Why are so many people assuming Switch releases will be in?

[PSIGuy]

Good argument

Spoiler: Except for one thing

Corrin got in and didn't even exist yet in fire emblem

Basicly this character was added before his game even came out smash bros was his first ever appearance in the world

Actually Fates was out in Japan way before Corrin was released, and one of the DLC slots was planned as a way of promoting a new game. So not only is your "Smash debut" argument wrong, but their Smash inclusion ended up being 'strategical', as Sakurai puts it.

 

[Deathcarter]

It's important to note in the case of Ike that the roster was finalised somewhere around 2005 with one obvious exception and Ike himself is heavily derived from Path of Radiance which was released around the same time, meaning he had extremely good timing similar to the Awakening characters (Sakurai himself stated that had Awakening been released several months earlier or later, Robin might not have made it in).




No, but it's also not hard to believe that he might not have had a Xenoblade placeholder. You have to keep in mind that historically, Xenoblade has not had a newcomer for every single game and situation it had a chance to, seeing as Elma wasn't a DLC newcomer for Smash 4 despite good timing, meaning it is not guaranteed that the idea of a Xenoblade 2 character would necessarily be high enough priority for there to be a placeholder, at least whenever the roster was finalized.

Honestly, it is pretty hard to believe Sakurai wouldn't have a Xenoblade placeholder since he has made it a point to put in the newest flavor of the month available with regards to the RPG franchises for two games now with Ike, Lucas, Lucario, Greninja, & Robin. The only exception to this is Micaiah who is this due to Brawl being delayed and was competing with Ike for the protagonist spot in Radiant Dawn anyway. Elma not being made DLC isn't really important since as a newly debuting character she would have had to compete with Corrin whose game was almost guaranteed to be a million seller. Of course Corrin would have been the smarter DLC choice.

The only real reasons I wouldn't see a Xenoblade 2 newcomer happening are either Monolith Soft being a very secretive company such that they wouldn't tell him about their new game or Sakurai simply hating Xenoblade X enough that he refused to consider a Xenoblade newcomer for the base roster.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

I forgot to mention I like this thread, PSIGuy

However, one other exception you didn't mention was Lucas, who was the only Brawl newcomer to make their debut the year after the roster was decided. Mother 3 had a long development history, spanning 4 consoles. More relevant to the point is that it was around 60% complete and it was, when Mother 3 ended up being moved to the GBA, intended to be released in 2005, the same year the Brawl roster was finalised (with one obvious exception).

I think a thread like this revolving around when rosters were complete and how much the newcomer roster was focused on celebrating stuff that was (or at least intended to) released in the same year as well as before the roster was thought up is important. I made an analysis on Melee newcomers that I feel may be relevant or at least potentially applicable to the potential Switch newcomer roster.

 

[DNeon]

I figured I should post this here for general discussion in it's appropriate place instead a side discussion in another thread:

I think that part of Nintendo learning from the Wii U is that they're really trying to hype up every franchise's Switch launch and that means Smash reps. They tested the waters with Greninja and Corrin in different manners, and I think they'll take lessons from each. I'm not saying I think it's likely for FE in particular because that one seems a while away given our only information is that it's coming, same with Pokemon Switch. I'm just saying that switch titles in particular are more likely than the development timeline would suggest.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Relevant to the thread at hand.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Thread bump. Even if we get no playable characters debuting on the Switch, I still feel Switch-era content is guaranteed to make it in. I feel confident in a Breath of the Wild stage and an Oddysey stage is possible seeing as the game was already finished being developed before 2017. Even if Sakurai is strict on character timing, trophies and music have historically been given much more leeway. There is arguably more leeway on stages (as someone mentioned earlier in this thread, we got a Mario Kart 8 stage and that game released the same year Smash 4 did).

So in short, I still expect Switch games to get significant representation even if there is initially no Switch-era newcomer characters in the base roster.