Masahiro Sakurai has frequently been swamped by fans speculating who would be in the next
Super Smash Bros. game and begging him to put this or that character in. In a Nintendo Direct video promoting the fourth game, he happily notes that the
Wii Fit Trainer is a character that
no one had guessed or asked for. (Though he did finally put Mega Man in the game. And he is awesome.)
- A Nintendo Direct webcast promoting the fourth Smash game involved a lot of trolling:
- After revealing that Samus' Zero Laser no longer causes her to change form, and in fact no characters would change form in this game, he followed it up by saying that because of this, Zero Suit Samus would no longer be returning... right before showing her updated appearance, saying he was just kidding.
- The Direct had multiple "What character is this?" trophy segments, where a trophy is briefly displayed before its name and origin are given. One of these segments opens with the camera behind what appears to be a trophy of Palutena from Kid Icarus: Uprising. Then it cuts to the trophy's hideous Nightmare Face with a Scare Chord, revealing it as the boss Pseudo-Palutena. To make it extra-trolling, Palutena is a popularly-speculated and -requested character, so until the reveal it seemed like Sakurai was shooting down chances of her being playable. (Palutena would later be confirmed at the next E3.)
- One of Sakurai's pics of the day revealed Waluigi as an Assist Trophy - with his caption rubbing in the fact that "Assist Trophy" means "not playable". And then the above Direct added insult to injury, as he started its segment on Assist Trophies with a Waluigi plushie in the frame.
"Once again, Waluigi's Assist Trophy joins the collection!! ...Which also means he’s not a playable character. Just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle."
- Sakurai has occasionally dropped hints about Ridley, but in a roundabout that neither confirms or denies that he's even going to be in the game at all. His intentional vagueness is incredibly frustrating towards fans who want him playable.
"Out of the blue, here's a new stage — the Pyrosphere from
Metroid: Other M! An enemy from Samus' past may appear at any second..."
From the Direct (again): "Boss characters may appear in other stages, not just [Wily Castle]."
[while showing a very Ridley-like shadow in the Pyrosphere stage]
"Remember, no matter how big you may be, there is always someone bigger."
[accompanying a picture that has nothing to do with Ridley, but can be taken as a reference to the "Ridley's too big" meme.]
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