OK, I haven't posted on this sight for quite some time, but it seems like this is a pretty big hot button issue. So let me give my 2 cents worth.
First of all, let me just say, if you don't like a character, there's frankly no need to get vulgar, even if you are understandably upset. Keep in mind, massive amounts of effort was put into this game, and everything is there for a reason. Don't hate Sakurai out of childish selfishness.
With that said, let me explain why R.O.B is in fact an important figure in Nintendo's history. Prior to the North American release of the NES in 1985, the home console market in the the US was virtually non-existent after the Atari flop, along with other little known consoles. Nobody wanted to open that can of worms for fear of massive profit loss. After the success of the 1983 Japanese release of the system, known there as the Famicom, Nintendo decided to take the risk, as we all know. However, they needed the support of an American company (can't remember the name) for marketing and manufacturing purposes.
The only way to get the Americans on board was to present a cheap way to test its potential as a successful product. The plan was to test the product on a smaller, regional market: New York City. When the NES was first placed on shelves, it was only advertised and sold in NYC. However, the manufactures did not feel that that was enough, since there was still the problem of getting the NY'ers to buy the console. Even on the smaller scale, no one in the US was buying consoles. They needed something else. A gimmick of sorts to get NY'ers to buy the system.
R.O.B.
Ah, the moment we've all been waiting for. Already a peripheral in Japan, no new design was needed, and it already had mass production, so it was cheap. But so what? The American manufacturers felt that just selling the system buy itself would not work, so R.O.B initially came with the system. So not only do people see console, they also see this funky little robot. Without R.O.B. in the deal, there is a good chance the NY test run would never have happened. The Americans just didn't want to take that risk.
No test run, no North American release. The video game world would be massively different. the USA in now the #1 videogame market in the world, and #3 in terms of the proportion of population buying videogames, after Japan and South Korea. Sure, videogames probably would have caught on later, but things would be very different. No X-Box (though I am not a fan, there are many who are), no Master Chief, no Guitar Hero, or other various American produced games. 007 on the 64 probably would have sucked. And so on. Without the Americans involved in the video game competition, as well as a huge market audience, the video game industry would not have accelerated as fast as it has.
But the NYC test run was a success, and the American market was opened. The NES was released nationwide, an the rest history. All because the Robotic Operating Buddy sealed the deal for some fidgety marketers. And it probably did help quite a bit with the test run. Talk about the little robot that could. In my opinion, the only character in Brawl more important to Nintendo's success than R.O.B. is the big cheese himself, the Italian plumber supreme, Mario, and his first rival, Donkey Kong (who actually almost bankrupted Nintendo over copyright issues). Even though it pains me to say, I feel it beats out the Legend of Zelda in importance (my all-time favorite series). Its just that R.O.B. never got the red carpet treatment. Which is fine. He served his purpose.
However, Smash Brothers primarily is, and always was, a shrine to Nintendo's best and brightest. I think its about time the little robot got the attention it deserves.
While I am disappointed that Ridley and Megaman are not in, thats OK. Megaman would need serious business shinanigans to ever make it, like Sonic, and Ridley is only a supporting character to one of Nintendo's second tier Super Mascots. Same as Krystal, only even more so. But the fact is, they just do not have the impact R.O.B. did, even if they are more visible and memorable.
Combined with the fact that R.O.B. actually was quite popular in Japan, the second largest (and probably more important to the developers) market in the world, I think it makes sense to put the robot into the game. I for one am quite excited to see how this unique, not-traditional character will play. I'll probably try it right after Link and Sonic. And maybe Snake, who I initially thought was a mistake, but have since seen the err of my ways.
Please stop complaining and give both Sakurai and R.O.B. the respect they deserve.
