Do you prefer playing as "cartoonish" or "realistic" characters in Smash?

[PF9]

Just as the title says. Examples of "cartoonish" characters would be Pikachu, Kirby, Inkling, Sonic, Yoshi, and Ice Climbers. "Realistic" character examples are Link, Samus, Ike, Snake, Simon, Fox and Shulk. These definitions are based on if the games they come from are themselves "cartoonish" or "realistic".

 

[Matoi]

I prefer playing as whoevers playstyle I like.

 

[TheTrueBrawler]

Realistic Fighters are more of my liking.

 

[FirestormNeos]

I used to prefer cartoony characters, but the group I played with hated when I played as them because I tended to camp a lot when I played as smaller characters. That's the only way to play smaller characters in 8-player smash without dying instantly, but that's beyond the point. Honestly, the takeaway here is to not play small characters in 8-player smash.

 

[UserKev]

The least realistic, more cartoon like. Bowser, Little Mac and Ness.

 

[Mariomaniac45213]

Cartoonish BUT how is Fox considered realistic? He's a talking Fox in space that shoots other talking animals in space. To me "realistic" are characters like any of the fire emblem characters, Link , Zelda, Ganondorf (kinda), Snake, Cloud, Bayonetta, etc.

 

[jcccastanheira]

I prefer the more cartoony ones they tend to have more fun playstyles. Also Nintendo leans more to a cartoony vibe. I like Kirby, Pacman, Megaman, Sonic and Duck Hunt Dog.

 

[TMNTSSB4]

I prefer to play whoever the **** I like...so both

 

[nirvanafan]

I tend to play more realistic fighters, although I do enjoy quite a few of the cartoonish ones as well.

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

I'm more into cartoony designs personally.

 

[Frizz]

I just prefer playing as characters I happen to like, such as Robin.

 

[PF9]

Cartoonish BUT how is Fox considered realistic? He's a talking Fox in space that shoots other talking animals in space. To me "realistic" are characters like any of the fire emblem characters, Link , Zelda, Ganondorf (kinda), Snake, Cloud, Bayonetta, etc.

It's the Star Fox games themselves that have the sense of realism in their non-character elements. In essence their designs. There's nothing cartoonish about the setting of Adventures for instance.

 

[aarchak]

I think most people don't actually care, they just want to play the characters they like, but there are people who definitely have a preference. As for me, I like realistic characters, but that's mostly down to the series I like having realistic characters.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Well, lets look at my wishlist.

Ryu Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden] - realistic
Bill Rizer/Lance Bean [Contra] - realistic
Arthur [Ghosts ‘n Goblins] - cartoonish
Kunio/Riki [River City Ransom] - cartoonish
Erdrick(Roto) [Dragon Quest] - cartoonish
Nathan Spencer [Bionic Commando] - realistic
Bub/Bob [Bubble Bobble] - cartoonish
Rash/Zitz [Battletoads] - cartoonish
Billy Lee/Jimmy Lee [Double Dragon] - realistic

 

[Quillion]

 

[osby]

Depends on the character, really.

 

[Idon]

Yeah, definitely "realistic."
It's a side effect that I play way more games that have realistically proportioned characters than cartoony ones.

I think a side effect of this gravity towards the more realistic ones is that the cartoony ones often have low range or some gimmick due to their shorter limbs (Except Diddy, he's just a pain) which pushes me against them.

That said, there was a period of my life where I put tons of hours into Megaman because I absolutely loved that series, but after a while I just realized I wasn't having fun and that Megaman didn't fit well with me and/or he just was a bad character.

 

[MBRedboy31]

I tend to play cartoony ones more but I play both types when I feel like it of course. My Smash 4 main R.O.B. is kind of in a weird between area where Gyromite and Stack-up are more cartoony, but he’s based on a real robot and his Smash design was designed for the gritty Brawl aesthetic SSE, which gave him a sad backstory.

 

[Quillion]

I think a side effect of this gravity towards the more realistic ones is that the cartoony ones often have low range or some gimmick due to their shorter limbs (Except Diddy, he's just a pain) which pushes me against them.

This is an interesting thought. That said, I've always thought that the Smash style fits cartoony characters far better than the traditional Capcom style of fighters. The latter seems more rigid since meticulous balance combined with increasingly complex mechanics is a big priority, while the former is more versatile thanks to Sakurai's attempts to keep things simple.

Even then, there's clearly some drawbacks to the cartoony characters having the proportions that they do.

 

[Uffe]

Back on the N64, I used Kirby, but I wanted to use someone who was more realistic. I ended up using Captain Falcon on the side. Sometimes I used Ness. Then I dropped Kirby in Melee because he felt really bad, so I went with Falcon, and later on used Ness. At one point I cared about using a realistic character, now I don't care anymore.

 

[Putuk]

I don't really care, since none of the characters in Smash are rendered in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable.
But I prefer stylized designs, wildly imaginative designs over realism.

 

[soviet prince]

whatever I am felling like playing at the time

 

[Yuya-Noboru]

I always preferred to have more "realistic" characters, though I still want the game to have "cartoonish" character as well. I'd dig 50/50.

 

[Ronster87]

Realistic for sure

 

[YoshiandToad]

Cartoony mostly.

There's a few 'realistic' characters I enjoy, but I do find a lot of them come off with considerably less charm. From a practical point of view it's harder to tell a cluster**** of realistic proportioned characters apart in 8 player Smash than if you stand out with a unique sillouette that someone like Yoshi, Pac-Man or Bowser have.

 

[smashingDoug]

Cartoonish BUT how is Fox considered realistic? He's a talking Fox in space that shoots other talking animals in space. To me "realistic" are characters like any of the fire emblem characters, Link , Zelda, Ganondorf (kinda), Snake, Cloud, Bayonetta, etc.

How is Bayonetta realistic? She’s a witch with gun boots

 

[pupNapoleon]

Well, lets look at my wishlist.

Ryu Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden] - realistic
Bill Rizer/Lance Bean [Contra] - realistic
Arthur [Ghosts ‘n Goblins] - cartoonish
Kunio/Riki [River City Ransom] - cartoonish
Erdrick(Roto) [Dragon Quest] - cartoonish
Nathan Spencer [Bionic Commando] - realistic
Bub/Bob [Bubble Bobble] - cartoonish
Rash/Zitz [Battletoads] - cartoonish
Billy Lee/Jimmy Lee [Double Dragon] - realistic

Whoa dude.... that's some heavy wishing.

 

[JabbatheHutt]

WAAAAAAAA

need I say more

 

[YoshiandToad]

How is Bayonetta realistic? She’s a witch with gun boots

I mean it's likely realistic vs. Cartoony aesthetically. Aside from her giraffe legs Bayonetta's proportions are mostly realistic. Snake can jump whilst in the air, but I doubt anyone would label him cartoony for breaking realistic physics.

On that note, where does a character like Peach fall? Her proportions are relatively realistic but her face is very cartoony.

 

[Zinith]

Do I even need to explain?

 

[StormC]

In a game where characterization is dictated primarily by animation, it's hard to make the more "realistic" characters as interesting as the cartoonier ones. Snake and Cloud are great, complex characters, but you aren't going to get in their head in a fighting game with a couple of lines of dialogue. That said, because of my attachment to those characters, I still really enjoy playing as them.

On the other hand, I gravitated instantly to Duck Hunt back in 4 due to his cartoony nature, compared to all the other humanoid newcomers. Most of my requests tend to be on the cartoony side of things as well (or less generically humanoid in general), and my favorite Nintendo series are Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Kirby... making Zelda the odd one out.

I think the advent of Ridley has introduced the exciting possibility of more "realistic" non-humanoid fighters. His design in Smash definitely stands out in comparison to just about every other fighter. The contrast of a more realistic looking purple dragon doing goofy cartoony stuff in Smash is amazing.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Whoa dude.... that's some heavy wishing.

Gotta complete the sets!

 

[TheCrimsonSquid]

My main is Olimar, probably the single most cartoonish-looking character in the cast. So I suppose I lean more towards the cartoonish characters.

 

[pupNapoleon]

Gotta complete the sets!

I would not have thought you had that kind of a chart to defend that crazy list.

Kudos.

 

[Crystanium]

It doesn't matter, really. I suppose aesthetically I prefer realistic.

 

[Deleted member]

I honestly liked Brawls realistic 'edgy' look more than Smash 4's cartoonish look. But then again, characters like Mario, Ness, and Toon Link just don't fit well in the more realistic look so idk...

 

[Luxent]

Although I love the look of realistic characters, I always find their movesets boring. Most fire emblem characters' movesets just consist of swinging a sword in one of few different ways.

I like characters that can cause a ruckus, especially in 4-player matches. (Which are usually the cartoony ones, Such as Lucas, Ness, Bowser Jr, Dedede..... usually players who can create large hitboxes to keep the match exciting!)

 

[Yosher]

I enjoy both, but I lean more towards the cartoony characters. Yoshi, Mario, Ness, Lucas, Bowser, Bowser Jr, Inkling, all among my favourites. But I also like to play characters like Marth, Link, Ganondorf, Samus and Captain Falcon a lot. The cartoony characters are just a bit more fun for me to play.

 

[ItsMeBrandon]

The characters I tend to use are kind of split down the middle, half being cartoony and half being realistic.

I just use characters I like- whether they're cartoony or realistic doesn't really affect that for me.

 

[Arcadenik]

Cartoony


Realistic


Anime
ultshulk:

Hmm... seems like most of my favorite characters are either cartoony or anime.