During the special Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct that took place earlier this month, Nintendo revealed that the game’s first post-launch roster addition was to be none other than…Piranha Plant. This was quite a shock to almost everyone looking forward to the game (including Waluigi fans), and for good reason: Piranha Plant is likely the last character you’d expect to join such an impressive lineup of characters. That said, Nintendo is sticking to its guns, and the game’s director has defended the decision to add Piranha Plant to the game.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai was asked how he felt about surprising fans with the inclusion of the leafy character. “I’m not actually paying too much focus on the surprise element when we introduce a new fighter,” he said. “The surprise element quickly fades once the announcement has been made.”

Rather, I believe it’s important to have a good balance as a game. In the past titles in the series, Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B. and Duck Hunt Dog were some of the examples we offered outside of people’s typical expectations. However, if we don’t have these types of fighters, and we only had typical ‘hero/heroine’ type fighters in the lineup, there’s not much difference. It’s probably not very interesting. Correct?”

Sakurai finished by saying, “Also, unlike some main characters from some (not widely known) franchises, Piranha Plant is a character everyone knows well. And, I want to make sure to remind everyone that it is a limited-time offer fighter everyone can get for free as an early-purchase bonus.”

So, love it or hate it, it appears that fans are stuck with Piranha Plant, which isn’t too terrible unless, as I previously mentioned, you’re a Waluigi fan. He may not be in the roster, but he’ll always be in our hearts.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches for the Nintendo Switch on December 7th, 2018.

So, thoughts on Nintendo’s reasoning behind Piranha Plant? Which other characters would you like to see added to the game post-launch? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!