Fatmanonice
Banned via Warnings
Read before reading the rest of this thread: I actually wrote this on Friday before I went to Paris so I hope I’m not too late with this message. I’ve noticed that a fair share of Smash Board's members have packed things up because their favourite characters didn’t make the cut and, as you’d expect, this message is for them. If you are one of the 100% satisfied with all the decisions that Sakurai and his staff made regarding the final roster (that includes your feelings regarding the return of clones/semi clones and multiple people having the same final smashes) this thread is not for you. Also, just to make it clear, I'm not proposing hacking the game or starting a petition demanding for downloadable characters but instead, thinking reasonably about the future and patterns I've noticed.
If you're like most people here, you've seen the roster and, chances are, you are disappointed with at least one thing about it. Maybe you're disappointed that Ganondorf and Young Link are still clones. Maybe you're disappointed that Fox, a character who most people wanted nerfed, now has two semi-clones (Luigified versions, for you sensitive types) that seem just as broken. Maybe you're disappointed with the addition of ROB. Maybe you're disappointed because one of your most wanted characters didn't make the cut. I'm here to address this last group.
Geno, Krystal, Ridley, Megaman, Isaac, Takamaru, etc are not playable, that much is obvious. If you're like many people here, you wanted at least one of these characters in. The point of this thread is to help fans like yourself look at the future to SSB4 and realise that these characters stand a decent chance of becoming playable in the next installment. No, I'm not being delusional but I am trying to be logical based on what we saw for Melee and Brawl.
Let's take a look at the new characters that were added in Melee and compare how well they did on the offical Melee poll back in 2001:
Bowser (Most requested character overall and first in the Mario category)
Peach (Second most requested character in the Mario category)
Ganondorf (Most requested character in the Zelda category)
Young Link, Zelda, and Shiek (Tied for the second most requested character in the Zelda category)
Falco (Most requested character in the Star Fox category)
Mewtwo (Most requested character in the Pokemon category)
Marth (Most requested character in the Fire Emblem category)
A lot of fan requests in there, wasn't there? The Ice Climbers, who only had 4 votes, became playable to represent a retro franchise, Mr. Game and Watch was added as the WTF character, and Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy were added simply because Sakurai wanted them there.
When this roster was revealed though, like now, many people were very upset. Where's Wario, they asked. What about King Dedede? Diddy Kong isn't even in the game!?! Some of the most popular choices were left on the cutting room floor. Some were explained (like Metaknight, Dedede, and Pit) and others weren't (Diddy, Wario, and Wolf). Like now, many still saw Melee as a fun game but it felt lacking in the roster especially with all the clones (history really does repeat itself, eh?).
Fast forward to the present day and we are once again in the same prediciment, deserving and unique characters getting the shaft and the roster being stuffed to the gills with clones and semi-clones. Upon closer inspection, we learn something very intersting; most of the characters in Brawl's roster were characters that the fans heavily wanted in Melee and it showed in the Melee poll. Allow me to show you:
Wario (Third most requested character in the Mario category)
Pokemon Trainer/Red (Third most requested character in the Pokemon category)
King Dedede (Most requested character in the Kirby category.)
Metaknight (Third most requested character in the Kirby category.)
Wolf (Third most requested character in the Star Fox category *behind Slippy, actually*)
Diddy Kong (Third most requested character in the Rare Ware category *behind James Bond and Banjo/Kazooie*)
Pit was in the Melee poll too and recieved 5 votes.
It was confirmed by Kojima that Snake was considered for Melee but was left out due to time constraints.
It was confirmed by Naka that Sonic was considered for Melee but was left out due to time constraints.
That leaves everyone except ROB (the WTF character and more then likely Sakurai stand alone choice like GW in Melee), Olimar (most requested "minor" Nintendo franchise character in the Brawl poll), Ike (most requested Fire Emblem character, obviously) and Lucario (take a wild guess).
Now notice how Sakurai took out the three characters from Melee he choose for his own reasons (Pichu, Roy, and Dr. Mario) and a character that many of the fans agree he "messed up" on (Mewtwo).
Now with this line of logic, let's hypthosize what Nintendo might do for the next Smash Bros game. Corresponding to the Brawl poll, Sakurai created a journal that contained the 290 entries into the poll that interested him and his staff the most. There were 21 characters that were mentioned more then once in this journal and only 9 that were mentioned 3 times or more. It's no surprize that most of these characters corresponded to what the fans wanted. These were those characters:
King Dedede (5 entries)
Geno (5 entries)
Diddy Kong (4 entries)
Ike (4 entries)
Ridley (4 entries)
Captain Olimar (3 entries)
Wind Waker Link (3 entries)
Krystal (3 entries)
Takamaru (3 entries)
It should also be noted that the only third party character *besides Geno* that was mentioned more then once was Megaman with 2 entries.
King Dedede and Diddy Kong, characters that people heavily wanted in Melee, became playable, Ridley became a boss that you fight not once but twice, Ike and Olimar became playable, Young Link was made into Toon Link, Krystal so far has only been confirmed to have a cameo, Takamaru only has a trophy and the original theme from the Mystery of Murasume castle, and Geno even didn’t show up (along with anything else from Super Mario RPG supposedly because Nintendo didn’t like the conditions that Square Enix set despite them agreeing to it).
Now, based on what I've laid out, what can be hypothesized? For Melee, Sakurai used many characters that many people felt should have been in the original and a few that were current fan favorites. For Brawl, he did exactly the same thing. For both of these situations, the big fan favorites were made available straight from the get-go so what would stop them from doing it in the next game? From what I've laid, Ridley is obviously the front runner for villains in general, Krystal is the front runner for Star Fox and female characters (ZSS was technically a “new” female addition, ugh), Geno is the front runner for Mario and retro characters, and Megaman is front runner for third party. What's interesting about these observations is that Sakurai and his team have looked more to the past then the present to decide their roster and I'm very confident that it'll happen again 5-6 years down the road.
And because I’m sure someone will bring it up: “Ridley won’t ever be playable because he was a boss and *insert character here* was an AT.” Keep in mind that Charizard was pokeball pokemon in not one but two of the previous instalments. It may not be much but it's definately something to think about.
I know it’s definitely going to be awhile until the sequel to Brawl comes out. It may seem like a long time but, trust me, the time will go by faster then you think. You may feel like you’ve been betrayed but, as I explained, this feeling is nothing new. Wario, Diddy Kong, and King Dedede fans felt this way after Melee came out but they finally got the last laugh years down the road. My point in all this is simple and should be keep in mind as you play Brawl and have “what-if” situations running through your head: don't let your character dreams die just yet.
If you're like most people here, you've seen the roster and, chances are, you are disappointed with at least one thing about it. Maybe you're disappointed that Ganondorf and Young Link are still clones. Maybe you're disappointed that Fox, a character who most people wanted nerfed, now has two semi-clones (Luigified versions, for you sensitive types) that seem just as broken. Maybe you're disappointed with the addition of ROB. Maybe you're disappointed because one of your most wanted characters didn't make the cut. I'm here to address this last group.
Geno, Krystal, Ridley, Megaman, Isaac, Takamaru, etc are not playable, that much is obvious. If you're like many people here, you wanted at least one of these characters in. The point of this thread is to help fans like yourself look at the future to SSB4 and realise that these characters stand a decent chance of becoming playable in the next installment. No, I'm not being delusional but I am trying to be logical based on what we saw for Melee and Brawl.
Let's take a look at the new characters that were added in Melee and compare how well they did on the offical Melee poll back in 2001:
Bowser (Most requested character overall and first in the Mario category)
Peach (Second most requested character in the Mario category)
Ganondorf (Most requested character in the Zelda category)
Young Link, Zelda, and Shiek (Tied for the second most requested character in the Zelda category)
Falco (Most requested character in the Star Fox category)
Mewtwo (Most requested character in the Pokemon category)
Marth (Most requested character in the Fire Emblem category)
A lot of fan requests in there, wasn't there? The Ice Climbers, who only had 4 votes, became playable to represent a retro franchise, Mr. Game and Watch was added as the WTF character, and Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy were added simply because Sakurai wanted them there.
When this roster was revealed though, like now, many people were very upset. Where's Wario, they asked. What about King Dedede? Diddy Kong isn't even in the game!?! Some of the most popular choices were left on the cutting room floor. Some were explained (like Metaknight, Dedede, and Pit) and others weren't (Diddy, Wario, and Wolf). Like now, many still saw Melee as a fun game but it felt lacking in the roster especially with all the clones (history really does repeat itself, eh?).
Fast forward to the present day and we are once again in the same prediciment, deserving and unique characters getting the shaft and the roster being stuffed to the gills with clones and semi-clones. Upon closer inspection, we learn something very intersting; most of the characters in Brawl's roster were characters that the fans heavily wanted in Melee and it showed in the Melee poll. Allow me to show you:
Wario (Third most requested character in the Mario category)
Pokemon Trainer/Red (Third most requested character in the Pokemon category)
King Dedede (Most requested character in the Kirby category.)
Metaknight (Third most requested character in the Kirby category.)
Wolf (Third most requested character in the Star Fox category *behind Slippy, actually*)
Diddy Kong (Third most requested character in the Rare Ware category *behind James Bond and Banjo/Kazooie*)
Pit was in the Melee poll too and recieved 5 votes.
It was confirmed by Kojima that Snake was considered for Melee but was left out due to time constraints.
It was confirmed by Naka that Sonic was considered for Melee but was left out due to time constraints.
That leaves everyone except ROB (the WTF character and more then likely Sakurai stand alone choice like GW in Melee), Olimar (most requested "minor" Nintendo franchise character in the Brawl poll), Ike (most requested Fire Emblem character, obviously) and Lucario (take a wild guess).
Now notice how Sakurai took out the three characters from Melee he choose for his own reasons (Pichu, Roy, and Dr. Mario) and a character that many of the fans agree he "messed up" on (Mewtwo).
Now with this line of logic, let's hypthosize what Nintendo might do for the next Smash Bros game. Corresponding to the Brawl poll, Sakurai created a journal that contained the 290 entries into the poll that interested him and his staff the most. There were 21 characters that were mentioned more then once in this journal and only 9 that were mentioned 3 times or more. It's no surprize that most of these characters corresponded to what the fans wanted. These were those characters:
King Dedede (5 entries)
Geno (5 entries)
Diddy Kong (4 entries)
Ike (4 entries)
Ridley (4 entries)
Captain Olimar (3 entries)
Wind Waker Link (3 entries)
Krystal (3 entries)
Takamaru (3 entries)
It should also be noted that the only third party character *besides Geno* that was mentioned more then once was Megaman with 2 entries.
King Dedede and Diddy Kong, characters that people heavily wanted in Melee, became playable, Ridley became a boss that you fight not once but twice, Ike and Olimar became playable, Young Link was made into Toon Link, Krystal so far has only been confirmed to have a cameo, Takamaru only has a trophy and the original theme from the Mystery of Murasume castle, and Geno even didn’t show up (along with anything else from Super Mario RPG supposedly because Nintendo didn’t like the conditions that Square Enix set despite them agreeing to it).
Now, based on what I've laid out, what can be hypothesized? For Melee, Sakurai used many characters that many people felt should have been in the original and a few that were current fan favorites. For Brawl, he did exactly the same thing. For both of these situations, the big fan favorites were made available straight from the get-go so what would stop them from doing it in the next game? From what I've laid, Ridley is obviously the front runner for villains in general, Krystal is the front runner for Star Fox and female characters (ZSS was technically a “new” female addition, ugh), Geno is the front runner for Mario and retro characters, and Megaman is front runner for third party. What's interesting about these observations is that Sakurai and his team have looked more to the past then the present to decide their roster and I'm very confident that it'll happen again 5-6 years down the road.
And because I’m sure someone will bring it up: “Ridley won’t ever be playable because he was a boss and *insert character here* was an AT.” Keep in mind that Charizard was pokeball pokemon in not one but two of the previous instalments. It may not be much but it's definately something to think about.
I know it’s definitely going to be awhile until the sequel to Brawl comes out. It may seem like a long time but, trust me, the time will go by faster then you think. You may feel like you’ve been betrayed but, as I explained, this feeling is nothing new. Wario, Diddy Kong, and King Dedede fans felt this way after Melee came out but they finally got the last laugh years down the road. My point in all this is simple and should be keep in mind as you play Brawl and have “what-if” situations running through your head: don't let your character dreams die just yet.
Granted, I won't be wasting my days away on forums but I'll definately want to stay abrush on Smash because it encompasses everything I love about Nintendo. Still, I'm also assuming that not everyone here with quit video games cold turkey in the future.
