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Still upset about the Smash Fighter Ballot

Bayo still doesn't make much sense to me. With the sales of both games, logically you would think that there would be way more votes for others. The only thing I can think of is that the rest were super fractured or just not going to happen.

Being in the top 5 in the states makes me think the others weren't viable for technical and legal reasons. I wonder though if any of those were Nintendo characters and had the same issues.
 
Given that on the top there were wastes like Waluigi (a non character) and Chrom (another fucking FE rep), im fairly happy the ballot winner was just one.
 
The fighter ballot/final smash broadcast taught me a valuable lesson, I should stop hoping for things I want in smash.

Still looking forward to trying out Bayo tomorrow, heck I'll even give the great hype deflater Corrin a shake.
 
I really wish Sakurai would have taken the top 5 characters from the ballot instead of just Bayonetta. I'm pumped for Bayonetta and not salty at all she's in. Just salty that she was the only one.

Never expected 5 characters. That would be a bit much. However.

The Smash Fighter Ballot was indeed quite a bit disappointing. I have no problem with Bayonetta geting in but the other two could have been ballot choices too.
Instead it seems they were picked without any need for the ballot

I don't care for Cloud but at least he is very well known and probably got quite a few votes.
Meanwhile. Corrin...

Corinne from Fire Emblem Fates™ (releasing February 19th, pre-orders still available at your closest game retailer)
kappa
.

yeah. Corrin is pretty much an advertisement for fates. and with so many people voting for other different characters.. it just feels like a dissappointment.

If the enhanced NX Smash port is true, you can bet your hide they'll include new characters to entice double dipping; I'll eat the hat I don't own if the Inkling isn't one of those.

When I heard them say they choose Corrin because he was from a more "recent" game. I found it somewhat bizar they did not choose inklings instead.
It really isn't a contest sales or popularity wise. Splatoon wins that.
Would save them the "another FE character" criticism too
 
Bayo still doesn't make much sense to me. With the sales of both games, logically you would think that there would be way more votes for others. The only thing I can think of is that the rest were super fractured or just not going to happen.

Being in the top 5 in the states makes me think the others weren't viable for technical and legal reasons. I wonder though if any of those were Nintendo characters and had the same issues.
With so many characters being written in every single character was going to be only voted for a small minority of people writing in. Any one character could have potentially "won" with less than 5% of the total vote or so.

This is another reason I think Corrin was a terrible idea and should have been another ballot character--any one character was going to cast a very narrow net over the potential voters, another would have expanded it a little wider than an advertisement character no one wanted from a franchise that already had a DLC character released.
 
The Smash Ballot must have been a complete shit show. There might have been votes that weighed heavily towards a certain character or series (Bayonetta's case in Europe) but given that the ballot was an open form on their website, data set probably looked completely insane. Characters and votes all over the place. They should have made an app to allow voting only if you had a NNID.

Bayonetta was on a shortlist or in production by the time the ballot was finished. Can't complain ... but they probably needed characters that made sense, promoted something (cross-marketing), were licensable for a certain amount of time, and could be turned into merchandise.
 
Corrin and Cloud weren't ballot characters. One was the developer getting a chance to include another character of their own choosing post development and one was a long standing request. Sakurai and the team put a lot of work into the games so I think its fair that they got to choose one of the DLC characters.
 
When I heard them say they choose Corrin because he was from a more "recent" game. I found it somewhat bizar they did not choose inklings instead.
It really isn't a contest sales or popularity wise. Splatoon wins that.
Would save them the "another FE character" criticism too
Considering how the final direct took time out to say "hey, look, you can still kinda play as Inklings with your mii!" I would be willing to bet that Inklings placed high in the ballot and were decided against for tech reasons. It's possible that they didn't have a good idea on how to implement an ink mechanic, or that what they did want to implement wouldn't have worked well on the 3DS.
 
Because the point of Smash Bros is being a celebration of Nintendo's history. The likes of Megaman and Sonic are perfectly fine since they are part of that, how exactly does Cloud fit in? Same reason I was not happy with Danica Patrick and that Yogscast guy being in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Smash Bros. stopped being a celebration exclusively of Nintendo the moment Snake was added.

The only rule has been that the character has to have appeared on a Nintendo system. As long as they've met that they're eligible for inclusion. It's always been as simple as that from Sakurai's point of view.
 
I wanted a Final Fantasy character, didnt matter who, and I wanted Bayonetta.

I got my wish. So the Smash Ballot did its job for me. Don't need or care if other characters don't get in. Other than Bomberman who is a long shot anyways and I didn't expect him so it's whatever. No one else needs to be in for me. No Snake, Shovel Knight or K. Rool is also a big positive for me, hate all three characters so that worked in my favor too.
 
Corrin and Cloud weren't ballot characters. One was the developer getting a chance to include another character of their own choosing post development and one was a long standing request. Sakurai and the team put a lot of work into the games so I think its fair that they got to choose one of the DLC characters.

Let's not pretend that Cloud couldn't have possibly placed highly in the ballot, please. He's very popular.

Misread your post, disregard. Have a nice day folks!
 
I can see them using the results of the ballot to influence what character could get in the next installment of Smash Bros beyond the obvious ones that are very likely to get in (Inklings)

I found the salt directed at Corring quite funny because with him they actually took their time to make Corrin a very unique character unlike Roy who was a rushed effort to promote that FE6... and I love the fact that there are two characters designed by Kozaki Yusuke in Smash Bros since I never got Travis Touchdown T_T
 
Regarding Corrin vs. Inkling, I think some combination of the following factors played into Corrin “winning out,” so to speak:

  • The decision to include Corrin was probably made before Splatoon was a big success (or even released). Including the protagonist of a new entry in an established series is less of a gamble than introducing a new, unproven IP into Smash Bros.
  • Inkling would have been a much bigger investment than Corrin. Introducing Inkling also means having to create a Splatoon stage, music, victory jingle, and series symbol. Stages are especially taxing, and maybe there was only enough time/money to introduce one final IP into the game, with Bayonetta winning out over Splatoon.
  • Ink might have been technically challenging to implement, and DLC doesn’t really afford a lot of time for experimentation. There’s a really tight schedule. The team would be fucked if they had to cut a DLC character mid-development.
 
I just love the fact we got a character that we knew nothing of at launch. Who could have predicted Corrin to be a part of smash despite being a character announced 2 months after the release of smash. I am definitely not upset with the roster, and I would be asking too much if I wanted more.
 
Mewtwo, Lucas, Ryu, Cloud, Bayonetta, Roy and Corrin are all amazing DLC characters. The only one I would even consider replacing is Corrin but I'm not a huge Fire Emblem nut. We got some of the most requested veterans back, two of the most iconic gaming characters of all time and Nintendo's surprise third party mascot: Bayonetta. I think Smash DLC has been pretty amazing and the ballot did its job. I'm just thankful we didn't get any disastrous characters like Goku or K Rule.

There's still a chance some ballot runner ups will make it into Smash NX.
 
Inkling would have been a much bigger investment of time and manpower than Corrin. Introducing Inkling also means having to create a Splatoon stage, music, victory jingle, and series symbol. Stages are an especially big investment, and maybe there was only enough time/money to introduce one final IP into the game, with Bayonetta winning out over Splatoon.

This is a really good point I've never seen brought up. Even back in the June video, Sakurai noted he wasn't sure they could make too many more stages. And indeed, the only new DLC stage not tied to a character was Mario Maker (aside from Miiverse which was patched in for free, and probably just something that was planned from the beginning and missed the launch deadline).

I think the devs could have been stuck between the rock of not having enough R&D to invest into fully creating everything the Splatoon universe would need, and the hard place of not wanting to half-ass Nintendo's hottest new IP (since a lot of people accused Street Fighter and Final Fantasy's content of being pretty lackluster). It's an understandable concern, actually. I'm really glad you brought that up.
 
Er, that's a strange thing to say considering they chose all of them.

Sakurai himself said the DLC was going to be fanservice, but with Corrin he explained why the team chose them. It was clear this was a more personal choice compared to the rest.
 
jump_super_stars_coved0o7i.png


Says Nintendo right on the cover.

Does that also make Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo, and all the other Jump characters "video game characters"?
Fuck off with that
 
I would be willing to bet that Inklings placed high in the ballot and were decided against for tech reasons. It's possible that they didn't have a good idea on how to implement an ink mechanic, or that what they did want to implement wouldn't have worked well on the 3DS.

I don't think they would have a problem with coming up with an ink mechanic idea.
Tech reasons could explain the lack of inklings. Especially on the 3DS.
But without Sakurai confirming that or even discussing the possibility of an inkling fighter.
We just don't know.

The lack of information here being a recurring problem in these discussions.
For all we know. Sakurai and his devs never even tried after the costumes and instantly went for another FE. We just don't know.
 
Regarding Corrin vs. Inkling, I think some combination of the following factors played into Corrin “winning out,” so to speak:

  • The decision to include Corrin was probably made before Splatoon was a big success (or even released). Including the protagonist of a new entry in an established series is less of a gamble than introducing a new, unproven IP into Smash Bros.
  • Inkling would have been a much bigger investment than Corrin. Introducing Inkling also means having to create a Splatoon stage, music, victory jingle, and series symbol. Stages are especially taxing, and maybe there was only enough time/money to introduce one final IP into the game, with Bayonetta winning out over Splatoon.
  • Ink might have been technically challenging to implement, and DLC doesn’t really afford a lot of time for experimentation. There’s a really tight schedule. The team would be fucked if they had to cut a DLC character mid-development.

Inkling would sell Smash on NX, Corrin wouldn't.
 
Unfortunately the ballot wasn't clearly billed as being a suggestion box, so people understandably expected that the winner(s) would be one to get added.


Because the point of Smash Bros is being a celebration of Nintendo's history. The likes of Megaman and Sonic are perfectly fine since they are part of that, how exactly does Cloud fit in? Same reason I was not happy with Danica Patrick and that Yogscast guy being in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

As far as we know, the winner was added. And what would be the point in lying about this? "This is the character that an overwhelming majority of our fans wanted, but we don't care about that." ? What's the end-game?

Also, Ryu is hugely iconic video game character and was very important to Nintendo. Maybe not recently (even though I was just playing SFIV on my 3DS over the weekend) but the Street Fighter franchise was very important to Nintendo during the SNES era. Cloud simply represents another franchise that was very important to Nintendo during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Plus, a game with Cloud in it just came out on the 3DS, so it's not like he's a stranger to Nintendo consoles.

Like it or not, they aren't going to invest in a character if people won't buy it. I don't know what character you think would sell more DLC than Ryu or Cloud, but I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't.
 
Even more characters take time and money. It's obvious they have to spend the effort on other projects.

Besides. Ryu, cloud, and Bayonetta would've been top 3 anyways.
 
Why do/did so many people want Goku to be in Smash? Smash is a celebration of video games, primarily but not limited to Nintendo. I get that some of the support is joking, but it seems like a lot of it is genuine and I just don't get it.

Like, wouldn't it be better to have a localized SSB style Shonen Jump game?

1. Goku was the 80's anime/manga (started in 1984), and Nintendo is a product of the 80's.
2. There's a billion video games starring Goku.
 
I wouldn't be upset or worry at all. They likely will still use the top ballot fighters as a guide to see what popular characters they could possibly put in the next version.
 
You do realize that it takes a long time to make characters for fighting games, right? Plus they had to move on to the NX Platform eventually with the rest of Nintendo moving away from the 3DS & the Wii U. It's a miracle that we even got one character from the Ballot.

Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ballot factored into Smash 5's roster.
 
All I can ask for is the Smash NX version to have Ice Climbers, Wolf, Inklings, and Chorus Kids. Mostly ICs and and RH rep.

I will die and my soul can be at peace.
 
Sakurai himself said the DLC was going to be fanservice, but with Corrin he explained why the team chose them. It was clear this was a more personal choice compared to the rest.
Sakurai said before Cloud that all the characters from here on were going to be fanservice, and both times Sakurai's explained Corrin's inclusion he's prefaced that he wasn't necessarily his idea at first. To say that Corrin was a more "personal" choice is assuming a lot. For all we know it could have been the least personal choice of all of them and was a decree from the marketing department.
 
Also, Ryu is hugely iconic video game character and was very important to Nintendo. Maybe not recently (even though I was just playing SFIV on my 3DS over the weekend) but the Street Fighter franchise was very important to Nintendo during the SNES era. Cloud simply represents another franchise that was very important to Nintendo during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Plus, a game with Cloud in it just came out on the 3DS, so it's not like he's a stranger to Nintendo consoles.

Indeed. For the longest time, Street Fighter II on SNES was Capcom's best-selling game ever. A lot of people tend to forget that. Statistically, people who grew up in the NES and SNES era are likely more familiar with Ryu than they are with Mega Man.

And Cloud is absolutely meant to be more a symbol of Final Fantasy and Square as a whole than just FFVII. He's a gaming icon and definitely the most famous character from a series that has historically had Nintendo ties. What more reason does he need?

1. Goku was the 80's anime/manga (started in 1984), and Nintendo is a product of the 80's.
2. There's a billion video games starring Goku.

It's just bizarre to see how people are unironically supporting Goku when Sakurai explicitly spelled him and other manga characters out as people who will never be added.

All I can ask for is the Smash NX version to have Ice Climbers, Wolf, Inklings, and Chorus Kids. Mostly ICs and and RH rep.

I will die and my soul can be at peace.

I'm hopeful for this as well. It just makes too much sense!
 
Out of the top 5 Bayonetta was probably fifth. The ones preceding her were unattainable super goals like Goku and Omega Tom Hanks.
 
If the enhanced NX Smash port is true, you can bet your hide they'll include new characters to entice double dipping; I'll eat the hat I don't own if the Inkling isn't one of those.
That depends on if Sakurai returns for the game or if he already laid the groundwork for any future characters before leaving (if he doesn't come back). If Sakurai doesn't return, I'd be a miracle if we even got the Ice Climbers (we don't know how far along they were).
 
I'm looking forward to Sakurai working on a new game.

i love Smash but I am also looking forward to his future projects.
 
With so many characters being written in every single character was going to be only voted for a small minority of people writing in. Any one character could have potentially "won" with less than 5% of the total vote or so.

This is another reason I think Corrin was a terrible idea and should have been another ballot character--any one character was going to cast a very narrow net over the potential voters, another would have expanded it a little wider than an advertisement character no one wanted from a franchise that already had a DLC character released.

Even with those small percentages, you're going to have an obvious winner come out quickly. What doesn't make sense to me is that you're telling me all the other characters people could've voted for were so intensely fractured that Bayonetta-- who happened to have a game that sold poorly on the Wii U-- won? It just really felt like when coupled with Corrin they went for the "let's use the last two to sell more copies of games!" because one has a Wii U game, the other a 3DS game rather than "this character won the ballot hands down!"

I think it would've been nice to have them end it with one more Nintendo character instead of Corrin too, but it likely would've still felt like an ad.
 
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