Narrator1

Just for clarification here. Sony Music is not Sony Interactive Entertainment. They're both part of the Sony Group, but Sony Music has no competition with Nintendo.

There's that word again: "gimmick". A "gimmick" is simply an experimental feature. Whether or not it stands the test of time is a factor of whether the players accept it, this being the only difference between "innovation" and "gimmick". Many things we accept as granted now were "gimmicks" at some points.

Force feedback on controllers. Fully 3D graphics. Polygonal models instead of sprites. More than two players playing on the same screen or field at once. Being able to play remotely with other players through the Internet on different machines instead of having to do so face-on-face on one console. The mere concept of adding additional content to an existing game through an Internet download. Motion control instead of tactile button controllers. Wireless controllers. Storing game data on discs instead of consoles. Storing save data separately from game data.

I think the last fighter's going to be another curveball. Something completely outside of most people's expectations. No Dante, no Waluigi, no Doom Slayer, no Ryu Hayabusa, no Lloyd, no Rayman (OK, maybe Rayman), no Geno, no Sora, no Master Chief, etc.

@gonzilla Money talks. The "umpteenth" Mario/Zelda/Pokémon sells in the tens of millions. F-Zero/Metroid/Star Fox... doesn't.

@Monzerol Magolor.

1. He has the most recurring appearances for a modern-era Kirby character.

2. He's the last original character made for the Kirby franchise during Sakurai's tenure there before he left HAL Labs to head Sora, LTD, for that career book-end effect.

3. Two variations of his boss fight theme are already available in Ultimate as selectable music for Kirby and original stages.

4. He has already shown the potential for having a wide and varied moveset, thanks to Kirby: Star Allies and Kirby Fighters.

5. He's cute and round, at least in his first form, which allows differentation from the humanoid fighters dominating the DLC roster while at the same time using the Kirby/Meta Knight/Jigglypuff skeleton for relative ease of development.

Scarlet Nexus. Yeah, it's not a Nintendo game, but I'm being honest. That is what I'll be playing this weekend. I'll wait on Mario Golf until I go with my folks this July, because really, games like that are meant to be enjoyed with other human beings.

I'm glad they built Rise from the ground up as opposed to trying to cram World onto the Switch. The end result is TWO great modern Monster Hunter games.

@zool New Donk City is coming next month. That's all we know for sure.

Now for the speculation. If it's anything like Mario Tennis, they're going to start trickling out newer characters through free DLC at a rate of one per month. Possible early access for people who place well enough on the online leaderboards.

@zool "All the reviews commented on the lack of courses. Is that because they are being with held back to sell later."

Not necessarily. We know from an earlier stream that New Donk City is going to come free in a later title update. Also, all of Mario Tennis Aces' DLC characters and extra options came free (barring the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, of course).

I thought the presentation looked a little off. Those trees in particular bothered me. That having been said, I have a $25 Gamestop gift card about to expire this month, so even on the off-chance that I don't like it, I won't have wasted $60. I'm getting it.

Non-disclosure agreements are legal, binding contracts. Break an NDA, get burned. The actual quality or lack thereof in the product is not a factor in this equation.

@MrGawain If you're going by popularity, Tekken is easily up there with Banjo-Kazooie, if not moreso. Not long ago, Tekken 7, the latest game in the series and the one whose version of Kazuya heavily inspired his Smash Ultimate moveset, had a celebration that honored 7 million sales since its 2015 debut.

@Travisemo007 Guess I'm no one then. This seems diverse enough to me. We were all complaining about the preponderance of sword users, and we get another bare-knuckle martial artist.

I can understand Nintendo not wanting to immediately join Sony's and Microsoft's arms race, but I can immediately think of multiple ways where newer technology could enhance the experience.

1. Games developed by Monolith Soft (Xenoblade Chronicles, Zelda: Breath of the Wild) could use more consistent frame rates.
2. Omega Force (Musou/Warriors games) could divert the extra power towards better AI, higher enemy densities, and — again — smoothing out resolution and frame rate issues.
3. Fountain of Dreams in Super Smash Ultimate wouldn't have to make the trade-off between frame rate consistency and water reflection fidelity, thus making it tournament legal again.

And that's limiting it to games made by Nintendo or directly under its immediate umbrella.

Edit: Did I mention consistent frame rates? I do believe I did.

I'll get this one on a sale. I got burned hard by Super Mario Party and would have been more than fine with this being a paid add-on to that one.

That having been said, making this Switch Lite and Pro Controller-compatible does make this somewhat more appealing.

@YoshiAngemon It was widely and safely predicted that another Smash reveal would be at E3. If I had to guess, the last reveal will be at this year's Tokyo Games Show (September 30-October 3, 2021).

@sketchturner He threw Ganondorf off the cliff right before Zelda announced its 35th Anniversary.

And once more we have proof that the "leakers" and "insiders" are full of fecal matter. The only one who got this right had Kazuya on a long list of about forty or so characters. Not only did we get a Tekken character and not the usual perennials of Dante, Doom MC, Waluigi, Rayman, etc.; but we also have multiple announcements of games with a 2022 release window and not a single announcement of any new hardware for the Switch.

After years of having to job to his son, Kazuya really moves up in the world. He finally kills his dad and avenges his mom, and now he's in Smash.

@Razer That's the thing. You keep mentioning "competition". Nintendo hasn't viewed Sony as competition for about 15 years. And it's because of that bubble of insulation from competition that Nintendo can issue boneheaded decrees like this. Why bother competing when the "competition" has ceded an entire, hugely profitable market niche to you, after all?

Edit: That having been said, if I had to guess as to why, it's that Nintendo is going to fly in the face of all of the "leaks" and rumors and not release anything on the "New Switch"/"Switch Pro" here, and it wants to manage fan expectations on that front. Which is going to be harder to do if the information is filtered through unsanctioned influencers.

Even Nintendo has to be aware on some level that they are not going to be able to reasonably enforce this one. Too many Smash influencers Hell-bent on not towing the official line for anything, for one.

@Slowdive It sounds to me more like they were gloating about having found someone who was a virtuoso at porting a game like Kingdom Come to lower-spec machines like the current Switch. I don't see anywhere that would imply them using a "Switch Pro".

Nintendo is doomed.

It wasn't as stable as they thought it would be.

@NingenSama Got me there. But you'd be surprised how many people get them mixed up. There was a minor incident elsewhere when some console warrior took issue when Aniplex (owned by Sony Music) started advertising through Fate/Grand Order the Switch port of Fate/Extella.

@Magician Depends. Sony Music still has its main branch in Japan but has an American branch in New York. But what you're likely talking about is Sony Interactive Entertainment, the division that runs the PlayStation. SIE moved to California a few years ago.

Nintendoomed.

@thinkhector Adding Ethernet in place of Wi-Fi for online gaming isn't a matter of speed, but stability.

Here we go with this again.

I have no doubt that another hardware refresh is coming. Even the PS5, barely out a year, is heading for an alternate SKU soon to dodge supply constraints. It's just that all of the rumors are getting people hyped up for their dream version of what the Switch was "supposed" to have been, only to get angry and disappointed once the actual product comes out.

It's "Dante will be the final Season Pass 1 character for Smash Ultimate", just writ large.

I can see a slightly beefier CPU and GPU, maybe just enough to run ports of Unreal Engine 5 games. More realistically, it's just going to have better screen quality and AI-assisted 4K upscaling.

This isn't fair. The Switch you don't have to fight scalpers, bots, and cryptocurrency bulls tooth and nail to pick up.

It's not my thing. Watching my niece play it put me to sleep, especially with that music playing in the background. Little wonder that Sakurai had to mine spinoffs for fight-worthy music when he ported Minecraft to Smash.

That having been said, I fully realize that it's just a factor of my having aged out of the generation that would enjoy this more. I'm not going to deny or begrudge its popularity.

This doesn't surprise me. Regardless of quality or lack of, Pokémon Snap isn't a mainline game or Go, so it falls off dramatically after most everyone who wanted a sequel to the original Nintendo 64 game has already snapped it up. Also, this is the UK, one of Nintendo's relatively weaker markets.

@Bret I'm guessing it'll largely be at the same general level of quality as the story in Mario Tennis Aces. Take that as you will.

The true winner of the World vs. Rise console war is Capcom. Close runners-up: Monster Hunter fans.

Does this one heal your character?

@NotoriousWhiz Stands a better chance than V did. V only came into existence because Sony threw money at Capcom in time for the Capcom Pro Tour, and the quality of the game initially suffered because of it. It took a massive turnaround before V gained its legs, and Capcom will remember that.

His watch has ended.

Swing and a miss. Oh, well.

@Kang81 Guilty as charged. I just think of it as a Cloud backup service with some retro games and the occasional Smash Ultimate online play attached.

As always, the money is what matters. How many of those dislikes bought into the service anyway?

I think I know where this goes. Once the creators get enough of these, they're going to start curtailing or eliminating the ability to use them.

Another vote for bringing back Nintendo Badge Arcade. Customizing the innards of the Nintendo 3DS beyond or even within the limits of themes was surprisingly fun, and could tap into that Animal Crossing crowd who likes decorating and customizing things.

@Kidfunkadelic83 Instead, we had to buy completely new carts or discs for title updates. This is the same company, after all, that had people buy into a title update for M. Bison and his crew and yet another for Cammy, Fei-Long, T. Hawk, and Dee Jay. This is the same company that had us buy a whole 'nother disc for Vergil, a few extra boss fights, and difficulty rebalances. Paid DLC is just a natural evolution of this concept.

@LinkSword Perhaps my post was a bit heavy on the hyperbole, but it's a well-known fact that Smash's creators and publishers didn't want it to be at EVO (or, indeed, any competitive fighting game venue outside of their in-house invitationals) in the first place. They only capitulated to fans wanting Melee in EVO back in 2013 because those fans waved money in Nintendo's face during a time when its fortunes were less than ideal due to some costly purchases and the Wii U underperforming commercially.

@LinkSword Some karma. If anything, Miyamoto and Sakurai probably threw a party on the spot upon hearing the news.

Nintendo didn't come down on The Big House just because of the Slippi mod. It came down because money was involved, via entry fees and a pre-existing sponsorship deal with Nintendo (which would come with the usual Nintendo stipulations, such as using unmodded software with unmodded hardware). The other big Smash tournament at the time, Summit 10, was also using Slippi-enhanced Melee, but Nintendo made no moves against it and allowed it to proceed untouched. Why? Because it was a free invitational with its $10,000 prize pool funded entirely by donations.

Back on topic, there are other venues like CEO, Beyond the Summit, and Apex, as well as smaller-scale tournaments run by Smash scene luminaries like Samsora, Leffen, and Hungrybox. Neither Smash nor EVO will shrivel up and die without the other.

@Dman10 Nintendo is going to release its financials for this quarter to the public in May, which include sales figures.

Good call was made. We'd have been complaining about the generic boy swordsman if he made it in. Instead, we can BE the sword.

Just as well. If the graphics looked like this, we'd all find something else to complain about.

The Power Instinct Anthology