Assist Trophies: The End of the World!?

[PrinnyFlute]

Well, probably not the end of the world. But a big upset for the Brawl Character Discussion subforum, and the community at large. Oh, wait, in case you missed it;

What’s an Assist Trophy?!

Well, these are characters who appear to aid the fighter that called them forth. Basically, they’re guest characters separate from Smash’s playable roster!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is sort of like a festival that all sorts of characters show up for. Bear in mind, though, that you can’t control any of the characters appearing on these pages. Let there be no mistake about that.

http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/items/assist/index.html


This, of course, means any character confirmed to be an Assist Trophy is effectively out of the running for being playable! Hammer Bros. and Samurai Goroh have both already been cut out of the running this way, and you can be sure there'll be more to follow.

What does this mean for the fans? Well, all our assumptions about character probabilities are going to change pretty drastically. Sakurai (supposedly,) won't have to feel guilty about not representing series or including fan favorites anymore, so we can likely look forward to a greater focus on the iconic and the few outlandish ones Sakurai grabs from the air.

Of course, while it may mean lowered chances as playables for a number of lesser fan favorites, it does also mean greater chances of active representation for those we thought we probably wouldn't see at all (or as anything but a trophy stuck in a corner somewhere.)

So, what's going to happen to Geno? Little Mac? King K. Rool? You tell me!

(Err...discuss.)

Edit: When I started writing this thread, the Assist Trophies one was still called the Official Samurai Goroh one, so I thought I'd hop on and contribue one for proper discussion. Sorry for any confusion on the issue.

 

[k!llsw!tch]

Nooooo Knowing the whole trophy thing there will be a lot of them. Thats gonna kill so many characters. Dedede, King K Rool, Sonic, Megaman, Geno, all their chances have been lowered, to a Assist Trophy. Sucks enough we lost Goroh and Hammer Bro.

 

[the grim lizard]

Nooooo Knowing the whole trophy thing there will be a lot of them. Thats gonna kill so many characters. Dedede, King K Rool, Sonic, Megaman, Geno, all their chances have been lowered, to a Assist Trophy. Sucks enough we lost Goroh and Hammer Bro.

Dedede was planned for the original and he's Sakurai's baby. He'll be playable.

As for the others... *ahem*(Geno as NPC)

 

[k!llsw!tch]

I really don't wanna lose any of those guys. With the whole Goroh thing it made me think they're gonna take some characters that had better chances away.

 

[Quintalian]

I would like to mention that this adds yet another category that can be updated piecemeal. Not that it much matters in the long run, but when you're looking forward to true Newcomers and instead get nothing but confirmations of Donbe, Eggplant Wizard, and Mike Jones appearing as Assists, well...

...Actually, Eggplant Wizard as an Assist sounds pretty awesome.

 

[k!llsw!tch]

I hope the rest of the assist characters are characters that should be assist characters and not characters that acutally had a chance.

 

[Aki-toriko]

A lot of characters we previously thought possible as being playable we will now see as NPCs. Only the really obvious ones like King Dedede, Diddy Kong etc will probably be safe from the assist fate. All other suggestions are now under threat.
But IMO it'll probably only affect characters that don't have an obvious moveset (like Wolf Link and Balloon Fighter for example). As long as a character has an obvious and viable moveset, combined with decent popularity, they should be safe.

 

[Quintalian]

Did you think Samurai Goro had a good chance as a playable character? Sonic and Megaman are the stars of their respective long-running series. They have a good shot at becoming Newcomers. Samurai Goro, on the other hand, is hardly A-list material. Good for him making it in and all, but if he hadn't, I doubt anyone would've raised a big fuss about it.

 

[PrinnyFlute]

Dedede still has a high possibility as a playable, I'll bet. Of all the other series to have their effective teams in Smash, I'm sure Sakurai's going to push his own personal brainchild up to a healthy trinity. (Important to note, I believe he's an even commented before and said that the three do act as a proper triadic representation of the series.)

Geno... Well, his chances of being in are really boosted now. (I'd guesstimate we've got an 85% chance of just having him around, seeing as, like I keep saying, Square has no reason not to let them use him.) But it seems like now it's 70% NPC and 30% playable...and that's still kind of generous. Which is a shame, 'cuz I really hope he makes it.


Even though it is another factor that can be updated in little bits and pieces (as annoying as that's been,) it'll still be pretty big news for frequenters of Character Discussion. Imagine, each update just nuking a chunk of the character threads here with their dreaded anti-confirmation!

(Mike Jones assist character FTW.)

 

[Deleted member]

He should have kept it to only generics or outlandish folks like the dog.

Seriously, the pain this is causing me is terrible!!!! (Just kidding.) I can at least rest safe in knowledge that my choice will at least get in there somewhere...

 

[bluebomber22]

its not major players that will be ATs, its the supporting cast like geno that must be worried about

 

[Drascin]

Well, it might not be the End of the World (tm), but certainly throws a monkey wrench in our predictions and gives a heck of a lot of fear for some of our favorite chars. People we were pretty much certain was in can now be just an NPC.

...I don't know if Sakurai is evil and enjoys making us squirm in fear for our favorites, or a good guy who is trying desperately to get them in the game at least in some form. I guess a bit o each

 

[Fawriel]

And again, everybody should calm down.

Look at the current list of ATs.

Hammer Bro: Generic enemy who's been in many games. Recognizable, but was hardly a possibility as a playable character.

Nintendog: Seriously now.

Samurai Goroh: Now he had a realistic shot, but his demise was probably the matter of representation of different series. Like many of our members, I doubt Sakurai just wants to rep the big series by adding a few thousand characters and then just a few smaller ones for good measure. He apparently felt that giving F-Zero more reps had lower priority than other characters.


In the end, any character who's not going to be in would not have been in if it weren't for the ATs.
Ridley, for example, will NOT be an AT. He's quite a main character, and there's no reason for him not to be playable. That would be almost like adding WW Link as an AT, as he was the hero of his own game(s).

Think of it as a friendly nod to the people who wish for unlikely characters like Tetra, Mona, Hunters, and so on.

 

[PrinnyFlute]

its not major players that will be ATs, its the supporting cast like geno that must be worried about

'Course popularity and Smashability have to play a part, too. Even though she was the main character, I think it'd be safe to assume the robot from Wonder Project J likely has a smiiiiidge fewer Smash fans than Geno.

 

[PrinnyFlute]

And again, everybody should calm down.
...
In the end, any character who's not going to be in would not have been in if it weren't for the ATs.
Ridley, for example, will NOT be an AT. He's quite a main character, and there's no reason for him not to be playable. That would be almost like adding WW Link as an AT, as he was the hero of his own game(s).

Think of it as a friendly nod to the people who wish for unlikely characters like Tetra, Mona, Hunters, and so on.

But it's the EEEND OF THE WORLD!

Hehe.

I do agree. Even though it is sort of...the antithesis of what character-hopefuls have been looking for (the UN-character confirmation,) this is Sakurai trying to squeeze in as much fun fandom as he can.

Edit: Whoops. Just blur your eeeeeyes. There's only ooooone post here, not two. Oooooh.

 

[Mr Feather]

k!llsw!tch, I don't think you should worry too much about Sonic. Either he is in as a playable character, or he won't make an appearance at all. If they did gain the rights to Sonic, they wouldn't make the most requested character a support, what would be the point?

 

[Zodiac]

Well lets think about this.

1. Hammer Bros , nintendog and Samurai goroh made the cut for Assist trophies. These are the only three characters confirmed so far for assist trophies.

2. Both of these characters arnt exactly high up on the popularity list. Goroh more than the hammer bros. but still.

So when sakurai said this.

Assist Trophies allow you to enjoy even more characters who couldn’t quite make it as playable fighters. You may even see some that only the most dedicated fans will recognize, so you’ll have to look forward to them.

He may have meant, characters that couldnt make it in popularity wise, Pit got drilled in favor of jiggly puff when smash 64 was in development, because jiggly puff was more popular. Im basically thinking, ok Sakuri is thinking

The characters that fans really want but we pushed out in favor of others for whatever reason, are now assist trophies

say, Tricky, from star fox adventures could easily be an assist character! Ralph from the zelda oracle series.

Well anyway, lets continue the discussion.

 

[handy]

I actually like this concept. I kind of reminds me to KoF's strickers and Marvel vs Capcom's character summon, only more random. And just like Sakurai said, it opens a chance for plenty of characters to at least perform an attack.

This could probably explain the reason Sakurai did that SSBM poll. Maybe he will take some of those characters for this. Imagine the EBA/Ouendan guys coming out from an AT! I think their cheering would make your character's attacks more powerful while they are on screen. The possibilties are endless!

 

[RENT-A-LINE313]

I really think sonic is going to be on smash but not as a trophy. But the trophy thing is really going to delete the playable characters

 

[LukeFonFabre]

Thank god for Fawriel being the voice of reassurance here.

It's unfortunate for Samurai Goroh, and I think this might mean that the chances of another playable F-Zero character have dropped, but it seems to be a way of including as many people's favourites despite not being able to make everyone playable. So we either did without Goroh for another Smash game, or we can at least see him beat the crap out of Mario and crew, despite not being playable, so it's really the lesser of two evils here.

And I honestly wouldn't worry too much about Sonic or Megaman, they are 3rd party characters and getting the rights for them would be wasted if the were AT's. They might bring their friends to put in them, but I highly doubt they would end up that way themselves. The only 3rd party character I think is in danger is Geno, as they may do what they did in SuperStar Saga and just have him as a cameo again.

 

[ClarkJables]

i predict third party assist trophies and a waluigi assist

 

[Enlong]

My question is why are so many people upset over the assist trophies? This simply means that all of the characters they hoped for that didn't really have a huge chance of becoming playable, like the Hammer Bros for instance, have a real chance of showing up on that stage. I for one thought this community would be overjoyed by these assist trophies (I know I am).

 

[ClarkJables]

samurai goroh, thats why were upset

 

[bloodvayne]

(Geno as NPC)

pretty much

But wow, so now item mode has pokemon and this?
harder difficulties of single player is gonna be hell.

 

[HiddenTiger]

Oh, Boo-frakkin'-hoo you babies. Cry me a river. You guys are getting your panties in a bunch over nothing. Look at the three AT's we know right now: A Hammer Bro, a Nintendog, and Samurai Goroh. Now, two out of those three are characters none of you would ever consider as a playable character. I don't see how this automatically means that all of the best character choices are all not going to be playable because there's a technical possibility that they were all made into assistants instead. Why don't you look at the positive side of this, instead? Maybe all of the characters in Melee that don't make it into Brawl can still show up as assists. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

 

[ClarkJables]

wow pichu and dr mario as assists, that would be fun



if ray01 shows up as assist i will be pissed off beyond believe

 

[Marty]

Oh, Boo-frakkin'-hoo you babies. Cry me a river. You guys are getting your panties in a bunch over nothing. Look at the three AT's we know right now: A Hammer Bro, a Nintendog, and Samurai Goroh. Now, two out of those three are characters none of you would ever consider as a playable character. I don't see how this automatically means that all of the best character choices are all not going to be playable because there's a technical possibility that they were all made into assistants instead. Why don't you look at the positive side of this, instead? Maybe all of the characters in Melee that don't make it into Brawl can still show up as assists. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

You're entirely missing the point. It doesn't automatically mean anything, but it DOES automatically mean that any and all potential new characters have a lower chance of becoming a playable character and instead a trophy.

Honestly it's hard to see this as anything but an (albeit unintentional) slap in the face towards people who were looking forward to the more obscure characters.

wow pichu and dr mario as assists, that would be fun

Haha, yeah exactly.

 

[Plomid]

goood bye baloon Fighter

 

[the grim lizard]

Sakurai has just unleashed the Pandora's box of Smash...

 

[Eric the Lone]

I think that first capsule is Little Mac.

 

[HiddenTiger]

You're entirely missing the point. It doesn't automatically mean anything, but it DOES automatically mean that any and all potential new characters have a lower chance of becoming a playable character and instead a trophy.

True, but that doesn't automatically mean you all should fly into a fit thinking your favorite characters are all going to be strikers instead of actual characters. I mean, just look at some of the posts in here "O noes! No baloon fighter or dedede or sonic of geno or diddy or lil' mac what will we do?!" Geez, your scared of your own speculations here.

Honestly it's hard to see this as anything but an (albeit unintentional) slap in the face towards people who were looking forward to the more obscure characters.

Wrong again, Johnny Raincloud. Sakruai's already gone on record stating that he doesn't like the idea of only adding the most popular characters. I'm 100% confident that the final character roster was set in stone months before they decided to add in assist characters as an item. There's no need to worry this much.

God, if Goroh hadn't been a striker, I bet everyone would be complaining about this filling up the game with useless characters instead. >_>

 

[Copperpot]

I'm with Tiger here. To those thinking that third party candidates such as Geno and Sonic are going to be assist trophies, get real. There's no way that Sakurai's going to go through the trouble of acquiring a character from another company and then stick him in as an NPC. Admittedly, Geno has a slightly larger chance of being one than Sonic, being that he was an NPC in Superstar Saga. I don't think that rationalizes him or any other third party character to not be playable, though.

As far as the more obscure character entries go, yeah, I can see characters like Lil' Mac being a trophy. It's not the bane of all existence, though. I consider this to be a really cool thing, actually.

 

[Eric the Lone]

okay, maybe not little mac.... this person looks like they're wearing some sort of karate gi or tunic. hmmmm.

 

[sassy87]

there just better or worse versons of pokeballs

 

[Eric the Lone]

that's what my bro said. 4v4s are going to be pretty crazy with just the few tibits Sak's revealed. I can't imagine what else awaits us. I just hope the levels are big enough to accomodate the mayhem without being too big.

 

[McCloud]

Sakurai has just unleashed the Pandora's box of Smash...

GAhahahahha....

To be honest I'm excited for this as it means it makes room for better characters while still having cameos.

 

[Bowserlick]

I thnk you guys are looking at Assistant Trophies the wrong way. I think Sakurai made the actual character list before the AT's. He probably had a goal- like forty characters. And he had to make alot of cuts, especially because so many characters were clamored for on the polls.

So he said," How will I represent all these other wanted characters?"

The answer is Assistant trophies- like regular trophies but more fun.

So I think Samurai Goroh just lacked enough Smash potential. Really what is he going to do? Should another sword character take a spot of a more creative character with a different playstyle just because he is the rival of a fan favorite.

I think that many of the dark characters (rivals that are a shade darker then their counterpart) are going to be AT's. People love them but they copy or have similar movesets to the heroes and/or just look too similar.

I say Wolf, Dark Samus, Dark Link, Shadow Mario, ect. fall into this category.

I actually think that characters like Ridley, Balloon Fighters, Tom Nook, are more safe now. They have popularity and creative goodness to save them from being just a random generated attack.

 

[Black/Light]

I see alot of Geno fans are scared. . . And I can see why. Geno, even if he is 3rd party, still cameoed in a mini-game in one of the other Mario games so I don't see it being "hard" for them to do the same here seeing as he wouldn't be playable.

 

[Copperpot]

Meh, if Geno fans are scared, I must not be a Geno fan.

His odds are greater as a playable character. Personally, I think this spells doom for a lot of other third party characters like Megaman. If a sea of Nintendo characters are being denied playability due to the roster being filled already, odds are that most third party nominations are out the window as well.

Then again, it could be the other way around, also. Sakurai could use Geno as a trophy to make more room on the roster for characters like Chrono or Simon.

 

[Akuryou]

All this means is that the characters which got cut and we never would have seen at ALL now get in on a bit of the action.