Editing Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot

[[File:FighterBallot.png|thumb|250px|Ballot website logo]]
The '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150404035032/https://cp.nintendo.co.jp/us/ Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot]''' was an official poll added as part of the [[Super Smash Bros. 4 Official Site]]. With the announcement of an extended DLC schedule for ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', the Ballot was created to allow fans to request which characters they wanted to see in the game, with the Japanese website mentioning the ballot would also be used to decide characters in future games as well.<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/03/bayo106/</ref> The Ballot was open between 1st April 2015 and 3rd October 2015.

Out of all realisable characters, the official winner of the ballot was {{SSB4|Bayonetta}}. However, the overall winner was revealed to be {{SSBU|Sora}} during [[Mr. Sakurai Presents#Battling with Sora|Mr. Sakurai Presents: Battling with Sora]].

==Overview==
[[File:Smash Bros Fighter Ballot.png|thumb|right|200px|The ballot as it appeared on the website]]
The Ballot was announced during the April 2015 [[Nintendo Direct]], directly after {{SSB4|Lucas}} was revealed to be the second [[DLC]] fighter for ''Smash 4''. The Ballot was a write-in form in which users first identify their gender—male or female—then the character, their game of origin, and a brief explanation as to why the character should be included. This final section had a 500 character limit. The voter would then confirm their submission and send it to a database. During the Ballot's run, there was considerable debate between fans regarding whether the Ballot was a contest that would result in only the winner being added to the game, or if it was more akin to a suggestion box meant to give the developers a clearer idea of what characters fans desired to be included.

There was no limit to the amount of times a single person could vote, and some users attempted to "stuff" the Ballot by using proxies to add multiple entries, although only a single vote per person was considered valid and affected the results of the ballot.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDrNWAHaKfI=207s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate <nowiki>[Game Concepts]</nowiki>]</ref> Around 1.8 million valid votes were tallied upon the Ballot's closure on October 3, 2015.

Although the results in their entirety have not been published, exit polls conducted by users on [[SmashBoards]] and other websites showed that there were many requests for characters such as Waddle Dee, Geno, and Dixie Kong in Japan,<ref>[https://sourcegaming.info/2015/09/13/japantopdlcpt2/ Perception of Smash DLC in Japan, Redux - Source Gaming]</ref> while overseas there were many requests for characters such as Isaac and Shantae, reflecting the popularity of those respective series in their respective regions.<ref>[https://smashboards.com/threads/smash-ballot-poll-week-6-results-over-2-000-responses.406300/ Smash Ballot Poll Week 6 Results (Over 2,000 Responses)]</ref> Characters such as Sora, Banjo & Kazooie, and King K. Rool, along with all the veterans cut from ''Smash 4'', were among the most requested characters globally.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/9838k5/unconfirmed_characters_from_estimated_ballot_poll/?rdt=40449 Unconfirmed characters, from estimated ballot poll data]</ref><ref>[https://supersmashbroscentral.tumblr.com/post/118456366001/super-smash-bros-central-fighter-ballot-poll SUPER SMASH BROS. CENTRAL FIGHTER BALLOT POLL RESULTS!]</ref>

==Results==
During the [[Final Video Presentation]] on December 15, 2015, Bayonetta was declared as the winner of the ballot. She was stated as the #1 choice in Europe and in the top 5 in North America, while also being stated as the #1 choice among "realizable and negotiable" characters, which was the real deciding factor. Bayonetta was released as the final ''Smash 4'' DLC fighter on February 3, 2016 alongside the [[Umbra Clock Tower]] stage and a collection of [[List of SSB4 Music (Bayonetta series)|music tracks]] and [[List of SSB4 trophies (Bayonetta series)|trophies]].

===Datamine===
Shortly after the release of {{SSB4|Mewtwo}}, five additional placeholder slots for future {{SSB4|downloadable content}}, under the name "mario", were found, with a sixth one added after the release of wave 2 (Lucas, {{SSB4|Roy}}, and {{SSB4|Ryu}}), later into the ballot's run. On 3rd November, 2016, decompiler {{Sm|Kurogane Hammer}} found that Bayonetta's stats were added to one of the original five placeholder slots, 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.<ref>[https://twitter.com/KuroganeHammer/status/794309358494453760 Kurogane Hammer on Bayonetta]</ref> 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> The sixth placeholder slot would later be used for {{SSB4|Corrin}} with his parameters being added in version [[1.0.8]], the same month that ''Fire Emblem Fates'' was released in Japan.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Meshima_/status/794321802247868416 Meshima on Corrin]</ref>

All of this prompted skepticism about Bayonetta's placement in the final results. Many pointed out that it would be highly unlikely for Bayonetta to have been chosen at the conclusion of the Ballot due to the length of time required to develop even a single fighter for the game. As Bayonetta was also a third-party character, this would also include negotiations with her rightsholder [[Sega]] to acquire permission to use the character. This is also further supported by the statement that she was the winner "among realizable and negotiable characters", which many have argued is too vague of a qualifier that could be applied to any character to work. Some argue that 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 lead 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. This information suggests that Bayonetta had already been decided as a character early and was not the overall ballot winner.

==Impact==
The Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot dominated discussions throughout the ''Smash'' community during the period in which it was active, being covered by numerous news outlets and big-name [[YouTube]]rs. The criteria provided by the ballot has also had a large impact amongst character speculators, truly stretching what it means to be a "Smash character." 

===Impact on ''[[Ultimate]]''===
The Ballot would go on to determine several character inclusions in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', such as {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}}, {{SSBU|Ridley}}, {{SSBU|King K. Rool}}, {{SSBU|Simon}}, {{SSBU|Richter}}, {{SSBU|Chrom}}, and {{SSBU|Dark Samus}}. Masahiro Sakurai mentioned Banjo & Kazooie in particular placing highly in the ballot, including in Japan, stating them to be a close runner-up behind the winner.<ref>https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2021/nov/20/masahiro-sakurai-banjo-sora-ballot/</ref>

On October 5, 2021, {{SSBU|Sora}} was revealed as the final addition to ''Ultimate''{{'}}s roster. Sakurai revealed during the [[Mr. Sakurai Presents#Battling with Sora|presentation]] that Sora was the winner of the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot, revealing him as being the most requested new fighter in the ballot.<ref> https://sourcegaming.info/2018/08/22/more-information-about-the-smash-direct-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-561/</ref><ref> https://web.archive.org/web/20201026070354/https://japanesenintendo.com/2019/01/21/decidueye-almost-chosen-for-smash-in-an-interview//</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/pushdustin/status/1450855082203901954|title=Translated Famitsu column}}</ref> In a Famitsu column published after Sora's reveal that, Sakurai stated that he met a [[Disney]] executive at a "certain awards show" and from there was able to pitch the idea to them and add Sora to the plans for Fighters Pass Volume 2.<ref name="PushDustIn">{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1450855103473143809|title=PushDustIn on Twitter: "But, one day an opportunity came through. At a certain award venue, Sakurai had the chance to meet with a Disney representative. They said it would be great if Sora could get in!"}}</ref> He also added that he and [[Satoru Iwata]] had elected not to reveal the official results to prevent fans from harassing the companies who owned highly requested characters that were not added.

==Trivia==
* The Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot draws multiple parallels with the [[Super Smash Bros. Poll]] from 1999, where players voted on the characters they wish were in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''; most characters even mentioned in that poll have seen appearances in ''Smash'' in some capacity, from [[Spirit]]s to fully playable characters.

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Defunct websites]]
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