INCINEROAR
Fighter Number: 69
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers
Franchise: Pokemon
Game of Origin: Pokemon Sun/Moon (3DS, 2016 (US/JP/EU)
I've mentioned time and time again that my knowledge of the Pokemon franchise mostly drops mid-way through the 3rd generation of Pokemon. So expecting me to go over the 7th gen is certainly asking a lot from me. But I do have a topic I can get extensively one in regards to Incineroar's part of Smash history.
And it alllllll has to do with an infamous box… and a certain Dr. Seuss character.
The Smash fanbase was still reeling from the absolute joy that was the August direct that revealed not just Simon and Richter (Even if Simon was a somewhat known commodity for both people paying attention to potential leaks not to mention Nintendo goofing with Castlevania music being put on the site before Simon was officially revealed). But there was Chrom and Dark Samus as two awesome choices for echoes. And then we also got none other than King K. Rool, someone who was at the top of the polls in nearly all collections of fan votes. With about 3-4 months to go before the game's release. It had people buzzing about what could possibly be next, even dreaming of a great finale where even more long-held wishes come to life. Or at the very least a look at into what could be expanded upon through the game's DLC. But before then, we still had people having huge hopes for the remaining base game roster. If you look at posts from after K. Rool was revealed. I imagine you'd had seen many who were expecting more than 2 characters left to go. Never mind that the roster was already huge as is after Everyone is Here + Inkling and Ridley, never mind that Sakurai explicitly warned that there wouldn't be too many more characters (Though trying to point this out often was replied with saying that Sakurai is just trying to temper our expectations to blow our minds with the final direct before the game's release).
Perhaps in hindsight the August direct was Smash Ultimate really blowing it's load when it comes to character reveals. It might been more palatable if say they had only Simon/Richter and maybe Chrom as an additional echo fighter. Then announced Dark Samus and King. K Rool either alongside Isabelle in the September direct or elsewhere. So that expectations aren't totally through the roof after 5 relatively well-received characters were revealed in one direct.
But regardless, let's get to mentioning the box I mentioned. Sometime in September, an image came out for a more special physical release of Ultimate that included a gamecube controller adapter and single controller with it. That's all normal and stuff, but what people got to pay close attention to was the way characters were ordered on the box… and at the time… only two missing spaces.
The funny thing is the controversy could have all been avoided if Nintendo just didn't allow a view of the character section in it's advertising material. But speculation drive on whether these missing spaces meant anything or not. Some said that while it's certainly likely they hid characters on the box, that it wouldn't be weird to have just made at least a digital version of how it'd look with all the currently revealed characters. Maybe make the character blocks smaller if there were more than 2 newcomers. Or at the very least they could have hidden some of the characters on say the bottom of the box. Nevertheless, the box quickly began a deep divide in the Smash community between those who would temper expectations that the Box theory is right that there was only 2 newcomers left.
We would get one of those spaces filled in with Isabelle's reveal later in the month.
But moving on, it probably didn't help, that one particular design function seemed to rule out someone who many thought was sure they were coming at some point. An anthropomorphized red and black bipedal character… that wasn't Incineroar. I'm talking about none other then Shadow the Hedgehog, a popular choice for a 2nd Sonic character who happened to avoid being deconfirmed at the time the box theory arrived. And we even had Knuckles revealed as an Assist Trophy along with the reveal of Richter, a 3rd party echo. After the August direct, there were plenty of people who may have outright said they were at least 90% sure Shadow would make it in as an echo. (…And one person who metaphorically died on the hill that Shadow would be playable in base game AND be his own unique fighter. So he ended up drinking seven cups of mustard water and recording himself for his youtube channel when neither happened. But that's neither here or there). As someone who preferred Tails to be the next Sonic character I did have to begrudgingly accept that things were looking pretty good for Shadow's chances at that time.
But let's take a look at how meticulously designed the character listing was. To visualize it as best I can, I will put the numbers of each base game fighter from the side that was visible from the initial image without Isabelle and Incineroar first
9 10 11 12 13 13e
14 15 16 |
|25 25e 26
27 28 28e 29 30 31|
|43 44 45 46 47 48
49 50 51-53 |
|62 63 64
65 66 66e 67 68 (Isabelle) 69 (Incineroar) |
This isn't just some weird code combination. This is all these fighters grouped by nine. With oddities like the Mii Fighters being next to Corrin instead of Palutena or why Sheik is on that side, but Zelda isn't. And while the box has been long released out. I can also give what the other side would be with the other half of the base game roster. (Granted, the box is out and I could probably look for an image of the other side. But to be full authenticity for what things were like in the September the box theory was out. Here's what started as speculation but became true when we compare one side to the other)
| 1 2 3 4 4e 5
6 7 8 |
|17 18 19
20 21 21e 22 23 24 |
| 32 33-35 36 37 38 39
40 41 42 |
|54 55 56
57 58 59 60 60e (Ken) 61 |
The order of this meant there was no echo in Sonic's group but there was one where Ryu would be. Thus ruling out entirely that Shadow would be playable at all in the base game unless the box theory could be debunked. Some people however got so caught up into believing Shadow was going to be playable, and/or there would be more than 2 newcomers left that they let themselves be blind and deny that Nintendo could have goofed so hard with a marketing ploy like this. Eventually it all came to an impasse where obviously there wasn't going to be a sufficient enough case to prove the legitimacy of the theory until a Smash direct comes down to show what characters would ultimately make it.
…Now if only that was the end of the remaining drama that would be unleashed onto the Smash community in the last weeks before the final base game direct. Cause there'd be ANOTHER twist in this saga. Where we got none other than the Grinch leak. For those who either may not remember why it was connected to the grinch or were not there for that moment of time. The alleged "leaks" contained some meticulously crafted material that seemed to show a banner exactly like the one shown with a noticeable amount of extra characters next to promotional material for Illumination's Grinch movie.
While the leak does at least somewhat corroborate something the box theory was hinting at, with the inclusion of Ken in the base game. The Grinch leak seems to tell us that not only would it be him, but the Chorus Men from Rhythm Heaven, Mach Rider, Isaac from Golden Sun, Geno, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Banjo-Kazooie all packaged with the base game before any DLC drops down. 6 additional characters aside from Ken. 4 more then the box theory hints at, and the notable exclusion of the highly (and many times begrudgingly) expected Incineroar.
I think in retrospect, people should have been decently more skeptical that Gamefreak wasn't going to shill the latest generation at the time. But perhaps some were thinking they'd add a Pokemon as DLC to compensate Gamefreak. Some even hoped that Gen 7 would be cursed much like Gen 3 and Gen 5 before it to be excluded from a Smash Bros. representative (I think some even called it the odd numbered generation curse. Aside from Gen 1, but that one was exempt because of course it was the first and thus most iconic gen of Pokemon). The Grinch Leak giving hope that we wouldn't be getting a "shillmon" along with these popular characters drove people who really wanted the Grinch leak to be real. And many forums talking about Smash Bros all over became split between #Teamreal and #Teamfake. Those who believe it was real quickly drew comparisons to stuff like the ESRB leak for Smash 4 to insist why this could all be pointing to be real. It was a short time before we were going to get the the full base roster revealed to us. And while I'm sure some members of Team Fake had their own unsavory agenda. I think most of the well-meaning members of Team Fake were more so thinking that they'd love to be wrong on this one but there was something fishy about all this that was hard to pinpoint. And many of the reasons the Team Real people insisted proved the Grinch Leak was legit at times felt almost as insane as a Qanon conspiracy theory.
All-in-all, the Smash community tore itself apart for the about two weeks that the Grinch Leak was mulled over before it was finally time for all to be revealed on November 1st. No matter what happens, the Smash community was not going to be fully prepared for what was in store for them.
It all started normal enough, Sakurai giving a brief hello before transitioning us to a trailer he says will show all the final remaining characters. Whether it was only 2 like the box theory, or 6 as the Grinch Leak implied. It even straight up starts with Ken, a character heavily implied In both. So at that point, there was still hope in the eyes of #Teamreal. But it's at about 1 minute and 45 seconds where the result of the weeks of debate were about to reach it's end. Yellow glowing eyes from someone in the backstage. Ken knocks Little Mac into the scoreboard, before he is then fastly approached by a black and red anthro character seemingly ready for vengeance… with a belt made of flames. And with a roar, we got the reveal of Incineroar. The Grinch leak was dead, and the box theory was not just still on the table. It would be confirmed to be the truth all along.
And just in case people were still hoping that there was going to be some sort of compromise where Ken and Incineroar really weren't all that's left in the base game. Sakurai outright says "Last new challenger" when introducing him. Everyone who believed the Grinch Leak had to admit that they've been bamboozled. The funny thing is, I believe to this day no one knows who was the person behind the grinch leak. There was a name that some people initially thought was the leaker, but that was the name of a former employee that hasn't worked there for a few years.. It's an unsolved mystery that will forever haunt Smash speculators. It probably doesn't help that by the time the next Smash arrives, now fakers will have AI Art/Deepfake technology that will likely be able to at some point make more convincing looking fakes.
To pour salt on the wound, both Isaac and Shadow would be revealed to be returning as Assist trophies rather than playable characters. With no sign of anyone else. The only other character to "survive" the Grinch leak aside from of course Ken would turn out to be Banjo. But otherwise everyone else was an assist trophy, a spirit, and/or a mii costume. To this day, we still don't know who was actually responsible for the Grinch Leaks. There's rumors and/or people who have anonymously claimed to be the one who did it. But this is certainly a cold case as of right now. Although it isn't a crime to fool the internet, so it's not like we'll have all that many professionals trying to track down the source.
To add FURTHER salt in the wound though for those watching, Sakurai would of course get to DLC characters. But what is the first character we get? You should know, they'll be at the very bottom of the ranking list at 83rd now. I think I even noted back in that coverage of the character, how much it just contributed to the misery of that day for those who were so hopeful for something cool other than Ken and Incineroar only for a Mario mook to get in before their favorites. That November 1st was a date that lived in infamy for many a Smash speculator. Box theory was proven true, the final characters were exactly what people guessed as far back as September. All the chaos introduced from the debates over the box and then the Grinch leak all for naught as those who kept their expectations low to the box theory got what they were expecting. Though it probably goes without saying that once again, those who had their expectations low because of either the box or were on #Teamfake during the Grinch leak they were at least silently hoping they were wrong because no one truly wants LESS characters to be in Smash. 6 was more than 2, so naturally people hoped the Grinch leak was correct. but it just wasn't meant to be
And all this talk about the box and the grinch leak certainly overshadowed Incineroar's existence in Smash and in some ways still does. I suppose I can at least say some personal feelings about the character. I think Incineroar is a fine character, although one I don't use a whole bunch. I think part of the heat (no pun intended) he recieved from fans is he was part of a trend that annoyed Pokemon fans of perfectly fine quadrapedal starter pokemon that grew into bipedal fighting types (Although Incineroar ironically broke the trend despite being wrestling related by being part Dark type). Then of course there was the fact there was a leaker who was adamant that he was in. Just another reason so many were hoping the Grinch leak was correct that they left out Incineroar out. But all-in-all it is kinda fun to have a pro-wrestling inspired character regardless, and one fun tidbit is that Incineroar was the last role of Heihachi from Tekken's japanese voice actor before he passed…
Oh no… perhaps… Incineroar… THREW MOST OF THE GRINCH LEAK CHARACTERS OFF A CLIFF! AAAAAAAAAAAH!
____________________________________________________________________________
Being a new Pokemon does instantly put Incineorar in the lower half here. I'm putting him above Palutena but below the Xenoblade 2 girls. He represents Gen 7 of Pokemon decently enough to have some form of reason to be included where as I mentioned I've been a bit skeptical of why Palutena was all too necessary of an inclusion despite the length of which the character existed. But being a Pokemon does have disadvantages against the Xenoblade protagonist just for the sheer amount of Pokemon reps.
With that, all non-shroom sections are finished. Tune in for Shroom Issue 194 for the finale!
1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Kazuya
59. Terry
60. Bayonetta
61. Lucas
62. Pyra
63. Mythra
64. Incineroar
65. Palutena
66. Joker
67. Young Link
68. Sheik
69. ROB
70. Min Min
71. Byleth
72. Ice Climbers
73. Wii Fit Trainer
74. Ken
75. Dark Samus
76. Chrom
77. Lucina
78. Daisy
79. Richter
80. Roy
81. Dr. Mario
82. Dark Pit
83. Piranha Plant
