WARNING: INTENSE SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS POST CONTAINS A VARIETY OF LEAKS REVEALED OVER THE INTERNET THE PAST WEEK. IF YOU STILL HAVE YET TO EXPERIENCE THE SURPRISES OF NEW CHARACTERS, DO NOT READ THIS POST.
That being said, let's get to it. So somehow, within like two days, all of this came right the Hell out of nowhere.
Note: The very douche-sounding DLC claim was deconfirmed by the leaker, who quite frankly sounds like a real asshole. |
Please note not all of these leaks are from the same source. That guy loudly and stupidly proclaiming the DLC characters like if he is the coolest guy in the world, for example, is not the same leaker who is actually cool for risking everything and posting videos to back up his image.
So in spite of my disliking of the Gematsu "prophet," I am not really mad that he got like ninety percent of his guesses correct (yes that's right, guesses). I don't know why, but some idiots think I am trying to "destroy the hype" by insisting not to put too much faith in this one guy. Basically, they took my point, "You can't give this guy too much credit," and turned it into a personal attack against a character they are massively hoping for and therefore fester off of every shred of information that gives them hope. They are almost like carrions swarming around a living organism as if they were expecting it to die at any moment. Can you imagine how annoying it'd be to be a healthy individual and yet have flies and maggots and whatever else that thrives off dead things swarming around you, simply because the pests believe, for no reason at all, that you are going to die any minute? That's exactly what being around these guys feels like.
Aside from a certain Palutena leak, what really threw me into the "leak-culture" of this game was the mention of a "prophet" on Facebook by some guy who, by means of pure deaf-dumb-and-blind luck, called that Pacman was going to be revealed at E3. This was simply because the "prophet" said he'd be in the game. I responded appropriately, calling out the guy on giving far too much credit on the Gematsu Prophet. Then, about a month after Pacman was confirmed, I got this response.
Seriously? |
People need to stop being butthurt. I think this guy was really just jealous that I can come up with witty comments that people can find funny. And what the fuck is up with that almost-three-month necro? So this guy and the guy who called Pacman, along with anybody else who thought I was being an asshole for that matter, may be laughing in my face right now. How do I feel?
Who the Hell cares? That is exactly how I feel. Honestly, I actually liked a bit of what I saw from the Pacman reveal. I'm not crazy about him like some other weirdly rabid fans of him, who actually kind of remind me of fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Well, the difference there is that Pacman was actually established with the merit of actually trying to be the thing that it was: a fun game (whereas the TMNT cartoon is more of a twenty-five minute ad for toys and Dominos as opposed to a series of episodes with important things like characters and plot). Still, I think the fanbases are similar in the sense that everybody just bandwagons and says, "Oh, I'm a Pacman fan, I want Pacman in the new Smash!" just because there is a new Smash Bros. game coming out. Anyway, getting back to what I think of this, it's fine, cool, whatever. Why would I be pissed about Nintendo being innovative with the character choices?
Consequently, Shulk was also "called" by that "prophet." Really, I still think he just made that guess simply because he saw the deconfirmed Shulk leak. Say what you will about him, but at the end of the day, who was the one who actually gave a video of Shulk in-game? Not him that's for sure. Anyway, Shulk actually seems to be my favorite of the newcomers so far. In his leaked video, he appeared to have a move that changes "stances," and incidentally switching up how he plays. Maybe this will prove too abusive and ridiculous for tournament play, but this is really exciting for me, picturing a character that can really switch up the way a fight plays out.
Bowser Jr. was also shown, which guess what? The "prophet" didn't think of. So basically, this leak seems to confirm these characters:
- Bowser Jr.
- Wario
- Mr. Game and Watch (well unless he was already confirmed clearly, I'm not sure. I wouldn't count that Pacman reveal).
- Ganandorf
- Falco
- Jigglypuff
- The Duck Hunt Dog. WTF!!!!!!
- R.O.B. (Ugh did they have to really bring him back?)
- Ness (yay!)
- Dr. Mario (?????? Why?)
- Dark Pit (Better not be a clone)
- Shulk
Keep in mind that it was never stated whether this was the full roster. There are apparently reports that the All-Star Mode of the game was locked in one of the leaks from the same leaker, and plus people speculate that the roster itself looks unfinished (the black spaces, the uneven layout, the random order of the characters at the end), so there still may be hope for other characters we have yet to see. While I personally never cared much for them, I would be very sad to see the Ice Climbers go/become DLC. I've grown so used to seeing them for years that it would probably feel to me the same way it felt when the Harry Potter movies ended. I guess if they become DLC, though, I may still see them when I play online. I just hope that online play doesn't suffer from the problem of needing to have the DLC in order to play it, unlike some crappy games using that terrible trend lately (looking at you, EA).
So while I guess I'm a little negative about some of these characters (like why do we need two Pits?), at the same time I don't wholly care anymore. Zero Suit Samus is in the game, the stages look incredibly fun, the game is coming for the 3DS and is finally a game I can play anywhere, other personal favorite characters are back, and, on top of all the goodness, they gave Zero Suit Samus the iconic crop-top-and-shorts outfit as an alternate costume, completely answering to how I envisioned what maining ZSS would be like in public play. Plus as an awesome bonus they have quite the number of female characters there, which kinda helps the scene for women in portraying them as equally capable of being fighters in a fighting game (even though they may still all be porcelain dolls in Sakurai's game).
And now, to ruin my bright little moment of intellectual discussion on this post, here are some pictures of a Tharja trophy from a series of even more leaks!
Tharja is from Fire Emblem: Awakening. I find it kind of ridiculous and silly, actually, that the leaker decided to send these fanservice pictures, of all the things in the world. There's even a crotch-shot of Candy Kong, for fook's sake! Here is the album with all these alleged leaks. Don't know the extent to which these are real, but the leak of the spectator mode was confirmed the other day in a Pic of the Day (Sakurai even had the same exact Miis in his picture), so I'm willing to be those are real too. In spite of how ridiculous these images seem, somebody gave the reasonable reasoning that these are specifically from a build sent to the ESRB to rate the game... But if that's true, why take them from outside the 3DS (I mean, those aren't actual screenshots).
Whatever the case, people are going crazy right now. Some are making up completely ridiculous things and calling them leaks, others are frantically posting the same exact thing the other guy has said, and many are actually at verbal war with each other over this. I'm just going to kick it back, though, as I am dying already from waiting for this game to come out each day. I guess it's close enough to the release date, so I'm gonna see if I can preorder it somehow if it miraculously is still available for preorder.