AiAi for SSBU Support Thread

[ZagarTulip]

Who?
AiAi is the main Character of Super Monkey Ball

Why I want him:

• I had a Super Monkey Ball game as was one of my childhood games for the GameCube
• He could be fun character to have on the roster

Why he would be unlikely:

• Sega already has Sonic and Bayonetta playable (as well as the high possibility for Shadow as a newcomer)
• Not very demanded

What would he do?
This could be his moveset.

Spoiler: Moveset

By evilwaluigi on Deviantart. (Link)

Art?
TBD

Supporters?
infomon
@psb123
slambros
S SEGAGameBoy
Capybara Gaming
Gloyd
ItsMeBrandon
Cabbagehead
Ramen Tengoku
AirMac1
Gran-Rojo
Ir0n Ch3f
kaithehedgefox
DrifloonEmpire
@SGoW
@Autumn Breeze
GillyGrime
pupNapoleon
KirbyMonadoBoy

Thoughts?

 

[infomon]

I support lol

 

[Deleted member]

You know it's actually pretty nice how Sega franchises other than Sonic have been getting some noteworthy attention lately. Sega owns Atlus now, which may or may not cause you to throw Persona and whatnot into that. But either way we've got stuff like Bayonetta, Yakuza, Streets of Rage, Wonder Boy, Shenmue, Valkyria Chronicles, Sega's been really knocking it out of the park lately!

And since Super Monkey Ball did get a handful of consistent releases once upon a time, I could see it making a comeback too. This would push a lot of Sega characters into the lime-light for being Smash Fighters (more than would actually become playable ) and among those options, Aiai is one I can certainly find appealing. Count me in as a supporter.

 

[slambros]

Please add me to the support list. Super Monkey Ball was a tangible part of my childhood!

 

[SEGAGameBoy]

I actually played this when I was a kid on my GameCube. It's probably one of the 2 games I play the most. (Right behind Luigi's Mansion.) I support!

 

[Capybara Gaming]

I support AiAi. He's one of my favorite SEGA characters.

 

[Gloyd]

yeah i do
i wouldnt mind some of the music from the franchise either

 

[ItsMeBrandon]

Sure, why not? I love the Super Monkey Ball games- 1 and 2 on GameCube were a huge part of my childhood.

I don't think it's likely, but I'd be totally down with AiAi in Smash, so I support.

 

[Cabbagehead]

I can't say I'm confident in Aiai's chances, but I do love me some Monkey Ball, so count me in, haha.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

I support... We need more Sega representation in Smash...

 

[AirMac1]

I support! Who would his echo fighter be? I think meemee would be the most likely, but what do you think?

 

[ZagarTulip]

I support! Who would his echo fighter be? I think meemee would be the most likely, but what do you think?

I actually thought it would be cool to have Meemee as the echo. Meemee would make the most sense for an echo because of body proportions and importance to the series.

 

[Gran-Rojo]

Hey everyone, I definitely support Aiai. He is my favorite Sega character and Super Monkey Ball 2 is one of my favorite games ever.

Thinking about what franchise Sega can choose for their 3rd rep always gets complicated for me. After Sonic, Sega has so many franchises that are around the same popularity level that it is hard to pick one franchise that can stand along Sonic. However, I do think that Monkey Ball is above most Sega franchises when it comes to likelihood as a fighter due to its presence in Sega crossovers.

On the box art for every crossover game, Aiai is featured prominently along with the Sonic characters. For comparison, here are the Sega Superstars, Sega Superstars Tennis, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed box arts. As you can see, Aiai is featured in each one, which is especially surprising for Transformed since he is the only character there besides Sonic and Eggman. Not to mention that Aiai received a McDonald's toy in the original lineup of Sonic LCD games, making him the only other non-Sonic character in that lineup. More recently, promotional artwork for Sega Slots has Aiai right next to Sonic, showing that Sega still values Aiai as a mascot. All of these clues make me think that Sega considers Aiai their most noteworthy mascot that is not another Sonic character.

While Persona and Yakuza are way more relevant and popular nowadays, they do not have the same history and significance that Monkey Ball has with Nintendo. Now if Sega could make another Monkey Ball in the style of the original 2 that would be great.

 

[Ir0n Ch3f]

Sad I don't see too much support for Monkey Ball. Super Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Adventure (yes, I liked Adventure, so what?) were huge parts of my childhood blah blah blah.

But nostalgia aside, I think Aiai belongs in smash. Most everyone I know can point out Aiai and what he's from, and there's so much room for movesets and stages and music.

I'll try to get some friends on here and spread the word

 

[kaithehedgefox]

I support Aiai, he even bring back the good old days!

 

[DrifloonEmpire]

Gonna quote what I posted in the other AiAi thread since this seems to be the more Official support thread.

I'm surprised Aiai is not really talked about as a second SEGA rep. His gameplay would be unique, most of his games are on Nintendo systems (with a Banana Blitz remake on the way), and unlike Joker he's completely first party SEGA. He's also featured in all of the spin offs so SEGA still seems him as viable. Even if I'd personally prefer Tails or Eggman, I'd be very happy to see Aiai in the game! Count me as a supporter!

 

[Deleted member]

I'm surprised this thread isn't more active, I'm not expecting it to be as popular as support threads for characters such as Geno, Crash or Bandanna Dee, but I would've at least expected this thread to have passed page one. As Gran-Rojo pointed, AiAi is still fairly important to SEGA. I also believe that the Super Money Ball series is popular with Nintendo fans, as many of the games are Nintendo console exclusives.

Of course the best way to get discussion to happen is to encourage it, usually with a question, and as I came here to ask a question, let's see if we can get discussion from that. I'll answer them myself as well.

If AiAi were to make it into Smash, would you expect him to have the other monkeys as Alt. Costumes. If so, which ones?
I think it's something that very much could happen, as the other playable Monkeys are a staple of the series, being around since the first console game in the series. If it were to happen, I'd only expect to see MeeMee however. She's one of the four main monkeys (AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and GonGon), and out of the four she's the closest in terms of proportions to AiAi. Finally, in crossovers where there's a playable character from the Super Monkey Ball series besides AiAi (e.g. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed), she's the character that is chosen to be playable.

On a similar note:
If AiAi were to make it into Smash, would you expect his moveset to have him be in the ball, not use the ball at all, or a mix of the two?
I'd expect it to be a mix of the two, as while the ball is a major part of the series, I feel it could heavily limit the potential moveset. Allowing AiAi to use both in his moveset would both incorporate what the series is known for into his moveset, while giving him potential for more moves.

I'd also like to quote my post from the Newcomer/DLC Speculation Thread, as it also relates to the Super Monkey Ball series getting in Smash.

Not necessarily my most wanted, but I made a song list for Super Monkey Ball the other day, because the music in that series is a bop.

Jungle - Super Monkey Ball
Storm - Super Monkey Ball
Jungle - Super Monkey Ball 2
Ocean - Super Monkey Ball 2
Clock Tower - Super Monkey Ball 2
Wet 'n' Windy - Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll [New Arrangement?]
Bonus Stage - Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll [New Arrangement]
Bonus Stage - Super Monkey Ball 3D
Southpole (Winter Banana Pretz Mix) - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
ROCKIN' COMMANDER - Super Monkey Ball 3D
Landing on a New Island! - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD
Khafre's Trials - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD
Mollusk King - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD
Swamps of Side Chain - Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD

I tried to keep it realistic, so a low amount of songs (14), and only a few arrangements. No Banana Blitz music as I think there's copyright issues with those songs (besides Smooth Sherbet, which was done by a different person). I assume Touch & Roll (which Banana Blitz's music is an arrangement of) is safe to use, as Wet 'n' Windy/Monkey Island was used in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and the Bonus Stage music was used in the Banana Blitz HD.

The songs from Banana Blitz HD use their Album titles.

Also here's my reasoning behind my choices:
-Jungle (Both) and Landing on a New Island!, the song that plays in the first area, a must have.
-Storm and Clock Tower, intense music suited for fighting.
-Ocean, a song from the series that I felt was memorable, and also adds a bit of variety with a slower paced song.
-Wet 'n' Windy, same as Jungle. The '?' after 'New Arrangement' refers to the fact I could see this song getting an arrangement, but I could also see it not being arranged at all.
-Bonus Stage (Both), what I consider to be the Super Monkey Ball song. A song that I feel is almost guaranteed to be arranged for Smash, but I chucked in the version from 3D so the song also had a variation where it truly felt like Super Monkey Ball.
-Southpole and ROCKIN' COMMANDER, literally just an excuse to have music by Hideki Naganuma, nothing else.
-Khafre's Trials, Mollusk King and Swamps of Side Chain, music from the latest game. It hasn't been out for long enough, and not enough people have listened to the OST for there to be any must haves, so I just chose the music that I like.

Finally, if it isn't clear enough already, I do in fact support AiAi getting in Smash.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Congrats to you guys for the new Monkey Ball announcement!

 

[Deleted member]

AiAi would be one of the hypest and funniest ways to end the pass. Sign me up.

 

[GillyGrime]

I wish Aiai had more of a following. Definitely one of my most wanted and his moveset could be really interesting. Glad to see the classic Monkey Balls remade too

 

[pupNapoleon]

I support Aiai, Monkey Ball is a very fun series, quirky with a unique playstyle added. Second tier for me, though, one I would easily have taken over Joker and/or Bayonetta.

 

[KirbyMonadoBoy]

Why does hardly anyone talk about AiAi? He could be a perfect pick to promote the upcoming release of SMB Banana Mania and would be a unique SEGA character with a lot of awesome music and a long Nintendo history.

 

[slambros]

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is coming out on October 5th. What if the game's release and the timing of the final fighter announcement have been placed together intentionally to match with the character being Aiai or another Super Monkey Ball character?

 

[HYRULESHERO42]

Forgive me for not knowing - is the ball that AiAi is in like a superball? Like super bouncy? That’d be cool in combat