So, I was recently trawling aimlessly around the Internet looking for Nintendo franchises (in relation to the recent roster extension image I made a few days ago) and I made a really cool discovery that I only just sort of realised that I actually just
rediscovered. With this in mind, I have a brief character concept of probably one of the most obscure characters I might have put forward so far, but I think they'd be fun:
I feel like a rep for the
bit Generations/
Art Style series would have the potential to be incredibly fun, even if it's hardly the first series you'd think of in terms of
Smash representation.
Working Title:
bit Bounder. Look, these games aren't exactly story-driven.
For context: Skip Ltd. (same ones behind
GiFTPiA and
Chibi-Robo!) made this really weird series of seven games very late into the life of the GBA, being the
bit Generations series - a series particularly notable for simplistic controls, minimalistic design, and unique but approachable gameplay, as well as its unique packaging. They were intended more as "coffee table games", the sort of thing that could work as a conversation starter or something of the like.
bit Generations would never, unfortunately, release outside of Japan - but many of the games would.
Art Style (a series best-known for its close association with WiiWare and DSiWare) had some unique releases (like
Decode/Base 10/Code and
Cubeleo/Cubello), but also ported a variety of the GBA titles with a fresh coat of paint, as well as in some cases reinventing them completely.
Whilst an obscure minigame-based series of puzzle/experimental games overall, the original seven titles very nearly got to be released worldwide. In fact, the series shared a similar plight with another prominent Japan-exclusive GBA title, a certain
Mother 3. Whilst Lucas and various pieces of content from that game would make their way into
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as it happened - so did
bit Generations! Well... in the form of five stickers, but something's better than nothing.
(Pictured - direct gameripped sprites of the stickers in question. Credit to the Spriters' Resource!)
Being in the unusual situation of being one of the few first-party series to have been outright cut from the
Smash series, not to return even in
Ultimate (though this is likely due to its obscurity),
bit Generations has, well... kind of been forgotten. It's a series only occasionally brought up in conversation if at all... and yet it's a concept I think, firstly,
really ought to be brought back using the Switch, and secondly, is cool enough to have plenty of potential!
So, first up, why
bit Bounder? (I'm just going to call him "Bounder" from now on.) Well,
Boundish (the second game in the series) is quite notable for being one of the only games in the series as a whole to actually feature characters. With a lot of these games being either puzzle-based (such as
Dialhex and
Coloris) or somewhat experimental in nature (such as
Orbital and
Soundvoyager),
Boundish was a natural place to pull from. Bounder specifically is pulled from the game's default mode, Pool Flower (which is sort of like
Pong but you can move freely and also there's spheres that you can make yours!)
Bounder could have a massive variety of moves to pull from. Whether you were to put the unique gravitational mechanics of
Orbital or the exciting speed of
Dotstream in his moveset, he'd end up for the most part being a complex but bizarre character with a uniquely simplistic artstyle. I imagine he'd be a little like Mr. Game and Watch, but with more outright bizarre moves overall - a variety of projectiles and weird hitboxes, maybe a reflector here and there, you get the idea. Something like Human League being his recovery could also be a lot of fun, and on that note, it'd be neat if he could "talk" in a similar way to Human League's backstops.
Altogether, whilst the
bit Generations series is hardly one of the most obvious or "deserving" franchises in Nintendo's extensive and vast back-catalogue, I do think it's one unique enough to stand out amongst the pack. Even if not in the form of a playable character, something like a stage or assist trophy would be just as awesome!
