Unlockable Characters Speculation Thread

[theTRUEchamp]

Do you think every character that's been revealed thus far will be a starting character or will specific ones (such as Luigi, Sonic, Pac-Man, etc.) be unlockable?

 

[MachoCheeze]

Erm.. it's a tough guess tbh. We've never really experience how they're revealing characters this time around. But these are probably safe bets:

- Pac-Man,
- Mega Man
- Sonic
- Luigi
- Toon Link
- Palutena

Others that might be unlockable:

- Charizard / Lucario / Greninja (I can't imagine Pokemon starting with four reps. I would say Greninja was a starter, but we haven't seen him on any of the box art)
- Mii Fighter

 

[Wanderer from Roseyard]

I think it would satisfy the most people if the starting roster were comprised of all the characters revealed before launch, perhaps excluding guest characters. So, everyone we've seen so far.

SSB4 will be experienced by many entry-level gamers who aren't familiar with concepts like unlocking characters. A first-time Smash player may think what's there by default is all there is. If they see their new favorite character on the site like Luigi, Lucario, Toon Link or Marth, and that character isn't available to them the first time the game is powered on, they're going to wonder why.

I'm one of those rebellious Smashboardians who personally wish all characters were unlocked from the start, though.

 

[The Real Gamer]

This belongs in the Character Discussion Forum.

*moved*

 

[Oatmeal.]

Isn't there a thread just like this already?

Anyways, here they are:

I really think that's it for now. There are many more to come. , plus any more newbies that might be unlockable.

 

[fogbadge]

luigi, toon link, the third parties, lucario, marth and not counting unrevealed characters id have to think about the rest

 

[Trigger123]

I hope at least half the characters are unlockable. here are unlockable from an order of easiest to hardest to unlcok.
- Luigi
- Marth
- Mii Fighter
- Lucario
- Greninja
- Little Mac
- Rosalina
- Sonic
- Paltutena
- Mega Man
- Pacman
Sorry if I forgot someone but I do not think Rosalina will be a starter cause 4 mario starters would be a lot.

 

[MachoCheeze]

You guys gotta remember though that Rosalina is on the 3DS box cover.

 

[Cap'nChreest]

All of the characters revealed before release are starters unless they are 3rd party.

 

[Oatmeal.]

You guys gotta remember though that Rosalina is on the 3DS box cover.

Marth was in the intro movie for Brawl. Your argument is invalid.

 

[Wyoming]

To be fair, one could argue that the front of the box cover never had anyone secret on it. The intro, on the other hand, always had someone.

64: The four secrets were there, albeit only their silhouettes at first.
Melee: Jigglypuff, Young Link, Pichu, Ganondorf
Brawl: Ness, Marth (I don't remember who else was there, but those two were for sure)

Meanwhile, the front of the box covers:

64: Nobody
Melee: Nobody
Brawl: Nobody

As for unlockables, I'm sure everyone except the third-parties (probably) will be starters. Luigi might be secret again but I wouldn't be surprised if Sakurai changed his mind about that.

 

[Oatmeal.]

To be fair, one could argue that the front of the box cover never had anyone secret on it. The intro, on the other hand, always had someone.

64: The four secrets were there, albeit only their silhouettes.
Melee: Jigglypuff, Young Link, Pichu, Ganondorf
Brawl: Ness, Marth (I don't remember who else was there, but those two were for sure)

Meanwhile, the front of the box covers:

64: Nobody
Melee: Nobody
Brawl: Nobody

It's not like Rosalina is a secret anyway. Everyone who wants this game knows she's in.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I think everyone that's announced at the moment are starters, except the 3rd parties and maybe Luigi because of Sakurai's wording of his release.

Other than that I think we'd have more of an indication that these guys were unlockables, and the fact that we still don't have a formal G&W confirmation despite seeing him seems like a pretty heavy indication towards that. That combined with Sakurai's past secrecy of unlockables on the Brawl dojo makes it more likely than not that the currently announced guys are all starters, with the exception of the previously mentioned ones of course.

Worth mentioning is also that Brawl's unlockable character count was at 14, only an increase of 3 over Melee's unlockable count, so there are still plenty of starters to announce if we're to have the speculated 48-51 amount.

 

[Trigger123]

All of the characters revealed before release are starters unless they are 3rd party.

I highly doubt that with Luigi and marth in there, also I doubt pikachu, charizard, lucario, and greninja will all be starters. Also Paltutena.

 

[Espio264]

Marth is likely to be a starter this time. Besides the boxart, the inclusion in the demo, and being one of the starting Amiibo figures, it just seems about time anyway. Everybody else makes sense to stay unlockable.

I posted this in some thread yesterday in relation to Sal/Gematsu:

Here's a thought I have, but not a certainty I've concluded:

If Sal is correct, his information has said nothing about further veterans, or the status of which characters are unlockable.
We've already heard from Bihldorf himself that the roster is "massive", so who's to say that Chrom, Shulk and the Kids aren't starters?

Brawl had 21 starters, and we're definitely going to end up with a roster with at least 12 more characters. Likely starters would be...

1. Mario 2. DK 3. Link 4. Samus
5. Yoshi 6. Kirby 7. Fox 8. Pikachu
9. Bowser. 10. Peach 11. Zelda 12. Sheik
13. Marth 14. Ice Climbers 15. Pit 16. Meta-Knight
17. Wario 18. Dedede 19. Charizard 20. Ike
21. Diddy 22. Olimar 23. ZS Samus 24. Villager
25. WFT 26. Rosalina 27. Little Mac 28. Greninja
29. Palutena 30. Chrom 31. Shulk 32. Chorus Kids
33. Miis

Unlockables would then be:

Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, Jiggs, Falco, Ganondorf, Game and Watch, Lucario, Toon Link, Wolf, R.O.B., Sonic, Megaman and Pac-Man (14 unlockables, same as Brawl) But why not more?

Would it be so farfetched to say that we've got Mewtwo, Ridley, Isaac and K. Rool still waiting (or insert your favorite 4 favorite unlockables) that Sal doesn't know about yet?

I think it makes sense. But it's just one opinion.

 

[Sobreviviente]

Diskun and Captain Toad.

 

[MBakhsh]

If you asked me a few months ago I would have said that every character would probably be available from the start, which I think is the best way to go. But we're nearing the Japan release and there are still 15 veterans missing in action, so I'm second-guessing myself. However, it's pretty safe to say that every non-3rd party revealed is a starter. "Oh, but Luigi and Marth have been unlockable in every game, they must be again" - come on. It's 2014, and there have now been two insanely popular Smash games. How many people are seriously going to be surprised that freaking Luigi is in the game? How many people loved Marth in both Melee and Brawl, not just competitive players but casuals as well, and so will fully expect him in this game? The point of unlockables is to surprise the player and reward them for their effort. But in this day and age, especially with all the hype and buzz about the game, even the most casual fans will know what characters will be playable. You know how people talk about their shocked reactions back in the days of Melee when they unlocked Mewtwo or Game & Watch? Have you heard anybody at all recounting their experience unlocking R.O.B. in Brawl, after the leak and then the over one month-long gap between the Japanese release and the North American release? All the hype about the game made everybody familiar with the characters and turned unlocking them into a chore, so you can probably expect people to simply look up the unlock conditions and then try to meet them as quickly as possible so that they have all of the characters. Hell, even back when I first got Brawl I just played one stock games with Captain Falcon on Flat Zone 2 and ran off the stage repeatedly just to unlock the last few characters. Even making the 3rd parties unlockable makes no sense...everybody and their mother knew that Snake and Sonic were in Brawl; it was even advertised on the back of the bloody box!! And yet you had to play hundreds of matches or log hours of time into SSE just to unlock them, quite possibly the two most hyped characters in the game. Why entice people with the prospect of Snake in Smash Bros. for YEARS and then ****block them when they finally get the game? Keep in mind, it's not too unlikely that Sakurai shares the same view...remember his justification for not having cutscenes this time around?

Tl;dr - Unlocking characters has turned from an enjoyable and rewarding experience to a frustrating hassle to obtain characters we already know are in the game, so I'm hoping it's gone this time. At the very least, though, we'll probably be having Marth, Luigi, Lucario, Toon Link, Rosalina, Greninja, etc. as starters this time around.

 

[Curious Villager]

Eh.... yeah I agree. At least all the Nintendo characters who have been revealed so far are most likely starters, which includes Luigi, Lucario and Toon Link (Marth seems a given now that he is on the front cover of the 3DS version). The third parties can go either way though I guess. But they will probably be unlockable once more.

I would have cherry picked but since we are so close to the 3DS version's release and since there are still many veterans yet to be revealed if we went with the mindset that Sakurai is open to reveal every unlockable veteran this time around. I think it's probably safe to assume he promoted a few to starters for this game like he did with Ness and Captain Falcon for Melee.

Although he could probably do some sort of "version specific" starter/unlockable type thing with Marth and Toon Link being starters on the 3DS version but unlockable on the Wii U version and vice versa for Luigi and Lucario for the other version for example but yeah....

 

[kylexv]

Revealed Characters that I think will be unlockable:

Luigi
Rosalina (Not sure on this one)
Toon Link
Mega Man
Sonic
Greninja
Ike
Pac-Man
Palutena

 

[pupNapoleon]

I completely expect every character shown to be starting-roster, with the exception of the third parties and, as others have said, possibly Luigi. This provides a solid lineup to arouse fans old and new, as well as keep the most wanted characters hush-hush for future release.
The veterans we do not have, mostly, seem unlikely to be revealed. The gematsu leak, to me, seems likely to reveal the rest of the starting lineup (the characters that would garnish more hype from being revealed beforehand, and less excitement from being unlockable later on, if unknown to be in the game).

If all characters shown were starters except for third parties and Luigi, it would appear to fall in line with past series' representation: Both KI reps (just like all three Kirby reps were starting last time), four out of five mario reps (and I believe rosalina was originally going to be secret, hence why she wasnt on the gematsu...also think we could get six from mario), pokemon representing a broad spectrum of what is shown (with two or three more unlocked), and then a few more unlockables from given series- add ons to the franchises we have present (hopefully the likes of K Rool, Ridley, Toad, Mewtwo) and then some IPs we are familiar with that are making a playable-character debut (Isaac, Ray, who knows!).

Sakurai has made a big deal about secrecy, I think we will see some big-time secret characters later on. That is hope, as well, but also faith that the big time wanted characters, and balance to the game (in terms of newcomers, heavyweights, other types of representation) will be added.

 

[RSF-Blue bomber]

tbh they r going to have to show every character because the japanese version is coming out first

 

[Katy Parry]

Since Zelda/Sheik and Samus/Zero Suit are their own characters, I could see them being unlockable.

 

[dezeray112]

I think the only characters that are going to be unlockable act this point would be the guest characters.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Heres what i got for starters and unlcokables

Guarantee:

Likely:

Maybe:

And these guys for starters

(Well thats what i have on who has ben revealed right now.)

This list was made by who was on the cases of smash bros wii u and 3ds

 

[Deleted member]

I dunno why, but it would make me really mad if Luigi was starter. (especially if Jigglypuff was back and she was hidden)

 

[TheRealHeroOfWinds]

Unlockable: (we aren't getting 4 mario starters and you know that)
Starters:

 

[Zzuxon]

I don't think that there are any unlockable characters. Too many who should be unlocks have already been revealed.

 

[IronFish]

I think some of the reveled characters will be unlockable, like Lucario, Tink, Luigi, and Ike, as well as any unannounced veterans.

 

[TheAnvil]

I could conceivably see:

Luigi
Sonic
Pac Man
Mega Man
Sheik
ZSS

being unlockables.

 

[God Robert's Cousin]

Assuming the Sal Leak is right and that there's more to reveal based on Sal not having mentioned Rosalina due to her not being planned to be shown at E3:

Starting roster:



+Most of Brawl's starting roster
+Palutena, for Kid Icarus having such a large presence now (Sakurai bias)
+Charizard acting as Pokemon Trainer's sole remnant
+Marth instead of Ike, due to the former being shown so much more early as well as the latter no longer "starring" in the latest FE game
+Villager, Little Mac, and Wii Fit Trainer being earlyish revealed newcomers of their own series
+Ice Climbers because Ice Climbers
+Mii Fighters being such a gigantic character addition as well as in the Multi-Man Melee regardless

Unlockable:
KRool
Ridley

ShulkChrom
Chorus-Kids
+Original 4 of Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff
+Rosalina due to her darkhorse status in the Mario series and frequently being unlockable in those games
+King K. Rool, Meta Knight and Ridley under the same liabilities as Ganondorf as one of their series' antagonists
+Toon Link because how on earth would you think otherwise
+Lucario, Greninja, and Mewtwo being OU/Uber generational representatives and cool guy bipedal Pokemon
+Falco and Wolf for being sensibly unlockable
+R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch to follow their hidden retro tradition
+Ike and Chrom under similar principles to Falco and Wolf
+Shulk and Chorus Kids for being a late-shown newcomer of his own series
+Mega Man, Sonic, and Pac-Man all being 3rd-party

That leaves Lucas, Snake, Ivysaur, and Squirtle cut... Though I would like to see the former two along with Isaac, Roy, and Wonder Red make it into the game somehow... Perhaps as DLC, hm?

 

[YoshiandToad]

From who we've currently seen?

I can't see us getting and right off the bat. Even if you factor Luigi as a secret that's still 4 Marios...Rosalina is always an unlockable character in everything else and doesn't really compare in importance to Mario, Peach and Bowser for the series so I can see her being unlockable.

obviously don't need to be said even.

I also can't see us getting all of as starters too. Pikachu obviously will be, but I'm up in the air on the other three. Just seems a lot for a starting roster for one series, especially if there's only one secret character from that series to unlock.

Up in the air about . She seems more prime unlock material to me. Same with but I can't remember whether or not he was in Brawl.

These two now they're separate.

Probably this guy still too.

 

[Gravitational23]

I think rosalina will be unlockable because starting off with 4 Mario character is too much to start with.

Starter:

Unlockable:

 

[Arthreeteseven]

I really hope the 3ds version makes you unlock the majority of the characters. since the game is portable and on a smaller screen I think it would be a lot of fun to have to experiment and perform tasks to get the full roster over a wider period of time, since you and your friends won't be playing of the same save file.

On the other hand I don't care if any character is "locked" in the wii u version. By that point we will know the whole cast anyway. Besides, unlike the 3ds version, the wii u is the one that everyone will sit down and play off of the same save file, whereas the 3ds version can get away with having more unlockables since the players will never be sharing the same save file, and therefore are responsible for their own unlocks.

 

[Delzethin]

With just the characters we know of, it's hard to make a really good guess...but here's my 2 coins:

Starter:





Unlockable (Early):


Unlockable (Midgame):


And none of the late game unlockables have been officially announced yet...but I bet Mr. Game & Watch is one of the first late game unlocks, and Lucina's on the border between mid and late.

 

[VioletSmashfan]

I think, I might have a guess on which characters might be starters and who might be unlockables this only focuses on the current roster as of right now, if I feel up to it I might come back and edit this if we get more characters:

*donates unlockable character

Mario franchise:


* (just because he was revealed early, doesn't mean he'll be starting right out of the gate, although him being 1 of the earlier unlockables (possibly being the 2nd unlockable character) would make sense, as well as him continuing the #2 trend).


* (she's been unlockable in every Mario spinoff game she's appeared in and was unlockable in 3D World, I see the trend continuing with these games, due to her darkhorse status).

Donkey Kong:




Legend of Zelda:



* (can't see Zelda having 4 starters (with 1 being a direct semi-clone), plus the Link clone always ends up unlockable anyways).

Metroid:



Kid Icarus:

* (can't see Kid Icarus getting 2 starters, since it's a small franchise).

Kirby:



Starfox:


Pokémon:


* (might end up as the 1st unlockable character, or 1 of the early 1s like he was in Brawl).
* (just because he's a starter in the 6th Gen games, doesn't mean he's going to become 1 right off the bat here (since almost every new Pokémon that debuts usually ends up locked anyways), this mostly depends if Jigglypuff and Mewtwo returns or not).

Fire Emblem:

/
* (Marth needs to be the starter this time around (he's the main mascot of the Fire Emblem series as a whole even though he doesn't appear in every game), plus Marth was revealed 1st, before Ike who was revealed near the end of May, this was kinda the opposite in Brawl with Ike being revealed 1st and Marth being teased, also Ike doesn't have a new game to promote).
* (this all but guarantees that Marth might be the starter character this time around (although in Melee, both Marth & Roy were unlockables).

Yoshi:


Other: (rather group em all up than give them their own separate spot, if we do get more characters for any of these series, I might come back and edit this).
* (probably going to be early-to-mid unlockable like he was in Brawl).

* (this 1 is a toss up, he could either be a starter or an unlockable character, however if Ness returns and stays as an unlockable character like he was in Brawl (and Lucas gets the axe) and it's very likely this will be the case (since Lucas is rumored to be getting the axe), then Villager can become a starter, but if Lucas returns, then Villager can be unlockable).

* (since Pit's no longer classified as a retro character (now that Palutena is in), Little Mac's the 1st retro based character revealed for the game).
* (they've been unlockable in every Mario Kart game they've appeared in, so Smash makes no difference (just like Rosalina has been unlockable as well in the same manner), might be 1 of the earlier unlockables or could be near the end).

3rd Party: (obviously these 3 are going to be locked).
* (probably ends up as the 1st of the 3 3rd Party characters unlocked, since he is a returning veteran).
* (mid unlockable, despite being the 1st official 3rd Party character revealed for the game (although Snake can technically be the 1st 3rd Party character unlocked in Brawl, by playing on his stage 15 times), the same could hold for Megaman).
* (last unlockable character in the game is quite fitting for him, just like Mr. Game & Watch was for Melee, he's the only 3rd Party to have both a Wii U and a 3DS stage).

 

[GunGunW]

My opinion? I think the unlockable characters should/will be:


and maybe , though hopefully not.

 

[bigbro2233]

I'll use emote heads just for more of a visual. Some characters are just my speculation for veterans.