I'm slightly frustrated that Smash is never going to embrace the western side of gaming

[volbound1700]

It isn't just Smash, it is all of Nintendo and this is why Nintendo will be out of the console wars in a couple of generations if they don't have a major change.

 

[GunGunW]

I think he could add some characters that are of western origin if they're popular enough. Rayman had a trophy in the game so maybe they'll make him a playable character next time.

 

[TJTheRager]

Yeah I was a little baffled by the Smash ballot "results" myself. (It's fine with me, I actually voted for Bayonetta too lol). Part of me thinks that: "Yeah it would be kinda cool if a western TEAM developed a title similar to Smash."
But the other part is all like: "That's what makes Japan awesome as hell because an original idea for what originally was supposed to be a 'multiplayer party game' became a casual AND competitive game."

*Shrugs* maybe Sakurai's kids will surprise us lol

 

[Morbi]

I do agree; however, there are only so many third-party character "slots" if you will (as Nintendo is quite obviously predominately Japanese). While Scorpion is perhaps more recognizable in the West, Ryu is far more recognizable world-wide. So he made a lot more sense despite his Japanese origins. The same applies to most third-party characters. Cloud is more recognizable than... I cannot even think of a Western RPG character that represents the genre to be honest. If a character developed by Rare made it into top five, we would probably have them instead of Bayonetta.

Honestly the only "missing" Western representative is Master Chief who has comparable popularity to most characters in the game besides Mario. Other than that, most "American" characters either do not gain traction or they have faded into obscurity.

So basically, could they have done a better job? Of course. Did they do okay? Meh. Is that a real problem? Nah.

 

[Erotic&Heretic]

Oh, also, about western guests, I have trouble imagining some in Smash. Except Banjo, Rare worked with Nintendo even after being bought by Microsoft.

Master Chief? THE Microsoft icon, and simply an Icon, but that's exactly the "problem".
Lara Croft? I know that we just got Bayonetta, but there's the "realistic" character problem. But everyone knows her, no doubt about that.
Rayman? Actually, he would fit well in Smash, and he got trophies thanks to the japanese exclusivity. He does have his chances, but I don't see him as iconic as the others.
Steve from Minecraft? Personal taste here, but just no, I don't want to see someone with worse animations than Brawl's Wario.

 

[LancerStaff]

I think he could add some characters that are of western origin if they're popular enough. Rayman had a trophy in the game so maybe they'll make him a playable character next time.

K. Rool's had a trophy in both Melee and Brawl and yet he's shaping up to be the next game's Ridley. Don't think he's all that likely.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

Part of me thinks that: "Yeah it would be kinda cool if a western TEAM developed a title similar to Smash."

But that already exists...







It's called PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, the Cloud-free Smash clone

I kid, I kid. After learning about the hardships the dev team of that game went through I feel bad for them, they didn't even get enough support from Sony themselves.


I wanted to add as well, for those feeling butthurt and acting like children towards Sakurai because he "ignored" Banjo & Kazooie (you know who you are): Is the concept of licensing rights just a silly myth to you? B&K belong to Microsoft, they aren't third party like Ryu or Cloud who are owned by particular developer studios that associate themselves with the big three, they belong to Nintendo's competition therefore having exclusivity on their consoles. A deal like that is EXTREMELY unlikely to happen, almost impossible, as long as Microsoft owns the franchise and they don't seem likely to let them go any time soon. Someone linked a tweet of Phil Spencer saying that he would be ok with that and saying that it was all up to Sakurai; that's cute. Do you think him saying he is "ok with it" gives Nintendo and Sakurai all they need to achieve the character's inclusion? They would have to go through meetings, paperwork, executives and aforementioned licensing issues that come with dealing with a first party character from a rival company; it's almost like the equivalent of asking Mario or Link to appear in an Xbox game. It is already bad enough that you've resorted to petty behaviour in the last couple of days but it is even more inexcusable when your doing it so out of an ignorant misconception you've made yourselves.

 

[GunGunW]

K. Rool's had a trophy in both Melee and Brawl and yet he's shaping up to be the next game's Ridley. Don't think he's all that likely.

K. Rool is an anomaly to me. With how popular he is, it's weird for him to be shafted so much. But who knows, Sakurai didn't see Villager as a playable character in Brawl, yet he changed his mind for Sm4sh. Maybe the same could happen with K. Rool, or Rayman, or even Chris Redfield! (wait, he was made in Japan?? Really???? Next you'll tell me Avatar is an American made cartoon...)

All we can do is hope for the best in the future, at this point that's all there is.

 

[TenZo | SSB]

Dude i despise there existence do you need to have sex with a obese overweight ugly chain smoking woman to know that you wont enjoy it?

I only play 2 chars anyway everyone else either sucks or is boring and weak...or both or all 3 !!
Its boring only playing as 2 chars u know...although i have no connection to Cloud he feel really good tbh.

Ha-ha you're saying that Ganon and DDD are good, their **** in Smash 4 as well as pretty much every game, Ganon is an infinetly worse Falcon and DDD has a down b that is complete trash, horrible frame data, and gimmicky kill set-ups like dumb luck-based gordo ****, Ganon is low teir and DDD is low-mid teir, Falcon, Sheik, and ZSS are all amazing characters that are also interesting, stop being a self involved little prick about character selection

 

[LancerStaff]

K. Rool is an anomaly to me. With how popular he is, it's weird for him to be shafted so much. But who knows, Sakurai didn't see Villager as a playable character in Brawl, yet he changed his mind for Sm4sh. Maybe the same could happen with K. Rool, or Rayman, or even Chris Redfield! (wait, he was made in Japan?? Really???? Next you'll tell me Avatar is an American made cartoon...)

All we can do is hope for the best in the future, at this point that's all there is.

Villager I imagine was excluded because Brawl was more "realistic." which you can see with Toon Link and Jigglypuff being the last characters in the data. K. Rool probably has any number of issues effecting his inclusion, from size to moveset potential to just being lumped in with Mario characters. Somehow I doubt he's that popular...

 

[GunGunW]

Villager I imagine was excluded because Brawl was more "realistic." which you can see with Toon Link and Jigglypuff being the last characters in the data. K. Rool probably has any number of issues effecting his inclusion, from size to moveset potential to just being lumped in with Mario characters. Somehow I doubt he's that popular...

I'm just saying you can't count him out completely because things change all the time.

 

[Erotic&Heretic]

Sometimes, I wonder if Donkey Kong doesn't simply suffer from being "too Mario", like Yoshi and Wario. This argument isn't really valid, considering that Wario had 2 AT, but they all lack content.

 

[DonkaFjord]

Let's see where to start...

Diddy Kong: Made by RareWare in UK as DK jr. redesigned but Nintendo thought it changed too much so asked him to become a separate character.

Punch Out/Little Mac: This was part of the games made specifically for a Western Audience by a Japanese team- some of the titles weren't even released in Japan! Other series made by this team includes Pilotwings and Startropics. (Also the Wii Reboot is done by the Canadian based Next Level games.)

Pilotwings: See above.

R.O.B. holds much more significance for the western world for being the 'Trojan horse' convincing retailers the NES was a toy after the video game crash.

The NES Zapper and Duck Hunt were similar cases to R.O.B. but this one was actually super successful, and along with Mario, appears in the Top 3 best selling NES games list.... Twice! (There was a DuckHunt/SMB dual cartridge back in the day.)

Tetris- A Russian made game where Nintendo's great accomplishment for having its rights for a while is adding the iconic Russian folk song to it, slapping it on the GameBoy, and introducing the "Grab bag" system. (basically you won't get a repeat piece until youve gone through a cycle of all tetrominoes.)

Luigi's Final Smash is also the Poltergust 5000 from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, another game by Next Level.

Then there are the games with a more notable Western Audience or History such as:
3D Metroids (Well mostly Prime. It is made not only by Retro Studios, but it also sells better outside of Japan. Japan prefers the 2D Metroids and Other M actually started off decently over there.)

DK Country. Rare to Retro, which ever studio you prefer since they both are western teams.

In terms of sales it seems that Japan has a stronger affinity for the 2D titles in the Mario & Zelda franchises compared to their 3D counterparts, but that is more of a 'Games that Japan likes a little less" than "Games that focus on Western tastes."

FFVII and Cloud are SE's posterboy because that is the first time FF became a widespread sensation outside of Japan.

----

We know James Bond and Banjo Kazooie ended up on Sakurai's "If there was a Smash 2" internal poll and Sakurai talked about adult circumstances being the reason they didn't make it in Melee.

We also know they are running out of Icons from Japan to slip into Smash-Nintendo & otherwise.
I mean what else do we have in terms of Icons?

The Poll actually had some pushes for some western and Western Centric characters as well- a lot of Western Indies, Banjo & Kazooie, K. Rool, Rayman, Etc.

We then have the Western Gaming Icons such as Lara Croft who honestly wouldn't be too out of place in something like Smash...
Or I guess characters like Crash/Spyro, but they are a bit less iconic or important to the industry's history- And she is owned by Square Enix now which shows how the world is becoming more global- focused. It really isn't cut and Dry anymore.

----

Too bad Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was a horrible disaster or it may have gave NCL more trust to let their Western Developers tackle more ambitious projects (It was NCL's fault too for the most part and culture differences) But it seems like Retro and NST are stuck making Metroid, DKC, and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong. I'd love to see some original IPs from these guys. (Hoping that is what Retro is working on now!)

I think Sakurai has a broader taste or knowledge when it comes to the western side of Nintendo than most of the big name Japanese game directors (He isn't the only one though- We have Kojima, Inafune, and Kamiya, etc.) and it is tough to try and please what is essentially 3 markets simultaneously. I don't think people give him enough credit for trying to decide what characters to add while keeping in mind different region's taste, adding new playstyles to the game, managing to try and add ore diverse characters, keep the franchise size reasonable to the franchise's interest, choosing fan favorites and surprising choices as well, etc. Making this list made me realize Europe and PAL get put on the Back burner more than Japan and America (We are the larger audiences,) but good on them for influencing the ballot so heavily.

As someone linked above- there were Japanese fans angry at Cloud for being "for the Westerns" and some angry for little Mac since they didn't recognize him at all or only from Brawl, etc. With a roster as varied and impressive as Smash 4's 58 characters I am sure you can find more than enough to please you. Not every character has to appeal to you, and that is alright.

 

[Neoxon]

View attachment 87834
It was all upto Sakurai...and he adds Bayonetta instead....sooo dissapointed i have 0 Respect for him as a developer and his choices i 100% dont agree with he is nothing but a bias and money milking mediocre delusional developer.

I bought so far Mewtwo (got free and early because i had both versions registered)
Lucas
Roy
Ryu
Cloud
All Stages.

Except Mario Maker.

And my DLC Purchasing stops there i dont want and would never purchase the new FE char or Bayonetta even if the were on discount for £1 each.

Or maybe, & hear me out on this one, Nintendo didn't want to aid the enemy by advertising one of Microsoft's IPs in Smash. Every single third party company represented in Smash 4 has been buddy-buddy with Nintendo as of late (for example, Square-Enix jumped on the Nintendo bandwagon as of the DS & are one of the first supporters of the NX Platform). Nintendo has nothing to gain from promoting someone that stands zero chance of ever coming to their systems.

The West got a number of requests. We got Diddy, Little Mac, Mega Man, Bayonetta (in Europe's case), Cloud, & Mewtwo. Now granted, Diddy is the only one who originated from the West, but that's just a matter of most of Nintendo's popular characters originating from Japan. Of course, there was Rare, but we all know how that ended. You want more Western representation, hope that either Retro Studios or Next Level Games makes a new IP that can stand out as a newcomer in Smash. Don't pin your hopes on characters owned by the enemy like Banjo, which was a fool's dream at best (I say this as someone who loved the crap out of Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie).

 

[Kurri ★]

Or maybe, & hear me out on this one, Nintendo didn't want to aid the enemy by advertising one of Microsoft's IPs in Smash. Every single third party company represented in Smash 4 has been buddy-buddy with Nintendo as of late (for example, Square-Enix jumped on the Nintendo bandwagon as of the DS & are one of the first supporters of the NX Platform). Nintendo has nothing to gain from promoting someone that stands zero chance of ever coming to their systems.

The West got a number of requests. We got Diddy, Little Mac, Mega Man, Bayonetta (in Europe's case), Cloud, & Mewtwo. Now granted, Diddy is the only one who originated from the West, but that's just a matter of most of Nintendo's popular characters originating from Japan. Of course, there was Rare, but we all know how that ended. You want more Western representation, hope that either Retro Studios or Next Level Games makes a new IP that can stand out as a newcomer in Smash. Don't pin your hopes on characters owned by the enemy like Banjo, which was a fool's dream at best (I say this as someone who loved the crap out of Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie).

Or maybe, and hear me out on this one, Banjo-Kazooie, legit did not win the ballot...

 

[Dark Phazon]

But that already exists...

Seems like the head of microsoft was cool with it...




It's called PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, the Cloud-free Smash clone

I kid, I kid. After learning about the hardships the dev team of that game went through I feel bad for them, they didn't even get enough support from Sony themselves.


I wanted to add as well, for those feeling butthurt and acting like children towards Sakurai because he "ignored" Banjo & Kazooie (you know who you are): Is the concept of licensing rights just a silly myth to you? B&K belong to Microsoft, they aren't third party like Ryu or Cloud who are owned by particular developer studios that associate themselves with the big three, they belong to Nintendo's competition therefore having exclusivity on their consoles. A deal like that is EXTREMELY unlikely to happen, almost impossible, as long as Microsoft owns the franchise and they don't seem likely to let them go any time soon. Someone linked a tweet of Phil Spencer saying that he would be ok with that and saying that it was all up to Sakurai; that's cute. Do you think him saying he is "ok with it" gives Nintendo and Sakurai all they need to achieve the character's inclusion? They would have to go through meetings, paperwork, executives and aforementioned licensing issues that come with dealing with a first party character from a rival company; it's almost like the equivalent of asking Mario or Link to appear in an Xbox game. It is already bad enough that you've resorted to petty behaviour in the last couple of days but it is even more inexcusable when your doing it so out of an ignorant misconception you've made yourselves.

 

[FamilyTeam]

No matter what happened or didn't: Banjo isn't in this game.
People should already have gotten over it, it's been, what, 9 days since the direct?

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

View attachment 89398 View attachment 89398

They would have to go through meetings, paperwork, executives and aforementioned licensing issues that come with dealing with a first party character from a rival company

meetings, paperwork, executives and aforementioned licensing issues that come with dealing with a first party character from a rival company

meetings, paperwork, executives and aforementioned licensing issues that come with dealing with a first party character from a rival company

 

[Big-Cat]

I think SF Zero is going to be released in April, but I could be wrong. I thought that Xenoblade was Japan-exclsuive at first, like FE was. I think Xenoblade came out in 2012, around the time when development for Smash 4 was being thrown around. If the April date is legit, maybe Nintendo will push for a DLC character to promote the game, but that seems unlikely. It will have been 9-10 years since the last real Star Fox game (Assault), so its a pretty big deal, in comparison to the sequel of Xenoblade, which was only a 3-year difference.

Its weird how I find out about these franchises through Smash. I had completely forgotten about FE until Brawl came out (which is understandable due to FE being Japan-exclusive up to the year prior to Brawl's release).I didn't really got the nature of Marth or Roy when they first made their appearances in Melee the first time around.

Actually, Xenoblade came out in Europe in 2011, 2010 in Japan. Hence why Shulk has a British actor. DLC featuring that series is unlikely, but I wouldn't rule out Elma for a future Smash title. At this point, don't expect any more character DLC once we get Corn and Bayonetta.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

One more bit of potentially leaked info for those still insisting to think that 3rd parties such as Banjo were "easy" picks that Sakurai outright "ignored" (Cause the guy is EEEEEEEEEEVIL, amirite?). A good degree of negotiation needs to be done.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/73017398?page=26

"4. Characters deemed "Impossible" were outright ignored.
These include characters that did not originate in videogames (Goku, Shrek), characters that had already been "deconfirmed" for various reasons (Ridley, Ice Climbers), certain 3rd party characters (the majority of indie characters and opposing console-exculsive characters, some did receive consideration though each fell to various obstacles along the way), and of course real people."

"I don't know all of the specifics, all I know is that most/all 3rd party characters owned by competing systems were initially placed into the "Impossible" category.
In spite of this placement, several of the companies owning the highest ranking of these characters were still contacted for negotiations to varying degrees of success. I believe that Cloud was actually originally ranked as impossible but negotiations unexpectedly went through. "

By miracle, Cloud pretty much happened. As for the rest, not everything can go swimmingly. Negotiations aside there are still other obstacles that cannot always be overcame such as licensing rights.

 

[TheFlyingCule]

Well the way I see it, it's not just that Nintendo ignores the Western gaming market, but Nintendo fans in general don't identify with Western gaming icons that much in general. Most notable Nintendo games are Japanese developed with few exceptions, and even then most of those games use characters made by Japanese developers (Retro Studios for example) so it's not really likely we will ever see much for Western developed characters.

Also not many Western video game characters are very recognizable aside from very few.

I do understand your sentiment though, as there are a lot more characters in this game that mostly appeal to Japanese gamers than before, but most of the characters in the game have worldwide appeal still.


Banjo tho :'(

 

[Foxus]

I tried looking for the thread about Wolf not making it in Smash, but couldn't find it, so I'll post something about it here.

A theory behind why Wolf got in Brawl of mine is because of Star Fox Assault. When did Brawl go into production? 2005. When was Assault released? 2005.

 

[Kurri ★]

I tried looking for the thread about Wolf not making it in Smash, but couldn't find it, so I'll post something about it here.

A theory behind why Wolf got in Brawl of mine is because of Star Fox Assault. When did Brawl go into production? 2005. When was Assault released? 2005.

Well considering Sakurai legit did say he prioritizes characters with games around the time of production, your theory might actually be correct.

 

[Dark Phazon]

WelP... for no metroid on the WiiU then...

 

[Pale Tuna]

I have not read every comment on this thread, so I am sure someone has stated this already but Sakurai, in a recent published Famitsu article said that while he does get criticized for the choices he make within Smash, it is only natural that not everyone will be happy and while criticized, he will keep pressing on to please the hearts of many. Cloud was used as the example within the article. While many do not like him, there is a huge fanbase around him and Sakurai did please them. This is the same for Bayonetta, one cannot please everyone. In my case, I was ecstatic when we got Duck Hunt Dog because he's so obscurely unique and superbly charming in his own way. My room mate in my dorm does not like Duck Hunt Dog at all and says he is a wasted character choice, though he is one of those guys who press for characters such as Sora in the game. Clearly, he is now using Cloud. But in any case, every character has some worth in them, sure, we hardly have any Western-based characters but do we really need them? Most of us can associate ourselves with the Japanese side of characters and continue to embrace the game with fun and excitement. I did not get any character that I really wanted out of the DLC but I do appreciate them all. Especially Ryu... but I'll continue to play the game and keep an open mind towards others interests.

 

[Foxus]

I have not read every comment on this thread, so I am sure someone has stated this already but Sakurai, in a recent published Famitsu article said that while he does get criticized for the choices he make within Smash, it is only natural that not everyone will be happy and while criticized, he will keep pressing on to please the hearts of many. Cloud was used as the example within the article. While many do not like him, there is a huge fanbase around him and Sakurai did please them. This is the same for Bayonetta, one cannot please everyone. In my case, I was ecstatic when we got Duck Hunt Dog because he's so obscurely unique and superbly charming in his own way. My room mate in my dorm does not like Duck Hunt Dog at all and says he is a wasted character choice, though he is one of those guys who press for characters such as Sora in the game. Clearly, he is now using Cloud. But in any case, every character has some worth in them, sure, we hardly have any Western-based characters but do we really need them? Most of us can associate ourselves with the Japanese side of characters and continue to embrace the game with fun and excitement. I did not get any character that I really wanted out of the DLC but I do appreciate them all. Especially Ryu... but I'll continue to play the game and keep an open mind towards others interests.

At the end of the day, I think Sakurai was going for characters one would normally not venture to guess from day one. Who would have guessed we would have gotten Duck Hunt Dog or Ryu. One might have guessed Wolf before they guessed Ryu,

 

[Conn1496]

I just don't feel this argument is a thing at all, but I can understand why it would bother people. I'm on the opposing end of the scale altogether. If I don't recognize a character it actually interests me more in getting to know them. I think it's a positive thing, and that familiarity of market is not naturally a problem. Personally, I feel when choosing a character, it's all down to what games you personally played regardless of market, or what characters just appeal to you in general, so area just doesn't matter.

I mean, one of my favourite characters in Smash 4 is Robin (Fire Emblem being a series I never played.), my favourite in Brawl was Lucas, and Marth (again, Fire Emblem) has been a favourite of mine in both (Even if I suck as him in Smash4 *cough cough*). I just literally don't care about origin most of the time, and I'm sure a lot of people are also in the same stance. It's cool if I can enjoy a character, be good as them, and relate, sure, but it's not like there's a lack of those characters for western audiences on the roster anyway, it's just that they're known worldwide instead of just in the west. -which is again, not a problem.

I doubt there's anywhere in the world where everyone is looking at the Smash 4 roster and recognizing everyone, so it's a little bizarre to be complaining that a Japanese company's game's cast is looking a little bit too eastern marketed. I'm pretty sure there's people all over the world looking at the cast and going "Who the hell is ___.", y'know? That's why to me, it's just not a bland west/east debate...

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go back to just crying about Nintendo not translating some really good games for English speaking audiences, which is the overarching problem with this debate anyway. :V (Mother 3, Nintendo, where is it?)

 

[SmashBro99]

I love Fire Emblem, but Corrin is such a disappointment to me personally. I haven't played Bayonetta, I'm still not too interested in it.

I would have preferred Banjo-Kazooie and Isaac, but Corrin/Bayonetta look interesting to play and I can't wait to try them out.

Plus I'm glad we didn't get Shantae, Shovel Knight or Inklings.

Stay salty my friends.

 

[Raijinken]

Nintendo is a Japanese company. It doesn't seem right to blame something as vague as xenobphobia when... think about it, how many Nintendo games weren't Japan-made? Star Tropics (which I love)? There're probably more, but... you're not looking at a big list. There are a few instances of "This character is popular in the West but not in Japan", but outside of Little Mac and, comparatively, Fire Emblem 4/5, still not much else when compared to Japan.

Basically, I can't see it as anything but a completely justified bias towards the company's own games. It's a Nintendo crossover game with a few appearances from major third-party icons (with links to the system, and fortunate remake timing for Cloud to be brought in over Warrior of Light, Firion, Luneth, Cecil, Bartz, or Terra). It's not meant to be the ultimate video game crossover.

 

[Foxus]

Nintendo is a Japanese company. It doesn't seem right to blame something as vague as xenobphobia when... think about it, how many Nintendo games weren't Japan-made? Star Tropics (which I love)? There're probably more, but... you're not looking at a big list. There are a few instances of "This character is popular in the West but not in Japan", but outside of Little Mac and, comparatively, Fire Emblem 4/5, still not much else when compared to Japan.

Basically, I can't see it as anything but a completely justified bias towards the company's own games. It's a Nintendo crossover game with a few appearances from major third-party icons (with links to the system, and fortunate remake timing for Cloud to be brought in over Warrior of Light, Firion, Luneth, Cecil, Bartz, or Terra). It's not meant to be the ultimate video game crossover.

That's why I classify Smash as a "Japanese fantasy-fighting game, with English Subtitles."

 

[Wintropy]

Diddy

Just want to correct you there, Diddy debuted in Brawl. There were no DK newcomers in this game.

 

[C. Karnage]

Nintendo is a Japanese company
most of their original games are from Japan
Most of the characters were created in Japan

Games like Punch-Out are way more popular over here than over there
some Nintendo games like Star Tropics were made soley for the west

most of these franchises are inclusive and made for a world wide audience
at the end of the day does it matter where a game came, the important question is did you have fun with it

 

[Aetheri]

The only thing I'm disappointed in with regards to western popularity is the lack of Metroid Prime content in the game...

Metroid Prime gets pretty much all of its support in the west (and was developed by a western conpany) but the only real nod it got in this game was a Dark Samus assist trophy...yes it had more content in brawl (considering it was very relevant with Prime 3 on the way during Brawl's development I should think it would)...

This isn't really a 'xenophobic' thing to me...as it is more so on Sakurai's view on 'current trends' and what has a future...hence why Other M got a crap ton of content in Smash because it was the more recent game (despite being negatively received by a lot of the fanbase)...

 

[TheFlyingCule]

The only thing I'm disappointed in with regards to western popularity is the lack of Metroid Prime content in the game...

Metroid Prime gets pretty much all of its support in the west (and was developed by a western conpany) but the only real nod it got in this game was a Dark Samus assist trophy...yes it had more content in brawl (considering it was very relevant with Prime 3 on the way during Brawl's development I should think it would)...

This isn't really a 'xenophobic' thing to me...as it is more so on Sakurai's view on 'current trends' and what has a future...hence why Other M got a crap ton of content in Smash because it was the more recent game (despite being negatively received by a lot of the fanbase)...

Metroid Prime's lack of love in Smash bothers me quite a bit too. Its clearly one of the most popular Metroid games (As wlel as my favorite game of all time) whereas Other M is shunned by the community

 

[LancerStaff]

Also gotta remember that in Brawl Metroid had a lot of representation... The two new stages stages and a retro, two Ridley fights where most series didn't even get one boss, and a newcomer (by Sakurai's count anyway) on top of Samus. Remember that during the time that Brawl started development (all a little foggy but you get the picture) Prime 2 wouldn't of been that old and Prime 3 was coming around, and perhaps the now cancelled Metroid Dread. When SSB4 started development OM would of been old (and bad) news while Federation Force I doubt had taken shape, and even if it did it's still a spin-off. Metroid isn't near as relevant nowadays and doesn't have much to advertise for... Meanwhile Mario and Zelda get the lion's share of the new items, stages, and in the former's case, characters.