Needed some time before I posted this...
Not gonna lie. Seeing the deconfirmation hurt a lot. I feel cheated. Maybe even a little betrayed. They dragged us out and got our hopes up for nothing. I didn't like how they waited until now to finally drop the news on us after so many months of teasing. And all he got was a new animation for his AT. I just wish they'd have shown Shadow at the E3 presentation with the likes of Waluigi, Midna, and the rest. I can imagine the Isaac fans share that sentiment. Probably even hurts them a lot more. It was just a poor decision on their part.
I just don't really understand what went wrong. I refuse to believe that Sakurai could not have seen Shadow as a potential character for an Echo Fighter. Did Sonic Team just refuse to let him be playable or something?
I'm not angry at Sakurai or the devs (although I'm REALLY questioning the rationale behind making Piranha Plant a character...), in fact I liked almost everything in the Direct EXCEPT the characters and Assist Trophies. Well, actually I'm looking forward to Incineroar but still
I'm still getting the game, obviously... I have almost all the characters I'd ever wanted by now. Shadow would've just been the icing on the cake for me, but his exclusion is going to be gnawing at me every now and then, and it just won't feel like the 'Ultimate' Smash to me. Maybe I'm being too greedy. SA2 just meant a lot to me as being one of my first games and I felt Shadow would help represent it, in a way.
Shadow went from being one of the most highly speculated to having one of the most abysmal chances of getting in at this point. Not only did he get AT'd, but Sakurai pretty much delivered a 2-hit combo of DLC characters requiring a new stage and songs, and then added on that there won't be echoes (Why?), so now he's going to have to compete with Tails for being a Sonic DLC character since he'll have to be a unique character from Sonic. Either way, I'll still be supporting him in hopes of a miracle that he somehow makes it in despite all these major roadblocks. But they'll probably be focusing on big name 3rd parties for DLC. Hopefully Sakurai will see all the Shadow support that cropped up during this speculation period and keep it in mind.
Sorry for the longpost. I rode this hype train knowing full well that this was a possibility, but that was a risk I was willing to take. For the rest of you supporting other characters for DLC, good luck. I'll probably just stay here to continue supporting and wait for the day Shadow's playable. Until then, Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.
