Choose 3 Newcomers! 1 Obscure, 1 Japanese, 1 Dead

[Koopaul]

Most of the time people want to see popular characters from popular series get in as a fighter in Smash. But Smash is not always about delivering what is expected or popular. So if you had to choose characters that weren't popular or well known, what would they be? In this thread you are tasked to pick three characters based on the following criteria:

1: A character from an obscure game or series that got a worldwide release. This is a character that was never really well known despite being sold everywhere.

2: A character that only appeared in Japanese games. This can be a popular character in Japan or an obscure one too.

3. A character from a "dead" series. This is a series that no longer active. Has to be a series that hasn't had a new game in years.

You are allowed to use third parties but I'd find it more interesting if you choose from Nintendo series.

 

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

1.

Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, not sure if obscure enough.

Next pick would be The Lost Vikings (Erik , Olaf and Baleog)

2.

Lip (Any Western releases for her?)

3.

Andy from Advance Wars/Wars series

Next pick would be Rash from Battletoads

 

[-crump-]

1.) Henry Fleming

2.) Captain Rainbow

3.) Starfy (most recent game came out in 2008)

 

[FamicomDisk]

Fun idea! I'm going to throw in some info about each character, as well as their support threads if you want to learn more about them.

Obscure: Mike Jones from StarTropics! He's from a duo of NES games that, in the opposite situation from the usual, released only outside of Japan, instead of just there. Check out his support thread here! While some of his moves are similar to Ness, like fighting with a yo-yo and bat, he also has a lot of stuff that Ness doesn't do that he could use in Smash instead. For example, he's known to be a good pitcher, so maybe he could throw baseballs as projectiles?

Japanese: DeMille from Tomato Adventure! He's my personal most-wanted newcomer, so he's basically a given for this category. Check out his support thread here! He's a likeable character, he's the protagonist of a game the developers of the Mario and Luigi series made prior to Superstar Saga, and he's got a wide assortment of unique and interesting attacks that would fit perfectly in Smash!

Dead series: Isaac from Golden Sun! Despite the last game in his series releasing eight years ago, Isaac maintains a strong following for Smash. I love the Golden Sun games, and always wanted Isaac to join the battle! Check out his support thread here! He's the main protagonist of Golden Sun, and while people unfamiliar with him might think "Oh, another swordfighter?", Isaac is actually a mix of swordfighting with magic, making for a interesting mix similar to Robin in some ways.

 

[DNeon]

1. Is Travis Touchdown obscure enough? Probably not. In that case I'll go with Axl. Side character to X and Zero in the Mega Man X series.

2. Takamaru takes my top spot there.

3. Andy, it's been 10 years, please release my boy from limbo.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Obscure? Hmm... Yooka-Laylee is an idea sort of. Never played the game, mind you. But the fact it's made by Old Rare gives this character merrit for me. Also, I can't really think of anything else.

Japanese? Takamaru. Also would count as a retro addition. Not really else needs to be said here.

Dead franchise? Please let that be Isaac, from Golden Sun. So much untaped potential...

 

[Runic_SSB]

Viewtiful Joe, Oendan, Elite Beat Agents.

 

[PreedReve]

Obscure: Marina Liteyears from Mischief Makers. One of my favorite N64 games.

Japanese: Medabee from Medabots. People probably know about the anime but the video game series never had a NA release and only had one EU release in 2003.

Dead: King Leo from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as King (Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series). The Crystal Chronicles series hasn't had a game out since 2009 and King Leo is from a WiiWare exclusive.

 

[SethTheMage]

Obscure:
Can't really think of one, so I'll go with Ryu from Breath of Fire (Capcom). Aesthetically, his status of being a blue-haired swordsman who can turn into a dragon has been taken by all of the collective Fire Emblem representation, but I think he'd offer a unique playstyle.

Japanese: Takamaru - He's got a unique style and interesting moveset potential. Plus, he's as classic as Link, Samus, and Pit over in Japan.

Dead: Isaac (Golden Sun) - Easy choice. Tons of creative potential with him.

 

[SquashiniKun]

Obscure: Jack/Pete (Harvest Moon)
Japanese: Ayumi Tachibana (Famicom Tanei Club) or Captain Rainbow
Dead: Saki Amamiya (Sin And Punishment)

 

[Ura]

Obscure: Toan from Dark Cloud

Toan is from the Sony-exclusive Dark Cloud series and he's not a character people really know about. Link VS Toan would be a neat dream match up since Dark Cloud has been dubbed as "Sony's answer to The Legend of Zelda".

Japanese: Ayumi Tachibana from Famicom Detective Club

Ayumi could be an interesting addition to the roster. And maybe that would lead to her game getting localized.

Dead: Andy from Advance Wars

My most requested character and one who I want to see in Smash so badly. Preferably with a revival for Advance Wars on the Switch. Maybe one day.

 

[GoodGrief741]

Joke’s on you, all my wanted characters are obscure, Japanese-only or dead!

Obscure: Harry from Teleroboxer. We really need some Virtual Boy representation, it’d be so awesome visually.

Japanese: Can’t put Takamaru here because his game has been released overseas now, so I’m going with Prince Sable. His game is one of the funniest I’ve played, he’s a fantastic character and he’d play amazingly in Smash.

Dead: This is where it gets heavy because many of the best potential newcomers are from dead franchises. It came down to Ray, Isaac and Andy for me, so I’m going with Andy because he’s the most likely to get a franchise revival out of Smash.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

1. Takamaru, his game is International so yeah. And Samurai are awesome.

2. Ayumi Tachibana, because we still need a playable detective in Smash that uses a case.

3. Max from Advance Wars. Nah, any AW character can work really.

 

[Deleted member]

Obscure - Zael

Japan Only - Prince Sable

Dead for 10+ Years - Andy or Sami, I guess.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Obscure: Ninten

Japanese: Ninten

Dead: Ninten

 

[DogManStar]

Obscure: Dino/Dina from Fossil Fighters
Japanese: Lip
Dead: Isaac from Golden Sun

 

[Koopaul]

Obscure: Ninten

Japanese: Ninten

Dead: Ninten

I must admit you made me lol

Anyway great suggestions guys. There were some I never considered like Harry from Teleroboxer.

EDIT: I updated the rules so that the Dead series is more inclusive. It's no longer 10 years it can just be a good number of years.

 

[RosaPeach]

Obscure: Isaac

Japanese: Takamaru

Dead: Morrigan Aensland

 

[Ze Diglett]

Obscure: Geno. Even I have to admit he's basically only recognized among hardcore fanatics and Smash speculators due to how obscure his game is, which is why I pray every day for a sequel, or even just a remake of SMRPG to put that game back in the limelight for a while. (Plus, it's just a damn good game that I think anyone who's a fan of Mario, RPGs, or both should get to play.)

Japanese: Takamaru. Yeah, kind of a normie pick, but nobody else really comes to mind for this category. If Lucas weren't in the game, though, this spot would definitely go to him since I love Mother 3 and wish it saw an international release.

Dead: Paper Mario. His series might as well be dead, considering what Ninty's doing to it these days.
In all seriousness, probably Isaac from Golden Sun. Not because I've ever played any of the Golden Sun games (I haven't), but it is a series I'm interested in, and it's become clear to me that he's not just another swordfighter like I used to think. Besides, he's reasonably popular, and I'd feel good for his fans if he got in.

 

[Granite Countertop]

Obscure: Nick/Captain Rainbow (Captain Rainbow)

Japanese: Froy and Freia (Zangeki no Reginleiv/Dynamic Slash)

Dead: Andy (Advance Wars)

 

[Deleted member]

Obscure: Tethu/Tethi (Ever Oasis ((would he count?)))
Japanese: Sable Prince
Dead: Ashley Robbins (another code)

 

[Koopaul]

I might as well add my own right?

Obscure: Barbara the Bat (believe it or not she has appeared in a few games outside of Japan)

Japan Only: Donbe & Hikari

Dead: Starfy (I'm pretty sure the series is done)

 

[Sheng Long]

Obscure: Ninten

Japanese: Ninten

Dead: Ninten

Agreed

Anyways for my picks...

Obscure: So many to choose from hmmm.... Sinder from Cel Damage
Japanese: Sukapon from Joy Mech Fight
Dead: I sayyyyyy Andy... Starfy.... Ninten... Giegue oh man so many. You know what? I think I'll go with Earthworm Jim uhhh yeah I'll stick with Ninten.

 

[Caravan of Noobs]

Obscure: The Elite Beat Agents - Elite Beat Agents
All the alt costumes will be the different agents, divas, and maybe their Japanese counterparts from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

Japanese: Ayumi Tachibana - Famicom Detective Club
I've heard that she was considered in melee but due to lack of world wide appeal she didn't make the cut. I like the idea of her being in the game.

Dead: Kyle Hyde - Hotel Dusk Room 215
I like Hotel Dusk Room 215. I like how Kyle Hyde is the only animated trophy in Smash history. And I think that not having a game since 2010 and hailing from a not so successful or well known series he counts as dead.

 

[verysleepywolf]

Obscure: Amaterasu from Okami. One of my all-time favorite games, a dream character of mine.
Japanese: Lip from Panel de Pon. People that have never heard of her would get a real wtf moment.
Dead: Banjo-Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie. My salt regarding this franchise and Rare in general is over 9000.

 

[War Anvil]

Obscure: Three-way tie between Geno, Tethu, and...uh...Mini Kangaroo. I don't imagine I'd have anything right now.
Japanese: Goku from Yuyuki (And maybe Chao along with him, if Swtich allows for duo characters like Ice Climbers!). That way, all those who'd want Dragon Ball!Goku will get blown out of the water.
Dead: Andy from Advance Wars honestly comes to mind first for me. Anyone fancy a "tower defense" sort of fighter?

Glad to be back here just to make this post!

 

[Starlight_Lily]

Obscure: Donbe and Hikari

Japan Only: Ayumi

Dead: Ray 01 from Custom Robo.

 

[TCT~Phantom]

Obscure: Geno

Japanese Only: Masked Man

Dead: Isaac

 

[MrRoidley]

Obscure: MIke Jones
Japanese: Ayumi Tachibana
Dead: Saki Amamiya (well I keep hearing Treasure is nearly dead and is focusing on mobile gaming to survive so, not sure to which extent this is true tho)

 

[SirCamp]

I feel like most of my choices fit into one or all of these categories. Let's see though...

Obscure: Goemon - Character from the Goemon series which is a series of games that largely released only in Japan. However Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon released on the 64 and I fell in love with the game. He is also never happening because he is not only obscure but third party (Konami no less) and from a dead series. He basically fits all 3 criteria, being a dead series, obscure (for the western audience) and being a largely Japan only series.

Japan Only: Captain Rainbow - This one was the hardest for me. Goemon almost fulfilled the criteria for this one but not quite. Not gonna lie I took to the internet to look up what some games are that never made it outside of Japan. Captain Rainbow seems like a great pick here though. There are also some others that caught my eye like a game called Giftpia that came out on the gamecube. And another called Marvelous on SNES. I think both might have been forgotten by Nintendo themselves at this point though (not even positive that Giftpia is even first party for that matter).

Dead: Isaac, Andy/Sami, Banjo, Captain Syrup, Chibi-Robo (sort of anyway). A bunch fit this category. Of these my most wanted are Isaac and Banjo though. A hot take I'm sure. Chibi-Robo had a recent release, but based on the way they talked about the series and based on how the game performed sales wise I assume the series is dead now sadly. And I'm not sure if Wario Land is considered a dead series, but the last time Captain syrup showed up was on the Wii which seems good enough to me for this category.

 

[Geno Boost]

Well most of my wanted characters are like this but I if only had to pick 3 then:

Obscure: Geno
Japan only: Captian Rainbow
Dead series: Alex Kidd (he only lives throughout SEGA's crossovers and cameos as for now)

I wanted to say Isaac but I wouldn't call golden sun dead until it passes 10 years after the last game release

But how about a character that have all of these 3 categories?
I would pick Sukapon

 

[Mr.J]

In terms of the choices I decided to go with, it was quite hard since. I had to limit myself seeing as I like a lot of characters. But I'll go with the ones I'm most confident with.

Starting off, with the Obscure character.

Stanley from the Game & Watch and Donkey Kong 3 arcade game.
His games were released worldwide and unfortunately for Donkey Kong 3, it did not do well. But he's always been around in cameos left and right and he made a slight appearance in Nes Remix, however he was cut from the 3DS port called Ultimate NES Remix. But nevertheless I do think Stanley's chances are not low, in fact like any retro character. He's always managed to make it in the games one way or another, either as a cameo or a nod to one of his games. And seeing how he's been in Smash before, I do believe he still has a shot of making it in as a playable character.

Next off it's the Japanese character.

While I would put Takamaru in this category, I do think his worldwide release on the 3DS deminishes him from being Japanese only, so if I have to be specific. I'll go with Prince Sablé from the Sablé Kingdom. I do believe his chances are rather low and being the one who's japanese exclusive hurts his chances even more. But I still think he's worth having in smash. And as for his game, I think it sold decently, for being a japanese exclusive. But do not quote me on that.

And lastly the Dead character.

Without a doubt I'd go with Balloon Fighter, but the only issue I have with that is the fact that he had an inclusion in Nintendo Land, so I wouldn't say he's technically dead. However his series hasn't had anything over decades and most he's ever ended up as is either a cameo as the one I mentioned and also the fact that he had a spin-off game which featured Alice the Balloon Girl. But I don't think they count in the same category. Either way, as for his sales I believe he did fairly decent in terms of sales. And he's also easily recognizable compared to most NES classics out there, which makes him more notable.


And that's all of my choices that I have, while I do agree it's kinda biased and one sided with mostly all of them being retro characters, there's a good reason for that. Because to me what, I see in retro characters are usually something interesting above the regular characters that often appear in more recent games. And also because they're so distinguishable and very cool looking in terms of designs and ecstatics. Which is why I believe these were my most prominent choices in terms of characters.

 

[DNeon]

Obscure: So many to choose from hmmm.... Sinder from Cel Damage

Duuuuuude, I nearly said Flemming since he was my main character but Sinder makes sense being prominent on the box art.

 

[Sheng Long]

Duuuuuude, I nearly said Flemming since he was my main character but Sinder makes sense being prominent on the box art.

Oh man you're also a fan of Cel Damage? That's awesome! Flemming is a pretty cool character but yeah I did choose Sinder due to his prominence on the box art as well as his really quirky character. I'm thinking of making a thread for him sometime.

 

[Handy Man]

Obscure: King Hippo
Japan only: Captain Rainbow
Dead: Samurai Goroh

 

[FunAtParties]

Obscure: Saki Amamiya if he counts.
Japanese: Lip
Dead: Starfy

 

[Arcadenik]

Obscure: Wandering Heroes (cats, dogs, bunnies) from StreetPass Mii Plaza: Find Mii I & II

Japanese: Lip from Panel de Pon

Dead: Isaac from Golden Sun

 

[Koopaul]

Why do people keep putting in Geno as an obscure character? He's super popular from a super popular Super Mario game. And has tons of people who want him in Smash. Hardly obscure.

 

[Ze Diglett]

Why do people keep putting in Geno as an obscure character? He's super popular from a super popular Super Mario game. And has tons of people who want him in Smash. Hardly obscure.

Is SMRPG really "super popular," though? Sure, the general consensus seems to be that's it's a good game, but that doesn't exactly mean everyone's heard of it. It's definitely one of the lesser known Mario titles, even among spinoffs, and one of the few games bearing the Mario name that never received another installment after it. It's hardly current to say the least, and not a game too many casual consumers would recognize at this point, and considering that game was Geno's only [named] appearance... yeah. And besides, it's not like anybody outside the speculation community is holding their breath for Geno to another appearance again anyway, if they even know he exists. That said, I don't think his being obscure, or """irrelevant,""" discounts Geno's chances anywhere near as much as the "hardcore" speculators seem to think.

 

[Koopaul]

I constantly hear people nostalgic for Super Mario RPG. I see tons of Geno fanart. I see tons of other fan work dedicated to Geno, and people begging to see the return of Geno.

Of course the mainstream don't know who Geno is, but I doubt the mainstream know who more half the cast of Smash is. Does that mean more than half the cast of Smash is obscure?

In my opinion. In order to be obscure you need an almost non-existant fanbase for a game or character. Someone like Henry Fleming or Stanley from Donkey Kong 3.