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SG Choice #10 – December Broadcast

SG Choice December broadcast

Hey guys, looks like it’s time for another Source Gaming Choice article. While last time we sturred up some serious buisness with our take on who qualifies as an All-Star of gaming, we’re going to go a bit lighter in tone this week. Today’s Source Gaming Choice will feature predictions by the Source Gaming staff on who and what will be announced in the December Broadcast! Let us know what you think will be announced in the comments below.

Nantendo
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There is a big difference between who I would like to see in this Direct and who i think we will see. In my opinion, with all the rumours, which characters are big names for Nintendo and which characters will sell as DLC, I think that the Inklings and Shovel Knight are the most likely. I would rather not have either honestly. There are so many other third party characters who deserve this more than Shovel Knight (like Bomberman or Rayman) and I fear that the Inklings will be held back from their great potential because of the Nintendo 3DS (check my dream smashers on the Inklings to see how I think they could work). That is who I expect to see but who I want to see? There are 3 possible other characters in my opinion. The first two are Wolf and Snake who could return as two of the key missing veterans, similar to the June direct that had Ryu and two veterans. This time we will have Cloud and two veterans. However, I think that’s a bit disappointing for the final DLC so I think we need a new character and the only likely one in my mind is Dixie Kong. Her similar body structure to Diddy means they can put less work into her and, a moveset is already made for her from the Brawl days. I do not know who is a ballot character but I do not think Cloud is. I think there is one ballot winner and I want to say it is Shovel Knight but I am honestly not sure.

tl:dr: Shovel Knight, Cloud and Inklings in the direct. I’d rather it was Cloud, Dixie Kong and either Wolf or Snake though.

Frostwraith
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Despite all the hype around it, I’ll keep my expectations low. I think we’ll see two or three more characters in addition to Cloud. If the rumors are anything to go by, the Inklings and Shovel Knight are a possibility. Inklings would make a ton of sense, given they’re from a successful new IP from this year and are liked by many Nintendo fans in addition to being able to provide unique and creative gameplay. As for Shovel Knight, I’m a bit iffy considering how high the standards for third party characters have been so far. I wouldn’t mind his inclusion, but I don’t think he will be included if Cloud is any indication.

Should we get three more characters, I expect one more popular veteran to be included such as Wolf or Snake. Stages, Mii Fighter outfits and amiibo figure announcements are also expected, as is a detailed explanation by Sakurai on Cloud and the Final Fantasy stage, Midgar.

A more pessimistic approach of mine is that all characters revealed in this broadcast will be chosen from ballot submissions and this is, indeed, the last wave of DLC. On a more optimistic light, I think this will be the penultimate wave, the last one being released in 2016. In this point of view, characters for this wave are either not from the ballot or from picks made earlier during its run, with picks based on the final results being part of the final DLC wave.

As for my personal wishes, I only really want Wolf to return. That alone would make me quite satisfied. Of course, I would greatly appreciate the inclusion of Snake, as well as content based on Xenoblade Chronicles X, mainly a stage and music.

Spazzy_D
First off, I want to say that I am fairly certain that this Direct will be it for Smash news. Sakurai really likes to explain newcomers, and I’m not sure he would have much of a chance to do so in a non-Smash Direct. Second of all, the only thing I am 100% certain of is that we will see Cloud and a few additional characters. Although not a lock, I am betting on the known quantity and am saying that we will see a total of 3 including Cloud. As for who they could be? I really don’t have a concrete idea. The Inkling Smash rumor is dead and I don’t have much faith in the Shovel Knight rumor, either. I feel like Smash DLC is going to go out with a bang, so I am not sure that we will see any veterans. Snake is a longshot but not out of the realm of possibility, and I could certainly see Wolf being added alongside a Star Fox Zero. As to who the newcomer(s) could be? I still think Inkling is a firm possibility, and I wouldn’t 100% rule out a Donkey Kong newcomer. More likely, though, is another 3rd party character. I’ll say either Rayman or Tails (from Sonic) with no particular reason to believe (or really even want) either. I do expect plenty of Mii Fighter outfits and for the remaining stage(s) to be bundled with a character. I definitely think that we will be seeing some more Square-Enix Mii costumes, at least a Moogle or Slime hat if not more. I actually have a bet with PushdustIn about this (Sqaure-Enix costumes), so it should be fun to see which of us is right.

SmashChu
I’m sure you are all tired of the standard conservative predictions, so here is something that is a bit unconventional.

I think there will be three additional characters (along with Cloud). What lead me to this conclusion is the current character select screen. It is all but confirmed that there will be three more characters (which Cloud would be one). This would bring the character count to 55, and 58 with all the Mii Fighters. However, this would not fit in the current select screen. There select screen has 4 rows. With Cloud plus 2 characters, there would be 57 boxes (55 fighters, the Mii fighter box and the random box), resulting in a row of 15 and three rows of 14, resulting in an out of place roster. With one more character, the roster would be have 58 boxes with two rows of 15 and two rows of 14 and would resemble the select screen at launch. This would match with the first wave of DLC and bring the total amount of downloadable characters to 8.

So what characters will be added? I do not expect more than two newcomers given the amount of work, so I expect that if 4 characters (including Cloud) happens, then one of them will be a veteran. Wolf may be likely given the fact he is a veteran and won’t require as much work, he remains a popular character, and can coincide with the release of Star Fox Zero. Inkling may also be a possibility since the game has been going very well. Splatoon has sold 2.42 million, with 1.56 million sales coming from Japan. Beyond this, anything is possible. I will give a nod to a Donkey Kong character as they have been popular among fans, but we can never be sure, especially with Cloud coming out of left field. I do not expect third party characters although I would not totally rule them out. The greatest issue those characters face is the time to establish licenses, so the most likely newcomers may come from companies that already have a character in Smash. I do not think Cloud was a ballot character given the work done on him, and the reason he is coming out now is because of licensing issues. Thus, I expect similar issues may bar third party characters from being added, especially as develop may be wrapping up.

Beyond that, I expect the updates will officially end in April. This is one year from Mewtwo’s release and would be six months from the close of the ballot, giving the team adequate time to develop new characters. That said, the presentation will likely show off (or tease) all the new content coming and the content will release in December, February and April. Sakurai will likely mention the ballot, and he may even respond to some of the suggestions fans have made, as he did with Super Smash Brothers Melee and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. There will also be some stages as well, probably more classic N64 stages, as well as Mii Fighter costumes, which will likely focus on Square-Enix games and characters. There is also the possibility of new mores, but if one does happen, I do not expect it will release until February. In closing, remember to be realistic. My predictions are a bit out there, and may very well be wrong. Given data on the disc, we can expect at least 2 more characters beyond Cloud. So, expect the worse and hope for the best.

TheAnvil
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First of all, I think that when DLC ends (be it with this presentation in December, or early next year) it’s going to go out with a bang. We’ve seen progressively more surprising additions in characters like Ryu and Cloud. I feel like we’ve got a character around the corner that will at least measure up to the kind of attention that those characters drummed up. As we’re getting a final Smash direct to present us with this new information, there’s definitely going to be a huge blowout of information, which will undoubtedly include more information on Cloud (whom I think will release at the end of the presentation). If Cloud was the teaser to entice people to watch the direct, then my mind kind of boggles thinking about the possibilities of the next characters.

The pessimist in me is saying, Cloud and 2 more characters are what we’re in for, though it’s hard to pinpoint exactly who those characters are, some of the safest guesses would be; Inklings, Paper Mario and Dixie Kong. Though Inklings are the most feasible due to Splatoon’s overwhelming success. I think it’s likely we’ll see another 3rd Party character, Rayman would make the most sense on that front, he’s the character that I think most comfortably stands shoulder to shoulder with the 3rd Parties already in Smash. But Sakurai is so unpredictable that this is extremely open ended.

I don’t think the timing works out for Cloud to be able to be a Ballot pick. A scenario in which we see Cloud releases alongside one or two other characters following the December presentation is just as plausible to me as a scenario in
which we see a Mewtwo-esque reveal for characters selected from the ballot. Ones that will be released next year. A total of 3-5 (Cloud inclusive) more characters in total is basically the minimum to the maximum that I expect, with 3 being the magic number.

As for what I really want. I would love to see Wolf return, but I’m not really feeling positive about his chances. A DK newcomer, preferably Dixie (but I’d be equally fine with K. Rool) and Banjo-Kazooie will all top my christmas list for Santa Sakurai.

In short,
Pessimistic: Cloud, Inklings & Rayman
Optimistic: Cloud, Dixie Kong (or K.Rool) & Banjo-Kazooie.
The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Or not!

nocturnal YL
Ever since Smash was announced for the 3DS and Wii U, I have been wanting to see four characters: Lucina, Robin, Bowser Jr. and anyone from Golden Sun. Quite fortunately for me, three of them actually made it in. With the exception of the Golden Sun character, everyone I want to see in Smash (reasonably) and originate from games before Smash are already in. Naturally, I am also interested in seeing elements (not just fighters) from the newer games too, be it Splatoon, Captain Toad, Xenoblade X, Fire Emblem Fates, or something else.

Now for the speculation. First off, I am not entirely sure about the ballot. I think the Smash team is fully aware of the dangers of online polling, and thus may not use it as an absolute guide for determining the characters to include. Sakurai is also much more careful at talking about playable characters in Smash compared to the 64 and Melee days, so I am not sure he will disclose the raw ballot results, either.

I think there will be 5 upcoming characters in total. It is a rather generous estimate, and this is because we have 4 DLC characters thus far, and they were released in DLC waves 1 and 2, which was quite a while ago. Clones or not, it does show that they are actually quite fast at making characters.

As for the characters themselves, I believe there will be no more third party characters. I talked about potential additions from other companies that are currently friendly with Nintendo, but most exceptionally recognizable characters whose styles work well with Smash are already covered. Among Nintendo characters, I’d say Inkling and Chibi-Robo for being recently popular choices with moves compatible with Smash, and Wolf and the missing Pokémon since Smash is big on keeping as many old characters as it can. I think these, along with Cloud, are not picked because of the ballot, but from other observations and considerations.

Wolfman_J
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I have to admit to finding it just a bit funny that TheAnvil refers to two more characters as a “pessimistic” outcome. Not that he’s wrong – two more seem to be the target, and DLC really can’t go on forever – but because seven downloadable characters in total is pretty cool, and a lot more than many of us initially suspected. I’m definitely hoping for more stages and characters (even a dump of additional, unremixed music would be cool!), but I’m not really going in with as many expectations.

Personally, my view of this iteration of Smash has been, “come what may.” All the characters I wanted most in Brawl got in (Paper Mario excepted), so I’ve been happiest being shocked and won over by characters I never thought would happen (Greninja, Duck Hunt, the Koopalings), characters I never thought should happen (Pac-Man, Cloud, Bowser Jr., Miis), and complete surprises (Rosalina, Robin, Wii Fit Trainer). If some of our writings are any indication, it’s been hard getting a handle on what comes next, which I really like. Smash and Sakurai thrive on playing with our expectations, so while I don’t expect to see longshot fighters coming in, I do hope to come out of the broadcast with expectations shattered. Especially since this is not unlikely to be the final update for this version.

Maybe that’s what I’m looking forward to the most: possibly seeing Sakurai one final time for what’s been such an incredibly fun ride and game. From the second we saw Villager to the second we saw Cloud, learning about Smash For has been wild, frenetic, and challenging to what we’ve expected. The Directs and Broadcasts have been part of that, and it’ll be just as bittersweet for those to end as the game’s DLC.

PushDustIn
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I’m fairly certain that the December Broadcast will tell us the rest of the characters and if they aren’t all released, an approximate release date for all of them.

It’s kind of hard to guess what characters will come, as some of the “top viable” contenders have some issues. With every day, my support for the Shovel Knight rumor dwindles, and I’m glad that the rumor will finally be either confirmed or dead based on the December Broadcast.

I think we are only going to get 2 more characters, based on the data slots. In the past, I thought we would only get two more, so seeing three new characters has me excited. I don’t expect a lot as development for characters — especially new ones, takes a long time. I think Wolf’s ship has sailed a long time ago, but he can get in if he’s the last/extra character developed…I just don’t see normal development time being allocated for him. See Frostwraith’s amazing Misconception on Clone article if you are interested in learning more about clone/ semi-clone development as I believe DLC development could follow a similar path.

As for who, it’s difficult to say. I think Inklings are likely and that’s about it. I’m not sure if the other character will be a Nintendo character, or another 3rd party. I don’t think Square-Enix has any more costumes as I believe they would have been shown with Cloud…especially if they were FF related. It’s possible Sakurai has more up his sleeve, but a part of me is hoping I can change Spazzy_D’s avatar. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments or Twitter.

Neo zero
As has been said before, I think this is the final Smash Update, or more specifically, the final Smash NEWS update. We’ll find out soon if Cloud was part of the ballot or not, as well as, at bare minimum, the 2 other data mined slots. While Cloud might be touched upon soon in Famitsu, the other 2, and the ballot status as a whnirole remains a mystery. I don’t think there is a winner as I’ve said in the past, as this is merely a suggestion box first and foremost. I do believe, or would like to believe that the last 2 slots are pre ballot given any likely development time table (though 1 being added later could be post ballot I’m sure). As for the who, I don’t have any real guess at this point. Lots of people are adamant Wolf will be coming, but at this point I think any hope of that is gone, at this point the only veteran I could honestly see coming back is Snake, not because he’s more likely, but there’s more to gain from his inclusion at this point. I don’t think he’s likely, just more likely. For the 2 slots I think it’ll be two newcomers, though likely not released with Cloud. The first I could see being a fan favorite character that wouldn’t necessarily do well in the ballot, the second I feel will probably be more used for more advertisement purposes. As I said, I don’t have a good guess, so I’ll just throw out two wild card names in the Inklings, and Linkle.

Of course, if this is all ballot that goes out the window, but as I said, I’d like to believe they’d wait till near the end of the ballot to pick who we’ll see. I think regardless we’ll find out who those chosen are, be they the 2 missing slots or something beyond that. I do want to give special shout out to K. Rool though, as I feel he’s one character that no matter how good he did in the ballot, won’t be picked (and since I’m building a torch and pitchfork line for my butt, this goes for a lot of characters such as Isaac) because they’re not currently relevant. Moreover, characters like that could be used to better sell Smash 5 (K. Rool anyway) than minor profit on DLC in Smash 4. I think we’ll see some well loved but less popular 1st parties and some 3rd party too. I’m guessing we see 3 ballot characters, whether it be Cloud and Friends or 3 after that, and I also think we’ll see a new game mode with Cloud and Friends, and balance updates for the next year or so. The only thing I do know is however, this Smash Broadcast will be hype.

Do you agree with our choices? What are your predictions for the upcoming December presentation? Let us know in the comments!

32 comments
  1. The only DLC characters that make sense to me at this point are Inkling and Snake… possibly Wolf if they have some extra time, but I can’t imagine who would sell better than the first two mentioned. I’m pretty sure we’re not getting any more first-party veterans back at this point. I also can’t really imagine who would be more popular on a global scale… I know the hardcore Smash community has their favorites, but I’m really doubting we’ll see them until Smash 5 at the earliest.

    TBH, if we just got Cloud, Snake, and Inkling, I’d be perfectly happy (well, Ice Climbers would be nice too, but we know that won’t happen now.) I personally don’t feel any character could really top those three.

    Considering we got some fighting game-themed Mii Fighter outfits with Ryu, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got some RPG-themed costumes with Cloud. An Isaac outfit wouldn’t surprise me at this point, and I’m pretty sure we’ll see Barret and Tifa outfits for the Gunner and Brawler, respectively. Besides that, I won’t even venture any guesses for Mii Fighter outfits, as they’ve always been pretty unpredictable (still hoping for plumber overalls, though.)

    I’m not really expecting any new modes at this point, and any more stages I’m guessing will be new ones for newcomers.

    Even if this is it for characters, I’m really hoping we see a few more waves of Mii Fighter costumes after this, at least.

    Winturwulf (@winturwulf) on December 3 |
    • I fully expect DLC to end with a bang. That means characters. I really can’t imagine a scenario where DLC will continue to trickle out once the characters stop coming.

      TheAnvil on December 3 |
      • I’m aware it most likely won’t… that was just more wishful thinking. 🙁

        Winturwulf (@winturwulf) on December 3 |
  2. Three shall be the number of additional characters Sakurai shalt add (including Cloud), and the number of the additional characters shall be three. Four characters shalt Sakurai not add, neither add he two, excepting that he then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be the characters added, then lobbest thou thy Smash 4 DLC towards thy customers, who being hyped in My sight, shall purchase it.

    Igiulaw on December 3 |
    • Bonus points for the Monty Python reference.

      Spazzy_D on December 3 |
  3. This is going to sound stupid, but my gut is telling me that with the final 2 slots in the code, we’re going to get one of three characters. Banjo & Kazooie, King K Rool,……..or Geno. Now just hear me out. Banjo is one of the few characters that could blow this final broadcast out of the water and was requested all throughout the world (while possibly only through the hardcore audience, I feel he may have had more casual support than K Rool), K Rool was the only other real world renowned pick, and even if it is just the more hardcore audience, you know he still did well, and Geno….I’ll get to in a sec.

    The thing that I just can’t get out of my mind is the translation of Sakurai saying that all of the remaining characters will be “fan service” characters. This tells me that he’s choosing characters for *us,* and not necessarily characters that he would have normally picked on his own accord. This is why I feel that current relevancy (which none of these characters have) is not as important right here.

    Which brings me to Geno….the thing about Geno is, we know that Sakurai knows at least some people want him. Or at least they did. If the support for Geno kept up even half as well as it looked like it did in Japan as we saw in the Japanese poll, then I think Sakurai may finally cave on the guy. The main reason for my thinking this (besides these being “fan service” characters) is that the main reason Geno was such a stupid/controversial pick before was because it seemed idiotic to go through all of the trouble of licensing and working with Square Enix for such a small character. Now that Sakurai already has his foot in the door of Square with Cloud however, getting Geno as well just seems…..trivial. The only thing really working against him now is his relevancy, which I addressed earlier why that is not *as* important as usual here.

    That rather lengthy explanation aside however, I still feel he is by far the least likely of the three characters I mentioned here. I actually think there is a much better chance we’ll be seeing Geno’s blue cloak and hat as a Mii costume instead. My gut just says that we will get one of these three characters, and I’m not entirely sure which.

    As for the other character, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Inkling, or Snake/Wolf back.

    Does anything think this has any merit, or is my gut as stupid as it sounds? :p

    Anime9001 on December 3 |
    • I can see where you’re coming from. Remarkably, you’re not alone in predicting Banjo-Kazooie. I’ve seen them appear on a lot of predictions. As for K. Rool, I feel like the Mii costume was Sakurai’s way of acknowledging his demand, but at the same time saying he’s not going to be in. Fan Service is a broad term, and honestly any character would fall under the category of being fan service.

      Geno… I don’t think has a hope in hell. His demand has seen a huge decline since the Brawl days, and he’s now even farther removed from the minds of gamers. With Square leaving him out of the Mario Sports titles in favour of generic Final Fantasy goons, I don’t think he’s on Square’s mind either. Then again Sakurai surprised us with Cloud, who is to say he won’t do it again.

      Snake is personally one of the few characters I really don’t think is going to be in at all.

      TheAnvil on December 3 |
      • I agree with you on K. Rool and Geno. If demand was loud enough (which I honestly doubt), we might see Geno as a Mii Fighter costume at best.

        Banjo-Kazooie I’m seriously doubting. It’s one thing to deal with Square-Enix, it’s an entirely different beast with Microsoft.

        Just curious why you think Snake doesn’t have a chance, though.

        Winturwulf (@winturwulf) on December 3 |
        • Honestly, I think if Snake was going to be back, he’d have come back already. It’s not as if he’s a character who would be low priority like other cut veterans. As far as we know, Sakurai never asked Konami to use him again.

          Seeing as how Konami’s situation is even worse now than it was during the pre-smash period, that leaves Snake even less likely now than he was during the pre-smash period.

          That and I honestly think it’s more likely than not that veteran DLC is done. Would they really pick veterans as ballot winners anyway?

          TheAnvil on December 4 |
          • I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m remaining hopeful. It could’ve been another Sonic in Brawl situation… it could’ve been one of those things where strife with Konami and Kojima was creating difficulties in bringing him back. Since Kojima left the company now (or is taking a long break, as Konami says), it may unblock prior licensing problems. Who knows? Maybe that extra slot that was added was Snake. ^_~

            And besides… yes, if the demand for veterans from the ballot was THAT strong, I could see the development team bringing them back. The DLC needs to sell worldwide, Metal Gear is one of the most popular franchises, Snake is a veteran that would require less planning than a newcomer. There’s just too many reasons NOT to include him from a business standpoint… the only problem I could foresee is licensing.

            Winturwulf (@winturwulf) on December 4 |
      • Geno suffers the serious problem of being very well known within a small “hardcore” community while being totally unknown outside that community (he’s a one-time character with complicated rights issues and no explicit internal interest). He’d be a really surprising choice, even if you were pulling from a pool of Square-Enix characters.

        Having said that, I actually don’t think a Mii costume would be too crazy a possibility.

        Wolfman_J on December 3 |
      • Even if Geno was unambiguously owned by Nintendo, he would still suffer from being a VERY minor part of the series he’s from. Being part of a five-man band is a single Mario game from 2 decades ago carries very little clout, and consequentially, he’s a model example of a character’s whose niche support among fans can’t be backed up by widespread appeal. And as it happens, there’s another Mario RPG character who’s done at least as well in hardcore fan polls and doesn’t have any of the same problems (Paper Mario). Hell, even Daisy and Waluigi could have more support when you account for the inevitable selection bias of fan polls. A Gunner costume is his only real foot in the door.

        Igiulaw on December 3 |
  4. Cloud, shovel knight, inklings/Simon Belmont

    Markeice Brown on December 3 |
  5. To be truthful, the fact a third slot was added makes me think not that they’re adding a brand new character with it, but it was an additional slot to be taken up for Cloud’s Advent Children costume. That, or they decided to add a lower devtime-cost character like Wolf, hard to say.

    Conservatively, very conservatively, I think we’re just in the market for one more. I don’t know who or what, all I know is that they’ll be very fun to play as. Sakurai and friends have done an excellent job this time around with the newcomer cast.

    spd12 on December 3 |
    • I’m pretty sure alternate costumes don’t take up character slots, even if they are a different model (at least, not the one’s WE’RE looking at.) Take a look at some of the data on this article: http://nintendoeverything.com/3-character-slots-2-stage-slots-found-in-latest-smash-bros-wii-u3ds-patch/

      Notice how pretty much every one of the characters has only one slot, and almost every one of those characters have alternate models (Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Villager, Robin, Bowser Jr., Shulk, and Pac-Man.) The only ones that DO have multiple slots are transformation Final Smashes (which are AFTER the DLC characters): Giga Bowser, Wario-Man, Big Mac, and Mega Lucario.

      So if there ARE alternate slots for additional models, they’re probably farther down or non-existent.

      Winturwulf (@winturwulf) on December 3 |
    • Costumes don’t take up slots in the data; so no, it isn’t for the Advent Children getup.

      Munomario777 on December 3 |
    • As someone who is actually very familiar with the internal coding of Brawl, having Cloud have two seperate slots for his Advent Children costume would be very bizarre. Wario and his classic overalls, Olimar and Alph, Junior and the Koopalings… they all maintain one character file for each, not a different one for each slightly different model.

      the101 on December 3 |
    • Alternate costumes wouldn’t take up a separate slot, because if they did the game would have to count every single costume as one (which I think would come out to 440 slots without counting Miis). Cloud’s costume is more extreme than other characters, but it doesn’t change his fundamental physics or hitbox. The same is true for the Koopalings, Alph, and Wario’s older costume, and those are part of their base characters’ individual data.

      Wolfman_J on December 3 |
  6. Unlike a lot of the others…I don’t think this presentation will be the end. It’ll be the last Smash Direct, sure, but they’ll save future stuff for regular Nintendo Directs, just like so many newcomer trailers were before. Any characters we get here will be non-Ballot–it’s just too soon since it closed, and Sakurai doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to go off the results from just a couple months in and disregard the rest. That isn’t how he does things.

    I doubt they’ll announce who “won the Ballot”, either, since that was never the point. Maybe they’ll tease K. Rool or another frontrunner, but I think they’ll keep quiet about who they’re working on until they’re almost ready. Then we’ll get the first of the Ballot content in February or March, with more waves beyond that, as long as they feel they can keep going.

    As far as the presentation goes, here’s what I think we’ll see. There’ll be three new characters–Cloud included–matching the three we got in June. Neither of the two unknown characters will be as big a deal as Cloud, but that wasn’t their intention to begin with. There’ll be at least one newcomer among them, with a pretty plausible chance that _both_ are newcomers. There’ll also be a couple stages in addition to Midgar–whether they’ll be packaged with newcomers or be separate I don’t know. At least one will be a returning stage, hopefully Fountain of Dreams (/bias). Maybe we’ll see a stage from one version of the game brought to the other, now that they’ve already done it with Duck Hunt?

    The characters themselves…are really hard to call. At this point, _everyone_ has a deal breaker scenario, and that makes every prediction a risky one. That said, I have a few guesses. The characters we don’t know about may be safer ones, as “safe” as you can get with trying to guess what Sakurai is up to with limited information. There’s also a chance he’s taking his “fan service” line to heart, and characters like Cloud who were brought up a lot as far back as Brawl may be getting a chance now without needing the Ballot. Or who knows, maybe there’ll be a couple more wild cards that only make sense in hindsight?

    “Safe” Prediction: Wolf and Dixie Kong
    “Fanservice” Prediction: King K. Rool and Krystal
    Wild Card Prediction: Bandana Dee and Delphox

    …Okay, I admit that last one’s partially biased.

    What am I hoping for? People from Smashboards know me as the big Delphox guy, but I’m also particularly interested in Isaac, Krystal, Sceptile, and K. Rool. I’m really hoping we get more competitively viable stages, especially Fountain of Dreams. It’d also be amazing if Yoshi’s Island (Brawl) and Prism Tower were brought over to the Wii U version.

    That said, though…we all have one character we want that’d never happen but would completely blow our minds if it did. Which character is that for me?

    Absol.

    Delzethin on December 3 |
  7. Fair enough. Fan service is a broad term, that’s just what I got from it when I read the translation. Also, while you’re probably right on K Rool, if these actually end up NOT being the last two characters (like some predicted and the ballot choices come next year), then I’d say K Rool’s odds shoot up again.

    Aside from that, I’d just like to add that I really don’t think Sakurai has forgotten about Geno. I don’t think he likes him, but I think he remembers him. Everything else you said about Geno is probably right though, especially that he’s probably not on Square’s minds in the slightest. That being said, I still think he’s going to be a costume.

    Anime9001 on December 3 |
    • I think wolf cloud and another newcomer

      Jerod on December 4 |
  8. This is… difficult.

    Square Enix Mii Custom is something obvious… But otherwise… I don’t know

    Now is impossible have confidence in a character’s chances… Wolf now is treated as another Veteran instead of “the shoo-in”.

    Inklings are still in a really weird sittuation, but otherwise, I find their chances increase with any annoucement related with Smash or their own game… Rumors and the game’s success, the support is big even before the game’s release.

    Otherwise I’m just hoping to get something that nobody could expect…

    Troy Kv on December 4 |
  9. “It’s possible Sakurai has more up his sleeve, but a part of me is hoping I can change Spazzy_D’s avatar. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments or Twitter.”

    Lol.

    As always I’m only wishing for Wolf, but I’ve already lost hope since June really. And as this prediction has shown, the possibility of Wolf getting in has already been deemed more than unlikely, although this is the final direct already, and how everyone said it wouldn’t make sense if Wolf don’t get in at all after all these times.

    Logo on December 4 |
  10. i wana see sora and zero form magaman

    Yaqub on December 4 |
  11. Hey Spazzy_D, sorry for going off-topic, but I cannot seem to be able to contact you with the e-mail address that you have given to me…I would like it if you could check what is wrong with it…

    TrinitroMan on December 4 |
    • Hey Trinitro, we did infact recieve your e-mail. It’s just been a busy week for me so I have not had a chance to fully review. Sorry about that, but I’ll be in touch soon.

      Spazzy_D on December 4 |
      • Don’t worry, it was just a test e-mail anyway.
        But I’m glad you did received it after all.
        Will then start my research, which shouldn’t be too hard since I own most of the official Touhou games starting with Touhou 6.

        TrinitroMan on December 4 |
  12. I like Smashchu’s idea of having 4 DLC characters (including Cloud) as it makes sense to balance the CSS, but if that’s not the point of choosing characters for Smash, then the remaining 2 that’s found from data mining may be the possible last amount. And who I could think of…?

    I wouldn’t think there would me more third parties other than Cloud, as I think Sakurai may focus mainly on Nintendo new comers. But if there was another third party, then Banjo-Kazooie or Shantae may have a possibility. Banjo-Kazooie has been requested by many fans globally, and Shantae have widen her spotlight as her game finally traveled overseas to Japan. Even the creators of these games have commented that they’d love to see their character to be in Smash, as they’re widely open to Sakurai that he could use their character anytime he wants. However, Shovel Knight’s case is different; Yacht Club haven’t commented that they want to see him in Smash, as they declined his amiibo figure has nothing to do with Smash. Plus the game’s sales isn’t that powerful like Sonic or Mega Man’s, while the game isn’t even released globally. Much to say, Shovel Knight may not have a possibility to join Smash, but at the same time, I’m not expecting another third party as Cloud seems to be enough.

    As we already know the Ice Climbers are not gonna come back to Smash 4 (which I would regret the most), the only veteran that we could think of it’s returning is Wolf. I don’t know if it’s meant to reflect with Star Fox Zero’s release though. But I wouldn’t think Snake have any possibility to return; not just because of Konami’s situation, but if he did return, then that’ll mean they must bring the MGS related stage too, which may be the return of Shadow Moses Island, or maybe someplace new. But other than the Metal Gear robots, the iconic part of that stage is the codec conversations. It’s hard to think if they’ll reuse the old data from Brawl since the new and rejected characters will be involved, and it’s hard to think if they’ll even remake everything as adding new infos for the new characters. Not to mention Campbell’s Japanese voice actor (Takeshi Aoki) has passed away. However, I wouldn’t think that the returning veteran would be the ballot character, as I said before, Sakurai may focus mainly on new comers instead.

    I have made my on top 5 predicted new comers in the past, and those are Impa, Medusa, Waddle Dee, Krystal, and Inklings. However, I wouldn’t think Sakurai would bring up any clones to this DLC, so Impa and Medusa wouldn’t be eligible for this. Krystal has a 50/50 chance, but it’s risky. Waddle Dee may have a possibility since he’s made by Sakurai himself, and it’ll be perfect enough since the Kirby roster needed new characters. Inklings do have a possibility to due to it’s high popularity and successful marketing, but I still wonder that the Mii Fighter Costumes means those characters aren’t qualified to be in Smash for some reasons. I know this is just some fan made rule, and I do wish I was wrong, but if I’m wrong, then I’d be glad to see them in Smash somehow. Furthermore, one of the 3 characters (Inkling/Waddle Dee/Krystal) may have a possibility for being a ballot character.

    Overall, Cloud, Wolf, and one of the 3 (Inkling/Waddle Dee/Krystal) may be the final DLC roster for this Smash. But if there will be another addition like Smashchu’s theory, then that character may possibly another new comer, but a clone character since it’s faster to create a character that way. I could predict Medusa being chosen, since Kid Icarus seems to be more focused in Smash, as it hints for the sequel of the game.

    zoniken on December 4 |
  13. I think people might be going into it expecting too many characters or at least too many complete/finished characters.

    DonkaFjord on December 4 |
  14. My bet is that we won’t see Snake, due to licensing issues. But if we do see Snake, that means those issues have been worked out, making it considerably more likely we could see Bomberman (or another Konami or Hudson character).

    sniffnoy on December 4 |
  15. What do I think we’ll see? Banjo & Kazooie as a newcomer with a matching stage – I don’t think anyone else can top Cloud’s reveal, especially since they used a bombshell announcement like Cloud to teasethis broadcast.

    What would I LIKE to see? Shantae, a matching stage for her, Saffron City returning, amd complete disconfirmation of Shovel Knight.

    Trogdorbad on December 5 |
    • Problem with that is, it assumes they need to top Cloud in the upcoming Direct. I don’t think that’s what they plan to do at all; they revealed the biggest bombshell of the three early on to get people’s attention and win back a crowd who was skeptical of Nintendo’s holiday lineup.

      Delzethin on December 5 |