The Official Thread For the Sal Romano/Gematsu Leak

[Tree Gelbman]

Actually Sakurai said his quotes about the Pokemon from X/Y AT E3.

Which was far after Sal's source had said ANYTHING about a Pokemon from X/Y.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

There was a petition that was started shortly after E3 in 2013 when Smash was first revealed. It asked Sakurai to put the Reggie Fils-Aime in to Smash as a playable character. It got enough supporters that it caught Reggie and Sakurai's attention. Sakurai even acknowledged that the petition influenced his decision in putting the Mii in the game so people can play as the Reggie or Iwata or who ever they wanted.

Anyways, the first leak came a day before E3 2014 and it stated that Mega Man, The Animal Crossing Guy, the Wii Fit Trainer, Pac-Man, the Mii, and Little Mac would be revealed on E3. Only 3 characters were revealed so something was off. Sakurai did say that he usually plans the roster ahead of time but, if the Mii wasn't even considered until after E3 2013 then that part of the leak was completely made up!

It's possible part of the leak is true, I mean who guesses the Wii Fit Trainer... but to the people who think the whole thing is completely true, it's like shooting at a wall and then painting a target around it so that your logic seems both accurate and precise. Even if the leak is coming from a legitimate source, additional false information is being put into leak. I can see a leaker doing something like that just to troll people with a false sense of hope.

That being said it appears that the leaker may have obtained a true limited amount of information from his source and then threw in obvious character choices with it as well and just happened to have gotten lucky the prediction part of the leak came true.

The Chorus Men from rhythm heaven was definitely an obscure choice and that part of the second leak may be correct just to get people to believe whatever he says, the leaker might have been making up the Shulk and Chrom part just because they are obvious character choices. If the Chorus men get confirmed everyone will assume he's correct and then automatically expect Shulk and Chrom to make an appearance assuming the Chorus Men are confirmed prior to Shulk and Chrom's confirmation. If Shulk and/or Chrom aren't in the game then there will be a lot of people playing the game non-stop trying to unlock some characters who aren't in the game.

of course, they leaker may have been lucky up until this point and the Chorus men wont be making an appearance either...

But at the same time Sakurai said the roster was decided a long time ago, so him saying a petition swayed his opinions on Miis is just him trying to get a few fan points as it completely contradicts his other statements.

 

[Smash G]

Actually Sakurai said his quotes about the Pokemon from X/Y AT E3.

Which was far after Sal's source had said ANYTHING about a Pokemon from X/Y.

Which even if it was true is pointing out an INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS thing. Googling it he talked about X/Y Pokemon June 2013. Dunno how that adds up. But it's 100% irrelevant since someone who doesn't know anything about Nintendo would probably say "Pokemon from X/Y" ;p.

 

[Omega Tyrant]

The roster suggested by the leak seems totally adequate to me... seems strange that THAT's a premise on which people argue it's validity.

Because assuming this is truly it for the newcomers, and ignoring any glaring omissions of fan favorites, there's;

*A startling complete lack of villains and heavyweight characters (the former of which there has been an especially low amount of in smash, and were clamored for just as much as more females, so it would be odd to address the lack of females but completely ignore the lack of villains).

*A lack of older representation (outside third parties, all the newcomer revealed and implicated are those featured in very recent games or recently revived franchises; in fact 6 of the 10 non-third party newcomers actually debuted around or post Brawl's release).

*Such a low amount of newcomers being kept secret (it's extremely likely we'll get one more newcomer revealed before release, which would mean we would only have two kept secret, even less than Brawl's paltry four, which was one of the biggest casual complaints about the game).


Anyway, as for the recent subject of if this is truly it (again), while it's pretty clear the leaker had legitimate inside info, I think there's reasonable cause to believe there will be more newcomers.

*The aforementioned holes in the newcomer representation indicates to me there's a few more newcomers we're not aware of.

*It would just be uncharacteristic of Sakurai to reveal this much of the cast to us prelaunch, especially when as previously mentioned, that was one of the biggest casual complaints about Brawl, and even Sakurai said he wasn't going to release as much info about Smash 4 prelaunch as he did with Brawl, (which as far as we can see, has been held true, as the Miiverse updates have been notoriously less informative than the Dojo updates, and there are many parts of the games that are still a mystery to us while being so close to release; we probably don't even know half the stages yet). Even with no more characters being revealed before launch assuming the often thrown around 47 roster, we have already surpassed Brawl's prelaunch revealed proportion of its roster (and we're likely to get at least another two characters revealed before launch, making the proportion of prelaunch reveals even more lopsided). On the other hand, if we go with the other commonly speculated roster number of 51, and then get that likely two more prelaunch reveals, we would pretty much be exactly in line with Brawl's prelaunch revealed proportion.

*Even assuming it's all 100% true, the leaked information itself. Missing Rosalina still indicates there's more; sure you could say she was "inbetween the leaks", but if that was actually the case and the leaker truly has all the newcomers, what evidence is there that he definitely isn't holding more back, when he held back half of the newcomers he gave us during the first leak and continues to leak in spurts instead of all at once? The leaker's vagueness in spots/getting specifics wrong also shows his information is not absolute and up to date, nevermind the fact the leaker never once claimed to have released all the newcomers or even know the entire roster, and hasn't told us anything about which veterans will return/get cut beyond a single vague nondefinitive mention of a Ness v Lucas debate; surely he would have said something about the status of Snake or Mewtwo at least, or something about transformation characters going solo, if he knew the full roster and was telling us everything.

Even without going into theories like the leaker got a hold of E3 2013 plans and then guessed the rest, or is a marketing guy who is made aware of newcomers they plan to reveal prelaunch and hype up while never being made aware of the secret newcomers, I find a 50-53 roster more probable than the 47 roster people are claiming we're getting. But eh, we'll see soon just how much the guy knew and was telling us.

 

[TheAnvil]

If we assume that Sal's sauce is in some kind of marketing or advertising position, and only knows the newcomers to be announced then it would make a lot of sense. People are only ever told what they need to know to avoid this kind of thing from leaking.

We've had strong hints that Ridley will be playable, and the trophy quiz could indicate Ghirahim. Throw in a DK newcomer (Smash Runs Kremlings could be attributed to K. Rool) and we'd have 15 newcomers (a pretty realistic amount), with three of them secret, and two of those being among the most requested characters.

It also addresses the lack of villains and heavyweights.

I still can't imagine that after all that teasing, Sakurai's just going to unveil Ridley as anything but playable. I mean, what business sense does it make to string along the fanbase only to disappoint them?

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Oh my gosh, there are people who are still disputing this leak and saying it's not real? Even though 8 out of 11 characters have been confirmed and not a single thing has been proven wrong?

Nope. I'm done. I'm done here. I can't handle that level of foolishness.

Peace.

The only thing we need to prove the second leak to be unarguably, unambiguously true once and for all is a Chorus Men reveal in the final Direct. If that happens, Shulk and Chrom are guaranteed to be in no matter what.

 

[Ryan.]

The thing that sticks out on this list is still ONLY Wii Fit Trainer which is why I'm not a Sal supporter yet. Not saying it's not all true. But it's circumstantial evidence.

Someone predicted the Wii Fit Trainer then a bunch of SUPER OBVIOUS choices, many of which have been confirmed. It's not exactly "proof". The Wii Fit Trainer is still the only predicted one that wasn't obvious that's been revealed. If Chorus Men get revealed I'd say that's a decent amount of proof . But really, Pacman became obvious when Namco got involved and all those other predictions were easy guesses too. And the "Pokemon from X/Y" bullcrap doesn't count as a prediction since Sakurai said he wanted to put a Pokemon from X/Y into it long before the prediction and that's about as vague and obvious as you can get... Greninja being revealed means nothing unless he said "Greninja" which he didn't.

Maybe think of it as a whole though. This guy is correct on 7, arguably 8, characters so far. Every other leaker threw in popular choices (that's the term I would use since nothing is really obvious with Sakurai) and had at least one deconfirmed, debunking the theory. Sal has yet to have anything proved wrong, and I find it hard to believe one can just guess 7 newcomers and get them all right.

 

[Sucumbio]

Of all the topics in this board this one is still at the top of the list every time I log in, lol.

So his latest information from the "leaker" was not debunked either, I think it's safe to say that if the leaker isn't real Sal's a clairvoyant.

 

[Smash G]

Maybe think of it as a whole though. This guy is correct on 7, arguably 8, characters so far. Every other leaker threw in popular choices (that's the term I would use since nothing is really obvious with Sakurai) and had at least one deconfirmed, debunking the theory. Sal has yet to have anything proved wrong, and I find it hard to believe one can just guess 7 newcomers and get them all right.

My personal guesses included all of those characters on his list except Shulk (not confirmed), Chrom (not confirmed) and Wii Fit Trainer (confirmed!).

Is it really that hard to believe someone guessed well? I was one away myself and it's not like I guessed everyone Nintendo owns. I have no Nintendo contacts. Someone else out of millions guessed one character better than me. Is it impossible? Not at all.

I'm not saying the Sal leak isn't real. I'm saying this is ANYTHING BUT proof. Could EASILY be a good guess and the only good guess so far is the Wii Fit Trainer.

 

[Ryan.]

Eh lol. I know it's not impossible to guess like that but I just find it extremely difficult to believe it was just a lucky guess with those particular group of characters all being confirmed. Well, we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

Here's a question I have just to compare pre-Brawl to pre-Wii U/3DS since I want around here pre-Brawl:

Did Portaitof Ruin leak Brawl's roster all at once or was it piece-by-piece updates like the Gematsu leak?

I'll just requote this again since I need a legit answer to this question.

 

[ScottyWK]

I'll just requote this again since I need a legit answer to this question.

The Brawl roster, from what I remember, was leaked all at once. That's why it gathered such negative attention. One big leak containing R.O.B, Lucario, Toon Link, Wolf, and having no Mewtwo, Ridley, or anyone else people wanted. And only being 36 characters.

 

[Deleted member]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Sneaky Spirit in Smash Run is Sakurai's way of acknowledging this leak? I mean, "sneaky" is in his name, it can't be a coincidence

 

[MissingNumbers]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Sneaky Spirit in Smash Run is Sakurai's way of acknowledging this leak? I mean, "sneaky" is in his name, it can't be a coincidence

It's not too unlikely. After all, he did send out an entire week of Kid Icarus PotDs after that initial Palutena leak caught on.

 

[Deleted member]

It's not too unlikely. After all, he did send out an entire week of Kid Icarus PotDs after that initial Palutena leak caught on.

Which ended up being fake, oh wait...

 

[Young Marth]

The thing that sticks out on this list is still ONLY Wii Fit Trainer which is why I'm not a Sal supporter yet. Not saying it's not all true. But it's circumstantial evidence.

Someone predicted the Wii Fit Trainer then a bunch of SUPER OBVIOUS choices, many of which have been confirmed. It's not exactly "proof". The Wii Fit Trainer is still the only predicted one that wasn't obvious that's been revealed. If Chorus Men get revealed I'd say that's a decent amount of proof . But really, Pacman became obvious when Namco got involved and all those other predictions were easy guesses too. And the "Pokemon from X/Y" bullcrap doesn't count as a prediction since Sakurai said he wanted to put a Pokemon from X/Y into it long before the prediction and that's about as vague and obvious as you can get... Greninja being revealed means nothing unless he said "Greninja" which he didn't.

But pac-man was in the leak before the game was revealed, which was before it was known Namco was even working on it.

 

[Deleted member]

But pac-man was in the leak before the game was revealed, which was before it was known Namco was even working on it.

The Namco co-developing was revealed at E3 2012

 

[Young Marth]

The Namco co-developing was revealed at E3 2012

Oh, my bad. I don't remember that and I thought I've been keeping up with this game since the beginning

 

[Deleted member]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Sneaky Spirit in Smash Run is Sakurai's way of acknowledging this leak? I mean, "sneaky" is in his name, it can't be a coincidence

Nah, his way of acknowledging the leak is making the background music on Arena Ferox Id - Purpose. He's trying to throw us off.

 

[Deleted member]

Nah, his way of acknowledging the leak is making the background music on Arena Ferox Id - Purpose. He's trying to throw us off.

You could say he did this on purpose #sorrynotsorry

 

[Meelow]

It's not too unlikely. After all, he did send out an entire week of Kid Icarus PotDs after that initial Palutena leak caught on.

I remember when I posted the images in the rumor thread, I guess a certain person on Gamefaq does know his stuff.

 

[Young Marth]

There is a lot pointing towards ridely. All the metroid music during the invitational and the trophy thing during the direct. RelaxAlax said it best, if people want him so much and he knows it, the only reason he wouldn't be in the game, is that Sakurai is straight up insensitive to fans, which is NOT true.

 

[viewtifulduck82]

If we assume that Sal's sauce is in some kind of marketing or advertising position, and only knows the newcomers to be announced then it would make a lot of sense. People are only ever told what they need to know to avoid this kind of thing from leaking.

We've had strong hints that Ridley will be playable, and the trophy quiz could indicate Ghirahim. Throw in a DK newcomer (Smash Runs Kremlings could be attributed to K. Rool) and we'd have 15 newcomers (a pretty realistic amount), with three of them secret, and two of those being among the most requested characters.

It also addresses the lack of villains and heavyweights.

I still can't imagine that after all that teasing, Sakurai's just going to unveil Ridley as anything but playable. I mean, what business sense does it make to string along the fanbase only to disappoint them?

Correction, Ridley has been strongly hinted as being a boss character. I'd like to know what strong hints you're referring to, because all I see is the fans saying "omg we only saw a shadow, let's completely ignore the text at the bottom of the screen and cling to hope".

I do agree with you on the leaker only being told what he needs to know however. It wouldn't make sense for their to only be 3 unnanounced characters when the game releases. surely there are more secret characters.

 

[Young Marth]

Correction, Ridley has been strongly hinted as being a boss character. I'd like to know what strong hints you're referring to, because all I see is the fans saying "omg we only saw a shadow, let's completely ignore the text at the bottom of the screen and cling to hope".

I do agree with you on the leaker only being told what he needs to know however. It wouldn't make sense for their to only be 3 unnanounced characters when the game releases. surely there are more secret characters.

Look at my post before yours.

 

[Deleted member]

Correction, Ridley has been strongly hinted as being a boss character. I'd like to know what strong hints you're referring to, because all I see is the fans saying "omg we only saw a shadow, let's completely ignore the text at the bottom of the screen and cling to hope".

I do agree with you on the leaker only being told what he needs to know however. It wouldn't make sense for their to only be 3 unnanounced characters when the game releases. surely there are more secret characters.

Have this, it will answer all your questions:

Not mentioned in the video:
-Ridley's shadow analizy proves he's barely Bowser's size
-Choppy movements
-No footage or pic after the Direct of this supposed boss

 

[viewtifulduck82]

Look at my post before yours.

You're discounting the idea that maybe Sakurai prefers him to be a boss. Him not being playable is not a sign of sakurai being insensitive to the fan base. The very fact that he appeared, means a lot, much less the fact that he was a boss TWICE.

Have this, it will answer all your questions:

Not mentioned in the video:
-Ridley's shadow analizy proves he's barely Bowser's size
-Choppy movements
-No footage or pic after the Direct of this supposed boss

So straw grasping. Are you guys really going to ignore the long explanation of boss characters, followed by that clip with the text that accompanied it? Don't tell me you honestly think that was just to trick you guys into thinking he wasn't playable. I've got nothing against Ridley, but this is getting a little ridiculous now.

 

[Young Marth]

You're discounting the idea that maybe Sakurai prefers him to be a boss. Him not being playable is not a sign of sakurai being insensitive to the fan base. The very fact that he appeared, means a lot, much less the fact that he was a boss TWICE.

There are many Ridely fans who would rather have him not appear at all instead of a boss character. And it's Sakruai. He knows what we want and wants to toy with us about it. Personally I could give a sh*t less whether he is in the game or not, I'm just speaking of what seems logical. I would suggest watching the ridely debate video right above your latest post.

 

[viewtifulduck82]

There are many Ridely fans who would rather have him not appear at all instead of a boss character. And it's Sakruai. He knows what we want and wants to toy with us about it. Personally I could give a sh*t less whether he is in the game or not, I'm just speaking of what seems logical. I would suggest watching the ridely debat video right above your latest post.

I've already seen relax alex's video lol

 

[AustarusIV]

If we assume that Sal's sauce is in some kind of marketing or advertising position, and only knows the newcomers to be announced then it would make a lot of sense. People are only ever told what they need to know to avoid this kind of thing from leaking.

We've had strong hints that Ridley will be playable, and the trophy quiz could indicate Ghirahim. Throw in a DK newcomer (Smash Runs Kremlings could be attributed to K. Rool) and we'd have 15 newcomers (a pretty realistic amount), with three of them secret, and two of those being among the most requested characters.

It also addresses the lack of villains and heavyweights.

I still can't imagine that after all that teasing, Sakurai's just going to unveil Ridley as anything but playable. I mean, what business sense does it make to string along the fanbase only to disappoint them?

While I've been wavering back and forth on whether Sakurai's just mean-spirited, you do have a point. Virtually everyone who's been disconfirmed so far has been blatantly shown to be without any hints or nods.

I'm a bit more pessimistic on K. Rool, however. He could be a boss hazard, after all.

 

[ScottyWK]

There are many Ridely fans who would rather have him not appear at all instead of a boss character. And it's Sakruai. He knows what we want and wants to toy with us about it. Personally I could give a sh*t less whether he is in the game or not, I'm just speaking of what seems logical. I would suggest watching the ridely debat video right above your latest post.

The video is not hard evidence that Ridley is going to be playable...it IS straw-grasping. I love Alax's videos, but there's a flaw in the point saying it is "insensitive" to fans to leave him out.

Also, if Ridley fans are so butthurt about him being a boss that they'd rather him not be in the game at all...well, that's just baby-ish. I'm a huge Geno fan, but even if he was in the game as an assist trophy or something, I'd be stoked.

 

[Deleted member]

I've already seen relax alex's video lol

So, you think Sakurai would tease Ridley for something that is the exact opposite of what fans want? I bet many Waluigi fans would have loved if he did the same thing to them
EDIT:

The video is not hard evidence that Ridley is going to be playable...it IS straw-grasping. I love Alax's videos, but there's a flaw in the point saying it is "insensitive" to fans to leave him out.

Also, if Ridley fans are so butthurt about him being a boss that they'd rather him not be in the game at all...well, that's just baby-ish. I'm a huge Geno fan, but even if he was in the game as an assist trophy or something, I'd be stoked.

The difference is that Ridley has already been a boss, there is no reason to "hype" something that he has already been and is the exact opposite of what the fans want

 

[Louie G.]

I'm a bit more pessimistic on K. Rool, however. He could be a boss hazard, after all.

I hope you aren't implying that Ridley can't.

But there is a lot of straw grasping and denial in the Ridley dilemma.
We're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

And you guys know Ridley isn't popular in Japan, right?

 

[AustarusIV]

The video is not hard evidence that Ridley is going to be playable...it IS straw-grasping. I love Alax's videos, but there's a flaw in the point saying it is "insensitive" to fans to leave him out.

Also, if Ridley fans are so butthurt about him being a boss that they'd rather him not be in the game at all...well, that's just baby-ish. I'm a huge Geno fan, but even if he was in the game as an assist trophy or something, I'd be stoked.

Not that I'm saying that Ridley shouldn't make a non-playable appearance in the series ever, but I wouldn't mind if Ridley was an Assist Trophy. That way, he could properly represent how he acts in the Metroid series (as a vicious, cunning flier who wreaks havoc) instead of being a Dyna-Blade clone.

But what does this have to do with him at all? He wasn't mentioned in the leak, and it has no bearing on his chances.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Allow me to reveal the truth.

Sakurai is Sal Romano.

 

[Hong]

Going to have to ask everyone to discuss Ridley speculation in the Ridley thread. I understand he is a hotly anticipated character, but that is all the more reason why it will spiral out of control very, very, very quickly.

 

[Deleted member]

I hope you aren't implying that Ridley can't.

But there is a lot of straw grasping and denial in the Ridley dilemma.
We're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

And you guys know Ridley isn't popular in Japan, right?

Neither is Little Mac, oh wait...

 

[AustarusIV]

I hope you aren't implying that Ridley can't.

But there is a lot of straw grasping and denial in the Ridley dilemma.
We're just going to have to wait and see what happens.

And you guys know Ridley isn't popular in Japan, right?

I don't deny it. And don't dismiss the possibility of K. Rool becoming one, as it could very well happen.

Little Mac isn't popular in Japan, and look at him now.

 

[Louie G.]

Neither is Little Mac, oh wait...

Little Mac isn't popular in Japan, and look at him now.

What I mean is that Ridley's no game making/breaking character.
His popularity in America trumps his minimal popularity in Japan for sure.
What's popular here isn't necessarily popular there. I never said Little Mac was popular in Japan. I said Ridley wasn't. He doesn't have the worldwide popularity that people tend to think that he does.

Don't get jumpy, I never said it hurts his chances.

I just had to address this, now let's talk about Gematsu.

 

[Deleted member]

To be fair though in regards to Little Mac, what if Sakurai considered both, but decided that with the KO Punch, Mac would make a better/more interesting fighter than Ridley, and decided Mac should be the west's bias character?

 

[Young Marth]

While I've been wavering back and forth on whether Sakurai's just mean-spirited, you do have a point. Virtually everyone who's been disconfirmed so far has been blatantly shown to be without any hints or nods.

I'm a bit more pessimistic on K. Rool, however. He could be a boss hazard, after all.

I don't understand all the K.Rool support. He's not retro and he's not relevant which throws away almost all his chance. Dixie has a way better chance.

The video is not hard evidence that Ridley is going to be playable...it IS straw-grasping. I love Alax's videos, but there's a flaw in the point saying it is "insensitive" to fans to leave him out.

Also, if Ridley fans are so butthurt about him being a boss that they'd rather him not be in the game at all...well, that's just baby-ish. I'm a huge Geno fan, but even if he was in the game as an assist trophy or something, I'd be stoked.

Geno is a lot different. I'm almost sure we won't see a square rep unless they rebond to their status from back in the day.
We are hurting for metroid reps, too. And while i think it's babyish too, I wouldn't say that's even a majority of the fanbase, i was only making a point. I'll shut up about ridely now.