So now that Chrom has been "leaked", regardless of whether it's legit or not, I really need somebody to sell me on Chrom. Sakurai says he wants more diversity in the roster, that newcomers have to have something that makes them unique, and then out of all of the potential Fire Emblem newcomers, he picks a blue-haired male lead who uses the same sword as Marth? Now granted, I haven't ever played Fire Emblem, but I've done my research, and it seems that given the gender distribution of the characters in the series, Fire Emblem ought to have some female representation. Lucina, in terms of design, is really not too distinct from Chrom or Marth, but she at least isn't another dude. However, Anna would have a lot more to offer than Chrom, both in terms of representing the series as a whole and in terms of having a unique character design and potentially unique moveset. Why is Chrom a more ideal candidate than her, beyond being the "main" lord of the most recent game? What could he bring to the table to set him apart? And moreover, what would make me, and the millions of other Smash players who are not Fire Emblem fans, want to play as him? Believe it or not, the "look" of a character is an important factor in making them stand out, and there's very little about Chrom's "look" that I find remotely interesting. And he comes from a series with hundreds of playable characters, nearly all of whom are more distinct from the existing Smash reps. There are people who turn into dragons for Christ's sake! Why should another blue-haired pretty boy swordsman get in over everyone else?
For that matter, somebody needs to sell me on Shulk too. I have not played Xenoblade, but it seems like a good game with some really creative ideas (I think it's really cool that the world is actually the fallen bodies of two giant robots). But to someone who hasn't played it, Shulk looks very much like a "Generic JRPG guy". A blandly handsome white guy with messy blond hair, too much metal **** all over his clothes, a weird little vest that doesn't cover his whole torso, and a bigass sword the size of his entire body that he can somehow wield with one hand. I know it's a special sword, the "Monado", but all JRPG heroes have special swords, so what makes this sword specialer? He's got a turtle neck, but so did Cloud, the original Generic JRPG guy. I'm really not interested in having a "Generic JRPG guy" in Smash Bros, not in the least, but despite the blah design of its protagonist, Xenoblade seems like it takes place in a unique and creatively constructed world, so I'm willing to give Shulk a chance if somebody can make a case for me that he is not a "Generic JRPG guy".
I guess I'm asking what makes people think these characters are unique enough to deserve to bump shoulders with icons like Mario and Link and Samus? Because they don't make a very good first impression.
