And we have reached the end of the base game speculation! Time to get my thoughts out on our last two fighters.
As much as people were hoping it wasn't the case, the Box theory + Verge's named characters were all true. The Grinch leak will go down as one if, if not THE best fake leak of all time since it hyped up so many and now many are disappointed. Another of 4chan's infamous exploits. But despite the disappointment that literally none of the Grinch leak characters made it in besides Ken. What do I think of each of the two character's merits?
KENThis guy has been pretty much known to be in the game since September with the introduction of the Box Theory, and speculated since August with the introduction of 3rd party echoes. Ken is pretty much THE original echo fighter in fighting games. Sakurai even points this out. So when it comes to clone merit he's probably actually pretty high up there. He's Ryu's best friend and training partner. So they're very much an iconic duo. As for my personal thoughts on him, I'm pretty ok with him. Though I don't think I'm going to be using him more then Ryu if I am going to use either of the two. It is kind of funny to be able to have a Street Fighter match in Smash Bros. though.
INCINEROARAs with any old fogie in Pokemon fan terms (Reminder that I fell out of Pokemon in the middle of Gen 3). I of course can't say I'm any more thrilled with Incineroar then I would from any other Pokemon that came after my time as a Pokemon fan. But he looks cool and obviously provides a fun wrestler personality. Of course people are going to be disappointed they ended off the unique newcomers with him. But let's be honest, was Gamefreak and/or the Pokemon company really going to pass off the opportunity to shill a new Pokemon? We should know by now how they operate. They did the same thing with Greninja last game. It's just this time Incineroar didn't turn out to be as immensely popular as Greninja would become. But both are still gambles. Incineroar's still going to rank last of our base game characters in terms of merit. But he still ranks above the echoes still (In retrospect, I probably would put Greninja above Lucina back in the Smash 4 merits with the induction of Echoes. But they weren't named echo fighters at the time and I wasn't sure if Greninja was going to become that popular). He should be fun, just try to not mind me being an old geezer in terms of Pokemon generation standards again.
But wait, there's more! We already got the confirmation of DLC fighters! Even have a fighter pass of at least 5 characters to be revealed throughout next year! Certainly exciting. And what's this? We have a character that's a free bonus for pre-ordering the game or buying it prior to the end of January! Kind of like Mewtwo in Smash 4!
Who's the character?! What fan favorite and/or amazing surprise did they pick to incentivize people to buy the game ASAP?! Please! Tell me what i-

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has piranha plant made you rethink your life
This is also Piranha Plant's first playable role in any game ever.

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I....
I.... think....
I think I need a moment...

Ok... sorry about that... I just... needed a bit of time to process this... heck I may still be processing it. I'm not even sure if my speculator self will ever completely recover from this... but yes. The one character they chose to start off DLC with and even provide as a free bonus much like with Mewtwo that will be paid later... is a Piranha Plant
PIRANHA PLANTI'll just say it right now. The Smash speculator in me is utterly broken. I'm not even mad, it's just an inclusion that's so mind-boggingly crazy that it nukes all common sense when it comes to Smash Bros. speculation.
Smash speculation was the very reason I joined internet communities. If it weren't for the Brawl speculation days, I may have never went online that much and met the friends I have ever since. I even got my dream character (Sonic of course) just months after joining Smashboards, my first ever forum. And there was no one I disliked in Brawl's roster since I believed one way or another all the characters earned or deserved a spot. So forgive me if all that time has left me with a high regard for inclusions in Smash. Smash 4 might of gone the controversial route for some. But even most of them had their reasons. Wii Fit Trainer? The Wii series was a massive success I attribute the Wii Fit Trainer basically coattailling off the Miis pretty much. All the Fire Emblem additions? Fire Emblem was brought back from the brink of death with Awakening and is now being pushed like it's Pokemon. Duck Hunt? Much like ROB represented an accessory on the NES with multiple games being in the moveset at once. 3 3rd parties all breaking preconceived notions of fanmade rules about 3rd party inclusions? Ryu and Cloud both are worthy inclusions because of their franchise's history on Nintendo systems. And Bayonetta is pretty much an adopted franchise parented by Sega and Nintendo. Even if you don't believe she won the ballot, it was a character that will remain Nintendo exclusive (Except for the first game) for a while.
Hell, even Dark Pit? The one character I complained most about 4 years ago? After Ultimate, he's retroactively an echo fighter. A quick and easy character to fluff up the roster a little more. And does kind of represent the Light and Dark theme of Uprising.
But
Piranha Plant?! I will never complain about a Dark Pit-esque inclusion ever again. Hell, I might be broken from complaining about ANY fighter at all. It's broken that much of me in terms of speculation. There's hardly any room for argument on who can get in anymore. If a Mario enemy had to be playable, a Goomba and/or a Koopa might of made more sense and might of been a funny inclusion cause it's like they're the iconic mooks of gaming. But Piranha plants were simply traps that never moved from their pipes. It's like if in a Megaman fighting game they made the spikes that are insta-kill a playable fighter somehow.
I know what people are going to say. "It's a joke character! Liven up!". But I just want to say right now that I'm not upset about this. It doesn't ruin the game for me. Heck I still pre-loaded the game so I'll be getting Piranha Plant for free and will try it out in due time. Who knows, I may even find it fun to play as. I just think it's understandable for people to have... concerns about this. Many of us who love character speculation in Smash since Brawl are utterly dumbfounded. If you think my reaction is over-reactionary, I must remind you that I was actually laughing when it was revealed (Hell I even have audio recording to prove it that I might upload sometime next week). I was not salty, just.... utterly confused. There's probably plenty of other people who's taking it worse then I am at the moment. And it probably gets worse with the younger the fan and depending whether they got a character they really wanted right now. I can't be mad, I've ben through 3 base game + 1 DLC Smash speculation periods and practically seen it all when it comes to Smash speculation. Sonic returned along with all my favorites in Smash 4 and some really cool looking newcomers. I don't feel like Piranha plant stole a spot from anyone, but many others will feel like it has. If there's people that needs to liven up about this inclusion, it's not me. I've already been satisfied with this game since E3. Just that little part of me that likes to speculate with others on who would be characters that in the end only serve to be icing on the cake for me personally is just utterly distraught right now. Even if the next game reboots the roster, it's going to be tough to process the fact a Piranha Plant got in as a fighter. And the sheer unexpected reaction may even inspire the next developer or even Sakurai again to place another like it despite a more limited amount of spots just because it does give some degree of crazy buzz that at this point not many characters who are actually kind of expected can match.
We understand if maybe Smash Speculation should have never been taken as seriously as it has been. But this is just the very first time it feels broken. A Piranha Plant is our 7th unique Mario character when characters like Toad, Waluigi, Paper Mario, etc. are still left waiting in the wings. And as I mentioned before Piranha Plant likely isn't even the most popular or iconic Mario enemy. A Piranha Plant will have had more time, unique moves, and resources built into then Dark Samus, Daisy, Chrom, and Ken. On literally all fronts of speculation arguments. A Piranha Plant would get an F grade in all of them except maybe surprise/shock factor. I think this is the first time we can actually say Sakurai actively trolled us with a newcomer.
To get into Smash Bros. speculation now, there is no more standards for Nintendo characters at least. Have you always want to play as a Boo in Smash? How about an Octorock? Maybe that one mini-boss that you really liked from your favorite video game of all-time is now on the table. Go nuts, tell people what you want. They can't argue against it, a Piranha Plant got to be playable! What is there to lose?!
But yeah, that's all I got to say on the matter. It was an inclusion purely for the lulz and it worked. While it's always been kind of a meme. This is truly the time where we just cannot predict what Sakurai will do next.
Now that we're finished time for the rankings. I think I need a ranking category for just Piranha Plant at this point...
UNIQUE RANKINGS#1. Ridley
#2. King K. Rool
#3. Simon Belmont
#4. Isabelle
#5. Inklings
#6. IncineroarECHO FIGHTER RANKINGS#1. Ken#2. Dark Samus
#3. Chrom
#4. Daisy
#5. Richter Belmont
SONICMARIO.EXE IS BROKEN#Fish. Piranha Plant