I dislike the idea of “not wanting characters”. As soon as any character gets into Smash, I accept that they’re a part of the roster immediately so that I don’t let any negative thoughts on them get to me when I fight them. As a tournament player, I have to accept that any character on the roster is just another matchup for me to learn, and I can’t think about how much I dislike Minecraft when I fight Steve. Because at the end of the day, the character my opponent is using doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I can’t think about things like “I don’t want Byleth in this game” and have to think more about “I need to learn the Byleth matchup”. This goes for any character added to Smash, every character that gets added is another opponent for me to learn.
With that said, for me, I don’t really play non-Nintendo games and think of “they should be added to Smash”. For example, I have been playing the Yakuza games lately and have been greatly enjoying them. If Kiryu joined Smash somehow, I would be excited for that, but it’s also not something that I’m really asking for. It’s one of those things that would hype me up if it happens, but it’s not really something I think about a ton or feel like I absolutely need. I feel similarly about characters like Crash Bandicoot and Conker. They would fit into Smash, and I would be more than happy to have them, but it’s not really something I’m asking for a lot. The only third party I really want in Smash right now is Phoenix Wright, because his games have been Nintendo exclusive for over 15 years and he’s one of my favorite characters of all time.
In my opinion, it’s more important for existing franchises in Smash to get “missing” reps that I feel like should have been in there a long time ago. I also really enjoy seeing long-time requested characters being added. For example, my most wanted character for years was King K. Rool. I wanted him because he just filled so many checkboxes, plus he was always one of my favorite Nintendo characters. I like heavyweight and villain characters, plus I like the underrepresented Donkey Kong series, which he also reps. King K. Rool felt like an organic choice to me, and I have been maining him since Ultimate’s launch. I also popped off at Ridley and Banjo, as I have been paying attention to their support over the years as well. Dixie Kong is one of my most wanted characters because she is an important character in the Donkey Kong franchise, and it feels like she should have been in the game years ago alongside King K. Rool. Other characters like Bandana Waddle Dee and Paper Mario would be cool to see too.
Overall, to answer the thread’s title directly, there are a lot of franchises I like, but I never really think about wanting a character from them in Snash unless they’re highly requested or first party. I just feel like the third parties that get added to Smash are too random. If you told me that games like Persona and Fatal Fury would get represented in Smash, I would have never believed you. I feel like it’s much easier to just go along for the ride and see what happens. After King K. Rool, I also don’t have any characters I really want in Smash. I have always felt like Smash is a celebration of Nintendo first and foremost. When I look at the current roster keeping that in mind, it’s almost perfect, but misses a handful of characters like Dixie Kong and Bandana Waddle Dee. In my opinion, I’d rather perfect the existing roster than focus on adding characters from new franchises, but Smash hasn’t really been going in that direction. Ultimate has been more focused on representing new Switch games and more third party franchises, which goes against the spirit of Smash speculation when it first began in my opinion.
