Why Greninja getting into Smash Bros makes sense (whether you like it or not)

[PadWarrior]

Man I can't wait to play this guy.

 

[Xigger]

Greninja's popularity couldn't have had anything to do with its inclusion. Sakurai said back at E3 that they were done making additions to the roster, and that was months before Greninja was revealed to the public.

Sakurai definitely got an early look at the X & Y starters and just must've thought Greninja would be the most fun of the three.

Or- like anyone else looking at the evolved starters- you can tell which one is more likeable. Not to mention other factors that matter in a fighting game. Charizard works, but it's a bit harder to imagine Blastoise or Venasaur as fighters.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Or- like anyone else looking at the evolved starters- you can tell which one is more likeable. Not to mention other factors that matter in a fighting game. Charizard works, but it's a bit harder to imagine Blastoise or Venasaur as fighters.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Hitzel]

The "popularity" of Greninja isn't real, or at least it's not as big as what people say, it was made up by those who jumped in the band-wagon after his reveal to justify his inclusion in the roster.

Now that i've said that, i want to make something clear: I know i can be wrong, If there some evidence that he was "THE gen 6 pokemon" before the direct, i will go back on what i just said.

Below are the 10 most popular Pokemon on Pokemon Showdown's OU Tier for the month of February. In Red are Gen 6 Pokemon:

Total battles: 2549546
Avg. weight/team: 0.559
+ ---- + ------------------ + --------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Usage % | Raw | % | Real | % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + --------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------- +
| 1 | Rotom-Wash | 19.71770% | 809893 | 15.883% | 694622 | 17.187% |
| 2 | Charizard | 16.68517% | 845220 | 16.576% | 677246 | 16.757% |
| 3 | Aegislash | 15.93173% | 738010 | 14.473% | 578431 | 14.312% |
| 4 | Talonflame | 14.85993% | 669458 | 13.129% | 531373 | 13.148% |
| 5 | Greninja | 14.49611% | 709756 | 13.919% | 556394 | 13.767% |
| 6 | Heatran | 12.45876% | 489064 | 9.591% | 412787 | 10.214% |
| 7 | Scizor | 12.29698% | 564920 | 11.079% | 443008 | 10.961% |
| 8 | Conkeldurr | 12.15604% | 501687 | 9.839% | 410824 | 10.165% |
| 9 | Garchomp | 12.04187% | 565943 | 11.099% | 432128 | 10.692% |
| 10 | Azumarill | 11.59448% | 561615 | 11.014% | 450511 | 11.147% |

Greninja is the third most popular Gen 6 Pokemon on this list, and the 5th most popular Pokemon overall.

Source: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/official-smogon-university-simulator-statistics-—-february-2014.3501320/

Granted, the popularity of Greninja on Showdown is affected by his competitive viability, but saying that he isn't a popular enough compared to other Gen 6 Pokemon is pretty silly. Have you played Pokemon XY online?

Things to note:

• There are other months where Greninja isn't so high up the list, but for the most part he's still popular compared to other Gen 6 Pokemon and most Pokemon in general.
• You can make a case for Charizard being a Gen 6 Pokemon since people use him in online battles for his mega evolutions.
• Feel free to come up with movesets for Aegislash and Talonflame and use them as arguments against Greninja's inclusion

 

[The Real Gamer]

Great post, TRG; I thought the same thing, but you worded it far better than I could.
I'm just glad to have a new character in Smash to scratch my ninja itch, and Sheik just wasn't cutting it.

What's wrong with Sheik?!

But thanks

 

[Hitzel]

Is he really that much more popular than Honedge/Aegislash? Would they not have made more unique and less expected newcomers?
This isn't rhetorical, I'm asking out of genuine curiosity since everything I've heard has lead me to assume that Greninja's popularity was second to the Aegislash line. I have no real preference myself, since everything after gen 2 held no interest for me.

Already posted this in another thread, but yeah:

Below are the 10 most popular Pokemon on Pokemon Showdown's OU Tier for the month of February. In Red are Gen 6 Pokemon:

Total battles: 2549546
Avg. weight/team: 0.559
+ ---- + ------------------ + --------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Usage % | Raw | % | Real | % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + --------- + ------ + ------- + ------ + ------- +
| 1 | Rotom-Wash | 19.71770% | 809893 | 15.883% | 694622 | 17.187% |
| 2 | Charizard | 16.68517% | 845220 | 16.576% | 677246 | 16.757% |
| 3 | Aegislash | 15.93173% | 738010 | 14.473% | 578431 | 14.312% |
| 4 | Talonflame | 14.85993% | 669458 | 13.129% | 531373 | 13.148% |
| 5 | Greninja | 14.49611% | 709756 | 13.919% | 556394 | 13.767% |
| 6 | Heatran | 12.45876% | 489064 | 9.591% | 412787 | 10.214% |
| 7 | Scizor | 12.29698% | 564920 | 11.079% | 443008 | 10.961% |
| 8 | Conkeldurr | 12.15604% | 501687 | 9.839% | 410824 | 10.165% |
| 9 | Garchomp | 12.04187% | 565943 | 11.099% | 432128 | 10.692% |
| 10 | Azumarill | 11.59448% | 561615 | 11.014% | 450511 | 11.147% |

For this month, Greninja is the third most popular Gen 6 Pokemon on this list, and the 5th most popular Pokemon overall.

Source: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/official-smogon-university-simulator-statistics-—-february-2014.3501320/

Things to note:

• There are other months where Greninja isn't so high up the list, but for the most part he's still popular compared to other Gen 6 Pokemon and most Pokemon in general.
• You can make a case for Charizard being a Gen 6 Pokemon since people use him in online battles for his mega evolutions.
• The popularity of Greninja on Showdown is affected by his competitive viability.

 

[Typs]

Below are the 10 most popular Pokemon on Pokemon Showdown's OU Tier for the month of February. In Red are Gen 6 Pokemon:

From a competive point of view Greninja is indeed one of the most popular Gen6 pokemon, that doesn't make him popular overall.
Also i know he is very good in competive but... Number one Rotom-Wash? ROTOM-WASH?! Does that mean sakurai should make him playable right now? I mean he is first on the list right? Rotom-Wash, THE most popular pokemon! Stand aside pikachu! Your popularity is nothing compare to the mighty ROTOM-WASH!
I won't deny that this list is very good...for the competitive side of pokemon, but If a list of popular pokemon doesn't have pikachu as number one, it only show the opinion of one side of the pokemon fanbase, and nothing else.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

From a competive point of view Greninja is indeed one of the most popular Gen6 pokemon, that doesn't make him popular overall.
Also i know he is very good in competive but... Number one Rotom-Wash? ROTOM-WASH?! Does that mean sakurai should make him playable right now? I mean he is first on the list right? Rotom-Wash, THE most popular pokemon! Stand aside pikachu! Your popularity is nothing compare to the mighty ROTOM-WASH!
I won't deny that this list is very good...for the competive side of pokemon, but If a list of popular pokemon doesn't have pikachu as number one, it only show the opinion of one side of the pokemon fanbase, and nothing else.

Not only pokemon showdown, but the Pokemon Global Link shows similar results as well:

http://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/battle/

Most people who bought the game play in it's online battles where the online info is gathered. Between all those millions of trainers (you can scroll the millions of people in there but you wouldn't finish), the pokemon below are the most used. So basically, Greninja is not just popular competively but overall as well (being a starters helps also). You've told us that you don't like him and that's ok but that has made you oblivious to the fact that the majority around you like him. So far we've showed you supporting info but you haven't given us anything to backup your claims. (Cue desperate rebuttals trying to downplay the popularity point)

 

[Shaking//very]

first i thought it was stupid, but that's also because i personally do not care much for starter pokémon

but then someone told me kids nowadays see greninja just as i used to see charizard back in the days.

i think it's beautiful - even poetic to have a oldest most popular starter in there, as well as the newest most popular.
it really shows pokémon is out there for everyone of all ages, and is still going strong.

 

[ChikoLad]

I'm completely fine with Greninja being playable, BUT I think he would have made more sense as a secret, hidden character. Despite how cool his trailer is, I just had that feeling of "...who's this guy?", and I know I wasn't alone in that. The newcomer reveal for the Smash Direct should have been someone more highly requested, someone who's genuinely loved as a character, or someone outright iconic, or hilarious and off the wall (like Wii Fit Trainer was), and I feel Greninja didn't fit any of those. Only people who stayed with the Pokémon series through to X & Y would really know who he is, and even then, I remember Fennekin and it's evolutions being more popular when the starters for X & Y were announced (as fire starters tend to be).

Better choices for a Smash Direct reveal would have been Palutena, Layton, Mewtwo, Pac-Man, Ridley, Shulk, Takamaru, Regginator...just people like that. The impact from any of those would have been much greater and better suited to a Smash Direct reveal. While I don't know how popular Greninja truly is, I know his impact was not that great. When I check the Smash Bros tag on tumblr when a newcomer is revealed, that tag is dominated by posts about that character. Greninja is the only newcomer this hasn't happened with. While you may attribute this to him being announced alongside a bunch of other Smash news, even the posts I see that are about Greninja are in significantly less quantity and enthusiasm than any of the other newcomers. People tried to say the same about Rosalina, but that wasn't the case for her, she was REALLY well received from the beginning, and I still see more and more people getting excited for her, more so than Villager. Heck, people seem more excited for Charizard than Greninja.

So yeah, fine with Greninja being in the game and I'm happy for his fans and I'm sure the Pokémon community are really happy, but as a reveal for the SMASH community in the SMASH Direct, I feel it was a bit underwhelming. If it weren't for the Punch Out!!! anniversary being in February, I would say that Little Mac and Greninja should have had their reveals switched around.

This was pretty much my Greninja reaction, and the general impression I've been seeing across the internet:

Sakurai should know that Splash don't do a whole lot!

 

[Sonicguy726]

From a competive point of view Greninja is indeed one of the most popular Gen6 pokemon, that doesn't make him popular overall.
Also i know he is very good in competive but... Number one Rotom-Wash? ROTOM-WASH?! Does that mean sakurai should make him playable right now? I mean he is first on the list right? Rotom-Wash, THE most popular pokemon! Stand aside pikachu! Your popularity is nothing compare to the mighty ROTOM-WASH!
I won't deny that this list is very good...for the competive side of pokemon, but If a list of popular pokemon doesn't have pikachu as number one, it only show the opinion of one side of the pokemon fanbase, and nothing else.

He was also by far the most popular starter and pokemon overall from gen 6 in alot of people's eyes and I think how great he translates into a fighting game that really got him the spot

 

[Typs]

OK, guys i have to admit... I was wrong.
I looked up a list of the best pokemon from Gen 6 and i found this:
http://www.dorkly.com/article/57168/toplist-results-the-15-greatest-generation-vi-pokemon
Each pokemon from Gen6 got into a "vote duel" with every other Gen 6 pokemon.There was a lot of votes (1.5 million, no idea how much each duel got), and Greninja won first place with a victory in 76% of his duel.
I'll be the first to say that you have to admit when evidence proves you wrong, so here we are:
I was wrong, Greninja is THE pokemon of Gen 6.

However, i still think that he doesn't deserve to be playable, the same vote was made for every generation,them the same thing happend for the top 15 of every gen and here are the result:
http://www.dorkly.com/toplist/56974/the-greatest-pokemon-of-all-time-vote-now
Greninja is number 29, yes it's not bad, but i would argue that the recent release of X and Y got him more votes, and even if that's not the case there are other "bypedal fighter" pokemons who should have gotten before him (Scizor,Blaziken,Feraligatr...), but even if it was Gengar who got in i would say that his inclusion is stupid.

In other word:
-Greninja most deserving pokemon from gen 6? Yes.
-Greninja most deserving pokemon after pikachu,charizard, mewtwo, and lucario? No.

 

[Sonicguy726]

OK, guys i have to admit... I was wrong.
I looked up a list of the best pokemon from Gen 6 and i found this:
http://www.dorkly.com/article/57168/toplist-results-the-15-greatest-generation-vi-pokemon
Each pokemon from Gen6 got into a "vote duel" with every other Gen 6 pokemon.There was a lot of votes (1.5 million, no idea how much each duel got), and Greninja won first place with a victory in 76% of his duel.
I'll be the first to say that you have to admit when evidence proves you wrong, so here we are:
I was wrong, Greninja is THE pokemon of Gen 6.

However, i still think that he doesn't deserve to be playable, the same vote was made for every generation,them the same thing happend for the top 15 of every gen and here are the result:
http://www.dorkly.com/toplist/56974/the-greatest-pokemon-of-all-time-vote-now
Greninja is number 29, yes it's not bad, but i would argue that the recent release of X and Y got him more votes, and even if that's not the case there are other "bypedal fighter" pokemons who should have gotten before him (Scizor,Blaziken,Feraligatr...), but even if it was Gengar who got in i would say that his inclusion is stupid.

In other word:
-Greninja most deserving pokemon from gen 6? Yes.
-Greninja most deserving pokemon after pikachu,charizard, mewtwo, and lucario? No.

but adding a gen 2, 3, 4 or 5 pokemon now like blaziken (unless we get hoenn remakes), scizor, feraligatr, tyranitar all these other popular pokemon is just dumb and most of the pokemon that come before him wouldn't suit a fighting game at all

 

[Spinosaurus]

For once, I wish popularity/relevance/legacy stopped being the metric used to determine whether a character is deserving or not, especially with Smash 4.

 

[SmashShadow]

Smash is not canon to the games.

So you think megas should represent gen 6 more than than Greninja? I think they did enough of that with Lucario and Charizard. You know Greninja was well liked before he even came out, before people even knew protean existed. He's cool with his shurkans and tounge scarf and I don't really see a reason to not have him. Greninja is just a cool pokemon with a lot of thought put in, and unlike Charizard and Mewtwo, Greninja's fame came without much support, and Greninja's fanbase is going to be happy that he is in the game. Blaziken doesn't really deserve this spot much since Greninja is from gen 6 and Sakurai also did that with Brawl as well with Lucario.

Greninja:
+Unique Water/Dark tpye
+Bad*** Ninja
+Signature move water shurkan which no one else can learn
+Protean as hidden
+Popularity rose without much support and will now rise a lot due to confirmation
-No mega evolution

Blaziken:
+Mega Evo
+Event
+In anime often
-Common starter type
-Blaze kick can be learnt by many

This is really what I consider good and bad. Greninja just fits the slot better and is a good way to represent gen 6, not with Blaziken. We already have two of the most prominent megas and there will be 3 when Mewtwo is most likely revealed. Mewtwo and Charizard's megas are more popular thatn Blaziken's

This list seems a little bias to me. Water/Dark types have been done before. It's nothing that unique. Bad*** Ninja can be countered by Speedy*** Fire Breathing Chicken which in terms of Smash is more unique because of the existence of Sheik. Protean while a cool ability can be learned by another Pokemon and won't translate into Smash anyways.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Like Shiek? In what way? Shiek isn't designed around teleportations and being a fast keepaway, which is what Greninja seems to be.

Although I'm all for Blaziken if it means we're getting a Muay Thai fighter in Smash.

 

[Oz37]

You know, I was working on a lengthy rebuttal on the whole "deserving" topic, but I just can't keep running in this circle.

@ Typs , I respect your right to form any opinion that you like, even if I cannot personally fathom your reasoning. Furthermore, I wish you peace with Greninja's inclusion, whether it be by realizing how awesome he is or by beating the crap out of him with your favorite character while screaming, "YOU'LL NEVER DESERVE MY LOVE!!!" Whichever works for you.

And I'm out. Peace, folks.

 

[Typs]

You know, I was working on a lengthy rebuttal on the whole "deserving" topic, but I just can't keep running in this circle.

@ Typs , I respect your right to form any opinion that you like, even if I cannot personally fathom your reasoning. Furthermore, I wish you peace with Greninja's inclusion, whether it be by realizing how awesome he is or by beating the crap out of him with your favorite character while screaming, "YOU'LL NEVER DESERVE MY LOVE!!!" Whichever works for you.

And I'm out. Peace, folks.

Ok, i'll admit, i laughed.
I've cooled down a bit since his reveal, and i can see why people like him, but for me a playable character in a smash game needs to be more than a "cool guy from the last game", he/she/it has to be one of the main element of the serie,someone that you remember after years, and Greninja is far from that.

 

[Hitzel]

Ok, i'll admit, i laughed.
I've cooled down a bit since his reveal, and i can see why people like him, but for me a playable character in a smash game needs to be more than a "cool guy from the last game", he/she/it has to be one of the main element of the serie,someone that you remember after years, and Greninja is far from that.

Who, from gen 6, do you think would be a better choice?

 

[Spinosaurus]

he/she/it has to be one of the main element of the serie,someone that you remember after years, and Greninja is far from that.

How would you know whether or not Greninja will be remembered for years?

You don't think, for one, his inclusion in a Smash wouldn't make him memorable?

 

[Hitzel]

How would you know whether or not Greninja will be remembered for years?

You don't think, for one, his inclusion in a Smash wouldn't make him memorable?

Yeah, Greninja's inclusion is going to immortalize him more than anything now.

 

[Mypantisgone]

I'm not a Pokemon fan so I'm fine with Greninja, he looks cool. Though I hope they had a plant type final evo starter or it's gonna feel weird.

Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Lucario, Mewtwo, Charizard, Greninja, Sceptile?
1 more character compared to Brawl so it doesn't take like half the roster or something, yet there're 3 new characters. Seems good to me.

 

[UberPyro64]

Sakurai wouldn't just add a random starter. He only adds the most popular Pokemon to mix.

Charizard is the most popular starter ever and Lucario was the most popular gen 4 Pokemon. There had to be more than just picking it like that. Greninja was probably one of the last additons. Sakurai and Gamefreak were probably waiting to see who would become the most popular Gen 6 Pokemon and it happened to end up being Greninja. They probably didn't start making it till December or something. All they had was a slot open for a new Pokemon before hand.

 

[Smash G]

Natural fit. He's a good fit for a fighting game being a Ninja. Gen VI. No other gens would be considered at this point. Most popular of the Gen VI starters. Even though they likely started work on him before he was revealed to the public they could easily predict he'd be the most popular of the starters.

 

[Sonicguy726]

Natural fit. He's a good fit for a fighting game being a Ninja. Gen VI. No other gens would be considered at this point. Most popular of the Gen VI starters. Even though they likely started work on him before he was revealed to the public they could easily predict he'd be the most popular of the starters.

Obviously he was gonna be the most popular he's a ninja frog who uses his tounge as a scraf, he's a dark type and has an amazing hidden ability

 

[UberPyro64]

first i thought it was stupid, but that's also because i personally do not care much for starter pokémon

but then someone told me kids nowadays see greninja just as i used to see charizard back in the days.

i think it's beautiful - even poetic to have a oldest most popular starter in there, as well as the newest most popular.
it really shows pokémon is out there for everyone of all ages, and is still going strong.

This is slowly starting to happen. Greninja is the next big starter. Right up there with Charizard, Blastoise and Blaziken. Hell he might be more popular that the later two soon. Especially with his Smash appearance.

 

[Chandeelure]

The options in the poll: "And I'll explain why below"

 

[UberPyro64]

OK, guys i have to admit... I was wrong.
I looked up a list of the best pokemon from Gen 6 and i found this:
http://www.dorkly.com/article/57168/toplist-results-the-15-greatest-generation-vi-pokemon
Each pokemon from Gen6 got into a "vote duel" with every other Gen 6 pokemon.There was a lot of votes (1.5 million, no idea how much each duel got), and Greninja won first place with a victory in 76% of his duel.
I'll be the first to say that you have to admit when evidence proves you wrong, so here we are:
I was wrong, Greninja is THE pokemon of Gen 6.

However, i still think that he doesn't deserve to be playable, the same vote was made for every generation,them the same thing happend for the top 15 of every gen and here are the result:
http://www.dorkly.com/toplist/56974/the-greatest-pokemon-of-all-time-vote-now
Greninja is number 29, yes it's not bad, but i would argue that the recent release of X and Y got him more votes, and even if that's not the case there are other "bypedal fighter" pokemons who should have gotten before him (Scizor,Blaziken,Feraligatr...), but even if it was Gengar who got in i would say that his inclusion is stupid.

In other word:
-Greninja most deserving pokemon from gen 6? Yes.
-Greninja most deserving pokemon after pikachu,charizard, mewtwo, and lucario? No.

His inclusion in Smash will raise him up further to the top 15. I can see that happening. Older Pokemon are just generally more popular at first. But they will get there.

 

[Sonicguy726]

This is slowly starting to happen. Greninja is the next big starter. Right up there with Charizard, Blastoise and Blaziken. Hell he might be more popular that the later two soon. Especially with his Smash appearance.

Every gen has that big starter, charizard, typhlosion, blaziken, infernape and now greninja (let's just ignore the gen 5 starters) it just so happened that gen 6 didn't have that big pokemon that has a movie and everything, mewtwo, deoxys, lucario and zoroark, gen 2 didn't really have one

 

[UberPyro64]

Every gen has that big starter, charizard, typhlosion, blaziken, infernape and now greninja (let's just ignore the gen 5 starters) it just so happened that gen 6 didn't have that big pokemon that has a movie and everything, mewtwo, deoxys, lucario and zoroark, gen 2 didn't really have one

First off, Gen 4 didn't really have a big starter. None of them were all that great or popular. Gen 5 have Samurott which was okay but it still didn't reach high popularity.

Really in terms of tiers I'd rank them like this:

S Tier:
Charizard

A Tier:
Blastoise
Blaziken
Greninja

B Tier:
Feraligatr
Typhlosion

C Tier:
The rest

To be honest, those are the only ones that really killed it in the Pokemon biz. The rest were lower end.

 

[Sonicguy726]

First off, Gen 4 didn't really have a big starter. None of them were all that great or popular. Gen 5 have Samurott which was okay but it still didn't reach high popularity.

Really in terms of tiers I'd rank them like this:

S Tier:
Charizard

A Tier:
Blastoise
Blaziken
Greninja

B Tier:
Feraligatr
Typhlosion

C Tier:
The rest

To be honest, those are the only ones that really killed it in the Pokemon biz. The rest were lower end.

Infernape was and is one of the more popular starters, I'd at least put him in with B mainly because of how good he is competitively

 

[Typs]

Who, from gen 6, do you think would be a better choice?

Nobody.
I'm serious, Greninja is the best choise for a standalone Gen 6 pokemon,but there is no Gen 6 pokemon that should be playable by himself, because none of them stand out that much, including Greninja.
But if the game absolutly need a gen 6 rep the best solution whould be a pokemon trainer with the 3 starter fully evolved.

How would you know whether or not Greninja will be remembered for years?

I don't, but charizard, the second most popular pokemon after pikachu, had to wait 20 year before his popularity gave him a place in smash. i don't see why Greninja should be playable when we don't know if his popularity is going to last.

You don't think, for one, his inclusion in a Smash wouldn't make him memorable?

hmm... i have a hard time following that logic, "Greninja may or may not be memorable, but now that he is in smash, he is, so he deserve to be in smash"? Or are you just saying that he will be popular now that he is in smash? if that's the case i agree, but it would have been better if he became popular on his own.

 

[ryuu seika]

@SG726: Agreed. I hear good things about Infernape/Monferno.

 

[Sonicguy726]

I don't, but charizard, the second most popular pokemon after pikachu, had to wait 20 year before his popularity gave him a place in smash. i don't see why Greninja should be playable when we don't know if his popularity is going to last.

Charizard had to wait that long because of the other 2 starters so when brawl came round to represent FR/LG he added all three but as we now know sakurai changed his mind on switching characters and chose the most popular of the 3 charizard paving the way for greninja

 

[UberPyro64]

Infernape was and is one of the more popular starters, I'd at least put him in with B mainly because of how good he is competitively

Not sure about the competitive scene but I hear more about Empoleon than Infernape in terms of popularity. But honestly nothing big. The ones I mentioned I've seen more popularity around than any gen 4 or 5 starter.

 

[Sonicguy726]

Not sure about the competitive scene but I hear more about Empoleon than Infernape in terms of popularity. But honestly nothing big. The ones I mentioned I've seen more popularity around than any gen 4 or 5 starter.

Infernape is essentially blaziken except faster which is why he's so good

 

[Typs]

The options in the poll: "And I'll explain why below"

NO! MY GENIUS PLAN TO HAVE EVERYONE EXPLAIN THEIR POINT OF VIEW IS RUINED!
DAMN YOU CHANDELURE! DAMN YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!

 

[Cap'nChreest]

No. Greninja shouldn't be playable. That being said he is the best newcomer so far... sadly... He's cool and all but meh another pokemon...

 

[JesseMcCloud]

What's wrong with Sheik?!

But thanks

Nothing is WRONG with Sheik per se; she's just the closest thing to a ninja in Smash, and I was never very good/comfortable with her.
Greninja looks like a more rushdown-style ninja, with teleports, shuriken, and counters, which is more my thing. A MetaKnight/Sheik hybrid with Strider Hiryu elements, if you will.

 

[Prince Longstrok]

Well, i feel every great fighter should have that one ninja character. Granted, sheik now fits that more than ever now, but hey, i still think hes more than welcome in my eyes.

I mean seriously, 2 words.

TOUNGE. SCARF.