Quillion
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
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I've started to see a growing amount of people saying that the characters from the earlier installments of Smash are either heavily outdated or unfaithful to canon. I can certainly see where this is coming from with the super-faithful portrayals of characters in the more recent Smash games, as well as the lower standards that 64 and Melee were held to due to Smash being a fledgling franchise.
But I wanted to analyze the characters from 64 and Melee to put this to the test. So let's go one by one in numerical order:
Smash 64:
Melee:
My final verdict is that aside from those six potentially negatively outdated characters, the 64 and Melee veterans are fantastic and relevant portrayals as they are currently.
So what do you think of the portrayals of the earlier Smash veterans? Is there more that can be done with any of them? Do only those six characters need a big revamp, or should everyone get one?
EDIT: Slight alteration to Doc's analysis, Luigi's Poltergust grab. Mario's back and forward throws.
But I wanted to analyze the characters from 64 and Melee to put this to the test. So let's go one by one in numerical order:
Smash 64:
- : Has normals largely based on the fistfighting of Super Mario 64 (jab, d-smash, dash attack are direct recreations), fireball from SMB1, Cape from SMW, and (as of Brawl) FLUDD as of Sunshine. His Mario Tornado indirectly references the Spin Jump from SMW, and Super Jump Punch indirectly references brick breaking by jumping into them from below. His Back and Forward Throws reference the "So Long, King Bowser!" throw from Super Mario 64.
- Verdict: Good, yet somewhat outdated. Fireballs, the Spin Jump, and brick breaking remain staples of the Mario series to this day, but the ignorance of other staple moves like the Goomba Stomp and Ground Pound as well as the establishment of hammers being Mario's main method of melee combat can't be ignored. That said, one-shot gimmicks like the Star Spin and Cappy aren't necessary now nor in the future.
- : His walking, running, crouching, and jumping animations are faithful recreations of those in the original Donkey Kong Country. His Hand Slap comes directly from the DKC games, and he got his signature roll attack in Smash 4.
- Verdict: Very good. It took quite some time to get his roll, but he has all of his major abilities from both the original and newer DKC games covered down to his movement animations. However, some believe that a projectile like the Barrel Throw (actually spawning a barrel) or Coconut Gun would be a major improvement.
- : Started out as his Ocarina of Time design, got changed to the Twilight Princess design in Brawl, and got changed to the Breath of the Wild design in Ultimate. Pre-Ultimate, his sword, shield, boomerang, bow, bombs, and hookshot/clawshot had all been the most recurring items in Zelda. However, the TP design used the Gale Boomerang, and the BotW design uses Sheikah Slate Remote Bombs, has a double arrow mechanic, loses the hookshot, and is right-handed.
- Verdict: Very good. At least they had the sense to pick the tools that carried over from ALttP to OoT when they selected his specials, and the Ultimate semi-revamp helps a lot. However, being updated in later Smash games to match later Zelda games could pose a problem with trying to not alienate older and newer fans.
- : All of her specials are taken from staple Metroid abilities: Charge Shot, Missiles, Bomb, and Screw Attack. On its own, this would be very good. However, with Mega Man, Villager, and Mii Gunner toting projectile normals, things get a bit muddy.
- Verdict: Outdated, but only in relation to later Smash characters. Her moveset would've been fine if they continued to reserve projectiles for specials only. But with fellow arm cannon wielders Mega Man and Mii Gunner being projectile powerhouses, Samus seems lacking in comparison.
- : Has his Flutter Jump, Egg Throw, Egg Lay, and Ground Pound, all staple Yoshi moves. Egg Roll is seemingly based on an item that has only appeared in Yoshi's Story, but there doesn't seem to be much else material for a Side-B.
- Verdict: Very good. There really isn't much else material to work with for Yoshi, but his most recurrent moves are accounted for, and many of his attacking and non-attacking animations are faithfully recreated as well.
- : Inhale and Copy are Kirby's signature abilities, Hammer is an iconic Kirby weapon (later modified to be even more faithful the Hammer Flip move), Final Cutter directly comes from the Cutter ability, and Stone works just as it has since Kirby Super Star. His Vulcan Jab and Smash Punch from Fighter are his rapid jab and jab finisher, the Burning Fireball (Burning/Fire) and Break Spin (Yo-yo) have alternately served as his Dash Attack, and his throws come from the Suplex and Ninja abilities.
- Verdict: Excellent, one of the most faithful characters of the original 12 and uses a wide variety of moves from abilities that continue to be Kirby staples. This is to be expected as Sakurai is also Kirby's creator.
- : His special moves were meant to symbolize the Arwing at the time: Blaster represents the Arwing's lasers, Fox Illusion and Fire Fox represent the Arwing's boost, and Reflector represents the Arwing's Barrel Roll.
- Verdict: Outdated. The Blaster was in a secret mode in 64 and later appeared in Assault, and the Reflector seemingly inspired the Barrier item in Assault. None of the items from Adventures or Assault have replaced any of Fox's moves, leaving his moveset an artifact of when it had little material. However, I acknowledge YMMV, since Nintendo seemingly doesn't want to acknowledge any of the non-EPD-made Star Fox games nowadays.
- : His normals are fairly typical melee and electric attacks to be expected from a mouse-type creature. Of all his specials, only Thunder Jolt is not based on any particular Pokémon move. Skull Bash was a TM at one point, while Thunder and Quick Attack have both been part of Pikachu's level-up learnset since Gen 1.
- Verdict: Good. There isn't much one can do with the attacks in a TBRPG series where both sides are (fairly) static, although the anime's portrayal of the moves has certainly helped. The only real antiquity is Skull Bash remaining in the moveset despite not being a TM since Gen 1.
- : His moveset is based on Mario's, so most of what was said about Mario applies to Luigi. However, he copies Pikachu's Skull Bash for his Side-B, and has retained Luigi Cyclone in lieu of gaining some equivalent to FLUDD. (EDIT Ultimate finally gives Luigi his Poltergust as a grab after it being only his Final Smash in Smash 4.
- Verdict: Like Mario, good, yet somewhat outdated. That said, even with Luigi lacking iconic Mario moves like the Ground Pound and Goomba Stomp, it is perhaps best for Luigi to keep his moveset to remain different from Mario. Nintendo's apparent focus on the Poltergust for Luigi's spinoff appearances made the Poltergust's shunting off to Final Smash status rather glaring, but Ultimate has remedied that.
- : Three of his specials, PK Fire, PK Thunder, and PSI Magnet, and his Final Smash, PK Starstorm, are based on attacks that Paula and Poo had instead. Even then, only Starstorm works anything like it does in EarthBound. On the other hand, he uses his Bat for his F-Smash, his PK Flash is present (which again, doesn't work anything like it does in EarthBound), and some of his PSI normals had their sparks reworked in Smash Wii U to resemble PK Rockin'.
- Verdict: Mixed. As a representation of EarthBound as a whole, Ness works well, representing the attacks of the game's three PSI users (Jeff at least is an assist trophy). And again, it's hard to make attacks in a TBRPG work in Smash. However, as a representation of Ness as himself, it could be argued that Hypnosis, Paralysis, Shield Beta could work better as specials, while PK Rockin' would work better as a Final Smash, making him somewhat outdated.
- : His moveset is entirely made up. Him being the second-fastest character in Smash at least symbolizes the F-Zero spirit of high speed.
- Verdict: No real comment. You can't really make a faithful representation of someone who has almost nothing to work with in the first place. A canon comic for F-Zero 1 had Falcon use his gun, and the Falcon Punch was referenced in the Story credits music of GX and made an appearance in the anime, but I will treat this potential material as negligible.
- : Its normals were originally derived from Kirby back in 64, but they are largely distinct now. Its specials are all based on actual Pokémon moves: Rollout, Rest, Pound, and Sing. They all work fairly similarly to how they do in the games... with the glaring exception of Rest being an attack and not a means of healing.
- Verdict: Rather Good. Jigglypuff may face the problem of being a TBRPG character, but it adapts those moves well: Rollout rolls without stopping, Pound is a weak slap, and Sing puts opponents to sleep. But I can't get past Rest not having any healing.
Melee:
- : She's primarily based on Super Mario Bros. 2, having the jump float and turnip pull from said game. Other than that, her F-Smash seemingly references three spinoffs: tennis racket to Mario Tennis, golf club to Mario Golf, and frying Pan to Super Mario RPG. Her parasol first appeared in Super Mario RPG, so its appearances in the main Mario series may or may not be due to Smash.
- Verdict: Good. Again, there's not much to work with here. Peach did have her own game in Super Princess Peach, and though nothing has come of that for Smash, it may have inspired her magic-based effects that she has gotten on her moves since Brawl. She also could use many of the staple Mario moves and powerups in Super Mario 3D World, but it's best that she doesn't in Smash so she doesn't become another Mario derivative.
- : His Fire Breath and Ground Pound, his two most recurrent and staple moves, are accounted for. He wasn't able to retreat into his shell prior to Melee (AFAIK), but considering Koopas in general have that ability, it can't really be considered a canonized move from Smash. The rest of his moves are rather typical punches and claw strikes that Bowser has used on-and-off in main games and spinoffs alike, and Smash 4 onward adds a few kicks. His original depiction from Melee-Brawl had a hunched, kaiju-like stance with fittingly monstrous moves, but his Smash 4-onward depiction is more humanoid, which matches his later depictions.
- Verdict: Very Good. Both Melee and Smash 4 interpretations capture the spirit of what Bowser and the Koopas in general can do throughout the series. Some are torn on Fire Breath being a short-ranged stream as opposed to the long-ranged projectiles that are more commonly seen in canon, though this is also a viability issue as a fighter.
- : They wield their hammers, and they can fling the ice blocks that Topis use to repair the mountain. That's pretty much it as far as their abilities go for their entire existence prior to Smash. However, their double character gimmick is in reference to Ice Climber being one of the few NES games to have simultaneous multiplayer at the time, so there is value even to that. Some of their non-attack animations such as those for jumping and losing are also recreated from their game.
- Verdict: Good. Again, there's not much to work with, so they pretty much maximized the potential of what was available.
- : She's the only Zelda character to appear in a single main Zelda game, but she somehow gets effectively original designs in the post-Melee games. Her moveset is almost entirely original to Smash; her only canon move is her Vanish, but even this wasn't an attack in the first place. The most I can say is that she has the knife shuriken wielded in one piece of artwork, but only in her new Final Smash.
- Verdict: Outdated by her very existence. One-shot Zelda characters are now Assist Trophies at best from Brawl onward, but Sheik remains playable. Also, she has no taunt nor victory animation where she uses her harp.
- : Zelda doesn't have much to work with as she's mainly a noncombatant in canon, so she was made the designated mage of the Zelda cast by virtue of using some magic in a few games. To this end, she uses almost in-name-only variants of the Goddess spells that Link could use in OoT. However, when the Light Bow was established to be Zelda's signature weapon over the course of three main Zelda games, Smash reflected that by giving that to her as her Final Smash. And then she lost said Final Smash in favor of the Triforce of Wisdom, itself not really a weapon in the first place.
- Verdict: Very outdated. Goddess Spells are understandable because they fit with Zelda's spiritual image. Said spells not working anything like they do in canon is also understandable since 1:1 recreations of their functions in OoT would not work in Smash. But again, with Mega Man, Mii Gunner, and Villager making fairly extensive use of projectile normals, her Light Bow could have been a good way to use them.
- : His only real canon ability is throwing Megavitamins, which is accounted for. Otherwise, he's a fairly straight echo of Melee Mario. Strangely, Ultimate grants him the Goomba Stomp that the Mario Bros. should logically get, yet the latter stick with their respective down-Bs and down-airs as of Brawl.
- Verdict: Good, again as far as having little to work with. Him getting the Goomba Stomp as opposed to vanilla Mario is rather questionable, though...
- : It's a semi-echo of Pikachu, so everything about him applies to Pichu as well. Pichu also has the self-damage gimmick so as to reference its Gen II Pokédex entries stating that its electric abilities can harm itself, though this doesn't come up in the Pokémon main series' gameplay at all.
- Verdict: Good. Again, everything stated about Pikachu applies, though Pichu shouldn't be able to use Skull Bash at all.
- : A semi-echo of Fox. Yes, he has diverged in terms of animations and move functions, but none of his changes have brought him any closer to canon than Fox.
- Verdict: Outdated. See Fox.
- : He uses the Falchion, and some of his animations resemble those from his games. For instance, his stance, walk, and forward tilt are recreations of his regular attack animations in the original Shadow Dragon. His Shield Breaker animation from Brawl onward resembles his stab with a regular sword in the original Mystery of the Emblem. And according to Sakurai, the standard Fire Emblem counter symbolizes how much of the combat takes place in response to the enemy on their phase.
- Verdict: Good. There isn't much to work with for any of Marth's games since Skills weren't a thing in them, and even then, Fire Emblem is even harder to work with than TBRPGs in bringing in move functions since actions aren't selected before they are done. But even then, his animations pay faithful tribute to what he can do in all of his games.
- : He has the same animations and moves as Link in Melee. Only difference being his use of the Kokiri Sword and Deku Shield, and his arrows are Fire Arrows.
- Verdict: Like current Link, Very Good. In fact, him being the designated representative of the twin games of OoT and MM enhances his faithfulness to canon.
- : The one you've all been waiting for. He was introduced in Melee at the last minute when his Ganondorf form's only appearance was in Ocarina of Time, and was made an echo of Captain Falcon on the grounds that they had the same body type. However, Ganondorf in OoT didn't exactly have a broad repertoire of attacks. So, as Super Jump Punch was extrapolated from Mario's brick breaking, Ganondorf's magic-charged punches could be extrapolated from his floor punch in OoT and Melee could safely neglect his other abilities. Ganondorf's subsequent appearances in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess gave him other barehanded moves such as kicks, punches, and chokes, and so Ganondorf's animations were semi-revamped in Brawl to resemble these moves. By Ultimate, an growing vocal demand to have Ganondorf use his sword like in said recent games gave him the sword used by him in a GameCube tech demo shown in 2001 (though this sword made a few cosmetic appearances in Melee beforehand), but the moves using said sword are ripped from Ike and Cloud. That said, his new F-Smash coincidentally resembles the "Chance" attack that he used in Twilight Princess.
- Verdict: Extremely outdated, and wasn't faithful in the first place. Ganon as a whole (both Ganon and Ganondorf forms) has been known for evil magical powers since day 1, and as of ALttP, he has also been known for the use of bladed weapons (with Ganon being more associated with a trident and Ganondorf with swords). Not only that, with Ganondorf becoming a staple character of Smash, being modeled after a last-minute derivation of Captain Falcon's moveset to this day seems nonsensical. Ganon's portrayal in all forms continues to emphasize weapon use and magical attacks over brawling to this day. While he does have a history of using arm and leg attacks, they have always been nothing more than a mixup with his usual swordfighting style; even his mindless cyborg Calamity Ganon form had swords and magical attacks with no punch or kick in sight.
- : Mewtwo in Smash is mainly based on its most popular depiction, which is that of the first Pokémon anime movie. Its specials are all established Pokémon moves: Shadow Ball, Confusion, Teleport, and Disable. Only two of these moves, Confusion and Disable are part of its natural learnset. The other two, Shadow Ball and Teleport, are/were TMs, but the former was used by Mewtwo in the movie. For its Final Smash, it gets more recent additions: to transform into the Game Freak-favored Mega Y form (as opposed to the less-promoted Mega X) and its signature move Psystrike.
- Verdict: Very good in terms of representing the anime incarnation, though its reappearance in Smash 4 necessitated some modifications the happened after its last major appearance in the anime. It should be noted that certain other depictions of Mewtwo such as in the Origins anime and Pokkén have been closer to the depiction of the games where it is merely a solitary, dangerous, and feral creature.
- : His moveset in Melee was based on Marth's, and he got many animation revamps in Smash 4. He wields his signature Binding Blade much like Marth with his Falchion, and said weapon retains the fire effects that it has in canon. His Flare Blade may be based on the Binding Blade's critical hit animation, which is ironic when the actual critical hit became his Final Smash. For his revamped animations, only his forward tilt seems to have any basis in FE6, being based on his attack with a regular sword.
- Verdict: Good. As far as I can tell, there's even less to work with for Roy than Marth, making it difficult to adapt his FE6 animations into Smash. With that in mind, Marth's animations work fine to fill in the gaps, and his newer animations at least capture the spirit of his fighting style in FE6 (which, as a GBA Fire Emblem, has fantastic animations).
- : His base character model is based on the falling civilians from Fire, while every single move in his repertoire has basis in a Game & Watch game (identifying all of them will take too much time). Moreover, Ultimate has his model morph completely into the characters from their respective games.
- Verdict: Excellent. Mr. G&W's portrayal takes advantage of material from many of the G&W games, most of which didn't involve combat in the first place, and Ultimate further enhances it. Other than Kirby, he is the character most faithfully representative of his home franchise. As he is implied to be one of the last characters developed in Melee excluding the (semi-)echoes, Mr. G&W is likely the transition to the more meticulously crafted portrayals of Brawl and onward.
My final verdict is that aside from those six potentially negatively outdated characters, the 64 and Melee veterans are fantastic and relevant portrayals as they are currently.
So what do you think of the portrayals of the earlier Smash veterans? Is there more that can be done with any of them? Do only those six characters need a big revamp, or should everyone get one?
EDIT: Slight alteration to Doc's analysis, Luigi's Poltergust grab. Mario's back and forward throws.
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