Does Japan have an equivalent to the West's Ridley?

[AuraWielder]

By which I mean... super heavily demanded newcomer, highly popular, wanted for an extremely long time and still not in Smash yet.
Ridley was definitely wanted more by Western audiences, but it leaves me to wonder if Japan has anybody with extremely heavy demand like Ridley?

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

Ashley is definitely wanted over there, but I am honestly not sure if their support has lasted since the Warioware Touched! days, or if it's started during Smash 4.

 

[Space Detective]

I sometimes see Ashley bounded around as their "Ridley", but I doubt this. She seems to be closer to their "Little Mac".

 

[Diem]

Maybe Takamaru, since Sakurai planned for him to be playable early in Smash 4's development, since he's apparently very popular in Japan, but realized that he'd have no international appeal due to being from game only released in Japan and heavily based on Japanese history. Hence, he's just an assist trophy.

I'd say they might've already gotten their Ridley: Inkling. Splatoon is pretty popular in the West, but you can't understate how popular it is in Japan. Splatoon 2 was the first game to sell over 2 million units in Japan for a decade, and did that well before Breath of the Wild could sell just 1 million over there. It's one of the most popular games/franchises in a long time. So I imagine that, while the reveal trailer for the new Smash back in March was huge for us because "Oh wow, another Smash game already!" it was even crazier in Japan, because it was that, but a lot more of "SPLATOON IN SMASH!"

So in a way, we both got our Ridley already. Makes sense why they'd both be the first ones to be revealed.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

Maybe Takamaru, since Sakurai planned for him to be playable early in Smash 4's development, since he's apparently very popular in Japan, but realized that he'd have no international appeal due to being from game only released in Japan and heavily based on Japanese history. Hence, he's just an assist trophy.

I'd say they might've already gotten their Ridley: Inkling. Splatoon is pretty popular in the West, but you can't understate how popular it is in Japan. Splatoon 2 was the first game to sell over 2 million units in Japan for a decade, and did that well before Breath of the Wild could sell just 1 million over there. It's one of the most popular games/franchises in a long time. So I imagine that, while the reveal trailer for the new Smash back in March was huge for us because "Oh wow, another Smash game already!" it was even crazier in Japan, because it was that, but a lot more of "SPLATOON IN SMASH!"

So in a way, we both got our Ridley already. Makes sense why they'd both be the first ones to be revealed.

The VC release for Murasame Castle fixed the JP-only issue, but otherwise those other points do get in Takamaru's way. Plus he never got a sequel. Not even his appearance in Captain Rainbow did anything to fix his obscurity status.

That said, you do have a point on the rest. Splatoon is so big that it got a manga adaptation in no time.

 

[meleebrawler]

Ashley is definitely wanted over there, but I am honestly not sure if their support has lasted since the Warioware Touched! days, or if it's started during Smash 4.

It feels like support for Ashley was a gradual, constant increase rather than any particular moment spiking it. It was weak during Brawl, especially when the focus was on the main character Wario, and her song probably got in just for being one of the few notable Warioware songs not covered in the medley. By the time of Smash 4 she became popular enough for an assist, and kept her song even when Mona Pizza got the axe.

Since Splatoon is in Smash now, the only other franchise left not included that would set Japan on fire is something from Monster Hunter. That too, is a franchise where saying it is more popular there than in the west only begins to describe.

 

[kendikong]

There was japanese magazine poll before smash4 came out

Hatsune Miku was a pretty popular pick it seems

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

It feels like support for Ashley was a gradual, constant increase rather than any particular moment spiking it. It was weak during Brawl, especially when the focus was on the main character Wario, and her song probably got in just for being one of the few notable Warioware songs not covered in the medley. By the time of Smash 4 she became popular enough for an assist, and kept her song even when Mona Pizza got the axe.

Since Splatoon is in Smash now, the only other franchise left not included that would set Japan on fire is something from Monster Hunter. That too, is a franchise where saying it is more popular there than in the west only begins to describe.

No, there is another…

Dragon Quest. THAT is the elephant in the room that hasn't been in Smash yet. It would make sense, it's a founding father RPG that started in the Famicom days, got huge over time and has stayed relevant to this day to the point that the first random monster is extremely marketable.

There was japanese magazine poll before smash4 came out

Hatsune Miku was a pretty popular pick it seems

Good to see that Japan loves Luigi. That aside, Miku would have a hard time getting in, since she's mainly a virtual idol first, game character second.

 

[AuraWielder]

There was japanese magazine poll before smash4 came out

Hatsune Miku was a pretty popular pick it seems

Out of all of those, Gaius from Fire Emblem Awakening has to be the most... random. Like... a group of people banded together to pick this random character from Awakening.
Who's the person at #18, by the way?

 

[Space Detective]

Out of all of those, Gaius from Fire Emblem Awakening has to be the most... random. Like... a group of people banded together to pick this random character from Awakening.

Gaius is actually legitimately one of the most popular male characters in Awakening. He was even one of the two male winners (along with Chrom) of an official poll in Japan that determined who got special artwork in the beach DLC.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

Out of all of those, Gaius from Fire Emblem Awakening has to be the most... random. Like... a group of people banded together to pick this random character from Awakening.
Who's the person at #18, by the way?

Looks like an Inazuma Eleven character. Unfortunately for them, Level-5 series usually stop being trendy by the time a new Smash comes out.

 

[vVv Rapture]

Inkling was probably the closest thing in terms of desire, but Inkling was practically a shoe-in so it's not like Japanese fans needed to be rabid about it like Western fans of Ridley were.

 

[IsmaR]

I wouldn't take old polls at face value, as obviously there's always gonna be filled with both recency bias (FE Awakening prior to Smash 4) and the occasional meme pick (for example, every Pokemon poll having Magnemite as a top contender since 2008 results in what seems like "out of place/random" cameos, such as the banner for Giratina and the Sky Warrior or even Gengar's trailer in Pokken)

However modern polls do include some of the popular picks known abroad like Ashley/K. Rool, even recent things like Rex/Pyra (XB2 in general), so it's hard to say.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

I don't think there is a Japanese equivalent to Ridley mainly because they don't have their own equivalent for the "Too big!" meme.

 

[P.Kat]

Reimu and Saber are pretty popular in Japan, I can see either or both of them make into Smash as newcomers especially Saber since she can represent the Telltale/Visual Novel game genre pretty easily.

I'm also curious, out of curiosity what was Amaterasu reception in Japan like, and would she qualify as a really wanted character in Japan?