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Kai_Mao on 12 August 2018
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NightlyPoe said:
pikashoe said:

Before the most recent direct I noticed a few people on this site claiming that the game was definitely a port. Since the direct ended I have heard very little about it being a port. If you thought it was a port have you changed your mind? If so why? If not why?

In fairness, this is just another way in which Nintendo messed up the E3 Direct.  In fact, it's almost exactly the same mistake they made with the Wii U reveal.  People legitimately were confused as to whether it was a new product or not.  And we all know how that turned out.  Really, as much time as they took during the presentation, they wasted a whole lot of time.

Thankfully, the Direct last week did a lot to right the ship.  But, to a large degree, this is how the presentation should have been done at E3.  Open with Luigi being murdered and introduce Simon Belmont.  Jump straight in and announce that all the characters are back.  Immediately afterwards paste in last week's Direct from 16:38-26:44.  Just blow people's minds with all they're cramming into this game.  100 stages, 800+ music tracks, all the new game options.  Introduce Echo Characters and Daisy.  Present the Inklings.  Shorten the list of new moves for each character (this is where the E3 presentation lagged and where time could be saved) and promise a more comprehensive accounting later (in October, not August), though the number of changes can easily hit 10,000.  Mostly focus on the universal changes like the air dodge and shield mechanics.  Do go ahead and describe the changes in the Final Smashes.  Mention a few new assist trophies.  Murder Mario and Mega Man and introduce Ridley.  Give a release date.

Really, that 10 minute chunk from this week's Direct would have made all the difference.  Instead of a highly disjointed presentation that that went back and forth between important, but technical differences in moves and purely cosmetic ones of the character changes, those 10 minutes in this week's Direct got me officially hyped for Ultimate Smash.  It suddenly looked ridiculously polished and left me with a feeling that this would be a miracle game like Melee.

I think Smash's presence at E3 is to each its own. Personally, I think it did a good job setting the tone for the game, even if it took half of the Direct's time. The reason why I felt it did a good job is because "Everyone is Here" laid the groundwork for the title of Ultimate. I think of Smash Ultimate as Justice League Unlimited. In Ultimate, there are no cuts and everyone, including Snake, Pichu, and Young Link, characters we thought had little chance of coming back, are back. To show that after about 1.5 years (since finalizing the roster was done around December 2015), is impressive, considering that Sakurai and Nintendo may have had to renew some of the licensing deals with the third parties and first party characters like Pichu, Young Link, and Wolf had to be remodeled after being cut from the previous games. Of course, a good amount of characters have been remodeled, some obvious (i.e., Zelda, Ganondorf, and Ike) and some more subtle (i.e., Shulk, Cloud, and Marth). Then you had favorites finally make their debut with the Inklings, Daisy, and Ridley, a long-time request. And Bill Trinen even mentioned that E3 wouldn't show everything and announcements would be made the closer we get to launch, which is what we got on the 8th of August.