In previous smash games, it worked because there were still about a year or two to first decided which Pokémon they were going for before they could get working on them and finish them on time. I doubt having a “Gen 8 Newcomer” placeholder would count as finalized, unless he lied a bit, and wouldn’t work as well in this scenario. There are many things that we don’t know about surrounding the whole “cutting Pokémon” such as: when the decision to not include everyone was made, how much this could’ve taken into account when it came to Smash’s DLC, if cut Pokémon will really come back, how many Pokémon are in Sword and Shield, and the main one being if Lycanroc is coming back? Which we don’t have as much answers for now.Ĭlick to expand.But Sakurai said that the DLC roster was finalized, didn’t he. I’d say Lycanroc not being in SwSh is something we have to keep in mind of first.

The Galar Dex and new Pokémon are always finalized around the beginning of the development to start production, and even then the Pokémon would still have to be decided one year ahead of time, which we’ve seen with the previous two Pokémon newcomers (among a some other examples) that the Smash team would rather wait until they’re closer to a new game’s initial release to decide on which one to include, since planning that early could unaccount for some unexpected changes. Click to expand.I don’t think the time frame that the Galar Dex was decided dictates if Gen 8 would get a newcomer.

Lycanroc dusk sword