Official SSB4 Newcomer Bets Thread

[Evastio]

With Lucina's and Robin's inclusion, the scores are now as follows:

Evastio: 107
Bolivar: 45
Del Murder: 45
Polnareff: 85
TrollHunter: 45
Deptression Moon: 122
Setsu: 45
Elite Lord Sigma: 100
Flaming Ice: 45
Mister Adequate: 45

have they removed every transformation? No Sheik/Zelda, no Pokémon Trainer, no Samus/Zero Suit Samus. Did they not like the mechanic or something?

They've kept final smash transformations, but character specific transformations were removed because Sakurai wanted to focus on the individual balance and strengths of each specific character instead of balancing them out between transformations. It was mentioned in an article that came up around the same time as the April 8 Smash Direct.

[It's all right; that thought didn't even cross my mind when I was making my original post.

As for the new announcements today, I think almost nobody was thinking Robin would be in the game once the Gametsu leaks gained popularity. As a Fire Emblem fan, I like both additions to the roster. My only question is whether Chrom is actually playable (even as a alternate skin for Lucina) or just involved in a Final Smash.

That's okay. It was an easy mistake, especially with how I'm not accounting for deconfirmed characters in the score until SSB4 is released.

And I have to wonder about the Gematsu leak as well. I still personally think it may hold some weight, since nobody just guesses a character like Wii Fit Trainer correctly.

IGN confirmed that Chrom is not playable. I also fixed my original post per what Evastio said. I'll take my 20 point penalty now.

Well, everyone takes a -10 penalty right now for not having both Lucina and Robin on their list. Though the -10 penalty for Chrom won't be accounted for anyone yet until SSB4 is out and we know the full roster for sure. Sakurai can easily change his mind or trick us (like when he jokingly said said Zero Suit Samus wasn't returning in the April 8 Direct) and I don't want to account for deconfirmed characters until the game is out and we know for sure who isn't playable.

[Skyblade]

Are you sure Lucina is confirmed, though? That "?" in her video, and her being nearly identical to Marth really have me worried.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Are you sure Lucina is confirmed, though? That "?" in her video, and her being nearly identical to Marth really have me worried.

She's listed as a newcomer on the official site; I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[Skyblade]

I've been watching some of the reaction videos to the Lucina/Robin reveal. I'm loving how well done this last reveal was. So many of the major release followers were almost ho-hum about the character reveals. Between the Palutena leak, the Pac-Man prediction from way early on (ever since Namco was confirmed to be working with Nintendo on the game), and the Gematsu leak, everyone had pretty much predicted the upcomers. Everyone was expecting the Shulk announcement, especially after Monolith retweeted Sakurai's new character announcement. All the fun and excitement was kind of gone, and it had fallen into a "let's see how he'll play".

Then we get that absolutely stunningly crafted video for Robin and Lucina, bringing back Captain Falcon as well.

I think GameXplain put it best:



In their first story, they're pretty much just explaining that it's Shulk, and what they'll see out of Shulk. Compare the excitement levels and the expectations. It goes from "yeah, this guys coming, let's talk about the roster as a whole because everything's wrapping up, isn't it a shame we looked at our Christmas presents early" to "wow, what the heck is going to happen next". It's great.

I predicted Chrom myself. Just because they tend to pull from the Lords and I wasn't sure they'd be able to handle Robin's customization options, even though I wanted a non-swordsman from Fire Emblem. Personally, I've been preferring Lucina to come in, but thought that Marth's inclusion knocked her out of the lineup. So to see her come in and be backed by Robin shocked me for completely different reasons.

How hyped are you guys to see more oncoming characters? Do any of you want to add more characters in to your guesses?


Edit: Sakurai's pic of the day has confirmed her as a separate character, but seems to be saying she's a clone with slight balance differences. As with Roy, there's a difference in where power is balanced in her blade. She's also slightly shorter. Too be honest, kind of disappointing. I'm hoping that he's saving something behind by pointing out that her physical abilities are identical. But what about, say, Aether?

On the other hand, if she is just a close clone, what does that say about other clones returning? Such as say, a certain character who would be considered a Lucario clone if he didn't come first?

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Assuming this was translated correctly, it seems that next month's issue of CoroCoro will cover all of the characters available in the 3DS version of the game. I'm sure I've also heard that the two versions will have the same character rosters, so we're getting close to the end of this game either way.

[Agent Proto]

No, they won't reveal every characters in the game. I believe they meant they'll show all the characters that are already revealed up to this point. That would likely kill most of the hype for the game if every character was known immediately before release.

[Skyblade]

No, they won't reveal every characters in the game. I believe they meant they'll show all the characters that are already revealed up to this point. That would likely kill most of the hype for the game if every character was known immediately before release.

Yep, I have to agree here. No way they have the whole list. Most Nintendo employees don't even have that list. Sakurai is not going to use CoroCoro as an announcement platform. Nor am I expecting every character to be announced before release day. I'm guessing Jigglypuff as a returning character will at least remain hidden, and likely a couple others.

[Skyblade]

We've just announced two new characters who will be joining the fray in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. One is Robin, the avatar from Fire Emblem: Awakening, and the other is Lucina, a swordswoman who plays an important role in the same title. I'll skip over the details.

"What? Not Chrom!?" I suspect a lot of you will ask. Of course, Chrom is quite popular, being the protagonist of FE:A and all. However, I chose Robin and Lucina, and I will elaborate on my reasoning.

Robin appears in the game as a Tactician and functions much like a Mystic Knight (note: FF terminology, but equivalent to magic swordsman). I thought to utilize his all-around nature by assigning swordplay to his Smash attacks and magic tomes to his special attacks--that is, allow him to use magic.

His neutral special is thunder magic that grows stronger the larger you charge it. He uses fire magic for his side special, and wind magic for recovery as his up special. Although Robin doesn't use dark magic in FE:A, I decided to assign it as his down special. It isn't the first time I've given moves to a character that they don't use in their respective game in order to capture certain aspects of the original title.

I also implemented the system used in FE:A, in which tomes break after overuse. Likewise, I included a similar system for the Levin Sword, which breaks after a certain number of uses. However, both the tomes and the Levin Sword will quickly regenerate after a set period of time.

Lucina uses the same techniques as Marth, a fighter with whom I'm sure most of you are already familiar. I even went so far as to make their strength, speed, and special attacks almost identical. However, what sets Lucina apart is the fact that the strength of her attacks is uniform along the blade. Marth's playstyle emulates the elegant swordplay of a fencer by dealing more damage when he strikes with the tip of his blade, but the damage Lucina deals is evened out. Thus, I think that Lucina will be much easier than Marth for novice players to play with.

I played all the way through FE:A and really wanted to include a character from that rich cast in Smash Bros. Naturally, I considered adding Chrom to the roster, but the decision wasn't easy by any means. At the end of the day, Chrom would just end up being another plain-old sword-wielder like Marth and Ike. Compared with other characters, he lacks any unique characteristics.

Conversely, when the idea of including Robin came to mind, conceiving the character was so easy that I immediately saw how it would work. From standards to specials, grabs to throws, all aspects of his moveset just fell into place. Not only did he possess characteristics unlike other fighters, but he also captured the essence of the Fire Emblem series. It was perfect!

In the end, if a game isn't fun, then there's no point. Of course, it would be really easy to make a game by churning out a ton of similar characters, but that's not how I produce games.

Initially, I had considered including Lucina as one of Marth's alternate costumes. After all, she has a close relationship with him in FE:A. In such cases, even if two characters' names and voices differ, as long as they function the same way, I assign them as alternate costumes. The Wii Fit Trainers, Villagers, and Robin are examples of this setup.

Something I thought was very relevant. It comes from a Famitsu interview with Sakurai, and it gives a ton of insight into his character choosing and character building process.

We are still likely to get a few newcomers yet, but this also gives a lot of hope for other clone characters, either as returning characters, or as alternate outfits. Anyone want to adjust final guesses as we enter the main stretch?

Don't worry, Sakurai. Robin can reclass to Dark Mage or Sorceror, so it's not Out Of Character to use Dark Magic, just Out Of Class.

[Skyblade]

Sorry for yet another sequential post, but I found more information worth noting:

Apparently Corocoro is just demoing the E3 build, not discussing any further roster reveals. It was just a mistranslation, from what we can tell.

Linkies.



Also, does anyone else find the lack of villain confirmation suspicious? Wolf, Wario, Ganondorf, Meta Knight, Mewtwo... Where'd they all go?

[Agent Proto]

No surprise there.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Per Sakurai's picture album on Miiverse and Imgur, Takaharu is in the game as an Assist Trophy.

[Evastio]

Shulk's been officially confirmed as a playable character in SSB4.









The scores are now as follows:


Evastio: 117
Bolivar: 40
Del Murder: 40
Polnareff: 80
TrollHunter: 40
Deptression Moon: 117
Setsu: 40
Elite Lord Sigma: 110
Flaming Ice: 55
Mister Adequate: 40

Also, due to all the leaks and SSB4 coming out for 3DS in Japan in less than a month (and us knowing the roster from that), no more changes will be allowed for people's betting lists.

I should also mention that newcomers will only be counted when they're officially revealed by Nintendo or when the game comes out and we have a lot of people (Japanese players or importers) that can confirm a newcomer is indeed playable. As real as the leak may be (and even I think it's 100% real after seeing the leaked Shulk image match the official Shulk image), it doesn't seem right to account for them in this game before Nintendo reveals them or SSB4 is out.

[Skyblade]

So there's a "final build" demo out in Japan. Getting info from it in waves. No real new character info, but there is some little hints and things being thrown in.

Fox has a recolor using Wolf's fur and eyepiece color scheme, which has people thinking Wolf may be gone.

The Infantry and Tanks Assist Trophy is back, but there is as yet no sign of Ray (from Custom Robo) or Isaac (from Golden Sun). This is the first confirmation we've gotten of one of the previously unlockable Assist Trophies from Brawl returning (besides Shadow, who's third party, so not considered the same). Isaac is currently my most hoped for newcomer, so having a revelation from his peer group is kind of exciting for me.

[Depression Moon]

But I want an Advance Wars character. This leaks crushes my hope for Paper Mario as a character, but at least we're getting Duck Hunt Dog.

[Skyblade]

But I want an Advance Wars character.

To be fair, the Pac Man ghosts and Riki from Xenoblade have proved that characters can show up in multiple ways. They can be stage elements and part of a move, or part of a move and an Assist Trophy.

So it's conceivable that we may get an Advance Wars character who uses the units in his attacks, acting as a sort of commander.



Extremely unlikely, perhaps, but possible.

This leaks crushes my hope for Paper Mario as a character, but at least we're getting Duck Hunt Dog.

I'd have rather had Paper Mario over Dr. Mario any day.

I'd also be quite happy if Duck Hunt Dog never made playable status, though. Duck Hunt would make a fantastic AT, but it's a horrible choice for character status.