Poll: Are You Happy With Smash Bros. Ultimate Challenger 5?

I like the addition! Not the choice I would have personally gone with, but the character looks fun to play as and the stage looks appealing to fight on as well! Definitely worth the money imo.

It's not the most unique character but it's the first dlc character of which I actually played the game so I finally got to be excited watching all the easter eggs added in the stage and looking forward to what music was being added and the like. So that was pretty fun at least.

I feel like I'm one of the 10 people who really loved the binary bit.

Despite loving Three Houses, just got past the time skip, I’m a bit disappointed. I know the point of Byleth is that they have no personality but one of the 3 lords would have been a better pick.

This seems like a bit of bad organization. They should have had this guy as one of the first two releases and save Banjo for last. I would expect much less disappointment then.

This comment section should be fun.

@Broosh fire emblem three houses was still 8 months away from release at that point, probably wouldn't have been enough time to develop him

I don't mind Byleth. But this was bad timing AND bad placement. Should have been FP2-Bonus.
"December 2021" is quite a stretch...I guess I can go ahead and formulate a display case for the amiibo the best that I can. Oh, and I'm getting the female Byleth amiibo, if that's an option.

I don't like FE. But it was bound to happen. I'm glad now we the other 6 won't be FE. Now where's that Gen 8 Pokemon?

So another 6 fighters for how much?

After this bunch of DLC I’ll hold off until they’ve all been announced - underwhelmed from the first lot.

The initial roster was so strong I was fine with it. All the content for the price was crazy and game is amazing - the dlc packs were always gonna seem over priced and for me the picks just didn’t do it. Banjo aside

It's not what I would've envisioned but it's cool. Though I highly doubt I'll be getting the 2nd pass unless there's some real iconic characters

I recently tried out sword fighters in smash, not a big fan of them. So this news is underwhelming that they yammed another one in and made fun of the fact that there's so many swordsmen. I'm certainly happy I did not purchase the DLC pack, and certainly won't be purchasing the next DLC pack. Very happy I did not purchase this pass and only bought Terry.

Yeah I'm very happy about this dlc pack. Byleth is the only disappointment,but he's still fine,he looks fun to play. Joker,Hero,Banjo are amazing additions to Smash and I don't really know Terry,but he fits in pretty well in Smash.I don't regret my purchase at all for the first 3 alone,so the last two are a nice bonus.

Rex needs to be in pack two though

Liked it. I think the main problem was the rumors and hype surrounding the reveal. I think Byleth would have been suited as a first fighter for the season pass.

Here's hoping the next 6 fighters will be as interesting as the ones we got on this pass.

Not hyped about the character but def welcome. When seeing the character in action he/she was kinda cool. And the stage!! Man did i love that part.

@The-Chosen-one the stage looks pretty awesome I will agree. I wish I could buy that for the price of a Mii costume.

Looks like a fun character, but definitely not one I would have picked (or expected in the first pass). I'll have to get my hands on them before passing final judgement.

@cptspaulding

Yeah stages on its own would be cool as DLC i would collect them all lol ( when done right) i would also like new costumes as DLC for the Characters itself not just for the Mii fighters.

I'm honestly confused because Samurai said that all of the additions would only be from franchises not in Smash already, at least Byleth looks fun to play

@mrmememan

Where did he say that?

Byleth seems great, but its timing couldn't been worse. If he was the second or third DLC character (even fourth), the negativity around him wouldn't be like this. Hopefully this reception doesn't change any future plans regarding the next six DLC characters.

@mrmememan Reggie said that, not Sakurai

Go to the Smash Bros page on Facebook and look at the announcement post, it's like 9000 angry reacts to 4000 likes, and the sad and laughing reacts add up to quite a lot too. This isn't divisive, it was a huge miss, and a confusing one at that. They should have known that saving a character from a series that already has more than ample representation for the big finale of pack one would be a huge bummer to everyone expecting a third party surprise like the other 4. The whole direct even started with him saying that everyone would be shocked that THIS character made it in! Yeah, we are shocked, but not for the reason we'd like to be.
That said, it looks like a fun character, I'll probably enjoy them. Here's to hoping season 2 starts with a bang.

STEVE HARVEY FOR SMASH. MY COUSIN'S NEIGHBOR'S DOG SAID SO!

I know people aren’t too high on another sword/Fire Emblem character. I get that, I do. But what gets me is that they chose Byleth. I was never really into characters like Robin and Corrin, enjoyed the Fire Emblem games they appeared in but so many other better FE characters to pick from. Well, it is what is. I’ll see how the character plays once released. Meh, it would be funny if I started maining Byleth.

@Gridatttack I’m pretty sure the main problem with it is that it’s the 8th sword wielding fire emblem character and yet sakurai still had to explain what fire emblem was.

@KingKRoolMain OH CRAP! IT MUST BE TRUE! HYPE IS REAL!

@AnnoyingFrenzy
HE ALSO SAID THAT THE HAMBURGER HELPER IS IN!

Not my first choice, but a Three Houses rep. is still pretty cool.

@KingKRoolMain OH MY GOD! I LITERALLY HAD A SHRINE DEDICATED TO HIM!

I mean they could of had another SNK character or even show Taito some inclusion (Bub, Bob and Space Invaders) Frogger too maybe?
If they wanted a sword/weapon Golden Sun should of been picked.

I really really thought all the backlash on all the Fire Emblem characters already in Smash would have made them decide to not go this direction so I actually was surprised by this. And not really in a good way, even Terry was more exciting because at least he brought a new series into the mix and I wasn't excited for Terry at all either.

And yes I have played Fire Emblem Three Houses. I probably would have been more excited if it was anyone other than Byleth, the avatar character is such a boring choice at this point. But whatever, good for you Byleth fans. I love the Three Houses stage at least, it's nice to see the characters in the background and all!

SIX MORE CHARACTERS THOUGH!! Did not expect that.

This season's fighters has been a joy. Three Houses is a lot of folk's goty 2019, so this inclusion 'makes perfect sense' to quote YouTube analysts.

I would have prefered Edelgard but I am biased.

Personally, I'm "Meh" about it. I want to play the character before making any opinions about Him/Her.

I'm fine with it, I just want to play as Galeem

If you had no experience with Nintendo prior to Smash you'd look at this game and think Fire Emblem is the company's main IP. It makes no sense even before you get into half of them being personality-less generic self-insert characters.

Just about the only positive I can think of is getting 4 female alternate costumes, was honestly a little disappointed that Terry didn't, as much as I've enjoyed playing with him.

Highlight was the reveal of six fighters in fighter pack 2.

Look, any time a character I don't actively dislike is added to Smash Bros., I'm OK with it. I like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and while there are other characters I would have liked more, Byleth is fine and there are six more chances for Wonder Red to show up as DLC.

@ap0001 What self-insert characters? Aside from Byleth, they all have their own dialogue and specific personalities, both in Smash Bros. and in Fire Emblem.

Disappointed but that Cuphead costume was cool. I wish an indie rep had any chance.

"Yes, feeling that the Fire Emblem series was under represented in its flagship crossover fighting game, Nintendo will be adding Byleth" omg just stop with the sarcasm and just straight up introduce the poll. Also your polls are always so biased. Putting "meh" in front of the neutral choice makes it negative.

However the binary bit was my favorite, have found myself doing it at work all day.

Although i loved the mii fighters costumes, which were a highlight, the announcement of 6 fighters, Not 5, was a big deal for me. And my biggest take away how was funny and quirky sakarai is. I guess I never really noticed how he is.

@KingKRoolMain hamburger helper, like the glove? Or the hamburglar from McDonald's. And if the latter, I guess that DE-confirms grimace for smash....wah wahhhhh wahhhhhhhh 😭

The character looks cool and much more fun to play than other FE characters, but I’m not a fan of the franchise. I thought the Mii Fighters were the best part.

1. Cuphead as a Mii Costume
2. Six new DLC Characters
3, Byleth (which, i have no option on.)

I am happy with this character from a game I have never played.

Should we really be surprised it was a Fire Emblem character? I mean, one-in-ten fighters are from Fire Emblem and I'll bet more will come in the next Fighters Pass.

I'm actually okay with Byleth and I can't wait to try the new character out.

I don't know why people are disappointed Byleth was leaked months ago so we all knew it was coming but I am glad its sooner rather than later.

Byleth is amazing. I can't wait to play him in the game.

I am stoked! I didn’t think Byleth would get in either considering when smash and FE3H came out. Woo great time to be a fire emblem fan!

I don’t like having an eighth Smash character but am still very excited for the additional 6. They already gave us Simon, Richter and Terry so I can’t complain.

I'm really glad that he's in Smash..... but at the same time, I think Byleth should have been saved for the next dlc fighters. The last fighter should have been a great surprise instead of "another Fire Emblem character"....

None of the previous DLC fighters were from games I cared about. So to finally get one from a game I love is fantastic!

That's weak they're really scraping the bottom now.

Can't wait to use him/her and hear Chasing Daybreak in game. Plus this perfectly rounds out FE's representation. Think about it.

Marth and his clones are quick-footed assassins who demand spacing.
Ike is an armored tank unit who demands timing and hits hard.
Robin is the mage who prioritizes projectile attacks with magic and exploiting weaknesses.
Corrin is the monster unit with scary and unpredictable transformations.
Byleth represents the flagship part of the franchise: The weapon triangle. Ironic given that it's not in 3H but still. He/she makes use of bows/lances/axes and a unique whipsword.

Overall FE's reps perfectly summarize the types of units you find in the series. There doesn't need to be anymore at this point. It's perfect I say.

Assuming a "start strong, end weak" pattern holds true for 2, here are my picks:

Pre-order bonus: Toad. No one's asking for him and, like PP, there's not much for a set. Would be perfect for a pre-order bonus... after all, it's the surprises which get people talking.

1. Aloy, "Horizon: Zero Dawn." The big, mic-drop-worthy beginning just in time for E3. Sony is one of very few "no-go" companies left... and putting one of their most beloved characters in Nintendo's marquee crossover would leave jaws on the floor. Her gameplay is very similar to Link's with more of a "primal" theme - mixed in with the game's infamously terrifying robots, of course. (Sakurai likes HZD - I think? - so it'd make sense in a roundabout sort of way.)

2. Ryu Hayabasa, "Ninja Gaiden." Same basic formula as Hero - beloved but niche NES legend - but with a HEAVY emphasis on action and combos. His announcement during the Sept. Direct doesn't excite many...

3. ...which is exactly why Nintendo trots out their biggest surprise yet: the Master Chief ("Halo"). Our first FPS rep obviously uses guns, but can also draw upon a Covenant energy sword for melee and the legendary 'Hog for his Final Smash. Cortana could also "analyze" other playable characters as an Easter egg of sorts, serving as a sequel to both Palutena's Guidance and the beloved Codec Calls.

4. Onto 2021 now, so next up is Dante from the "Devil May Cry" series. A cult action-game hero much like Bayo before him, he combines the best/worst of swordies and gunners into one "CRAAAAAAAAZY" package. Nero and/Vergil are his alts.

5. This year's E3 2021 announcement: Doom Guy (take a wild guess). He's another gunner like 117, but now has a "Berserker" bar which activates if damage goes above 100%. It's Sakurai thanking godfathers of the modern shooter id Software for changing the face of gaming as we know it.

And the big, killer finale for what critics and fans hail as one of the best passes ever... after literal MONTHS of anticipation and hype hype HYPE...

6 ...a Gen 8 Pokémon. (Which one? I dunno - you pick.)

And on that note... it's all she wrote.

@Priceless_Spork I mean, I said that about Dark Pit. Still not 100% wrong, but, that's a new character for the new generations, same as Byleth or Corrin. So I can't harp on it that much (especially when we get some weapons that aren't swords, for once).

@redd214 you will be geting at least 2, probably 3 characters

Disappointed that on one liked binary.

@Alpha-2002 "Toad No one is asking for him."

Um..excuse me, sonny?

Not the character I wanted, but it makes since with all the Fire Emblem popularity. I will still use Byleth, it's a new challenger! Hopefully the next wave is just as exciting as wave one!🤯

@FlashBoomerang what else does my future hold, please tell me!!

i feel like i need to play them 1st. i kind of like that they have the complete set of FE player stand ins but i'm just gonna pretend i'm playing as miriam from bloodstained.

@Alpha-2002 I like the way you think, Alpha2002!

I am not MEH over it at all given Three Houses was one of my top 5 favorite games of 2019, up with Astral Chain, Resident Evil 2, Jedi Fallen Order and DMC5

But at the same time I'm not head over heels excited for Byleth because I do understand the fatigue around the inclusion of even more Fire Emblem characters even though his moveset is miles more interesting than all the other FE sword wielders

I would've picked someone else as the closer of the initial wave, but I am glad Three Houses is being repped in some capacity. It was inevitable really.

Nasty fighter of all....TOO MUCH FE. I may be a huge fan of fire emblem, but this is crazy. Also TY nintendo about releasing more fighters, if its real.

The thing that I don't understand is why they choose the most bland and boring Fire Emblem character instead of most recognizable characters from the franchise like Tiki or Anna which they appeared on other games or a non Sword fighter like if the Axe, Lance, bow don't exist

@Captain_Toad Ah, right, sorry bout that. Still an underdog pick, though.

I have never played any Fire Emblem (which I regret, but they are intimidating titles and there are only so many hours in the day), but Fire Emblem is now tied with Pokemon, second only to Super Mario in terms of representation. That's nuts! Few would say it's a top-three franchise in Nintendo's arsenal (at least in terms of cultural significance). I don't love super saturation from any franchise, but if you are going to go nuts, I think it should be with the heavy-hitters.

I hope for the next set of DLC, we dig deep into classic Nintendo games (even if they were owned by other companies; other companies want their IP in Smash!) that haven't been touched. Maybe Microsoft would be willing to let Nintendo revive other Rare stalwarts like Rash/Zitz/Pimple from Battletoads. Or Konami would loan out Bomberman. Or whoever owns Turok would let him jump in the fray.

Anyway, today's news is a net win because we're getting more DLC, and that's awesome. If only the Mario Kart 8 team could get in on the DLC love....

There are 1023 things I liked about this presentation...

I was disappointed but am over it. If they in the 2nd fighter pass they would have been more warmly received considering how predictable the character is. Sakurai sure does love Fire Emblem

Shocked to see a FE character. But, I am glad to see a FE character that uses an axe, lance or bow. Surprised this one uses all three.

Not played 3 houses (it's on my ridiculous backlog) so not fussed by the reveal personally but glad it makes some happy and unsurprised some moan about it.
Liked the binary bit!

@ap0001 I think you - like most people - are overreacting to the number of Fire Emblem characters. Mario still has more (9 total to FE's 8) without even counting Yoshi or DK. And Pokemon has 8 as well, without even counting the Pokemon Trainer as three separate fighters. Fire Emblem is a landmark franchise that has been around for nearly 30 years, and has always been much bigger in Japan than in the west. It's not that surprising that it's received as much love from Sakurai as it has, especially after Melee essentially saved the franchise.

I had a dream last night that the 5th character was Madden! And I’m no football fan but the reveal trailer was amazing.

It's probably been said a million times before, but I think this is the worst way they could end the first pass; if there wasn't another one coming, I'd be pretty p****d off.
I had a pretty rough day, so when I tuned in and found that we're getting yet another FE anime sword fighter I audibly shouted "No, No, NOT ANOTHER ONE!".
It's kind of a sucker punch to be honest, as pretty much everyone expected another 3rd party character (I thought and hoped it would be the Doom Slayer), seeing that the first four were all 3rd party characters.
I honestly thought we wouldn't get other first party characters to be honest, but if we are, well, the 8th (EIGHTH!!!) FE rep was not what I was looking for.
I mean, Zelda only has 4 reps and FE doubles that?! I would have preferred even Geno to yet another FE sword fighter, to be honest, even though I'm not that fussed over him.
It just doesn't make any sense in my opinion.

But then again, another 6 are coming, so I'm sure there'll be something for everyone.

@Coffee_Drinker a prediction is not a leak

@fafonio His previous voice actor broke NDA and not so subtly leaked that Blyeth would be in smash

Binary was the highlight for me. Genuinely.

I’ll give Byleth a chance, but I come to Smash for the wacky genius of seeing DK punching Pikachu. I watch Link or Samus and I recognise where all their moves come from. I don’t get any of that from the Fire Emblem fighters. Admittedly, I’ve only played Shadow Dragon and Heroes, both of which are great, but they don’t lend themselves to wackiness and recogniseable movesets. They could be almost anyone.

I said a year ago “we’re getting new Fire Emblem and Pokemon games in 2019, they’re shoe-ins for Smash DLC”. We got tie-in Spirit events for Sword/Shield, Link’s Awakening, Daemon X Machina, Astral Chain and Mario Party - but not Three Houses. This was predictably inevitable.

For all the people saying “Gen 8 Pokémon for Season 2” - I’ll bet good money it won’t happen. We already got Spirits for it the - although there’s plenty of other new ‘mon to pick from, surely they would have saved the starter and legendary spirits for the accompanying DLC Spirit Board.

@clvr Zelda’s got 6. It’s just 3 of them are Link. Missed opportunities all over the place.

I’m actually very excited about Byleth, Fire Emblem Three Houses was one of my favorite games last year and Byleth is the only playable Fire Emblem character I have any attachment too.

I definitely understand and respect where the disappointment is coming from though.

If Byleth came out as a fighter earlier on in the fighter pass, it wouldn't have gotten near the negative attention. Order matters in marketing and such. But it's fine and we all knew three houses was a bit inevitable. It's a great game too so cool that it can be represented I guess. Just not terribly exciting and doesn't seem very interesting as a character. I would have rather they had an equipping mechanism or something, and more interesting things from the bow like an arching projectile or something

@gaga64 yeah I know, but I was only counting unique characters: Link, Zelda, Ganondorf and Sheik.
FE's Echo Fighters at least are different characters, but TLOZ just has a bunch of Links, two versions of Zelda (although admittedly they're very different) and that's pretty much it.

@kenyowa I can understand that reasoning, but Mario and Pokémon are on a whole other level compared to FE; they deserve more reps only by virtue of their popularity, and that's not even touching the fact that there are 800+ unique Pokémon to choose from, which automatically makes Pokémon way more viable for multiple reps.
Also, Zelda is way more important and famous than FE (heck, we can argue that even Metroid is, despite the rarity of its releases) and still has basically half of FE's reps.

Edit: typos and repetition

I'm not torn up about it. It was a bit of a let down and very anticlimactic. I'm happy for those who are fans of the character and they obviously will feel differently. I personally didn't have anyone I wanted or any expectations other than a more inspired pick. Meaning, not another sword fighter and maybe someone more unique.

But I'll try Byleth out. And to keep things in perspective, we were given 6 additional characters in addition to the main cast and will be getting (as it stands) 6 more. So no real room for moping or complaint

I'm very disappointed, i hoped for Space Invaders or Travis Touchdown, and i certainly would have preferred Dante over yet another Fire Emblem character.

3rd party cross over awesome sauce: Geralt. Oh and please beef up the Xenoblade: Rex and both his swords.

I'm not sufficiently invested in Byleth's character yet (after all, I've yet to play Three Houses), but I'd certainly have to feign any displeasure at more Fire Emblem characters, especially since Alm and Celica never made it past the spirit realm. Too many sword users from the franchise? As long as they have enough differences (not counting the echoes), I'm fine with that - if swords weren't a useful weapon in Smash, there wouldn't be a whole handful of blade-and-handle items in the game. Personally, I main Lucina pretty much every time I pick a sword damage spirit, and when I tried Corrin on a couple occasions, I could barely get acclimatized to what turned out to be a starkly different moveset. So let's not mince words here, loudmouthed fans, your buzz doesn't do me any favours even as a player.😈

At the end of the day, it's Sakurai's gig. And the fighter pass has been quite out-of-the-left-field as it is (not to mention the friggin' Pirahna Plant), so I don't see how the team would ever need to excuse a more predictable choice from a successful first-party Switch game for a change. That said, I remain curious what else Sakurai can pull from his hat, so even more fighters is something I may not need but heartily welcome now that it's known. Except it's been known for months, we just got the number this time.

I’m glad it came with a new nice looking stage. I have a few fire emblem characters I like to play but love all their stages and music. I do like this better than Dante I guess for the stage alone but not by much. I’d like to see something that gives us a bit more variety. I’m really wanting excitebike. We need at least one more classic character.

It was a so-so reveal, but I for one, am very happy Byleth is in Smash and is very different than most FE fighters. Obviously the big news is 6 more fighters and they’ve already locked in who they are going to be, still got my fingers crossed for Travis Touchdown, KOS-MOS and a Koei character, probably Ryu or a DoA character.

@Coffee_Drinker mhhh now Im interested. Looked for it in google but couldn’t find anything among the barrage of Byleth articles right now. Do you have a link? I’m curious about it. Thanks 😃

Byleth sounds interesting to play as but I can't say I'm excited for him. I appreciate the developers' output and strive for unique fighters though.

while i don't find Byleth a brilliant addition
i am happy that it is a character i know & care about
seriously, to me Joker, Hero & Terry are boring characters
why? they are boring humans, of games i will never play

Now if they could just let me sort the character select screen by series I'll be happy.

A couple of thoughts:

4 of the 5 characters were non-Nintendo characters so I still think they did an awesome job with the Fighter pack

I think they should have announced this guy first and someone else last. I think it would have made people feel differently

It's pretty incredible the roster is still going. I can't help but wonder if this will be the last Smash game. Where could they go from here?

Quite pleased with this one. Happy surprise to see a Three Houses character and the timing before the dlc season pass Three Houses part 4 update info was well timed.

Nope, not at all. Fire Emblem gets waaaaaaaay more attention from Smash and Nintendo as a whole than it deserves, it sells like Metroid but it gets games as often as Mario and Zelda. As far as I'm concerned, they're 1/5 on this whole DLC pack (Banjo being the only good addition). Good thing there's a second pack, hopefully the next batch is a lot more unique and interesting.

@redd214 the rest, you know, you will spend a lot of money and hours un videogames.

Whike I am somewhat disappointed it’s another FE character, what bums me out the most is that, after the first four characters all coming way out of left field, it’s just another first party character.

@NintendoByNature
The glove is actually the Physical Manifestation of a Being of Higher Existence. HE is CONFIRMED.

Fire Emblem as a whole isn't underrepresented, but "Fire Emblem: Three Houses" certainly was. We needed a rep from that excellent game sooner or later.

I was just thinking last week how they should at least add the new songs from three houses on smash. I just couldn't see Nintendo adding anyone from that game that wasn't a house leader.

I find the addition fine. Sakurai loves the series, so let him have fun with it. Let’s step back for a second — Smash Ultimate has an insane roster as it is. It’s hard to be disappointed when there’s just so many characters to begin with.

I've stated in pretty much every article today to have been unimpressed with the reveal, so I have to make a clear statement in case I come across as a grumpy bear.
This is not - by any means - of the same magnitude as my reaction to post-E3 2019 Pokémon Sword and Shield news. Period. I've been happy with all newcomers in the Fighters Pass so far.
And this stream had great news, too: a whole new pass with six fighters, and not a single bad Mii costume. No, not even the Rabbid one. I welcome 'em all with open arms.
The only thing I have issues with is Byleth. Why? For several reasons.
One: I've been waiting for the name - not even the official render or a teaser, just the name - ever since the Game Awards. Which were pretty much a no-show for Nintendo, save for Bravely Default II.
Two: it's freaking Fire Emblem yet again. Sure, after Corrin, the "new rep" was kind of a priority for Nintendo, I guess. And I also understand that Sakurai is favourably biased towards FE. But this should have been, like, the second fighter of FP2, not the final one for the first. Under different circumstances, Byleth might have even been perfect.
Three: I can't, for the life of me, think of a worse antithesis to end Fighter Pass 1 with. After four third-party reps, you just can't end up with such an unfortunate combination of 1) a first-party rep that's 2) meant to boost sales of a season pass for another game and 3) also happens to hail from a character that benefits from Sakurai's own bias.
Four: bears repeating, the waiting game commences again. This character has "see you at Fighters Pass 2, suckers: pay up!" written all over him/her. Which would be an easy wait, if only we knew at least the first character of the next pass. The gamble has been won with the previous four fighters, just not this one.
Five: the way the reveal has been handled, or as I should say, mishandled. Sakurai opening the stream telling us that it would be an unexpected character was not a good sign; telling us that we'd "immediately figure it out" after the first few seconds of the trailer was foreshadowing for disappointment. Think about it, I went "oh no, it's Byleth" upon seeing the art style, but this is because I gave the slightest hint of a damn about Three Houses - think about everyone who could have similarly gone "oh no, it's Fire Emblem". That reaction, right there, is exactly what Sakurai meant with the "unexpected character/you'll instantly figure it out" combo. Which was immediately followed by some "too many swordfighters" meta commentary within the trailer.
Now, I wouldn't use the term "damage control" over something that - hey - is additional content being added to an already complete Smash reunion, but what with Sakurai previously talking about "expanding the roster" due to the "unprecedented opportunity" to "bring gaming worlds together" and Reggie describing Joker as "a sample of how we're approaching DLC", I (mis)took for granted the fact there would be no first-party fighters at all, and so did a lot of other people. So, back to my conclusions--I wouldn't say there needs to be "damage control", but this still is, until proof of the contrary, a "wasted slot" to me. And as much as this is by no means a situation that needs damage control, at least a name drop in the next Direct should be in order. The news drought between each fighter has escalated colossally ever since Terry dropped.

I reiterate:
Hey! You haters should search your souls and reawaken the undying light.

To expand: not every character is going to appeal to you. Terry Bogard did not appeal to me, but his addition made perfect sense. NOTHING appeals to everybody and some people are going to be disappointed by each of the remaining 6 fighters.

Sakurai can do whatever he wants, his studio has put together a roster of 86 fighters from all across the gaming universe, getting bent out of shape because #80 of 86 isn't your dream addition tells me you're looking for things to be disappointed about.

I find it funny when people comment how Sakurai went through Fire Emblem’s history despite there already being a ton of FE representation. It’s quite clear people needed a history lesson if they’re going to complain about a game series they’ve never played

I feel as if Byleth is somewhat of a letdown. That being said, I hope we see more "3rd party" and rareish Nintendo fighters, in the future.

@Entrr_username Ironically many people, not all, but many who complain about Fire Emblem really haven't played any of the games for a significant amount of time.

I got Joker, Banjo & Kazooie and Terry freaking Bogard. Anything else would have been icing on the cake.

I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't Dante like everyone thought it was going to be, but we've got 6 more characters on the way and the roster is already so far beyond what my wildest childhood dreams could have been... so I'm content.

@Stocksy yea.. I'm with you on the whole underwhelming bit... for the most part, Banjo-Kazooie is the only character that remotely interested me, but even then, never played the game so had no attachment to him. I REALLY think for SNK, they should've released Athena, as she would've really fit the overall fun theme of Smash... plus, just thinking of her moveset, everthing just feels like it was a more natural fit. Here's hoping thr next 6 will be worth it (to us).

I stand by the opinion someone else said that Byleth would have been fine if they were introduced as /not/ the last addition.Maybe if they were third and Banjo was last, it would have gone over much better. Presentation matters, and that includes order. You don't serve dessert between the soup and the entree.

Or, I mean, you /can/, but the flow would just feel weird.

Byleth is a good addition, but the timing was way off. As the 5th fighter to close out the first DLC fighter pass, he/she was a major letdown.

If Byleth was the second or third character in the second DLC fighters pass, there wouldn't even be half the backlash we're seeing. People were expecting big things from the final fighter for fighter pass #1 after we got some huge additions like Joker and Banjo.

Cuphead would have been a far better character to have his own stage than another fire emblem character. Look at the storybook mini-cinematic they made for him!

I appreciate it as like a huge practical joke Sakurai was playing on everyone. Going by the intro I was like... wow, okay, this must be huge if they had to keep it at a need to know basis for their own staff. And good on them for actually managing to keep it under wraps. What sort of crazy third party partnersh--oh. Fire Emblem. Got it.

Love it, FE is great, enjoy using the characters on Smash and so much whining from people on the net. It's hilarious

No there is too many FE characters.I mean,I get it that Sakurai is a FE fan but,cmon,we need waluigi or papyrus or crash in smash...

@Zeldawakening they wouldn’t have put cup head in because,they had already planned all the DLC before the game came out....at least that’s what they said.I don’t know why they put in a character that was not even out yet wehen this game came out...it would make more sense to put in a character whose game was already out...like Crash Bandicoot

@AnnoyingFrenzy Oh sorry, I just remembered that someone big at Nintendo/Sora said that and just assumed it was Sakurai

Imo the last character is underwhelming. I don't have an interest in FE and that franchise already has enough reps imo. With the others being third party, I thought the last pic was going to be an insane 3rd party pick. I'm not mad about it, rather disappointed.

The tears are glorious, keep crying

Too many FE characters in Smash. It's pretty lame.

My reaction to it was, "Another 'Fire Emblem' character? Might as well just make 'Super Smash Bros.' into 'Mario vs. Pokémon vs. Fire Emblem.'"

@Entrr_username played Awakening and didn't care for it.

@Rika_Yoshitake I'm not sad. Got a Cuphead costume either way. I just the character is a wack announcement. Oh well. Better announcements soon I hope.

@Swizze "ppl disagree with my opinion and don't like the dull animu board game franchise that I do."

The reveal sucked and the character sucks but at least we are getting more.

@Kirby_Girl board game franchise? ¯ಠಠ_/¯

@Zeldawakening It seems like nobody besides big time Fire Emblem fans are happy about this.

Well, it does open back up the discussion of first party fighters in dlc again... like byleth practically opened the door to say... one of the Galar starter Pokemon now?

@N1ntendodo no we don’t need anymore Pokemon
I personally would like to see another Sonic Character as a fighter....
Or maybe another 3rd party Character like Crash Bandicoot or Papyrus...

Six new fighters are in the next season? So, 2 from Blue Lion, 2 from Golden Deer, and 2 from Black Eagle?

@KingBowser86
I think the FE characters are too stiff personality wise to be appealing. I love FE by the way. I just wanted a more fun character.

Byleth is fine as an addition, but he should have kickstarted the next DLC pack, rather than be the finale for the first.
Off the toes of four, seemingly impossible additions, he's underwhelming.

My biggest issue with FE reps is not the whole 'generic anime swordsman' complaint, but the fact they only represent what's currently popular in the franchise. Outside the Smash community and just in the Fire Emblem community Ike and Roy aren't very relevant and the Awakening characters are losing relevance as Three Houses is becoming the new gateway into the franchise. Byleth is only going to be relevant until the next Fire Emblem game.

@Sam_Loser2, well you know what they say, there's only 10 types of people in this world

For me most of the disappointment comes from Three Houses being represented period, really wasn't a fan of that game. And in addition the FE roster just continues being lame and filled with nothing but main characters with not a single villain in sight despite having 8 characters now, when the trailer was rolling I was actually rooting that through some miracle we would have gotten the discount Gharnef instead. The stage also looks quite dull, which sadly has been the case with most DLC stages but at least there's a few good music tracks in there.

Ultimately I don't really care since most of the characters that would actually make me happy are either obscure or villains/side characters which barely ever seem to happen thanks to the massive main character bias this series has, something like Dante or Sora would have been just as ho-hum to me.

I can't get mad since Byleth is the most unique FE rep in years and actually looks fun to play.
Not to mention we're getting 6 more fighters.
If this was the actual last dlc fighter than I would understand but since it's not the case the complaints seem way overblown.

Haven't played 3 houses yet but I love FE too much to not get hyped about this. I'm the complete opposite of smash fans in that I absolutely love and want more anime swordmen preferably from other franchises tho lol. Give me Sora, a tales of character, Isaac, or another Xenoblade character that isn't rex.

Do I think FE has too many reps? Definitely. But I still prefer it over characters like Banjo and Terry. So 3/5 characters were interesting to me. And the 5th one wasn't one of the disappointing ones.

It's hilarious how the people disappointed also unironically want/support Steve from Minecraft being added.

"Let them forget Pokémon Sword and Shield for a while, shall we?"

😂

I'm fine with this character. Not the most exciting choice from Three Houses, but at the same time the most logical.

To say it was the final character of the first fighting pass, it was a MAJOR disappointment.

@Mijzelffan You didn't play Banjo-Kazooie? Oh you're missing out!

Seeing as I was always playing the fantasy swordsmen on the Zelda level in WiiSmash, yes, more fantasy swordfight possibilities is a good thing in my book.

I'm sure the character, stages and spirit battles will be of a really high standard in terms of how they work and play, as they all have been. I agree that the choice of character isn't very imaginative though. Not like the big shock in the Wii U days was Bayonetta was added.

I guess they went with Piranha Plant to ensure there are still more Mario characters than Fire Emblem characters.

@DarthXenos
1) Those who under ternary.
2) Those who don't.
10) And those who thought this joke was in binary.

Byleth is my favorite of the FE avatar characters, and they look super unique and fun to play as, which is something I could say for pretty much every Fighters Pass character. They aren't who I would've chosen to end it, but I'm still very excited.

I'm not invested enough to be upset but even if they were added a Three Houses character, Byleth is basically the safe boring choice.

If the claim that the DLC was decided before the game was released is true, that means Byleth was decided upon before anyone even played Three Houses.

The fact that Nintendo delayed the reveal until the middle of January means they knew Byleth wasn't going to be well received, January is the month companies have deemed non profitable and dump all the things they need to get rid of.

So who is this DLC for? Not Fire Emblem fans, because the series is already represented, and if they actually wanted to make Fire Emblem fans happy, they'd make one of the house leaders playable.

This DLC is likely just filler to put in the final slot of the first fighter pass since mystery season passes are often front loaded to convince people to buy the entire pass and people who would have purchased the season pass already have by this point.

Any characters they think are impressive and would make people happy they're going to front load into the second Fighter Pass, since they require a brand new purchase and can bring in more income.

Oh, goody... more Fire Emblem...

Never played fire emblem. I do not know who this new character is. It doesn't interest me. I would like to see Chun Li.

@fafonio Look up the Kirbobher/Chris Niosi scandal it says allegations of misconduct and breaking of NDA where he leaked that he was going to be in Fire emblem heroes and Smash.

Honestly, if you did a poll after any character reveal, I imagine the stats would look similar. About a third are pumped, a quarter are fine with it and the rest are disappointed because it wasn't what the rumors had suggested or their favorite choice. Can't please everyone.

Actually, I bet the numbers are more favorable than they would have been with The Hero or Terry Bogard.

A few days ago when someone asked me I answered it would be underwhelming if we get another Fire Emblem or Pokémon character, since this gen of Smash already got Chrom and Incineroar and there are already so many of them while other franchises are underrepresented.

But ending the Fighters Pass with a Nintendo character, even Fire Emblem, is still better than a questionable 3rd Party like Sora or Dante.