In the spirit of Wolf, this article is a semi-clone. If you stalk me on other sites (Neogaf, SmashBoards or Twitter) then you probably have already seen a good part of this article. This is a very controversial opinion within the Smash speculation community. After the first episode of SourceCast, I was repeatedly asked why I had not included Wolf in my prediction list. This article will serve as a full explanation for those comments. Please remember, this is just an opinion. It’s not a fact and I’ve been wrong about other things in the past, so I could very well be wrong about this.
Final reminder: THIS IS AN OPINION ARTICLE. You are allowed to disagree.
The longer it goes without Wolf being announced, the less likely I think he is.
This may seem like circular logic, but I would like to explain why it’s not. Wolf has been expected since the game was released. Even after the ERSB leak, people were expecting Wolf would show up. Once Lucas was announced people said ‘Wolf is a shoo-in!’. As Spazzy_D said in SourceCast, the “deadline” for when Wolf is expected to appear has constantly been pushed back. I remember saying along the lines of, ‘If Wolf isn’t in by July, then I don’t think he’s coming back’ when the data was found by Shiny Quaqsire.
Star Wolf will appear in the next Star Fox game.
It’s been about six months since the original data slots found by Shiny Quagsire were found. That means they have been working on two characters for almost the same amount of time that Mewtwo*, Lucas, Roy, Ryu** were in development.
*Initially revealed on October 23rd, released April 15th…so at least 7-8 month development cycle as the model was ready for presentation.
**Were all started before April 1st, but unknown exactly when. Lucas had significant Wii U progress in the April 1st direct, so at the very least Lucas was probably worked on for quite some time Lucas, Roy and Ryu were all released June 14th).
My rationale for dividing the two development periods is because I believe there is a possibility that we will see two sets of four characters (a total of 8 DLC characters). Therefore, dividing the content among this arbitrary line made the most sense to me.
| First Half (November – June) | Second Half (July – ??) | |
| # of Updates: | 8 | 3 (so far) |
| Characters | Four (Mewtwo, Lucas, Roy and Ryu) | Three Characters?
Possibly four, based on fighter packs and CSS. But not guaranteed. |
| Stages | Added additional 8 Player Stages Miiverse Stage (Will U) Dreamland 64 (3DS/ Wii U) Suzaku Castle (3DS/ Wii U) Peach’s Castle (Started) Hyrule Castle (Started) |
Peach’s Castle 64 (3DS/ Wii U) Hyrule Castle 64 (3DS/ Wii U) Duck Hunt (3DS) Super Mario Maker (3DS/ Wii U)Pirate Ship (Wii U) Three additional Stages? |
| Modes | Conquest Mode (Wii U) Share Feature (3DS and WIi U)amiibo functionality (3DS) in-game store (Wii U and 3DS) Tourney ((Started), Wii U) |
Tourney (Finished and updated) Wii U) |
| Mii Fighter Costumes: | 2 Waves | 2 Waves (so far) |
| Other | Smash Controller software (3DS) amiibo |
amiibo |
Of course, June isn’t a hard deadline, the team continued working on DLC. They probably worked on some, if not a lot of the content that was released early on in the second half. We know that some progress was made on Peach’s Castle 64 and Hyrule Castle 64, as they were shown off in the New Content Approach! direct. Either way, the content in the first half looks heavy. While the second half has had more stages, a lot of them have been simple ports. It makes sense that they would utilize veterans and ports, as they would be less development intensive.
There hasn’t been any indication that we will receive additional modes past the ones we’ve gotten. Therefore, I expect the work that was previously being done to finish the rest of the base game/ work on online services / make the original set of DLC content will be entirely focused on making new characters and stages. Therefore, I can’t see them taking the “easy” route, and going with Wolf — even if it “makes sense” for us. I also believe they will use the ballot /DLC to add only newcomers, as it seems that Lucas was chosen as the ‘cut Brawl rep’, while Roy was the ‘cut Melee rep’. Let me quickly explain this:
In the New Content Approach! direct, Sakurai states the following after Roy’s introduction video:
Let’s cut right to the chase. In Super Smash Bros., for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Roy is returning to the series. Last time, Roy appeared as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Melee…..He will be made available alongside the revival of Lucas. Roy is back from Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Lucas returns from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Of the many fighters from past versions, I hope fans are happy to have back these two that were particularly popular. (Emphasis mine)
I can already see some of you readying up your replies. ‘What about Mewtwo? He’s a cut veteran from Melee!’ Well the fact of the matter is that Sakurai has never mentioned that Mewtwo was a cut Melee veteran. Even in Mewtwo’s Famitsu column, that was never mentioned. Not in the 50 Facts Extravaganza nor the April 1st direct. For Mewtwo it was all about giving thanks to fans who purchased both versions of the game…a ‘bonus’ character if you will. Yet with Lucas and Roy being previously cut and returning as DLC was their highlight; ‘fans should be happy because their beloved characters are returning’. Even with Lucas’ initial reveal (the same direct that Iwata showed up Mewtwo, mind you) Iwata stated, “You will recognize this fighter from Super Smash Bros. on Wii” Since Sakurai has a heavy hand in the way the characters are portrayed and presented in media, I do believe this is how and why Lucas and Roy were chosen (in addition to be a lighter load, development wise); their catch-copy was possibly “veteran from Melee, veteran from Brawl”.
A lot of people have suggested that Wolf will be added in order to advertise Star Fox Zero. I’ve previously written that I don’t think content is selected for pure promotional purposes. I discuss that in my, “Reminder: Sakurai Isn’t Use Smash to Advertise Nintendo — he’s Celebrating it” article. I do think the reveal dates are picked to tie into cross-promotion–whenever possible…but the content selection is essentially a celebration of Nintendo’s games. Frankly, Wolf being added purely to advertise Star Fox Zero doesn’t make much sense to me. Again, I could be wrong about this, and this is purely based on my opinion.
This is coupled with the fact that we have two strong rumors (Shovel Knight, and one potentially coming next week), and Wolf is a no-show. If both of these rumors do come to fruition, then that takes up the two slots that Shiny Quaqsire found back in April. Of course there was one more added very recently, which could still be Wolf. However, based on what I said in this article, I think it’s unlikely to create Wolf at this point in time. 
I believe that if we were to get Wolf, he could get in just like how clones (and semi-clones) get into Smash…at the tail end of development when they have extra time they can use to throw together a character or two. I don’t think he will be a ‘focused development’ character. So if the third slot is the final slot, and DLC will wrap up soon…then his chances are still decent. However, my gut feeling on the ballot characters is that they will pick only newcomers, based on the way they presented Lucas and Roy and the ballot in general.
TL;DR: It’s still possible he will get in via the newest (last??) slot, but I don’t think we should consider him as a shoo-in. Believing any character is a shoo-in will only leave us disappointed. We are truly in the dark about a lot of things concerning DLC…as it is a new endeavor for the series.
It’s more that if he was such a guarantee and so much more popular than all these other characters, then why did they get in before him? All of the reasons he is a shoo in now are the reasons people felt like he was a shoo in for the base roster.
People keep moving the goal with Wolf… they keep expecting him to be the next character revealed. That’s all well and good until that last character is revealed and he is not one of them. Is Wolf a possibility? Yes. I’m not even saying that he isn’t probable. I’m just saying that it would be foolish to consider him a done deal. —Spazzy_D
I’ve come to strongly believe that any fan thinking that any character is a “shoo-in” is unnecessary and will probably ultimately lead to disappointment. History has shown us so many examples of the fanbase believing that various characters are guaranteed to join the fight, and more often than not, they are wrong. Of course, that leads to vast quantities of disappointment and it’s all completely avoidable. Simply by lowering our collective expectations just slightly. I myself am not exactly innocent of this, as I had assumed that Dixie was “just about guaranteed” during the speculation period of this iteration of Smash Bros. There comes a time when we need to learn from the past, and not make the same mistakes.
While I picked Wolf as a ballot winner in our SourceGaming choice article, I do not personally believe that he is a “shoo in”. I do however rate his chances as being among the strongest of any one character right now. While we don’t know of any reasons that would prevent him from returning, but we have to remember that the same could have been said for Mewtwo’s absence in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. An educated guess puts Wolf at the forefront of the pack of plausible additions, but please don’t mistake that for making him “guaranteed” or a “shoo-in”.
- Smash Ultimate Development Timeline - May 16, 2020
- Straight from the Source: Koji Igarashi on Castlevania in Smash, Bloodstained - October 16, 2018
- Sakurai Discusses Isabelle, Echoes, and Newcomers - September 26, 2018
If Wolf doesn’t become DLC even though Fire Marth did, I will never buy another Nintendo product.
“…their catch-copy was possibly ‘veteran from Melee, veteran from Brawl’.”
Blame Lucas for taking Wolf’s spot, not Roy. I actually rather like what they did with him.
I don’t believe that catch-copy logic.
Wolf still deserved to get in over Lucas. He’s more unique and from a series that isn’t dead.
“Deserved” is entirely based an opinion and not fact.
Wolf is a likely suggestion and even through I didn’t vote for him, he would be a nice addition to even out the veteran DLC, 2 from Melee and 2 from Brawl. I’m indifferent if he comes back but I’ll still play with him since I rarely played as him in Brawl. I would favor a newcomer over him just because of the new experimentation of how he or she could be used as a fighter. At he same time all this waiting is driving me crazy. Good post.
I just hope he does I think he probably is cause it be really stupied if they didn’t the fans have requsted the heck out of him and he’s basically our last vet let’s see what happens in a few months or weeks star fox zero is coming so wolf be smart too add
Thanks for the article, team.
I honestly thought Wolf was a shoo-in because I followed the logic of “Mewtwo and Roy from Melee, Lucas and Wolf from Brawl,” in addition to Wolf being easier to develop and the potential cross-promotion with Star Fox Zero (which is a thing, as Falco’s Amiibo has been delayed to coincide with the original release date. If you look at the release schedule, Falco is the last non-DLC Amiibo, pretty much by himself, coming even after Mewtwo.)
However, if Mewtwo was never considered a Melee veteran, that throws a bit of a wrench in my logic. Seeing him return still wouldn’t surprise me, but being a shoo-in may be a bit of wishful thinking.
BTW, thanks for bringing up the “announcement within two weeks” rumor, I hadn’t even heard of it.
Mewtwo *is* a melee veteran whether they say it or not.
Of course he is, but I was saying that if the DLC plan was “Mewtwo, one other Melee veteran, one Brawl veteran, and Ryu,” Mewtwo wouldn’t have been lumped into that category. (^_^’)
Considering we’re likely to get 8 characters in total, 2 brawl vets, 2 melee vets (total 4 vets) and 4 newcomers to make 2 character packs with 4 each seems pretty reasonable.
If characters end up being released in a batch like they were in June, any argument along the lines of “well why isn’t he in already the game?” will have failed to hold water. We haven’t received any characters at all, and that probably has more to do with the existence of the ballot than anything else.
The fanbase may have a history with erroneous “shoo-ins”, but that category also includes the likes of Little Mac, King Dedede, Diddy Kong, etc. That list can be expanded further is you relax your standards of how much support a shoo-in needs. Still, this kind of fan perception doesn’t really work well as evidence either way. I’m sure there are many whose notion of a shoo-in is largely informed by bias and personal affinity, but in this case, the substance behind the claim checks out
This is a load of tell-me-something-I don’t-know for most people, but it bears repeating; Wolf is an exceptionally popular, undoubtedly top-tier ballot choice thanks to his veteran status (and lacks the logistical issues facing the other two popular veterans, Ice Climbers and Snake). Sakurai, by his own words, is beholden to “fan service”, and being a Brawl veteran makes Wolf a very reasonable choice resource-wise as well. In terms of opportunity cost, it’s hard to imagine a bigger slam dunk. This was true the day the ballot opened, and it’s still true today.
To be more precise, it’s more that the term “shoo-in” is faulty to begin with. But if a person had to commit to calling one character a shoo-in, there’s really no better candidate, and Wolf isn’t one, it’s safe to say no one is.
Even through I dont really care about him (meaning I would not mind seeing him added, as long I FINALLY can get K. Rool for gods sake), it would also make sense for me seeing him added.
So the first fighter pack has 3 veterans and one newcomer
what, if the proportions will be reversed in the second bulk? One veteran and 3 newcomers?
2 veterans each from Brawl and Melee would make even more sense then.
BTW: I really like this site. However I only learned about its existence because of a link via source in an article about smash on an other website. Maybe it is just me, but it does not seem that easy to FIND this website (for the first time), if you are seeking for smash brothers articles and information in detail.
I agree it makes sense to add wolf
People have suggested that in the past…and it is a possibility but that’s just it. A possibility. It’s not a guarantee.
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Even the most dedicated yet reasonable fans of Star Fox and/or Wolf recognise nothing is 100% guaranteed but Wolf is currently the most popular and most likely with the strongest fundamental argument for inclusion relative to any other character as has already been mentioned.
I think something important to look at first is why he was not included in the base roster to begin with. Unlike many characters cut from any Smash game Wolf has no official and/or confirmed reasons as to why. This does say something. “Lazy” clones especially ones that rely on relevancy and/or promotion as their justification are always going to be very high on any characters that do get cut such as Pichu and Young Link. Mewtwo, Roy, and Doctor Mario always planned to return and weren’t “cut” per se. Just ran out of time and new content generally gets priority in development terms.
I personally never expected Snake to return due to 3rd parties being guest slots. Ice Climbers have their technical issues on 3ds and character parity is a big selling point for 3DS and Wii U Smash. Due to the 3ds Pokemon Trainer was reduced to Charizard since Squirtle and Ivysaur aren’t strong enough in their own right to be individual fighters not to mention how much Gen 1 would be over represented within the Pokemon rep.
Lucas is an interesting case. I believe DLC was always planned. Nintendo is relatively new to the DLC/Internet/Updates thing we’ve grown to expect from everyone else. They wanted to have DLC and yet have the flexibility be able to have a plausible reason for not continuing with DLC should it not do well sales wise. They advertised Mewtwo as a one-off so that if the DLC concept did bomb Nintendo could just say it was a one-off but if it did really well they already had the infrastructure ready to go to keep the factory operational so to speak.
So that leaves Wolf. Wolf was put into the game because as already known he was easy enough to develop for *AND* he was very popular.
Some people will argue Star Fox isn’t relevant or in decline. Nintendo have some series’ that get multiple games per generation and others that only get one game a generation. Star Fox falls into the later category (although it has had some generations with multiple games) similar to Smash, Mario Party/Kart etc. Definitely a long way to go before it ends up like Metroid or F-Zero. 12M series sales isn’t anything to sneeze at either.
Some will argue “Clone gonna get cut” argument which is nonsense considering not only did we gain Doctor Mario but several others also. Not to mention Wolf at best you could barely justify he is a semi-clone. By the logic people say Wolf is a Fox Clone Wolf could also be a pit clone (Neutral B shoots a laser projectile from a weapon, Up-B travels in a straight line, Down B deals with projectiles and side B is an attack that travels horizontally). They always ignore his standard moves which is the bulk of his move set being completely different and that he plays more as a balanced character like Mario. I’ll just leave this here: http://www.ssbwiki.com/User:Toomai/Cloneosity
Considering everyone other “cut” character has already been explained officially directly or indirectly why they aren’t back, I don’t think Wolf was “cut” at all. Part lack of development time due to priority given to newer content.
One factor I do think people never look at is his visual look. Notice how Fox in Brawl and Smash 4 looks nothing like any of the games he has been in? However it’s identical to his new look in Zero. Now whether Smash influenced his Zero look or Zero influenced the Smash look It’s hard to say. Given however Wolf’s Assault look and his 64/64 3D look are radically different, by having Wolf in the game at base that would reveal far earlier than intended what Wolf will look like in Zero.
We know Star Wolf is coming to Zero. Whether Wolf keeps his assault look, or goes to an updated version of his 64/64 3D look or even a combination we don’t know. We barely know anything about Zero now. Sakurai would have known about Zero before Smash 4 launched and given new content gets priority anyway could of though “Ah well I don’t have enough time and hes getting a new game in the medium term anyway so I can make him with his new look a bit closer to release since we are going to do DLC anyway”.
If there was only confirmed to be 1 character coming back I would say only then would Wolf potentially have issues. However we know to be as a safe minimum 3 characters coming back, likely 4 to round off a Character Pack #2. To suggest Wolf would not be 1 is quite frankly ludicrous given Wolf’s fundamentals are so solid and doesn’t have any real reason why he was cut. Especially when you consider any other “Top ten” character who all have major issues in one way or another.
Wolf as DLC would be profitable, be a very safe risk and have a quick development time so that the other 3 characters could be newcomers. We know character development takes months. 4 would take an insane amount of time compared to 3. I’d be surprised if Wii U in general let alone Smash continues to receive Heavy support after NX is revealed. The system in general has been struggling it’s entire generation.
Even though Mewtwo wasn’t explicitly marketed as a Melee Veteran, he still is. Unlike Roy and Lucas Mewtwo as a pokemon is still relevant appearing in Games and in Shows/Movies so Mewtwo didn’t need the “He is a veteran” card at all. Although his tag line like Lucas’ has double meaning in that he “strikes back”.
Wolf wouldn’t be added in purely as a promotional tool for Zero, however like Mewtwo he’s still relevant and is a veteran. It’s not like Nintendo have never put in a character before as an advertisement (Pichu). It’s not the only factor but is a big factor indeed. Wolf would sell on his veteran status and popularity alone, Zero just sweetens the deal.
The current rumours are quite vague even with the sources claiming them and as we’ve seen before sources don’t always have the full context (The Shulk/Robin/Lucina reveal and Chorus Kids comes to mind).
There’s plenty of precedent now set for Veteran’s to return either as base roster or DLC content. As mentioned Wolf isn’t 100%, nothing is. However he is the front runner for a good reason. The Smash Ballot by design is vague to allow flexibility. If most people want Wolf and he meets all the criteria there wouldn’t be a reason not to include him. I’m sure the people who say “Smash Ballot should be newcomers only wah wah wah” would be perfectly content if out of the next 4 characters only 1 is a veteran.
I think Wolf is 1 of about 5 or 6 characters that has a really good chance, but I don’t think any character is a shoo-in.
I think that’s the best mindset to have.
Wolf is in an unusual situation. He’s a veteran, arguably the only one remaining who doesn’t have any lingering issues, and his series is about to be relevant again (as lack of relevance was likely the reason he was seen as low enough priority to be left off the base roster). And yet, the fact that we still haven’t seen him is reason to second guess his chances.
I suppose the fact that he’s still arguably the most likely out of anyone says a lot about how unpredictable this whole deal is, huh?
Star Fox is a generational series thats had a game (and sometimes more) on pretty much every platform like Mario Kart/Party although I doubt anyone would apply the “series isnt relevant” card to those because Mario.
I think Wolf was over hyped from the get-go. People have been continuously shot down because after Mewtwo, they kept jumping the gun and thought “Wolf is Next” but we got Lucas–and since then, there have been so many “chances” for Wolf coming–the August update, one of the Maintenance updates, and the Pirate Ship update–so people overcompensate and automatically think “Wolf is never gonna come”, don’t get me wrong, I think Wolf is coming, but people hyped him up waaay too much and now that he wasn’t released first, people think he won’t be coming at all.
Sorry for the double post, but I also believe that in the New Content Approaching from June, Ryu was said to have “special development time.” Now I’m aware that words are always up to interpretation, but this could mean that someone meant to be released with Lucas and Roy was bumped down for Ryu (perhaps because Roy is almost an anagram? lol jk). But what are your thoughts on “special development time”?
I imagine it is relation to having people from Capcom either consulting or helping out with development of Ryu. For Sakurai to accurately represent the character and for it to fit within the Smash framework he would have needed help for sure. I wouldn’t put that much significance into it either way since it’s pre-ballot content.
Yeah…you have to admit, though–hypothetically, Wolf would’ve made the most sense to put aside in my theory, as he had a game tied to him originally coming out around this time, so it would have fit better. Probably just wishful thinking, I suppose
i jest wana see Sora!!! And Tails! For smasg
Sorry to say this if I’m being too brainless here, but I pretty don’t really know about this “shoo-in” phrase, but just like t00m said above, having Wolf as a second Brawl veteran, and having 2-3 new fighters alongside for the next DLC does make clear sense. Simply, bringing the veteran by reusing Brawl’s data but remodeling it with better designs is really easy and fast at the same time, but if it just make them reuse the same and unchanged move sets like happened to Lucas, then that’ll be disappointing. Personally, I don’t use Wolf much as clones or semi-clones or whatever you call them aren’t my favorite (I’d keep Lucas as I used him a lot in Brawl, but dislike Dark Pit because he’s no different with Pit and STOLE Zelda/Shiek’s FS idea), but I wouldn’t mind seeing him returning as DLC (unless they could change his movesets that’s too similar to Fox’s especially the FS). But I don’t know about the Smash Ballot, maybe this ballot will be focused on new comers mainly, while returning veterans may have no chances but instead have hope for Smash 5, if there is one for planning of course. So if that’s the case, then maybe Wolf won’t return due to that, but as I said before, I don’t know since this is just my opinion without taking things seriously.
I still don’t know about this “ballot character revealed in 2 weeks” rumor, because it’s too impossible to create a character already after the ballot ended which was not too long ago. It’s unknown if they have already prepared the model before the ballot ended or started creating one afterwards. Of course a direct vid does make sense, but obtaining a character already in 2 weeks seems impossible and too early.
How many DLC characters will be joining…that’s something we all never know until Sakurai says something. But I have a theory…we now have 3 open slots for the upcoming DLC characters, but what if the first 2 slots that was found back in June was part of pre-ballot, while the newly added slot represents a ballot character, as more additional may possibly happen afterwards which PushDustIn predicts 4 altogether while I predict 6 altogether to get the total of 60 fighters in Smash. It does make sense if we’re gonna have a DLC pre-ballot character for the next 2 weeks as the main ballot is still unprepared yet, and they’ll announce the chosen ballot characters through direct at the same time. Maybe one will be another returning vet like Wolf, and another could be a new comer that has nothing to do with the ballot. There may be possibilities, but this is just my own theory and opinion which I don’t even know what’ll happen.
But I do see the future of wrathful fans and invade Nintendo if Wolf never returned…chaos to every games as fandom shall conquer the universe…(evil laugh)
I don’t think Brawl data can be directly imported into Smash 4. I could be wrong about that, but I remember Sakurai saying that Mewtwo’s and Roy’s data was so old that they had to basically be rebuilt from scratch. If Wolf COULD have been imported in directly from Brawl, we probably would’ve seen him by now (unless they’re strategically holding off on his release.) Veterans pretty much save time by bypassing most of the planning stage, as pretty much all their moves besides any changed ones.
Also, not sure where everyone’s getting the roster numbers from. If you count each Mii Fighter type separate, there are currently 55 (so 52 not counting the Mii Fighters, and 53 if you count all three types together.)
Honestly, I don’t know either about the roster numbers. I tried counting it on my own but given up since I miscount too much. (lol) Since PushDustIn said there are 54 rosters in total in a previous articles (I think that was “End of Smash DLC” article), I thought that was it, but as I checked on the Smash Wiki just now, it was 55…sorry.
But as I theorized again, maybe the first 2 slots that was found along with the 5 slots since April, maybe that’ll focus on pre-ballot characters, which one may be Wolf and another returning or new character that was kept as planned since before ballot within the next 2 weeks as rumored. Then the newly added slot may be a newly ballot character focusing mainly on new comers, and possibly will add another 2 more for another ballot characters if planning, which will add up to 60 fighters altogether. Does make sense if 3DS’s CSS DLC page and WiiU’s icon downsizing is possible, but we won’t know until something happens in the next 2 weeks if the rumor is right.
I think I am the only one on earth who thinks most of the DLC will be veterans. It goes against what Sakurai has said to ignore them. Am I correct in thinking people believe that ballot characters will be newcomers? I think anyone who believes the ballot paves the way for a flooding of newcomers are going to be proven wrong.
Even if many perceive Young Link, the remaining Pokemon and Snake as minor characters that doesn’t mean they aren’t as important to one individual as Mario is to others. I don’t know what the popularity of these characters is but I still feel sorry for those who didn’t get their favorites.
You aren’t. It doesn’t particular make sense to drop too many newcomers who could potentially generate more hype as a newcomer to a potential smash 5. Although Wolf’s the only Veteran left who hasn’t got issues so I’d imagine we’d see Him and 1-3 newcomers to round out 8 characters.
Great article. It actually really clarified a few things for me. I’d love for you guys or someone to critically look at Snake’s chances. There’s a lot of uncertainty about his original inclusion in Brawl and many don’t understand or know the difficulty of getting him back. Many people just place the state Konami is in is why Snake isn’t back, but I don’t necessarily think that’s all too it.
Already done, here you go:
http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/04/05/smash-4-dlc-the-case-for-snake/
I still can’t believe I thought Wolf had a good chance of DLC. I should’ve thought this more seriously back then. Still, I think that he was going to return for the base game.There are some clues that Wolf might’ve plan to be playable. For instance the Wolfen does not appear in the new star fox stage even though the stage took a year to develop. There was always a Wolfen in every StarFox stage except for the Wii U stage. This could be a hint that he been worked/planed to return ,but probably got cut early due to his priority and the development team wanted to focus more on important things like balancing the characters. If this were the case, he would probably not end up being DLC because Sakurai does not want to rip people off. Plus, he wanted to focus on newcomers rather than veterans instead. Sure Lucas, Mewtwo, and Roy are DLC, but Mewtwo and Roy skipped the previous installment (Brawl) and the fact the development team couldn’t import Mewtwo’s data from melee makes him feel like a new character. As for Lucas, he probably was cut much earlier than Wolf because he is less recognizable and is from a dead series. Not to mention Sakurai was not aware that Mother 3 is japan only release during Brawl’s development. Although the Star Fox series is not very active, it at least had StarFox 64 for the 3ds before Smash 4 roster was finalized and all the content for Star Fox from Brawl returned in Smash 4 except for Wolf. I do miss Wolf, but not as much now than in the past. But, it would not surprise me if Wolf and the Ice Climbers return to Smash one day.