Super Smash Bros.: A Retrospective Part VII: The Final Stretch

So, everything was going well. I was on top of the world and everyone was getting excited for who would be next to be revealed. You really had to have been at the center of all the Brawl hype to understand why these characters were wanted and why King K. Rool's conclusion was so important: With him in, it seemed like relevancy was no longer a factor in deciding the roster. You could finally get Skull Kid, or Isaac from Golden Sun, or even Lip, Ray-01 and possibly Black Shadow. Everyone was excited, especially Golden Sun fans. But before that, lemme post that trailer again:

This trailer, by far got the most views from all the newcomer trailers. Not only that, but it's singlehandedly produced so many memes and image macros/jokes/etc. Even King K. Rool's render generated a lot of funny stuff.

If this doesn't tell you how big his return is, nothing will.

To see Rool finally get in line with all the silly fun shit you see online was heartwarming. Smash is the defacto kingmaker. If your character gets in the roster, he or she will become an instant star and have a lifetime of insurance. But funny enough, all the haters are now pretending that he was obvious as a pick and that now there aren't any more Nintendo characters to add at this point. Funny how that works huh? Never mind all the leaks that popped up yet King K. Rool was not leaked, making him a genuine surprise and all the more satisfactory to experience and enjoy.

Now then, I mentioned Golden Sun earlier and I wanna say that I have played the first title and while I didn't care for it much, I do admit the characters and lore are interesting enough. After King K. Rool's reveal, a new trademark was filed for Golden Sun along with other IP's alongside it. Coincidentally, King K. Rool had a trademark filed three years ago. Not to mention this tweet with this image:

Now, you can't blame people for drawing conclusions. On the other hand, it was also a damning piece of evidence for what would come...but first things first: A new direct was coming our way early September...until an earthquake at Hokkaido caused a week-long delay. Some people thought it the tweet and the delay was tied into Isaac's potential reveal with his Earth Psynergy. Instead, what we got was this:

This was shown at the end of the direct, after a confirmed rewrite of script due to the delay. This was also a reveal for a new Animal Crossing for the Switch. But overall, you already knew this was coming with the "Not actual gameplay footage" message that every fucking trailer has to have because people are idiots. But that's not even the worst part; the trailer was just boring. Everyone knew SHE was the pick, so get on with it already. Yes, Isabelle was the next newcomer and she was a clone to boot. Not that it was a problem but coming off King K. Rool and the Belmonts, it was such a drag. And the week-long delay did not help either. So, there it was; our next newcomer. And with that was the collector's edition of Ultimate shown with all the characters on the boxart, leading to another theory: There was only two spaces left and people were anticipating them to be Ken from Street Fighter and Gen VII Fire-type Starter Incineroar from Pokemon Sun and Moon. People expected Ken due to the Echo Fighter thing, but a lot of people didn't like Incineroar.

I still haven't played Gen VII, so I withhold personal opinion on this. It does tie in with the "Don't expect too many newcomers" line and a lot of people wanted to believe otherwise, like Sakurai did with the rusing of K. Rool. So the wait began. And the leaks kept popping up. Every fucking hour a new 'leak' popped up. It was just annoying but sometimes it was fun. Sometimes. Some images appeared, and some were convincing, others were bullshitty. But among the leaks, there was a supposed true leak that appeared among the fake ones.

It was very hard to debunk this one, so people took it as fact. But a few weeks later, another 'leak' showed up and man, this one stood out.

The infamous Grinch Leak, named for the promo clip of The Grinch at the corner of the top corner image. If you can't see, on the banner to the left is the supposed final roster, with Isaac, Shadow the Hedgehog, Mach Rider, Ken, Chorus Kids, Geno and fucking Banjo-Kazooie. What.

What indeed. But a post from /v/ foreshadowed it. Now, at the time, you'd think seven characters was too much. it was
But look at it this way:

Inkling
Daisy-e
Ridley
Simon
Richter-e
Chrom-e
Dark Samus-e
King K. Rool
Isabelle
Isaac
Shadow-e
Mach Rider
Ken-e
Chorus Kids
Geno
Banjo-Kazooie

Of the sixteen characters, six were Echoes. Ten newcomers weren't too much if you go by Melee's additions. So it fit. Right? Well...

WELL...

I was skeptical. But I gradually grew hopeful. This was a good balance of fan picks, a retro rep and a shock rep. It hit all the right spots. Geno, the REAL never ever and Banjo-Kazooie, who had Phil Spencer's support going back into 2015. Many people tried to debunk it, but failed. A lot of people were against it and and some 'supposed' insiders were angry. On that note, good. I'm glad they were shaken up. Leakers spoil things for people and the hype/surprise is dulled just because they want Twitter followers and likes. King K. Rool to this day remains a joyful surprise. But there was too much to talk about with that leak and it was a LONG week. But November 1st was the day of the final direct but beforehand, our buddy Vergeben claimed that Isaac was an assist trophy once more. People were yelling at him, hyped over the Grinch Leak. All that was left to do was to see it through.

So, Sakurai starts things off and shows off a final trailer.

Boxing ring with Little Mac fighting...you guessed it, Ken. Ken more or less was Ryu's echo fighter like people expected. But midway, a pair of eyes showed up in the shadows of the entrance.

At that point, a lot of people realized it: The box theory was true: These was our last two fighters. Incineroar appeared and took out Ken. With those two, the final roster was complete. Yeah, I was pretty stunned myself. So that meant that everything that was shown over that week was just a ruse. Someone played everyone for a fool. The work done on the leak was better than anything else before. I tip my hat to that man. But let's try to break down some highlights of this presentation.

First, the green section of the menu. Spirits: A new way to experience characters. Or what everyone saw: Stickers: The Sequel. These spirits were an attempt to add all the heavily requested characters on the ballot to the game somehow, someway (Speculation on my part). Black Shadow? Lip? Isaac? Captain Syrup? Anyone you can think of?

Well, here's their 'spirit': A still image with an added rainbow aura around it. Whooooooo. And worse: Trophies were gone. On a claim that there were too many to add. And to an extent that was true. But this spirit shit was not a suitable replacement. On the other hand, you avoid THE EMBODIMENT OF GROSS DID I MENTION HE'S GROSS. But the real purpose of the mode was to have these characters represent a special set match with a set gimmick based around that character. Basically event mode but bigger. And more tedious. And before long, this showed up:

Yep, that's her.

Lip...as a Mii costume. JOY. But wait, there's more.

Well, the trademark confusion is put to rest.

Still, ouch. Ten minutes later...

"Damn it." - Shadow

Well, Shadow wouldn't have made a good echo fighter anyway. At least -

OUCH.

This one made me yell in anger. He knew people wanted him but pulled this shit. You get cut from For and return back to the role you previously held. Another suggestion was Black Knight as an echo fighter to Ike. Yeah, eight fucking Fire Emblem characters, but he got put in the corner as well. And if that wasn't bad enough...

Some characters weren't even shown, Dillon and Skull Kid. Shit. Atop of that, you had the Moon, Shadow and Skull Kid all in one. The moon as an assist would have gave Skull Kid a reason to NOT appear as an assist and even jump up to playable. And Spring Man, bigger ouch. A hot new IP that was successful, but nope, assist. And there are more of them than there are Pokemon. How? Why??? Frankly, I see a lot of newcomer potential in this picture. But not as much as the spirits. Way to squander your newcomer potential, Masahiro. This wasn't gonna please anyone, and he knows it. But to top this shitshow off just right...

Yep. DLC. And you don't even know who you're going to get. He even told you not to get it unless you have faith in what they'll be putting out (And I don't). Everyone fears that this will be composed of adverts and shill picks. But then comes another surprise...

Yes, that is a Piranha Plant and yes, it is a playable character. Yes, Sakurai picked it on the grounds that it was more well known than certain main characters from certain series (You can decide who they are). Your most wanted was shafted for a Mario drone. And yes, that is a surprise character, Sakurai. No amount of dolling up will say otherwise.

And finally, comes this.

World of Light: Another instance of Sakurai's original creations coming in towards the things that people come to Smash for. Smash itself seems to have its own narrative and that's cool and all, but people come for the characters, not some shitty concept that never made it in Kid Icarus: Uprising and for damn sure not your interpretation on what some characters should be in your eyes. And the little cinematic at the end showcased Kirby being the sole survivor of the attack. Cute. He even tried to justify it and did a bad job at it.

Cut the shit Sakurai, you have some bias and preferences. You're only human. Admit to them. The damn fans sucking you off doesn't help much either. And on that note, he also seems to be pissy about criticism. Lemme tell you something, no matter how hard you work, no matter how much soul your pour into something, when you are putting your creation out there with a price tag no less, it stops being charitable and becomes a business.

I repeat: When you put a price tag on your hard work, it is business. And if you do not deliver on your end, or if I see that your product is not to my standards, you get nothing and I take my business elsewhere. That is basic economics. I pay for your game, I see something I don't like, I critique it. Not because I'm entitled, or ungrateful, but because I want to see you improve on things I feel could be addressed. Again, I pay money for your game, you get my money in your wallet and do whatever with it and at that point, I see what it's all about.

By the way, I brought Kid Icarus: Uprising on release. It's shit. That plastic stand stayed in my bathroom cabinet for YEARS. Any game that requires a piece of shit like that isn't worth hurting your fucking hand over, you piece of shit.

Enough of that, the highlight of that trailer was the vocal arrangement of the main theme for Ultimate. Pass. The E3 arrangement was better. But I admit the montage of characters is nice to see and it IS a celebration of Smash from past to present. And I saw this shot and it reminded me of why I brought the damn game in the first place:

King K. Rool standing among Bowser, Mario and every other Nintendo character front and center. You damn right I'm giving this a shot. And you wanna know what true entitlement and ungratefulness is? Him adding King K. Rool, but me not acknowledging what he did with him and just saying "Too little, too late." 2016, I'd have been at that position. You can enjoy a game or a book but still criticize certain aspects of it. To not do that and to pretend it's perfect the way it is is tantamount to fanboyism.

But two years and moving on with life later, I came back and gave it one last chance to see if my vote mattered.

And it did.

...In more ways than one.

So, with that direct out the way and emotions cooling down, I was still set on buying Ultimate and it was just a matter of waiting. Right on the eve of Ultimate's release, we got a surprise at the Video Game Awards (Hahaha).

Joker joins the battle. Not Joker from Batman, Joker from Persona 5 just so you don't get confused. Didn't play it. Eh. One neutral, four to go.

But at last I got the game. And with that, we can end this little journey into my personal experiences  with Super Smash Bros., spanning nearly twenty years, from a curious start to a period of insomnia and lack of sleep to a broken heart and angry fanboyism and coming full circle and finding peace with the series to an extent. A decade long wait for a character I really liked and a request from my final moments as a teenager fulfilled at last. I'll keep my eye on the DLC and give some updates on it when it's all over and said and done. But until then, have a Happy New Year and visit my website for my main focus: My books and overall career path. 2019 will have something to look forward to and I'll be sure to update this blog with more material alongside it.

Fin~