A new, supposedly leaked screenshot of a character that is joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been floating over the internet for the past day or so, and while it isn’t solid evidence, there are some compelling arguments to be made for it so far. [Thanks, Resetera!]
Note: If you do not wish to know the supposedly leaked character, real or not, please click back now.
A screenshot featuring Ken from the Street Fighter series, likely as an Echo Fighter of Ryu, was leaked to 4chan a day or two ago. The screenshot features Ivysaur, Pichu, Ken, and Pac-Man standing next to each other on the Moray Towers stage from the Splatoon series.
So far, nobody has been able to trace the source of Ken’s model, and Ken actually matches up really well in terms of clothing polygons and overall style as Ryu, although he looks a bit faded in terms of color. If this were edited from a screenshot of the demo version, the leaker would have to had created Pichu from scratch as well, as Pichu wasn’t playable in the Smash Ultimate demo.
When I first saw the new screenshot leak, I first thought they updated the artwork for Pichu. But then some took old Smash footage and I noticed the same Pichu artwork was present in the E3 Trailer.
I compared it to the official artwork and…well… pic.twitter.com/ejD5lYr2Vv
— Nirbion (@Nirbion) September 21, 2018
It has also since been found from comparing old footage to Pichu’s current artwork that Pichu’s icon is also based on older render, despite the full art for Pichu being available already.
There are also some minor details which match up with what is currently known about Smash Ultimate, such as a different coloration that Mappy has in Pac-Man’s taunt compared to Smash for Wii U. Ken’s character portrait has also gone semi-transparent as Pac-Man is standing in the same area as it, a feature that is in Ultimate but is admittedly been a thing since Brawl.
One Smashboards user asked a friend to take a screenshot from the ongoing demo event in Europe to compare with Ken’s screenshot, substituting Pikachu for Pichu, and Ryu for Ken. Some details, such as leg clipping for Ryu and Pac-Man, match up. In particular, a feature where shadows aren’t cast properly on the metal grate area is present in both screenshots. Ryu and Ken’s proportions are also remarkably similar.
Please be reminded that this is just a rumor in the end so far, and to take it with a really large spoon of salt.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is coming to Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.
