Character Discussion Thread

[Andinus]

Let me give you an illustration: let's say I go to a restaurant and order a very large meal; and after dinner the server comes to my table and asks me if I want desert, to which I respond "I cannot possibly eat anymore." Is this a statement of fact? Depending upon the circumstances, it may or may not be. Physically, I may not be able to eat more. Or perhaps I simply do not wish to.

How do you determine whether the statement is fact or sentiment? Context. We're able to understand that words are not spoken in a vacuum, but a collection of ideas that form the very basis of our ability to communicate and reason as human beings. Context tells me that if Sakurai planned on axing half the rosters, he would have said that was his plan from the start as he did before Brawl where he unequivocally affirmed there would be cuts to the roster. In contrast, we have statements from Sakurai, such as the one AncientTobacco posted, where he's stated he's trying to add as many characters as he can. Well, that proposes a conundrum. If you follow the interpretation that the roster will not be improved upon where it stood with Brawl, then why would you say your trying to add more? There's a disconnect.

There is also the added problem of loss of nuance in translation where we take one language and try to redefine it in terms of another. Sometimes we end up with problems because English does not always express ideas in the same way as in Japanese. A lot of colloquialisms get lost in translation.

I agree with you that expecting too many characters inevitably leads to disappointment, and that as nice as having every character under the sun may be there are consequences that neutralize the excitement in having a 60+ roster, but everything Sakurai has said and done has not shown that he plans on constraining the roster under 40. Again, if that was the path he was going to take, he'd have clearly said so beyond one ambiguous general statement, and we probably wouldn't be seeing characters like Toon Link and Zero Suit Samus still on the roster when characters like Wario and Meta-Knight have yet to be seen. To me, all this seems like is the same kind of misinterpretation that led people to believe third party characters were not going to be in the game.

I never interpreted what he said to mean we are getting 39 characters for sure, and have never implied half the roster is getting axed, not even close. I took from his quote simply that we should not set ours sights as high as they were for brawl when it comes to additions. My guess is we are getting 40-44 characters, with 42 being my powerball so to speak.
Also what ancienttabacco quoted can be interpreted either way, and the quote said, as many characters as possible, not "can" so saying "as possible" tells me, he is still thinking about limitations, and I guess "can" does too but that wording implies more optimism than what was said, to me.

Btw I am fluent in Japanese so if you have the original Japanese text on hand I would like to read it out of curiosity.

 

[Morbi]

In my opinion, it'd be weird to see Halberd and not Meta Knight.

Maybe he'll be revealed via pic of the day on his stage.

In my opinion it is weird to see Pyrosphere and not Ridley; it doesn't really matter what I think though.

That being said, I still think Ridley will be in the game, but isn't it the new and cool thing to pretend he is de-confirmed?

Edit- NVM, I forgot, he is considered a boss character, haha.

 

[TumblrFamous]

In my opinion it is weird to see Pyrosphere and not Ridley; it doesn't really matter what I think though.

That being said, I still think Ridley will be in the game, but isn't it the new and cool thing to pretend he is de-confirmed?

Oh, I actually don't believe he's de-confirmed. I think he still has a chance. But I'm keeping my expectations low regardless.

 

[Hippopotasauce]

There has to be someone that gets the most attention or who appears in advertisements the most.

You run into problems there too.
On the boxart of Rhythm Heaven DS is the Chorus Kids, they appear in the second minigame as well. However, the TV ads for the DS game featured a wide variety of the actual minigames in the series.
Fever has Marshall who helps along in the tutorial, but he really only appears in the intro and the credits. As far as TV ads go, Ringside Wrestler appears often in a lot of them.
Rhythm Girl is the only one I can think that appears predominantly throughout the series. Tengoku had her appear in the Tap Trial game, Heaven has her on the album cover and on the title screen, and Fever features her in the western release covers as well as the title screen.

 

[JamesDNaux]

I am sure that there are a few other stages that are "home stages" to characters not present in the game. For instance, IF Palutena wasn't in the game, she would be one of the few, it doesn't objectively mean anything. Youknowwhatiamsaying?

Yet Meta Knight was in the previous game, and he's an important character who shouldn't really be leaving in the first place. You see his stage and you just expect him to be back with it. Palutena isn't a veteran, so seeing her stage without her being playable would just be "Oh, it's just the new general KI stage."

 

[Morbi]

Yet Meta Knight was in the previous game, and he's an important character who shouldn't really be leaving in the first place. You see his stage and you just expect him to be back with it. Palutena isn't a veteran, so seeing her stage without her being playable would just be "Oh, it's just the new general KI stage."

I don't believe he is leaving, quite the contrary. I literally stated that he was an obvious return, I just don't believe the stage to be a "hint".

Edit- I apologize, I am multi-tasking like crazy. Eating, trying on clothes... I misread your post. I see what you are getting at. Ignore my ignorant ass.

 

[JamesDNaux]

You run into problems there too.
On the boxart of Rhythm Heaven DS is the Chorus Kids. However, the TV ads for the DS game featured a wide variety of the actual minigames in the series.
Fever has Marshall who helps along in the tutorial, but he really only appears in the intro and the credits. As far as TV ads go, Ringside Wrestler appears often in a lot of them.
Rhythm Girl is the only one I can think that appears predominantly throughout the series. Tengoku had her appear in the Tap Trial game, Heaven has her on the album cover and on the title screen, and Fever features her in the western release covers as well as the title screen.

Well you just solved the problem yourself, obviously the main character is the one with "Rhythm" in their name. Rhythm Girl for SSB4!

I'm kind of doubtful anyway, it doesn't seem like the kind of series that would really get a character, particularly with no main character. Seems more like assist trophy/stage/item material like Band Brothers, Electroplankton, and Steel Diver. I'm very suspicious of this Sal Romano guy too.

 

[Will]

I found this pathetic (yet at the same time very well put) leak.

Want to find it? Look on the Rumors and Leaks thread,then bring it back here for everyone to see,because I'm lazy

 

[FlareHabanero]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

 

[Gunla]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

Not really.
Sakurai's choices end up being smart and reasonable. He doesn't have to clamor to the fans, but he can when he wants to...
As if we made the game's roster choices and the like, it would be much worse.

 

[Curious Villager]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

I honestly don't have an answer for that yet until we have seen the full roster. But from the looks of things. Most characters I actually supported have more or less been disconfirmed or where just very unlikely to begin with so I guess I didn't really have too high expectations.

In the end, I guess I still got Toon Link, and I'm looking forward to trying out Rosalina and Greninja too.

 

[Rebellious Treecko]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

In regards to Ridley and Mewtwo...well, a bit. I've gotten over it pretty fast.

Doesn't really affect me, though. Wii Fit Trainer is kinda funny, and I always thought Greninja would be cool in Smash as part of a Kalos Trainer (though I assumed it didn't seem likely)

I do hope that this year's E3 brings more characters than last year's though...

-----

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

At this point, not so much, though for the remaining newcomers that hasn't been revealed yet, I'd rather no more "curveball" characters. Though that depends heavily on who has been snubbed out.

Although that said,I can definitely think of a few fanbases of certain characters that deserved better than what they got, regardless of whether or not they were going to be playable.

 

[AncientTobacco]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

I really don't think any characters are included for "the surprise factor".

 

[BluePikmin11]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

Nah not really, most people will feel that way because they joined the popular crowd.

 

[Sehnsucht]

Nah not really, most people will feel that way because they joined the popular crowd.

Do you want a caffe latte soy mocha decaf to go with those thick-rimmed glasses?

As for myself, the current Newcomer batch is fine (I'm most interested in WFT and Greninja), though it would (have) be(en) nice to get at least 2-3 Newcomers that I actually want(ed).

 

[N3ON]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

People should really only feel cheated out of something if they were actually owed that thing. People can have expectations, even expectations that make a lot of sense, but Sakurai doesn't owe us any specific character, even if they do have massive amounts of demand.

 

[zauberdragon]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

I can't really pass judgement till I see the full roster but as it stands not really. Mewtwo and Ridley are still potential candidates as far as I'm concerned and Greninja is probably my second favourite newcomer thus far behind Little Mac in a very competitive field.

 

[AEMehr]

I don't expect him to be cut (nor should anyone, which was one of my main points). He was grouped in with the characters who don't have any support/hints towards being in just yet.

There also is that whiteboard illustration made months before Smash's E3 reveal.
The only characters that have yet to appear in the game that were in it are Wario, Meta Knight, Mr. Game & Watch, and Master Hand.
EDIT: Went ahead and grabbed it.

 

[Pacack]

People should really only feel cheated out of something if they were actually owed that thing. People can have expectations, even expectations that make a lot of sense, but Sakurai doesn't owe us any specific character, even if they do have massive amounts of demand.

To be fair, I'd feel cheated if Mario wasn't in the game.

 

[FlareHabanero]

People should really only feel cheated out of something if they were actually owed that thing. People can have expectations, even expectations that make a lot of sense, but Sakurai doesn't owe us any specific character, even if they do have massive amounts of demand.

Too bad some people are already calling foul. Which isn't anything new. Once we see the roster, we'll see this sort of pessimism in full force, just like with Brawl. Personally for me, I can live without certain characters for another day. My request of having a much more refined and polished game is already completed, so I can tolerate whatever characters do show up. Especially now that I have my planned main for this game, Strider Greninja.

 

[NickerBocker]

Here's a question, but basing on what Bkuppa has been ranting about, are you people feeling "cheated" that certain characters that have been clamored in massive numbers are being snubbed in favor of a bunch of characters that are included for the surprise factor?

We dont know if from the Sal leak that we have the final roster. There are probably other characters to be included has well, judging from how his source missed Rosalina. Were junping to conclusions.

But to the question, I dont feel cheated, unless there is a character included that is an obvious clone, barring veterans. Its pointless to add characters that are blatant copies of another at this point. Yes there are expectations I wished could be filled, but I understand that some of The most obvious choices, at least to us, wo t be there in the end.

 

[dezeray112]

So seeing that Pikachu, Lucario, Charizard and Greninja are the playable characters representing the Pokemon series in the game, I still think it is possible (although I'm not too sure) they could add at least one more Pokemon character. Do you guys think they can fit in anymore playable characters from the Pokemon franchise?

 

[*The Sensus Crustulum*]

So seeing that Pikachu, Lucario, Charizard and Greninja are the playable characters representing the Pokemon series in the game, I still think it is possible (although I'm not too sure) they could add at least one more Pokemon character. Do you guys think they can fit in anymore playable characters from the Pokemon franchise?

Of course they will add another one. Problem is that who is going to be? Jiggly or Mewtwo? I would prefer both but I think Jigglez is more likely.

 

[Gunla]

So seeing that Pikachu, Lucario, Charizard and Greninja are the playable characters representing the Pokemon series in the game, I still think it is possible (although I'm not too sure) they could add at least one more Pokemon character. Do you guys think they can fit in anymore playable characters from the Pokemon franchise?

Locked characters, which is now a given. We're already missing Ness and Captain and unless we get a ton of random reveals with them, part of the roster is locked.
At least Jiggs or Mewtwo is one of them.

 

[Gune]

I still saying were getting both but if we get only only one its most likely gonna be jiggs.

 

[The Light Music Club]

Both will be back. Jiggly is the joke character of the game, and Sakurai wouldn't get rid of that for this smash. And Mewtwo has supposed to have been in every smash so far, no way he won't at least try to get him in again.

 

[TheTuninator]

I would not be surprised if we get another Pokemon who's not Mewtwo or Jigglypuff. Greninja's reveal should have encouraged us to back off our tunnel vision for the past Pokereps.

 

[Kenith]

I would not be surprised if we get another Pokemon who's not Mewtwo or Jigglypuff. Greninja's reveal should have encouraged us to back off our tunnel vision for the past Pokereps.

Like Ivysaur or Squirtle?

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

I think Captain Falcon, Meta-Knight, Wario, Ice Climbers (or Popo alone), Mr. Game and Watch, Ganondorf, R.O.B., a Mother character, a 2nd Starfox character, a 2nd Fire Emblem character, a 5th Pokemon, Palutena, a 3rd DK character, and a 3rd 3rd party character are all guaranteed.

 

[The Light Music Club]

Question, why does everyone think Ike will still be cut. I use to think that, but then Toon Link was confirmed. So why do people still think he is cut??

 

[False Sense]

Question, why does everyone think Ike will still be cut. I use to think that, but then Toon Link was confirmed. So why do people still think he is cut??

Because he's not the most recent character.

...Yeah, I think that's about it.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

Question, why does everyone think Ike will still be cut. I use to think that, but then Toon Link was confirmed. So why do people still think he is cut??

People think Chrom will be added and end up replacing Ike, while I believe Ike is more likely than a new FE character.

 

[FlareHabanero]

People think Chrom will be added and end up replacing Ike, while I believe Ike is more likely than a new FE character.

By default, any veteran should be more likely then a newcomer, by virtue of the reluctance of cutting.

 

[The Light Music Club]

See I don't understand why they would cut a completely original character, from a game that was rated very highly? Unless time constraints of course. The only character that was replaced was really Young Link because Toon Link is pretty much the same character and was more recent. I don't even think Chrom will be the awakening rep. If they do get one it'll be Robin, the character that you create. That would be like picking Tom Nook over Villager. You create Villager and Robin, not Chrom and Tom Nook.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

Both will be back. Jiggly is the joke character of the game, and Sakurai wouldn't get rid of that for this smash. And Mewtwo has supposed to have been in every smash so far, no way he won't at least try to get him in again.

Seeing how these games are having more focus on making everyone good and powerful wouldn't it make more sense to take out the character that is mostly there as a joke?

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Seeing how these games are having more focus on making everyone good and powerful wouldn't it make more sense to take out the character that is mostly there as a joke?

You'd think that, but Jigglypuff still has some Japan popularity, despite no longer being involved in the Pokemon TV series anymore.

 

[TumblrFamous]

See I don't understand why they would cut a completely original character, from a game that was rated very highly? Unless time constraints of course. The only character that was replaced was really Young Link because Toon Link is pretty much the same character and was more recent. I don't even think Chrom will be the awakening rep. If they do get one it'll be Robin, the character that you create. That would be like picking Tom Nook over Villager. You create Villager and Robin, not Chrom and Tom Nook.

Yes, but the poster child for Animal Crossing is the Villager, YOUR character. Chrom is the posterboy for Awakening, and plays a huge role in the game.

 

[The Light Music Club]

Seeing how these games are having more focus on making everyone good and powerful wouldn't it make more sense to take out the character that is mostly there as a joke?

But with Sakurai, he likes having a joke character, that's his style. I mean look at UMvC3, they had Phoenix Wright as a fighter, and he seems kind of like the joke character, but people still love him (I mean he is my main) but yeah, that's just my opinion some people like having a joke character around.

 

[N3ON]

Seeing how these games are having more focus on making everyone good and powerful wouldn't it make more sense to take out the character that is mostly there as a joke?

Joke characters can still be good.
Let's not forget Melee Jiggs.

Plus Jiggs has pretty much transcended joke status to just... series staple status, and it's unlikely that will change now.