Characters who should had made the cut?

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Pretty much all of the assist trophies really. (I can't believe the moon from majora's mask is not playable... What where they thinking ?)

Toon Zelda & Tetra would've been awesome too :T

Tetra was never a thing as a combination. This is an assumption people made because Toon Sheik didn't exist essentially. But it doesn't make sense to name the file that. Especially when the Toon clones were exactly based upon the character. He makes his own versions of characters in Smash as is(See: Giga Bowser) anyway, so it was far more likely to be an actual Toon Zelda and Toon Sheik. There's literally zero evidence to suggest it was Tetra. The file name is very clear on who it was meant to be. Never mind it would've made a ton of sense to just clone the moveset from Zelda and Sheik and leave it at that. Yes, they have to make a model, but it's literally just taking Sheik's model and re-modifying it over a smaller design. It's hard to say if they needed previous assets to do that(beyond Shiek's model). One thing to note is that Sheik barely made it in, as Nintendo's team created a new model for Sheik based upon the Beta drawing made of Twilight Princess Sheik. This could be part of why the idea was dropped, as they had too much to recreate already. Another is that making a fully playable OC may not have been considered a wise choice overall in Sakurai's opinion. People obviously would've preferred Tetra, as she was a popular pick among polls. Though see my paragraph below for how I feel of who should've been in. Keep in mind the only real OC's playable at best are Roy and Mr. Game & Watch, but they're just different interpretations of the character. Giga Bowser is also somewhat of an example of this, as he's clearly just Giant Bowser but more demonic, which fits how he's much more scary in some games like Super Mario 64, due to his immense size changes and all. I mean, sure, it's kind of a goofy design, but the evil laughter when dying doesn't help either, and adds to the atmosphere.

Though I honestly think it would've been better to drop Toon Sheik during development and use Tetra, who has more moveset potential but also a fully made model to work off of. Toon Sheik as an idea really only has one thing to do with Tetra; the idea that Tetra was essentially a Toon version of Sheik for a gameplay role. That said, he doesn't generally make weird codenames in a lot of games. Smash Ultimate was the first to have anything remotely that. He doesn't name an outright character in previous games(especially Brawl, which had exact names for everyone but maybe Pra_Mai, and that may have just have no real work done but was a stand-in to start off Plusle & Minun) after something else for the sake of it. The closest we had was Roy's original filename not literally being Roy, but we know from development he was trying to choose a clone of Marth, so the placeholder fits the idea it wasn't always going to be Roy. We have no clue who his ideal one was(rumors with no credibility said Leif).

Incidentally, Scribblenauts made something similar to a Toon Shek design as is. Which makes a lot of what happened hilarious in hindsight.

 

[Door Key Pig]

But it's just so weird to make up a franchise's character for Smash like that, it's never been done before or since. Mr. G&W was at least reminiscent of something that existed in the source material.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

But it's just so weird to make up a franchise's character for Smash like that, it's never been done before or since. Mr. G&W was at least reminiscent of something that existed in the source material.

It's not weird at all.

He's just looking for clones. Sheik still exists in some form. It's nothing more than how he had his own unique personality and design for Roy. TP Sheik is also a notable thing here; she does not actually exist in the Zelda games. Only OOT Sheik does. It's literally the same idea as just having them create a model or drawing in order to have a version of Sheik, not unlike what happened. The only factor was "too much work at the moment" that could've made the idea impossible. That's why Toon Sheik is the cut character, because there's absolutely zero evidence otherwise of it. We have literal one solid point, and the fact he has made OC versions before. Unless he magically comes out and says it was a codename for Tetra, the evidence all points to it being an OC design. Including his own actions of making Smash characters. OC designs happen. Again, Giga Bowser is absolutely proof he's willing to make entirely different versions that don't exist. Roy is too. Mr. Game & Watch is only an OC by a technicality, but the others aren't. There was no Fire Emblem game to base Roy off of entirely, as the game wasn't remotely out. He just literally took the design, and completely made him fun and interesting to add to Melee as a clone. That was the whole purpose behind the design. It's why he isn't like his actual FE self at all. Nor was he even when he returned in 4 and Ultimate, as he redesigned him again to be fun and unique.

So yes, there's a good reason to believe it was meant to be Toon Sheik(again, I believe he probably would've went with Tetra later on, but there's zero evidence to suggest Toon Sheik was a codename for Tetra. That's just trying to believe stuff because people can't just accept the idea he wasn't making a codename, despite his Brawl stuff having no codenames of sorts, but actually straight names. Which is pretty heavy evidence of the original plan).

 

[Door Key Pig]

I guess an alternate "Toon" take on a Zelda character isn't seen as too divergent/OC-like then? Still kinda weird tho.
Still, how about Pra_Mai though? Why could that have been named so weirdly, assuming it was Plusle & Minum?

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I guess an alternate "Toon" take on a Zelda character isn't seen as too divergent/OC-like then? Still kinda weird tho.
Still, how about Pra_Mai though? Why could that have been named so weirdly, assuming it was Plusle & Minum?

Pra_Mai are the first three letters of Plusle and Minun's Japanese names. Since they're a dual-character, they'd be put together in the first ideal coding. They might've been separated more depending how they're designed. For all we know, Dixie Kong might've shared a file name with Diddy Kong if they weren't entirely separated. We can't say they'd work like Ice Climbers, after all, who only have two file names due to one being an A.I. specifically. In fact, I can't remember how Luma is even shown in the files either.

The only other thing people speculated was that it was Random, but that doesn't translate correctly. We don't know for sure what it is, but Plusle & Minun are the closest thing to an actual realistic translation of what they could be. More information could happen, of course. They could be a different Pokemon or character altogether. It makes me wonder, that said, if they were actually meant to be a replacement for Pichu, seeing as they share very similar forms. Though we have little precedent for that. Sure, we have Toon Link, who did use Young Link's data to be created, but he was his own thing as is. Though in a twist all the Zelda characters got updated to their Gamecube forms, it's rather clear(as Sheik shows) that it was a coincidence, not a fully intentional plan. Maybe he wanted to keep Young Link in still. Maybe he was cut very early on as he felt redundant as an idea. But we know that he treats them as separate characters these days with Ultimate having them separated. Maybe at one point he was meant to be an upgrade. BTW, Sheik almost didn't make Brawl. If there was no TP design, she wouldn't have had a new model made for her(to clarify, this is why I believe Toon Sheik would've been scrapped. No time to make a new model. Not just because the game is rushed, but because it'd be very difficult. I can see why he'd have no issue with an OC-variation, but I can see why he'd make that low priority too, especially if a clone like that is more difficult to make than another character).

 

[shinhed-echi]

For me, Shadow, Isaac, and to a smaller extent, Takamaru.... although Shovel Knight was a hard loss too.

But mostly Shadow because he could’ve been a quick job. Just clone Sonic, change a few animations (mostly running), give him Mewtwo’s Up+B, and that was it.

I could go into detail as to how they could have made his moves more unique, while sticking to echo fighter status, but I’ll leave it at that.

Shadow’s absence is puzzling to me. The other 3 I understand. But not Shadow.

 

[pupNapoleon]

- Captain Toad
- Eevee
- Dixie
- Paper Mario
- Chibi Robo
- Isaac
- Bomberman
- Rayman
- Balloon Fighter (The living tribute to Iwata, Sakurai's mentor and the reason Smash Bros was able to secure using characters already established). This one feels intense- Sakurai is a man of honor.)

To me:

Shadow - Probably the character that in my opinion deserved to be here the most. Had all of the qualifications for a fighter, unique or echo, and was basically a lock when Richter was revealed. Then he was confirmed as an Assist Trophy despite having literally every single thing possible going for him to be there as a playable character. Probably the deconfirmation that stung the most.

If you want to say Shadow has a lot going for him as an echo- sure, I'll give that.
As for unique? No. Literally nothing.
-We were told we were getting few characters
-No third party series has multiple unique fighters
-He is not the most prominent second character from Sonic the Hedgehog

 

[3DSNinja]

Shadow fan here, why he was likely as both a unique or an echo
1. Yes,we were, but 1 more wouldn't be too much.
2. And before ultimate no third party had 2 fighters. Fan rules aren't evidence.
3. Yeah, he is. while you could argue for Tails or Eggman being more recognizable, Shadow is more popular easily, and want to know in Forces who was the character that was playable that wasn't sonic or an OC. Not Tails or Knuckles, Shadow. Shadow is easily as recognizable, if not more so, then Tails and possibly Eggman. Plus he is more popular.
He also has a lot of moveset potential from Sonic Battle, Shadow the Hedgehog, '06, and SA2. Point is, he was pretty likely either way.

 

[Ben Holt]

Waluigi, Captain Toad, Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Black Knight, Lyn, Shadow, Zero, Takamaru, and Sukapon.

 

[viras]

Biased but rayman, would be cool asf

 

[pupNapoleon]

Shadow fan here, why he was likely as both a unique or an echo
1. Yes,we were, but 1 more wouldn't be too much.
2. And before ultimate no third party had 2 fighters. Fan rules aren't evidence.
3. Yeah, he is. while you could argue for Tails or Eggman being more recognizable, Shadow is more popular easily, and want to know in Forces who was the character that was playable that wasn't sonic or an OC. Not Tails or Knuckles, Shadow. Shadow is easily as recognizable, if not more so, then Tails and possibly Eggman. Plus he is more popular.
He also has a lot of moveset potential from Sonic Battle, Shadow the Hedgehog, '06, and SA2. Point is, he was pretty likely either way.

There is no reason listed as to why Shadow would have made it in as a unique character- and by point three, it's literal nonsense all together.

 

[SonicMario]

I do gotta say while it's on topic that Shadow's seemingly "obvious" shot at being in Ultimate should be a warning everyone should take when saying how good a chance a character may seem. There's no denying it was looking really good for Shadow post-Richter's reveal. But then stuff like the box theory came along back in September that hinted that there'd only be one more echo and not in the row that contained Sonic. (As expected it turned out to be Ken)

Hell, I do recall one of the biggest reasons people denied the box theory was because it implied Shadow didn't make the cut.

Of course, when we got the box theory and I came to realize it seemed pretty plausible. I didn't quite think it'd be that bad for Shadow since it may just mean he missed the cut for the base game. But DLC, especially if they went into Echoes was a natural spot for him. I was thinking maybe he'd be conspicuously missing from the base game on purpose and be among the first DLC echoes (With a little personal hope that Shadow's packaged with another Sonic character that isn't an echo like perhaps Tails to make a DLC pack that's more worth the money). But the November 1st direct certainly dropped the hammer down on him not just with the return of his Assist Trophy, but also Sakurai possibly saying no Echoes will be added as DLC.

I don't actually feel like it was that much of a stretch that Shadow missed the base game. It's the fact he was totally shut down from all plausible DLC routes along with many other characters that probably got the biggest shock of all this.

We certainly can't deny that the November 1st direct was a pretty big dream killer from the end to the Grinch "leak", how Box theory was correct all along, the direction they're taking DLC, and the shock of a freakin' Piranha Plant of all things being the free bonus character for purchasing the game within the first two months. And some of the details of Joker's inclusion is kind of slowly setting in some of the actual impact. Where back in November it was heavily debated whether Spirits counted as deconfirmations, and with Joker coming with a Spirit Board just for Persona characters...

We may looking at a reality where the only characters left are going to be from brand new franchises that have not been represented in Smash yet. At least assuming if this Fighter Pass isn't the only one anyway. I highly suspect that if we do get a 2nd fighter pass at some point, they will not limit themselves to characters that aren't Spirits that time because they will probably have heard more fan outcry at the time they started developing characters for this other fighter pass. But as is, this first fighter pass was likely decided not long after most if not all the Spirits were finalized. No character who is currently a spirit is probably going to be any of the 4 remaining spots left. And we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves expecting a 2nd fighter pass to happen despite the fact that it'd seem like a silly move for Nintendo not to milk Smash for all it's worth. It kind of puts DLC speculation for this game in a tough spot right now. As right now it seems the most likely additions are 3rd party franchises that are not referenced in anyway (Even spirits) yet. I'd love it if that turned out wrong, but with possibly only 4 remaining characters to add. There may be only one or two spirit "upgrades" if there does turn out to be any.

 

[YoshiandToad]

3. Yeah, he is. while you could argue for Tails or Eggman being more recognizable, Shadow is more popular easily, and want to know in Forces who was the character that was playable that wasn't sonic or an OC. Not Tails or Knuckles, Shadow. Shadow is easily as recognizable, if not more so, then Tails and possibly Eggman. Plus he is more popular.
He also has a lot of moveset potential from Sonic Battle, Shadow the Hedgehog, '06, and SA2. Point is, he was pretty likely either way.

Okay, I know Shadow's popular, but...point 3's a stretch, man.

Shadow may have been playable in Sonic Forces, a game that if we're being very generous was considered average, but Tails and Knuckles were playable in Sonic Mania, a massive critcal hit and the first big success Sonic has had in years. Both games were released the same year but Tails and Knux had a larger role in the successful one so I'd count that as a bigger boon to them than Shadow being playable in a mostly panned game.

Tails, last I checked, was more popular with female players than Shadow is, so that 'far more popular' segment only takes into account the male player base, of which Tails still ranked third in popularity.

Shadow's definitely not more recognisable than the series villain either. That's sheer madness. Eggman's one of the most famous video game baddies of all time, second only to Bowser.

I'm also doubtful on Shadow being more recognisable than Tails, but that's a little harder to compare. Tails' made more appearances in the games and starred more in the animated shows, but Shadow's popularity blew up a lot after Sonic Adventure 2 to at least 2013. He may have Knuckles beat though in that department.

That said I do think you COULD make Shadow unique easily thanks to games like Sonic Battle, but he'd equally fit an echo template since many games have him and Sonic use very similar moves still. Tails couldn't really manage that echo template unless you ridded him of his trademark twin tail flying and Eggman wouldn't fit at all.

 

[pupNapoleon]

I'm not arguing that Shadow *couldn't* be unique- I'm arguing that we were given no reason to believe he *would* have been unique. I don't believe in fan made rules, I don't believe fully in trends- but making up points in his favor certainly helps no argument.

I think Sonic would be great with a Tails echo and an Eggman original character (especially with the publicity the.... well let's call it a movie... is giving the franchise). I do not expect this to happen, though.

Moving on... I really did think Rayman would get in. He was treated so oddly in Sm4sh. I really got into Legends, and Rayman, fitting enough, is a legend. I hope he does make it.

 

[Door Key Pig]

Eh, Rhythm Paradise is the only thing affected by spirits on the top of my head that I care about.

Pra_Mai are the first three letters of Plusle and Minun's Japanese names. Since they're a dual-character, they'd be put together in the first ideal coding. They might've been separated more depending how they're designed. For all we know, Dixie Kong might've shared a file name with Diddy Kong if they weren't entirely separated. We can't say they'd work like Ice Climbers, after all, who only have two file names due to one being an A.I. specifically. In fact, I can't remember how Luma is even shown in the files either.

The only other thing people speculated was that it was Random, but that doesn't translate correctly. We don't know for sure what it is, but Plusle & Minun are the closest thing to an actual realistic translation of what they could be. More information could happen, of course. They could be a different Pokemon or character altogether. It makes me wonder, that said, if they were actually meant to be a replacement for Pichu, seeing as they share very similar forms. Though we have little precedent for that. Sure, we have Toon Link, who did use Young Link's data to be created, but he was his own thing as is. Though in a twist all the Zelda characters got updated to their Gamecube forms, it's rather clear(as Sheik shows) that it was a coincidence, not a fully intentional plan. Maybe he wanted to keep Young Link in still. Maybe he was cut very early on as he felt redundant as an idea. But we know that he treats them as separate characters these days with Ultimate having them separated. Maybe at one point he was meant to be an upgrade. BTW, Sheik almost didn't make Brawl. If there was no TP design, she wouldn't have had a new model made for her(to clarify, this is why I believe Toon Sheik would've been scrapped. No time to make a new model. Not just because the game is rushed, but because it'd be very difficult. I can see why he'd have no issue with an OC-variation, but I can see why he'd make that low priority too, especially if a clone like that is more difficult to make than another character).

Not to mention, Plusle and Minum, Mewtwo and Pichu were I think the only special criteria Pokémon trophies I'm Brawl.

Considering Young Link and Pichu may have not even been considered for Brawl's characters at least in the coding that we know of, whilst the similar Toon Link and (assuming my) Plusle & Minum were, I have to wonder if those two characters were seen as replaceable albeit with the newer similar iterations to them; the more relevant, different looking smaller link and the more generation-recent, smaller Pikachu-counterpart(s). Ultimate would be in the timeline where we got both of the Links, but only one of the Pikachu lookalikes.

 

[pupNapoleon]

Ultimate would be in the timeline where we got both of the Links, but only one of the Pikachu lookalikes.

Ironically, if we had gotten Plusle and Minun, we'd have them all in Ultimate.
That said... I'd vote for more Pikachus than Links. Not for me, but Pokemon is a bigger franchise.

I'm still waiting for what I will testify until the end of days as "deserving" Pokemon reps.
Team Rocket for the capture mechanic.
Eevee for the evolution mechanic.
And I wish we had gotten Togepi instead of Pichu.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Eh, Rhythm Paradise is the only thing affected by spirits on the top of my head that I care about.

Speaking of, my guess is that Rhythm Heaven's issue wasn't "who to choose", or something like too many characters onscreen, but balancing their rhythm mechanic. Take a look at how badly DK's Final Smash was till it was "automatic" in Ultimate. It was extremely difficult to get going in a fast-paced fighting game. It's part of why traditional fighting game controls aren't popular among many casuals. It's too difficult to control. It's even possible he couldn't make it very easy to use, whereas Ryu, an example of the analogy(fighting game controls), is very easy to use on his own, as you don't need to use the input commands whatsoever to properly play as him. It's a bonus and definitely makes him even better when used. Input commands and other awkward controls become issues for the regular fanbase(casuals), and can hurt sales. Traditional fighting games are fairly niche on their own due to this. They're still popular, but many complaints about hand issues are extremely common. It's also possible the mechanics didn't meld well with the 3DS itself, though I can't see why it'd be an issue in itself unless it was multiple characters? Even then, balance is an important part. Another example of why input commands and "perfect timing" is an issue is that Sakurai has been removing this more than once. This is part of why L-Cancelling is gone. He likely intended for Wavedashing to be removed, and while Ultimate has a new variation on it, it's nowhere near as potent. Finally, Dancing Blade. This is pretty much an Input Command move by far. It's made super simple where timing has barely any bearing on it. When you look at that, and then how rhythm mechanics work, it might really just be the case of "this doesn't mesh well for Smash's simple gameplay). There could be other reasons, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Not to mention, Plusle and Minum, Mewtwo and Pichu were I think the only special criteria Pokémon trophies I'm Brawl.

Considering Young Link and Pichu may have not even been considered for Brawl's characters at least in the coding that we know of, whilst the similar Toon Link and (assuming my) Plusle & Minum were, I have to wonder if those two characters were seen as replaceable albeit with the newer similar iterations to them; the more relevant, different looking smaller link and the more generation-recent, smaller Pikachu-counterpart(s). Ultimate would be in the timeline where we got both of the Links, but only one of the Pikachu lookalikes.

Oh, I don't doubt that they were meant to take a similar role, but Sakurai never said Young Link was replaced by Toon Link. Just that they share the same role(clone). So it's more likely these were just updates overall to flow with the times, not so much intended as a replacement. We know Pichu did have a decent amount of hate. Plusle & Minun couldn't work realistically with the damage self gimmick, and I'm guessing he had a unique one besides Tag Team as well. Their negative and positive abilities might've been what he was going for.

Also, interesting point on those trophies. Though that could be a coincidence too. But a lot of it does make a lot of sense.

 

[dezeray112]

Rex & Pyra, Springman, another F-Zero character and another Legend of Zelda character would be my candidates.

 

[Door Key Pig]

Though we did have Incineroars side special as a timed input move, maybe even having just enough sound beats to vaguely resemble a rhythm :D Though maybe a character with a bunch of necessarily timed moves like that could fall under problematic in balancing, yeah.


So of all the data-mentioned planned characters we know of (going by assumed characters, also not sure if "Jane" counts...), we got:

Dixie Kong
Toon Zelda
Toon Sheik
Plusle and Minum
Chorus Kids

A Forbidden Five, if you will. Maybe in some alternate universe, these guys were a part of Smash Ultimate's Everyone is Here instead, though perhaps at the cost of other characters...

 

[RetrogamerMax]

Though we did have Incineroars side special as a timed input move, maybe even having just enough sound beats to vaguely resemble a rhythm :D Though maybe a character with a bunch of necessarily timed moves like that could fall under problematic in balancing, yeah.


So of all the data-mentioned planned characters we know of (going by assumed characters, also not sure if "Jane" counts...), we got:

Dixie Kong
Toon Zelda
Toon Sheik
Plusle and Minum
Chorus Kids

A Forbidden Five, if you will. Maybe in some alternate universe, these guys were a part of Smash Ultimate's Everyone is Here instead, though perhaps at the cost of other characters...

Even though we really can't say if those characters inclusion would have cost other characters to have never happen, I would have traded R.O.B., Toon Link, and Wolf all for Dixie Kong back in Brawl.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Though we did have Incineroars side special as a timed input move, maybe even having just enough sound beats to vaguely resemble a rhythm :D Though maybe a character with a bunch of necessarily timed moves like that could fall under problematic in balancing, yeah.


So of all the data-mentioned planned characters we know of (going by assumed characters, also not sure if "Jane" counts...), we got:

Dixie Kong
Toon Zelda
Toon Sheik
Plusle and Minum
Chorus Kids

A Forbidden Five, if you will. Maybe in some alternate universe, these guys were a part of Smash Ultimate's Everyone is Here instead, though perhaps at the cost of other characters...

I'd like to note we don't know who the Rhythm Heaven character actually is. We only knew it was Chrom for sure because Sakurai outright said it. The original leak mentions them, but we have only a Rhythm Heaven series symbol found as evidence that they were at one point treated as a playable character in the data, or at least planned that way.

Also, Incineroar's nowhere near the same thing as constant rhythm. His is really easy timing to get down. It's not even close to annoying ones like the original Dancing Blade. I mean, there's some weird mechanics for sure, like many might not understand how to do Shulk's, or how to refill Inkling's ink. Ryu's is mentioned up above as well. The thing is, while these require extensive knowledge, and also timing in many cases, they aren't severely hard to pull off. Games that are about rhythm can be difficult for many to play. Trying to translate this well into Smash is not easy. It's why I note DK's Final Smash, who was very difficult to get right, even more than Dancing Blade could be done, which had a consistent directional input to work with. You could figure it out with practice. Anything that is somewhat random can be far far harder to do. That or very long "dial-in combos", if you will. There's a reason why Brutalities or even combos alone in Mortal Kombat could be extremely difficult to pull off. In some cases, they simplified them at times. There's even an auto-combo option in some games to make it easier to play. You never could max out your damage/hits this way, but it was still nice. I've seen well over 9-hit combos as a norm. Not to mention Killer Instinct, the granddaddy of massive combos(and the first game to actually have Combos as a mechanic. Street Fighter had it as a glitch at first, so it had to wait till SFII, which by that time KI defined it. SFII absolutely made it legendary for people, of course. The two games complimented each other well in many regards. The Combo Breaker also came from Killer Instinct, though unlike combos, people knew it strictly from KI for a nice long time... but it didn't show up in other games yet. By the time it did, KI was dead as a franchise. Funny that)..

This is part of what I meant by RH being hard to translate to Smash. Getting the timing down alone is hard enough, but how do you make a full moveset out of that too? Like, using it for a Final Smash is one thing. But what do you do for a fighting game that isn't Input Commands as is? How do you translate it? I absolutely believe Sakurai can do it, but I doubt it'd be easy to pull off.

 

[Door Key Pig]

Yeah I'm aware only the leak said it was Chorus Kids, hence why I said "going by assumed characters". But hey, anything to soothe the pain of still not getting a RH rep :D

I wanna do a drawing at some point of all these seemingly planned but scrapped characters. A "Ghosts of Smash Bros Past", if you will.

 

[Mamboo07]

Waluigi would have been fun to play as. (Smacking people with tennis racket and driving around in the standard kart)
Shame he was an asisst trophy again (i felt bad for Sakurai who got harresed on Twitter by these stupid Waluigi fans)

 

[Kold Pizza]

I’m going to go by the characters that are already confirmed as assist trophies, not the ones who still have a chance at DLC. At this point, if a character is an assist trophy, most likely the possibilities are that the character will stay that way.

Shovel Knight should have made the cut, I’m not just saying that because I’m a big fan of him and his games. With a game that already has a bunch of sword guys, Shovel Knight uses a shovel and he would have such a unique moveset. His down aerial would be similar to Toon Link’s, he can fire away the deus ex machina magical attacks with the neutral special, and he can bury opponents like K. Rool does. Shovel Knight would not only be able to represent the classic style genre he’s from, but also he’s a great fit for a Nintendo fighting series that’s notorious for bringing wacky and zany characters aboard. It’s still nice they gave him recognition in the game; I believe there’s still hope for him appearing in a future Smash game.

Also, Bomberman should have made the cut. He has a neat design that fits the world of Nintendo too like Shovel Knight does. Not only that, but also it would be a lot of fun to use Bomberman in battle. He can throw around bombs; I don’t think his moveset would be limited either because this creative team of devs can find ways to make his moveset full of variety. Bomberman is an iconic Nintendo character, he has a long history with the company and his games have been around for decades, since the days of classic 2D gaming.

I have heard the argument for Waluigi many times to the point where it has exhausted me. It’s debatable since different sides have debated this; I do think Waluigi deserves a chance but I feel some other characters such as Shovel Knight and Bomberman should be more of a priority because those characters rose to fame because of their games. Waluigi hasn’t had a game yet and he rose to popularity because of the memes. Yes, it would be nice to see Waluigi battle Mario, Luigi, and the others in Smash Bros. but before Waluigi has the chance for a future in Smash Bros. the priority for him is to get him his own video game series.