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[Regiruler]

Here is a question that'll divide this board worse than Team real/Team Fake or any discussion on Ridley/Takamaru/K Rool ever could.

Rank the character reveal videos.

10. Rosalina
9. Wii Fit Trainer
8. Villager / first trailer
7. Pac-Man
6. Charizard/Greninja
5. Shulk
4. Palutena
3. Captain Falcon (and two other unimportant people)
2. Little Mac
1. Mega Man (yes this is separate, there was a clear cut)

 

[Starphoenix]

I can't recall any. I can recall moves created for the cards that were enveloped into the main games, but never Smash.

Could have sworn there was something with Jigglypuff or Pikachu. Huh.

 

[Man God]

I went over my memories just a few hours ago and the only characters I was really excited to play as in Brawl as far as newcomers went were:

Snake
Pit
ZSS
Wario
Ike


My list so far for 3DS is...

ALL of them. Hell Lucina has me excited to finally get into Marth as I was a Roy man in Melee.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I'm too lazy to make a list, but Rosalina's was my favorite reveal video by a huge margin, and the Amiibo's I want most are Marth's and Rosalina's, though I'll surely get others aswell.

Really? I thought Rosalina was by far the most boring.

For one, I recall EVERYONE thinking she was probably coming after all the 3D World stuff. Like I remember in the chat during the Direct everyone was saying Rosalina would be revealed.

Plus no narration in her trailer (I LOVE how most of them have narration), and just the re-used Galaxy theme as opposed to a remix...eh, didn't hype me much. Then again I don't care for Rosalina.

 

[Josephl64]

All I know my top 3 were: Rosalina, Lucina, and Little Mac in that order

 

[Green Mamba]

Fun fact, we now have six characters with roughly the same down special move--counter.

Marth
Ike
Little Mac
Palutena
Lucina
Shulk

And then two others that have roughly similar counter moves (but involve disappearing prior to a more delayed counter hit):

Lucario
Greninja

And only one of those characters is a straight clone. Went from 2 to 3 all the way to 6 to 8. Palutena having Counter as one of her default specials is pretty weird and disappointing.

 

[-Horizon-]

Best reveal trailers for me were
Robin/Lucina
Little Mac (I love the stylization in this one)
Palutena
Greninja/Charizard

 

[IntelliHeath]

Will you be doing this again leading up to October 3rd? It's a nice little hype booster.

Also I have gotten through a few more of the roster I'm drawing.



Edit: Holy moley, I'm a member now. I feel so... secure.

Hahaha, congs on your member status. Yes, I will, and I will do that again for Wii U release date as well.

 

[BassForever]

Best to worse reveal trailers

Mega Man > Robin/Lucina > Mii Fighters > Greninja > Palutena > Little Mac > Shulk > Pac Man > Villager > Rosalina > Wii Fit Trainer

 

[Neiteio]

The more I watch the Shulk trailer the more I get what Sakurai meant...

Shulk just feels totally different from everyone else in the game. Even more so than the Fire Emblem dudes. Like, I thought he'd be in myself, but it's still pretty weird seeing him actually in.

I'm actually really excited to use him. He just has this style to him that sets him apart.

Shulk feels like a JRPG character according to the spirit of the law, rather than just the letter of the law, if that makes sense. In other words, while Nintendo technically has a stable of JRPG characters by way of Pokémon, etc., Shulk is a protag that feels more in line with what you'd typically expect out of, say, Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger or Kingdom Hearts or the Tales games, or any number of JRPGs where the fantasy is over-the-top, there's a ton of style, etc. All distinctly Japanese, while feeling distinct to a universe all its own.

I, too, wasn't sure what Sakurai meant at first by characters like Shulk feeling a bit out of place, but I think that might be what he was getting at.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Are you feeling it Shulk?

 

[Man God]

I can't order them right now, most are too close in my mind and I only have a definite bottom (Sonic)

Villager's reveal is incredible and it's attached to the original trailer.
Megaman's reveal gave me chills even more than Snake in Brawl. He looked so right in there.
Wii Fit trainer is probably the best of the super short ones. Funny and very out there.
Sonic...didn't even get a banner. Oh sure, he's a vet...but then so is Charizard who got one!
Rosalina with that classic build. It's a Mario Kart trailer, no wait, it's something amazing.
Little Mac. Great artstyle. Smash Ain't No Joke! Samus rolling around at the end kills me each time.
Charizard and Greninja: Love Pokémon, was wondering why Mewtwo had Water Shuriken for a hot moment.
Mii Fighters: Great SSF IV live action opening, possibly a bit too long.
Palutena: Amazing art style, quite funny. Those...moves. Pitoo too?
Pac-Man: Should have been shown right away at E3. This one has grown on me.
Lucina and Robin: The beginning is hilarious...and then moving with Robin showing up. Then hilarious again when Chrom shows up. Definite front runner with Little Mac and Megaman.
Shulk: So good, that music is all I ever needed. Plus underwear and Riki and Dunban? Plus Metal Face???

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Shulk feels like a JRPG character according to the spirit of the law, rather than just the letter of the law, if that makes sense. In other words, while Nintendo technically has a stable of JRPG characters by way of Pokémon, etc., Shulk is a protag that feels more in line with what you'd typically expect out of, say, Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger or Kingdom Hearts or the Tales games, or any number of JRPGs where the fantasy is over-the-top, there's a ton of style, etc. All distinctly Japanese, while feeling distinct to a universe all its own.

I, too, wasn't sure what Sakurai meant at first by characters like Shulk feeling a bit out of place, but I think that might be what he was getting at.

Yeah. Like when I look at Pokemon or Mother, I don't see them at all in the same vein as like Final Fantasy or Tales.

But Shulk feels more like he'd appear in say, Project X Zone than Smash.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Shulk's been my favourite, and my least favourite is the Robin/Lucina trailer. Really couldn't give two shits about them.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Shulk's been my favourite, and my least favourite is the Robin/Lucina trailer. Really couldn't give two shits about them.

Yeah, Robin/Lucina was mainly so hype because everyone was thinking it'd just be Chrom or something. If we had them leaked, I imagine it would be seen as rather ho-hum.

 

[Man God]

Fire Emblem is about as classic High Fantasy as one can get. They are definitely JRPGish.

 

[Neiteio]

Let's try to get inside Sakurai's head for a moment, as hard as that may be:

There are two weeks left to the Japanese launch of the 3DS version. This week, and next week. At the end of next week, the game is out.

Let's say you decide to show one more character reveal trailer, as part of a promotional push for launch. Let's say it's part of an all-Smash Direct for the Japanese. English-language versions are packaged for international release, even though the U.S. launch isn't until Oct. 3.

So, for this Smash Direct character reveal the second week of September:

- Which newcomer(s) would you reveal? Choose from Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt or Dark Pit, and explain why.

- Also, you can show veteran(s) in the same trailer. Which remaining veteran(s) would you show? You can choose from Dr. Mario, Wario, Ness, Jigglypuff, Falco, Ganondorf, R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch.

Me personally, I'd either do one of the following:

- Bowser Jr. with Koopalings alt, and Wario as the returning veteran, leveraging the popularity of Mario and "expanded universe" Mario characters

OR

- Go all-out with Bowser Jr. with the Koopalings alt, AND Duck Hunt, similar to how SMB1 and Duck Hunt shared an NES cart in America. For the veterans, you could also have Wario and R.O.B., the latter as another example of vintage NES alongside DH.

What would you like to do?

 

[-Horizon-]

Yeah. Like when I look at Pokemon or Mother, I don't see them at all in the same vein as like Final Fantasy or Tales.

But Shulk feels more like he'd appear in say, Project X Zone than Smash.

Why you gotta remind me of that game, was trying to forget about it.

Spoiler

all 50+ hours of it

Fire Emblem is about as classic High Fantasy as one can get. They are definitely JRPGish.

Yeah this is how I feel, IMO: All you need are some pretty people and I'll call it a JRPG.

 

[georly]

Fire Emblem is about as classic High Fantasy as one can get. They are definitely JRPGish.

It's high fantasy, but it lacks some of the... pizzazz, the flair (visually) that games like final fantasy and tales have. Fire emblem looks like something straight out of king arthur's court style fantasy compared to Final Fantasy/Tales. Not saying it's a bad thing at all, AT ALL. I love fire emblem, but when I think of 'JRPG' I think of stuff like this:

Side by side, fire emblem looks very tame, VISUALLY, AESTHETICALLY.

Not saying one is better or worse than the other.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Best reveal trailers from best to worst

Little Mac - Hard to not choose this one when it's the one I wanted the most. He looked awesome, he seemingly played awesome, the art style was awesome, and the vindication of the vocal minorities of people who said that Little Mac would not or could not be playable.

Mega Man - I saw that he was playable before seeing the reveal, but I assume that my mind would have been blown by seeing this. They did a great job with Mega Man, and it was awesome to see such an important character to the history of Nintendo in Smash.

Robin/Lucina - I accidentally saw who was revealed before watching, so it didn't impact me as much. I'm weighing it on how I would have reacted, though - these two were completely out of left field, even without Gematsu.

Wii Fit Trainer - I actually WASN'T spoiled on this, because when I saw "Wii Fit Trainer Weighs In!", I assumed that she was an NPC that you could interact with on the Smash menu. When I actually saw the video... wellp

Rosalina & Luma - Since we had accepted that the leak was real, no one was expecting Rosalina of all characters. It's almost funny, Rosalina got a lot of support shortly before her reveal out of nowhere.

Pac-Man - Really cool trailer that finally saw this icon get the attention he deserves. Nice little Game & Watch confirmation, too.

Shulk - Wasn't as hype since we all saw it coming, but it was really fun and well-done.

Mii Fighters - We all knew it was coming, but it was really well executed, and no one was expecting that they would be so robust and deep.

Villager - It was pretty neat, but even if I didn't see it coming, the surprise was basically immediate and then only brief when he showed up in the Boxing Ring. It was a great reveal overall - for Smash and Villager - but it wasn't nearly as exciting as others.

Palutena - Since I and a lot of others were in full support of Gematsu at the time, we completely and utterly accepted that Palutena was coming. It didn't help that Pseudo-Palutena outright confirmed her playable. It's so low on the list due to that + how anti-climactic it was - the very first moment of the trailer was Palutena, so there was nothing to build up to. It would have been so much better if it started with Link and Pit duking it out.

 

[PfantzyPantz]

Really? I thought Rosalina was by far the most boring.

For one, I recall EVERYONE thinking she was probably coming after all the 3D World stuff. Like I remember in the chat during the Direct everyone was saying Rosalina would be revealed.

Plus no narration in her trailer (I LOVE how most of them have narration), and just the re-used Galaxy theme as opposed to a remix...eh, didn't hype me much. Then again I don't care for Rosalina.

I wasn't paying attention to the smash info/boards back then, so when she was revealed I was legit shocked.
She's my favorite Mario character, so of course on that front I was really happy.
But then she was revealed as a Puppet character (easily one of my favorite character types in fighting games).
Mix all that with the Gusty Garden theme playing in the background as she's doing all these cool things. It nigh on brought a tear to me eye.

 

[Neiteio]

The "high fantasy" aspects make Fire Emblem feel like a JRPG dressed up in Western sensibilities, though (I.E. swords and sorcery, medieval European-style castles, etc).

Shulk is different in that he's more akin to JRPGs like latter-day Final Fantasy, Tales, Kingdom Hearts, etc, where not only does his universe share little overlap with our own (in terms of geography, architecture, culture, etc.), but he also has this "hipster" sensibility to him, by way of fashion and technology different than anything in our world, present or past.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

If I was Sakurai I'd reveal Jr.

Dark Pit and Doctor should just be "ho-hum" hidden reveals, while Duck Hunt is the WTF? hidden reveal...that everyone knows about lol.

 

[Man God]

The "high fantasy" aspects make Fire Emblem feel like a JRPG dressed up in Western sensibilities, though (I.E. swords and sorcery, medieval European-style castles, etc).

Shulk is different in that he's more akin to JRPGs like latter-day Final Fantasy, Tales, Kingdom Hearts, etc, where not only does his universe share little overlap with our own (in terms of geography, architecture, culture, etc.), but he also has this "hipster" sensibility to him, by way of fashion and technology different than anything in our world, present or past.

Fire Emblem is like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy before VI. Shulk is definitely in a post FF 7/Kingdom Hearts world.

 

[Neiteio]

If I was Sakurai I'd reveal Jr.

Dark Pit and Doctor should just be "ho-hum" hidden reveals, while Duck Hunt is the WTF? hidden reveal...that everyone knows about lol.

Yeah, I would at least show Bowser Jr./Koopalings right around launch, since it plays to Nintendo's most popular franchise and biggest demographic, who might not have been too impressed with Shulk.

Honestly, the Koopalings reveal for Mario Kart 8 was the point where I went into hype overdrive for that game, and I imagine I'm not the only one. It'd kick off Smash Bros. with one heck of a bang.

 

[Vashzaron]

Fun fact, we now have six characters with roughly the same down special move--counter.

Marth
Ike
Little Mac
Palutena
Lucina
Shulk

And then two others that have roughly similar counter moves (but involve disappearing prior to a more delayed counter hit):

Lucario
Greninja

And only one of those characters is a straight clone. Went from 2 to 3 all the way to 6 to 8. Palutena having Counter as one of her default specials is pretty weird and disappointing.

Unlike all the others though Shulk's looks more usable, it's the only one that slows down the attacker to pull off the counter-attack.

 

[Troubled Bat]

So, for this Smash Direct character reveal the second week of September:

- Which newcomer(s) would you reveal? Choose from Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt or Dark Pit, and explain why.

- Also, you can show veteran(s) in the same trailer. Which remaining veteran(s) would you show? You can choose from Dr. Mario, Wario, Ness, Jigglypuff, Falco, Ganondorf, R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch.

What would you like to do?

I would choose Bowser Jr.! Why? Simply because Duck Hunt is a retro character, along with the fact that he's a huge WTF characters. I would love to keep that hidden within the game. Dark Pit? That doesn't really spark anything, the opposite of color for Pit, along with being a clone. (most likely) That just wouldn't hit anything at all.

I would go with with Wario. Say that Mario is just minding his own buisness. But Wario wants to ruin his day.. Then out come Bowser Jr. who takes out Wario because he wants to be the mischievous one to do so first. Then it becomes a little rivalry thing. Then Gameplay!

 

[Neiteio]

Fire Emblem is like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy before VI. Shulk is definitely in a post FF 7/Kingdom Hearts world.

That's the PERFECT way to describe it. Fire Emblem represents the style of fantasy in JPRGs circa Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy pre-FFVI. While Shulk, as you said, is the style of fantasy in JRPGs post-FF7/Kingdom Hearts.

Previously, we hadn't had any characters in Smash that represent that second style of JRPG. Shulk fits that style, and it's part of why he feels so fresh in Smash.

 

[Ryce]

The Chorus Kids are obviously going to be the last newcomers revealed before release, and Wario will appear in their trailer.

Spoiler

I know...

 

[Seven Force]

It's weird. The newcomers from games I don't like/care for had trailers that amused me the most.

I don't even like Animal Crossing, but Villager's trailer amused me. Don't like Fire Emblem, but the Lucina/Robin trailer was pretty cool. Xenoblade bored the living hell out of me, but enjoyed the hell out of Shulk's trailer.

Mega Man's reveal actually did nothing for me, despite being a huge fan of the series (and being happy to see him in the game). I guess seeing him in other crossovers (MvC, Cannon Spike, etc.) dulled the impact for me. Pac-Man's was great, though. Pretty sure my eyes lit up when I saw Sakurai went with the Pac-Man World design.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Shulk's trailer should've ended with Wario and Duck Hunt laughing in the background as Shulk went "what a bunch of jokers!"

 

[Game Guru]

Yeah. Like when I look at Pokemon or Mother, I don't see them at all in the same vein as like Final Fantasy or Tales.

But Shulk feels more like he'd appear in say, Project X Zone than Smash.

It probably comes from the fact that Monolith Soft were formed from ex-Squaresoft employees who made JRPGs like Xenogears and Chrono Cross for PS1, and then, as part of Namco, created JRPGs like Xenosaga for PS2. Hell, Monolith Soft even developed Project X Zone for Namco. The legacy of Monolith Soft is in making JRPGs for Square and Namco on PlayStation platforms, so even their most successful project for Nintendo, Xenoblade, is a Post-PlayStation JRPG like Monolith Soft would usually make that just happened to be published by Nintendo on a Nintendo platform. Thus Shulk is a Post-PlayStation JRPG protagonist who happened to have his franchise be loved enough to appear as a fighter in Super Smash Bros.

 

[The Great Gonzales]

I don't know that I could give an exhaustive ranking, but Robin/Lucina was definitely the best trailer, and Villager's was #2. Shulk's had some cool moments, like when he foresees Marth's & Link's attack, but otherwise, it was pretty plain. I can't even remember WFT's.

 

[PadWarrior]

I wonder if shulk is a one time appearance in smash

 

[-Horizon-]

Rosalina's trailer was pretty boring.

Spoiler

I got all hot and bothered because I thought they were announcing Smash Kart

 

[Neiteio]

I wonder if shulk is a one time appearance in smash

Xenoblade, itself, is clearly not a one-time franchise. The first one is being remade for 3DS, and there is a spiritual successor on the way. Shulk might not appear in new Xenoblade titles going forward, but much like how Ness is an evergreen character to represent Mother, so too could Shulk be an evergreen character to represent Xenoblade.

 

[PadWarrior]

Xenoblade, itself, is clearly not a one-time franchise. The first one is being remade for 3DS, and there is a spiritual successor on the way. Shulk might not appear in new Xenoblade titles going forward, but much like how Ness is an evergreen title to represent Mother, so too could Shulk be an evergreen character to represent Xenoblade.

That's what I'm hoping. I probably will pick up xenoblade tomorrow

 

[Starphoenix]

I wonder if shulk is a one time appearance in smash

Doesn't really matter to me. This is my last Smash Bros game.

 

[-Horizon-]

I wonder if shulk is a one time appearance in smash

Will be replaced by Riki in the next one.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Well, X has a make-your-own protagonist, so I could see Shulk staying the representative...especially if he appears in X.

Unless X has a supporting character who's memorable enough to become playable.

 

[georly]

That's what I'm hoping. I probably will pick up xenoblade tomorrow

As soon as I finish peace walker, xenoblade is next!

 

[Josephl64]

Let's try to get inside Sakurai's head for a moment, as hard as that may be:

There are two weeks left to the Japanese launch of the 3DS version. This week, and next week. At the end of next week, the game is out.

Let's say you decide to show one more character reveal trailer, as part of a promotional push for launch. Let's say it's part of an all-Smash Direct for the Japanese. English-language versions are packaged for international release, even though the U.S. launch isn't until Oct. 3.

So, for this Smash Direct character reveal the second week of September:

- Which newcomer(s) would you reveal? Choose from Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt or Dark Pit, and explain why.

- Also, you can show veteran(s) in the same trailer. Which remaining veteran(s) would you show? You can choose from Dr. Mario, Wario, Ness, Jigglypuff, Falco, Ganondorf, R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch.

Me personally, I'd either do one of the following:

- Bowser Jr. with Koopalings alt, and Wario as the returning veteran, leveraging the popularity of Mario and "expanded universe" Mario characters

OR

- Go all-out with Bowser Jr. with the Koopalings alt, AND Duck Hunt, similar to how SMB1 and Duck Hunt shared an NES cart in America. For the veterans, you could also have Wario and R.O.B., the latter as another example of vintage NES alongside DH.

What would you like to do?

I would have loved to combine Duck Hunt and Ice Climbers in one trailer~

 

[IntelliHeath]

Doesn't really matter to me. This is my last Smash Bros game.

Indeed, it's probably my last game too.

 

[Gleethor]

Doesn't really matter to me. This is my last Smash Bros game.

Why's that?

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I would have loved to combine Duck Hunt and Ice Climbers in one trailer~

The Ice Climbers are shot by the hunter, and the Duck Hunt Dog laughs.

 

[georly]

Doesn't really matter to me. This is my last Smash Bros game.

Indeed, it's probably my last game too.

What? Why?

 

[Veeboy]

That's what I'm hoping. I probably will pick up xenoblade tomorrow

You won't regret it!

Unless you're obsessive like me and try to do every quest as soon as its available. Then you'll regret it, like, 100 hours in but by the end you won't regret it anymore.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

It's high fantasy, but it lacks some of the... pizzazz, the flair (visually) that games like final fantasy and tales have. Fire emblem looks like something straight out of king arthur's court style fantasy compared to Final Fantasy/Tales. Not saying it's a bad thing at all, AT ALL. I love fire emblem, but when I think of 'JRPG' I think of stuff like this:



Side by side, fire emblem looks very tame, VISUALLY, AESTHETICALLY.

Not saying one is better or worse than the other.

Have you played any of the recent Fire Emblems? There's nothing about those Tales designs that would look out of place in Fire Emblem Awakening

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I feel like Rosalina's trailer needed to be more about Rosalina

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Lol what?

People are going to stop playing Smash after Sm4sh comes out?
Why would Sm4sh be your last?