I suspect Sakurai wants to reveal all newcomers before release, which is why we're getting this now. Or he's just in the mood to reveal someone. I don't think it's anything more than that. It won't be a new third party. E3 is the place to reveal those.
Even ignoring the Xenoblade director's tweet, I would still think it's Shulk. Chrom would get a resounding meh. He's better suited for a general Direct. Chorus Men would get a "what" reaction. Shulk is the only one who of the three who can try to carry the hype on his own. So I'm guessing Shulk here, Chrom in the August Direct, and Chorus Men in a last minute Smash Direct.
Now watch me be completely wrong as usual, and we get Takamaru instead. I think the only character I've gotten the time right was Pac-Man.
Every time I see Shulk I think Edge
Maverick and Emil
◊ Castagnier.
Blond guys with one-handed swords, you see.
edited 12th Jul '14 10:13:31 PM by Keybreak
You gotta believe me when I scare you away, all that I wish for is that you would stayEmil can change his elemental attribute, form pacts with monsters so they fight beside him, and turn on a Superpowered Evil Side involuntarily!
And Edge can use a sword to fight monsters that are inexplicably immune to bullets.
You gotta believe me when I scare you away, all that I wish for is that you would stayI haven't finished Star Ocean The Last Hope yet. It felt too similar to Tales of Symphonia and I was a little tired of circular battlefields.
But Tales of Symphonia could be some good representation if we didn't have enough fantasy RPG swordsmen.
You gotta believe me when I scare you away, all that I wish for is that you would stayShulk seems to get pegged as a generic hero a lot. I'm not a huge fan of his, but he wasn't that generic from what I've seen of him so far.
If Ridley is in, I'd expect him in August. It'd be the one year anniversary of the Pyroshpere reveal, and he'd probably be the second to last newcomer revealed, like how he's usually the second to last boss fought.
Not sure how likely it'd be, but I could see Shulk having at least one attack or ability that's tied to either a cooldown timer (like Xenoblade's regular arts) or to successful strikes (like talent arts).
I have no idea how his Combat Clairvoyance could come into play in a reasonable manner, other than as a counter that acts before the opponent actually strikes (such as the very moment they press the attack button) instead of the usual parry/dodge and then counter.
edited 13th Jul '14 12:55:43 AM by Elbruno
"Yeah, it's a shame. Here we are in an underground cave with all these lasers, and instead of having a rave we're using it for evil."Maybe an ability that let's him counter Final Smashes and is built up by successfully landing attacks?
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!Problem is that would make it both frustrating to the one that catches the Smash Ball, and dependant on whatever or not Smash Balls are active in the first place.
It would be kind of cool to have visions show up in single-player boss fights (which for all we know won't be nearly as present as they were in Brawl); but again, very situational.
edited 13th Jul '14 1:02:52 AM by Elbruno
"Yeah, it's a shame. Here we are in an underground cave with all these lasers, and instead of having a rave we're using it for evil."That would only work for the 3DS version since every other player in a local match would be able to see these visions on the Wii U version.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!I think it's Chorus Men. Sakurai probably understandably assumes that they will be a Base Breaker, so he will be giving them an awesome three minute trailer in the hope that it will make the community like them much more.

Which Art is that? Monado Buster? Backslash?
I always thought Sword Drones X or maybe Final Cross was the best.
I have a message from another time...