How will Sakurai represent other franchises? What is he planning for the characters?

[_the_sandman_]

Sakurai is a very smart guy. I don't think anyone has thought of an item like the assist trophy and he clearly had the item completed long ago (With the dog in a video). But from what I have read he seems to want to represent many franchises out there. So how exactly will he do that?

Assist trophies are an obvious choice. But what if he wants to represent other franchises as playable characters? Samurai Goro was a favorite pick for an alternate F-Zero character, but now he turned into an item. What's to say he doesn't pick Wolf, Lucas, or Midna and turn them into items?

You really only need one character to represent a specific franchise. Some franchises have more seniority over others, which allows them to have extra characters for their groups. Mario, Zelda, and Kirby come to mind for this.

Lets say there will be 40 characters, and Sakurai wants to add as many series as possible as playable characters.
Now instead of having 5 Pokemon characters (Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Lucario, and Blaziken)
He only really needs 3 (Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo), that way he saves 2 extra spaces for other series he wants to add in.


This goes for all series of course. Zelda may be stuck with only 3 characters. (Link, Zelda, and Ganonforf) Earthbound, F-Zero, Donkey Kong Country, and various other series may be stuck with only one character as well.

With all of the extra space in the roster, he can represent tons of other franchises. Kid Icarus, Pikmin, Punch-Out, Custom Robo, Panel de Pon, Mach Rider, Balloon Fight, and dozens of other series will now have the space to fill up on the list.

Its not as crazy as some of you think it is. I mean why have WW Link when you already have 3 perfect Zelda characters to represent the Zelda series. Same goes for Mario (I'm looking at you Paper Mario and Bowser Jr.)

I don't think its so much a popular choice of who Sakurai will pick. I think he wants to rightfully represent as many series as possible.

 

[Doggalina]

I don't think its so much a popular choice of who Sakurai will pick. I think he wants to rightfully represent as many series as possible.

If it's not popular choice, then why in the world did Sakurai have a poll? I'll tell you why; it's because first and foremost, Smash is fan service. If Smash had generic characters, I can guarantee you that a forum with over 66 thousand members wouldn't exist. Sakurai will give people what they want.

Goroh wasn't even on the poll, so, in Sakurai's mind, he wasn't a "favorite pick." Black Shadow, however, was on the poll.

Sakurai also seems to surprise people. Just look at G&W and Icies; I don't think anybody wanted them in, but they got in. The guy seems to like obscure characters just as much as major ones, so anything is possible.

 

[_the_sandman_]

If I can recall, wasn't the poll list full of leftover characters? I know King Dedede and Krystal were on the list, and I believe those two have a better shot into the game than a character like Black Shadow.

Sakurai wants popular characters in, but he is the one that decides who will be allowed in the game. Just because people vote for WW Link, doesn't mean he'll let him in.

 

[Doggalina]

If I can recall, wasn't the poll list full of leftover characters? I know King Dedede and Krystal were on the list, and I believe those two have a better shot into the game than a character like Black Shadow.

If by "leftover" you mean "they almost made it into Melee"; then you're half right. DeDeDe could be considered "leftover", but Krystal can't; she didn't exist at Melee's release.

Sakurai wants popular characters in, but he is the one that decides who will be allowed in the game. Just because people vote for WW Link, doesn't mean he'll let him in.

If the public wants it, he'll probably put him in. Let's look at the poll that Sakurai had a long time ago for Melee:

Repeated rankings mean ties.

1. Bowser zomg in Melee!
2. Princess Peach zomg in Melee!
3. Wario zomg in Brawl
4. King Dedede He was at the top of Brawl's poll
5. Ganon (Ganondorf) zomg in Melee!
6. James Bond
6. Mewtwo zomg in Melee!
8. Banjo & Kazooie
9. Toad
10. Mew
11. Marth zomg in Melee!
12. Mr Saturn zomg in Melee! (as an item)
12. Ash - Pokemon series protagonist
12. Random Fire Emblemcharacters
15. Goey (Kirby)
16. Diddy Kong
16. SUKAPON OH MY
18. Random Pokemon (Pokémon... how random)
19. Metaknight zomg in Brawl!
19. Lugia zomg in Brawl! (in Pokeball)

Then, at the end of the poll, Sakurai makes some comments, saying that that top requested characters like Mewtwo, Peach, Wario, Koopa (that's Bowser, not the generic enemy)and Dedede were planned for SSB64 but they got problems. That's interesting for sure. It will be funny to know how pissed were the Wario fans after noticing that he didn't appeared in Melee, while Peach did. Lame.

I added my comments in bold. As you can see, what the people want has some bearing on his choices. Of course, Sakurai probably has his favorites. He also has some weird ideas; he is an artist after all.

 

[Wii4Mii 99]

Pikmin FTW!!1!1!/1

I think Sakurai will put in characters from the popular franchises first before characters from less popular franchises and clones like WW Link(a.k.a. characters that are somewhat similar to an already confirmed character)

 

[Florida]

Sakurai wants popular characters in, but he is the one that decides who will be allowed in the game. Just because people vote for WW Link, doesn't mean he'll let him in.

Yes, but Sakurai gets his decisions based off of the fans of the game. Characters that appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee were the majority of the poll previously. So I think it is safe to say that another majority of the characters in Brawl, will be based off of this poll. Also for characters like King Dedede, who was planned for the original (like Wario), but had some problems along the way: they will most likely make it in this time around (seeing that Wario has).

 

[Linari Sabre]

Idont think that Sakurai would choose characters based on series and not by popularity either

What i do think is that he is choose them based on more playable(if you kno what I mean)
Lets say that for Blaziken sake remember Charizard Blastiose and Venasaur in the previous games the starters Final forms of kanto, cyndaquil and chikorita but not totadile (srry for misspelling) for some reason of johto starters they probably keep up this type of tradition for new pokemon to keep it going alive instead of adding more pokemon to the playable roster this means that some character cant make it in because they dont fit roster of other characters

Just putting it out there

 

[_the_sandman_]

Popularity is important, there is no doubt about that. But there's a difference between a character that deserves a spot and a character that would be a popular pick.

Mewtwo for example, deserves the spot more than Lucario. He was the original best in pokemon, and he even had a movie based on his character. Lucario did have a movie, but his part wasn't nearly as epic as Mewtwo's.

Another example would be adding in another Fire Emblem character to the roster. We already have 2 on the list, Marth and Roy assuming neither are removed. But adding in extra Fire Emblem characters wouldn't really help out the roster list. The most popular, like Ike and Dark Night, wouldn't add much in diversity of series. But adding in a character like Isaac from Golden Sun would be a good add because he is from a different franchise.

 

[Linari Sabre]

Sakurai did put AT Knockng out many many hopefuls chances to be in the game

 

[KidSmash]

well maybe Sakurai recognizes the fact that many of us want many different characters in SSBB as playable, so he maybe created the AT to at least SEE the characters in the SSB fights

thats what i think

 

[Shuma]

Also Samurai Goroh wasn't in the Poll, and he isn't really an Important Character, we all know he is Captain Falcon's Rival, but Black Shadow is the Villain, the guy that always whants to destroy Captain Falcon etc etc.

And for FE, i guess they could remove Roy and Add Ike and B. Knight.

 

[_the_sandman_]

The list has a good group of characters on it. But that doesn't mean we should soley depend on it. Sakurai could easily put characters in the game that aren't even on the list!

I mean, where did the idea for Ness even come from? I never even heard of Earthbound until Smash64 came out. Seriously did anyone even remember who Mr. Game and Watch or the Iceclimbers were when they popped up in Melee? And if Pit wasn't a trophy in Melee, I'm sure he would have been forgotten as well. Now... how many Americans played as Marth before Melee? Probably not too many.

List or no list, he's picking characters from all sorts of places. Of course he's doing this with some serious thought. This may be the final Smash after all.

 

[the grim lizard]

I'm getting really tired of this. People clearly do NOT understand how ATs work. They are NOT like "Hey, here is an easy way to show the rep without having to through all the trouble of making a character playable!" Sakurai said that he and his team would work as hard as they could to get as many characters (playable) into the game.

The way I see it, Sakurai--being the fan-pleasure that he is--wanted to satisfy even more fans by placing even more characters in via AT. The ATs are a way to have even more character cameos that would otherwise have been absent from Brawl altogether. I don't think Sakurai downsized the playable list to accommodate for ATs; I think they were an added bonus. As such, I don't think he is "downgrading" any character truly worthy of slot on the roster to an AT.

I mean, where did the idea for Ness even come from? I never even heard of Earthbound until Smash64 came out. Seriously did anyone even remember who Mr. Game and Watch or the Iceclimbers were when they popped up in Melee? And if Pit wasn't a trophy in Melee, I'm sure he would have been forgotten as well. Now... how many Americans played as Marth before Melee? Probably not too many.

Ness: Earthbound/Mother was popular in Japan pre-SSB64's release.
Marth: Fire Emblem was popular in Japan, and he was a highly demanded character.

Now, Pit/ICs/G&W I'll grant you. No one requested them. Then again, Smash is "Nintendo All-Stars," and these characters (along with a long list of others...see here) are among those. The character picks aren't as random as you might think. SSB64's lineup was pretty systematic, in fact, picking the top 10 or so franchises to represent.

Besides, everyone knows that Smash is one of Nintendo's best means of advertising. Sure, a lot of us didn't know who some of the characters were in Smash64 or even Melee, but then we turned right around and bought their games. Genius.

 

[_the_sandman_]

Yeah, in a way the AT are very handy. They can represent favorite characters like the Hammer Bro.. Sakurai mentions that some characters like Samurai Goro just didn't make the cut into becoming playable.

Paper Mario, Wolf, Diddy, Tingle, and maybe even Balloon Fighter can at least be in the game through AT. I mean, we already have a Mario, Paper Mario would fit perfectly in the game as an AT. And Wolf is too much like Fox in my opinion, so he would be better as an AT so he can call out his comrades and fire away at the players.

 

[the grim lizard]

Yeah, in a way the AT are very handy. They can represent favorite characters like the Hammer Bro.. Sakurai mentions that some characters like Samurai Goro just didn't make the cut into becoming playable.

Paper Mario, Wolf, Diddy, Tingle, and maybe even Balloon Fighter can at least be in the game through AT. I mean, we already have a Mario, Paper Mario would fit perfectly in the game as an AT. And Wolf is too much like Fox in my opinion, so he would be better as an AT so he can call out his comrades and fire away at the players.

Diddy isn't going to be an AT; don't be silly. And I wouldn't count out Wolf or BF just yet either. They already have the character model for BF, and as for Wolf...Sakurai did say he wanted more villains; so who knows?

 

[Florida]

I'm getting really tired of this. People clearly do NOT understand how ATs work. They are NOT like "Hey, here is an easy way to show the rep without having to through all the trouble of making a character playable!" Sakurai said that he and his team would work as hard as they could to get as many characters (playable) into the game.

The way I see it, Sakurai--being the fan-pleasure that he is--wanted to satisfy even more fans by placing even more characters in via AT. The ATs are a way to have even more character cameos that would otherwise have been absent from Brawl altogether. I don't think Sakurai downsized the playable list to accommodate for ATs; I think they were an added bonus. As such, I don't think he is "downgrading" any character truly worthy of slot on the roster to an AT.

People are over reacting about the Assist Trophies. Has it ever occured to you people that the character roster is possibly complete? And the Assist Trophies are there for those who weren't able to make it into the selection, but are worthy to be in the game to some extent? I admit, I thought that Samurai Goroh would make it into the game as a playable character, but the fact that he at least made it into the game makes me a little more pleasent.

Paper Mario, Wolf, Diddy, Tingle, and maybe even Balloon Fighter can at least be in the game through AT. I mean, we already have a Mario, Paper Mario would fit perfectly in the game as an AT. And Wolf is too much like Fox in my opinion, so he would be better as an AT so he can call out his comrades and fire away at the players.

Characters as important as Wolf and Diddy shouldn't be an Assist Trophy, but that's just coming from my perspective. Assist Trophies will most likely include characters that are not as famous as other Nintendo characters. Such as the Hammer Bro., and the Nintendog.

 

[the grim lizard]

Has it ever occured to you people that the character roster is possibly complete? And the Assist Trophies are there for those who weren't able to make it into the selection, but are worthy to be in the game to some extent?

I actually do think that's the case. I think it's been done for a while, but he is doing a lot to balance those characters that are in the roster. In the mean time, he's adding the leftovers as ATs.

 

[insertnamehere]

My bet:

Music, Angel Land

 

[teh_nuke]

Seriously did anyone even remember who Mr. Game and Watch or the Iceclimbers were when they popped up in Melee?

I may not have heard of Ice Climbers, but how did you not know who GAME AND WATCH is??? While technically not a character, he was represented in melee as the most common iteration of the classic Game and Watch games. The Game and Watch series was VERY successful, and even more successful on the Game Boy with Game and Watch Gallery.

 

[CStrife187]

teh nuke, some people on these boards just aren't old enough to have been around during the revival of video games during the NES era, and probably never heard of GaW because they just weren't alive yet. I personally had several friends hoping for Pit in SSB, and I wasn't entirely surprised to see him in the trailer.

 

[_the_sandman_]

I have the Game and Watch Galleries, but I never knew who Ness was at the time of SSB64.

Actually there were several characters out there that had games I never played. Metal Gear Solid (though I played Metal Gear), Ice Climbers, Kid Icarus, Earthbound, Metroid Zero, and Fire Emblem.

Whenever a character is announced, whether it be 64, Melee, or Brawl, I go out and buy their games. Its nice to actually play their games and figure out how the character was made and why they were picked. I'm even going all out and played the games that had a trophy.

I have played a game that featured all of the characters so far, so now I don't feel cheap when I use a character like Ice Climber because I played their game. And I won't feel cheap when I use Snake, Pit, or Zero Samus because I completed their games as well.

 

[Xanderous]

Funny, that's why I played MGS as well. Loved it so much, played all 3 and the remake. It's the only series I hadn't played in Smash.

 

[_the_sandman_]

Now that I look at it, a lot of people are taking interest into Diddy. I think Diddy is going to have a hard time fitting into the playable character roster. Now I'm not saying Diddy will be a clone of DK, I know he is different since he has a jetpack and peanut guns. But out of 40 or so characters, how badly would some people want to use him? He doesn't have much to offer when it comes to being unique. I like Diddy but I think he still will have a hard time fitting in.

I'm not a Wolf fan, but the only reason I can see people wanting to be him is because he is a "bad guy". People tend to be into the whole dark aspect in a character. My opinion, why have a villain like Wolf when you could have Ridley and King Dedede? Wolf is too much like Fox. Sure he could have a completely different move set, but hes still like Fox. He has.... team Star Wolf, he's a canine, a Wolfen, hes the leader of his team, and in some moments hes a pretty nice guy. Too much like Fox to be unique, and his impact isn't great enough for him to represent the series.

Waluigi can't be playable, he never was in an actual game. He's just there to fill the quote for party or sport games. Nintendo can survive if they removed him from anything.

Krystal is questionable. She would be unique in the roster because she can have a staff. And she would be another girl on the list. But only so many Starfox characters can make it in.

Slippy is another good choice because he is dramatically different from Fox and Falco. Hes the ship's mechanic, so his move choices would be rather unique. Again, there can only be so many Starfox characters to represent the franchice so he might not be the top choice.

WW Link and Paper Mario don't have much to add to the roster. Its another Link and Mario basically. Even if they aren't clones, they still don't have much to offer as a playable character. Sure WW Link could use leaves or a wand, and Paper Mario could use a hammer, but they aren't that dramatic of an impact to actually represent the franchise. Sure they look different from the others, but if you want a unique look choose Viewtiful Joe.

Speaking of Viewtiful Joe, he would perfectly fit into Smash. All of his moves can easliy be transfered from his games. (Kind of like Mr. GaW) We're not sure which third party groups are being chosen though, so it might be even trickier for Joe to get in.

The Golden Sun series was a big hit, so Isaac should have a great chance. Plus he's a sword master who can use magic, that way he's different from Marth and Link.

Marth and Ike probably won't show up in the game at the same time. Marth has seniority over Ike, and there can't be two blue haired swordsmen. Why not choose someone unique from Fire Emblem like Ashnard to be an extra addition? A character using a giant ax and has dragon powers sounds good to me.

There probably won't be another Metal Gear character, I don't think Kojima wants to overdo that series. But if Sakurai allows him to add more characters, we might see Simon Belmont as an extra addition to the franchise list.

Sega will collapse if Sonic doesn't appear in Brawl. The last like.... 5 Sonic games have been disappointing. I'm sure a lot of people will lose faith in Sega if he doesn't appear. Besides, that franchise has been a rival to Mario for years!

Toad would be a good add, he has been in every single Mario game. They could use him as another representative for the Mario series and change Peach's terrible B attack. Other than Toad, I can't see any other Mario character showing up. A Jr./Shadow Mario character would be cool but that was for only one game and Jr. pretty much disappeared from the major Mario titles. Toad was the strongest in SM2, so he would be strong AND small!

Lucario isn't that big of an impact for the Pokemon series. People claim he has a movie, and I have finally seen it. The movie is actually about Mew mostly, and Ash even manages to beat up Lucario. Lucario isn't even a legendary, saying he should be in the game is like saying Alakazam should be in the game. You really want a pokemon that got beat up by Ash to be in Smash? Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Mewtwo all had some form of helping out the pokemon franchise. Lucario appeared in a movie, but he certainly was not the reason the movie was made. Using the movie is a bad excuse because Munchlax appeared in it, so why not suggest him? Lucario is just too plain to me, and he's too colorful to be a serious type of character. I don't think the Pokemon franchise needs another character on the list.

(If anyone it should be Squirtle since he's one of the original starters and he would have a sweet set of water moves.)

Megaman would be an interesting add because we would have another character that could copy moves. Maybe when Megaman KOs someone he gains a different B move from it? He has a plethora of abilities from his game, so making his character wouldn't be hard at all, and he would be rather unique. Plus the Megaman franchise is rather huge! People who claim he would be a clone of Samus are crazy, almost as crazy as saying Mewtwo is a clone of Samus!


I'll make another controversal list later! Lets have a debate about this! Remember, Sakurai probably wants to represent many franchises, so lets think about which characters are the best to represent those series.

 

[Hotshot672]

since were on the subject of having characters in smash to promote upcoming games, what about Dewy? he has a upcoming game called Dewys Adventure. Dewy is a water drop character, as small as kirby and has different moves depending ont he weather. Also, Nights has a new game coming out so what about him? Thoughts on this matter?

 

[Takeshi245]

I think they might throw in Raiden in the game for fan reaction. I'd say for unlocking him, you'd beat Adventure mode with him and what do you know, Raiden pops out of nowhere and you have to battle him. He would have a different moveset to make him his own unique character so he doesn't end up like a clone. I'm just throwing that in there.

 

[_the_sandman_]

That's a pretty bold move bringing Dewy out of nowhere. The concept is interesting, but I doubt such a character could make it into Brawl with that type of moveset. Besides, his franchise is basically dead, so it wouldn't be much of an impact if he returned. Ray 01 or Balloon Fighter appearing would be different because they actually have/had a working series.

I think Night falls in the same senario. He just didn't have that big of an impact for us gamers. He was on Sega Saturn after all....



As for Raiden, he would have a worthwhile moveset. But his character (from what I heard from many many MGS fans) is strongly disliked. One character is needed to represent the MGS series, and that would be Snake. I would like Ocelot to pop up though.

Maybe one of them could be an assist?

 

[Hotshot672]

yeah most likely

 

[Takeshi245]

Then again, if Raiden so strongly disliked, at least they have someone they would to beat up over. After thinking about this, chances are Raiden isn't going to make it because there could be only 2-3 third party characters coming to Smash. There's not a lot going for Raiden so the fans don't have to worry.

 

[Limey]

I'm personally really excited about the assist trophies. Like people have said, they're a way of fitting as many fighting characters into the game as possible, and while they won't be playable, at least they'll be in.

So far as i know, there's no final numbers on the roster, or AT's, so the possible number of franchises to be represented could be huge. I agree with the fact that bigger franchises such as Mario should have more playable characters, while characters from smaller franchises could make it in as AT's.

If Dedede is in i'm pretty happy, and the same goes for Issac. I love Golden Sun, so to have him would be amazing. They could have Felix and Garet at AT's. I'd be pretty happy about Sonic, if he got in, and the same goes for Viewtiful Joe. There's plenty of retro games that could be raided, for either playables or AT's.

This is slightly off topic, but AT's could easily be used to include characters from Melee who don't return in Brawl. It wouldn't be the most pleasing thing for people whose character was cut, but at least they'd be in the game.

 

[JPW]

List or no list, he's picking characters from all sorts of places. Of course he's doing this with some serious thought. This may be the final Smash after all.

Final Smash!....... Whatever!

Smash Bros. has quickly become one of nintendo's best franchises. And Brawl is probably gonna sell like crazy. There's no way Nintendo would dump this franchise. If Sakurai can't do it, hopefully they can find another.

Miyamoto or Iwata could even be a great consideration to overlook while one of Nintendo's faithful companies pick it up.

Besides has Nintendo rang the bell yet have they hung their boots on other best sellers? Mario, Zelda, F-zero, Fire Emblem, Kirby, DK, Starfox, Pokemon and Metroid series are still getting made.

Brawl may be the only one for Wii, but that's it in my view. You only need one Smash Bros. Game for each generation, and it should always be out in the first or second year of the console.

Anyway we're talking about AT's right?
I actually like this idea and it gives others who normally wouldn't have a chance to at least be included, and not upset people. And if they pull off a good variety of short moves and even popularity then they could be considered in future rosters.
And the last thing I want is too many characters, especially characters that could possibly never be used.

 

[_the_sandman_]

Its a bit off topic, but I can see the Assist Trophies are making an appearence on the thread. I guess its only fair to give some of my opinion about these new items since its been mentioned.

First of all, I think the ATs are a great idea. Theres nothing wrong with what they have had to offer to the game. Sure it might be a bit disappointing when one of our favorite characters don't make it into the roster, but at least they'll be in the game.

ATs can offer more from a certain series though, as we've already seen with Samurai Goroh. Characters like Diddy, Wolf, and Waluigi may have some qualities to become a character but they certainly do not have enough to really stand out. Other characters like Medusa, Hammerbro, and Pikmin don't really have any chance to become playable but they certainly can be added in as a great item.

Some franchises simply only need one (or very few) to fit into the roster. Take Captain Falcon for example, he could survive with only one other character from his franchise. One is enough from his series. Yoshi, Ness, DK, Iceclimbers, Pit, Wario, Marth, and several others may go into battle alone. But their partners/enemies may appear in the game as an assist.

Some franchise would work great with the ATs. If Sonic is in fact playable, it would be great to see Tails, Knuckles, or Dr. Robotnik as assists rather than being playable.

 

[JPW]

I'm sorry but I feel Yoshi, Wario and DK are still part of the Mario franchise. Course thgey have spinoffs now and then. But will still see these guys in the majority of Mario games. We should stop saying these guys have their own franchise. They're still part of Mario's world and should be counted that way. They just got spinoffs on the side.

 

[_the_sandman_]

Mario has never appeared in any of Wario's or DK's games. He has appeared in some Yoshi games but he never was a major part in the playable aspect. Other than Mario Party or a sport game, when was the last time you have seen all of these characters together?

Wario Ware, Wario Land, Yoshi Story, and the Donkey Kong Country series are all extremely different than the Mario series. Yes Wario may have started with Mario and still belongs to that franchise, but he has become his own character now and doesn't require Mario's aid anymore to sell a good game.

Why else do you think their symbols are different? These characters have split off into their own franchises and have been doing well for some time now. Besides, if it wasn't for the Mario series then Nintendo wouldn't be the same at all. The Mario franchise can have as many characters as they want, but since some have changed over time I think its fair to assume they are on their own when it comes to Brawl.

 

[Blobulator]

Mario has never appeared in any of Wario's or DK's games. He has appeared in some Yoshi games but he never was a major part in the playable aspect. Other than Mario Party or a sport game, when was the last time you have seen all of these characters together?

Wario Ware, Wario Land, Yoshi Story, and the Donkey Kong Country series are all extremely different than the Mario series. Yes Wario may have started with Mario and still belongs to that franchise, but he has become his own character now and doesn't require Mario's aid anymore to sell a good game.

Why else do you think their symbols are different? These characters have split off into their own franchises and have been doing well for some time now. Besides, if it wasn't for the Mario series then Nintendo wouldn't be the same at all. The Mario franchise can have as many characters as they want, but since some have changed over time I think its fair to assume they are on their own when it comes to Brawl.

Well if you want to get into technicalities then Mario has appeared in WarioWare XD either in 9-Volt's retro games or even a few of Warioman's. One comes to mind where you had to rub Wario, Mario, and Toad's backs with the stylus in Touched. Heh... Anyway those technicalities are kind of irrelevent and pointless, I get what you mean. It's like what was said about Mario appearing in some Yoshi games, but not a major element. Anyway...

I agree that some franchises shouldn't have too many PLAYABLE characters on the roster. The amount of Pokemon created through the years is just incredible, so it would be ridiculous to have 1-2 from each generation. Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Mewtwo sum up the franchise nicely. Nowadays I don't know who half of the pokemon are anymore. I know the first and second generation, and possibly the third by name. By now some of the ideas for pokemon are horrendous, and none of them are really memorable at all, atleast in my opinion.

Now I can't vouch for series like Metroid, Earthbound/Mother, and probably Star Fox either (only just bought Lylat Wars off the virtual console the other day, am enjoying it though), but series such as pokemon or some of the "oldies" like Pit, G&W, Ice Climbers, etc don't need more than one. All this considering many didn't even recognise them, let alone some obscure character from one of their games. Mario and such, however, are basically the face of Nintendo, and deserve a bit more even if some have split off alone more recently.

 

[Hotshot672]

Well if you want to get into technicalities then Mario has appeared in WarioWare XD either in 9-Volt's retro games or even a few of Warioman's. One comes to mind where you had to rub Wario, Mario, and Toad's backs with the stylus in Touched. Heh... Anyway those technicalities are kind of irrelevent and pointless, I get what you mean. It's like what was said about Mario appearing in some Yoshi games, but not a major element. Anyway...

I agree that some franchises shouldn't have too many PLAYABLE characters on the roster. The amount of Pokemon created through the years is just incredible, so it would be ridiculous to have 1-2 from each generation. Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Mewtwo sum up the franchise nicely. Nowadays I don't know who half of the pokemon are anymore. I know the first and second generation, and possibly the third by name. By now some of the ideas for pokemon are horrendous, and none of them are really memorable at all, atleast in my opinion.

Now I can't vouch for series like Metroid, Earthbound/Mother, and probably Star Fox either (only just bought Lylat Wars off the virtual console the other day, am enjoying it though), but series such as pokemon or some of the "oldies" like Pit, G&W, Ice Climbers, etc don't need more than one. All this considering many didn't even recognise them, let alone some obscure character from one of their games. Mario and such, however, are basically the face of Nintendo, and deserve a bit more even if some have split off alone more recently.

Its all about HOW famous you are. If you put a regular guy next to someone like steven spielberg, of course people will recongnize steven. Therfore, in terms of mario, all you need is no more than 4 characters. Mario, Luigi or bowser will be easily recongnized. But if you only give someone like samus, people would just go "Oh shes that robot chick." but if you put in ridely as well people would go " oh yeah shes Samus Aran, the girl that beat that dragon boss Ridley! " .In basic terms, its easier to give unpopular franchises more charcaters than popular ones. so you can remember them more easily

 

[_the_sandman_]

Fame and popularity can important when it comes to deciding who should be in Brawl (at least we can assume anyways). As Blobulator said, he couldn't even recognize half of the pokemon out there these days. Pokemon may be a popular franchise, but its the original characters that are the famous ones.

Samus and Ridley are also a good example when it comes to fame. Obviously Samus has appeared in every Metroid game, but so has Ridley. Of course we can also use such a rivalry with Kirby and King Dedede, and hopefully the King will become playable! When it comes to old school rivalry in Brawl, thats when gamers can get excited to have them duke it out in their own style.


On another note, franchises for the most part are very successful. So far every playable character in Melee has had a sequal to their games. A good franchise provides good characters and gameplay, which is why they were successful in the first place. Yes, Iceclimbers, Pit, and Ness have all had sequals in some form.

So a character like Ray (Custom Robo) or Sonic can get in since they both have had successful franchises. So in a way fame does really help out when it comes to becoming playable, but a good character design and moveset is also a factor that has to be considered when picking a character.

 

[Hotshot672]

true. but, what about Hogging all the fame? I didnt know who the heck Wart or Captain syrup was until they were more famous. i didnt know who they were because in some cases, if a character from one series is too popular, the others in that series get forgoten and people only recongnize Mario or Bowser or peach. when you first played melee and unlocked G&W did you know who he was or/ did you forget about him? Sakurai is the type of guy that brings old style back with new style, like he did with G&W, ice climbers, and Pit.

 

[_the_sandman_]

I agree, it is a great idea to being back old forgotten characters. Of course some of these characters are almost 20-30 years old at this point. Some of us have never grown up with a Game and Watch so it was a startle to see a character like Game and Watch. Other games like Earthbound and Fire Emblem have yet to be played by everyone by the time when the Smash games came out. Seriously, I had no idea what Fire Emblem was when Marth showed up.

Of course back then these games were popular to a certain degree. Why else would there be 39 Game and Watch games?


I guess everyone has went down their own path to gaming. Which is why certain characters seem familiar to some, but unknown to others. Yet this game managed to bring all of these characters together for all of us to see.

 

[Hotshot672]

yes. although, one thing im worried about is making millions of different franchises. take the first smash bros. you had the basic franchises like mario and zelda, but while the mario charcaters in the smash games continually increased and more were added, the others were left with one or two characters. Im hoping bringing in 1 or 2 more characters from the same franchise will increase their popularity and keep that particular series alive. like make 1 more f zero or earthbound characters, assist trophy or not. sakurai did say he wanted Balence in smash so thats good i guess.

 

[_the_sandman_]

I would like extra characters in certain series as well. Krystal or Slippy for Starfox. King Dedede for Kirby. Pico for F-Zero. Paula or Jeff for Earthbound. Ridley for Metroid. etc etc....

Some franchises are fine the way they are (Zelda), others could use a boost since they are basically dying at this point (Earthbound). The day a brand new character is announced that we haven't seen in a video is the the day we can finally guess more accurately to what Sakurai is looking for in a franchise.