When does Sakurai decide the movesets for his characters? (Chorus Kids speculation)

[Door Key Pig]

(does this need to be somewhere else?)
So, in pondering why the Chorus Kids weren't included in Smash 4, the idea comes up that there could have been difficulty in coming up with a Rhythm-gimmick moveset. But would that have totally been the case? Because if Sakurai, who said to be speedy in coming up with ideas for characters, already had an idea of what they were going to play like to the point of putting them in the project plan, would that mean he could have already had a moveset for them at the start?

Though maybe project plan inclusion doesn't definitively entail that or something? Looking at Chrom, he was in there at some point, but then they found issue in his moveset not coming out right as one that took from Ike and Marth. So could a similar problem have happened to the Chorus Kids when trying to make a proper character moveset? Maybe even with a fleshed out moveset it was only within attempts at implementation that they saw problems with it (latency, balance?), if not just/maybe also a matter of running out of time to do it or something?

We may never know for sure the case, but I guess the question here proper is if Sakurai would have came up with a fully fleshed-out moveset quite early on for such a character with the issue in their development being something else, or not.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

IIRC movesets are proposed in the project plan and then further realized as development continues. In Chrom's case they probably decided early on that Awakening didn't offer enough to give Chrom a unique moveset. As for the Chorus Kids it's likely that if they were ever proposed to begin with, they were simply unable to realize a moveset for them either.

 

[Door Key Pig]

IIRC movesets are proposed in the project plan and then further realized as development continues. In Chrom's case they probably decided early on that Awakening didn't offer enough to give Chrom a unique moveset. As for the Chorus Kids it's likely that if they were ever proposed to begin with, they were simply unable to realize a moveset for them either.

So are you suggesting they only had a little idea of how they played in proposal and then later ran into complications in developing the moveset like with Chrom? Though I'd have to wonder if RH being within the emblem data, but not Ice Climber whose character was cut out of 3DS limitations, might possibly suggest that their cutting from the roster was only after they were trying to get Ice Climbers working on 3DS, whatever their level of completion was.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

So are you suggesting they only had a little idea of how they played in proposal and then later ran into complications in developing the moveset like with Chrom? Though I'd have to wonder if RH being within the emblem data, but not Ice Climber whose character was cut out of 3DS limitations, might possibly suggest that their cutting from the roster was only after they were trying to get Ice Climbers working on 3DS, whatever their level of completion was.

What I'm saying is that Chorus Kids were most likely never considered in the first place, but if they were, it was either the lack of a realizable moveset or 3DS complications that prevented them from being fighters.

 

[Door Key Pig]

What I'm saying is that Chorus Kids were most likely never considered in the first place, but if they were, it was either the lack of a realizable moveset or 3DS complications that prevented them from being fighters.

Well again, them still being in the emblem data after Ice Climbers were removed for 3DS issues may suggest otherwise. Plus I assume they would be considered to some degree seeing as they kept a Smash Run enemy of their franchise in, as they did for Ice Climber's.

 

[Avokha]

Speaking of chrom, I recall sakurai saying in an interview back during smash 4 that when he considered chrom, he actually came up with a moveset for him that very afternoon all by himself, but changed his mind when he realized chrom would end up being another basic sword character, hence robin being selected as the awakening rep instead.

 

[Door Key Pig]

Yeah something about no matter what they did, Chrome just came out as a not great fusion of Marth and Ike.

So I guess generally, is it unknown whether they'd thought of Chorus Kids whole moveset at the start or not? Because it could have been quick like Greninjas moveset creation was, but on the other hand, it could have been like Chrom, who was suggested early on (to the point of seemingly being in this Gemetsu leak recap of an old project plan) but still got scrapped later after not getting a satisfying moveset to work with. Of course, the emblem data may suggest they were still on the table even after the scrapping of the Ice Climbers, and they clearly decided to at least keep the Smash Run enemies of said franchises, so was it only after some far, complete development on those and other fighters that they were scrapped, maybe out of time constraints?