An Analysis of a 4chan Leak for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Sop On July 1, someone on 4chan posted the following:

"Hi! I was working at CEO this year and I managed to get a copy the demo build used for the tournaments. There were a few interesting things in the code for the character select:
>The Simon Belmont leaker had the Castlevania IP right, but not the character. "Rihita", Richter Belmont's Japanese name, was among those listed.
>"Sirnight", Gardevoir's Japanese name, was among them. Interestingly, Lucina, Dark Pit, and Daisy are all listed with their echo counterparts - "Gothiruselle" (Gothitelle) was underneath her. I presume, then, that Gothitelle is going to be an echo of Gardevoir.
>"Mario2" was listed as a seperate character. I have no idea what this means, but if I had to guess, either Paper Mario or Mario 64 Mario.
>"Kruru" (King K Rool) and "DakuS" (Dark Samus? It was underneath regular Samus) were both listed, unsurprisingly.
Obviously it's a demo build, so there may be more characters who haven't been added to the select screen code yet."

You can debate among yourselves whether or not this leak is fake. I'm honestly not too sure about it myself. But let's have a look at some pros and cons. The big piece of evidence that would seem to confirm this leak is that the OP got Richter Belmont, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool correct well over a month before they were confirmed by Nintendo. Richter is especially interesting, as nobody was really ever expecting him. To this, one would likely point out the absence of Simon and Chrom, who were confirmed along with those three. There is an explanation for this, however. They simply weren't programmed in at the time. Remember: OP says that there might be future characters. And the fact that Chrom and Richter are both echo fighters could possibly give a developer team time to program in their counterparts. To this, one would point out another good point in favor of being fake: It was posted on 4chan. Not only have oceans of fake leaks originated from this site, everyone is anonymous. We have no way of verifying the leaker's credibility.

Whether or not the leak is fake, the two other characters are interesting as well.

Figure A: Gardevoir/Gothitelle
Might as well bite the bullet on this one and prepare for 12-year-olds who think Linkin Park is the epitome of metal to tell me how stupid I am. I 100% believe that Gardevoir is going to be in the game, regardless of the leaks. I'm not as sure of Gothitelle, but Gardevoir is a very likely candidate. First of all, her Poke Ball item has not been confirmed to return. The only other Poke Balls to not return are Togepi and Moltres, neither of whom are plausible. Secondly, Gardevoir is a longstanding fan favorite (insert rule 34 joke here). Finally, which is likelier: A Gen 7 started/Pikachu clone (I don't really believe the hype around Mimikyu), or a longtime fan favorite character like Gardevoir? As far as Gothitelle goes, it doesn't really make sense to me, but I won't necessarily be disappointed if she gets added.

Figure B: Mario2
There are exactly 2 options in my mind, each with a 50% chance. The first: It's Doctor Mario and we're all idiots. The second option is Geno. First of all, Sakurai tried getting Geno into Smash in the past, but Square said no. Second, he's a longstanding fan favorite among Smash Bros. candidates. Finally (this one's a bit of a stretch, bear with me), "Mario2" could be "Mario squared." And Square is the company with the rights to Geno. Even if "Mario2" isn't Geno, or the leak is fake, I still think Geno is likely to be in the game.

In conclusion, leaks are to be taken seriously. Whether or not this particular leak is true, we do have to comment the OP for correctly predicting Richter, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool. And furthermore, Gardevoir and Geno have my full confidence.

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