Sometimes I feel like our version of "iconic" is a little out of whack.
It seems odd that Dante, 2B, and Lloyd (not to knock these characters, they're still very cool) are all considered iconic because they're the main character in franchises that have about 20 million copies sold but characters like Waluigi and Knuckles, supporting characters in franchises with 716 million and 140 copies sold, are not.
I should also note that the question of "which video game characters are iconic?" is going to be tied to the specific groups and regions. Even between Nintendo fans things can differ wildly: a Nintendo fan in Japan might be more inclined to consider Marth iconic to the Fire Emblem franchise, while an American / European Nintendo fan might lean towards considering Samus iconic due to Super Metroid / Metroid Prime. Outside of those groups, an American casual might not see say Sakura of Sakura Wars fame as iconic in the slightest - but chances are pretty good that a Japanese casual would.Regardless of whether one treats "icon" status as a prerequisite for Smash, you still end up with the unsolvable predicament of trying to quantify something so subjective. No amount of discussion of sales data, adaptations, cross-references, or cultural allusions will ever leave everyone with a satisfactory answer. One person's icon is another person's "literally who?" and no attempt at definition will resolve that.
Things get even more seemingly out of whack once regions outside of JP / NA / EU are taken into account. South Korea is a well-noted StarCraft, LoL and Tekken hotspot - to the point where the former two have been massive TV draws. A person from South Korea might argue that say the Protoss "YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS" is more iconic than Link and not be wrong within the Korean context. South Korea is practically next-door-neighbor to Japan, by the by. And so on with other countries / regions (I could draw a similar parralel with the differences between how Western European and Russian gamers might view the iconic debate etc.).
Which is assumably one reason why Sakurai stated the whole "Sakurai said it's not just important that they're recognizable, it's important that they bring something to the game". And really, I don't blame him.
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