Super Smash Fans React Very Maturely to Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

For Super Smash Bros. fans, there's no greater feeling of anticipation than in the moments before a Nintendo Direct reveals a new DLC character.

The beauty of Super Smash Bros. is that, despite the series' status as a core Nintendo staple, any character can theoretically join the brawl as long as they originated in the world of video games. Smash, which director Masahiro Sakurai considers a celebration of video games in their entirety, has so much clout that other developers practically fall over themselves to get their characters included. This means that beloved third party characters as diverse as Cloud, Sonic, and Bayonetta can appear alongside Nintendo favorites like Mario, Link, and Pikachu.

As such, fans spend months––even years––speculating about which new characters might be included in upcoming DLC releases. Better yet, Sakurai almost always delivers––he's a huge gaming fan and has a knack for including surprising characters with interesting play styles. On top of including every character from every previous Smash game in the latest installment (alongside a bunch of new faces), the DLC Fighters Pass promised to add five more secret characters to be released over the year(s) following the game's 2018 release.

Four of those characters were added in 2019––Joker from Persona 5, the Hero from all the Dragon Quest games, Banjo from Banjo-Kazooie (a top fan choice for years), and Terry Bogard from King of Fighters.

Then, at long last, it was time for Sakurai to reveal the final DLC character. Would it be Dante from Devil May Cry? Sora from Kingdom Hearts? Or perhaps Genos from Mario RPG?

Nintendo

"WE LOVE BYLETH FROM FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES," declared the entire Smash fandom in unison. Sakurai had done it again, choosing the perfect character!

Or...wait.

No, never mind. The Smash community, as usual, is having a big temper tantrum, hurling insults at Sakurai and downvoting en masse because they didn't get whatever character they decided they were owed.

To be fair, some level of disappointment is understandable. Byleth is the 8th Fire Emblem character to be included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (after Marth, Roy, Ike, Lucina, Robin, Corrin, and Chrom), putting it roughly on par with Pokemon for playable character inclusions. Although, also to be fair, the Fire Emblem franchise is one of Nintendo's top-selling properties and, more importantly, every prior new-generation Fire Emblem game has had their lead character feature in Smash. With the recent release and success of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Byleth was practically a certainty.

Even so, disappointment with a character's inclusion isn't an excuse to lash out against a game's director––something that many a gamer fails to grasp. It's awesome to get the thing you want in a video game, but nothing is owed to you. If you don't like the new character, don't buy them as DLC. If you pre-purchased the DLC, fully understanding the nature of secret characters set to be revealed later, and don't like the ones that were included, too bad––you knew the nature of that purchase when you made it.

So let's get one thing straight:

Disappointment and even memes making fun of Byleth = Fine.

Attacking Sakurai or trying to ruin the enjoyment of other people who are happy about Byleth = Not Fine.

Of course, plenty of other Smash fans are firing back at the more toxic members of their community.

Imagine actually thinking that Sakurai, one of the hardest working game directors possibly in the history of the medium, should be fired because you didn't like a character he included as an extra for the game. The entitlement is astounding.

Oh, and Byleth wasn't even the only reveal. At the end of the Nintendo Direct, Sakurai announced that six more characters will be added in a new second Fighter Pass. Also, Smash will be adding a new Mii Gunner skin that essentially allows users to play as Cuphead. But yeah, Sakurai should definitely still be fired because some Internet babies are pissed.

Stay mad tho.