Johnknight1 said:
Is Professor Layton owned by Nintendo or not=??? If so, I think Professor Layton has a shot, definitely. If not, then think we can pretty much eliminate Professor Layton.
I wished, but he isn't.
Johnknight1 said:
Well the Brawl roster was finalized or near finalized according to Sakurai, which is about a few months before Diamond and Pearl came out. With 2 games, Sakurai will probably take longer to choose characters. Add about 6 months to the length he had in Brawl to finalize the roster, and I think a 6th Generation Pokémon gets strongly "considered.
Add into the fact that the Pokemon Company plans very far ahead into the future. If the first episode of Pokemon doesn't have fans realize that, nothing will.
Johnknight1 said:
The character poll may not have cut characters. If so, I think the frontrunners of that would be Ridley and Mega Man. Sakurai may also be "moving on" from Roy and Mewtwo.
I'd add K. Rool to that list of most popular newcomers, since it is regularly mentioned worldwide (probably the newcomer most people are okay with in Japan).
Also, remember that this will be a write-out like it was in Brawl, so they will ask for Mewtwo a lot.
Johnknight1 said:
Anything could happen. I don't remember Lucario having any competition (Deoxys early on, maybe=???). His popularity made the "competition" insignificant.
It could, but as you said, Lucario had no serious competition. 5th gen is a whole different climate in which the contest seems to be between Zoroark and Victini, so the fan base will be split between the two.
SmashChu said:
Which is why I'm on the fence for him. The problem is that Lucario was also a popular Pokemon. Zoroark was promoted but didn't catch on. But I'm still thinking there will be a 5th gen rep because of the popularity of the game. Another idea I had was a second trainer in N with the starters (N is the most popular human character and the starters are among the most popular and very highly promoted).
Most popular Pokemon
I think the reason why Zoroark never reached the height that Lucario did was because it tried to ride off Lucario's popularity. This has helped it become popular, but I think the Pokemon Company focused way too much on him being the next Lucario. It doesn't help that he was an Event Pokemon in Black & White. Perhaps that is why I am not completely sure on him being the 5th gen mascot of this gen (especially since there's still just under three years left for this gen) and why in Japan, Zoroark is almost always referred to as a Lucario replacement.
For the N idea, I like it, but I don't think N with the Unova starters is appropriate. He should use his own Pokemons instead. However, they could opt for a Snivy/Pignite/Samurott team (my personal favorite for a 5th gen team).
As for the poll, I don't think there's much to say about it, especially considering that it was done over half a year ago (before Victini's movies), except that it is interesting to see that neither of the two most popular choices are very high up the list.
But all of this is early. 5th gen has not fully matured yet and we do not know the full extend of the impact Zoroark and Victini makes on the 5th gen.
Johnknight1 said:
Hopefully the roster is big enough for the 6 Brawl Pokémon, Mewtwo, and a new Pokémon. Sakurai always finds a way to please us, 2 or 3 character decisions per game aside.
The franchise is ever expanding with new characters, Mewtwo is relevant again, and Lucario is highly likely to be seriously considered for a return since Sakurai did state he liked all of his characters in Brawl. Brawl should have made an obvious indication that Sakurai cares more for characters then he does for representation (and Melee as well), so I am finally starting to see six slots as a serious possibility.