I really wanna rep him just because I looooove Xenoblade Chronicles. Online on 3ds I lost hard with him and won alot with Ike so I just stuck with Ike, but there’s no doubt in my mind Shulk is more viable in the long term. Different Monado arts give him a lot of capabilities otherwise untapped, and if you watch that japanese Shulk he segues between them effectively.
Ike with custom moves is definitely a lot better than normal Ike. I wish For Glory mode included the use of customs. I would really just love to screw around with different builds and try new shit out. IMO, Smash 4 with the equipment / custom specials is the future of the series. Pretty simple and intuitive and a lot of room for creativity. Sucks how tedious it is to unlock that shit though.
also a quick shoutout to Shulk’s up tilt. Moves like that are what make me love fighting games. He has some beefy ass normals. Nair, Fair, his tilts and side B are all really fun moves. That Japanese shulk is pretty key with the up special too.
Depending on your view point it might not be considered good timing for Evo since it would be 3 months prior to the event. People already bitch that Evo has MKX which isn’t even out yet and by the time it does come out you have about 4 months with the game before Evo. I bet Mr.Wizard will announce SFV at Evo before the game is out yet and while people should bitch for the same reasons they bitched about MKX they won’t and scream hype instead. You should prepare for the full on double standard from the general FGC where they’ll demand that SFV should be at next years Evo.