Super Smash Bros.

It's not surprising they use previous characters as a foundation for new characters to ease up development time since there's a crapton of them. This is what led people to think Bayonetta didn't 'win' as there was data of Zamus in a placeholder, the other being Ike, which likely was for Cloud.

Its amusing if Ridley was used for Banjo since the most common counter to Banjo being added was that he would only be a Duck Hunt clone. Granted, people also claimed that Megaman would just be blue Samus, so people can be stupid.

could’ve been replaced had Bayonetta not been chosen, not to mention plenty of other characters that could use zss as a baseline.

It was a suggestion box anyway(tons of characters, for Ultimate, were chosen due to it. Considering the costumes, those possibly were from the ballot too, as consolation prizes). She just was top 5 in US, number 1 in UK, and it's not specified how well she did in JP. Whether or not she was actually added cause of ballot votes is completely unknown. What I interpret is that the ballot showed that them choosing her was the right choice anyway(so validated the idea they had, but they might've done it regardless), as the datamine implies she had work done before they could've gotten any of the vote data.

Mind you, that data could've been just "proof of concept", and she might not have gotten in if it weren't for the high votes. Sega might've not said yes without it. We lack a lot of details. The only thing that's at best clear is she was worked on way too early for the votes to exist and be known first with the information we have.

Let’s say she won and call it a day.

Going into a different topic, which ARMS character do you expect to be in Smash, and which character do you want in Smash?

For me it'd be Ribbon Girl or Min Min (expected) and Lola Pop (wanted).

Biff 4 smash bros!

I expect Spring Man, with a Ribbon Girl alt. Not sure on the other alts. Springtron and Dr. Coyle come to mind, but the latter has some design differences too. Though I like the idea of Ninjara and Min Min taking the spot too.

I honestly would love Spring Man as is. Not just because it finally kills some fanrules, but because I like his design. It's simple and funny. Best nickname I've heard for him is Colgate Boy.

I'm thinking Min-Min since she won the popularity contest.

Min Min and Dr. Coyle are my choices. I lean more towards the latter since she is a villain and female, things the previous pack mostly lacked. (Especially on the villain front)

I'm in camp "ARMs 2 Protagonist" myself.

Min Min and Max Brass are my top personal wants with some reasoning behind both.

I think it could be Ribbon Girl, Min-Min, or "ARMS 2 protagonist". As much as "assist trophies can't be fighters" is a fan rule, it seems like the kind of logic that Sakurai himself would use when selecting characters, so...

I would expect it'd be "ARMS 2 Protagonist", except if there's an unannounced and not yet rumored ARMS 2, the virus would've put its development on hold, and it wouldn't make sense to be the first character to include in this season, unless everyone in this season is either not yet developed and/or from series that aren't already in Smash.

I'd hope for Twintelle. Not because I care about ARMS or its characters, but because:

1. Woman of color
2. From the little of the game I've seen, she has some abilities I'd like to see be less exclusive in Smash, that could come together to make a good kit
3. She can be a lot more expressive since she has actual arms in addition to her "ARMS"
4. Classy a.f.
5. Cool character design
6. Sure, people like her assets

They literally advertised the ARMS 1 characters, but also have the ARMS 1 logo on the actual pass. I highly doubt it's from a hypothetical ARMS 2. That said, it's not impossible. It could be still an alt situation.

Also, the tournament in question was a simple fun one and means little. Min-Min is no doubt highly popular, but it's not because of that. Besides, we don't have a popularity poll to cite at the moment.

Also, the thing about "Sakurai's rules" is that he's not the one choosing the DLC. Nintendo actually is making the core decision. His personal rules might be completely irrelevant. He's just a worker for them in this business case. Not to say they don't respect him, but the fact it's even possible Spring Man is on the table already shows it's not a relevant factor what in-game roles they have. When you consider how much playtesting a major range character has, it taking so long makes sense. Besides the Coronavirus too, which we know has caused delays with Nintendo stuff in general. Though at least it's in-house for the specific character, so that helps a bit. It is possible that Challenger Pack 6 was someone else but they slightly changed it up due to "easier for people to meet" or something, but who knows. Maybe that's why there's such a mystery, due to more delays than intended.

Obviously if Sakurai was the one choosing DLC, Spring Man's significantly less likely as is. AT's are literally there for characters who couldn't be made playable. Though don't forget a key thing; it was timing as well that made the character unviable. The game wasn't developed at the right time. Rex was the same way. However, my guess is it wasn't just timing, but how difficult a ranged character like that is to make in a game where he had to cut corners a lot/not have as much time for development as possible. It feels like that affected it more than just timing alone.

I think it's either Spring Man or Min Min, and I want it to be Spring Man mostly because I really want Shadow, Shovel Knight, and Isaac.

Twintelle: getting the place crap comes out of past the radar since 2017

I'd definitely prefer Twintelle, and only mostly because of her assets.

I feel like Ribbon Girl is the most likely but since I have no involvement with ARMS whatsoever, I have no clue who I'd want in Smash.

I’d really want anyone besides springman/tron, the game has so many fun characters having the generic guy in would be a huge disservice.

(I’m imagining twintelle’s pummel being a bitchslap, fits her well)

Edited by GeneralGigan817 on Mar 29th 2020 at 8:35:23 AM

Assuming they take both victory animations from ARMS, that'd still leave one empty victory pose. I wonder if they'd base that off something or just have an animation based on the character's personality.

I highly doubt Nintendo told Sakurai "We want Spring Man in as a fighter, we don't care that he's already an assist trophy.", they probably just told him to put in somebody from ARMS to promote the game, and don't actually care who, exactly he picks for it.

Didn't Reggie say the final decision is Sakurai's?

From what I recall (at least for the first pass) Nintendo gives Sakurai a list and he chooses from that. We don't know how specific the list is, however.

All the information we have is Nintendo is outright picking the characters, not Sakurai(which he's said more than once). It's far less realistic that they gave him a franchise only. We don't even have evidence he's given an outright list, just a specific character, and he figures out if they work or not(which obviously someone from ARMS did).

So that doesn't really make sense. The actual statements are clear enough that Nintendo pretty much has a character in mind that Sakurai is working with. The "mystery" really only points to getting ARMS in the spotlight. They don't have enough done to reveal a character, so lots of talk is needed. And the strategy worked. With the Coronavirus actually causing them delays, we don't know how it exactly affected DLC. It's quite possible they had to switch 6 and 7 because Sakurai couldn't talk to some companies easily at the moment. It's possible he couldn't get a lot done as fast due to COVID-19 too. We don't know.

The fact Spring Man is even advertised as possible means he's clearly on the table as is. If that fan-rule was definitely there, why would it even be there. Nintendo blatantly doesn't care about these kind of rules by showing their hand already. They know what they're doing. It doesn't mean Spring Man will be chosen, it just means they really don't care since it's not their problem. Only Sakurai does, and that's assuming he's allowed to actually make that decision. When it's made clear that "Nintendo chooses the characters, not me", writing anyone off over a fan-rule is a poor idea. They are not the same mindset. We need to think about what Nintendo would do. And seeing as how the evidence points to them giving specific characters, not a list(since Sakurai would've been a bit more clear at that point), it's highly doubtful he was told "franchise" to begin with. Like, the only one that could apply to is Hero, and that was also a base game character that fell through. Nintendo bringing it up again depending on why the character fell-through is a thing too. For them, it's clearly a great business idea to help sell a series in the West. It fits extremely well with the timeline of when he was added, the clear advertising of DQXI:DE(not just for the pass, but it's been everywhere). There's no denying that some Sakurai likes as well, but when he confirmed Terry was Nintendo's idea(surprisingly), it goes to show he's not in as much control as we thought.

Sakurai also confirmed Nintendo is choosing the characters again, so it's pretty much clear already what's going on. Of course, it helps that they are aware of fan demanded ones anyway(Geno, Isaac, for instance), so that can be quite good for this pass.

There wasn't a list ever mentioned. All that was said was Sakurai is given a character, and has to figure out if they can make them work or not. Nobody was rejected due to "moveset issues" either. Which means there may not have ever been anyone rejected. However, licensing may have affected some choices as he couldn't get every single one Nintendo gave him. The way it's worded is more like "gives him a character, he figures if he can make it work, which so far has been "yes" according to statements, then license them out if needed, and do the rest of the pass work". Worth noting this model is confirmed for Pass 2. The only thing not confirmed is whether a Spirit Board is coming again, but it's probably the case, since it's kind of easy for, like, every franchise that could get a character. Even if it's less important Spirits, they're not really lacking. Golden Sun has quite a few characters left, for instance. SMRPG has many bosses. There's a lot of ARMS characters for an easy Spirit Board without reusing anyone, etc.

Edited by Irene on Mar 29th 2020 at 11:02:31 AM

What about non-DLC like Mega Man and Shulk? Are those Sakurai's choice or does he test whoever Nintendo gives him?