All of the DLC characters so far, except for Banjo & Kazooie, have been underrated picks. I’m expecting this to continue for the last two characters as well.
• Joker did have a few supporters before his announcement, but he was barely brought up anywhere at all.
• Erdrick was discussed a lot because Vergeben leaked him, and the Luminary was brought up a few times, but the Dragon Quest III and VIII Heroes never really got brought up at all. The idea of all four them sharing a character slot was also almost never discussed.
• Banjo & Kazooie are the only exception. They have had massive demand during the Smash 4 and early Ultimate days, just like Ridley and King K. Rool.
• Terry had a handful of supporters, but he never got brought up by anyone. Most people thought a new FGC character would come from a game like Tekken, Guilty Gear, or Mortal Kombat. Fatal Fury and King of Fighters rarely got brought up anywhere.
• Byleth was never discussed much. The biggest reason was probably bevause we already had seven Fire Emblem reps and most people didn’t want another one. Another big reason is that people thought all of Fighter Pass 1 was going to only be third parties, as Byleth is the only first party rep in Fighter Pass 1.
• Min Min almost never got brought up until Nintendo said “the next character is from ARMS”. This is because almost everyone thought that the ARMS assist trophy was all there would be for ARMS representation in Smash. However, once Nintendo said that the next character at the time would be from ARMS, discussion on Min Min went up drastically.
• Steve was always a popular choice, but he didn’t get brought up as often as he should have been. The main reason for this, in my opinion, is because people were arguing if we would get either Banjo & Kazooie or Steve, but not both. Once the highly requested Banjo & Kazooie got into the game, support on Steve was very quiet until his reveal, because some Steve fans assumed that they got “defeated”.
• Sephiroth rarely got brought up anywhere at all. The two Square characters that get talked about the most by far are Sora and Geno, and Sephiroth getting in means that neither Sora or Geno would get in instead. Plus the fact that Hero already joined earlier as well, which could make it seem like Hero was the only Square character we could get at the time to some people. There’s also the fact that a second, unique rep to an existing third party franchise was unprecedented until Sephiroth, since Ken and Richter are considered to be echo fighters.
• Pyra was almost always discussed as being a part of Rex’s moveset, but discussion on Pyra / Mythra as a standalone character almost never happened. The idea of Pyra / Mythra being in Smash in some way was always something that was on the table, but the idea of no playable Rex was something that most people didn’t consider. This is because Rex is the playable character in the original Xenoblade 2 game, while Pyra / Mythra are only support in the original game.
