My most wanteds will get in if not time to Solar Kamehameha the galaxy lol
It's not complete without the Cell Yell:
To be fair, I spend a lot more time speculating on the roster and imagining my favorite characters getting in Smash than I actually do playing it. I think the roster is a huge part of Smash’s appeal. The gameplay is a lot of fun but I don’t think it would be anywhere near as successful without its amazing roster.
Yes, the fact that the roster is a major part of why Smash Bros is so successful - especially since Nintendo's always promoted Smash Bros as "The Dream 4 Player Crossover Party Fighter". But I'd argue that gameplay does have a significant impact on why a lot of people latched onto the series: the old adage of "Simple to learn, hard to master" is very much apt when describing Smash Bros. Also, it might not have been as successful if it were more akin to a traditional FGC title (granted, the FGC was not in the best of positions by 1999, but still).
Most people who play Smash (probably) don't interact with either say the speculation or the competitive side a lot - beyond the occassional tweet, YouTube vid or hearing that X character is good. Still, those do have a decent impact on how much characters are played.
Ultimategamedata.com recently updated their database to after
's release. and now have 2,6 million online matches in their dataset.
Here's how much the DLC characters have been played in those 2,6 million matches (granted, FP2 characters have had less than a year on them, but still) plus their respective win rates:
Caveat: Ultimategamedata.com's sample consists of 1v1 games. This does leave out those who play FFAs, granted. But building an entire FFA dataset might not be feasible to do since part of Quickplay's jankiness comes from the fact that there are so many possible FFA rulesets. Such as Hazards Off / On, specific item toggles, Stock / Time / Stamina matches, Spirits etc. And thus it's next to impossible to compare those rulesets.
- :150K games played, 4th most popular character overall, but also has the 4th lowest winrates in the sample at 41 %. While his initial announcement took the Smash world by storm and Persona 5 is a popular game, he's also absolutely a case where some people heard that the #1 player in the world wins tournaments with the character / hear that he's top tier, and thus choose the character. Other top tiers like Palutena and Wolf are amongst the most played as well. He can be difficult to get a hang of initially outside of Arsene and he's harmed by online, so that might explain his win rate.
- : 85K games played, 19th most popular character overall. 53 % winrate. Already overtaken B-K, which may come as a major shock to the speculators here... but part of it might be that Jab-Jab-Power Dunk is both pretty easy to pull off and devastating at the same time. That's not the only reason - Terry's specials are powerful and versatile, and he's surprisingly heavy, Has a top player using him (Riddles), so that helps drive interest a bit too.
- : 74K games played, 28th most popular character overall; between Jigglypuff and Ganondorf. The duo have an respectable 52 % winrate online. Already more played than mr. DORIYAH, which is indicative of the casual popularity. A bit harmed by the fact that getting better playing as them is pretty damn unorthodox and that there's no top player using them, but OTOH the versatility benefits them a lot. Also, a few moves like Wonderwing arguably become more potent online.
- : 63K games played, between WFT and Greninja. Win rate's at 49 %. While a lot of people likely played him for the RNG shenaningas and meaty attacks he possesses, he's also a bit volatile, it can be a bit difficult for a casual player to get a hang of him, and DQ's only become relatively popular in the West recently. The Japanese Hero player Akakikusu made waves in a big Japanese tournament recently, so there's that.
- : 49K games played, sandwiched between Falco and Fox. Almost 48 % win rate. Being a heavy with long recovery helps, but Plant also has a few wonky attacks. Doesn't have a lot else besides the "PLANT GANG" meme helping it along.
- : 43K games played. 57 % winrate, and really, superlong range with good coverage does well overall vs. people who have practiced the matchup. Online is full with people who don't know how to deal with that, so Min Min does even better for the most part.
- : 40K games played. 42 % winrate, the 7th lowest. Likely harmed online by a lot of swings (F-Air, B-Air, F-Smash) being narrow and difficult to connect online, plus the lag harms the strategic focus. The fact that Byleth's already overtaken by Min Min in terms of matches played says quite a bit too.
- : 35K games played, likely about to overtake Richter / Dr. Mario. High online win %, at 55. Likely because Steve has a lot of stuff that works online, whether it's the Minecart or the quick swings.
- : 23K games played, likely to overtake Ice Climbers and Lucario soon. The 6th lowest win %, at 42. Like with Byleth, Sephiroth has more trouble hitting with F-Airs,B-Airs and F-Tilts online due to the narrow hitbox. Still, he's a popular choice.
- : 11K games played, but only a couple thousand games away already from overtaking Daisy / Simon / Rosalina as the least played characters. Almost 45 % winrate, which might be due to people having some trouble adjusting between Mythra / Pyra online.
This may look a bit different in a year when CP11 has released, but my main point stands. Character popularity and how good a character is percieved to be - a gameplay-related topic - certainly impacts Smash Bros.