A Theory on No Unlockable Characters

[Toledo Jones]

I can sort of understand this theory, but there's no way the game will not have unlockables just because of the amiibos. Unlockable characters in smash is a tradition, & it takes a good chunk of the fun & accomplishment out of the game to have everyone from the start. a character is more rewarding & has more incentive, than a piece of equipment. I don't see why it can't be possible to have amiibo figures of unlockable characters available & using them still wouldn't unlock the character, just an AI controlled version that you can level up; you'd still have to unlock to the character to play him/her/it.

 

[Canuckduck]

I love TF2. I know what you're talking about.
I was saying nobody is stupid enough to pay that much money to unlock everything in Smash Brothers, haha.

HEY MAN I'LL TRADE YOU A NAMETAG FOR A PAINT BUCKET AND A HAT LOLOLOLOL

Haha, yes.

But still, some people will buy the wedding ring for $100.00 as a JOKE.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

On your Amiibo point....

"Buy this Amiibo, scan it on the gamepad and instantly unlock your favourite character!"

 

[LF2K]

Still spoils the fun of unlocking characters, though.

 

[Toledo Jones]

it spoils the surprise of the character being playable, but that would get spoiled at some point anyway because of the internet. it wouldn't spoil the accomplishment of unlocking the character however

 

[Vintage Creep]

I don't care anymore, they're all going to get leaked in three/four weeks and I want to unlock them on WiiU only.

 

[ChikoLad]

The way equipment in Smash 4 works is very similar to weapons in Kid Icarus: Uprising. In that game, depending on the difficulty you played the story mode missions at, you would get better spoils. You would get better weapons and more Hearts (which were to that game, what Coins are to Smash) from treasure chests if you were on a higher difficulty. However, this didn't really translate to getting a specific weapon over another (e.g. playing at higher difficulties didn't necessarily mean you were more likely to get a Burst Blade than a First Blade), but rather, the stats and buffs attached to the weapons you found would be higher all around. However, playing at higher difficulties required you bet a bunch of Hearts, and if you failed after doing that, you would get kicked down a difficulty and lose some of the hearts you bet.

I'm pretty sure that Smash 4 is handling equipment in that exact same manner, only applying it to many modes in the game. We already know that two equipment pieces with the same name can have wildly different stats and buffs, just like how weapons worked in Uprising. I also think "Sell Equipment" is the equivalent to the "Convert to Hearts" feature for weapons in Uprising (since all you really were doing was getting Hearts in exchange for your weapon, and better weapons got you more hearts). There was also a small, quick shop in Uprising that would update every time you played through a mission in single player or a match in multi-player. So something like that will probably show up too.

Also, many weapons had to be unlocked in Uprising, before you could find them randomly as spoils. As in, unlocking a weapon didn't actually give you the weapon, it just made it a possible spoil and made it possible to fuse in Weapon Fusion (which there will probably be an equivalent to in Smash - "Equipment Fusion"). Unlocking weapons was done through completing Challenges in the Treasure Hunt, which was basically the exact same as the Challenges grid in Brawl.

Basically, I don't think equipment in Smash 4 has any bearing on unlockable characters, it's simply another new feature of the game that I'm sure kleptomaniacs like myself will have a fit over!

Also, there is one screenshot that was released after the Smash Direct that, until we got information on customisation, was a complete mystery and I couldn't really draw anything from it (other than that Rosalina is a still a bae <3):

I have a feeling that Treasure Chests like the one pictured above can appear randomly in any mode, even a regular VS match with friends, and will give you Equipment, Custom Moves, or Powers. Much like how stickers and CDs could randomly appear in Brawl, despite being fairly important unlockables.
We can clearly see that the stage in the above screenshot is Wii Fit Studio, so it's not part of a side scrolling mode or anything (which wouldn't make sense as we have absolutely no information on one as of yet anyway). This could easily be within a normal match.

As for Amiibos, I simply think the Amiibos for unlockable characters will be released at a later date, or at least the unlocakable characters that are considered spoilers. Super Mario 3D World has a line of plushies with normal and Cat Suit versions of the four playable characters, which came out a while ago. However, they are only releasing Rosalina plushies in a month or two (I think in August, but I heard it was pushed back until September) to complete the line. This is likely because she is a secret unlockable character in the game (even though Nintendo spoiled her anyway), and they wanted people to discover her in-game, and they are now releasing the plushies since the game is way past it's prime time and everyone knows Rosalina is playable in the game by now (most people who desperately wanted the game have probably 100%'d it by now).

There's also the fact that the 3DS version is coming first. Amiibos won't work with that for at least another few months, if at all.

 

[Acadian Flycatcher]

Unlockable characters are a staple of the Smash Bros universe. This game will not stray from that. It adds much more excitement and forces players to use other fighters before they get to their favourites. With everyone available form the start, it's harder to play as everyone if you have too many options at first.

It's like you're going out with a girl and she puts out right away. Sure it's great at the start, but where was the accomplishment in that? You had everything handed to you. But when you get with a girl who makes you work for it and go on a bunch of dates first, the satisfaction triples when you finally get that first kiss.
Nobody wants a ***** for a girlfriend who puts out the second they meet you.
They want a classy, respectable woman who is independent and makes you do most of the work.
Smash Bros. is a classy woman, who needs to be treated as such.
I don't give a **** how the other girls (games) put out as soon as you pay for them. Do you want something to be like everything else and be easy, or do you want something unique and exotic that leaves you with a sense of accomplishment afterwards.

If your argument is that other games have everything available from the start, then you are a lazy piece of ****.
It will take you one weekend of playing the game all hours of the day to unlock half the game, and that's what everyone was going to be doing anyways.
I will unlock everything on the 3DS version before the Wii U is released, and then go and unlock everything on there all over again.
That's how much I love the Smash Bros. franchise. Nothing in this game is a chore to me. Boss Battles and Multi Man Melee suck, but it's a way to find out more about the characters you are playing as.

Unlockable characters, costumes, moves, power-ups, trophies, stages, music, assist trophies and more will give you more of a reason to keep coming back and playing every inch of this game. Don't normally play as Fox? Well you just unlocked a new costume and move for him, better go and try him out. Oh you unlocked some quick power ups? Go put them on your slow Bowser to make him even more of a threat.

They are going to release Amiibos for the starting roster first, and then either gradually release the rest 1 by 1 or all at once. How hype would a new Amiibo Friday be?

 

[spader13]

I feel Amiibos don't make unlockables less likely. They were already announced to be released in waves, so the first set is all characters on the starting roster. I'd even expect they could release a second set before they hit any unlockable characters. As a result, anyone looking at Amiibos when the Wii U version launches, wouldn't be spoiled by any secret characters. While it might be an issue for someone buying the game well after launch, odds are good the internet or a friend's copy will have spoiled the characters for players in that group anyways. Besides, no Amiibos will be out by the 3DS launch, so the 3DS can't have characters spoiled by them.

 

[captainghost07]

i think there will be unlockable characters because Luigi has not has his amiibo shown yet you would think that they would have the second Mario character if there was no unlockable characters so my theory is that all the characters that were amiibo's shown at e3 are the starting roster so that would be 14 characters

 

[ChikoLad]

Unlockable characters are a staple of the Smash Bros universe. This game will not stray from that. It adds much more excitement and forces players to use other fighters before they get to their favourites.

It's like you're going out with a girl and she puts out right away. Sure it's great at the start, but where was the accomplishment in that? You had everything handed to you. But when you get with a girl who makes you work for it and go on a bunch of dates first, the satisfaction triples when you finally get that first kiss.
Nobody wants a ***** for a girlfriend who puts out the second they meet you.
They want a classy, respectable woman who is independent and makes you do most of the work.
Smash Bros. is a classy woman, who needs to be treated as such.
I don't give a **** how the other girls (games) put out as soon as you pay for them. Do you want something to be like everything else and be easy, or do you want something unique and exotic that leaves you with a sense of accomplishment afterwards.


Unlockable characters, costumes, moves, power-ups, trophies, stages, music, assist trophies and more will give you more of a reason to keep coming back and playing every inch of this game. Don't normally play as Fox? Well you just unlocked a new costume and move for him, better go and try him out. Oh you unlocked some quick power ups? Go put them on your slow Bowser to make him even more of a threat.

They are going to release Amiibos for the starting roster first, and then either gradually release the rest 1 by 1 or all at once. How hype would a new Amiibo Friday be?

This is a really terrible analogy. Hard to get =/= classy. Could easily mean she's just playing you, or she's not worth the time you're investing. And you shouldn't really invest time into someone just so you can get them to put out.

Mewtwo will forever be a stuck-up, egotistical ***** in my eyes, if I apply this analogy to how unlocking him was in Melee.

 

[Acadian Flycatcher]

This is a really terrible analogy. Hard to get =/= classy. Could easily mean she's just playing you, or she's not worth the time you're investing. And you shouldn't really invest time into someone just so you can get them to put out.

Mewtwo will forever be a stuck-up, egotistical ***** in my eyes, if I apply this analogy to how unlocking him was in Melee.

No. Mewtwo was an old fashioned catholic raised woman. She was scared to put down her walls and truly love another human being. Until you took the time out of your life to show her that you really care. You proved you were her time, and that if she should love anyone else it should be you.

And when you finally unlocked her, you had such a great feeling of satisfaction.
Especially when you went to your friends house and they hadn't unlocked her yet.
You knew she was special. She wasn't opening her heart to anyone. Only the ones who deserved it.

If Mewtwo were available at the start in Melee the magic would be gone.
If Ness and Captain Falcon were available from the start in 64 the magic would be gone.
If Snake and Sonic were available from the start in Brawl the magic would be gone.

If Pac-Man and Mega Man are available from the start in 4, there will be no magic.
There will be no satisfaction in unlocking them.
Everyone remembers the first time they unlocked Mewtwo or Ness.
Why take that away from people (especially ones that are playing a Smash game for the first time, and have no idea Pac-Man and Mega Man are even in it) just because you are too ****ing lazy to play every inch of the game to get them.

 

[TerminalMontage]

Not everyone is staying up to date with all the latest Smash news, except for big fans. Not everyone will know which characters are in the game when they get it. Sakurai wants to make a game that appeals to everyone and unlocking characters adds a mysterious element to the game, it also makes it last longer.

 

[ChikoLad]

No. Mewtwo was an old fashioned catholic raised woman. She was scared to put down her walls and truly love another human being. Until you took the time out of your life to show her that you really care. You proved you were her time, and that if she should love anyone else it should be you.

And when you finally unlocked her, you had such a great feeling of satisfaction.
Especially when you went to your friends house and they hadn't unlocked her yet.
You knew she was special. She wasn't opening his heart to anyone. Only the ones who deserved it.

I played Melee after Brawl.

I didn't really have anyone to play with, so the VS matches thing wasn't going to happen naturally.

To me, Mewtwo's unlock requirements were "waste electricity for a few hours".

It was not satisfying since I hardly use him anyway, and it wasn't a challenge. I did something else in the meantime.

Your sex analogy doesn't work.

And quite frankly, you're quite the whipped guy if you think getting in someone's bed, or love in general, means you should just be their *****, no questions asked. :V

 

[HammerHappy]

Another reason; these guys. Why lock characters away if your consumers can buy figurines of them?

To create incentive to sell them?

Logically, lockable characters shouldn't even exist if we try to follow the mold of Brawl. Everything being easily unlockable in a single player clear makes it relatively pointless. Especially since a huge portion of the consumers will buy it as a party game, but then have to deal with a single player campaign just so they can play with all the content.

If we do have unlockables, they should be far fewer, and they should be MUCH more meaningful to unlock. And that way they can turn a profit by making figurines of the locked characters, but then selling them in packages of three with two other non-locked characters to turn a larger profit.

 

[Superyoshiom]

With all past Smash games, you had to go through and unlock additional characters. However, I feel that this time, there will be no characters hidden behind the veil. All characters will be available from the start; here's my theory.

As shown here, Mario is being customized. But as we all know, Mario has always been a starter. However, I think all the characters will be available from the get-go. They will all be "blank slates" by default (as in, no customization). Instead of unlocking new characters, you'll be able to unlock parts to deck them out with. So that way, everyone can play as their favorite characters from the start, but you're still encouraged to play the game and unlock things for them. There's still unlockables to go after, just in a different way.

Another reason; these guys. Why lock characters away if your consumers can buy figurines of them?

A little off topic, but Mario in that first screen looks gorgeous in HD.

Staying on topic, I think we'll have unlockables again, it's a smash staple. Notice how they won't be releasing all the Amiibos at once.

 

[Wyoming]

Unlockables for the 3DS version
Everyone unlocked from the get go on the Wii U version.

Sounds logical to me.

 

[Acadian Flycatcher]

I played Melee after Brawl.

I didn't really have anyone to play with, so the VS matches thing wasn't going to happen naturally.

To me, Mewtwo's unlock requirements were "waste electricity for a few hours".

It was not satisfying since I hardly use him anyway, and it wasn't a challenge. I did something else in the meantime.

Your sex analogy doesn't work.

And quite frankly, you're quite the whipped guy if you think getting in someone's bed, or love in general, means you should just be their *****, no questions asked. :V

Just because you thought of unlocking Mewtwo that way doesn't mean everyone else did.
Others had people to play with, and they were having a normal Smash Bros Melee day until they finished one match and this ********** shows up. That's hype. Just because you didn't have that experience, doesn't mean people shouldn't have it for Smash 4.

And my analogy simple means nobody wants stuff handed to them. I'm not saying be a doormat to them, I'm saying take them to dinner first before you expect them to date you. People want to work hard for their accomplishments themselves. You can even forget the whole analogy and just focus on what I just said here.

I don't even know why this has to be an argument.
Smash 4 needs unlockables, in both versions of the game.
There needs to be a sense of satisfaction in unlocking a new character, like there always has been.
And if you've already unlocked them in the 3DS, it's not a big deal to do it again for the Wii U.
If you have both versions of the game, you obviously love it. And it's not tedious to play through it a second time on a completely different console.

Some kid in 2 years is going to get a Wii U for Christmas and he's going to get this game. He has no idea what the hell Smash Bros. is. He's never played the series, has no idea what characters are in it.
He just sees the cover with Mario, Link and Pikachu and he's already sold.
He boots up the game for the first time and he is overwhelmed.
Look at all these ****ing characters.
Who the hell are the Ice Climbers? He doesn't even care because there are two of them.
He starts playing.
Loves it.
Invites his friends over.
They love it.
They play it constantly.
Oh **** challenger approaching???
They all gasp.
MEGA MAN????
YOU MEAN THOSE SWEET GAMES THAT ARE ON THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE FROM LIKE 100 YEARS AGO? I LOVE THOSE GAMES!
Then they finally unlock him.

Dude that's a magical experience.
I don't want to take that away from anyone playing this game for the first time.
Just because I already know the roster, and find it tedious to have to unlock characters.
I'm going to unlock them anyways.
What's the difference between playing Pac-Man from the start or waiting like 2 days for you to unlock him.
Nothing but satisfaction.

Think back to when you first unlocked Ness.
Think of that excitement.
Now think of the excitement you're taking away from some 6 year old who is already overwhelmed enough by the starting roster.
You're a **** if you want to take that away because you want everything at once.

 

[ChikoLad]

Unlockables for the 3DS version
Everyone unlocked from the get go on the Wii U version.

Sounds logical to me.

Not really, since everyone would just flock to the Wii U version and maybe transfer data to unlock everything on the 3DS version.

I'm sure there will be unlockables on both, but the unlocked content will mostly be shared between versions if you own both. If you unlock all of the characters on the 3DS, you can then import your data to the Wii U.

Just because you thought of unlocking Mewtwo that way doesn't mean everyone else did.
Others had people to play with, and they were having a normal Smash Bros Melee day until they finished one match and this ********** shows up. That's hype. Just because you didn't have that experience, doesn't mean people shouldn't have it for Smash 4.

And my analogy simple means nobody wants stuff handed to them. I'm not saying be a doormat to them, I'm saying take them to dinner first before you expect them to date you. People want to work hard for their accomplishments themselves. You can even forget the whole analogy and just focus on what I just said here.

I don't even know why this has to be an argument.
Smash 4 needs unlockables, in both versions of the game.
There needs to be a sense of satisfaction in unlocking a new character, like there always has been.

Some kid in 2 years is going to get a Wii U for Christmas and he's going to get this game. He has no idea what the hell Smash Bros. is. He's never played the series, has no idea what characters are in it.
He just sees the cover with Mario, Link and Pikachu and he's already sold.
He boots up the game for the first time and he is overwhelmed.
Look at all these ****ing characters.
Who the hell are the Ice Climbers? He doesn't even care because there are two of them.
He starts playing.
Loves it.
Invites his friends over.
They love it.
They play it constantly.
Oh **** challenger approaching???
They all gasp.
MEGA MAN????
YOU MEAN THOSE SWEET GAMES THAT ARE ON THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE FROM LIKE 100 YEARS AGO? I LOVE THOSE GAMES!
Then they finally unlock him.

Dude that's a magical experience.
I don't want to take that away from anyone playing this game for the first time.
Just because I already know the roster, and find it tedious to have to unlock characters.
I'm going to unlock them anyways.
What's the difference between playing Pac-Man from the start or waiting like 2 days for you to unlock him.
Nothing but satisfaction.

Think back to when you first unlocked Ness.
Think of that excitement.
Now think of the excitement you're taking away from some 6 year old who is already overwhelmed enough by the starting roster.
You're a **** if you want to take that away because you want everything at once.

That's a BIT better.

I never even said there shouldn't be unlockables, I actually want there to be. Your analogy was just really flawed and out of place.

I think working a hard job for a lot of pocket money as a kid or teenager, is much more comparable to unlocking Smash characters.

 

[JCDied4U]

I'd be ok with no unlockables as long as all the alternate costumes, a few stages, and all the trophies still require unlocking.

 

[Stalkos]

There will be unlockables, in both versions.

You won't need to unlock everyting in both if you want, that's what the Wii U Icon in the 3DS menu is for, to transfer data between versions.

Amiibos won't be out until WiiU version ,and Sakurai revealed a lot of unlockbles characters already, in HD trailers. In the end, if he reveal them all, all Amiibos can be released with day 1 of the game.

The 'spoil' sense is innacurate here. You may say that having a Lucina Amiibo in the store would spoil some people that she is in the game. But the person buying the game have internet. That person have acess to Youtube. Oh look, a trailer spoiling Lucina..and Robin....and Capt Falcon.

Amiibos won't spoil nothing, because other medias will, regardless of how 'fan' of the series you are. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit,Youtube, Gaming sites and so on.

The context of fan is shallow here. Think Pokemon X Y.
A lot of people bought it, and played it. But many people dropped it already, they had their fun. Other people play it until today, and will be playing it until many years. But they are all fans o pokemon.
The people that dropped it quickly probably doesn't even know of Diance or other special pokemons. Some may know by seeing in on the internet.

It will be like that for smash players. The ones who dropped it quickly, or had their fun already or didn't liked the game. They may never know that "Your Favorite Secret Character" is in the game. Some may only know by seeing it later in other media, and may go back to play just for it.

I think Sakurai knows that and will reveal all characters, and leave us with the taste of achievement for unlocking them and the other extras.

 

[MrPanic]

I'm sure they'll pull a MK8 on us and give us unlockable characters, but there will be a particular method that is gonna make it super simple to unlock all of them fast.

In MK8, you unlock a character every time you win a GP. I can see the same thing happening in smash4, for example getting a 'challenger approaches' after each completion of classic mode until you unlocked them all.

 

[Pyra]

I'm sure they'll pull a MK8 on us and give us unlockable characters, but there will be a particular method that is gonna make it super simple to unlock all of them fast.

In MK8, you unlock a character every time you win a GP. I can see the same thing happening in smash4, for example getting a 'challenger approaches' after each completion of classic mode until you unlocked them all.

I mean, in Brawl, all you had to do was complete the Subspace Emissary.

 

[elephant13]

I feel like with the amiibos what they'll do is, only grant your amiibo access to that character when it's scanned in. So say you buy a Mewtwo amiibo, he'll scan in and you can fight the amiibo or w.e. but you'll still need to unlock Mewtwo fair and square if YOU want to play as him.

 

[Stalkos]

I mean, in Brawl, all you had to do was complete the Subspace Emissary.

True, but that was not the only way to unlock them. It was the fastest.

In brawl you could unlock the characters by finishing classic mode with certain characters and X numbers of versus battles as well.

This will happen in sm4sh too, there will be many ways to unlock the same character, some may be easier, some harder.

 

[Sour Supreme]

Hidden characters a great aspect of the game IMO. Finding out about a new character that you didn't know was in the game is fun.

 

[TimeSmash]

I really like unlocking characters and things like that (and also how Melee and Brawl kept track of that) because of my completionist (or completionist enough I guess, haha) nature. It might take a little while but I have always enjoyed that. Albeit it does make some sense to have everyone available from the start. When I was younger and didn't rabidly follow up and coming games, all the unlockables on Melee was quite a surprise to me. I think if you're younger, you really enjoy that stuff because you can't wait to see what's coming next.

There is the possbility Nintendo could troll us with having Amiibos all avaiable at the start, but not unlocking the characters the Amiibo is linked to. Like buying Lucina, but then only being able to fight her CPU. That would be somewhat trolling of Sakurai, which isn't really surprising haha

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

For fighting games, unlocking characters is the equivalent of a single-player campaign.
Players should have to work for their roster; no unlockables = weak.

 

[Canuckduck]

For fighting games, unlocking characters is the equivalent of a single-player campaign.
Players should have to work for their roster; no unlockables = weak.

Halo 4 - Unlock the original Spartan Armour = Beat the entire campaign on Expert mode

I think it's a very good reward.

 

[Big-Cat]

It does bring up a good point with the Amiibos. What's the point of having unlockables when stores all around the world spoil them? Say I'm going out to buy the game, and whoops, there's a Mewtwo figurine! I guess he's in. Oh, and Falco too! Actually, they're all here! It makes no sense to distribute them later either just for them to be a surprise, that's unfair for the people who want those characters and makes a mess for Nintendo too since they have to delay certain figurines. Heck, even if they are delayed people that go to buy the games later will be spoiled anyways.

One possibility is that the amiibo automatically unlocks that character for you. There have been DLC in other games where you pay a small amount to unlock a character without going through the whole process of doing the work ingame. BlazBlue Continuum Shift did that with Mu-12 and the DLC characters of Tekken Tag 2 were time release characters.

The amiibos are individually more expensive than those two examples though.

 

[Bladeviper]

question, why do people think we are getting the amiibos for unlockable characters later( assuming characters are unlockable)?

i mean the amiibos launch with the wii u version and by that time we will know the whole cast since we will have had the game for at least a month if not longer depending on the region.

 

[ryuu seika]

Just popping by to say, Tekken 6 has every character unlocked from the start and it is the most daunting thing in any game I've ever seen. Perhaps, in Smash 4, where character selection bias will exist even among people who've never played a videogame (everyone knows Mario, Sonic and Link) it would be less of a problem but the sheer number of options with no way to know who to pick was ridiculous in that game.

 

[MBakhsh]

I really hope there aren't unlockable characters. The only function is to force you to have to grind through the unlock requirements to finally obtain the character(s) that you want to play as. People say it's a "tradition," but there have only been three games and the gaming landscape is a lot different than it was 15 years ago. Yeah, people were hyped when they unlocked Mewtwo in Melee, but....say if Mewtwo were revealed for this game; almost anyone who knows who Mewtwo is will already know he's in the game before it even releases. There's no surprise anymore, and the difference is that with the Internet imploding every time a newcomer is revealed, even casual fans will know who's in the game . People are going to know the full roster a month in advance and after all the time they have to wait to finally play Mega Man in Smash Bros., why would you make them wait even longer after they've finally got it? Having unlockables for other elements is fine, but it's a big "screw you" to the people who reaaally want to play Mega Man to just say "haha nope, play 700 games first. Or you can beat Classic mode with every starting character, that's loads of fun and not a tedious chore, right?" Some people may not even be able to enjoy the game until they have access to the characters they like...remember back in Smash 64, when you had to play a hundred bloody matches just to be able to turn the items off? Keeping things unlocked that way can ruin the initial experience for people.

That said, I think your theory brings up a brilliant alternative...people aren't amped for specific customization options, but it provides a lot of fun as you unlock them nonetheless.

 

[supercopper64]

Well your theory makes sense but the amiibos are for the Wii U version and we will know all the characters, the amiibos might immediatley unlock the characters for you. I mean why not if you probably spent like $14.99 for one.

 

[Wanderer from Roseyard]

Nothing is worse than going to play Smash at your friend's house to find that your preferred fighter is locked behind a thousand versus matches. A thousand. Excessive, much? How about when you only have one controller and you need to play for 20 hours for one character, or when you find out doing it in Special Melee doesn't even count? Or knowing I'd have to wade through the SSE to get everyone because it's the fastest yet least enjoyable way to do it.

It would be for the best if all the fighters were free to use from the first time the game is powered on, to save everyone the headache.

There can still be a lot of things to unlock. Recall that Brawl had a Challenges menu with 128 items for you to grind for and not a single one of them was a playable fighter.

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

What about in game currency?

Y'know, just coins?

You can unlock a character the long way, or just make it cost a lot of coins. You can transfer your coins from the 3DS version to buy unlockables.

Seems fair.

 

[Canuckduck]

Nothing is worse than going to play Smash at your friend's house to find that your preferred fighter is locked behind a thousand versus matches. A thousand. Excessive, much? How about when you only have one controller and you need to play for 20 hours for one character, or when you find out doing it in Special Melee doesn't even count? Or knowing I'd have to wade through the SSE to get everyone because it's the fastest yet least enjoyable way to do it.

It would be for the best if all the fighters were free to use from the first time the game is powered on, to save everyone the headache.

There can still be a lot of things to unlock. Recall that Brawl had a Challenges menu with 128 items for you to grind for and not a single one of them was a playable fighter.

But that would be excessively BORING if you had all of the fighters available from the start. Where's the challenge and motivation?

I remember going to a birthday party back in 2004, and we were playing SSBM, when my friend realized he hadn't unlocked Game and Watch yet. So, I decided to complete Classic Mode with the final characters for him, and then we played a tournament match with everybody.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

But that would be excessively BORING if you had all of the fighters available from the start. Where's the challenge and motivation?

I remember going to a birthday party back in 2004, and we were playing SSBM, when my friend realized he hadn't unlocked Game and Watch yet. So, I decided to complete Classic Mode with the final characters for him, and then we played a tournament match with everybody.

Similarly, if everyone is available right off the bat, then the single player game modes would practically be a huge waste of time to be making. Having unlockable fighters would at least give you a good reason to do the single player stuff.

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

But that would be excessively BORING if you had all of the fighters available from the start. Where's the challenge and motivation?

I remember going to a birthday party back in 2004, and we were playing SSBM, when my friend realized he hadn't unlocked Game and Watch yet. So, I decided to complete Classic Mode with the final characters for him, and then we played a tournament match with everybody.

Could have made a (drinking?) game out of that. Take turns passing the stages on single player.

Gotta improvise, man.

 

[Wanderer from Roseyard]

But that would be excessively BORING if you had all of the fighters available from the start. Where's the challenge and motivation?

I remember going to a birthday party back in 2004, and we were playing SSBM, when my friend realized he hadn't unlocked Game and Watch yet. So, I decided to complete Classic Mode with the final characters for him, and then we played a tournament match with everybody.

Smash being a match-based game, your goal is basically just to win and have fun! Is the game over if you've unlocked all the characters? Certainly I'd hope not. With Melee, I got all the characters in about two weeks and then continued to play the same save file for many years, with nothing left to unlock, and it never felt aimless to me.

(and I'm happy to say that I finally started copying my save file to my friends' memory cards just so we'd have everything at our disposal from thereon)

I do appreciate hearing your memory, though. But imagine if you didn't have to go through Classic mode several times and you guys could have just dived right into the tournament matches. It would have been just as fun, wouldn't it?

Similarly, if everyone is available right off the bat, then the single player game modes would practically be a huge waste of time to be making. Having unlockable fighters would at least give you a good reason to do the single player stuff.

I suppose that's what the GSP is there for now. But there are plenty of other things you could get from a Classic run, like collectibles and coins for other modes.