Change my mind: There's an inverse relationship between importance and uniqueness/being interesting when it comes to prospective characters

[Quillion]

This is something I've noticed among much of the remaining prospective characters, at least when it comes to the ones from existing franchises in Smash. A lot of people want a character because they have cool mechanics and/or aesthetics to bring to the table. A lot of people want a character because they are either a main character of the series and/or they are a prominent recurring character.

But we're quite short characters that are both unique and important. Going by franchise:

• :
  • On the "important" side, we have Bandana Waddle Dee, who is considered at the very least to be a prominent secondary character and by many to be the fourth main character outright. But his spear moveset isn't much more exciting than any other basic weapon-wielding moveset. Even in the Kirby series, it's already functionally close to the Sword ability, with its rapid attack and air drop attack among other things.
  • On the "unique" side, we have a lot of characters who became Dream Friends in Star Allies, but most popularly Marx. He has so many cool and unique powers like his arrow barrage, ice ball, thorny vines, and even just kicking his ball. But he has only been the main villain for one part of one game (Milky Way Wishes in Super Star) and just one of many Dream Friends in Star Allies.
• :
  • On the "important" side, we have Captain Toad, who has become one of the few recurring mainline Mario characters in recent times, having appeared in the Galaxy duology, 3D World, and Odyssey, as well as having his own spinoff game. But he doesn't have a lot in the way of workable abilities when it comes to fighting. All he has is occasionally throwing vegetables (which Peach already has) and using the Super Pickax (which is essentially the Donkey Kong arcade hammer).
  • On the "unique" side, we have Geno. Largely considered to be one of the biggest embodiments of pure, concentrated badass ever to grace the Mario franchise, he has got so many things like his finger guns, rocket punches, energy beams, transforming into a cannon, and so much more. But (partly due to Square Enix owning him), all he has gotten since Super Mario RPG is a small cameo in Superstar Saga, which itself was removed for the remake probably thanks to Square Enix.
  • For an "in between" character, there's Waluigi. Most agree that should he be playable, he should represent the spinoffs as a whole due to his nature as a spinoff character. But he still lacks the main series presence of Captain Toad and the sheer uniqueness of Geno. It's also commonly argued that any other Mario character not in Smash could represent the spinoffs, even the vanilla Toad.
• :
  • On the "important" side, we have pretty much every main Lord. All of them are pretty much basic sword wielders without much in the way of diverse abilities, but this is probably because Fire Emblem follows the RPG convention of the main character having the most basic abilities to ease the player into the game.
  • On the "unique" side, we have pretty much every character who isn't a main Lord. There are so many weapon choices that Smash doesn't go for thanks to it focusing on the main characters. There are spears, axes, bows, magic tomes, and knives among other things. Even among sword wielders, Mercenaries and Myrmidons would provide new uses of Swords that the FE characters in Smash don't usually go for.
• :
  • On the "important" side, we have Impa. She has appeared in one way or another in about half of the series in a prominent role as an expo-giver and Zelda's attendant. But as I keep saying, there is no way to incorporate all of Impa into a solid character. She has been both a young bodyguard and an old retainer, and both of these aspects can't be merged into just one universal Impa. Hyrule Warriors had to create something out of nothing to give Impa something to do, but Smash is definitely not going to draw from a spinoff to make a character (unless it's Waluigi).
  • On the "unique" side, we have a whole bunch of one-shot characters, many of which are playable in Hyrule Warriors. But I'll just focus on the currently popular one: Skull KId. Not only does the Moon make a stunning Final Smash, but he has other things like eye beams, attacking with tentacles from the mask, and summoning the boss masks. And he's technically not a one-shot as he appeared in OoT in a very brief sidequest, but no one wants him to take inspiration from that appearance; he's effectively a one-shot for his role in Majora's Mask.

I've changed my tune on that being important alone or being unique alone is a bad thing; either of the two alone is good enough to get a character in Smash in my opinion now. But it certainly feels like we're short on characters who are both.

Yes, you can argue that they can take creative liberties with the "important, but not unique" characters, but I would argue that the need for more creative liberties is a sign that said character isn't that interesting to begin with. Besides, taking a lot of creative liberties could result in another Ganondorf/Wario situation where the character is portrayed in a way that a vocal group doesn't like.

NOTE: I'm talking about "important to their series" here, NOT "relevant". Smash has too many classic characters for relevance to be an issue.

 

[xzx]

Why do so many people, when talking about the Mario series, not mention Paper Mario as an important character? It's always about (Captain) Toad (understandable) and/or Waluigi (not so understandable), and never about Paper Mario. Who, you know... HAS AN ENTIRE SERIES. And don't say "he's just another Mario" NO he's not! D;

Yes, Toad is more "important" than Paper Mario, but Paper Mario has more things going for him as a fighter.

Now that we've established that, Sakurai did state in the Terry direct though that "[a fighter being fun to play is much more important than it being recognizable]". So there's that.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

There's a bit of a trope in game design where more central characters are designed to be simpler as they're usually the first one people use.

Mario usually gets hit with this hard but he is fully capable of having a really whacky and unique moveset.

Some examples
-A moveset based around gaining and using differnet power-ups
-A team-up moveset with Mario on and off Yoshi
-One with Fludd as his main means of attack and a water meter to manage
-One based on Galaxy with both Assist Luma and the star pointer
-One where Mario can toss Cappy and spring board off him for an insane recovery.

It's a compromise between what's possible and how you want the characters presented.

 

[Oddball]

What exactly makes Geno unique? He shoots things with a hand that's a gun. At best he's a lesser Megaman or Samus. Toad and Waluigi have only have spinoffs, but at least they've done plenty of different things in those spin-offs.

 

[Quillion]

Why do so many people, when talking about the Mario series, not mention Paper Mario as an important character? It's always about (Captain) Toad (understandable) and/or Waluigi (not so understandable), and never about Paper Mario. Who, you know... HAS AN ENTIRE SERIES. And don't say "he's just another Mario" NO he's not! D;

Yes, Toad is more "important" than Paper Mario, but Paper Mario has more things going for him as a fighter.

Now that we've established that, Sakurai did state in the Terry direct though that "[a fighter being fun to play is much more important than it being recognizable]". So there's that.

I think Paper Mario is a solid choice myself, but there's always the lingering expectation (not desire) that he'll end up being another barehanded Mario. Many already can't stand how the three Links have similar specials and normals, I don't know how they would react to having Marios with that same problem.

What exactly makes Geno unique? He shoots things with a hand that's a gun. At best he's a lesser Megaman or Samus. Toad and Waluigi have only have spinoffs, but at least they've done plenty of different things in those spin-offs.

Again, literally any other spinoff filler character can be "THE spinoff character", not just Waluigi. Even Wiggler or Birdo.

Geno has a lot of cool abilities that belong solely to him.

 

[Deleted member]

Why do so many people, when talking about the Mario series, not mention Paper Mario as an important character? It's always about (Captain) Toad (understandable) and/or Waluigi (not so understandable), and never about Paper Mario. Who, you know... HAS AN ENTIRE SERIES. And don't say "he's just another Mario" NO he's not! D;

Arguing that he's "another Mario" is ultimately pointless as well. No matter how many points for either side can be thrown around, at the end of the day, if Dr. Mario and Toon Link are on the roster, Paper Mario can be as well.

As for why people don't mention Paper Mario as often, I'm going to guess it's because characters like Toad and Waluigi have larger fanbases overall, with a tiny mix of distaste for Sticker Star and Color Splash added to the formula.

 

[Quillion]

As for why people don't mention Paper Mario as often, I'm going to guess it's because characters like Toad and Waluigi have larger fanbases overall, with a tiny mix of distaste for Sticker Star and Color Splash added to the formula.

I think the issue is that Paper Mario only appears in one line of spinoffs while Captain Toad is a bona fide main series character and Waluigi appears across many different spinoff lines.

Even then, I think more people talk about Paper Mario than some think here.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I don’t really think merging the old and young Impas are necessary, it’s clear that the young one is the one better suited for Smash. It’s like how Sakurai only chose human Ganondorf rather than blue pig Ganon (other than for the Final Smash). It really wouldn’t be any kind of loss to just focus on young Impa, especially with Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf coming from entirely different games in Ultimate and all just focusing on one specific incarnation. They could easily do the same for Impa and hone in on either her OOT or SS appearance, or a mixture of the two.

 

[xzx]

I think Paper Mario is a solid choice myself, but there's always the lingering expectation (not desire) that he'll end up being another barehanded Mario. Many already can't stand how the three Links have similar specials and normals, I don't know how they would react to having Marios with that same problem.

See, that's also another misconception people have: Paper Mario's moveset would be like Mario's. Like no, it wouldn't. They would be so different as they possibly could. Hammer attacks, partners, badges, in-game techniques etc. All those moves would make him a 100% unique character.

Paper Mario has a LOT more things going for him than Waluigi or Toad. Why Paper Mario hasn't been added yet is pretty strange if you ask me.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Impa can easily be unique. Just give her the Sheikah Slate abilities from BotW. She's a Sheikah, in fact she's their leader. No reason that she wouldn't be able to use the Sheikah Runes. Master Kogha is a Yiga and even he was able to use certain runes without the Slate, as Magnesis. That's already a very unique concept, and represents BotW as a game very well.

Then again, we need a younger Impa to work with. And BotW Impa is old. However, she could be young again in the sequel. Purah was working on a anti aging rune, so it's certainly possible.

 

[Blutrausch]

Why Paper Mario hasn't been added yet is pretty strange if you ask me.

I'm personally tired of the excessive Mario characters, so the lack of PM is fine by me. Could PM be fun and interesting? Yes. Is being fair about the number of representation important to me? Yes.

 

[Quillion]

Impa can easily be unique. Just give her the Sheikah Slate abilities from BotW. She's a Sheikah, in fact she's their leader. No reason that she wouldn't be able to use the Sheikah Runes. Master Kogha is a Yiga and even he was able to use certain runes without the Slate, as Magnesis. That's already a very unique concept, and represents BotW as a game very well.

Then again, we need a younger Impa to work with. And BotW Impa is old. However, she could be young again in the sequel. Purah was working on a anti aging rune, so it's certainly possible.

That would easily make Impa outdated. There's next to no chance that the Sheikah Runes will continue to be series staples after the BotW "series".

being fair about the number

Quantity of representation does not matter. It's quality of representation that counts.

There's no such thing as "being fair about the number of representation" when some franchises like Ice Climber have inherently little to give.

 

[Lenidem]

Quantity of representation does not matter. It's quality of representation that counts.

There's no such thing as "being fair about the number of representation" when some franchises like Ice Climber have inherently little to give.

Smash Bros is a crossover, which means that some kind of fairness between the different franchises should at least be attempted, even if all of them doesn't deserve the same number of fighters.

 

[Quillion]

Smash Bros is a crossover, which means that some kind of fairness between the different franchises should at least be attempted, even if all of them doesn't deserve the same number of fighters.

And what fairness is that, pray tell?

 

[Lenidem]

And what fairness is that, pray tell?

Just 'some'. So not blatantly unbalanced. There is no perfect objective equation for that, of course, as there is no perfect definition of the 'quality' of a character - unless you want to enlighten us.

 

[Blutrausch]

Quantity of representation does not matter. It's quality of representation that counts.

There's no such thing as "being fair about the number of representation" when some franchises like Ice Climber have inherently little to give.

Let's use examples where there can be more representatives. There are plenty of characters to choose from, from titles including, but not limited to Kid Icarus, Metroid, F-Zero, Mother, Pikmin. Ice Climbers only has one game, which heavily limits the inclusion of other characters.

Popularity can be ruled out since obscure or unpopular characters (Metroid, Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Mother) compared to other games (Mario, Pokémon, Zelda) were included, and unless you lived in Japan or were a minority regarding Fire Emblem, none of these franchises prevented Sakurai from including them.

It's Sakurai's series, though, and he'll sooner include more characters from Mario, Pokémon, Fire Emblem, and Zelda than be fair about quantity and quality of representation. (Yes, you can have quality and quantity, but quantity seems to be Sakurai's preference.)

I won't be surprised if Smash spirals downward, marking another SSBM era where subsequent titles are regarded as less-than-stellar. Sakurai flubbed. SSBU may be his magnum opus, but since character size seems to matter more with fans, I can't imagine any other reason SSBU's success had to do with anything other than roster size.

 

[Lenidem]

It's Sakurai's series, though, and he'll sooner include more characters from Mario, Pokémon, Fire Emblem, and Zelda than be fair about quantity and quality of representation.

Zelda? Really?

 

[Blutrausch]

Zelda? Really?

Yes. That series is close behind FE. Like we needed three Links. I know, "Everyone is here". Anyway, I'm digressing about a game I loathe, so I'll just leave.

 

[Lenidem]

Yes. That series is close behind FE. Like we needed three Links. I know, "Everyone is here". Anyway, I'm digressing about a game I loathe, so I'll just leave.

Three clones. And one clone from another serie, which is a unique case in Smash Bros. That makes only three unique characters (Link, Zelda, Sheik) while Fire Emblem is now at four (the Marth-base, Corin, Daraen, and now Byleth - am I forgetting someone?) plus multiple clones/Echoes. So the comparison doesn't seem right. And I'm not even talking about Pokémon...

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Three clones. And one clone from another serie, which is a unique case in Smash Bros. That makes only three unique characters (Link, Zelda, Sheik) while Fire Emblem is now at four (the Marth-base, Corin, Daraen, and now Byleth - am I forgetting someone?) plus multiple clones/Echoes. So the comparison doesn't seem right. And I'm not even talking about Pokémon...

Ike is definitely not based on Marth, so that would be five for FE.

 

[scoobymcsnack]

Although what makes a moveset fun or exciting is subjective, I do think you have a point. Although lots of "important" characters have potential to be unique, you do get the sense of sameyness (not a word but oh well) with a bunch of them.

Again, literally any other spinoff filler character can be "THE spinoff character", not just Waluigi. Even Wiggler or Birdo.
.

But Waluigi is deeply associated with spin-offs more than any other character. Yes, Wiggler was playable in one Mario Kart game, but no one thinks "that's the Mario Kart guy!!" when they look at Wiggler. Waluigi makes sense as a character to represent spin offs, but if you were to represent a character like Donkey Kong Jr with mostly Mario Kart moves it wouldn't feel right.

TL/DR;
Waluigi is way more associated with the spin offs than any other character and makes the most sense to represent them in Smash.

 

[crazybenjamin]

But Waluigi is deeply associated with spin-offs more than any other character. Yes, Wiggler was playable in one Mario Kart game, but no one thinks "that's the Mario Kart guy!!" when they look at Wiggler. Waluigi makes sense as a character to represent spin offs, but if you were to represent a character like Donkey Kong Jr with mostly Mario Kart moves it wouldn't feel right.

TL/DR;
Waluigi is way more associated with the spin offs than any other character and makes the most sense to represent them in Smash.

My main problem with Waluigi being the "funny spinoff man" is that it takes away from his identity as Wario's partner. (simply because Wario is classified as a separate franchise in Smash)

If anything, Nintendo needs to give Waluigi a more significant role, so that he can be more than just "funny spinoff man." And the fact that Daisy is a clone and not "funny spinoff woman" does put a damper on Waluigi's chances...

 

[Quillion]

My main problem with Waluigi being the "funny spinoff man" is that it takes away from his identity as Wario's partner. (simply because Wario is classified as a separate franchise in Smash)

Waluigi is only Wario's partner in the Mario spinoffs. He (tragically) doesn't appear in Wario Land (or other Wario platformers) or WarioWare.

I keep saying this, but Wario honestly feels like three different characters across the Mario spinoffs (mischievous and jealous of Mario), Wario platformers (strong yet stupid), and WarioWare (lazy). And Nintendo doesn't seem to want to merge those three portrayals at all.

And the fact that Daisy is a clone and not "funny spinoff woman" does put a damper on Waluigi's chances...

To be fair to this, Peach already had quite a bit of spinoff stuff in her F-Smash. So Daisy is very partially fulfilling that.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Although what makes a moveset fun or exciting is subjective, I do think you have a point. Although lots of "important" characters have potential to be unique, you do get the sense of sameyness (not a word but oh well) with a bunch of them.


But Waluigi is deeply associated with spin-offs more than any other character. Yes, Wiggler was playable in one Mario Kart game, but no one thinks "that's the Mario Kart guy!!" when they look at Wiggler. Waluigi makes sense as a character to represent spin offs, but if you were to represent a character like Donkey Kong Jr with mostly Mario Kart moves it wouldn't feel right.

TL/DR;
Waluigi is way more associated with the spin offs than any other character and makes the most sense to represent them in Smash.

And part of that is because he was born in the spin offs. While Wario, Daisy, and Birdo make the majority of their appearances (in the Mario series for Wario) in spinoffs, they all debuted in platformers. Waluigi is one of the few that was born and molded by the Mario sports games, whether it was Party, Kart, or Tennis.

 

[crazybenjamin]

I keep saying this, but Wario honestly feels like three different characters across the Mario spinoffs (mischievous and jealous of Mario), Wario platformers (strong yet stupid), and WarioWare (lazy). And Nintendo doesn't seem to want to merge those three portrayals at all.

Nintendo's inability to decide what they want Wario to be only compounds the problem. And the fact that Waluigi is completely absent from Wario Land/Ware means that Waluigi has an identity crisis.

 

[Deleted member]

do you know which Zelda character is both an important recurring character, and is unique?

tingle

 

[Lenidem]

do you know which Zelda character is both an important recurring character, and is unique?

tingle

And he has his own franchise. One of my most wanted.

 

[YoshiandToad]

I definitely lean more on the side of importance than uniqueness as a supporter of Captain Toad, Bandana Dee, Dixie AND Impa but then the entire appeal for me has always been playing as the larger stars of Nintendo.

Bowser Jr I want to bring up here as a character that is inarguably important but was also made unique even if the most obvious thing to do with him was make him a mini Bowser with paintbrush attacks.

Byleth is important to the latest FE game, and the easiest thing would have been to just make them another swordy with elements of the Belmonts since the sword of the creator is Byleth's associated weapon. But instead Sakurai gives Byleth the three legendary weapons of the house leaders, thereby making them unique.

Sakurai has proven time and time again that he has the skills and creativity to make anyone unique.

Anyone can be unique but not everyone can be important.

 

[Quillion]

do you know which Zelda character is both an important recurring character, and is unique?

tingle

Okay, he's important, but what is there to him aside from floating on a balloon?

Sakurai has proven time and time again that he has the skills and creativity to make anyone unique.

Anyone can be unique but not everyone can be important.

Forcing an important but not unique character to be unique just shows deficiencies in said character's interestingness. And a lot of the time, it just results ihn a Ganondorf/Wario situtation in which the character is portrayed in a way that fans don't like.

There are still quite a bit of people who still want Bowser Jr. to be out of the Clown Car and be paintbrush based. And Fire Emblem fans wanted Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude instead of Byleth and would rather have sacrificed importance for uniqueness there.

 

[Lenidem]

Okay, he's important, but what is there to him aside from floating on a balloon?



Forcing an important but not unique character to be unique just shows deficiencies in said character's interestingness. And a lot of the time, it just results ihn a Ganondorf/Wario situtation in which the character is portrayed in a way that fans don't like.

There are still quite a bit of people who still want Bowser Jr. to be out of the Clown Car and be paintbrush based. And Fire Emblem fans wanted Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude instead of Byleth and would rather have sacrificed importance for uniqueness there.

The dog from Duck Hunt is playable and all he does in his game in jump into tall grass, laugh, and grab ducks by the neck. If he's unique enough, I think Tingle is too.

 

[crazybenjamin]

There are still quite a bit of people who still want Bowser Jr. to be out of the Clown Car and be paintbrush based

To be honest, I don't really understand wanting Jr to ditch the clown car, Mario Sunshine is just 1 game in a sea of many more. Then again, I'm probably only saying this because I grew up with NSMB Wii rather than Sunshine.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Forcing an important but not unique character to be unique just shows deficiencies in said character's interestingness. And a lot of the time, it just results ihn a Ganondorf/Wario situtation in which the character is portrayed in a way that fans don't like.

There are still quite a bit of people who still want Bowser Jr. to be out of the Clown Car and be paintbrush based. And Fire Emblem fans wanted Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude instead of Byleth and would rather have sacrificed importance for uniqueness there.

Interestingness is also completely subjective though whilst series importance doesn't tend to be.

Pokémon Trainer is fascinating and creative but a lot of people were glad to see the back of him in Sm4sh because they didn't like his 'interesting moveset' seeing it as gimmicky.

An interesting moveset to me: Bowser Jr's clown car, is as you say something other people don't like.

If that is the case I'd personally prefer characters of importance since the moveset may be received poorly anyway.

 

[Guynamednelson]

The dog from Duck Hunt is playable and all he does in his game in jump into tall grass, laugh, and grab ducks by the neck. If he's unique enough, I think Tingle is too.

And Tingle has those spinoff games to get material from.

An interesting moveset to me: Bowser Jr's clown car, is as you say something other people don't like.

I dislike their inability to make Jr. not mediocre, not the fact that he's in the clown car.

 

[scoobymcsnack]

Okay, he's important, but what is there to him aside from floating on a balloon?



Forcing an important but not unique character to be unique just shows deficiencies in said character's interestingness. And a lot of the time, it just results ihn a Ganondorf/Wario situtation in which the character is portrayed in a way that fans don't like.

There are still quite a bit of people who still want Bowser Jr. to be out of the Clown Car and be paintbrush based. And Fire Emblem fans wanted Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude instead of Byleth and would rather have sacrificed importance for uniqueness there.

Byleth is rather unique, so I don't think adding any of those three would increase the uniqueness of the roster or character or whatever.

 

[MaddaD]

On the Bowser Jr. note, I don't think we'd ever get a child / child-like fighter who doesn't use some kind of way around physically fighting with their own body since it might be a message that Papatendo might not want to send. Most people don't really have a problem with the car, it's the fact that he's a borderline mediocre fighter that bothers them.

 

[LightKnight]

Sakurai seems to have about the same line of thinking and I'd have to agree with it. I think its the best way to please the most people, as you can't win them all.

For me personally, the 'importance' of a character in gaming doesn't matter much to me as I don't have a wide collection of games I've played. So long as the character is unique and offers a new playstyle I'd say I'm usually fairly happy with the inclusion.

Thats not to say I disregard a character's importance in gaming history but I think its mostly subjective in a way which is why they can so often be debated. People argue because there is something they want and don't have.

 

[Quillion]

The dog from Duck Hunt is playable and all he does in his game in jump into tall grass, laugh, and grab ducks by the neck. If he's unique enough, I think Tingle is too.

1. At least Duck Hunt are the only real main characters in that game. Tingle isn't a main character in the Zelda series.

2. You can't judge uniqueness from how little material there is to work with. Beedle has had more appearances than Tingle at this point and you can't call him a unique fighter.

On the Bowser Jr. note, I don't think we'd ever get a child / child-like fighter who doesn't use some kind of way around physically fighting with their own body since it might be a message that Papatendo might not want to send. Most people don't really have a problem with the car, it's the fact that he's a borderline mediocre fighter that bothers them.

Ness is canonically 12 (13 in NA, but 12 in JP material), and he's pretty physical, moreso in the earlier installments.

Sakurai seems to have about the same line of thinking and I'd have to agree with it. I think its the best way to please the most people, as you can't win them all.

For me personally, the 'importance' of a character in gaming doesn't matter much to me as I don't have a wide collection of games I've played. So long as the character is unique and offers a new playstyle I'd say I'm usually fairly happy with the inclusion.

Thats not to say I disregard a character's importance in gaming history but I think its mostly subjective in a way which is why they can so often be debated. People argue because there is something they want and don't have.

As YoshiandToad has stated, importance isn't really subjective. A character who is more recurring is more important than a one-shot.

 

[Lenidem]

1. At least Duck Hunt are the only real main characters in that game. Tingle isn't a main character in the Zelda series.

2. You can't judge uniqueness from how little material there is to work with. Beedle has had more appearances than Tingle at this point and you can't call him a unique fighter.



Ness is canonically 12 (13 in NA, but 12 in JP material), and he's pretty physical, moreso in the earlier installments.



As YoshiandToad has stated, importance isn't really subjective. A character who is more recurring is more important than a one-shot.

1. Whether a character is the main one or not has nothing to do with his potential ''uniquess''. And you forget that Tingle is the star of his own franchise.

2. Beedle was never as important as Tingle. He was essential in Waker Waker and the first player two in the serie. With just a little imagination, you could do a lot with him. Then again, if Sakurai wanted to make Beedle a moveset based on the items he sells, he very well could. You are the one drawing a (very subjective) ligne between ''unique'' and ''not unique'' characters.

 

[MaddaD]

Ness is canonically 12 (13 in NA, but 12 in JP material), and he's pretty physical, moreso in the earlier installments.

Oh no, he definitely is. But Ness and Lucas still use magic as a primary form of attacking instead of being purely physical

 

[scoobymcsnack]

1. At least Duck Hunt are the only real main characters in that game. Tingle isn't a main character in the Zelda series.

2. You can't judge uniqueness from how little material there is to work with. Beedle has had more appearances than Tingle at this point and you can't call him a unique fighter.

Tingle is still a prominent recurring character, even if he’s not a main. Also, Beedle was in six games and Tingle was in ten (not including Smash games)