Reading through the previous posts has given me a lot to think about, but here goes:
- NO MORE CLONES!! (with Luigi as the exception). I would be very happy if Falco, Wolf, Lucas, and all other clones were cut from Smash 4. At most, they would make appearances as alternate costumes.
- Tying into the above point (please don't shoot me) I wish Link would be cut from the roster and that only Toon Link would remain. Although Adult Link is an O12, the Link in the Legend of Zelda games has traditionally been a young boy. Furthermore, I find Toon Link to be a much more expressive character (facial expressions and such) than Link, which to me makes him more endearing as a character.
- I'm fine with Ness returning, he can even take the best of both his and Lucas' movesets .
- I want both Captain Falcon and Ganondorf to return. Captain Falcon would keep his current moveset, and Ganondorf would "appropriate" some of Mewtwo's moves to make him a different, more magic-based character.
- The above point implies that I hope Mewtwo does not come back, which is true, but I hope Jigglypuff does. I consider her and Kirby to be distinct enough that neither one needs changing (except Sing, which would hopefully receive a huge buff in range/duration, as it's her signature move.)
- I don't like the addition of Greninja (too similar to Sheik), and I believe Pokémon should be represented by first-generation Pokémon only since I consider it the best generation. As someone mentioned earlier, with only a few exceptions the Pokémon have been progressively less and less creative and/or "believable" (looking at you, Klefki and Vanillite evolutionary line). I'm on the fence about Lucario, since he was already in Brawl, but I think I would be okay with him being cut.
- I feel like there is an unusual amount of effort being made to include female characters in the game. I don't have anything against female characters in this or any other game, or women in general, and it makes sense to include them from a marketing standpoint, it's just something that's stood out to me for awhile now.
- Wii Fit Trainer (who does a have a male variation) would have been better as an Assist Trophy that used a less powerful version of her Final Smash, or just hopped around the stage doing various Yoga poses.
- Palutena should have been a stage boss instead of a playable character (look how many special moves she has!)
- I'm actually happy about the decision to split Zelda/Sheik and Samus/Zero Suit Samus, since they each have unique playstyles. Separating them also allows each individual of the pair to be developed to a greater depth, since they have to stand on their own two feet now. However, I wish that Sheik had been cut to make way for Impa, who is a distinct character from Zelda herself (and is "actually" a girl). There you go Nintendo, two birds (variety and women) with one stone.
- A side-effect of trying to add in more female characters is that, in some cases, they are over-sexualized in an effort to make them more appealing. Seriously, I know size-scaling doesn't apply in Smash, but try standing Samus next to Zero Suit Samus. There's no way those boobs are fitting into the chest-cavity of that suit, even if the Power Suit was paper-thin. The yellow high-heels I can live with, since they're supposed to enhance her physical abilities, but the boobs would honestly just slow her down, if anything. Then there's Palutena's reveal....it's been mentioned before so I won't get into too much detail about it, but basically all that twirling and thrusting her anime self did was kind of unnecessary.
- Going back to Samus, Metroid as a series does not need more character representation and Ridley should not be playable (not sure if this is an unpopular opinion anymore). SIze arguments aside, the whole premise of the Metroid series is that Samus Aran is the best of the best, a badass "lone-wolf" type bounty hunter who works alone and doesn't need the support of others to be strong. It's an integral part of her character, and saying she needs additional characters from her franchise goes against this notion (besides, we now have 2 separate Metroid representatives, Samus and Zero Suit Samus).
- I utterly despise Mii Fighters, they are a detriment to the game as a whole and the one saving grace is that they will not be playable online With Anyone. Their movesets bring no originality of any kind to the game. Honestly, Miis could have had their own fighting game and that would have been fine, since we already have the Villager to represent character avatars.
- I also dislike Pac-Man, it feels like he was thrown in there simply so people could play a 4-player FFA of the "classic" video game characters. In the game that he is most remembered for, the original Pac-Man, he doesn't even have arms or legs. He is literally a head with a mouth running from/chasing ghosts and eating dots/fruit. At least the other classic characters had some (minimal, to be sure) amount of personality to them, even in the early days.
- Olimar should be an alternate costume for Pikmin & ___. Alph, Brittany or Charlie should replace him as the main fighter.
- I would prefer if there was no DLC for this game at all. However, at the very minimum, there should be no character or item DLC for this game beyond costumes, all playable characters should be included in the final game. Stages, trophies, music, and other "extras" can be DLC I suppose, but I would much prefer if everything was just patched for free.
- On the subject of patches, (this isn't necessarily unpopular opinion but it must be said), Nintendo NEEDS to have balance patches/updates to the game, in order to avoid another Brawl Meta Knight situation, and in order to keep the game fresh and interesting as the years go on. I also want them to patch/update Smash 4 so that people won't try to create another Project: M out of it, as I'd rather play supported Smash 4 than yet another modding attempt at Melee 2.0.
- As long as continuous support/patching occurs for the game, I will be okay with Smash 4 being the last installment of the Smash Series.
- I'm disappointed that they will be releasing a peripheral for using Gamecube controllers with Wii U, because Smash 4 was going to be the game that finally forced me to buy Wii U Pro Controllers.
- Items should be included in the competitive scene, since being able to take advantage of changing conditions mid-battle shows more skill than being able to input the same two- or three-button sequence over and over again.
- Wave-dashing/L-cancelling/other techniques like this are just ways to cheese your way into pummelling range. Smash 4 should not include these because they essentially make you untouchable while you close the gap or hit your opponent. This lessens the quality of the gameplay because, as someone who posted earlier stated, it reduces the amount of interaction time between fighters by cutting down on the time that both fighters are vulnerable to one another. There is a natural risk to approaching the opponent when vulnerable, but to balance this natural risk there should be a much higher penalty for trying to widen the gap between fighters, or using camping strategies to gain an advantage. Essentially, the game should reward aggressive action rather than defensive, but make it so you actually have to walk up to the opponent and smack them rather than approaching in a way that you can't be touched but you can touch them, and/or have penalties for hanging back and projectile camping. This would make for a much challenging and engaging fighting game, since you couldn't just think "forget this chump, I'll just go in when I want and he can't do anything about it". Basically it would force both players to interact with one another more, since trying to avoid confrontation or pressure only at very specific times would invoke penalties that would outweigh the cost of avoiding combat. For example (it's a bad one but bear with me), if players took more damage from attacks when trying to run away than when trying to approach, it would make approaching your opponent head-on (while vulnerable yourself) a much more appealing option, since you could potentially trade damage rather than doing no damage and risking increased damage to yourself in the process. In the end, such a system would increase the importance of good decision-making and opponent-reading skills, which are more praise-worthy than being able to mash a couple of buttons a million times in a memorized sequence.
- Finally, (I swear I'm not trying to flame/hate with this one, honestly) I hope that with the release of Smash 4, people will discover that Smash 4 is not SSB64 2.0. It's not SSBM 2.0. It's not SSBB 2.0. It's a new beast entirely, and the best Smash ever. My biggest, most out-there hope is that all the other Smash scenes (64, Melee, Brawl, PM) will die out, and that EVERYBODY who loves Smash and the Smash Series (casuals and hardcores, alike) will only play this one game. Just imagine how deep the meta game could go if all the best players from each Smash game were playing and developing strategies and counter-strategies for one game. When combined with patch updates and officially-endorsed Nintendo tournaments, Smash 4 could grow to be one of the top competitive video game experiences of all time.
- Another reason I hope for this is that it could finally put an end to the unnecessary and baseless hate that occurs between some Melee fans and some Brawl fans. The Smash community as a whole needs unity, not division and bullying between distinct-yet-similar sub-communities. If we truly want Smash to be recognized as a real mental sport (e-sports are not a thing) that is supported, sponsored and endorsed by Nintendo and other companies (and we do want that), we must come together and present an image of professionalism, good sportsmanship, and courtesy towards our fellow Smashers, rather than the casual-bashing, trash-talking, disrespectful community we currently have (in some cases, not all).
Wow, I did not expect all that to come up. In any case, that's everything I can think of at the moment. Feel free to reply/debate me on anything you agree/disagree with, in PMs if it's not acceptable to do so in this thread. I'm open-minded and willing to change my views based on new information/insight (heck, I barely agree with some of the things I wrote, but they were potentially unpopular opinions, so in they went). If you're still reading at this point you deserve a medal, I don't have one to give you so I'll just say thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
Apologies, but I don't have the mental capacity to come up with an efficient tl;dr
