Topic: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - OT

@TheGreatLord: I wasn't suggesting that Isaac was voted for a lot (he may be) but rather that he's a "pre-ballot" character given that the removal of him as an assist trophy is awkward.

OH pre-ballot character, I missed that part. I would love for more pre-ballot characters but Sakurai said "fan-service only" so I'm not sure about that. :/

@TheGreatLord: As I was saying, the only way that would fully work (assuming by fanservice he's referring to the ballot) is if there's no DLC at all until 2016 or people's views for the last few months of the ballot are ignored. The first option isn't feasible as Smash Wii U hype would fade away just like it has done for MK8 and if the 2nd option was true then why is the deadline in October.

It's possible that they've already started on the ballot character(s) if the most popular one is decently ahead in votes to the point of that character still having the most votes 2 months from now. Plus that's just assuming popularity matters, and they don't do stuff like "developer's pick" or something.

I've found out the no sudden death victory condition, if even in terms of stock/score it solely depends on damage done.

@Grumblevolcano: I imagine they might have 2 more pre-ballot characters that'll be available on October 3rd, which would be Wolf and some other character (K Rool, Isaac, Pichu, Young Link, or a RH character) and they'll also reveal the first ballot pick on that day Mewtwo-style, which will have already been in development as the last month or so of voting won't make a massive difference.

Yeah, a lot of people are treating the voter ballot like an election (and considering the name, that's understandable) but from what I've heard of this thing, and from our mild insight into the minds of those in charge, here, it's most likely more of a suggestion box. It's there to see A) that there's demand for a character before they're made into DLC and B) if the fans have any ideas even Sakurai hadn't considered. No one said there'd only be one ballot fighter. No one said they'd wait until the end of the ballot to pull popular fighters from it for development. There's no way to know until well after it actually matters.

Also fan service doesn't mean the ballot. I could just mean heavily requested characters. Of which, Wolf is one. Remember that at the time, he was talking about Ryu being in Smash. That was a character he added because he wanted to add him.Ryu's there not because of fan demand, but because Sakurai wanted to see him join the fray. He likely sees that as a selfish decision and wanted to assure us that from here on, he'd be catering to fan demand.

@kelvin217: Hey, no problem. I wasn't bothered by it. We can do some 1v1's, today, if you're available.

The ballot may be a suggestion box, but I don't think that means Sakurai won't include any of the top 5-10 characters most requested characters. He would need a good reason to not include a character that is highly requested.

Let's look at Melee's ballot results: (characters in bold means they got in.)

(1) Bowser (169)
(2) Princess Peach (66)
(3) Wario (65) - I believe Sakurai has gone on record stating he didn't add Wario due to there being too many Mario characters in the roster all ready. I know he said something like this, but I'm probably wording it wrong.
(4) King Dedede (46) - Sakurai didn't want to add new Kirby characters because he didn't want to "over-represent" his own franchise.
(5) Ganon(dorf) (36)
(6) James Bond (35) - Rare Ware.
(6) Mewtwo (35)
(8) Banjo & Kazooie (33) - Rare Ware.
(9) Toad (27) - See the Wario statement.
(10) Mew (24) - He didn't want to add too many Pokèmon?

Only 4 of the top 10 most requested got in. But Sakurai had reasonings to why he didn't include some of those characters. As for the others he didn't comment on (like Banjo and Mew), it's quite obvious why they didn't get in. Even if the Smash 4 ballot is simply just a suggestions box, I don't think we should worry too much about Sakurai not including the top most requested characters. Because like I said, he would need a good reason on to include them. For example: "I didn't add in King K. Rool because he's an obese, ugly alligator with pink eye who would be a clone of Bowser." JK, that was a horrible example. But you get my point.

Melee had a smash bros ballot? I never knew, also he said he didn't add Wario because he thought Wario "deserves" better. He was planning to make him a Mario clone but instead he used Dr. Mario.

I always assumed that the ballot was more of a suggestion thing, although popularity will no doubt play a part. I mean the ballot form itself does say to suggest a character and that they'll "consider" making them a fighter, so even the most unexpected choice would have a chance if the reasoning for the character is reasonable.

Yes, there has always been a ballot beginning with melee.
But guess what? They had been Japan only, until now.

@TheGreatLord The Wario "deserving better" statement seems to be a misinformation. It went a little like this: (taken from Source Gaming)

There is no reliable source for Wario actually being seriously, “considered for a Mario clone but he deserved better”. In addition, I haven’t been able to find hard sources on Japanese character discussion. Sakurai did say, “If I cut all the clone characters, I wouldn’t have been able to even add one new character. However, I could have made Wario using the same body shape and attacks as Mario” (Japanese). He also states that if he cut Roy and Marth or Mewtwo, he might have been able to add Wario, but the Mario representation was too much (Japanese). There’s nothing there that says Wario was cut for deserving better.

http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/04/13/the-definitive-unused...

@DreamyViridi To be honest, I think the "we'll take each fighter into consideration" thing is just there to give people hope for their character. Sakurai probably is taking a lot of the fighters voted so far into consideration, but I doubt most. I think he's mainly keeping an eye on the top 10, IMO.

Wow, Bond was in the Melee ballot top 10. Was Goldeneye big in Japan? (I know it was big in NA and EU)

As I said before, there are two major functions of the Smash Ballot. Forst is to give siggestions, but second and more importantly, it's to gauge fan demand. Characters like Shovelknight, K. Rool, Isaac, Inkling, and Wolf have a better chance than characters like Sora, Shantae, Reckless Wiimote Guy, and Pichu because they have shown to be in high demand at one point or another. The number of votes DOES matter, but it's not an election. It's still more like a glorified suggestion box.

I wouldn't be surprised if Pichu does come back as a pre-ballot character, he's pretty much the only other possible veteran excluding Wolf. Ice Climbers have limitation problems (?) and they have conflict with Konami right? I would actually like it if Ice Climbers return, it makes me wish there was not a 3ds version since it hindered the wii u. Although it took off transformation in which I like. So I think Pichu and Wolf are the only two possible veterans to make a return to smash bros. Unless the pre-ballot character is a newcomer!

Konami doesn't own Ice Climbers.

@NightmareEater: The Konami comment was clearly aimed at why Snake wouldn't come to Smash. The only possible veterans now are Wolf, Pichu and Young Link. Kojima gone from Konami means Snake won't happen and the 3DS means Ice Climbers won't happen.

@Grumblevolcano: What about Ivysaur and Squirtle :V

@Undead_terror: While possible, I do doubt they'll come back because people wouldn't want only one of them. I feel like if they wanted to do one, they'd feel obligated to do the other. If Squirtle and Ivysaur did come back though, they'd probably be sold together as a set.

@UGXwolf: I wouldn't underestimate Shantae's popularity. She's sort of had the opposite trend of Shovel Knight (at least from what I've noticed anyways) - SK had a lot of popularity towards the start of the ballot (largely due to Smashified), but it's support has died down some, while Shantae had only a small amount of support at the beginning but has only increased since then. If Omni had done Shantae at the time he did Shovel Knight, the two characters might have switched spots. Overall though, I think both are quite popular, though not at the rank of characters like K Rool, Isaac, or Rayman.

Of course, I could be totally off on that. Popularity aside, at least Shantae has some history to back her up.