Smashboards Mini-Recreates: The SSB Series Rosters

[KneeOfJustice99]

Job #14:
Seems as there'll probably be quite a few characters that spring to mind (some of whom have already been mentioned), I'll suggest some more... unorthodox picks.

Lip was a reoccuring candidate from the previous game's rounds, and still has some interesting potential as a mix between a retro/puzzle rep while maintaining her own visual and character identity that I don't really think any other character in Nintendo's library would bring to the table. Plus, while the Puzzle League series is by no means massively active by 2008, there is a reasonably recent Dr. Mario & Puzzle League title on the GBA in 2005 to consider...

While the Metroid franchise is in a... surprisingly decent spot right about now, I'm going to restrain myself from suggesting a Hunters character and instead propose a villain that's quite iconic to the series already, by this point - Dark Samus. Despite appearing as an Echo Fighter in our world's Ultimate, Dark Samus's Phazon-based abilities and boss fights from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes would lend to something really unique and visually striking. Plus, it'd be in a unique spot to really represent the Prime series specifically... even if there is a certain pirate from the series that I imagine people would also like to see.

Lastly, a bit of an oddball, but... Piplup is in a really good spot around now! Gen IV's one of the more recent ones at this time period, and Piplup - being one of the three starters from Diamond and Pearl - has by this point already developed quite the following, helped by a continuous anime presence. Plus, we've not really explored the water typing thus far - not to mention the potential that a funky little penguin brings to a moveset.

Obviously shoutouts to some vets, Ganondorf is one that really stands out on this front. I have a few characters I'd honestly like to suggest, but I'll keep myself tempered for the time being. (I'm not really sure how this round works in terms of whether this already counts as votes, but hey - if I can plant seeds in people's heads, that might be worth something down the line.)

Job #15:
Mario, Pikachu, Kirby, Marth, Fox. A weirder lineup, but I think it has decent logic behind it, such as...

• Leaves space open for us to showcase the unified "Triforce Trio" in (presumably) their new Twilight Princess designs as a big later reveal.
• Also leaves space for a big "rivals/villains" theme in future promotional material, after we reveal characters like Bowser, Ganondorf, etc.
• Has a variety of visual styles, while still keeping three of Nintendo's most iconic characters (Mario, Pikachu and Kirby) front and centre.
• Showcases that fan-favourite characters from both previous games' lineups will be returning (through Marth).

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

Job 14: My Most Wanted Characters

1. Ganondorf
2. Lucario
3. Bowser Jr.

Job 15: E3 2006 Veterans

 

[BritishGuy54]

1. Bowser Jr.
2. Ganondorf
3. Olimar

I’d like to see a take on Junior with more influence from Sunshine and NSMBDS eventually.

Job 15:

 

[TheLastMaverickHunter]

Most wanted newcomers:

1. Meta Knight
2. Ganondorf
3. Tom Nook

E3 2006:

1. Mario
2. Donkey Kong
3. Link
4. Kirby
5. Pikachu

 

[darkvortex]

1. Pit
2. Meta Knight
3. Ashley

Pit is a new series and fills the same role he did in the Brawl reveal, Meta Knight is the same, Ashley I think makes sense since Wario has been around since 64 here and would be deserving of a second rep and she is pretty popular, if recent at this point. I considered Isaac but probably makes more sense as a mid way through reveal.

roster thoughts:

Our melee roster is good though I might have held Yoshi or a clone off to get another series in there. Lots of fun picks. Had never heard of Celica before but I think she's a good opportunity to diversify our FE line up from here on out. I think it might have been too early for Daisy though if I'm honest. She'd probably be a really easy clone to be fair but I think she could could have waited.

In terms of brawl, I think keeping Sonic and Snake is a smart move. I think Snake is pretty important as he represents the start of outside non Nintendo -y characters getting into smash, something that would later lead to what we got in 4 and Ultimate. It may have been fun to instead use someone like Cloud or Leon Kennedy but it is what it is.

As for cuts in Brawl. I think DK JR. is doomed sadly, Diddy is coming and I don't know if we have the room to have both (though I wouldn't mind having a Diddy \ Dixie duo like was planned) other than that I could see Celica and one of the Pokemon leaving. I'd quite like to keep Black Shadow since we could always use more villains. I wouldn't mind us cutting one of our 64 picks (I'd say cut Mewoth, keep Mewtwo, just to stand out from RL).

Newcomers? I think Ganondorf is a must. Meta Knight too. We could probably also add Ridley here. I do want to add some new series to our line up. I don't think we need a third guest character right now but if we do I think Mega Man is the best pick, though this might be the right time to add Geno honestly.

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Marth
4. Kirby
5. Pikachu

1. Ganondorf(Let's hope he's not a Captain Falcon Clone in this timeline)
2. Pit
3. Olimar

 

[nirvanafan]

1 Ganondorf
2 Meta Knight
3 Andy

E3 Veterans

 

[LoZ00]

Job #14: Submit the Brawl newcomers:

1. Mii: so Miis were the hot stuff during the Wii era. They represented that time like no other character did. Therefore I think they should get their shot in this timeline's Brawl. Though personally I'd rather have them being based on the plethora of casual games they were available in, instead of going through the Brawler/Swordfighter/Gunner path. This way we can also save some space in the roster too, since Miis now only take one slot
2. Villager: yup, I'm aware that he was considered in Brawl but Sakurai had no idea on how to implement him, but that didn't stop me for the Miis, so I don't see why it should stop me with Villager. Villager is a cute and nice addition to the roster, it has a very distinct look and flow and definitely represents Nintendo extremely well. No wonder he was the first newcomer in Smash for. Also Animal Crossing was getting pretty popular at that time, I think, so this also helps.
3. Little Mac: I think that he is a great retro pick. Honestly, the idea of Nintendo having this somewhat famous bruiser joining Smash only in Smash for is a bit wild to me, as he would have been imo the perfect retro pick to start things off in Melee, of all things.

With these three newcomers I wanted to add new Nintendo series to the mix. So far, we only have 12/13 (depends on how you consider Yoshi) series represented, which is fine, but we should boost series representation a bit. Shoutout to Olimar, Isaac, and Nell too: they were very close to being nominated but in the end they lost to Little Mac and Villager (I knew beforehand I wanted to add Mii).

Job #15: Choose five veterans for E3
I'm going to play it safe and boring:


SURPRISE! Bet you were expecting Pikachu, were you not? Well, I've always felt that Pokémon kind of live in their own bubble, where they are indeed Nintendo characters, but a bit less involved than the other big names. This, along with my desire to have a female character and a villain in made me drop Pikachu for Samus and Bowser. I don't think anyone would question me on Mario, Kirby, and Link

 

[Louie G.]

SURPRISE! Bet you were expecting Pikachu, were you not? Well, I've always felt that Pokémon kind of live in their own bubble, where they are indeed Nintendo characters, but a bit less involved than the other big names. This, along with my desire to have a female character and a villain in made me drop Pikachu for Samus and Bowser. I don't think anyone would question me on Mario, Kirby, and Link

I’m actually gonna copy your homework on this one, because I feel similarly about Pokemon and seeing the outpour of Ganon support I’m convinced maybe this first trailer could have something of a “rivals” theme, which makes Bowser kind of essential.

And leaving out Samus is something I almost immediately regretted. I just wanted to deviate a bit so we didn’t all do the same thing, but we’ve got a surprising amount of variety going on.

 

[Northsouthmap]

1. Ganondorf
2. Meta Knight
3. Diddy Kong

Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Luigi

 

[Pupp135]

Here are the votes

Spoiler: Votes

Bowser Jr. 4
Diddy Kong 1
Little Mac 4
Ice Climbers 3
Ganondorf 19
Dark 2
Pit 7
Ike 1
Meta Knight 9
Ashley 1
Lip 3
Pokemon Trainer 2
Piplup 1
Lucario 4
Ray MK III 1
Villager 2
Tom Nook 2
Olimar 2
Andy 1
Mii 3

Ganondorf and Meta Knight are added to the roster.

I wonder, instead of going through the voting process should we just nominate five each and then tally up and see who shows up the most? I remember another one of these rounds where we voted on each other's proposals individually, but I think it'd just be more efficient to round it all up and go with the majority instead of listing off everyone's specific lineups... does that make sense? The last time just felt a little clumsy.

I think this probably is a better approach since it shows where the consensus is for selecting fighters.

Spoiler: Votes

Mario 11
Luigi 1
Bowser 2
Donkey Kong 1
Link 10
Samus 5
Marth 3
Captain Falcon 1
Kirby 10
Fox 2
Pikachu 9

Mario, Link, Samus, Kirby, and Pikachu remain as the E3 2006 veterans.

Job 16: Submit a Newcomer for E3 2006 that‘s from a Series without A Fighter. (Note, Ganondorf, Meta Knight, and Snake would appear in this E3 2006 trailer).

Spoiler: Ineligible Franchises

Game & Watch
Super Mario
Donkey Kong
Yoshi
Wario
Legend of Zelda
Metroid
Fire Emblem
F-Zero
Kirby
Star Fox
Mother
Pokemon

Job 17: Submit a Veteran

Spoiler: Eligible Veterans

Mr. Game & Watch
Luigi
Bowser
Princess Peach
Princess Daisy
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Yoshi
Wario
Princess Zelda
Marth
Celica
Captain Falcon
Black Shadow
King Dedede
Fox
Falco
Ness
Meowth
Mewtwo
Pichu

Then again, this does bring to mind whether or not we'll be covering Assist Trophy rosters. Although the potential for a third non-Nintendo character in Brawl does raise some eyebrows for the better IMO.

We’ll only focus on playable fighters.

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Thanks for telling me only the playable fighters will be focused on.

Job #16: Submit an E3 2006 Newcomer.
Considering my options here, I submit Pit from the Kid Icarus series.

And yes, I am also considering redesigning the character for a new generation.

Job #17: Submit a Veteran
I submit Marth as the other veteran for this trailer. I'm pretty sure we already have the big IPs marked down for showing the graphic capabilities.

 

[Perkilator]

Ignore this

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

Job 17: Captian Falcon

Cap. Falcon will back same on OG Brawl roster

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Job #016:
This job's a difficult one. We want someone big enough to stand on their own alongside Ganondorf and Meta Knight, but not someone who'll steal the show from Snake - a decently placed candidate who'll mesh with the darker tone of this E3 reveal, or maybe stand out for a unique vibe of their own. Hence...

Character Name: Sami
Character Origin: Advance Wars (2001)

Sami's in a really good spot this time around as a more realistic new face for the roster. Firstly - she's a popular and prominent character in a fairly well-regarded breakout series before Brawl's development, the Advance Wars series - which itself is essentially a new-generation take on the long-running Wars series of strategy RPGs developed by Intelligent Systems - the same folks behind Fire Emblem.

Specifically, Sami's a member of the protagonist Orange Star forces, acting as a Commanding Officer (which essentially means she's a prominent NPC who controls units on the field.) She's also got ostensibly the most militarily-themed look of the bunch - Andy and Max are ostensibly more mechanic-looking, and while Nell would be unique, I don't think her overall design is well-suited to combat in a more cartoony platfighter (yes, even Brawl is ostensibly pretty

cartoony.) Additionally, other characters from the series have a lot of potential - I'd love to see Sturm calling down meteors, for instance - but a protagonist of some kind makes sense, and despite Sami's role as a side character, she's logical in this role.

Additionally, she plays off the other characters in the E3 reveal trailer decently well. She shares a military theme with Snake, meaning a teamup of sorts where they do battle with Ganondorf wouldn't seem too out of place - but her slightly more colourful design than the other three characters would let her stand out, given she's likely to be unfamiliar to a lot of more casual fans.

That said, she'd also have plenty of unique moveset potential all of her own - most likely, we'd give her more of a "scout" role compared to Snake's "commando", being lighter on her feet, but relying on keeping her head and making good strategic decisions by perhaps commanding her Orange Star forces to attack on her behalf.

Overall, I think she'd be neat. Makes sense for the era, decently popular character, plenty of moveset potential, plays off other characters well.

Job #017:
Probably an obvious one, but I think King Dedede coming back would be ideal. Getting the Three Trouble Kings all together in the roster would be hella cool.

 

[Louie G.]

Job 16: Tom Nook

I'm gonna choose to double down on this one for now. I do want to push hard for Little Mac as well, but there's a reason I'm going to emphasize Nook.

Brawl's IRL trailer is very much a "cool" trailer up until the climax. Meta Knight, Pit and Zero Suit Samus are all portrayed as serious competitors. Ganondorf would be no different. And then Wario comes sliding in and changes the mood entirely, from serious to silly. So that's why I think Tom Nook would be a fun character to appear as the final newcomer in this trailer - since Wario is already in the game, we need another character to ease the tension and end it on a surprising and goofy note. It's a good balance to have, especially in contrast with Brawl's otherwise more rugged tone.

While it may strike some people as a bit early to bank on Animal Crossing, Wild World was already performing quite well on DS and the future seemed bright. There's a reason it demanded stage representation even without a playable character. And I choose Tom Nook over Villager, simply because my preference lies with more established characters over avatars - and at this point, he's clearly the face of the series. His tanooki tail may also give the team a bit more material to work with, so they wouldn't be as totally stumped for ideas.

Job 17:
We've got Ganondorf back, so let's get Bowser in here as soon as possible. Simple as that. Hell, Meta Knight is here too and while he's not a villain... he is at least portrayed as a rival of Kirby's in Smash. I think focusing on this dynamic for our main heroes is a strong way to kick us off, and perhaps a good framework to decide on some additional newcomers too. But we gotta have THE Nintendo villain here before any of that.

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

Job 16: Olimar (Pikmin)

Olimar will be the newcomer,and also same from OG Brawl roster

 

[BritishGuy54]

Job 17: Princess Peach

 

[darkvortex]

Little Mac
Iconic. I think he'd stand out as just a normal guy in a reveal trailer with characters like Ganon and Meta Knight. I honestly think he should have been in Smash earlier than he was and makes perfect sense for a pick around this time.

Job 17
Donkey Kong. After people waited to get him in the last game I think it's important to show he's back

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

Job 16: Mike Jones (StarTropics)

Job 17: Bowser

 

[Pupp135]

Job #16: Sonic
I dunno if he’s part of the roster officially but I feel like E3 2006 is a perfect time to reveal him.

Sonic would not be allowed unfortunately, and he’s currently the roster but as Sega approved of him later, he’d be revealed later.