Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a crazy, ambitious game- one that rightly received ton of praise at launch, sold well right out the gate, and has continued to do so even now, with one of its biggest strengths being its roster of over 70 characters. A roster, by the way, which not only represents a lot of major third party franchises, but also nearly every major (and not so major) property owned by Nintendo- well, with some notable exceptions.
For example, ARMS is a franchise that hasn’t been represented in Ultimate’s massive roster, while fans were also somewhat disappointed by the lack of characters in its roster from 2017’s Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Given the popularity of both, you would have thought they wouldn’t miss out in Smash Ultimate, right? Recently, while speaking with Japanese magazine Nintendo DREAM in an interview (translations by Twitter user Push DustIn can be viewed below), series creator and Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed the reason for why the two properties failed to make the cut- it was simply a case of bad timing. The launch of both ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 came too late to work with the way the Ultimate project was planned.
Additionally, Sakurai also revealed that originally, the developers had planned on including Decidueye as the new Pokemon to be included in the game. For those not in the know, Ducidueye is a grass/ghost-type Pokemon, and the final evolution of the seventh generation starter Rowlett. Ultimately, though, the team decided to go with Incineroar as the new inclusion- a character that has been very well received by the Smash community, so probably a decision for the best.
Slight disappointment over Ducideye and characters from ARMS and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is understandable- but hey, there’s always Smash 6, right? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, meanwhile, is currently available on Nintendo Switch.