DIARY ENTRY

DIARY ENTRY #8: What Sora Being in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Means to Me?

Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series is going to be released, (or has already been out) at the time of me posting this, as the final DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! This is a big deal, for tons of reasons but what does it mean for personal reasons. I’ve been into the Super Smash Bros series since the very first game! “Oh cool, an actual Nintendo fighting game with all the mostly well known Nintendo characters!” Then you get to play the game and then you some familiar faces like of course Mario, Link, Pikachu, Kirby, then you get to wait who is Captain Falcon? Who’s Ness? Super Smash Bros as a series as since became somewhat of staple game that I always looked forward to whenever a new Nintendo console was happening. I looked forward to Melee, with the GameCube, and then Brawl happened.

Now, when I say when Brawl happened this was when I started to get into the actual community of Smash. I mostly lurked in those SmashBoards forums back in 2008. Brawl was technically my first introduction on the fandom and what the community was like. Brawl was also the first game of the series where it started to get more big and interesting. So, where does Sora fit into this? Well, Brawl was also the first introduction of getting third party characters ever into the franchise with having big characters like Snake from the Metal Gear series and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic Joining Brawl

While Sora was a requested character during the Brawl days I think deep down most of us knew he wasn’t going to make it in. This was at the very least, the start of introducing other video game franchises that weren’t really Nintendo owned! So, it was possible that Kingdom Hearts could eventually make it into Smash someday!

This was also around the time when Kingdom Hearts was starting to make appearances on Nintendo consoles with the first being on a Game Advanced with the game being, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Then the DS games came about with 358/2 Days and Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS. Though this is kinda where the Nintendo connection stops. Kingdom Hearts major mainline games ended up being on PlayStation mostly. Though the “Nintendo connection” rule almost doesn’t even matter anymore and it hasn’t really mattered since the past two Smash Bros. entries for third party characters.

Cloud Storms Into Battle

When I say that third party characters that don’t have the so-called “Nintendo connection” didn’t matter anymore mostly until when the character Cloud Strife appeared in Smash 4 as apart of the line up. Cloud being in Smash back then was a BIG DEAL. Not only was it a big deal, but it was the introduction of Square Enix as a third party company for making it into the series. Though there was some downside to Square was there was very little content that came with Cloud and Final Fantasy.

Though how does this affect Sora? Well, with Cloud already in the game, it at least meant that Square was willing to collab with Smash and got their feet wet with having Cloud even with the little content he did bring. Though, the reason this somewhat affected Sora in a way was with the Super Smash Bros. Fighter ballot. The ballot was a way to give Nintendo and Masahiro Sakurai (the Super Smash Bros. series director) some ideas and requests for characters. This was when the #Sora4Smash campaign really started to kick off. Again, he was pretty requested during the Brawl days, but this was when Sora’s popularity got kicked into high gear as being a candidate for Smash eventually, and I’ll talk more about this Smash ballot a little later.

Chances in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Then we go into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! This game felt BIG even more so than BOTH Brawl and Smash 4 were. The game was first announced back on a regular direct with a Splatoon fake out with the Inkling obviously being one of the first newcomers to be revealed for the game. When they went into E3 of 2018, we all knew that Smash was going to be there. There was a lot of speculation amongst the community pretty early on in base game that many though that this game was going to be a port of the Smash 4 Wii U game.

Could we have not been proven to be anymore wrong! Not only that but, there was also, speculation about cuts or if certain veteran characters can be bought back? Well, not only did anyone not get cut, but EVERY single fighter from Smash history got bought back, making it the BIGGEST roster within the series history!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was catered to getting so many character requests with getting some major characters like Ridley, Simon & Richter Belmont, Dark Samus, Chrom, and King K. Rool. Then you have your necessity characters like another obvious Echo character like Ken from Street Fighter or your usual current gen Pokemon like Incineroar and your popular relevant first party character in Isabelle from Animal Crossing, okay nothing too earth shattering or ground breaking and that was it for base game characters!

I think most of us had known that Sora wasn’t going to make it for base game roster. His best chances were for him to be used for DLC for later. This was where Smash Ultimate’s speculation cycle really started to get interesting for tons of characters chances not just Sora’s.

Nintendo Choosing the DLC

Though, of course Nintendo and Sakurai always have something up there sleeve when it comes to Smash. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ended up getting something called a Fighter Pass, which is a format that Smash hasn’t done before with their DLC. They also planned this DLC this time around from the beginning, but what had me concerned with the DLC this time around was that Nintendo was choosing the characters for DLC and not really Sakurai.

Originally, this had a lot of people concerned with the DLC and rightfully so. Who knows what we were going to get with Nintendo choosing the DLC. Was this going to be mostly first party characters that deserve a chance, or were we going to get some hype third party characters that we weren’t expecting? These were legitimate questions at the time, again we haven’t had this kind of DLC cycle before where most of the DLC had been planned and outlined for us and knowing how many that we were going to get. It also didn’t help that before the announcement of DLC, this came around the time of after the Grinch leak “hype” and the last base game Smash November direct happened.

Joker Steals the Show

That leak ended up deflating that direct for a lot of people and its understandable as to why certain people did felt deflated considering the characters that we did end the base roster on, which was Ken and Inceneroar. At least DLC, would be able to put some people at ease when we got our first reveal at the 2018 Game Awards with the reveal and the announcement of Joker. If anything, the reveal of Joker basically told the Smash community this DLC this go round may actually be crazier than Smash 4’s DLC cycle was. Revealing Joker at the Game Awards that year really did help set the tone of how crazy this roster could end up by the time its all said and done, and boy did it.

How does Joker help Sora’s case for being DLC? Well, as I’ve stated earlier that Joker being in Fighter Pass 1 starting Fighter Pass 1, did help set the tone of what the DLC could end up being like. Joker was still so surprising to see at this time, because we just had announced Piranha Plant being the first DLC character (technically) and that was if you had already bought Fighter Pass Vol. 1 at the time. During this time, it was also revealed on how Nintendo chose the DLC by giving Sakurai a list of names and see if he can make them work as playable fighters and just go from there. At the time, Joker was a BIG deal, almost another Cloud esque situation again. Nintendo is once again pointing out, that, “Hey, any video game character can make it into Smash, whether you have ‘Nintendo connection’ or not!”

The Second Square-Enix Character Debacle: The Hero Draws Near

Around the time base game was wrapping up and with the announcement of DLC exciting or well temporarily exciting people for the most part a lot of rumors started to swirl for who could be DLC. Vergeben was a known leaker among Smash Ultimate’s base roster and some throughout the DLC speculation cycle.

As of E3 2019 the next character from Square-Enix was announced being Hero from Dragon Quest. The Luminary was chosen as the default for the Hero as a playable character while other Dragon Quest characters including the most recognizable character of Erdrick being an alternate costume. Alongside with Hero Slime was also apart of Hero’s moveset as part of his taunts. Dragon Quest is one of the most popular JRPSGs in Japan, so to say that it definitely more than earned its spot within the Smash Bros. roster. As someone whose also a big Dragon Quest fan myself I was very happy to have seen Dragon Quest get some very much deserved love in Smash. It was just one of those franchises that should’ve been in Smash a long time ago.

Though, as happy as I was with seeing Dragon Quest in Smash even knowing it deserved to be here with other legendary video game franchises, a part of me was also disappointed that it wasn’t Sora. Hey, all hope wasn’t completely lost though. Having Dragon Quest in Smash still proves that Square is still 100% behind in supporting Smash Bros., even with it’s limitations when it came to adding content like songs.

Square-Enix related spirit events

Square once again proved they were still behind supporting Smash Ultimate with having content in the game by adding in Spirit Events from other series that didn’t have a playable character for them. Series such as the Secret of Mana had a spirit event, and a more recent Square game also got some love in Spirit event form with Octopath Traveler which was celebrating it’s second year anniversary of that games release. This once again proved that Square was willing to give content for franchises that didn’t have a playable character attached to that series. Though, the spirits did give fans hope and speculating that year that it was very possible that another Square character was more than likely to make it into Smash.

Sephiroth Descends Into Battle & Brings the Smash Fanbase Despair

It was around Game Awards time of 2020 and many fans were hopeful that a Smash reveal would more than likely happen. After FINALLY getting confirmation from Nintendo that a new character from Challenger Pack 8 was happening, most didn’t know who it could be. This was also around the time where a lot of the known leakers didn’t really know much of anything about DLC, including the most “reliable” Smash Ultimate leaker Vergeben hasn’t really been sure on who was coming to the game anymore.

After getting some spirits during the past year, a lot of people were looking at Square as the candidate for Pack 8. Though there were other characters that were also being popped up during speculation around this time, such as DOOM Guy (DOOM series), Ryu Hayabusa (from Ninja Gaiden), Crash Bandicoot, Jonsey (from Fortnite) etc. Sora was also bought up a lot during this time as you know, Sora is definitely a big enough character to be hype up enough for a game awards show.

We were completely in the dark around this time, as there really wasn’t much of any leaks for anybody around this time. 2020 was not a great year for leakers at all. Nobody didn’t really have that much of a good track record anymore like they once used to, as it was much just much harder to try and info from insiders, considering the kind of state that the world was in as of last year and still kinda is in currently.

On December 10, 2020; Challenger Pack 8 was revealed to have been none other than the One-Winged Angel and the main villain of Final Fantasy VII himself, Sephiroth. I and many other were completely floored by this reveal. I think most people had assumed that we would get another Square character in this pass, but it just wasn’t the right one that most of us were thinking of. After Sephiroth was announced at the show, Nintendo eventually had confirmed that a Sakurai Presents was coming. That meant anything Square related was in a very dire and dangerous situation from being a Mii costume instead of being playable.

Both Geno, Sora, and any other supporters of Square-Enix characters fans were both anxious and nervous during this particular presentation, more specifically with the Mii costume section. Even though, having a Mii costume is at the very least having something in the game, but its just not the same when the character you want isn’t fully playable.

Geno and other Final Fantasy/Square characters in the Mii Costume lineup during the “Sakurai Presents Sephiroth” presentation

Geno fans were in an even more of a dire situation than any other Square character considering they waited this long to reveal for him to only just be a Mii costume again, when they could’ve revealed him back during the Sakurai Presents Hero presentation (to have ripped the band-aid off early). At least Sora and other Square characters at the very least had a shot to still make it, but it was still pretty rough for the Geno fanbase, as their Mii costume was still the same costume from Smash 4 and didn’t even get a fully updated wooden head, or even a song from Super Mario RPG like Forest Maze, to have soften the blow of the Mii costume returning.

While it was bad for them, other Square characters might still have a shot, even they might seem small. Most people didn’t think that a third-party company wouldn’t be able to double dip from the same Fighter Pass. If there was something that Smash Ultimate has taught us, it was that fan theories & rules, and character gate-keeping were useless.

THE FINAL & HOPEFUL STRETCH

We were now down to the final two characters, after Sephiroth was revealed, it was Pyra & Mythra’s turn to give Xenoblade Chronicles 2 fans their day in the Smash sun. So, this simmered down some people, and somewhat lowered down fans expectations during the final homestretch of characters now left. After Aegis girls made their way into Smash, it was now down to the final two. The penultimate character leading into the final character was Kazuya from the Tekken series who was revealed at Nintendo’s E3 2021 presentation.

Not something that was too crazy but completely deserving. Banda-Namco is one of the developers that helped make both Smash 4 and Smash Ultimate, along with Sakurai and Sora Ltd., so it only made sense that they would eventually have another new character that wasn’t just PAC-MAN. Its just what threw some people off with this character though, most people had kinda written Tekken off when the Heihachi Mii costume from Smash 4 had came back with MinMin.

Breath of the Wild Champions were getting talked about before E3 2021 because of GameXplain’s speculation video

It also didn’t help that during E3 Smash speculation many fans were looking into other characters and franchises to be possible reveals. Master Chief from the Halo series and a Breath of the Wild character from Zelda were the characters most fans were thinking of and talking about for a possible E3 double reveal like with they did Hero and Banjo-Kazooie from E3 2019. Nope, they didn’t even do a double reveal this time. At this point, most were thinking that final character could end up going two ways.

Whoever they had set up for the final character almost had to be a big deal on their own if they didn’t need to be revealed at E3 (especially if they overshadowed Kazuya) OR its a shill let down pick like a Pokemon or some promotional character like the SMT V main protagonist. Speaking of Kazuya, the Kazuya Presents also featured a bloodbath of the most hopeful characters that some thought would make into Smash this time around. Not only did the Lloyd (from Tales of series) got his Mii costume from Smash 4 came back but, Shantae and a BIG character like Dante (from Devil May Cry) got Mii costumed. The fact that Dante got Mii costumed let so many people wonder who could this last character be.

After the Mii costume bloodbath that was the Sakurai Kazuya Presents we were now down to one last fighter. Most of the speculation was down to a shill first party pick: a Gen 8 Pokemon, a random first party character (that would make no sense), or a big hype third party character.

As far as the third party characters go; the characters most people were hopeful for were: Sora, Master Chief, DOOM Guy, Ryu Hayabusa, Crash Bandicoot, Jonsey, and Phoenix Wright were some of the most talked about characters that most would be okay with. Well aside from maybe Fortnite Jonsey. On September, Nintendo had announced that a new Nintendo Direct was happening and we had all assumed that a new character would be revealed there, but what really happened was that we only got an announcement that a new Sakurai presents was happening on October 5th.

Sora is FINALLY HERE

The #Sora4Smash dream has FINALLY become an actual reality!

On October 5th, 2021; he’s FINALLY HERE! Sora from Kingdom Hearts has OFFICIALLY & FINALLY made it into a Smash Bros game! Not only did we get Sora, but we also ended up getting the most requested character from the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot during the Smash for Wii U and 3DS days. The ballot was important to so many characters for this particular game. Characters like Banjo-Kazooie, King K. Rool, Ridley, Castlevania, and others probably wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the fan demand of the Fighter Ballot.

Sora was confirmed by Masahiro Sakurai to have been the top choice from the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot

I’ve been a Kingdom Hearts fan since I was 9 years old when the first game came out and it’s still one of my favorite video game franchises of all time. It has always been such a staple in my gaming life, and Smash Bros is also one of my favorite video game franchises of all time! So, seeing these two big crossovers finally collide for the first time is HUGE! The content Kingdom Hearts in Smash got was nothing short of AMAZING! I love that they gave him all of outfits (Timeless River was probably the BIGGEST suprise alt costume), Hallow Bastion/Dive into the Heart was great as a two-in one stage, and the spirits were all what you expected from a Kingdom Hearts spirit board.

The only section that was kind of disappointing but also understandable was the music section. To be fair we at the very least got way than what Final Fantasy originally got when Cloud first made into Smash back in Smash 4, so we kinda got treated a little bit better in the music front.

The fact that we already had a Square-Enix character in Sephiroth in the pass was probably did made it a bit easier to have Sqaure cooperate m but it was really getting Disney into the mix. The fact that Disney allowed it, a company that’s known to be so ironfisted with their properties and characters said yes to Smash, should not go understated! To say that I was going throw so many emotions with this reveal was an understatement. Sora was one of the few newcomers during Ultimate that I cried for. I cried in a total of six times with Simon & Richter, King K. Rool, Isabelle, Joker, and Sora. Those were all characters that I was so hopeful for that would make it into Ultimate, I’ve been eating so well as far as newcomers go.

Ultimate really ended on my and probably so many people’s favorite and most requested character ever! I honestly don’t know where Smash can go after Ultimate, as both the roster and as a game series. That may be another diary entry to talk about for another day though.

Sure, there are still some big named characters that’s still not in Smash like Master Chief, Phoenix Wright, DOOM Guy (who got Mii costumed), Crash Bandicoot. There’s still other big names that don’t have anything in Ultimate at all but would be great as newcomers to be saved for a next game. Not every character is going to make it into a single Smash game, sometimes you really have to wait your turn. It might take some years, but eventually your favorite video game character will be able to battle it out with some of Nintendo’s best all-stars and gaming legends some day! Until then, let that man Masahiro Sakurai finally have his long deserved rest. Thank you Masahiro Sakurai, Sora Ltd., Nintendo, and Bandai-Namco for making this game a dream game come into a reality!

Diary Entry #7: [PSA]: Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC’s Final Character: The Final Time-Hype Responsibly is Out the Window!

As of tomorrow, the FINAL DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be having a Sakurai presents presentation! I honestly can’t believe that its been three years since the first DLC character Joker has been revealed and released with the very first fighter pass. It’s been one heck of a wild ride with speculating DLC characters from who’s likely and whose not; trying to guess at character stages or what kind of content the character would come with like music, moveset, and spirit boards. It’s been a long and wild ride and we’re finally here in the ENDGAME!

Going into a bit of a retrospective, when the base game for characters was finally done and the announcement for DLC came, I was excited just like a lot of other people were. For the record, I was a downer on the whole Grinch leak disaster that was when that November 2018 direct happened.

Sakurai’s tweet about Nintendo choosing the DLC characters for Fighter Pass 1 from back in November 2018

Then Sakurai came out on Twitter (in English, mind you) and announced that Nintendo was the one choosing the characters and just like some other people, I was a bit concerned on what direction they would go in for DLC if Nintendo was really at the helm.

Then when the Game Awards of 2018 came around, and Joker was revealed the hype was through the rough! At that moment, literally anything was on the table. Since then, the DLC has had a LOT of high moments and low points considering on how you look at it. After getting characters like Banjo-Kazooie in the first pass, it felt like anything was possible for this game. Say what you will about Byleth, but personally, I thought Fighter Pass 1 was a great pass!

Then came in Fighter Pass two where it started off with an ARMS character with MinMin, which was one of the more obvious choices since it missed it’s opportunity for base game along with Xenoblade 2. In my opinion, Fighter Pass 2 had quite a bit of shocking bits from Steve from Minecraft to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII and to an extent Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Kazya from the Tekken series.

As great as the first Fighter Pass was, Fighter Pass 2 was way harder to predict, even the leakers by this point didn’t really know what was going on anymore when it came to Smash. When it came to speculation during the first Fighter Pass there was a prominent leaker named Vergeben that knew a lot about certain characters from base game while going into DLC. Though, this didn’t translate as well during the second one and we’ve barely heard much from the guy since the ending of the first batch of DLC.

Honestly, I like that Fighter Pass 2 didn’t have much leaker information going around, and even if they did they ended up being proven wrong. Leak speculation has somewhat died down a lot since this cycle of DLC and that’s in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it’s been way harder for leakers to really get much info on anything like they once used to. It was a breath of fresh air to just run wild freely with community theories instead of having someone else to spoil it for you.

Now, we get to the final character; the hopeful and possible GRAND FINALE of Smash Ultimate. This character is getting hyped up so much that neither Sakurai or Nintendo has been able to contain themselves all day today! Whoever this final character is just want everyone to know it’s been a crazy and wild journey to be apart of these past couple of years. Kinda glad that it’s coming to an end so that the Smash series can finally have a breather. Who knows what’s going to be next for this crossover juggernaut in the next couple of years. All we know for is that Smash Ultimate, has really been the most ULTIMATE one yet!

Sure, you can lower your expectations, but what’s the point of playing and speculating if your not going to at least have fun with it! Logic has went out the window along time ago when it comes to this series. Like Nintendo and Sakurai has said let yourself roam free with it for one last good ole time! Because who knows when the next time we’ll even get a new Smash Bros. game after this.

Thank you to the Smash Bros. series director, Masahiro Sakurai, Sora Lmtd. & the Bandai Namco team for making this kind of a game even possible and go beyond any of our wildest dreams!

DIARY ENTRY #6: The Frustration with the Paper Mario Series

The Paper Mario series has been a pretty interesting topic, especially as of today. Paper Mario will be seeing a new installment for the series called, “Paper Mario: The Origami King” which will be released as of tomorrow, as the time this will be up, the game will more than likely would be released. It’s not too surprising to see a game be somewhat on the Hot Seat especially on the day before it’s actual release, but it’s not in this kind of way.

As of today, Paper Mario series team, (mainly Kensuke Tanabe) from Nintendo and Intelligent Systems who develops the Paper Mario series has been on somewhat of a press tour about the release of the Origami King. The game so far as early reviews seems to be getting mostly positive reviews. While you can question the quality of the game on your own once it gets released tomorrow, the frustration by fans of the series comes from the mindset of the team and what they’ve been doing with the Paper Mario series in general and possibly going forward into the future.

The series, has gotten a bit downplayed by fans especially the ones who love the original Paper Mario games, Paper Mario 64 and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door specifically. An interesting quote that’s been floating around on Twitter comes from Kensuke Tanabe who is the producer of the “Paper Mario: The Origami King.”

Kensuke Tanabe interview on the Paper Mario series

The reason why this quote is getting so much attention and backlash is because the series in general, seems to have started to lack in originality when it comes to making new characters for the Paper Mario games. This lack of originality about modifying characters seems to start from the game, Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star barely had many characters that had any kind of personality or even some kind of modification from the usual Goomba or Koopa Troopa from both from someone that you can recruit into your party or from a minor back ground character. The reception was almost repeated again, though in a better next installment after Sticker Star being, “Paper Mario: Color Splash,” from the Wii U. Color Splash received this same kind of treatment pre-release and even when it was first shown off back in 2016 for the Wii U.

Another quote that’s also been getting a lot of attention from this interview has been that the story of Paper Mario hasn’t been interesting, more specifically with Super Paper Mario. I would argue that for that game in particular in regarding to the fans that was one of the best elements of Super Paper Mario. I personally liked Super Paper Mario for it’s story.

Just looking these quotes, this just seems like the Paper Mario team is just completely disconnected and out of touch from what the fans of the Paper Mario series really want. Personally, I don’t think I like where the series has been heading within it’s last couple of years. While I did like Color Splash, but didn’t like Sticker Star, it just worries me about where the series is going in terms of originality. This was one of my first RPG series that I’ve started playing when I was younger and it’s just upsetting into looking inside on what the developers even think about the series. It’s like they can’t allow to have original characters or even having much of a story even matters, then what’s the point of having Mario being an RPG series if you don’t have an interesting story plot or characters for your party (if there’s even one)?! Those are some of the BIGGEST elements for making an RPG!

If your going to ask me now, if I’m still going to get The Origami King? Yes, I am still going to get it, but this interview has not heightened my hope for the future of the Paper Mario series. It seems like this series along with another particular Mario RPG series, being Mario & Luigi, is just meant to be bare bones. This just once again shows how out of touch the Paper Mario creators and developers are of their fanbase if they really do think having a story or even interesting characters with personality basically don’t matter or won’t be well received.

INTERVIEW: SOURCE

Diary Entry #5: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Pass Character 5 Predictions

As of tomorrow the saga of Character/fighter #5’s mystery would be revealed and known by the time of me writing this post. There are couple of characters that come to my mind as to who this character could potentially be, so let’s break down some characters that are being talked about as some possible front runners here.

I’m going to try and make this post as short as possible and try not to rant and rave. I can honestly go for along time if Smash Bros. is involved but I’ll try to keep in short and simple with this, especially with how late it is over where I live currently, I need to sleep to get ready for this 35 minute presentation.

So, a lot of people are taking that pose that Sakurai is doing for this pic from the announcement tweet from both his Twitter and the NintendoVS account on Twitter, people have been going gung ho about this pose since the announcement of this presentation for tomorrow. I’m going to give three characters as to who I think that particular pose could be referencing hinting towards and maybe two honorable mentions to who it could go for but I’m not so slightly confident in these two picks, but I do think they are worth mentioning.

3. SORA (KINGDOM HEARTS)

Honestly, this is still my most wanted ever and the fact that he’s been bought up in specualtion a lot since this DLC cycle has started has made so happy to know that he’s been popular within the Smash fanbase.

Sora does have some things going for him with the number three! Kingdom Hearts III being the most recent entry of the series just came out last year. The series does have some Nintendo history behind it with being on Nintendo consoles, mostly on the handhelds.

Not to mention if Sora is the character, it would also be a great way for Square to hype up the DLC for Kingdom Hearts: ReMIND DLC which actually comes out a week after this presentation, albeit only on PS4. Then we do have Banjo, and even Sakurai and Nintendo gave a shout-out to Microsoft and XBox One, so there’s that.

2. CRASH (CRASH BANDICOOT)

Crash is another most wanted, but he does somewhat fit the whole three pose deal. In his most recent renders. Crash will have his fingers out in the form of a three. Not only does he have the three thing going for him, but Crash does have history with Nintendo and has even been on Nintendo platforms, even back when he was known as a Sony boy.

So, to get Crash in a game alongside with other iconic characters like Mario and Sonic would be straight in his wheelhouse. Plus, Crash become more relevant as of years, especially after so many years of being somewhat dormant, putting him in Smash would make all the 90’s babies who grew up during that particular era in gaming (including myself) just cry!

1. DANTE (DEVIL MAY CRY)

Possibly, the BIGGEST frontrunner as of currently amongst most of the fandom right now. Dante is probably the most interesting currently with some both hints for him and even against him. As for him Dante’s voice actor, Brian Hanford from DMC V had went on a podcast to say that Dante may actually be in Smash Bros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJOqTYGCfs&feature=youtu.be&t=381

Though, it was apparently suppose to come off in a more jokingly way so, as usual, take this with a grain salt. Voice actors usually are under NDA’s when they are working on something. So, just take note of this.

Also something that was pretty big for Dante was that the DMC V Twitter account did put up three dates for importance as to whats going on with DMC currently. One of those dates just so happen to be the Smash Bros. Ultimate presentation which slated for tomorrow, being the 16th. Though as of recently, Devil May Cry 3 did get an update for the Switch as of now. Some already think this may be somewhat of a hit against Dante, but he still stands for now even with that possibly against him.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

ARLE (PUYO PUYO)

Yeah, even though there is somewhat eveidence ofr her, these could also just be added on coincindences for her too. I honestly don’t know that much of Puyo Puyo, but I did play some of the more recent games. It does look like a series that Nintendo and Sega seem to want to push to get more popular and known over in the west. It worked with Dragon Quest with Hero, so why not do the same with Arle and Puyo Puyo.

Plus, she would be the first female within the Fighter Pass, and it is pretty alarming that this DLC pass does not have a female character at all, so she would be a point for that. Though this is one of the characters I said earlier that I’m not to confident in, in terms of chances, but I do think she is at least worth noting with how much the fanbase has speculated about her within past couple of days.

Also one of the main guys of Puyo Puyi has apparently RT’d the direct announcement from Twitter. So, there’s also that, but this could also be just another coincindence. Something like this happened with Xenoblade when one of the main guys developing XC 2 had also RT’d the direct, but we ended up getting just a Rex Mii costume. So, the Puyo Puyo director could be excited for Puyo Puyo content in the game and thats why he RT’d it, not because Arle is a playable character. Just saying it has happened before.

TRAVIS TOUCHDOWN

Travis is probably the darkhorse of these choices, considering he has been deconfirmed by his own creator being Suda 51. Though, it’s possible he could just be saying that to leave off a trail. Who knows Travis also his fans so he is popular enough with the base.

He also does fit the whole finger pose being associated with three, considering No More Heroes III is coming soon to the Nintendo Switch, and this seems to be another series that Nintendo wants to push harder though on a more global scale, considering No More Heroes is already quite popular within the State side of things its really everywhere else.

So, these are my choices on who I think are likely and who aren’t likely! I hope you enjoyed this read and hope that your character ends up joining the fight! Also, who would like to see as Fighter 5 or even as future DLC.

I feel like no matter what the character is, Sakurai is going to end up surprising us!

Diary Entry #4: Why Sony Is Skipping E3 2020?

Welp, once again Sony is going to be skipping out on E3 for 2020. There are numerous of reasons as to why Sony has been absent for E3 for the past two years in a row. Here’s going to be a breakdown as to why Sony may not want to be involved with E3 anymore and not just these past two shows.

Here’s a good reason as many bought up from Twitter and even other gaming forums, E3 as a whole from influence and cultural relevance has been slowly evaporating. From last year there’s only been 60,000 people that was in attendance last year. This is a bit of a troubling number even when you compare it to other gaming events and conventions who will pull out hundred thousands of people from all of the country or the world. Conventions such as PAX, GamesCom, TooManyGames, are starting to take over and fill in the gaps in between the year and not just for one part of the whole year.

Don’t E3 can still be an exciting show and event to go to. Though without Sony, it does feel like a BIG gap is missing in between the other two big dogs being Nintendo and Microsoft. Another thing as to why Sony has been skipping E3 may be the cost to put on a show. It’s probably expensive to hold and host a part on the show floor.

So, I do think money could be a factor, but not the MAIN factor. Sony does have other ways they could be able to show off their own stuff and their own announcements. Probably the biggest thing they have for this is their State of Plays. As of now, it’s not currently as popular as the Nintendo Directs has gotten over the past couple of years, but whose to say it won’t get to Nintendo Directs levels of popularity.

If given the time and patience this could be Sony’s new way of giving out announcements. If Sony’s State of Plays ends up getting bigger for them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this is how they do their E3 formats like how Nintendo has been doing their E3’s through Nintendo Direct presentations and pre-record them and send it to E3 to be streamed.

Honestly, the news of Sony skipping E3 again, doesn’t surprise me! Another reason is that they could just not be ready to show much of anything for the upcoming PS5. Even if that were also the case, Sony doesn’t really need E3. It’s really E3 that needs Sony. Again, the attendance level from the past two years haven’t been that great from what been said by press who actually do go to that event. It almost feels somewhat empty. While it’s probably easier to manuever around for press, that does sound a bit not worth to attend. Sony may also be feeling, is it worth it to go to an event, where’s there not many eyeballs watching as their once use to be.

As of these days it feels like E3 doesn’t feel like much of a big thing anymore. Every time the summer rolls around, for gamers it’s like an early Christmas because of E3 and to see what companies have in store for not just the rest of the year, but also for the holiday season as well.

So, in a way it kind of sad to see how much E3 has somewhat fallen, but with Sony not going again, isn’t much of a big deal for them. It’s more of a big for E3 and the event itself. With the hype around PS5, who knows maybe after the reveal this could be Sony’s return to E3 and this is just them waiting for PS5 to be revealed, known, and released to the general public and we could end up seeing them back again at E3 2021.

As far as what I think reasons for Sony has been for not possibly attending goes to three things: money for hosting a booth and room for press, E3 almost not being relevant, having their own event to showcase news (i.e. State of Play), and they could just not have much to show. Well, I guess that’s technically four things, but whatever.

Who knows what this could mean for E3 going forward. Not to mention Microsoft has already put their confirmation of attending this years show almost shortly after Sony dropped out. So, there goes monkey-see-and-monkey actually not do. As far Nintendo we don’t know their status as of yet, and we probably won’t know until maybe April or May of this year if I had to guess on a confirmation of Nintendo’s status for E3.

What do you guys think about Sony dropping from E3? Do you guys think Sony needs it or don’t? What do you think Sony’s reasonings are for not going to E3 2020. Please, let me know in the comments.

Diary Entry #3: Could We Possibly See a Nintendo Switch Pro in 2020?

With 2020 FINALLY here and possibly looking like it could become a BIG year for gaming with some new and upcoming console hardware with Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s XBox Series X, but is it possible that Nintendo will step up once again and put out a more powerful version of an already successful console at the start between a new console generation?

Let’s get into somewhat solid and less solid information that we possibly have about a new Nintendo Switch Pro!

Back last week, it was DigiTimes that reported that Nintendo is planning ro release a new model of the Switch within mid-2020. If the name, Takashi Mochizuki sounds familiar to you, he is a tech reporter and writer for the Wall Street Journal put out on Twitter on January 6th with this:

We have heard for a while now that Nintendo does want the Switch brand to be long and to be somewhat expanded even pass the current Switch and to an extent with the Nintendo Switch Lite. Of course we have seen both Microsoft and Sony do this with their half-step consoles with Microsoft’s XBox One X and Sony with the PS4 Pro. Nintendo wanting to get in on this path but obviously in their own way doesn’t surprise me. As said earlier, Nintendo has already started it with the Nintendo Switch Lite, but in a more smaller degree than a whole new revisioned console.

I think a lot of Nintendo fans are awaiting for a new version of the Nintendo Switch. It has been around for almost three years now, and it would be nice to see Nintendo try and balance a new Switch version especially with the new arrivals of the more powerful PS5 and XBox Series X.

So, that DigiTimes article, let’s break some of that down, shall we! Sadly, you need a subscription to look at the articles if your not signed in with DigiTimes already, but here’s what some of the article entails.

One of things being said within the article is that this new Switch will have a magnesium alloid body instead of a plastic body. It will also come with a better CPU,

Now, I do have to point out there have been times where DigiTimes (haha, pun) have had a spotty record when it comes to Nintendo rumors/leaks. So, just to let you know take this article still with a “grain of salt,” mentality obviously.

Though, it’s not just DigiTimes who has been hearing things about a new Switch version coming, there’s been a lot of buzz from a good bit of people within the industry whose been hearing a Switch is indeed coming.

Here’s another somewhat source, though this is more of a prediction than anything. Another name that has bought up the possiblity of a Switch version has been Dr. Serkintoto. For those that don’t know, he is an industry analyst and in his 2020 predictions, “Absolutely no doubt that a 4K Switch Pro is coming in 2020.”

So, it seems like a good bit of the industry are pretty much hearing and are saying the same thing. Now of course, we don’t really know what Nintendo is going to do. You should again, take this as rumors not an actual fact. Let get that out of the way. As far as Nintendo’s line up for 2020 all we know for now is that we have Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE coming later this week (which I’m personally am excited for), and some upcoming Wii U ports, but that’s basically what is known for now.

At this point, I’m anticipating that we could be getting a January direct hopefully for later this week, almost all signs have been pointing to one possibly coming soonish here at the time this post goes up. We HAVE to know more of their line up anyway.

Now, I do think we are going to eventually get another version of the Switch like the Switch Lite is already doing. Though I do think this new Switch is going to be a new full on from what it already is just more on a powerful scale. It’s probably not going to be on the same power level as the PS5 or the XBox Series X, and most of us fans aren’t really asking for that. We just want to make the Switch feel somewhat new again with maybe some better features. That’s not too much to ask from a new console is it? The way I look at the Switch Lite is that it’s a response to their handheld side of things while whatever this new revision for the Switch can be their response to the actual home console side of things.

The Switch has been around for a good while now, and it’s already got most of the big major tentpole franchises on there from: Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, Smash Bros., Splatoon name it and its probably there in some shape or form already. If we really are going to get something of a massive game, like Breath of the Wild 2 for Zelda, then maybe it really is time for a brand new Switch to take reign. It will still keep Nintendo in the conversation within this new console generation that’s coming, that’s going to push fram rates, resolutions, and insane games from both old and new IPs.

I think that something big is going on here, and the fact that so many people that seems to be in the know that are saying the same thing, maybe Nintendo is going to hold off and wait for the right time to reveal this thing. With most of the big hitters already on the current Switch, and being so successful with it already, maybe they really are looking at to see what more they could do with this brand.

Now, as far who do I believe more with these statements, even with their spotty record, I’m more so leaning with what DigiTimes is saying than I am to what Serkintoto is saying just because from what the latter is, it’s mostly just a prediction from what he thinks Nintendo might do for this year. To me the DigiTimes articles does hold a bit more weight and has more details as to what could be going on here. When you have big name new sites reporting on stuff like this, I do think this something that needs to be payed attention to. This isn’t some usual random fake 4Chan or Reddit poster or some Twitter leaker whose trying to back claims for some fame to have a track record.

Even if the 4K part does come to pass, let’s just be reminded, even with it being 4K let’s just remember the system being 4K almost means nothing it’s just going to make the games look better it’s not like its going to become this console that’s going advance a whole generation. Sony kinda already did it first with the PS4 Pro. It being 4K merely just means that its going to better the games that are already on the system and future games that would be coming out for the system. So, even if we do get something like a 4K Switch Pro just remember that it’s only an enhanced system. So, even if you still have the original Switch or the Nintendo Switch Lite or the new Switch, you could still play the games on which one you want! Which is the big picture here, to create and expand a brand that would appeal to all different sorts and kinds of new players.

They’ve already tapped into the portable, young kids and family market last year with the Nintendo Switch Lite, maybe it’s time to get into that hardcore fanbase to try and get some of that shine from Sony and Microsoft before their even able to get their own systems out of the gates. If their really is a Switch Pro for this year, then it would definitely come out before both, yes BOTH the PS5 and XBox Series X come. It’s already looking like those might be holiday consoles anyway for November possibly if I had to guess releases. Maybe we could see something in September like how they did with the Nintendo Switch Lite, and it would line up with Serkintoto’s prediction since he said it would come out after the summer holiday season and it would still fall into that mid-2020 release window.

So, that’s basically where I stand with this whole Switch Pro deal. Didn’t think it would go for this much, but seem like I did have some things to talk about. I do think we will get a beefed up Switch, now what it will entail I don’t know whether it would be 4K, or have major modifications. It’s already weird hearing something being 4K coming from Nintendo of all things, and it’s already something that’s not usually within their wheelhouse but, hey, Nintendo has surprised us before. I just think that a new, bigger, and better system after three years makes sense to come.

SOURCE

Diary Entry #2: What Two Wii U Games Should Get Ported to the Nintendo Switch?

As of last week, a rumor has broke out that two unannounced Wii U ports are coming over to the Nintendo Switch. This comes from Emily Rogers, a well known Nintendo Insider. She came out about this subject on ResetEra and exclaimed:

I can also confirm that Nintendo has (at least) two more unannounced Wii U ports. They are not difficult to guess because there aren’t many Wii U games left to port.

Emily Rogers on the two upcoming Wii U ports

So, now that we have recapped on where this all came from, lets do some speculation on what these two Wii U ports could possibly be. Also, Emily isn’t the type of insider that would usually spring out this kind of information on random. She usually does this when something is coming relatively soon, and if that’s to be believed then this also further hints that we could be getting a January direct pretty soon here. What better way than to all of sudden spring up some info on Wii U ports if an announcement of them aren’t coming relatively soon

The Switch getting two Wii U games shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. We’re even getting another Wii U port with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE that’s to be coming out later this month. Most fans thought that would may be the last Wii U port for the Nintendo Switch, but this apparently is wrong. The Wii U at this point only have a handful of games left that would make sense to make the jump to the Switch. So, what other games are left that people would want to give the game a second chance if they missed out on it during the Wii U days.

There are still a couple of games from the Wii U’s library that stick out that could make a BIG splash on the Nintendo Switch. Though I have decided to narrow it down to five game that I think would make the most sense to bring over to the Wii U and those games are: Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Yoshi’s Woolly World. I know that some of these choices are pretty self explanatory but here me out on why I think some of these are pretty likely.

SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD

After the possible success that was New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, it’s kinda surprising that Super Mario 3D World has taken this long to make the jump to the Switch. After the somewhat dip of attention from Super Mario Maker 2, it might be the right time for another ported over Mario game. We don’t know when we are going to get our next mainline Mario game especially after a big game like Super Mario Odyssey was. I think a game like 3D World would suffice Mario fans until we really do get our next big Mario game adventure. 3D World has introduced the multiplayer support for a platformer which is something that the Switch excels at. It’s one of the many Mario games that has introduced a ton of new power-ups (such as Cat Mario).

The fact that Super Mario Maker does have 3D World themes and other references, I think it’s a good enough of a game to entice players until our next 3D Mario game. The full game’s arrival only feels like a matter of when at this time.

PIKMIN 3

This may be one of the more underrated games that the Wii U has to offer within it’s library. Pikmin 3 is another one of those games, that feels like it deserves a second chance and a bigger spotlight. This is one of the few Wii U games that utilizes and almost rely on the GamePad explicitly as you use the GamePad as a pointer and also have to use the overworld map quite a bit. Also, we know that Miyamoto has been working on Pikmin 4 for quite some time now, so port of Pikmin 3 would definitely be something to hype up Pikmin 4.

THE WONDERFUL 101

Platinum Games is a company that’s always very innovative for their wild game experiments. Though, the Wonderful 101, may be one of the most wildest experiments that they’ve probably ever produced. The game’s creator Hideki Kamiya, has given hints about the port almost since the inception of the Nintendo Switch. Both the creator and fans have been wanting this to ported over to the Switch for a good while. Just like Pikmin 3, this is another game that utilizes the GamePad exceptionally well. The Wonderful 101 lets players control a growing mob of super heroes through a mix of traditional controls while also drawing shapes on the Wii U GamePad.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Oh man, this one may be the hardest one to talk about of all of these choices. The reason why I say that is because the CEO himself of Monolith Soft has came out a said before that a Switch port for Xenoblade Chronicles X would be a very hugely massive and costly undertaking of a port to possibly handle, but he also kinda says that it’s not impossible neither. It would probably take a LONG time for a Xenoblade Chronicles X port to possibly even see the light of day! I still have hope that this could happen. I held out long enough for Tokyo Mirage Sessions to finally come to the Switch, and we’re getting that within less than a couple of days now!

I’m sure people would want to know more about this part of the world with Xenoblade, just as much as the mainline series. Plus, Monolith Soft has said that they would like to do a Xenoblade Chronicles X sequel in the future. What better way to spark more interest in a sequel than reintroducing the original game through a Switch port with a more wider audience than it was on the Wii U?

YOSHI’S WOOLLY WORLD

Okay, this last one was actually kinda hard one for me, considering I was torn between two games for this last spot. The games I would still like to see eventually come that would also make sense would be Yoshi’s Woolly World and Paper Mario: Color Splash, and again I liked both of these games and I would still like to see Color Splash, but at this point, I think that most people would like to see a new Paper Mario game than a port of the previous game with some new ideas. So Yoshi’s Woolly World ended up beating out Paper Mario for those reasons.

As to why Yoshi’s Woolly World though, well after the success of Yoshi’s Crafted World on the Switch it just seems like porting over Yoshi’s Woolly World to the Switch with content from both releases just makes the most sense. Since it’s been on the Wii U, the game did see a re-release on the 3DS as Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World which did introduced some new challenges that featured Poochy as a playable character and also a new ability where players can create their own Yoshi pattern. While Crafted World didn’t completely enamored me like Woolly World did, I still wouldn’t mind seeing this beautiful and creative game being re-released again, and maybe even take the Captain Toad approach with adding the more recent content with it.

With all of this being said do I think we could be getting two more ports here? Yes, Emily Rogers is a pretty credible person. Again, she wouldn’t drop this on random if she knew that something was coming relatively soon. I personally think that we could be seeing at least one of the two ports in that possibly rumored January direct.

Of the choices here from my list, if I had to choose which of the five were the most likely I would say its between, Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3. As much as I would love to see Xenoblade Chronicles to get some shine I doubt will ever see a port of it any time soon, but I will try to remain hopeful until that day gets here.

What Wii U games would like to still see get ported over to the Wii U? Please, comment and let me know!

Diary Entry #1: Could We be Getting a Nintendo January Direct Soon? Game Stop SKU’s Proof 👀

Here goes my very first Diary entry (or more so an opinion post) ever on this blog, and today the focus is going to be on the possibility of a Nintendo Direct coming soon in January. A January Direct almost seems all but confirmed now that it would seem from what it’s looking like in the speculation scene of Nintendo. One of the BIGGEST indicators as to why a direct could possibly be coming soon, is that Game Stop is up to their tricks again.

Just recently Game Stop has once again put up a list of new games sku’s that are set for upcoming releases. Now for those of you who don’t know what sku is, it stands for, “Stock Keeping Unit” which is for numbering certain products in stores/retail for track inventory and to basically make inventory for the business. Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that Game Stop has done this.

The August 2019 SKU list
The PRE-E3 2019 SKU’s

Back in August of last year, Game Stop has let it slip SKU’s has been added into their database for some new Switch games, and we all know that not too long after that we ended up getting a September direct not too long after those SKU’s were released to the public. Another instance we Game Stop has done this was before Nintendo’s E3 Showcase presentation of last year. So, it seems to have been becoming somewhat of a common thread now that once these SKU’s get out and become available to the public, that usually means a general Nintendo direct isn’t too far behind.

It’s not like this should come off as a BIG surprise considering, that most of us fans were assuming that a Nintendo direct would come in January anyway. This just basically adds in even more evidence is practically all but confirmed that a direct is pretty much right around the corner.

Now, lets also talk about Amiibo. Yes, Amiibo. Now, weirdly enough a lot of fans seem to be noticing a pattern of recently with Amiibo that could solidify that a direct will be coming soon as well. Take a look at this tweet that comes from ShinigComet_ from Twitter.

https://twitter.com/ShiningComet_/status/1212238559320539136

Now it’s also worth noting that patterns have been broken before, especially if we are talking about Nintendo. However, given the fact that we have all of this information around a possible direct, I say it’s almost safe to that this kind of thinking does makes the most sense and we will probably get a direct before the 17th of this month, the primary dates I’ve seen a lot of people throw around have been the 8th and the 15th seems to be the most likeliest dates that we could be getting this direct which both would make the most sense, considering that the most common direct days does seem to happen on Wednesdays for general directs.

Another thing to note, the Switch itself also seems to be getting some kind of another firmware update pretty soon. Now the date that’s scheduled for this maintenance to happen is on January 6th.

This is pretty interesting to note, but I’m not completely sure as to how this could actually tie into a potential direct though a direct on the 6th is pretty unlikely considering it’s on a day we don’t normally get directs which is on a Monday. So, that would be kind of odd if we get something on a Monday, and even then you would think that maybe maintenance could eventually end up happening after and not before.

So, I’m not sure how this will play much of a factor into things, but again it is something worth noting. With that being said, the possibility of a big new firmware update and perhaps including maybe some new features and more for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite OS, would be the perfect time to hold a Nintendo Direct.

At the time of writing this, I am almost certain that if a direct were to happen at some point either this week or even next week, I’m positive that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Animal Crossing will both have some major prominence within this possible direct and will surely poised for a big marketing push with the release in March and other exclusives such as Metroid Prime 4 are likely very far away from being complete.