Are Unlockables making the jump to starter?

[Guybrush20X6]

Remember in Melee when Ness and Falcon went from hidden characters to guys that had their own stages and were in the manual? And remember how we freaked out when they didn't show up at first in Brawl?

This time we seem to have characters that were always unlockable confirmed before release but are they starters this time or is this just marketing?

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Some unlockables are probably gonna jump to starter level, like Luigi and Toon Link. I'm gonna guess some starters are gonna end up as unlockables to compensate, maybe Meta Knight or someone like that. It's just Sakurai screwing with patterns yet again.

 

[N3ON]

I doubt it. Chances are unlockables are making the jump to pre-release reveal because Nintendo wants dat extra promotion-based monies.

That said, maybe a few, such as Captain Falcon, Ness, and Marth will. Actually as long as those three do, I could care less who else does.

 

[FalKoopa]

I think they're planning to reveal the whole roster beforehand this time.
Toon Link is a perfect unlockable character. (Really, I have a hard time seeing both Links on the starting roster.)

We'll probably see more than one character per month from now on.

 

[Groose]

I think they're planning to reveal the whole roster beforehand this time.
Toon Link is a perfect unlockable character. (Really, I have a hard time seeing both Links on the starting roster.)

We'll probably see more than one character per month from now on.

Eh... it makes good marketing sense, but I don't want nor expect that.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I wouldn't expect unlockables to be revealed before starters, and certainly not two of them. Furthermore, Sakurai obviously knows that people don't want unlockables spoiled given how he hid them away on the Brawl site, and even waited until the Japanese release before showing any of them. Of course Sakurai is breaking patterns, but I don't think he'd shove unlockables into the people that want to stay spoiler-free's faces. I'm very sure that Luigi and Toon Link are starters. On the other hand I do think it's kind of weird that the starting roster is being determined by what's marketable.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Also remember Sonic and Snake were unlockable even though they were shown off.

 

[Arteen]

Luigi might be a starter this time, but I expect Toon Link and Mega Man to be hidden.

There's a good chance that he will reveal the whole roster on the site. He's making promotional videos for all the newcomers, so we will at least see those reveals prior to release.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Also remember Sonic and Snake were unlockable even though they were shown off.

Yeah, but 3rd parties are such a big deal to implement, of course they'll use them to promote the game with, especially the enormous hype surrounding Sonic. My points was that Sakurai seems to take spoilers seriously, so I don't think he'd so carelessly just spoil us all.

 

[fogbadge]

I think they're planning to reveal the whole roster beforehand this time.
Toon Link is a perfect unlockable character. (Really, I have a hard time seeing both Links on the starting roster.)

We'll probably see more than one character per month from now on.

agreed that seems very likely now

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Remember in Melee when Ness and Falcon went from hidden characters to guys that had their own stages and were in the manual? And remember how we freaked out when they didn't show up at first in Brawl?

This time we seem to have characters that were always unlockable confirmed before release but are they starters this time or is this just marketing?

It's probably for marketing purposes, because I highly doubt that Mega Man would be a starter with his third party status. As for Luigi, it's pretty much a given that he'll be unlockable too, as he's always been an unlockable in the past Smash Bros. installments.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Toon Link, being a clone, doesn't seem like the character that would be on a starting roster. Luigi isn't as much of a clone as TL is, but there is the tradition of him ( and Jigglypuff) being unlockable to take into consideration. For some reason I have doubts that the Year of Luigi will give him a free pass to being a starter.

 

[Deleted member]

This whole thing that Sakurai is doing is absolutely confusing. While I understand that he is revealing unlockables like Luigi and Toon Link to promote their respective games (Dream Team and Wind Waker HD), it makes me question if they are a part of the initial roster or not since they have been revealed this early.

Actually, it's easy for me to say that Toon Link is unlockable while Luigi can be somewhat debatable in my opinion.

If Sakurai is going to reveal more unlockable characters, then I see him revealing Mr. Game & Watch, Marth, and Mewtwo/Jigglypuff sooner or later.

 

[BridgesWithTurtles]

I'm halfway convinced that Sakurai is going to eschew the "no spoilers" approach this time. He openly stated that they decided to not create new story mode cutscenes because they were being leaked/uploaded to the internet. I could see him taking the same approach with characters, and just revealing every character on the roster with great laxity. Perhaps there won't even be unlockable characters, and the entire roster will be available for use as soon as the game starts. Call that too drastic of a change, but Sakurai's been subverting a lot of past trends with this game, so I wouldn't put it past him.

 

[Arteen]

I love unlocking characters, even if I know the whole roster already.

I hope that the whole roster get revealed ahead of time. These reveals and the subsequent discussion and speculation are fun (and maddening).

 

[Deleted member]

I love unlocking characters, even if I know the whole roster already.

I hope that the whole roster get revealed ahead of time. These reveals and the subsequent discussion and speculation are fun (and maddening).

I agree.

While I do enjoy unlocking characters in Smash Bros., there is a part of me that wants to know the whole roster. You can't help but feel anxious for a while since the character you like/want might not get announced for a long time because they are unlockable. Personally, I rather have Sakurai reveal the whole roster now rather than later just to feel excited/disappointed now... but I know that won't happen.

 

[Curious Villager]

Perhaps Sakurai might want to get the veterans out of the way and save up most of the newcomers as unlockables. I remember finding it much more exciting getting the unlockables in Melee than in Brawl since there were more newcomers to unlock which made things more exciting for me. So I personally wouldn't mind seeing some obvious unlockable veteran faces getting converted to starters this time around (such as Jigglypuff, Ness, Captain Falcon, Marth etc) while most of the new guys are hidden. But I guess that's just my opinion... ^^

 

[Xigger]

It's hard to say if spoilers are being thrown out the window, or if Toon Link's a starter; Though it kind of makes sense for both Links to be starters.

We can only say for sure that it's for marketing. But we can't draw any conclusion for starter/unlockable status based on marketing moves.

With that said: I had much greater joy unlocking characters in the first two games than in Brawl. There were question marks keeping me excited for the newest character: in 64, the shadowed figures kept me guessing and I had no idea who to expect. I still had no idea who Ness and Captain Falcon were! Melee was full of fantastic surprises, there was Mewtwo, that 2D thing, a japanese swordsman, and then ANOTHER japanese swordsman! And a lot of clones with different variations that just looked cool!

It wasn't until Brawl that I went on the internet to have the roster leaked before I bought the game. Knowing who's going to appear certainly takes the joy out.... Even then, all the announced newcomers were starters and the unlockables were veterans. I'd rather find out from the Challenger Approaching warning in-game than from a Dojo website months earlier...

 

[YoshiandToad]

Maybe it's only newcomer hidden characters that will remain secret?

Whilst Toon Link's reveal was a surprise, anyone who thought Luigi WOULDN'T be in the game is a moron. Why bother hiding that this three time veteran, each time a hidden character at that, is in the next Smash? Sakurai probably realises it's pointless to pretend Luigi isn't in the game, because he's such a staple at this point(and popular to boot), that removing him would be incredibly foolish.

Luigi is probably going to remain a 'secret' character(and I use that term loosely), and I'd presume Toon Link would be too. I could be totally wrong about Toon, but I'd put money on Luigi being secret at least.

 

[Fatmanonice]

I think it's just marketing. As others have said, it wouldn't make sense to have both Links available from the get-go. I'd prefer if a lot of the more obvious unlockables did become starters though. There's really no reason for Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Marth to be unlockables at this point, for example. I'd also prefer if Luigi simply became a starter too as long as there were enough differences between him and Mario to set them apart.