So I'm back after a day of being locked out of the boards just like everyone else... While I was exploring Dover castle I came up with 10 reasons why I really don't like the supposed 35 character roster:
10. ROB... enough said. The idea that Sakurai and his staff were able to come up with a moveset for him but drew a complete blank when it came to characters like Lyn and Little Mac is an insult within itself.
9. Wolf instead of Krystal. She has easily played a bigger role in the past three games, is central to the plot in two of them, and is the first Nintendo female character since Samus to not only play a lead role in more then one canon game but to also be playable in one. Also, want to bet that Wolf is going to get Falco's old moveset? Any takers?
8. Snake. Yes, I said it, what of it? I was fine with Snake's addition at first but now that there's the possibility that him and Sonic are the only third party characters I'm really pissed off... At least Sonic has a decent amount of exclusives on the GBA and DS and the history of Sega and Nintendo's rivalry with him while Snake has, what, two Nintendo exclusives with the most recent one being 5 years ago? The fact that he pretty much got in because Sakurai and Kojima are really good friends really annoys me too... With MGS4 just around the corner, I really think Kojima took advantage of his friend for his own interests. You know, here's a thought; why not include a third party character that's ACTUALLY HAD A LONG STANDING HISTORY WITH NINTENDO! I mean, this game IS supposed to be celebrating Nintendo's history as a whole, isn't it? Why not have someone like Bomberman or Megaman, you know, characters that have been with Nintendo since the NES games, have decent Nintendo fanbases, and have more then a few Nintendo exclusives but I suppose that's asking too much...
7. Ness coming back. From what I've seen in gameplay videos and what I've read, Ness and Lucas play very similar roles in their respective games. It also doesn't help that their character designs are incredibly similar and how Lucas is essentially a blond Ness with a different hair style. From how things are playing out, Lucas is a "Luigified" version of Ness while I think it's safe to assume that Ness will be getting back most of his moves from Melee. PK Freeze instead of PK Flash and few subtle changes here and there; ZOMG, dA dIfFeReNcEs... At least Claus would have given the developers the oppurtunity to give us something new.
6. All except 3 of the new characters being "left overs" from Melee cutting room floor. Of characters that were either confirmed or rumored to be considered to be put in Melee, Captain Olimar, Ike, and Lucario are the only ones that were absent for obvious reasons. (It doesn't help that Ike's a Luigified Marth and how Lucario will probably play similarly to Mewtwo..)There is a decent amount of evidence regarding everyone else (ie; Wario, Pit, Metaknight, King Dedede, Snake, Diddy Kong, Lucas, the Pokemon Trainer, Wolf, and Sonic) showing that there cast aside ideas based on their standing in the 2001 Melee poll (King Dedede was first in his category; the Pokemon Trainer, Diddy, Metaknight, Wolf, and Wario were third in their's, and Pit appeared as well with 5 votes, just one more then what the Ice Climbers had) or in interviews (Sakurai made comments about Metaknight, Lucas, and King Dedede being left out, Kojima talked about Snake's consideration, and Naka talked about Sonic's).
5. Metroid's "new rep" being Zero Suit Samus. Yeah... do I really have to explain this one? I think there's a certain Zebesian dragon that people would have much rather seen.
4. Ness and Captain Falcon being unlockable again. I don't think I really have to explain this one either. Ness's return, I admit, was definately a surprize (but not a good one despite him being my best character in Melee) but having Captain Falcon unlockable again is an insult to everyone's intelligence considering how 1. the F-Zero icon was revealed last July, and 2. Hi... the icon's a FREAKIN' FALCON! No, I guess Sakurai wanted us to believe that the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt were going to be playable...
3. Most of the unlockable characters being from past games. Here are the unlockable characters according to the rumor: Ness, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Cell Shaded Young Link, Falco, Marth, Mr. Game and Watch, Lucario, Wolf, Snake, Sonic, and ROB. Now, class, please write an essay 200 words or less why I'm not happy with this... 9 of the 14 are from past games, 2 were revealed months ago (Snake and Sonic), 1 was dead obvious (Lucario), and I've already gone into why I don't like the last two. The fact that Sakurai pretty much admited that it'd be much easier to obtain unlockable characters this time around further increases my ire. It says to be "as far as the roster goes, we really didn't put that much thought into it so we really don't care if you find out who they are within a few days of buying the game."
2. According to Sakurai, 700 people have played some part in this game. 700... There are Hollywood blockbusters that have less people that work on them and cost 3-4 times as much to produce. Also, did Melee even have half that number? I honestly believe Brawl had more composers then Melee did programmers. Throw on top of that how Brawl was in development almost 3 times longer then Melee (27 months compared to Melee's 10; not to mention how Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Halo 3 and even several Final Fantasy games were made in less time), and how Nintendo even built an entire building specifically for the production of this (something I don't believe they've ever done) and you can understand my annoyance? All those people and all that talent and you can't come up with a more imaginative roster while smash fans as young as ten can? Am I the only person that sees something wrong with this?
And for the number one reason why I loathe the 35 character roster...
1. All the extra content and unlockables that Brawl has makes you wonder if the developers didn't misplace their time. Probably 300 assist trophies, probably 100 pokemon, probably 50-75 items, rumored to be 41 stages, rumored to be 400 music tracks, demos of at least 20 classic games, probably 600 trophies, God knows how many stickers, 4 different control schemes, Wifi play for all the Stadium modes, Spectator mode, elaborate cutscenes in the SSE, and the trophy shooter game. When you look at it like this, doesn't seem like a bit much? The Wifi play, the Stage Builder, the event modes, and the full blown Adventure mode are welcome additions obviously but couldn't they have stood on their own? Instead of 300 Assist trophies, wouldn't the fans have wanted a more diverse and imaganative roster? How about 150 Assist trophies and 40-45 unique (excluding transformations) characters? When you think of how most of the Assist trophies have updated character designs and their own unique moves it doesn't take long to jump aboard my train of thought. Was Spectator mode nessecary especially when all the matches are completely random? Were the game demos nessecary when most Smash fans are familar or have usually beaten the games that will be made available? Did the stickers really need to have power ups given to them? Do you guys understand what I'm getting at?
In the end, this game is going to be beyond epic. We will be playing it for years to come but with Nintendo going all out for everything else, why didn't they do so with the roster? Why is everything else a 10/10 while the roster feels like a 6/10 at best. It's like eating the best burger you've ever had and in the final bite, you bite into a part that's either completely charred or completely raw. It doesn't ruin the entire meal, perhaps, but it does leave a bad taste in your mouth and does ruin what could have been a perfect lunch...
