Is Nintendo running out of characters?

[SureNsync]

I keep hearing how rather terrible the current Newcomer roster is but is it really? was Brawl's Newcomer roster so great because at that time, Nintendo still had many icons left to include? I don't think the current Newcomer selection is bad. What I'm really bothered with, besides Shulk. is Sakurai really going to include every character from the Sal Romano/Gematsu leak? is it out of desperation from lack of characters or because they are capable of uniqueness?

Sometimes I do feel like Rosalina and Greninja are forced choices as it wasn't their time yet but when I think about it. Nintendo is starting to lack in characters. It gets to me how so many great Nintendo characters that are just as capable of uniqueness such as a few examples. Majora's Mask Young Link, Porky, Lyn and Dark Samus were sacrificed to irrelevance. Assist Trophies are good but if its a 1 on 1 match, shouldn't the characters be able to hold their own? they shouldn't need assistance.

As long as the series has a variety of characters to choose from, that's what should matter. I don't understand how some people don't think Kid Icarus deserved a new representation because it really does. Why should relevance and irrelevance matter? the game will still sell pretty well.

And now, is Sakurai really going to ignore, Mewtwo, Ridley and King K. Rool? and add Chrom, making a total of 3 same hair colored swordsmen? don't you that's a bit strange? I'm hoping Ike finally ended this relevance and irrelevance crap because if it doesn't, one of our all time favorite series won't go much further. Unless you want a majority based roster of Pokémon and 3rd party characters.

If the rest of the Sal Romano/Gematsu leak becomes false, I would claim a Newcomer roster of Mega Man, Rosalina, Little Mac, Greninja, Palutena, Pac-Man, Shulk, Ridley, King K. Rool and a return of Mewtwo, besides Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Mii Fighter and Chrom would be a pretty great Newcomer cast. Mewtwo might as well be a Newcomer since he would bring endless excitement.

Have any opinions? Post what you think below.

 

[DaDavid]

I honestly think the newcomer roster looks pretty powerful, even if it is just missing Sal's leaked character's. But even that seems unlikely given that he failed to know about Rosalina.

It's obviously not an issue of running out of characters, just more or else that there aren't many character driven IP's of late.

 

[cybersai]

No, they still have a lot of obvious and popular characters yet to be in Smash for some reason:

- Ridley
- King K. Rool
- Dixie Kong
- Toad
- Mewtwo (returning)
- Any Zelda character other than the ones confirmed


I find it bizarre that as big as the Zelda franchise is, we haven't had any newcomers since Melee. Toon Link really isn't much more than a costume for Young Link.

 

[StupendousMike]

I thought this too a little while back; but, assuming the leaks are true then we will still be spoiled for choice when it comes time for Smash 5 speculation. There are still plenty of Nintendo icons to be included, and supporters of Ridley, K. Rool, Dixie, Toad, Isaac, Paper Mario, Mewtwo and more will come out of hibernation. This also seems to be an interesting time for new Nintendo IPs, too. We could see more installments for Dillon's Rolling Western, Pushmo, Wonderful 101 and Xenoblade, and I'm excited to see how Splatoon and Codename: S.T.E.A.M. turn out, because some of those characters will be LOCKS for Smash somewhere down the line.

Point is... No. Nintendo isn't out of characters, and they won't be for a long time.

 

[I_hate_usernames]

There are an absolute of potential from Nintendo's character pool!

From fan favorites, to cult classics, to forgotten gems. There are tons of characters to choose from!

Haters and doomsayers like to pretend Mario is the only IP Nintendo has had, but really there are tons of Nintendo characters Nintendo fans hold near to their hearts.

 

[andimidna]

Are you kidding? I could make a 200 character roster, easily!

They're just going for more unique and surprise characters this time.

 

[StaffofSmashing]

-Jumpman (that's for me)
-Ridley
-K. Rool
-Dixie
-Mike Jones
-Lolo and Lala
-The Fossil Fighter
-Alexander Rovias
-Punch Out Boxers
-Captain N
-Captain Rainbow
-Medusa
-Hades
-DK Jr.
-10,000 more

There are many characters in the Nintendo industry.

 

[BirthNote]

I think Nintendo's got a lot to on chooose from.

-Toad, Bowser Jr., Paper Mario characters
-Any pokemon either new, classic or obscure
-Waluigi, Mona, Jimmy T, Captain Syrup, Ashley
-Sukapon
-Takamaru
-Lip
-Dillon
-Wonder Red
-Impa, Ghirahim, Midna, Tingle
-Ridley
-King K.Rool, Dixie, Cranky, DK Jr.
-Kamek

Nintendo can even make new series just to give Smash more candidates

 

[Arcadenik]

It's obviously not an issue of running out of characters, just more or else that there aren't many character driven IP's of late.

Exactly. That's why Sakurai started including characters from IPs that are not character driven... Villagers, Wii Fit Trainers, Miis, and Chorus Men (if that Gematsu leak is true, which is very likely). Not counting Mega Man and Pac-Man, the only character driven IPs to get characters are Punch-Out!! and Xenoblade Chronicles (according to the Gematsu leak).

 

[Koopaul]

I could add a crap ton of characters from franchises that haven't even had a character yet. Forget Mario and Zelda! We got so many franchises we can pull from it's unbelievable!

The only problem is they are largely forgotten or Japanese exclusives.

 

[Starbound]

The thing is with this roster is that while it contains the standard 50/50 split (or pretty close to) of fan demand vs unexpected newcomers, the fan demand characters are all the lesser demanded ones.

We have the "popular" characters in Mega Man, Little Mac, Mii (casual gamers love Miis), Palutena, Shulk and Chrom.

and the unexpected characters in Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Rosalina, Greninja, Chorus Men and Pac-Man.

I really have no idea why it looks like Ridley, K. Rool and possibly even Mewtwo are getting skipped over but it's kind of annoying (and unfortunate should the 47 character theory be true).

 

[Skyle]

They have enough characters.
But if they didn't, they could bring back old characters or convert assist trophy characters into playable characters if they really get THAT desperate.

 

[Xigger]

Being a Smash Bros. fan, I naturally remember tidbits like this off of the top of my head:

http://www.smashbros.com/wii/en_us/gamemode/various/various33.html
'When they’re all lined up like this, it becomes obvious that there is roughly 6-year blank before and after Pikmin. While there have been big series since then like "Animal Crossing," "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day," and "Wii Sports" it does seem that coming up with a completely new character-driven series has gotten more difficult recently.'

There's a few other quotes I could throw in, but the basic jist is that character selection has taken a new route. People change their minds.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

There are tons of Nintendo characters with potential. So if it looks like they're getting desperate with their choices then they're not evaluating their back catalogue correctly

We've got:

Shulk
Mewtwo
K. Rool
Robin
Ridley
Mallo
Dillon (even if he has been reconfirmed)
Takamaru
Chibi-Robo
Isaac
Dixie Kong
Lip
Paper Mario
Fawful

and those are only the more obvious ones. They all have different benefits they could bring to the roster.

Then going more obscure:

Sukapon
Hakkun
Alexandra Roivas
Pious Augustus (Don't tell me you wouldn't love to play an undead summoning lich)
Doshin the Giant
Muddy Mole

We already have two more for the future with Splatoon and Codename Steam.

I think there are a lot of obscure characters that could be really hype if given the chance.

 

[fogbadge]

nintendo have a ridiculous amount of characters

 

[8-peacock-8]

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: They're not even close to running out of characters.

 

[Arcadenik]

nintendo have a ridiculous amount of characters

A ridiculous amount of characters from franchises that don't even sell that well or are second-party (sole exception is Pokemon) or are too obscure.

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

Sakurai isn't listening to the "Sal Romano" leak, the leak is listening to Sakurai.

 

[Spazzy_D]

A ridiculous amount of characters from franchises that don't even sell that well or are second-party (sole exception is Pokemon) or are too obscure.

I could make an entire roster out of Pokémon or Mario characters, so no, not just the things you mentioned.

 

[Ghirahilda]

A ridiculous amount of characters from franchises that don't even sell that well or are second-party (sole exception is Pokemon) or are too obscure.

Like Duck Hunter Dog

 

[PK_Wonder]

You may not like Chrom for aesthetic reasons, but he is the face of the newest Fire Emblem, which sold amazingly. Then there's Shulk, face of a critically-acclaimed and also recent game. Rhythm Heaven is a decent sized (and fun) series, but I think it would be better suited for a stage, as it lacks an all-star (or B or even C tier character).

BUT, as far as remaining characters go, we have a quite a few that are more well known than, say, Ice Climbers were:
Mewtwo (strikes back)
Ridley
King K. Rool
Dixie Kong
Isaac
Chibi-Robo
Ghirahim
Vaati
Bowser Jr.
Paper Mario
Krystal
Black Shadow
Robin/My Unit (a frontrunner for Fire Emblem after Chrom)
Lucina (same situation)
Andy (Wars is quite popular)
Takamaru (Nintendo Land, several references in other games, and a strong following boost him in spite of his "obscurity")

Waluigi, Toad, Dillon, and others who are deconfirmed for this installment will be eligible in the next one.

Third party characters like Professor Layton, Simon Belmont, Slime, Tails, Bayonetta, and more resonate well with Nintendo history.

Plus, there are new IPs like Codename S.T.E.A.M. and Splatoon that could warrant a character by the next Smash installment if prominent enough.

 

[Ryan.]

Nah, I think there are tons of options. The fact that many fan favorites aren't making it in is strange, but Sakurai likes to surprise us and sees potential in other characters we haven't though of before. Pretty much no one expected the Wii Fit Trainer, but I see a lot of people wanting to main her now and enjoying playing as her at E3.

 

[moneyfrenzy]

They have more than enough newcomers, lets say the salramono leak was real, and thats the entire roster. We can add
Ridley
King K. Rool
Mewtwo
Vaati
Isaac
Toad
Bowser Jr.
Duck Hunt Dog
Krystal
Bandana Dee
Dixie Kong
Andy
Tom Nook
Kamek
Samurai Goroh
Skull Kid
Even though some of them are more deserving than others, that is enough newcomers for smash 5 and then some. Nintendo is not running out of characters

 

[ErenJager]

I don't think so, compile a list of the highly requested, or popular characters from the fans, half of which are AT's now or left out entirely.

 

[shinhed-echi]

Nintendo isn't running out of characters nowhere near soon. The problem is if they feel the need to exhaust the popular brands, and not look at the smaller series and/or series of the past.

Yeah, Brawl did "a good job" because pretty much everyone got an iconic sidekick and/or an iconic villain/rival. (Yeah, except Ridley and K.Rool, I know).

To me, outside Sonic, Pit, and Pokemon Trainer, the Brawl roster was a huge disappointment.

If you're looking at popular brands, then yeah, Nintendo IS running out of characters to choose from. But if you look at the general, massive Nintendo universe from the NES days until today, there's still SO much to choose from.

Saki Amamiya
Isaac
Duck Hunt Dog
Balloon Fighter
Bubbles
Mach Rider
Excitebiker
Wave Racer
1080°
Mike Jones
Takamaru
Fighter Hayabusa
Muddy Mole
Elite Beat Agents
Ouendan!
Pilot Wings character (Lark/Goose, etc)
Captain Syrup

...And NONE of these characters (with the exception of Captain Syrup) have had their series represented through a playable character yet. Note how (again, except Captain Syrup) I didn't even have to resort to villains and sidekicks.

And I could seriously go on and on and on.
It's great to have Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager (as much as I hate to admit it), Pacman, Mii (again, AMAIHTAI) and Megaman in the game this time because it means more franchises included in the SSB universe.

 

[Cpt.]

No, Nintendo is not running out of characters, they have plenty good ones. The problem is that they are not using the good character that would be perfect for smash.

In disconfirmed characters by assist trophies alone we have:

- Dark Samus
- Starfy
- Dillon
- Midna
- Skull Kid

All of these assist trophies could have made VERY unique characters and it's a shame that Sakurai only saw them as assist trophies. When we add in characters like Wii Fit trainer instead of Dark Samus, it is really saying something about how they see important characters. It baffles me honestly.

And remember this is only from the pool of CURRENT assist trophies. There are plenty more characters worthy for Smash.

 

[Cap'nChreest]

I thought Nintendo was running out of characters too but looked who they scraped up for this one its not too impressive by my standards. I thought that Palutena was the only reasonable choice.

 

[TeenGirlSquad]

- Dark Samus
- Isaac
- Starfy
- Dillon
- Midna
- Skull Kid

Wait, has Isaac been confirmed as an Assist Trophy in Smash 4?

 

[Cpt.]

I thought Nintendo was running out of characters too but looked who they scraped up for this one its not too impressive by my standards. I thought that Palutena was the only reasonable choice.

Well Pac-Man and Mega Man, though they aren't Nintendo characters

Wait, has Isaac been confirmed as an Assist Trophy in Smash 4?

oops, I must have him implanted in my brain as assist trohpy haha I'll fix that *walks away slowly

 

[andimidna]

Doing this for major represented series because I feel like it.
Mario:
-Bowser Jr
-Toad
-Paper Mario
-Daisy
-King Boo
-Petey Piranha

Yoshi:
-Shy Guy
-Kamek

WarioWare:
-Ashley
-Mona
-Kat and Ana
WarioLand:
-Captain Syrup

Zelda:
-Ghirahim
-Impa
-Midna
-Tetra
-Vaati
-Yuga
-Cia

Fire Emblem:
-Chrom
-Lucina
-Robin
-Anna
-Tiki
-Lyn
-Micaiah
-Roy
-Leif
-Ephraim
-Hector
-Tharja
-Lissa
-Gaius
-Cordelia
-Frederick
-Palla
-Catria
-Est
-Eliwood
-Eirika
-Seliph

Ok, I'm bored now. I'm done

 

[Ascended]

Going off this video, there are no playable characters from the following (A * indicates a character driven game that came out after or around Pikmin.):

Devil World
Excitebike (He was considered for Melee)
Clu Clu Land (Bubbles)
Duck Hunt (Although I don't know how that would work...)
Mach Rider (He should have been Captain Falcon's clone in Melee, IMO)
Balloon Fight (Was considered for Melee)
Urban Champion (Also considered for Melee)
Gumshoe
Mysterious Murasame Castle (TAKAMARU!!!)
Shin Onigashima (Donbe & Hikari)
Famicom/Advance Wars
Famicom Detective Club
StarTropics (Mike Jones, FTW)
Joy Mech Fight (SUKAPON!!)

Wave Race
Mole Mania (Muddy Mole!)

Pilotwings (They've got a stage and an item, why not go all the way and give them a character?)
Battle Clash
Stunt Race FX (Can you imagine playing as a freaking car?!)
Panel De Pon (LIP!!!)

Teleroboxer

1080 Snowboarding
Custom Robo
Doshin the Giant
Sin & Punishment
Paper Mario

*Golden Sun
Magical Vacation
*Legendary Starfy
*Drill Dozer
Rhythm Heaven (Although that could change...)

*Eternal Darkness
*Geist
*Chibi-Robo

Band-Brothers
*Trace Memory
Nintendogs (I'd play as a dog.)
Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents (I'd prefer this over a Rhythm Heaven character, myself.)
Brain Age (Playing as a giant head?!)
Chosoju Mecha MG (Chicks dig giant robots.)
*Soma Bringer
Fossil Fighters (I want to play as a T-Rex!)
Style Savvy (If Wii Fit Trainer, then why not a Savvy Stylist?)

*Captain Rainbow
*Disaster: Day of Crisis
ExciteBots (A transformer would be sick!)
FlingSmash
*Xenoblade (Again, that might change.)
*Zangeki no Reginleiv
*Fluidity
*The Last Story
*Pandora's Tower

Pushmo
*Sakura Samurai
*Rolling Western
*HarmoKnight
*Codename: S.T.E.A.M.

*Wonderful 101
Splatoon

And I haven't even touched the franchises that already have a character in Smash.

 

[Stompman]

Yeah, given that there are tons of franchises that haven't been touched on yet, and given that apparently Nintendo is all about creating new franchises now (Xenoblade, Splatoon, STEAM, W101 etc), coupled with the tons of characters from already repped games, I don't think they'll ever have problemsfinding newcomers.

 

[Reila]

They really aren't, specially when you consider characters of Nintendo's most recent IPs, not to mention characters from old and/or forgotten IPs, that a lot of people tend to overlook. That doesn't mean much, though, because they can't keep adding countless characters to Smash Bros in each new game, anyway. There is a limit for how many characters a "fighting" game can/should have.

Also, the newcomers for Sm4sh so far are pretty good, people are complaining because that is what people do. Surely we are still waiting/hoping for a few big names like Ridley, King K. Rool and a few others to show up as newcomers, but what we got so far is no worse than the newcomers in Melee and Brawl, IMO.

 

[MetalMario128]

Nintendo has an insane amount of characters to choose from, especially if they want to start getting really obscure.

 

[The21stSmasher]

Nintendo? Running out of characters? No! After giving us a crap-ton of hints, teases, legitimate looking leaks, and whatnot (Minus the extremely fake ones) I don't think so.

 

[itsaxelol]

im in shock by the amount of people saying no

YES! yes TC. i feel like people dont understand what youre saying. nintendo will be out of characters. they can fluff it out as long as they want (just look at our current newcomers), but as far as quality characters that are "worthy" of smash, yes, they will run out

and rightfully so. thats not supposed to be a slight. the game now has a huge roster and 4 games. brawl, with the exception of a handful of characters, almost filled the void on everyone we needed (wario, diddy kong, king dede, etc)

for a long time i thought this game would be the end all be all for the roster. since 2008 i had five guys in mind who i KNEW would be in this game. mega man, mac, ridley, krool and mewtwo. when got the first two, sure, but for the life of me i cannot understand why he is purposely avoiding the big 3 guys. it makes no sense to get some of these one game jabronis over them

 

[staindgrey]

They're running out of immediately recognizable and marketable characters, yes. But they aren't out of character possibilities by a longshot. The real question is, are they running out of characters that we'll give a **** about?

You've got the people wanting RIdley, Krystal, Paper Mario, a Xenoblade representative, another of Fire Emblem's huge ensemble of characters, other Mario characters, Golden Sun characters, Chibi Robo, Elite Beat Agents, Zelda bad guys not named Ganondorf... Hell, throw a Splatoon girl in there. I'd pay for that.

The real problem is that they're running out of characters that make fans think, "AW, YEAH! HE/SHE IS IN! YES!" I was quite underwhelmed by the E3 announcement of a supporting character in a game from like 1989 that just got a sequel less than two years ago. And the most recent newcomer before that was yet another Pokemon. Woo. Hoo.

 

[SureNsync]

im in shock by the amount of people saying no

YES! yes TC. i feel like people dont understand what youre saying. nintendo will be out of characters. they can fluff it out as long as they want (just look at our current newcomers), but as far as quality characters that are "worthy" of smash, yes, they will run out

and rightfully so. thats not supposed to be a slight. the game now has a huge roster and 4 games. brawl, with the exception of a handful of characters, almost filled the void on everyone we needed (wario, diddy kong, king dede, etc)

for a long time i thought this game would be the end all be all for the roster. since 2008 i had five guys in mind who i KNEW would be in this game. mega man, mac, ridley, krool and mewtwo. when got the first two, sure, but for the life of me i cannot understand why he is purposely avoiding the big 3 guys. it makes no sense to get some of these one game jabronis over them

I'm shocked that I think your the only one who does. Its not that simple. Mega Man fit in Smash more then some actual Nintendo characters and is a third party character. I'm a somewhat supporter of Sami from Advance Wars but for god sake, she could blend in with the cast of Marvel Vs Capcom. If Sakurai one day is forced to include a majority based obscure roster, the Smash Bros series will fade into obscurity. If a high number of rather obscure characters are added, they better be mixed in with playable Bowser Jr., Toad, King K. Rool, Dixie Kong, Ridley, Dark Samus, Majora's Mask Young Link, Skull Kid, Tetra, Vaati, Impa, Ghirahim, Mach Rider, Lyn, Lucina, Tharja, Black Shadow, Porky, Claus/Masked Man, Krystal, Mewtwo, and a good next gan Pokémon. Edit. I forgot Shulk and Isaac.

I can see Bomberman and Geno in Smash 5, especially Bomberman. I can't see Medusa or Hedas, Samurai Goroh and any 2nd Pikmin rep.

@ PK_Wonder

I don't dislike Chrom. I just don't like the sound of multiple swordsmen with the same hair color.

 

[smashingDoug]

no it just the new characters are not as cool as and that is just 4 of them out of well all the newcomers in brawl let see what smash 4 has so far really okay whatever imo not the best choice the only really good one are and somewhat and there is talk about Chorus Kids really? oh ya i would love to play as them so it not who is cool unique would be fun to play as or a famous icon to there games (lyn first fire emblem to released outside of japan) for some one who is more popular smash is just a popularity contest