Loz18

### Current Status

Account Closed (GameFAQs and Twitter),Ghosting everywhere else (last seen in November 2018 on SmashBoards)

**loz18** (or simply **Loz**) was a GameFAQs user who gained notoriety after they posted an accurate leak on the upcoming *Super Smash Bros.* installment for Nintendo Switch (later titled *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*) shortly before its formal showcase at E3 2018. During base game speculation on the upcoming title, Loz18 started gaining attention as a leaker, with more information being dropped by him over the next couple of months. His credibility became questionable after several of their claims were proven false during the August 2018 Smash Direct, and he became largely seen as a fraud the following month, after both the revelation of some questionable behavior and the general Nintendo Direct that month further debunking his claims. Regardless, Loz would still remain on people's minds until November 2018, in particular due to his relationship with the support for Skull Kid from *The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask* as a fighter. In the present day, Loz18 is mainly remembered as a fake "leaker" who ended up riling up certain parts of the community with his false information.

### Background and History

On June 11, 2018, one day before the next installment of Super Smash Bros. was promised to receive a full reveal during a Nintendo Direct as a part of E3 2018, Loz18 made a thread on the game's discussion board on GameFAQs, making claims about the upcoming title. These included Inkling's Special Moves, changes made to several of the Zelda characters, and most notably that every single character would be back in the new game. [1] While other users were quick to dispute his claims, all of his information was revealed to be correct during the 25 minute presentation of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate the following day. His post gained a fair bit of attention from the wider Smash community due to its accuracy, and Loz18 had begun to be seen as leaker by some. Over the next several months, many would see them in a similar light to Vergeben, another user on the site who had proven to be accurate on several fronts with Ultimate.

Over the next couple of months, Loz18 would post more information that apparently pertained to then-unrevealed content from the new game. His claims included that a Nintendo Direct would occur in August, the start screen would be shown off for the first time, and four modes would be revealed (including a supposed "Tournament Mode" and All-Star Mode). [2] In late July, he also claimed there would be a cutscene with involving a "Heroes vs. Villains" theme. One notable development came at the start of August from the revelation of leaked private messages between Loz18 and Vergeben discussing about how their sources seemed to disagree on whether or not a *Donkey Kong* newcomer would be in the base game (with Vergeben's claiming no, despite his own doubts). The answer became a clear yes upon the reveal of King K. Rool as a newcomer. Other users debated over these apparent messages and how they reflected on the credibility of both leakers. The two would eventually end up at odds, with Loz claiming that Isabelle, leaked by Verge the month before, would not be a part of the roster. While his credibility was initially aided further when a Smash-centric Direct was indeed confirmed for August, the other information Loz had provided about the contents of said Direct seemed far more questionable once it actually aired. Regardless, he at least been somewhat right on some fronts (specifically on the inclusion of Tournament Mode and the menu being shown). While some seriously questioned if he still had any actual credibility, others continued to believe his further claims.

One of Loz18's most well-known claims would come when he stated that Skull Kid would be one of the newcomers coming to Ultimate, along with more Echo Fighters. [3] The character's wider attention in Smash speculation closer to Ultimate's release could largely be credited to those who continued to believe Loz18 indeed had insider information to some degree, even as his credibility continued to drop. Not long after the August Direct, he would end up closing his account on GameFAQs, but he would later claim further on his now-suspended Twitter that Isaac from *Golden Sun* and Dixie Kong from the *Donkey Kong* series were also likely to be playable. A major event (known by some as The Night of Loz) began when comments from Loz18, backtracking on the previous confidence he had shown towards Isaac's inclusion, were leaked onto GameFAQs from a Discord server known as Mimique Valley. A thread titled "Loz18 has spoken!" was created by a user known as SmashInsideNews, later being verified by SmashBurb, who had been invited to the server by a mod who was wary of Loz. Leaked DMs revealed that Loz18 claimed to be an employee at Nintendo who worked a variety of roles, an idea that seemed easy to doubt, especially with no actual evidence. A huge conflict began involving users on GameFAQs and the aforementioned server, with more footage from the server being leaked that night and several users later being suspended either temporarily or permanently. (RotoM1293 in particular received a temporary suspension for posting an edited Loss meme inspired by the incident.) Shortly before the September Direct's delayed airing (from the 6th to the 13th due to earthquakes in Japan), Loz18 would post a supposed leak about the contents of the Direct. It would not only be proven to be wrong, but his credibility was hurt even beyond that when Isabelle, who he had previously denied being playable, was the sole Smash newcomer revealed.

After the Mimique Valley incident and Loz's fake September Direct leak, the overwhelming majority would see him as a fraud. While some members of the support bases for the characters he had previously given credibility continued to hold onto believing Loz18's claims despite his questionable validity, his career as a trusted leaker was basically over at this point. In the November 2018 Smash Direct, Ken and Incineroar were confirmed to be the final fighters on the base roster, proving wrong all of the characters that Loz18 had previously implied were to be playable. To further cement his claims as false, both Isaac and Skull Kid were confirmed to only be returning as Assist Trophies (during and after the Direct, respectively). One of his last sightings was on Smashboards, where he was directly called out in the Skull Kid support thread by SmashBurb for the false information he had previously provided. [4] With all of his accounts ending up abandoned and his remaining claims proven to be wrong, the story of Loz18 came to an end.

With his fame short-lived, Loz is primarily remembered in a negative light for giving misleading information after his initial success from his first (and essentially only) leak. It is believed by many people that he indeed had gotten hold of an actual source with correct information from the E3 2018 presentation of Ultimate, but afterwards he just piggybacked off the attention he got from his initial accuracy, knowingly giving false information to prolong attention towards him. Some speculated that he had actually been fed false information after initially receiving correct information from his apparent sources, but there is no actual evidence to this and it's more likely he had just relied on lucky guesses. Regardless, as a result of most of his information indeed being largely inaccurate to the final product, Loz18 is largely remembered as a perfect example of a fake leaker by the majority of those who still care to remember him.

### Claims

#### Pre-E3 2018 (all accurate)

* All previous Smash characters would be playable in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game, with specific mentions to Young Link, Wolf, Pokémon Trainer, Pichu, and Ice Climbers.
* Inkling would have Super Jump for their Up B, Tentakek Attack for their Neutral B (called Splattershot in the final game), and Bomb Attack for their Down B (called Splat Bomb in the final game). Their ink would also be rechargeable.
* Ganondorf would return to his design (called model by Loz18) from Ocarina of Time and use a sword in his Up Smash.
* Zelda would also receive a design change, this time being based off A Link Between Worlds.
* Link was not actually changed much, but he would receive his Remote Bombs from Breath of the Wild, with them also being able to roll unlike his bombs in previous titles.

#### Post-E3 2018 (far less accurate)

- * A Nintendo Direct would hit in August of 2018, featuring more information on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
		+ The start screen would be revealed, along with a tour of the menu.
		+ Four modes would be shown off, including a "Tournament Mode," All-Star Mode, and a new mode designed to unlock fighters. (No further information was given on the supposed fourth mode.)
	* The game could potentially have a "Heroes vs. Villains" theme based on "cutscene scripts." This claim was likely based on one of the earliest fake leaks that circulated for Ultimate, which also claimed the game would have a "~~Heroes vs. Villains" theme.~~
	* Skull Kid was likely to be playable, along with more Echo Fighters beyond the ones confirmed up until the August Smash Direct.
	* Continuing the Majora's Mask representation, Young Link's Final Smash would be reworked to include Fierce Deity Link.
	* Isabelle would NOT be playable.
	* Though he originally stated on GameFAQs that Isaac would not be playable, he later changed his mind after migrating to Twitter and began suggesting that Isaac would be playable, even posting a GIF of the Judgment djinn's summon animation from Golden Sun, labeling it as a Final Smash.
		+ He further complicated things on Discord, as he'd once again say Isaac is not playable, and when that claim started to circulate outside of Discord, he once again changed his mind and said Isaac was playable.
	* Dixie Kong had high chances of being included, with others assuming her to be one of the Echo Fighters he had alluded to in the past.
	* He made several claims about the upcoming September 2018 Nintendo Direct that were ultimately false to varying degrees.
		+ The Direct would be exactly 38 minutes and 16 seconds. *Somehow*, this was the closest of his claims to being accurate, with the actual version of the Direct being exactly 38 minutes and 12 seconds.
		+ 8 minutes would be devoted to Nintendo 3DS titles. In the actual Direct, only about five minutes was devoted to this section.
		+ A presentation on Nintendo Switch Online would be shown before Smash news. The actual presentation was placed early on in the Direct, while Smash was the final part of the Direct along with a teaser for the next *Animal Crossing* title for the Switch (later subtitled *New Horizons*).
		+ The Smash logo would pop in before "two familiar faces" would appear. Even beyond his previous denial of the character's inclusion, Isabelle's trailer in the Direct did not feature either the logo fade-in or anyone other than Isabelle at the start.
			- Though the messages have been lost, loz18 posted a synopsis for a Skull Kid reveal trailer on Discord, which started off with a battle between Young Link and Skull Kid (and ended with Fierce Deity Link being revealed as Young Link's then-unseen Final Smash). While he never framed the Skull Kid trailer as being leaked information, it's highly likely the Smash reveal trailer he was referring to in the Direct leak was meant to be the Skull Kid trailer he had described (With Skull Kid and Young Link being the "two familiar faces" he alluded to).
				* Coincidentally, the reveal trailer for Sephiroth ended up being quite similar to his Skull Kid synopsis trailer. While the idea of a villain's newcomer trailer being centered around fighting their heroic archenemy isn't exactly hard to think of, it was the idea of a veteran's new Final Smash being revealed in said newcomer's trailer that stands out for coming to fruition (in this case, Omnislash Ver. 5 for Cloud in his *Advent Children* costumes).

### Trivia

* Loz18's username is seemingly a mix of a common abbreviation of *The Legend of Zelda* (LoZ) and the number 18 (which could relate to 2018, but was likely a coincidence).
	+ This information could be considered somewhat fitting considering that some of his most notable claims included changes to Zelda veterans (accurate) and the inclusion of Skull Kid in the final roster (inaccurate).
* Outside of his "leaked" characters, Loz18 apparently supported the idea of Hilda from *A Link Between Worlds* being Zelda's Echo Fighter.