Leaked Smash Ballot Reveals Waluigi Top-Requested Character
Yeah, I know they wouldn't give away who top-requested character was in the headline.
All thanks to the dedicated work of a single man.
Like let's even put aside someone like bayonetta let's just look at, like, K Rool. Imagine seeing the results and seeing who was passed over for him, imagine the people he might've outranekd and imagine the ("reliazable") people he didn't. Or seeing what his notable placement actually meant!Knowing the actual ballot results would destroy smash communities across the web as a whole. Legitimately I think the current Pokemon controversy would pale in comparison to finding out the actual ballot rankings and how many characters ended up getting passed over.
I have to know how many people voted for Cat Mario purely because they saw it suggested in the direct.we get the Ballot results, but it's the raw result; a mess with many repeats and entries with typos and grammar errors; so we'd be a month or so cleaning everything up to really understand the amount of votes each character got.
You know, i've never checked. Did they use Neko Mario as the example in the Japanese Direct?I have to know how many people voted for Cat Mario purely because they saw it suggested in the direct.
I bet it wasn't entirely insignificant
One also has to consider that Castlevania at its prime was (& in many ways, still is) bigger than Golden Sun could ever hope to be, to the point of defining an entire genre. They aren't even in the same league.I do honestly wonder how well Isaac did in the ballot. He clearly did well enough to get both a much-improved Assist Trophy and model, as well as his Mii costume, and in fan polls generally wasn't too far behind big fan favorite K. Rool.
I don't know if it was here, but I saw someone hypothesize once that Isaac might have had a harder uphill battle due to being from a franchise new to Smash, and would have therefore necessitated a new stages, a full musical work up, and more, whereas K. Rool and Ridley didn't have to considering they came from existing series with a lot of the work already done.
It makes a lot of sense as to why it stonewalled Isaac, but that sort of falls apart when you look at Castlevania, which got all of that and more, but also which I wouldn't have pegged as being more popular than Isaac ballot-wise. Makes you think.
Oh it certainly is a bigger franchise, but it definitely wasn't at it's prime during the ballot era, and it wasn't considered a realistic option either due to Snake being AWOL. Yet Sakurai clearly stated in one of his columns that Castlevania was a ballot pick. It'd be interesting to see where the two series ended up in relation to each other, at the very least.One also has to consider that Castlevania at its prime was bigger than Golden Sun ever was, to the point of defining an entire genre. They aren't even in the same league.
That's a fair point, true. I guess there really wasn't a lot of other characters people would have voted for aside from Isaac for Golden Sun (maybe a few Felix and Matthew diehards), but Castlevania would have had Simon, Dracula, Alucard, and plenty more to pool together.Sakurai said he turned every vote into Castlevania into support for Simon (and Richter).
(Similar to how all the Final Fantasy support over the years eventually turned into Sakurai bringing Cloud in.)
I tried to check but it seems like the direct is just gone on the japanese side of things?You know, i've never checked. Did they use Neko Mario as the example in the Japanese Direct?
To be fair, you are really understating things when you say Dixie did better than Dark Samus in polls. Dixie actually charted. And it could be partly because of bias because fans make up rules over which characters are allowed to be considered. But I would just say that's part of the rodeo. The fan ecosystem favored Dixie and that's one reason I think Dixie also did way better.Oh trust me, I know. I've been waving Ridley's flag ever since the Melee intro 18 years ago and I was actually moved to tears by his reveal trailer. But I think people forget how battered the Ridley fandom was after Smash 4. It was pretty clear that the whole Pyrosphere shadow situation took the wind out of their sails. I still remember the very somber sign-off thread on Smashboards after his disconfirmation with a number of people saying it was their last rodeo because they were exhausted after how much of a rollercoaster the whole Pyrosphere situation ended up being.
The ballot was just rubbing salt in the wound because everyone correctly assumed that an existing notable role in the game was a damning mark against them. As someone who frequented a lot of Ridley threads across the net, I saw plenty of people saying that they were going to move on to Dark Samus or at least throw her a vote alongside Ridley. That plus the fact that Sakurai outright said Dark Samus and Chrom were added to the game for popularity reasons has me thinking that, ironically, Ridley's deconfirmation for Smash 4 resulted in us getting an additional Metroid character in the end.
As for the Dixie situation, yes, she was presented as the realistic alternative to K. Rool, but that was mostly before the full game released, and certainly before the ballot came up. Because of Tropical Freeze being recent and no one knowing when the cutoff was at the time, most figured Dixie had a great shot due to recency whereas old Mario Sluggers-only K. Rool was constantly given the "irrelevant" brush-off. Once the ballot appeared and the idea of a character getting into Smash on popularity alone became a feasible concept, the K. Rool squad went into overdrive with the Kremling Kampaign and left Dixie in the dust.
As for the fan polls, I'll admit that Dixie did chart better on those than Dark Samus, but as I mentioned earlier, many of the Metroid fans had lost hope and probably moved on from where the polls were happening. After all, Ridley himself didn't chart on a lot of these polls. I just think you're underselling Dark Samus's (confirmed) popularity and overselling Dixie's at the time. She's definitely going to become an enormous force now that K. Rool's in, but it's a similar situation to the competition between Diddy and K. Rool in Brawl: one only really takes off after the other is already in.
Like I said, Castlevania at its prime was huge, whereas Golden Sun only saw decent amounts of success. Even now, Castlevania is still getting ports & Netflix animated shows. As I said earlier, the two aren't even remotely comparable. If people still voted for Snake despite everything, then you can bet that there were a ton of Castlevania votes.Oh it certainly is a bigger franchise, but it definitely wasn't at it's prime during the ballot era, and it wasn't considered a realistic option either due to Snake being AWOL. Yet Sakurai clearly stated in one of his columns that Castlevania was a ballot pick. It'd be interesting to see where the two series ended up in relation to each other, at the very least.
Huh, yeah, I can't find an upload of it. Even going to an archive of the Japanese page for the Direct didn't bear any fruit.I tried to check but it seems like the direct is just gone on the japanese side of things?
Huh, yeah, I can't find an upload of it. Even going to an archive of the Japanese page for the Direct didn't bear any fruit.
EDIT: Wait nevermind, I found a reupload (and yes, they used Cat Mario as the example here too):
i wonder how many angry people are going to flood french nintendo twitter when they upload their next videoOh yeah. Hero didn't release.
Guess I'm wrong on my prediction. Dang it.
I mean, we don't really know how well Dark Samus did in polls, as most of them likely discarded her votes due to her being an AT. I agree, though, that Dark Samus likely didn't chart as well as Dixie did overall. Dixie's definitely the more popular character overall and didn't have AT status holding her back.To be fair, you are really understating things when you say Dixie did better than Dark Samus in polls. Dixie actually charted. And it could be partly because of bias because fans make up rules over which characters are allowed to be considered. But I would just say that's part of the rodeo. The fan ecosystem favored Dixie and that's one reason I think Dixie also did way better.
I think I'm rating Dark Samus appropriately -- less than Dixie. I think Dark Samus and other echoes were rated on a different and more forgiving scale. I think in general, Metroid fans overestimate their #s.
Simon and Alucard probably performed notably well (esepcially the former), with other characters adding up to a total vote count they couldn't ignore.Speaking of Castlevania, I wonder what the breakdown actually was in the results. Was it for a generic "Castlevania" rep? Did random Belmonts do well? Or was most of it for Simon? How well did Alucard do? How well did Soma do? How well did Shanoa do?
I'd bet that Alucard had a bunch, followed by Simon (& Richter?), and then some other CV characters probably did highly in their own right. So as a whole CV was high, with those 1 in particular, and they went with Simon because it's castlevania and you gotta have the vampire killer.Speaking of Castlevania, I wonder what the breakdown actually was in the results. Was it for a generic "Castlevania" rep? Did random Belmonts do well? Or was most of it for Simon? How well did Alucard do? How well did Soma do? How well did Shanoa do?
Color TV-Game 15 crew, rise upThey should do a ballot where the only choices are assist trophies and you have to choose ONE to be a fighter.
I'll rally the supporters for Nikki!
Choosing just one would be far too hard for me, lol.They should do a ballot where the only choices are assist trophies and you have to choose ONE to be a fighter.
I'll rally the supporters for Nikki!
If only a smash game had started dev in 2004
Isaac would have been a hardlock
I think the crazy Sonic fanbase would challenge that hard for Shadow.Choosing just one would be far too hard for me, lol.
And Waluigi would unfortunately win anyway, so it'd be in vain.
Sakurai hates the game boy advance theoryI just don't think Sakurai's ever really thought highly of Isaac or GS in general.
Brawl's roster was planned in 2005, only a few years after The Lost Ages, and he only got an assist trophy. Meanwhile, Smash 4's roster was planned in early 2012, only a little over a year since Dark Dawn's release, and he didn't even bother to bring back Isaac's AT. And even with the ballot, he was able to get the return of his AT and a Mii costume.
Only if Waluigi is either A. already in or B. barred from the vote.They should do a ballot where the only choices are assist trophies and you have to choose ONE to be a fighter.
I'll rally the supporters for Nikki!
They should be supporting Knuckles, but probably yeah.I think the crazy Sonic fanbase would challenge that hard for Shadow.
Him and Springman would be the best options.
Blame? You'd be heralded as a hero if you helped Knuckles make it in.I'd probably go with Knuckles. But then I'd be part of the blame if he made it over others.
Shovel Knight ezThey should do a ballot where the only choices are assist trophies and you have to choose ONE to be a fighter.
I'll rally the supporters for Nikki!
Does she need it though? Before the August Direct, weren't people saying that she already had enough merits to make it in?