Final Smash Broadcast Reactions

Yesterday, the final broadcast on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U aired, showing the last new and unannounced content for the pair of games. Director Masahiro Sakurai showed off Cloud, and along with him the two final, incredibly unexpected, characters: Corrin, the gender and politically-ambiguous hero of the just released Fire Emblem Fates, and modern SEGA and PlatinumGames icon Bayonetta. The latter in fact turned out to have been the winner of the Smash Bros. fan ballot, as she was the most popular choice in Europe, among the top five most popular choices in the United States, and when taking all regional polls into consideration was the most popular “reasonable” choice.*

* Source Gaming would like to stress that it is far from implausible that the higher polling characters were logistically or legally impossible. Some may have been from outside video games like Goku and Spongebob, both of whom Sakurai discounted as impossible, while others’ companies (Konami with Snake, for example) may have denied Nintendo use of their intellectual properties or made unacceptable demands for their use. Similarly, characters placing well on fan-made ballots did not in any way dictate their showing on the fighter ballot. See more information here.

Sakurai ended his presentation with some statistics about the game. The two new characters, the Bayonetta-specific Umbra Clock Tower stage, and two final sets of Mii Fighter costumes (the standout one being based on Geno, the Super Mario RPG character who despite his negligible fame has remained a beloved Smash Bros. favorite) collectively set the final list of characters at 58, stages at 84, music tracks at 507 (508 in Japan), and costumes and headgear at just under 200. The initial release of Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U was absolutely packed with content, but the extent of DLC makes it seem gargantuan, even imposing.

Nintendo and Sakurai repeatedly stressed that this was the end of downloadable content, and amidst the crazed energy there was a sense of import, particularly during a fun final sequence of footage. While Corrin and Bayonetta won’t be available until 2016, and another patch isn’t unlikely, this is it. From its announcement in mid-2012, to its succession of trailers at E3 2013, to the two Smash-centric Direct videos, to the games’ slow launch in late 2014, to the introduction of downloadable content, this iteration of Super Smash Bros. has been run by a constant stream of fan-driven promotion and energy. There’s something equally satisfying, exciting, and even lachrymose about the “hype train” rolling into its final station – especially since it managed to end the way it spent so much of its time: frenetic and shocking.

As this is a significant moment in the game’s history, we’ve gathered some of the staff at Source Gaming to respond with thoughts about not just the Broadcast itself, but the end of these games’ DLC.

When we wrote about our interests for this broadcast, I mentioned that I hoped only to be surprised. Well, time for me pick my jaw up off the floor, because despite being prepared for almost any possibility I’d have never even begun to imagine what we were getting. While I did correctly predict Geno’s fate (still a momentous event, considering his position among Smash fans), and some of my ideas about how Bayonetta could work did come to fruition, it wasn’t like I seriously imagined the latter to actually happen. That the Umbra Witch turned out to be the winner was similarly shocking, though less so in retrospect; short-lived “cargo cults” for fighters have sprung up for fans of this series like clockwork, but she managed to remain consistently popular. She looks fantastic, and like all the downloadable newcomers it’s great that Sakurai has managed to keep coming up with nutty ideas.

As for the other newcomer, I was initially fairly disappointed at Corrin – a sixth Fire Emblem character? – but those utterly mind-boggling lance, water, and biting moves quickly won me over. I’ll cop to being less excited about the character specifically than entirely accidental references to my two favorite horror television series of 2015: the person who turns into a dragon, and the hero with a chainsaw on his arm. And hey, one of my biggest wishes was for more music to be added to pre-existing stages, even if I would have liked more than two (admittedly quite lovely) songs.

One final note I want to bringing up. Source Gaming has repeatedly tried to emphasize a pushback against unrestrained hype – and by extension, the bullying and negativity that far too many fans do when they don’t get their way. So, please, whether or not you like these characters, or whether or not your favorite character got in, I do hope all of you remain civil and friendly, and not fall into bullying and vitriol. At the moment, though, I’m just too exhausted from finishing graduate school today and need to go to sleep, where people incessantly demanding to “croc the vote” or whatever in every single comment section fear to tread.

The match up we’ve been waiting for.

Oh. Mein. Gott. I fear that I only can write down some Fanboy-Blabbering and I don’t think I can clearly think now. After the half, everything went so fast for me and I still can’t believe what happened.

First, we saw Corrin and I really first thought “Oh my, people surely won’t like this”. It was ironic that a new Fire Emblem-Character was revealed after our Translation-Team published the FireEmblem 20th Anniversary-Interview with Sakurai. And honestly, it’s the first time I really learn to know that character, since I avoid any news on Fire Emblem Fates. I like his design and I really like his moveset. It’s not your typical Swordfighter with his transformations. Like a “Swordsmen-Transformer”. But I was not really that excited about the reveal.

Cloud looks interesting, but I did not understand his moveset clearly. He sounded for me like a character who can charge up every move he has. But maybe I misunderstood something. I really like the Geno costume & Knuckles, but I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t got Kirby Mii-Hats. I really would like a Bandana Waddle Dee Mii Hat.

But obviously, Bayonetta seriously stole the show for me. I’m a big Bayonetta fan (even owning a signed copy from Hideki Kamiya without asking my mom), but she was a character, who I thought was IMPOSSIBLE. Her moveset and appearance was a factor which made me unable to see her happening in Smash Bros. This is why I rooted more for Bandana Waddle Dee, since he was something I like AND was realistic. Bayonetta was not. And now she IS IN and I still can’t believe this happened. I think I understand now, how Final Fantasy fans felt about Cloud in Smash Bros. Her moveset looks very faithful to her moves in Bayonetta. Even a bit too faithful, since she’s even allowed to use guns, something Snake wasn’t allowed to do in Brawl. With her Witch Time, she looks broken but doesn’t every character looks too good in trailers? So I don’t mind that. And her Taunt is awesome, we can finally dance in Smash Bros. This makes, for me, the best Super Smash Bros game ever and I’m so happy about that. I thank Sakurai for including her and I’m so happy SEGA’s allowing her in Smash Bros., beating up their beloved Sonic. I better stop here, because there won’t be much more than praise, happiness and joy from me.

tl;dr: I’m the happiest guy right now and I can’t wait for February!

Eh. Bayonetta looks top tier, so she seems like she’ll be fun.

Overall, though, while I think being salty is understandable, my take on the characters chosen was less that Sakurai is biased, or is making horrible choices, but more that his selection of potential characters was actually very limited, for whatever reasons. I took “*realizable characters” to mean that there are some characters– potentially viable ones, not Shrek or Goku but someone plausible– and that character simply couldn’t make it in for legal or hardware reasons. Characters like Snake, perhaps, or others. In the end, in terms of impactful characters, there simply aren’t very many first party Nintendo characters to choose from, and most likely, of the highly demanded third parties, many of them could not be in Smash, for whatever reason. And so it seems like Sakurai chose to go in another direction– choosing a character that seems a mixture of promotion and unique moveset in Corrin, and then the most viable next third party character in Bayonetta (worth noting that Platinum and Sega both have fairly strong ties to Nintendo at this moment in time). I feel like Bayonetta wasn’t the outright winner of the ballot, but simply the most feasible choice out of, say, of the top ballot choices.

Overall, yeah, maybe a disappointment to some, but some barriers just can’t be overcome that easily.

Corrin. First Class: Prince, Second Class: Black/White Blood, Third Class: Salt Lord

Well, that was disappointing. I pretty much went into the direct with Shovel Knight in my mind as a worst possible scenario so I was pretty surprised to see something more disappointing than that turn up.
After 2 and a half years of speculation, the final characters seemed anticlimactic. If anything, DLC itself has been something of a let down. I can’t really understand how there would be any reasonable mentality behind it, Fire Emblem has already seen so much attention spent on it, while many other franchises have received almost nothing. I can’t help but think that these characters were chosen for Sakurai more than they were chosen for the fans. The Mii Fighter costumes were a nice little salt in the wound move. Additionally, 5 of the 7 total characters hail from RPGs, just a fun little fact for you.

Bayonetta was included as our “ballot winner”, which is kind of laughable really. I struggle to believe that a character who lacked significant hardcore support in our community, in addition to being a character who would greatly lack casual appeal and had pretty poor sales would be the most voted for character in any region. At least she brings a unique perspective to the game, unlike a certain 6th Fire Emblem character. It’s a strong possibility that not only was Corrin added as a character to promote Fire Emblem Fates, but Bayonetta was also added in attempt to bolster disappointing performances of Bayonetta 2, a game that Nintendo invested in and had little to no reward for doing so. What better way is there to promote a floundering title than to market the character to roughly 11 million people?

I tend to think that Sakurai’s main job role essentially breaks down into two different parts. One involves deciding the material (characters, stages, music etc), and the other involves deciding how that material will function in the game. Both are equally as important. While he does the latter exceedingly well, the former is becoming a big issue, and I personally hope to see a co-director for the next game to ground his unreasonable priorities.
I currently have no plans to support any of the upcoming Smash DLC. I will however continue to play and enjoy Smash Bros. in its current form, as I personally do not feel that any of the final 3 characters will increase my enjoyment of this Smash Bros entry. Sakurai is not a genie granting us with magical DLC, we are to part with our hard earned money for this content. I don’t want to support decisions I believe were made without the best interest of the fans taken into consideration.

I’m sure if you were to ask anyone in the speculation community, “What would be the worse character announcement?” many people would say, “another Fire Emblem character”. Representation wise, I hate Corrin’s inclusion. Fire Emblem simply doesn’t that need that many characters, especially when the number of fans is limited compared to other series like Legend of Zelda. Heck the latest release hasn’t sold that well in Japan, and Corrin’s inclusion was likely chosen before his game even came out in Japan. So “selling well in Japan” is not a valid reason for the additional Fire Emblem representation in my eyes. This is one character selection that I cannot defend.

If I were to defend Corrin’s inclusion it would be based on his moveset. Even though some may be quick to say “another sword fighter”, Corrin’s moveset, animations and style are all very unique. He has a lot of unique abilities and can really introduce a change of gameplay. Corrin is potentially an interesting character, which is why they picked at the end of the day. Heck, Sakurai even confirmed it himself.

Some people believe that Inklings were “held back”. I would like to quickly address this. Sakurai always approaches each Smash as his last. He doesn’t hold back characters so he can release them later. There’s characters that are too late to enter the fray, unable to be realized, not prioritized or their release timing was unlikely. I also don’t think it’s an issue of unable being to realize them due to the 3DS or even 8 Player Smash in Wii U. I think the inkling mechanic, as often described by fans would be nearly impossible to implement into a game like Smash. Something would need to be drawn back. Just like Olimar has only several Pikmin in Smash for Wii U and 3DS and slightly several more in Brawl when compared to his original game where he can have 100 of them at a time. Therefore all the fan designed ink movesets are all pipe dreams. There’s also UI design, consent (from other IPs), game balancing and tons of other potential issues. Inklings moveset didn’t hold them back. Their game not being disproven didn’t hold them back. They weren’t saved for the next Smash. Corrin was just the more appealing character to Sakurai for whatever reason.

I’m not surprised that we didn’t get Wolf. I’m not surprised we got 3 more characters as DLC. I’ve been telling people to lower their expectations for the amount of DLC for a long time now, and I feel very vindicated about that fact. As for Bayonetta winning the Smash Ballot, I do still believe in the suggestion box over popularity contest. In reality, it was a mixture of the two. Bayonetta was number 1 of “viable characters”. We have no idea what that definition includes, and more than likely some of the top picks from the community weren’t just viable for newcomer DLC. Even though I’ve constantly reminded people that online polling is rubbish, I would like to take a moment to gloat that both Bayonetta and Cloud are on my Perception of Smash DLC in Japan, Redux. So…go me.

There is one thing that I was completely off base on, and that of course was the Shovel Knight rumor. I would like to apologize to anyone who is disappointed with the lack of Shovel Knight. I want to discuss why I chose to back this rumor. The reason I backed it was because after extensively discussing it with Tamaki, and confirming that his source was legitimate, we believed that the rumor had a good chance of being legitimate. Then, a second part of the rumor came true which strengthened at least my personal faith in the rumor as it was based on very privileged information.

I chose to back it because while I’ve said since Day 4 that indies would have a hard time getting into Smash, I couldn’t ignore the reliability of the source. In the end, I felt that my mindset against indies in Smash was personal bias, and thus not a good way to judge the validity of a rumor. Again, I’m sorry if you are disappointed and I do not take the responsibility of reporting rumors and leaks lightly. Dealing with this rumor has changed my approach to rumors and my resolve that sites shouldn’t report every rumor. I hope to improve my own reporting ability in the future. I also hope I didn’t lose any of your trust as I do sincerely take reporting information very seriously.

I have more that I’d like to talk about, but I’ve only slept two hours today. It’s been a very eventful day, and I’m thankful for everyone that has supported Source Gaming over the past year. Source Gaming will still be around, and be slowly changing into a general Nintendo/gaming website in the future. Of course, we will still cover Smash, as it’s our passion and there is quite a number of articles I’d like to write/ research and translations that need to be done. Please continue to check us out and share us.  

Who says Nintendo is just for kids, amiright?

I’ll keep my reaction quick, as I am still a bit worn out from our live reaction and the subsequent live podcast. The last Direct was interesting, but also a bit underwhelming. The final Smash Direct was always going to disappoint, however, since there were always going to be popular characters that just didn’t make the cut.  Corrin seems interesting, but I honestly would have preferred Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X if we were to get a character from a new game.  I definitely don’t see him as just another sword character, and am looking forward to trying him out, but still, six Fire Emblem characters is a bit much.  It honestly makes me wonder what Smash’s Fire Emblem roster will look like next game.  Very surprising inclusion to me.

Mii costumes were fun as always, Geno and Takamaru in particular look great, but I’m surprised that we didn’t see Isaac from Golden Sun or any more Square-Enix characters.  I’m also a bit upset that Midgar only has two songs, which is made even sadder due to the fact that Bayonetta is getting such a fantastic selection of music. Speaking of, Bayo looks great.  I know some people think that I was against the character if as I wrote this article, but I honestly have no issue with the character, I just didn’t think she had a huge shot of getting in.  I’m happy to be wrong, in any case.  

I am a bit sad that Wolf didn’t make it in.  Corrin proved upcoming games do matter for DLC, and Wolf was one of my Brawl favorites.  Cloud and Bayonetta do make me a bit salty about Snake, as between the two of them all of the reasons people use against Snake are covered.  Well, all except one: Konami.

With all the rumors floating around about Inklings, Shovel Knight, and other characters popular among the Smash community, yesterday’s presentation certainly took me by surprise! Even when we think he’s run out of tricks, Sakurai proved once again he always has at least one or two up his sleeve.

I am doubtless not alone in having believed a second Fire Emblem character wouldn’t join the fray as DLC, so I was just as shocked as many of you by Corrin’s inclusion. Having purchased and completed the Japanese version of Fire Emblem: Fates earlier this year, I developed an attachment to Azura. She’s a fierce female character who could introduce some cool new elements to Smash with her polearm, her singing, and her dancing. I was certain that, if a Fates character made it into Smash, it would be her. That said, after seeing the way Corrin performs and utilizes their Dragon Fang powers, I’m looking forward to playing as them.

The biggest surprise, however, was Bayonetta—and what a surprise she was! I hadn’t expected Sakurai to go into so much detail about the results of the Smash Ballot, and I certainly didn’t realize Bayonetta enjoyed such worldwide popularity. (Granted, I was all-but completely unfamiliar with her series until yesterday.) I love her sexy moves and her sassy attitude, though, and her moveset looks like a lot of fun. Her trailer had me so intrigued I immediately bought Bayonetta 1 & 2 for Wii U!

All in all, I’m really happy with the final state of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U, and I am extremely grateful to Sakurai and his team for all of their hard work. I realize there are a lot of people out there still salty about “obvious” characters being excluded, but I hope their disappointment won’t cause them to lose sight of how the developers have gone out of their way to provide an unprecedented amount of content for us. And if you need to learn how to show thanks to Sakurai and the gang, ask your mum.

Once again, Sakurai catches everyone off-guard. I must admit that I’m not too excited about Corrin’s inclusion and the amount of Fire Emblem characters is perhaps excessive, but that is one unique moveset he/she has and the whole dragon transformation abilities he/she has make him/her stand out positively from the rest of the cast. In the end, we play as characters, not series.

What really blew my mind was Bayonetta’s inclusion, especially coupled with the Kid Icarus themed introduction that almost made me think that either Hades or Medusa would be added. Regardless, she is a very unique character with a very flashy style that I can appreciate. It also surprised me that she was the character chosen from the ballot.

As for Mii costumes, I’ve always been somewhat indifferent to them, but there were interesting picks this time around such as Geno, Tails and Takamaru. And Knuckles. It seems that many costumes were chosen out of popular characters and there might have been some influence from the ballot. Speaking of which, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had an impact on the next game. Could any of the Mii costumes make it into the next game? One can only wonder for now.

My only big disappointment comes from the lack of Wolf, who was the character I had voted in the ballot and my most wanted DLC character. However, Mewtwo and Lucas returning were already very positive news and my only other two characters I wanted since the game was released. 2 out of 3 is not too shabby, I guess.

I also wanted to see Snake return as well as seeing content from Xenoblade Chronicles X, but I was aware that those were remote possibilities, so I don’t feel too let down in regards to their exclusion.

Overall, I don’t feel negative, as I didn’t have a lot of desires in regards to DLC in the first place. The content is solid and adds to the game, as controversial or odd as they may seem. I never felt there are any objectively right or wrong choices when it comes to picking characters for a crossover game. The fact the game manages to bring so many diverse characters together is, by itself, quite appealing, if I do say so myself, and I intend to enjoy that to the fullest, as right now, I don’t see myself following another Smash Bros. game so intensively as I’ve done with Brawl and Smash 3DS/Wii U.

SONIC HEROES! SONIC HEROES!… wait something’s not right here.

First, I should say that I am a huge fan of the series; however, my interest waned significantly with this DLC. When watching, I would think to myself, “I would rather play Heroes of the Storm.”  Once Bayonetta was shown, I immediately switched to Starcraft: Legacy of the Void. In other words, the Smash Brothers Broadcast made me want to play other games. But why?

I feel the downloadable content was not made for Super Smash Brothers fans, but for Sakurai. Corrin is the perfect example of this. Fire Emblem already has five characters, but a sixth was added.  In 2008 Sakurai’s GDC presentation, he stated that “Distribution among the franchises is also taken into consideration.” If that is true, why was Corrin added over other characters? Xenoblade Chronicles X is in the same position Sakurai described for Fire Emblem Fates, and Xenoblade as a series has one characters: Shulk. The only reason Corrin was added is because Sakurai is a huge Fire Emblem fan.  Also, consider Ryu. Sakurai has said little of his inclusion, but during an interview with Famitsu, he stated “It’s pretty difficult. If I keep making Smash, I get to work on interesting things like Ryu, but if I leave, I don’t know if the staff could do it by themselves.” In other words, if he keeps making Smash, he will get to work on a plethora of different characters. He added Ryu because he can say he worked on Ryu in a game. The same is true for Cloud. While Cloud has been a popular character, this is true of a plethora of Nintendo characters. The reason these characters are in is because Sakurai wanted to work on them, not because they would add to the game.

In the case of Bayonetta, I would have been more interested if DLC wasn’t already crammed with third party characters. I question the ballot results because they did not give us a full picture. Bayonetta was top in Europe and Top 5 in the US. But the US is a bigger region for Smash, historically. Those results would weigh more heavily for the US. So are we to really believe that the US voted only for Shrek and Spongebob? And what about Japan’s votes? Without real information (at least ranking), we can’t know how the ballot really worked, and I expect something will never be released for just that reason.  A friend of mine made in interesting point in that he thought Bayonetta was chosen earlier and was tacked on to the ballot to justify her. This would make some sense as she looks almost complete despite the ballot only ending in October.

My biggest complaint with the DLC, as a whole, is that Sakurai is afraid of Nintendo content.  The direct made me want to play Heroes of the Storm instead. The reason I am become more interested in Heroes of the Storm is because Blizzard is not shying away from their own content, they are embracing it. Sakurai is not embracing Nintendo content and is instead adding characters he wants to work on. This is why I feel it may be time for Sakurai to turn in the towel. It’s clear that no one questions his choices and he chooses characters based on what he wants, not what fans want.  

Despite only having three major series (soon 4), Blizzard is able to create a large, diverse roster that celebrate its own properties.

My concern is that there will be a fire erupting within the core which could forever damage the Super Smash Brothers series. Even before Cloud’s announcement, a lot of fans wanted more Nintendo characters, but it’s clear fans are not getting them.  Super Smash Brothers is a Nintendo focused game, especially with the 49 Nintendo characters, but Sakurai has added 6 third party characters. I do think there is some fatigue in terms of guest character, and there is little they will add to the next game. Third party characters ultimately detract from the celebration of Nintendo. The issue is that more third party characters may alienate Nintendo fans who are playing the game for its characters. Both Cloud and Bayonetta have been controversial, and I believe it is for this reason.

A top comment on r/Nintendo discussing the Direct. By focusing too much on other characters, Sakurai runs the risk of alienating fans.

The reason I like Heroes of the Storm is because it has integrity. It says “We know you’ve come here for Blizzard and we will deliver a Blizzard experience.” Smash Bros believe that it needs to focus on other people’s characters to keep fans interest.  But Heroes of the Storm proves that is absolutely not that case. I think someone else should take the reigns and for Sakurai to move into an advisory role. I’m sure many fans would be eager to see him work on something else as well, and I am sure he gets tired of the gruelling development.  There will now be 55 characters already, so there will have to be cuts. Focusing on Nintendo content will be the more practical and safe direction.

I feel mildly positive about this presentation. As individual characters, each of the three fighters showcased looks fun to play as. I did not have any character I want in particular, and I never thought my last remaining wanted character (anyone from Golden Sun) would join anyway, so I had nothing to lose, so to speak. If anything, I’m relieved that the roster is finalized, and so we can finally stop speculating. Personally, I’m also happy that the overall theme of Smash (at least, this iteration of Smash) is not compromised: a mix between Nintendo contents and a few notable non-Nintendo characters from major Japanese publishers — although I understand that some do not see Smash this way.

I was neutral on Cloud in terms of his ability. I like it overall, although I find it weird to see his Limit gauge not always visible. He also seems a bit hard to use, but time will tell if that is the case. It’s a tad off-topic, but I just wish something similar to his Blade Beam is available to Ike too, perhaps to replace Eruption, to make Ragnell feel more like itself.

While I don’t like Bayonetta’s character design in her own games, I have to say her implementation in Smash looks great. Her control of time (more powerful than Shulk’s, too) looks interesting, and I like how they managed to incorporate both her use of four guns and all those special effects in the game. I doubt seeing her will convince me to get Bayonetta 2, but if anything, I get an interesting character.

As for Corrin, I feel mixed-to-positive. On one hand, I’m a big Fire Emblem fan, so naturally I’m excited (again), but on the other hand, I do agree when people say there are too many Fire Emblem characters in Smash. I maintain my stance that Smash is not a political map between the various Nintendo series, though. Instead of wanting removals, I simply want to see more fighters added to series like Zelda and DK.

Anyway, the character falls somewhere between being faithful to the original (Dragon Fang!) and exercising the creative license, which I like. I’m a tad disappointed, but fully expected, that they don’t use any of the promoted class weapons (tomes and staves). After all, Ike never used axes. (But we can still recreate Ike vs Black Knight with the Hammer item!) Still, I wished Corrin would use staves to draw enemies near, freeze them, or even heal teammates.

If anything, I’m excited for the opportunities to imagine my own fights: Ike and Bayonetta fought deities, so I want to make them battle Corrin and Palutena here. Cloud would (obviously) fight Link, as well as Shulk. And I’ll pose Corrin’s Final Smash trophy with Xerneas. Just thinking about those makes me wish February would come sooner.

And one final thing: one of my wishes came true in the form of ‘Lost in Thoughts All Alone’, the main theme of FE Fates.

A long time coming

Well that was certainly unexpected. I went into this direct with low expectations; Shovel Knight and Inklings. What we got was very surprising, as those who watched our live reaction could tell, and thanks to that I cannot say I am disappointed. Now would those have been my picks? Not at all, especially Corrin, but I am not upset by it – only upset that we have to wait until February before I can actually try them. Let’s do this piece by piece though.

Corrin  was a very big initial surprise. Both DLC smash directs have started with a Fire Emblem character. While I am not particularly interested in Corrin as a character I won’t deny he does look fun and he is not like other sword-fighters. Most of his moves involve turning his body into a dragon which is great. Sure he has a sword but so does Ganondorf in his taunt and customs. Is Ganondorf a sword-wielder then? If people thought that then they would be happier with his moveset. As it is, another Fire Emblem rep is very overkill but Corrin looks fun at least so I guess I am not completely disappointed.

Cloud and Midgar were exactly as I expected so no comment. However, this is the first time I got excited about Mii costumes because I finally got my main man Takamaru represented. I will actually buy this costume (and maybe Knuckles just for the laughs). The rest are ok although Geno is a very interesting choice. Hiis inclusions shows that Sakurai is aware of fan favourites and is trying to make them happy. Which makes it even stranger that we got no Isaac or Dixie Kong costumes. We got K.Rool ages ago so you think Sakurai might make those fans happy by at least acknowledging the characters in some way. Oh well, maybe next game.

Finally we got Bayonetta who looks amazing. I do believe that Bayonetta is the ballot winner. Just like Shovel Knight and Shantae, Bayonetta had a lot of fan support at the beginning of the ballot but it seemed to drizzle out later on. In my opinion, they chose the ballot winner last July which means that those initial votes really mattered and Bayonetta was significant then. Her games have not sold that well but she is still well known just as a character. She also looks a lot fun and her witch time looks pretty broken, but at least it is not a traditional counter. Her final smash is also pretty unique and they perfectly captured the ability to rack up combos in her original game. Come her release, do not be surprised to see her appear in the top ranks of the tier lists.

It was a bitter-sweet ending to Smash DLC. There is no more after this, it has been confirmed. As a way to go out however I think it went great because it was so Sakurai. There was so much surprise value in this direct that I cannot help but treat it highly. Cloud was exciting because he was unexpected and Bayonetta alone absolutely stole the show. Brave Sakurai, now take a long deserved rest.

Well, I think I’m going to the be in the minority here when I say that this direct significantly exceeded my expectations. This has to do with many things, but ultimately it boils down to this: I was genuinely surprised, the characters are unique, and I actually want to get the DLC. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve bought all the DLC before, but it was mostly because ‘Oh yeah more characters are cool’. This is the first DLC I have been genuinely pumped and like ‘Yeah I will play this so much’.

Let’s start with Corrin/Kamui. I get it, it’s ‘another’ Fire Emblem Character, it’s another swordfighter, you’ve never played the games. I haven’t either, and none of that matters to me. I understand why people feel the need to have a proportionally representative roster, it’s usually because they’re secretly just sad that their favourite franchise doesn’t have more characters. I would be fine with 6 more Fire Emblem characters so long as they were visually distinct and have a unique fight style, and Corrin absolutely delivers on this. It’s been a long time since we got a new character who  had a truly unique fighting style, and I can absolutely understand Sakurai’s angle on this. I mean, if they spent time bringing Wolf back, we’d know his moveset would be like the other Starfox characters. I was a huge Bandana Dee fan, and as much as I would have wanted him in the game, deep down I know his moveset, truthfully, would have been pretty unique, just being a lancer/spearfighter instead of a swordfighter. I love Corrins moveset and gimmick, I think their visual appearance is top notch, and I have no complaints.

Okay, Bayonetta. When I heard the start of the trailer, I thought it was going to be another Kid Icarus character and was cringing a bit inside. But then I was blown away by Bayonetta. I think the time mechanics are awesome, and the combo mechanics look like they’ll have incredible depth. The Umbra CLock Tower stage looks like exact the stage style I’ve wanted (highly dynamic, but with minimal damaging hazards, and a static center, rather than a ‘moving’ stage. I’ve never played Bayonetta, but the direct almost makes me want to. In my mind, there was nothing disappointing and I applaud Sakurai’s bold decisions.

Also, as someone who has not been very keen on the idea of buying Mii costumes, I think they nailed it with the last batch. Knuckles, Tails, Takamaru and Ashley will be must-buys for me.

He must be relieved. Now he’ll only get spammed for Wonder Red!

These were our thoughts but you should let us know what you think in the comments below. Did anyone here expect Corrin and Bayonetta (and don’t you lie to us now) or was everyone as shocked as we were? Did Sakurai make a good choice with these characters or is his personal bias seeping through? We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie

A historian and avid gamer, NantenJex is the Editor-in-Chief for Source Gaming, overseeing videos and reviews for the site. He has a passion for obscure gaming so any article you see on uncommon titles like Nazo no Murusame Jo, Yuyuki and Marvelous, to name a few, are most likely from him. He also likes game design leading to the creation of Dream Smashers, a series on potential newcomers for Super Smash Bros. He wants you all to know that Yoshi is objectively the best Nintendo character.

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