List of rumors: Difference between revisions

On July 2, 2018, decompiler {{Sm|Ruben}} found that {{SSB4|Bayonetta}} was chosen for [[DLC]] as early as before version [[1.0.6]], as her character slot was added to the game in that patch, which was launched only two weeks after the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot opened and several months before Bayonetta was announced as the winner of the ballot. Decompilers Marioking64DS and Ehm from The Cutting Room Floor later confirmed that the character slot for Bayonetta existed in the patch, whose parameters were a near 1:1 copy of {{SSB4|Zero Suit Samus}}, which would then gradually change in the subsequent patches to eventually match Bayonetta's parameters when she was released in [[1.1.4]].<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/03/bayo106/</ref> This caused a backlash in the community, validating criticisms that Sakurai misrepresented the reasoning behind Bayonetta's inclusion or lied about the ballot results that were not considered legitimate beforehand. It has been argued that it was possible the ballot's votes were frontloaded during the first two weeks it was open and so the ballot winner was chosen off of such early results, though it has also been counterargued that less than two weeks would have been too short a time to observe the ballot results, complete the licensing for Bayonetta, and get the development process far enough along for her to appear in the game data by 1.0.6. Regardless of if the ballot did actually play a role in deciding ''Smash 4''{{'}}s DLC, Sakurai would later state that the development team referred to the ballot when deciding on newcomers for ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' and, as a result, added [[Ridley]], [[Simon]], [[Richter]], [[King K. Rool]], [[Chrom]], and [[Dark Samus]].<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2018/08/22/more-information-about-the-smash-direct-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-561/</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1087124989239734272</ref>

With the announcement of {{SSBU|Sora}} as the final downloadable newcomer for ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'', Sakurai would state that he was the most requested character on the Smash Ballot, with [[Banjo & Kazooie]] also ranking highly in the ballot,<ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1450855087337717760</ref> further supporting the idea that Bayonetta was pre-planned and not the true winner of the ballot. It has been argued this is inline with the initial statement that Bayonetta was the winner among "realizable and negotiable characters", with Sora not being an option at the time for unknown reasons, but it has also been counterargued that the criteria for the term "realizable and negotiable characters" is vague enough that it could have been applied to any character that was already chosen for ''Smash 4'' DLC prior to the ballot. Whether Bayonetta was legitimately chosen off of very early ballot results, or if the ballot results were misrepresented to justify her inclusion as the final DLC fighter in ''Smash 4'', will likely never be conclusively determined, as neither Sakurai nor Nintendo have released the complete ballot results and have stated that they do not intend to.