List of rumors: Difference between revisions

==Rumors about [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate|''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'']]==

On 28 January 2016, Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO for Japan-based consultant firm [http://en.kantan-games.co.jp/ Kantan Games, Inc.] and lead writer for [http://www.serkantoto.com/ a blog on the Japanese mobile game industry], [https://twitter.com/serkantoto/status/692755598497046528 tweeted] that Bandai Namco had been working on several titles for Nintendo's then-unofficially announced console, the Switch, codenamed NX at the time. One of these titles was reportedly intended to be ''Super Smash Bros.'' game as a launch title. A few minutes later, he [https://twitter.com/serkantoto/status/692758073123823617 added] that his source was unclear on whether or not it would be a completely new game in the series or simply a port of ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', though he still defended the veracity of the source.  

In February 2018, game developer and industry insider Emily Rogers also [https://www.resetera.com/threads/it-kind-of-feels-like-nintendo-is-on-cruise-control-a-bit-with-the-switch-now.24216/page-16#post-4753218 claimed] that ''Super Smash Bros.'' was coming to the Nintendo Switch in some capacity, and that it would have brand new content, as well as some reworked content from the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions. However, it is unclear to her if the game will be marketed as a "director's cut" of sorts or a full sequel. Later in March, a Nintendo Direct showed that there is a new game for the Switch with the [[Inkling]]s looking at the ''Smash'' roster and the ''Smash'' symbol. The announcement caused the rumors of the title being a port to lose credibility, as it showed Link in his design from ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''. In addition to that, the trailer shown did not show gameplay for the game and did not show the original release date in its copyright, which would be unusual for a port’s announcement trailer, and the game's title was listed as a tentative title on the game’s website. Furthermore, on March 22, an [[Tournament:Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018|invitational tournament]] for the game was announced alongside the Splatoon 2 World Championship, and even later it got an original title and tons of new features, making the rumor false.

The Codenames "leak" refers to a popular leak stemming from [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/422708115/ a thread] on 4chan’s /v/ board on July 1, 2018 over eleven new characters rumored to be in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', which gained an unusual amount of notability on other websites, mainly due to the post's use of codenames when referring to the characters. The user used codenames instead of the characters' actual names in their post. According to the post:

Ultimately, the information provided in these leaks was proven false, and while some characters that were implicated by the leak were confirmed (such as [[King K. Rool]], presumably "King", and [[Isabelle]], presumably "Secretary"), none were revealed in the indicated month or pattern.

After posting [[Leak#Loz18 E3 2018 Leak|an accurate leak]] related to ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' information shared at [[E3 2018]], GameFAQs user Loz18 made another [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76579834/903186091 thread] about a Nintendo Direct in August stating:

Loz18 has made several posts (such as [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76883130 here]) stating that [[Skull Kid]] is probably playable. A few days after the Direct, he closed his GameFAQs account, but not before [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76904388 stating on Twitter] that [[Dixie Kong]] has a high chance of being playable, and [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76911077 possibly] [[Isaac]] (these tweets have since been deleted), though he would retract his statements on Isaac on a [https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gfaqssb/images/2/22/Loz18leakssmashinside.png Discord server]. However, none of his new predictions came true, aside from his final statement on Isaac.

On July 3rd, 2018, NeoGAF user WhisslBlank made a [https://web.archive.org/web/20180705112835/https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/ post] in a thread. He stated the following:

The leak was fully proven false in multiple ways in the 1.11.18 Smash Bros. Direct. The final newcomers for the base game were revealed to be {{SSBU|Ken}} and {{SSBU|Incineroar}}, and the 5 post-launch DLC characters were stated to be completely new characters, instead of Echo Fighters. Additionally, several of the rumored playable characters were revealed as Assist Trophies instead, namely [[Isaac]], [[Sablé Prince]], [[Skull Kid]], and [[Shadow]].

On Best Buy of Canada's website, the [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-ridley/12917606.aspx? Ridley] [[amiibo]] has the following text in its description: "Simply tap the amiibo accessory to the NFC touchpoint on your game system to unlock this draconic Space Pirate." [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-wolf/12917604.aspx? Wolf's] has the same, but without the "draconic" part, and [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-inkling-girl/12917605.aspx? Inkling's] has "trouble-making resident of the city of Inkopolis" in place of "draconic Space Pirate". All of these imply the amiibo can be tapped to instantly [[Unlockable character|unlock]] the character.

This was proven false upon the release of ''Ultimate'', as tapping an amiibo only adds a Figure Player, not the actual fighter.

Shortly after the reveal of ''Devil May Cry 5'' at E3 2018, an anonymous 4chan user posted [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/424869809/#q424872463 a thread] claiming to have information related to the game and several other projects related to the franchise.  Namely, that Dante, the protagonist of the series, would be a playable character in ''Ultimate.''  Throughout the year, several of the poster's claims would be verified, such as several story details, the existence of a training mode and the way that the character Nero purchases upgrades.  Perhaps adding to the leak's credibility, a Netflix series based on the franchise was announced later that year, just as the poster had claimed.  Users would go on to discover that [https://twitter.com/pg_kamiya/status/700571957658423297?lang=en a poll run by Hideki Kamiya], the original creator of the ''Devil May Cry'' and [[Bayonetta]] franchises, asked fans which version of Dante they'd prefer to see collaborate with Bayonetta. Users pointed out that the date of the poll, early 2016, aligns with the period of time which Sakurai had stated early development on ''Ultimate'' had begun, and that the version of Dante that won the poll was the same version that the 4chan poster had claimed would be in the game.  In early August, Matt Walker, the producer of Devil May Cry 5, [https://imgur.com/LVArqNC posted a suspicious tweet] that seemed to allude to something related to the Nintendo Direct that would air during that week.  Later in the year, [https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/9i7inm/hideaki_itsuno_hideki_kamiya_together_at_tgs_2018/ Kamiya would meet up with Hideaki Itsuno, the current director of the Devil May Cry series] at TGS 2018, adding fuel to the rumors.  Eventually, [https://i.redd.it/w70jqikzqsh11.png the rumor] had circulated enough that Walker [https://twitter.com/gypsyOtoko/status/1032867906839879680 took to Twitter to debunk Dante's presence in Smash].   

Additionally, [https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/02/08/devil-may-cry-director-says-if-smash-bros-fans-want-dante-ask-capcom-for-his-games-on Itsuno told the press that he'd prefer to see the ''Devil May Cry'' series debut on Nintendo consoles before considering Dante as a playable fighter in Smash.] On May 6th, 2019 a port of the original ''Devil May Cry'' was [https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/6/18534531/devil-may-cry-nintendo-switch-release-date announced] to be coming to Nintendo Switch, leading to further speculation following the comments made by Hideaki Itsuno.

[[File:SSBURenderLeak.jpg|150px|thumb|A popular edit of the original image spread through Twitter.]]

On August 30th, 2018, an anonymous user on [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/429622692 4chan] posted photos of what appeared to be the faces of 7 characters not yet announced for the game. The reported list of characters identified on the site includes:

Before the leak was debunked by the creator, many images were created under the guise of being by the original poster. The most popular of these fakes would be the image primarily shared throughout Twitter, in which the question mark was swapped with a fake render of Lloyd Irving from ''Tales of Symphonia''. This edit was mentioned by the creator of the original fake renders on Twitter following the confession, noting that it was not created by them.<ref>https://twitter.com/LepyPepy/status/1036087194010742784</ref>

On September 20, 2018, to a tweet asking if ''{{s|wikipedia|Kingdom Hearts}}'' protagonist Sora would be playable in ''Ultimate'', series co-creator Shinji Hashimoto responded with "Yes!". <ref>https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vdXS0OnVCwkJ:https://twitter.com/shinjihashimot3/status/1042898567159996416+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us</ref>

It would later appear to be a mistake response, as Twitter user Forest_ier [https://twitter.com/Forest_ier/status/1132956324671709184 visited Hashimoto himself] and asked about Sora in Smash, where Hashimoto answered that Sora is not planned for ''Ultimate''.

[[File:SSBUJapanesePlaylistUpdate.png|150px|thumb|The date which the Japanese playlist was updated. The image is dated October 2nd, 2018.]]

On September 30th, 2018, the Japanese playlist of fighter exhibition video trailers was updated once, then updated again later that day, suggesting that one or more videos exhibiting possible new fighters were added to the playlist and then later removed. Similar events had happened in the past: the playlist was updated on July 29th, 2018 (prior to the ''Ultimate''-centered Direct) and again on August 27th, 2018 (prior to the Nintendo Direct that was planned for September 6th and later delayed to September 13th due to an earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan). Seeing as both the ''Ultimate''-centered direct and the September 13th direct were announced 9 days after the playlist was updated, the updates on the 30th suggested that another direct was to be announced on October 9th, 2018. However, nothing was announced that day.

Similar rumors spread on multiple other occasions throughout ''Ultimate'' and its [[Downloadable content (SSBU)|DLC]]'s development, as the official ''Super Smash Bros.'' YouTube would be marked as updated with no new videos available, spreading across the internet in a frenzy as fans speculated on whether this meant an announcement would be soon. While the new announcements would eventually come, no consistent timing of the updates to the channel and the announcements has been identified, meaning the speculation is more-or-less pointless.

On October 11th, 2018, Twitter user Milk-BOSATU (later named Team NepDon, and then later deleted and returned as @TeamNepDon_Lead) [https://twitter.com/niconico_test_1/status/1050302553118859265 posted] a few leaks for the then-upcoming ''Ultimate'', such as the upcoming release of some form of VR, as well as the inclusion of ''Dragon Quest''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Hero characters without any female costumes. This was followed up on December 14th, 2018, with [https://twitter.com/niconico_test_1/status/1073789370606354432 a claim] that a female character would be appearing as a playable DLC fighter in the Fighters Pass.

On January 16, 2020, the final fighter of the Fighters Pass was revealed to be {{SSBU|Byleth}}, confirmed the leaker's information regarding the 5th fighter coming from an already represented franchise, ''[[Fire Emblem]]''. This also confirmed the female character model being legitimate; it was female Byleth. However, much of the descriptions that the leaker has explained about the female character model were probably misinterpretations of what the model looked like.

On November 24th, 2018, an alleged leak was [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/440346534/ posted on 4chan], the leaker claims a source from the DLC fighters which are:

*A character owned by Atlus that might be [[Joker]] from ''{{h2|Persona (universe)|Persona 5}}''.

At The Game Awards 2018, it was revealed that {{SSBU|Joker}} would appear as the first Fighters Pass character, who would soon be followed during the Nintendo Direct E3 2019 event by a Square Enix rep {{SSBU|Hero}} and Microsoft rep {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}}. However, this leak would be proven inaccurate in the Nintendo Direct of September 4th 2019 where {{SSBU|Terry}} was revealed instead of Edelgard or Sylux like the leak claimed. It's likely that this leaker took several lucky guesses.

On December 9th, 2018, an anonymous user (using an image of Adeleine from the {{uv|Kirby}} series) posted on [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/442253084/#442254868 4chan] the alleged roster of the DLC Fighters Pass.

This leak is notable in that it not only correctly claimed both {{SSBU|Hero}} and {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} as playable fighters, but also correctly claimed the character title {{SSBU|Hero}}, with the exact alternate skins. However, the original poster eventually clarified that it was a fake; they had simply taken guesses that coincidentally turned out to be true. <ref>https://twitter.com/shameless_SMT/status/1156121889460412416</ref>

On December 15, 2018, an alleged leak was [https://krsw.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1544370354/137 posted on 5channel], claiming that Erdrick from the ''Dragon Quest'' series would be appearing as a DLC fighter, acting as the new Square Enix rep for ''Super Smash Bros Ultimate''.

On April 16, 2019, a special Smash video was released on YouTube, and while the leak got Joker's stage correct, the Jack Frost appearance on the stage was false. The rest of the leak itself was mostly false upon the Hero's reveal; while Erdrick is in ''Smash Ultimate'', he is an alternate costume for {{SSBU|Hero}} instead of an individual character slot, thus there is no female variant of him at all.

On December 31st, 2018, a user by the name of [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77349973 RaySquad] posted a thread on GameFAQs, claiming he had a reliable source with information on ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' DLC.

While {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}} and {{SSBU|Joker}} had already been confirmed at this stage, Erdrick (who would later be revealed as a skin for {{SSBU|Hero}}) and {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} would later be revealed at E3 2019. However, {{SSBU|Terry}} was revealed in a September Nintendo Direct instead of Lloyd Irving or Crash Bandicoot, making this rumor seem like lucky guesses.

On January 4, 2019, [https://krsw.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1544363780/12 a separate leak was uncovered] that was also posted on 5channel. This leak stated everything the 12/15 leak claimed along with the rest of the DLC fighters, but what also interested people was that it was posted on December 9, before the other leak. According to the newly discovered "leak", the rest of the DLC characters are:

The claim that ''Persona 5 R'' (later revealed to be ''Persona 5: The Royal'') would release in the first half 2019 was proven false on April 24 2019, where Atlus announced that the game would release in Japan on October 31 2019, which is in the latter half of the year. While this did not necessarily hurt the credibility of this leak's claims, the leak was ultimately debunked when {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} was announced as the third DLC fighter instead of any of the fighters listed from the leak.

On February 4th, 2019, the general director of the {{uv|Kirby}} series, Shinya Kumazaki, [https://www.instagram.com/p/Bta15lBFa00/ made a post on Instagram] showcasing a number of photos of Kirby next to Erdrick's shield from the ''Dragon Quest'' series. The post reads: "The brave's shield. {{ja|そして伝説がはじまった！|Soshite densetsu ga hajimatta!}} (''And thus, the legend started!'')" This led many fans to speculate that Kumazaki was referring to the DLC character datamine that revealed "brave". Though [[Hero]] was later confirmed to be a downloadable fighter, the image is more than likely a coincidence; the post has since been edited to state that "This picture has no meaning," and Kumazaki's profile was updated to read "Photo are unrelated to work." Kumazaki is not directly involved in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, only being listed as an "Original Game Supervisor" for ''Ultimate''.

On March 12, 2019, it was discovered that there were 16 character slots found for Adventure Mode, one of which was currently being used for {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}}. While the next five are known to be part of the [[Downloadable content (SSBU)|Fighters Pass]] (including {{SSBU|Joker}}), the other ten are unknown. This has lead to speculation that there will be future DLC characters beyond the Fighters Pass. While a [[Nintendo Direct]] on September 4th, 2019 would confirm that there would be more DLC characters, later in September 24th, 2019, Source Gaming released a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=hjqkmtSbVWc video] with help from dataminer jam1garner which they discovered that Joker took a placeholder slot just like Piranha Plant but {{SSBU|Banjo and Kazooie}} and the {{SSBU|Hero}} did not take any of them, suggesting that two more fighters were added later in development of DLC, the exact number of additional DLC characters, and thus, the amount of slots they'd use up, is currently unknown.

On June 14, 2019, VP of PR at Bethesda, Pete Hines, [https://youtu.be/_mTM-3YCOro?t=2351 teased] in an interview with Nintendo Power that a major ''Doom'' related-announcement was planned for Nintendo fans at the 2019 QuakeCon (July 25 - July 28), separate from the already announced ''{{s|wikipedia|Doom Eternal}}'' port for Nintendo Switch. "Who knows, maybe some more surprises for Nintendo fans, " teased Pete Hines. This led to speculation that the previously rumored [[wikipedia:Doomguy|Doom Slayer]] might be announced as a part of the Fighters Pass for ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. It should be noted that the tease also led to speculation of Nintendo-exclusive content coming to ''Doom Eternal'' or re-releases of older ''Doom'' titles coming to the Nintendo Switch.

''Doom'', ''Doom 2'' and ''Doom 3'' were announced for the Nintendo Switch at QuakeCon; however, they were also announced for [https://www.polygon.com/2019/7/26/8931673/doom-2-3-nintendo-switch the PS4, Xbox One, Android, and iOS]. ''Doom 64'', a former Nintendo 64-exclusive title, was announced for the Nintendo Switch during a Nintendo Direct on September 4. On October 8, ''Doom 64'' was also confirmed to release on PS4, Xbox One and PC simultaneously with the Switch version.

On August 30th, 2019, a YouTube user by the name of IAmShifty posted a [https://youtu.be/JcwSKSy-nIY video] claiming that Ryu Hayabusa from the ''{{s|wikipedia|Ninja Gaiden}}'' series would be joining the Fighters Pass for ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. According to the user, Ryu would be the fourth character to be announced for the Fighters Pass. Previously, he had supposedly correctly [https://youtu.be/TKe4M3VuN6o?t=125 leaked] {{SSBU|Isabelle}}, {{SSBU|Ken}}, {{SSBU|Incineroar}} and {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}} as playable characters, in addition to Marx appearing as a boss character in the game.  

Brew Elfen had [https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=726541694366622&id=100010323940226&_rdr previously leaked] Piranha Plant on November 1st, 2018.

On October 18, 2019, Smash Bros YouTuber [https://youtu.be/GwtEGF4rEMA?t=364 PapaGenos] revealed that a source on his Discord had claimed that Crash Bandicoot from the ''{{s|wikipedia|Crash Bandicoot}}'' series would be the fifth fighter in the Fighters Pass. PapaGenos noted with a screenshot, that on July 19, 2019, this source had correctly leaked Mii Costumes for Goemon, Zero, Protoman and the Team Rocket Grunts. The Mii Costume leak also mentioned Mii costumes for [[Chocobo]] from the Final Fantasy series and [[Mallow]] or Smithy from Super Mario RPG, and it was also supposedly verified by three other people.

PapaGenos also claimed that the source had correctly leaked both {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} and the Luminary (later revealed to be the default for {{SSBU|Hero}}).

{{clear}}

[[File:MallowCacodemonCostumeLeak.png|thumb|left|The leaked picture of the two Mii hats.]]

On November 4th, 2019, an anonymous user on 4chan posted a [http://yuki.la/v/thread/484051013 thread] which included a picture of {{SSBU|Ken}}, and a {{SSBU|Mii Brawler}} and {{SSBU|Mii Gunner}} wearing headgear based on {{s|mariowiki|Mallow}} from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario RPG}}'', and a [https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Cacodemon Cacodemon] from the ''Doom'' series, respectively, on [[Yggdrasil's Altar]]. Later, the same user would post [https://yuki.la/v/484051013#p484051776 two] [https://yuki.la/v/484051013#p484052690 videos] demonstrating said characters during gameplay. The picture shows similarities with the image shown in a [[Leak#Ken leak|previous leak]] from 4chan that revealed Ken as a playable fighter: it features every character within the scene [[taunt]]ing—including Ken using his up taunt—and takes place in a [[Time]] match with the [[match timer]] frozen at 2:30, further demonstrated in the videos.