Topic: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - OT

@DarthNocturnal: I haven't seen the original Japanese so I can't vouch for the translation, but in an interview after the Lucas, Roy, and Ryu DLC Sakurai apparently said there would be several characters left, pre-ballot was over and the rest of the characters would be based on fanservice.

If I had the original Japanese interview I could elaborate on the words "several" and "fanservice".

That English translation of "several" has caused a bit of controversy but according to that interview, there is more than one.

I'm not sure just how many several would mean, since on sites like gamefaqs and reddit everyone says something different.

@Inkling Eww. Why are people like this?

@DarthNocturnal: I'm pretty confident that there will be more than one ballot winner for a few reasons. For one, why would they set up a several month-long ballot and have to go through the work of counting them (even with an automated system, this can take a while) just to develop one character, and then maybe look at it for Smash 5 (and that's a big maybe)? Seems like a giant waste of time. Also, they had to have been working on something since Lucas/Roy/Ryu were finished, and that's assuming any further characters were started after those 3 were finished. For all we know, they could have started working on Wolf and the first ballot choice from the initial results before those 3 were released.

As Sakurai said, he can't keep the dev team around forever. That's why I do believe they started working on ballot characters a while ago.

Still hoping Sakurai will look at the least popular character choices, including mine. :c

@megumi: No, Xiao Pai won't be in smash.

...I never voted for Xiao Pai...

Does anyone know where I can find the original interview?

Go through the work of counting them? You realize they don't use some kid from a 'programming basics' class to develop their webpages, right? The page they look at with the ballot information most likely has the characters listed from most votes to least votes with the exact vote count that they can check out anytime during the voting period. It literally takes them seconds to see how many votes someone has. There is absolutely nothing for them to count.

@DoomTurtle: They still have to go in manually to check for various spellings. Obviously, they'll program it to count for different spellings, but chances are it'll miss some. Plus, they'd also go in manually to check for the reasonings to get a sample of ideas.

As a lot of talk is going on about Sakurai's mentions of fanservice and "several" more characters, I want to point some things out.

1) Even in English, the term "several" is quite vague. It could easily mean anything from four to fifteen characters and not be at all misleading, and that's not taking into account how the translation could have changed the meaning of what Sakurai said.

2) Pandering to requests from before the ballot could be considered "fanservice," meaning we can't even confidently say that it'll only be ballot characters. Remember that Sakurai was talking about Ryu when he mentioned fanservice and that Ryu was added in because Sakurai wanted him in. To me this just means it's all fan demand. Requests from before the ballot could still factor in.

While we're on the topic, I'd personally prefer to get Wolf back than add a newcomer, but as he was my main in Brawl, that shouldn't be a surprise, nor should it change how anyone else feels.

Personally, I think getting Wolf back is almost inevitable. Unless Sakurai decided he just really doesn't want to bring Wolf back, he's been highly requested since Smash 4 came out, with a lot of us shocked he wasn't in the game to begin with. I think K. Rool is undoubtedly the "winner" of the popular vote. And again, unless Sakurai just really doesn't want him in, nothing stands in his way. Who else might make it? I think Shovelknight, Isaac, and Banjo all stand a decent chance, but I think Inkling has a real advantage, here.

As a final note, I don't believe the Smash team has been sitting around twiddling their thumbs since E3, and I can't see Mario Maker taking up SO MUCH TIME, that they only needed that project. There's defintely more on the way.

http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/06/25/ryu-roy-and-lucas-joi...

FYI, I didn't write these two paragraphs, I'm just copy and pasting what was said in the article.

His specific wording here is “サービス,” literally “service.” While the definition of “service” in Japan does have its own nuances compared to what it means in English, I’m assuming based on context here that he’s referring to “fan service,” in reference to the ballot, although he never explicitly says this.

数 means “several,” and it can be combined with another character to say “several of a specific something.” For example, 人 is the character for “person,” 数人 is “several people.” Sakurai wrote 数体. “体” is “bodies,” generally used for things that humanoid, or humanlike but usually aren’t actually alive. If I was referring to several dolls, or several figurines, I might say “数体.” Similarly, I assume Sakurai is referring to characters, not updates, because of his character choice.

I picked up a Wii U earlier this month and I plan on getting in on the local Smash 4 scene here. I'm planning on manning either Zelda or Lucina, but I rarely see either of them being played. Just curious if they're considered weak or anything?

@Chrono-Trigger: Both are considered low tier, with Zelda at the bottom alongside Samus. The Smash 4 meta is still in its infancy though.

Zelda is a very technical character but really fun to use. I haven't really played with Lucina or Marth so I can't speak much on them.

@Chrono-Trigger: The're not considered viable in competitive play. Roy is good if you want to use a Fire Emblem character, but he's only available if you purchase the DLC. Of the non-DLC characters, you might want to consider any of these characters:

Diddy Kong
Fox
Luigi
Mario
Ness
Pikachu
Rosalina
Sheik (the best character for 1-on-1 matches)
Zero Suit Samus

You know, I really like Luigi in this game... He feels a lot nicer to control, and he's still just as weird as ever. Sure, he'll be nerfed soon, but I don't play competitive anyways. I'll still stick with him.

Speaking of which, who're your favorite characters to play as. For me it's Luigi, Shulk, Ness, and Megaman.

@CapeSmash: That's the word he used? Are you sure?!

Thats not a normal word. The guy who wrote that seems to have an okay understanding of Japanese, but he's using kind of generic definitions for these kanji.

数体 is a mathematics word and I'm not going to get into it, but its meaning is a lot more complicated than "several".

Lets just definitively say Sakurai is saying more than one.

Yep, these fast and high tiers. (Geez)
Still, Ike is just as good and viable as Roy now. (Don't argue w/me on that, 2 tired) But, @Chrono-Trigger, Lucina is a just-below-mediocre choice. Zelda though is having trouble. It's your preference and play style. So it's all your decision. If you're going to get into Lucina, Marth might wanna be looked into 2. The tipper and extra range seriously helps get off those ko's and extra damage and overall he's more viable.

@chrono-trigger: I've been a Zelda main since Melee and a Lucas main since Brawl (though I'm leaning more towards Lucas these days). Zelda has some issues yes, and she is fun to use, but it takes a lot of time to get used to her playing style and limitations. I wouldn't recommend her for new players. She has a lot of moves that leave her really vulnerable, and since in Smash 4 some of her more powerful techniques use her teleport, it is quite common to self destruct while playing with her. You always have to be aware of the angle of your teleporting, how much distance you have when she is going to come out of it, and anticipate what your opponent will do if you reappear right on them. Her tippers and meteor are better in this game than in Brawl IMO, but still require lots of practice.

@Storytime7 Or maybe instead of playing characters because of tiers, we just olay characters we wanna play and MAKE them good? Not everyone enjoys HOO HAH, Wall of Pain, annoying your opponent to death, and Luigi's endless comboing potential.some of us prefer the all-round style of Link, the sheer power of Ganondorf, Pacman and Wario's shenanigans, or yes, even Zelda's nearly incomprehensible playstyle. Seriously, if I was forced to play only those characters you listed, I'd probably quit playing. Also, the Smash community admits nearly any character is tournament viable due to how young the meta is and how well-balanced the game appears to be in comparison to past titles. Even the weakest characters can be niche charactets. The only characters with next to no reason to be played are the weaker-of-two-clones scenarios.

@CapeSmash I return to my statement of "several is vague." I also return to my point that "fan service" could still refer to pre-ballot requests, but likely implies that the ballot charactets are the end for Smash DLC.

When I play as Zelda, her only move is Din's Fire.