There really isn't much difference between Saki, Isaac, and Little Mac. Aren't you the one who said that plenty of C-list series are relying on Smash for survival? That statement applies to all the three above.
And this is pretty much the only thing those three have in common. I'd even argue that Little Mac and Punch-Out would not require Smash to continue, as the game was received well critically and commercially, and seemingly can stand on its own momentum. Other than the fact that both GS and S&P are in decline (though S&P was never that big to begin with), and the protagonists both happen to be blonde and wield "swords" (though pretty much the most opposite kinds of swords possible) doesn't mean they have anything else in common. They wouldn't play similarly, they don't come from the same genre, they won't directly effect each others chances, and they have pretty polarizing popularity (Isaac more popular in the west, Saki in the east). Little Mac is even more diverse than the other two.
The Wii-U won't see as many first party games as the Wii on the premise that it won't need to.
It's much too early to know this. And it's not like the Wii saw an extraordinarily large increase in the number of 1st/2nd party titles when compared to previous systems anyway.
No third party was going to make big titles for the Wii when there were two generally considered better systems out, which is why a lot of older series like S&P and Punch-Out were brought back. This, quite honestly, won't happen for the Wii-U.
Those series were brought back because their recent VC releases had been largely profitable and Nintendo still saw a potential market for sequels, not due to desperation for more Nintendo content on the Wii.
Plus, again it's too early to know what the future of the Wii U will entail.
It seems like you're mad because Saki is more likely than Isaac. As an if, what if Golden Sun was Sakurai's favored series and S&P was being left out in the cold? Would you tolerate me saying that Isaac didn't deserve to be in just because Sakurai liked him? Isaac and Saki both have similar situations. Both of their series had overall good reception (well, not the DS GS, but I won't go there). Why be upset that one is more likely?
I wouldn't say Saki is more likely than Isaac. Isaac's series is much more well known, has had universal release of the entire series, sold nearly seven times better than S&P, and overall has more popularity. S&P's future is even more dark than GS's. The only thing Saki has going for him that's kept him in the relatively high regard he's seen in is the fact that Sakurai might have a bias towards him. A bias which Sakurai very rarely actually acts on.
Even if he did have undeniably better chances than Isaac, I personally wouldn't be mad. I'm not mad at the characters that actually do have better chances than characters I would personally like to see, and I wouldn't be mad if Saki was one of them (which he's not). It would obviously mean that he's done something to earn his high likelihood chances, and there's no point in being mad that a character is legitimately likely, even if I don't particularly have any affinity for that character.
Also, again personally, if the only reason Isaac had a chance was because Sakurai liked him, then yeah, I would tolerate (and agree with) you saying he didn't deserve to be included, because he wouldn't. That being said, I believe Saki has more going for him than just Sakurai's bias (even if I do find him less likely than people give him credit for), so I wouldn't say the situation was that black and white anyway.
And, while bias doesn't totally determine the roster, you can expect at least one character that comes from Sakurai's bias. Captain Falcon, Ice Climbers, etc. It's not a pattern, but if he feels like the characer would be a good addition, then he'll add them, popularity be damned.
Neither Captain Falcon nor Ice Climbers were added purely due to bias. Captain Falcon was included because he was the best fit for the prototype fighter's model and design (back when it was Dragon King) and Ice Climbers were not nearly Sakurai's first choice for a retro character (they were like fifth or something). In fact, Sakurai stated that his favorite retro (and character in general) for Melee was Mach Rider, yet Ice Climbers were the ones included. Sakurai acts on his bias very rarely, like I said above. Even by the time Meta-Knight and Dedede were added, they were among the most popular characters requested, so it's not like Sakurai said "popularity be damned" to them either.
shinpichu said:
I don't see how a character not being popular in Japan would affect their chances, since the Japanese market is a smaller part of the fanbase than the western one.
Yeah, it overall seems pretty unfair. However, while unfair, it isn't really anything new or surprising with Smash (or a lot of Japanese series), as both the Melee and Brawl polls were Japan only, and the rosters for all three so far were created with Japanese popularity first and foremost (not to say western popularity didn't play a part too - just not nearly as big a part). That said, so far for the most part, the characters chosen have been pretty popular in the west as well, which is fortunate. On the other hand, it's not like characters such as Pit and/or Sonic were only popular in the west, Sonic still managed to come in first on a purely Japanese poll.
However this is really the first time that there is quite a big divide between some of the most popular characters in the west and the east, and Sakurai might have to add a character due to purely western demand (Ridley, Little Mac), which hasn't happened as of yet. Of course, characters like Mewtwo, Roy, K. Rool, Palutena, Shulk, Zoroark, etc would appease both audiences, so it's not like popularity will be skewed to one side in particular.
). But honestly there's not one realistic roster that takes into account every single character that the fanbase (to keep things simple) wants.
