Let's take a bit of a serious conversation about 3rd Parties past and present, and take a glimpse on how this could very well reflect upon future choices.
With Melee, both Snake and Sonic were in some capacity planned. Kojima asking for Snake in Melee but it being too late in its rushed development to be a thing, and the head of SEGA back in early 2000s stated that Sonic was almost in THAT title itself but once again the tight time kept it shut out.
Then we turn to Brawl, from its very beginning we had our heads REALLY jerk when our first 3rd Party fighter confirmed, namely due to a deal of friends (Sakurai and Kojima) to get
. While not to the degree of a certain Soldier First Class, this was a major surprise because of Snake and Metal Gear being far more associated with Sony, but having the "justification" of his origins on the MSX/NES era and a few re-releases on later Nintendo consoles. Nonetheless, Snake being part of one of the most recognizable games for the industry for crafting the stealth genre to what it is, being held as one of the pinacles for a cinematic approach to game making across all of the Solid titles, and just about any gamer at that time would recognize a "!".
Very late into Brawl, after a LOT of legal back and forth over getting the usage of the rights, we had the classic rival to Mario who arguably truly started Console Wars as we know them,
. Arguably a bigger piece of Nintendo's history than a fair chunk of the roster then and now, a VERY well received newcomer and possibly the biggest spike in hype that Smash has ever seen, though it did come at a fairly heavy delay which further emphasizes the amount of work in and out of game development to get a 3rd Party fighter some times.
E3, 2013. The reveal of Smash 4.... with the initial trailer closing with
. Mega-Fuggin-Man. SUPER FIGHTING ROBOT, MEGA MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN. The hype over this fighter was massive, it was clear, and it was seen as plain as day in the raw excitement from crowd and commentator alike at the Smash Invitational the following year. While arguably the least impactful of the third party characters so far, that... is actually saying a lot. A gaming icon from NES to DS era without a question of fading with sub series across a ton of Nintendo consoles, a legend in his own right. As I've said before, the fact that gamers refer to a bit of common programming as "Megaman-styled respawning enemies" alone says just how integrated the Blue Bomber ended up being.
E3 2014. Arguably the only gaming character more recognizable than
joined the roster.
. Originally pushed by Miyamoto himself for Brawl but declined by Sakurai, a character pulled out full of the arcadey nostalgia of Namco sprinkled into a moveset that embodies one of the forefathers of gaming, arguably the first true gaming 'Character" or "Mascot."
While leaked... we turn to E3, 2015. A shocking choice almost on the level of Snake, especially with miscommunication of Sakurai's stance on Fighting Game characters,
. The face of fighting games. The man and series that hit the top 15 best selling games of the SNES twice. The man who's kit was a massive inspiration to
's moveset. Even people who wouldn't recognize him by name or look may still very well be familiar with the iconic specials of Haduken and Shoryuken because his legacy goes beyond him to such a level. Hell, his series being one of the first cases of competitive multiplayer for games that wasn't going faster in a race or scoring more points, something that was direct of player vs player.
And now, we have our 6th and arguably most controversial character.
. Yes, a poster of the post-Nintendo era for mainline Final Fantasy. However, dig a little deeper. We're still talking about the most iconic protagonist, character, of Final Fantasy. One of the single most well known, well-selling, and impactful series in gaming history that truly carved out and defined the JRPG genre to the points that we hold it to today with 6 main games which started all on Nintendo with plenty of re-releases and spinoffs to dot handhelds and consoles alike even when the main series went to Sony. But there's also a bit of trivia over Cloud and FF7 with Nintendo. When the N64 was attempting to have a Disc Drive add on, the "64DD," that was what Final Fantasy 7 was originally made for. It's only when that was withdrawn and a game on the scale of FF7 was impossible for Cartridges that Sony snatched it. And that game remains one of the most well recieved titles in the entirety of gaming history. A product of its time for variety of gameplay, cinematic cutscenes of some mind-blowing CGI of the age, and a gripping story for the generation of gamers... that's aged about as roughly as Super Mario 64. And, who knows? With the next Dragon Quest title being PS4 & NX, this may damn well be the precursor for FF7 HD going home to Nintendo at last.
Of course, that's where we stand. 6 Third-Party fighters. Y'know how many characters Smash has had if you included all of the cuts (not counting the Forbidden 7's unfinished fighters)?
12 from Smash 64. 14 from Melee. 18 from Brawl. 19 currently for Smash WiiU/3DS.
12 + 14 + 18 + 19 = 63.
Across all of the choices that have, less than a tenth of the additions to Smash have been 3rd Parties. Still an honor. Still something to earn. Still something with damn high credentials.
Given the amount of time and cost for contracting, especially since a nearly-finished Cloud is the most that the Smash 4 DLC team has to show during our 5 month lull? I VERY HIGHLY doubt seeing another 3rd Party character for this game. While some may argue that "getting Cloud of all characters only opens up the door more," it further reinforces the kind of resume you need to have to get into Smash, and the how much the team goes through to make one.
Now, when we look towards the future. We bring to question what new series could be brought up, as we stand that it's still VERY unlikely that any 3rd Party series will get a second character, with
at the forefront.
That brings into question: Who has hit gaming history to the level to be on part of this?
: The man who shaped the Stealth genre and holds as one of the best examples of a Cinematic experience in Video Games. HE got in due to a buddy-buddy deal of makers.
: The classic rival to
who's become just as much of a household name. The first real example of Console Wars as we know it who's become such an integral part of Nintendo he's just become associated now. Had the push of utterly massive demand behind him.
: An incredibly long lasting series with a strong fanbase through generations that was one of the biggest series of the NES which has become one of the most iconic and integral series to gaming history and the culture with a massive worldwide demand behind him.
: He's Pac-Man. That's really all you NEED to say.
: The King of Fighte-- wrong series. The Fighting Game World Champion. One of the single biggest games on the SNES that rivaled Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and A Link To The Past with re-releases and spinoffs sprinkled across Nintendo's consoles throughout the years. Arguably even "forced" onto Sakurai for getting Megaman in the game.
: The most iconic character from one of gaming's single biggest franchises. The RPG series that overshadows almost all others and the face of it who originally was meant to be part of the N64 Library. One of the single most popular and ranked amongst the "Best" games of all time.
The closest things we have in comparison for standard third parties... comes down to Castlevania. Anything else, even Bomberman, is just not in the same S-Rank kind of gaming series. We'll see what comes... but... that's the biggest series I can think of.
Indies, a subclass of the third party range, solely bank on the hopes of an Indie character "need" being recognized because they are well aware they can't match the calibur of these third party characters. And that's what they will continue to bank on.
