Terry embodies what I truly love about Smash in the first place: getting to know and love a character from an outside series that I first learned about through Smash. I was not invested in anyone as I was with Terry, as I quickly became acquainted with KOF and love other fighting games immensely. He's incredibly faithful, with input specials and supers, which are insanely fun to hit. His stage is a blast, too, being an enclosed arena where people die off the sides only after getting hit hard enough. Although other characters may have sparked a bigger response, Terry will always remind me of what got me into fighting games in the first place.

Literally broke twitter, if that means something to you. Through his stiff animations and ability to not only craft but also build blocks, Steve is one of the most faithful Smash representatives out there. His character has a lot of tech and creativity, as well as a steep learning curve and high skill ceiling. No two Steve players play similarly, which is, in my opinion, the mark of good character design.

Kazuya is really funny. I don't follow the competitive scene much now, but it's hilarious seeing people complain about his TOD combos. I like his expansive moveset, but a lot of his more interesting moves do get overshadowed by EWGF. Still, it's fun to watch him as he is complex and takes a lot of skill. He's not broken, he's simply lore accurate.

I wasn't hyped for Sepiroth because I didn't even know who he was, but his trailer was awesome and his design is very interesting. Utilizing long range attacks with slow startup and often linear hitboxes, somewhat a mix between the Belmonts and Shulk in that sense. Optimal Sepiroth play is often slow and methodical, which I can always appreciate because it makes him hard to play but still entirely possible to succeed with. Actually has a balanced comeback mechanic that changes how you approach certain situations instead of just making him broken.

Have to say I'm a bit enraged that Joker got the Sakurai privilege in terms of overall content and gameplay. I think his kit is interesting, but Arsene is just way too over tuned. The least balanced comeback mechanic by a country mile. Still, I can appreciate the skill it takes to play him considering he relies a lot on situational awareness, and despite me wishing another character got his treatment in terms of content, I can't complain about that eye candy stage and bopping music selection.

I used to hate Piranha Plant, but now, I have a lot more fun with him. I still think his inclusion over ACTUAL characters is pathetic, but they really made the most of this weird addition. A lot of his moves feel good to hit, and he has a few especially broken moves, most notably Ptooie. He's a troll character and doesn't act like he's anything above it and absolutely excels at being a little shit.

Hero is fun in small doses. I don't mind most of the RNG elements, but critical hits on smash attacks are stupid. I think my main problem is just that he isn't very fun outside of his specials. His normals are all slow and most aren't strong to compensate. His specials are also hindered by mana usage, which is fair, but still hinders my fun with him. Would probably like him a lot more if some of his more insane specials were toned down while his normals got huge buffs.

I was originally really mixed on Banjo. I didn't really want him to get in, but was hype when he got revealed. Unfortunately, I think Banjo got the short end of the stick for his design. Banjo is just so boring to play and to watch. He's very well rounded, but isn't good at any particular thing. Mario is similar in this regard, but Mario is actually GOOD at everything, while Banjo ranges from decent to below average. Nothing meshes well together with him. Still, cool music and it is nice to finally see Banjo get some kind of content after all this time.

Sora is really boring. He's a combo character that moves like a slug and takes forever to do anything. I don't like watching him and I don't care for him as a character; he's a basic anime protagonist who has no defining traits of his own. If Goofy and Donald were with him, I would've thought it was the funniest thing, but I can understand why they're absent. The only reason he's not bottom one is because of this single clip from Coney that sends me into a laughing fit every time I watch it: https://twitter.com/Sexhiroth/status/1574310479581048833?s=20&t=MJkYgNKqSOr8kJ3L1OzPv

Pyra and Mythra are the most lazy example of how to make multiple characters in one. Mythra has stupidly fast moves, has one of the highest run speeds in the game, and decent damage, while Pyra kills you at 80% with a down air into up air combo. One is speed, the other is power. They work well with each other, but they're so incredibly overturned in their respective categories on top of the fact that you can instantly switch from one to the other. Just seeing everything they can get away with should be a crime, despite them being more "honest" than some other DLC characters. Most of Mythra's moves are unsafe but finish so quickly that you can't react in time to punish it, Pyra's aerials have the most range of any swordie while still having swinging arcs but also more power than Sepiroth sweetspots, etc. Unlike some other characters I hate, the idea is there, but this idea was already done better by Pokemon Trainer in this game, and even Zelda/Sheik in past games. Mythra also genuinely has the most annoying voice in Smash history.

One of the worst designed characters in Smash history. A zoner with limbs that reach across the entire length of an average stage would not be too bad in isolation. Watching players try to fight her can be interesting just because of how oppressive she can be. However, when you do finally get in, you STILL can't do anything because her close up options are far from bad. Dhalsim has a similar design in SFV, but he at least has characters that specifically beat him so you can switch to them as a counterpick. But Min Min? Arguably loses to nobody, except MAYBE some high speed characters. No character should be this oppressive at all ranges. Also tired of the "recovery bad" weakness. Yes, if you start hitting her, she has little to no way of escaping, and she's very easy to edge guard. But unlike someone like Little Mac, actually getting to a point where you can hit her is like navigating a narrow minefield with flippers on. I hope she never returns.

There couldn't be a worse pick to end the fighter's pass off on. I wouldn't hate Byleth as much as I do if we weren't assumed to think that the final DLC character was another Fire Emblem anime swordie. Although more unique than the others, I still find Byleth rather bland. This series will never recover from the oversaturation of anime.