is our best shot, with #9 probably being our best overall from my admittedly limited point of reference.

If anything, the fact that we got such a huge reveal may actually help us drum up more support. Now that a guest fighter is part of Pass 2, there may be some people more willing to give other first party characters a look. From there, we can persuade those willing to listen by having something genuinely unique to offer.

I've just realized that the wait for fighter #8 could be just as painful as fighter #7 in terms of waiting. We're most likely going to be left in the dark till next year unless something happens at The Game Awards (which wouldn't require gameplay). And we don't know yet if fighter #11 will be pushed to 2022.

Yeah, I think Fighter #8 won't be ready until at least January. Whether we learn their identity until then is a serious question.

On the bright side, we didn't have any delays announced yet, so January is pretty plausible.

Lastly, how possible is it that Min Min is our only 1st party character; who was revealed first to get the "dissapointing" reveal out of the way?

Highly unlikely, if you ask me. Especially since these newcomers aren't chosen just for the sake of creating hype reveals, unlike what so much of the community seems to believe now.

I'm not sure why people are always so quick to rule out first-parties. Is a single third-party enough to make people think the remaining four characters will also be third-party?

I think we're getting at least one more so they can continue the "character from very recent game" pattern that they've started with Corrin and Byleth, though I could easily see us getting two first-parties as well. Three might be wishful thinking, but maybe not depending on who the next character is.

It's all from this obsession over hype. First party reveals make for less immediately exciting trailers, and for a lot of speculators, that seems to be all they focus on. I'm not really sure why, though I have my theories.

But yeah, I'm pretty confident Fighter #11 will be in the same vein as Corrin and Byleth. Could be someone from the BotW sequel if it has any new, prominent characters with the right kind of moveset potential.

I also think we'll probably get at least one more first party character beyond that. Pokémon is right there with a major new release recently that introduced a lot of new prominent characters, several of which could do new things or introduce new mechanics. We could also see another long running fan request from Nintendo, whether Rex or Bandana Dee or someone else.

Or even a curveball I'm not thinking of at the moment, heh.

 

[LukeRNG]

If we're being realistic and we split the fighter's pass into 50/50 1st vs 3rd parties, I seem to struggle to think up of candidates for 1st parties vs 3rd parties. And this might be why people lean more to 3rd parties, as on the surface they seem to be the more exciting to speculate about given the amounts of new franchises & different companies that could happen. In comparisson, people only focus on the big Nintendo names for newcomers, which heavily narrows down the amount of different characters people talk about: Mario series "Oh, it's either Geno or Waluigi", Pokemon series "It's going to be from incert recent generation", Zelda series "either Impa or someone from BotW 2", Kirby series "... just Bandana Waddle Dee" and Xenoblade series "most likely Rex".

Those are the only ones that "feel big enough" to most people that would warrant a spot in this fighter's pass... and I can't say I dissagree. A lot of the other 1st party characters would feel better as a Base game addition rather than an extra $6 character. But that's just feel, it's a whole different story once we see the character in action. I didn't think Byleth would bring something significantly different from the other FE characters and lo and behold I was very wrong.

On the topic of fighter #8, I've seen people talk about how Steve could've been the first e3 reveal. If true, then fighter #8 could also be a big 3rd party character who would get people talking and maybe break Twitter again. Given every e3 featuring smash has revealed 2 characters (Villager & Mega Man in 2013, Miis & Palutena in 2014, tecnically Roy & Ryu in 2015, Daisy & Ridley in 2018 and lastly Hero & Banjo in 2019), it'd make a lot of sense. For now it's best to pay some attention to this year's Game Awards as they'll now livestream from Tokyo along with London & Los Angeles plus that comment from Geoff about an announcement on par with the Joker reveal.

So I think our best chance (till proven otherwise) is for fighter #9.

 

[fogbadge]

If we're being realistic and we split the fighter's pass into 50/50 1st vs 3rd parties, I seem to struggle to think up of candidates for 1st parties vs 3rd parties. And this might be why people lean more to 3rd parties, as on the surface they seem to be the more exciting to speculate about given the amounts of new franchises & different companies that could happen. In comparisson, people only focus on the big Nintendo names for newcomers, which heavily narrows down the amount of different characters people talk about: Mario series "Oh, it's either Geno or Waluigi", Pokemon series "It's going to be from incert recent generation", Zelda series "either Impa or someone from BotW 2", Kirby series "... just Bandana Waddle Dee" and Xenoblade series "most likely Rex".

Those are the only ones that "feel big enough" to most people that would warrant a spot in this fighter's pass... and I can't say I dissagree. A lot of the other 1st party characters would feel better as a Base game addition rather than an extra $6 character. But that's just feel, it's a whole different story once we see the character in action. I didn't think Byleth would bring something significantly different from the other FE characters and lo and behold I was very wrong.

On the topic of fighter #8, I've seen people talk about how Steve could've been the first e3 reveal. If true, then fighter #8 could also be a big 3rd party character who would get people talking and maybe break Twitter again. Given every e3 featuring smash has revealed 2 characters (Villager & Mega Man in 2013, Miis & Palutena in 2014, tecnically Roy & Ryu in 2015, Daisy & Ridley in 2018 and lastly Hero & Banjo in 2019), it'd make a lot of sense. For now it's best to pay some attention to this year's Game Awards as they'll now livestream from Tokyo along with London & Los Angeles plus that comment from Geoff about an announcement on par with the Joker reveal.

So I think our best chance (till proven otherwise) is for fighter #9.

min-min was probably meant to be the other e3 character. also wii fit trainer was with megaman and villager and pac man was with palutena and the miis

 

[WeirdChillFever]

min-min was probably meant to be the other e3 character. also wii fit trainer was with megaman and villager and pac man was with palutena and the miis

Yup, and Inkling was with Daisy Ridley and Lucas was with Royu I think. So even pre-revealed characters (with the “its ARMS” thingy counting as a pre-reveal for me) can feature during E3 alongside two brand-spankity new newcomers.

 

[Delzethin]

Alright, Steve's presentation is just a couple hours away. We don't have much to worry about, though one potential red flag is if anything Pokémon-related shows up in the Mii costumes. Would be a potential sign that there won't be a newcomer for them to release alongside.

If we're being realistic and we split the fighter's pass into 50/50 1st vs 3rd parties, I seem to struggle to think up of candidates for 1st parties vs 3rd parties. And this might be why people lean more to 3rd parties, as on the surface they seem to be the more exciting to speculate about given the amounts of new franchises & different companies that could happen. In comparisson, people only focus on the big Nintendo names for newcomers, which heavily narrows down the amount of different characters people talk about: Mario series "Oh, it's either Geno or Waluigi", Pokemon series "It's going to be from incert recent generation", Zelda series "either Impa or someone from BotW 2", Kirby series "... just Bandana Waddle Dee" and Xenoblade series "most likely Rex".

Those are the only ones that "feel big enough" to most people that would warrant a spot in this fighter's pass... and I can't say I dissagree. A lot of the other 1st party characters would feel better as a Base game addition rather than an extra $6 character. But that's just feel, it's a whole different story once we see the character in action. I didn't think Byleth would bring something significantly different from the other FE characters and lo and behold I was very wrong.

While you make a fair point, there are other factors to consider:

1. Most Smash speculators tend to stick to characters they already know. While the list of first party options isn't as extensive as it was a couple years ago, we do keep getting new options over time. In just the past year, we've gained Ring Fit Trainee, Astral Chain's protagonists, and the whole list of Sword & Shield's major characters. And there'll be more in the next several months that we aren't aware of yet because of how Nintendo is playing things closer to the vest right now! But since speculation tends to revolve around the same inner circle of characters that rarely changes, the new options hardly ever get acknowledged, which creates the "bottom of the barrel" talk even though the barrel keeps getting filled back up.

2. Not every character is on equal footing here, which makes it worth looking beyond the common topics. Guest fighters are more difficult to set up with all the licensing and red tape they entail, meaning leaning too hard into them can be...dicey. Especially when Smash isn't choosing these characters solely for the sake of crossing over with other companies, not to the extent so much of the community seems to believe now.

3. A newcomer doesn't have to have a jaw dropping reveal to be a compelling choice. Something a lot of fans seem to have forgotten--in the long run, it's not just about the name recognition, it's about these characters being interesting to play as. Speculation right now is being directed by people who seem more interested in the reveals themselves than in actually playing the game. Which is why we get situations like Byleth still getting bashed as "undeserving" while simultaneously (from my experience) being remarkably common online.

min-min was probably meant to be the other e3 character. also wii fit trainer was with megaman and villager and pac man was with palutena and the miis

Yeah. I think if this were a normal year, Nintendo's E3 Direct would've opened with revealing that Min Min was the ARMS character (then given a date or a generic "later this month" for her presentation), then ended on Steve's trailer.

I do think we might see a Banjo-like niche at #8 in the form of a character who has been requested for a long time. Which still makes the #9 and #10 spots more likely for us.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

Alright, Steve's presentation is just a couple hours away. We don't have much to worry about, though one potential red flag is if anything Pokémon-related shows up in the Mii costumes. Would be a potential sign that there won't be a newcomer for them to release alongside.


While you make a fair point, there are other factors to consider:

1. Most Smash speculators tend to stick to characters they already know. While the list of first party options isn't as extensive as it was a couple years ago, we do keep getting new options over time. In just the past year, we've gained Ring Fit Trainee, Astral Chain's protagonists, and the whole list of Sword & Shield's major characters. And there'll be more in the next several months that we aren't aware of yet because of how Nintendo is playing things closer to the vest right now! But since speculation tends to revolve around the same inner circle of characters that rarely changes, the new options hardly ever get acknowledged, which creates the "bottom of the barrel" talk even though the barrel keeps getting filled back up.

2. Not every character is on equal footing here, which makes it worth looking beyond the common topics. Guest fighters are more difficult to set up with all the licensing and red tape they entail, meaning leaning too hard into them can be...dicey. Especially when Smash isn't choosing these characters solely for the sake of crossing over with other companies, not to the extent so much of the community seems to believe now.

3. A newcomer doesn't have to have a jaw dropping reveal to be a compelling choice. Something a lot of fans seem to have forgotten--in the long run, it's not just about the name recognition, it's about these characters being interesting to play as. Speculation right now is being directed by people who seem more interested in the reveals themselves than in actually playing the game. Which is why we get situations like Byleth still getting bashed as "undeserving" while simultaneously (from my experience) being remarkably common online.


Yeah. I think if this were a normal year, Nintendo's E3 Direct would've opened with revealing that Min Min was the ARMS character (then given a date or a generic "later this month" for her presentation), then ended on Steve's trailer.

I do think we might see a Banjo-like niche at #8 in the form of a character who has been requested for a long time. Which still makes the #9 and #10 spots more likely for us.

To be fair, Ring Fit Trainee was a pick that was considered for a while, before the Spirit Event. Now, Spirits don’t deconfirm, but considering how the “post-game first party DLC“, Byleth, was famously not present in a Spirit Event, it does decrease the likelihood and recent first parties tend to need those bandwagons in order to square off against the more senior fanbases. And Sword & Shield is very much considered a possibility by the greater fandom, albeit with chagrin and pessimism. Probably because of the “mandatory” vibe it has to watch out for anything recent that is Pokémon given the pattern that exists for Pokémon to have its new Pokémon in. Also possibly because people don‘t feel hyped for the choices given to them as Cinderace is deemed most likely. Again, I don’t blame people for not looking too deeply into Pokémon, because it plays by such different rules based on this intricate dance between Sakurai and Game Freak and other related powers that be, such as the anime.

Aside from that, first parties do enjoy hype as well, but the barrel is more based around specific series and characters. Rex is still out there being his controversial self, Impa’s fanbase has repurposed itself around the Age of Calamity role she has and its possible continuation into BoTW2 and Bandana Dee, Dixie and Waluigi are still popular.

And I think it’s the fact first parties are more specific cases that they have some pushback. First parties might not seem “exciting“ on their own, but add to that that Bandana Dee is its frontrunner and a lot of people are put off by his trademark simplistic moveset, and while more intricate sets are out there, they’re far from guaranteed to happen if Bandana Dee gets in. The same applies to Dixie Kong, who shares her build with Diddy Kong and might take inspiration from him in any capacity.

Your point about Byleth is interesting, but in my opinion there is a layer between “name recognition” and “fun to play as”, which is the moveset uniqueness. Yes, Byleth’s set is unique, but as noticed by Monster Hunter aficionados , Byleth was far from mandatory to bring a weapon master ideal to Smash.

It‘s the result of the argument of “this character has no moveset potential“ being countered with ”everyone can have a cool moveset.” If everyone can have a cool moveset, then nobody specifically stands out for moveset potential and there is no way to look back to first parties for the sake of having an interesting moveset when you can have it all and have the best selling game of all time finally bring terraforming to Smash.

 

[LukeRNG]

min-min was probably meant to be the other e3 character. also wii fit trainer was with megaman and villager and pac man was with palutena and the miis

Wasn't she delayed for the pandemic or am I remembering wrong?



Gotta say i'm quite impressed with how Steve plays. Probably will be hell for me to learn, but fun nonethelss.

And now we wait... (that Banjo amiibo looks like a masterpiece, even in pre-release form).

 

[Delzethin]

One thing to note is just how much extra work the DLC team was willing to do to make their vision of Steve's concept work. Not only is the moveset easily the most complicated one we've seen yet, they had to go and rework the code for every existing stage to make them compatible with the mining and block building mechanics!

If they did that much for the sake of a DLC character already...then maybe a Zacian + Zamazenta tag team concept isn't as impractical as I thought. I suppose the question is how much more work an entire second moveset would take compared to editing data for over 100 stages.

 

[LukeRNG]

One thing to note is just how much extra work the DLC team was willing to do to make their vision of Steve's concept work. Not only is the moveset easily the most complicated one we've seen yet, they had to go and rework the code for every existing stage to make them compatible with the mining and block building mechanics!

If they did that much for the sake of a DLC character already...then maybe a Zacian + Zamazenta tag team concept isn't as impractical as I thought. I suppose the question is how much more work an entire second moveset would take compared to editing data for over 100 stages.

This does bode well for getting a gen 8 pokemon that isn't strictly a starter or a humanoid pokemon. Sadly looks like we're going to wait till next year to find out. I'll pray we at least get a Joker like trailer at The Game Awards (unless it's a 1st party in which case our best bet is either January or February. If it's a pokemon it would especially work wonders in February).

 

[Cosmic77]

Again, lots of interesting things today, but nothing happened that seemingly effects our chances.

I guess no news is better than bad news. Four more characters to go, and we'll likely have the rest of the year before we get more nail-biting moments.

 

[fogbadge]

Wasn't she delayed for the pandemic or am I remembering wrong?

sakurai kept saying work wasnt effected much during that time, i think min min came out when they intended

 

[LukeRNG]

I have a question, would a Digimon addition be in the way of us getting another pokemon or is it irrelevant?

 

[zacian]

I have a question, would a Digimon addition be in the way of us getting another pokemon or is it irrelevant?

I think it would be irrelevant cuz Digimon is third party, but I don’t really know

 

[fogbadge]

I have a question, would a Digimon addition be in the way of us getting another pokemon or is it irrelevant?

shouldnt be in the way anymore than min min was

 

[Cosmic77]

If genre mattered, Joker and Hero probably wouldn't have been back-to-back.

They both follow a similar formula, but Pokémon and Digimon are two completely different franchises.

 

[LukeRNG]

If genre mattered, Joker and Hero probably wouldn't have been back-to-back.

They both follow a similar formula, but Pokémon and Digimon are two completely different franchises.

That's a good point.

So looking at how Steve works with his neutral special, would it be too much to expect for any gen 8 pokemon having more than 1 function for the neutral b?

 

[fogbadge]

That's a good point.

So looking at how Steve works with his neutral special, would it be too much to expect for any gen 8 pokemon having more than 1 function for the neutral b?

it would come down to which pokemon they chose. i wouldnt count on it though

 

[Delzethin]

Side note: Steve is using a shade of blue as his signature color. This means the four characters remaining probably won't use that color.

Not that it's a deal breaker for us, but it would require some creativity on our end. Maybe a parchment-like beige would work?

Then again, we've seen more unexpected signature colors before. Did anyone think Roy would get the emerald green of the gem on the hilt of his sword?

This does bode well for getting a gen 8 pokemon that isn't strictly a starter or a humanoid pokemon. Sadly looks like we're going to wait till next year to find out. I'll pray we at least get a Joker like trailer at The Game Awards (unless it's a 1st party in which case our best bet is either January or February. If it's a pokemon it would especially work wonders in February).

We probably won't get a reveal at The Game Awards, considering we didn't last year. It's not out of the question if it's someone notable in context like Geno (since he's had a ton of support for like 14 years now and most of said supporters are the type who'd already be watching TGA), but we should probably assume we won't hear anything until around January.

 

[LukeRNG]

Side note: Steve is using a shade of blue as his signature color. This means the four characters remaining probably won't use that color.

Not that it's a deal breaker for us, but it would require some creativity on our end. Maybe a parchment-like beige would work?

Then again, we've seen more unexpected signature colors before. Did anyone think Roy would get the emerald green of the gem on the hilt of his sword?


We probably won't get a reveal at The Game Awards, considering we didn't last year. It's not out of the question if it's someone notable in context like Geno (since he's had a ton of support for like 14 years now and most of said supporters are the type who'd already be watching TGA), but we should probably assume we won't hear anything until around January.

I know, but it's possible we at least get a CGI trailer. But it's better not to get our hopes up.

On another note, who would be your 2nd pick for a gen 8 rep if Zacian/Zamazenta aren't chosen? I'm absolutely on board with Dragapult the most.

 

[Perkilator]

I know, but it's possible we at least get a CGI trailer. But it's better not to get our hopes up.

On another note, who would be your 2nd pick for a gen 8 rep if Zacian/Zamazenta aren't chosen? I'm absolutely on board with Dragapult the most.

Scorbunny, easy.

 

[LukeRNG]

Scorbunny, easy.

I do wonder what the general reaction would be if the pokemon character is a non evolved one. Most people just focus on the final stage pokemon, so I don't know how they'd react. And I never really thought about it (can you imagine Snom?).

 

[Cosmic77]

Side note: Steve is using a shade of blue as his signature color. This means the four characters remaining probably won't use that color.

Not that it's a deal breaker for us, but it would require some creativity on our end. Maybe a parchment-like beige would work?

Then again, we've seen more unexpected signature colors before. Did anyone think Roy would get the emerald green of the gem on the hilt of his sword?

I don't think the colors really suggest that much about the upcoming characters. We've already had two different shades of green, yellow, and blue with the DLC. They could easily assign a darker or lighter shade of an existing color to a character.

Plus, the two characters we've gotten in this pass so far conveniently lack the primary color of the other. Min Min lacks blue, and Steve lacks yellow. They didn't have to try very hard to avoid using similar colors for the two.

As one last example, and this may or may not be relevant, Pichu, PT, and Isabelle's amiibo launched together. All three had a shade of yellow as their color, and Sakurai actually mentioned that to help people find them in stores. They could've easily assigned red to PT and green to Isabelle if they were genuinely concerned about matching colors.

On another note, who would be your 2nd pick for a gen 8 rep if Zacian/Zamazenta aren't chosen? I'm absolutely on board with Dragapult the most.

Probably Dragapult. Seems like a really difficult character to design for something like Smash, which makes me want to see it even more.

 

[LukeRNG]

Probably Dragapult. Seems like a really difficult character to design for something like Smash, which makes me want to see it even more.

If Steve could happen then anything is possible. It's just a matter of Sakurai thinking of a worthy moveset to give the character justice (like he stated as the other roadblock for characters).
And both Dragapult & the doggos have a significant case for themselves:

-The first ghost character (one of the reasons I thought for Decidueye being the gen 7 pick).
-The first quadruped who mainly uses a weapon.

 

[fogbadge]

(can you imagine Snom?).

yes

 

[zacian]

On another note, who would be your 2nd pick for a gen 8 rep if Zacian/Zamazenta aren't chosen? I'm absolutely on board with Dragapult the most.

Urshifu, Dragapult, or funny fish

I’d be fine with anyone though, Gen 8 has a lot of good Pokémon