GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE! Ryu still sits at 99 nominations and should be at 114. (I'm not genuinely upset, just another reminder so my three days of nominations weren't wasted. Thank you for all of your hard work on this time-consuming game of discussion).
Erm. *AHEM* The day I fixed it was the day many of the nominations got eaten. I'll quick edit that for you, eh?
Quote Chance: 10%
Quote is the King of All Indies. Being indie, however, is his bane... or perhaps his saving grace? Because he is an indie, he just can't compete with the fame and recurrence of Pac-Man, Rayman, Professor Layton, Bomberman and Slime. Because he is an indie, he is not "legendary." However... I could see Nintendo include him on the grounds that his is indie. You know, attract indie support to the system by making one of them a Smash character? It's a longshot, especially with the shortage of slots available... but if they do decide to do something like this, Quote is pretty much the run-away choice. Also, being indie gives him one advantage: Nintendo definitely wouldn't have to drop much money to get him on board; the promotion and prestige alone would pretty much guarantee that his owners would die for this opportunity.
I realize that I'm quite a bit higher than you... but I could see this move pulled.
Quote Want: 50%
Supposedly, he has an arsenal that rivals the likes of Link, Mega Man and Samus. GREAT! He sounds like he'd be fun and easily pull in a bunch of great aspects from his series. Still, though, I've never played Cave Story, so I can't give him anything higher than a 50%.
Determining the amount of Fire Emblem characters in this game:
1) It's a B/C-list series. It's not A-List like Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Smash Bros. or Wii. It's not in the Upper B-List with Kirby and DK... however, I'd rank it in the same echelon as Metroid, Star Fox, and F-Zero. In other words, it certainly doesn't deserve the 4/5 characters of the A-List, the 3/4 characters of the Upper B-List... i
t's somewhere in the 2/3 character ballpark. Now that we've settled that, let's see if it deserves two or three characters.
2) Character matters in the franchise. You know that whole "death is permanent thing? Well, it makes players grow attatched to the characters. This would suggest that the series deserves three characters.
3) Characters are not recurring in the franchise. There are exceptions, but characters generally don't star in more than a game or two... meaning there is an abundance of characters who aren't all that important to the series. This would suggest the franchise deserves two characters.
4) The franchise is on a high right now. Awakening pretty much saved the series, and even made it pretty popular in the west. The series is probably at its highest point since first seeing characters get into Smash Bros. and first getting its Western release. This suggests that the franchise deserves three characters.
5) Characters in the franchise are not so unique. They can do different things than wield swords, but that is their bread and butter--or rather, the bread and butter of the main characters. Wielding lances or spears is a bit different, but the main characters are still usually depicted with swords. Robin is a notable exception. This suggests that only two characters can be sustained.
Overall, I get a sense that there will be about 2.5 characters, or 250% of a Fire Emblem character appearing. Take out the confirmed Marth, and you are left with 150%. The frontrunner, Ike, is probable to return (though, in my mind, nowhere near as likely as some see it); he gets 60%. That leaves 90%. Roy, a popular character who was removed, snags 20% of that. That leaves 70% to be divided among Awakening characters--while an Awakening character is quite likely (moreso than Ike, in my mind!), there exists serious competition for who that Awakening character would be.
Chrom: 25% chance
Chrom suffers from one thing: lack of uniqueness. He wields the same blade as Marth! I think. And when it comes down to it, characters are chosen not based on how to best represent something, but what they could bring to the table. Chrom brings his popularity (there is a lot of it among more casual fans who just discovered Fire Emblem) and recognition. He is still the frontrunner for a Fire Emblem character, but not by much at all. Lucina also can't bring much; she snags 12.5% based purely on her name and popularity alone, which is about half of Chrom's. Robin, the unique single-character choice, gets a 17.5% chance. A Chromcina tag-team gets a 15% chance; its unique, incorporates two popular requests, and references the game in a cool way. Yarne+Owain tag team gets a 0% chance because I doubt the developers ever even considered either character in the pair, let alone as a tag-team.
Groose has spoken. From now on, when we do Fire Emblem characters, I'm just using the numbers from here.
Chrom Want: 0%
I'm getting tired of Fire Emblem swordsman. Marth? Cool! Ike? Meh. More? Ugh. Chrom could use his lance, but that's not what he's known for an I doubt he would. Besides, I don't think a single moveset can capture the essence of Fire Emblem... it's about tactics, something that isn't easily translated to Smash. I wouldn't really want Chrom, at all. Sorry.
Dr. Mario Stage x5
Pichu Prediction: 2.45%
Anyone remember the good 'ol days of Pichu in Smash? No? Good!
DAY OVER
RETURN OF GROOSE