Geno (♥♪!?): Return of the Starsend Savior

[AugustusB]

Quick question, how long has a real leak been up before being taken down? I understand that Nintendo does not play around, but has there been an instance where a leak flew under their radar for a couple of days? Genuinely curious.

 

[GolisoPower]

Quick question, how long has a piece of a potential leak been up before? I understand that Nintendo does not play around, but has there been an instance where a leak flew under their radar for a couple of days? Genuinely curious.

I think the Ken leak. That went on for a good long time before it was proven real.

 

[AugustusB]

I think the Ken leak. That went on for a good long time before it was proven real.

I fixed my wording. I mean, the time when a real leak got taken down by Nintendo or whoever. Ken leak was up, but I do not remember if it was ever taken down.

 

[Ovaltine]

Shhhhh, My child
You will get those nugs
View attachment 278695

I have been blessed and christened by our fast food gods.

As for the leak, to be completely fair, even if it's been up for a couple of days, it's only really started seeing attention now. If a couple days go on and Nintendo still hasn't taken it down, though, then that does hurt the idea of it being a real leak.

 

[Giveaway412]

I think at this point Nintendo has probably learned that taking down a leak only confirms it as real. Granted, I mainly say that to hold onto hope for CacoMallow, but I feel like there were other legitimate leaks that were never taken down.

 

[AugustusB]

I have been blessed and christened by our fast food gods.

As for the leak, to be completely fair, even if it's been up for a couple of days, it's only really started seeing attention now. If a couple days go on and Nintendo still hasn't taken it down, though, then that does hurt the idea of it being a real leak.

This. Now that there is attention being brought to it, if it is real, it may be taken down. But if it stays up, then poor wording.

Now enjoy your chicken nuggets!

EDIT: It may not even matter if it does get taken down.

 

[Sigran101]

My favorite idea is a bit of a reversal of his first appearance: A shot with powerful knockback, except for him rather than the opponent. You press Up-B once, the shot charges, and while it’s charging you can aim it in 360 degrees. Press B again right when it fires to determine power, with an untimed shot barely doing anything and a perfectly-timed shot rocketing him halfway across the stage. Of course, the actual fired shot is extremely powerful, however, er, owing to the whole “glass cannon” playstyle, the self-knockback is so powerful that it makes it something that you would almost never use offensively unless you’re using it to fling Geno head-first into your opponent.

Okay hear me out. If they were to go with this idea, what if the up b was Geno Beam? On the ground it works like the normal Geno Beam, but in the air, you can angle it in 360 degrees like metal blade and it will shot you off in the opposite direction. You could use it as an attack in the air as well.

 

[GolisoPower]

I fixed my wording. I mean, the time when a real leak got taken down by Nintendo or whoever. Ken leak was up, but I do not remember if it was ever taken down.

Yeah, the Ken leak was never taken down. It lasted over a month before Ken was formally revealed. No takedowns whatsoever.

 

[MattX20]

Hero wasn't a "whoops." It was a whole scandal. Sabi basically leaked the Seven Squares memo back in August 2018. The datamine that happened later was also intentional because I can verify that it was kept secret for about a month until somebody connected to Source Gaming leaked it online. Yes, anybody could have datamined it but nobody was blasting it because we knew if it went public that Nintendo would double down on keeping stuff like this secret and sure enough...

Well, Nintendo themselves leaked Terry via confirming an SNK rep was coming

 

[Dynamic Worlok]

Okay hear me out. If they were to go with this idea, what if the up b was Geno Beam? On the ground it works like the normal Geno Beam, but in the air, you can angle it in 360 degrees like metal blade and it will shot you off in the opposite direction. You could use it as an attack in the air as well.

I think you'd get better use by just having it be an angle-able neutral b

 

[Sigran101]

I think you'd get better use by just having it be an angle-able neutral b

But if you did it as the up b it also opens up room to use all his moves. Nuetral B could be blast, side b could be whirl, and down b could be boost. Then flash is the final smash. I'm not actually advocating for this per say, I just think it's a fun idea to entertain.

 

[AugustusB]

I think you'd get better use by just having it be an angle-able neutral b

I still like the idea of Geno Blast being his up B. If you charge it on the ground, you will be grounded and send the blast at an angle in front of you. In the air, you charge over head and send the blast below you, thus propelling you upward.

 

[KCCHIEFS27]

I have been blessed and christened by our fast food gods.

As for the leak, to be completely fair, even if it's been up for a couple of days, it's only really started seeing attention now. If a couple days go on and Nintendo still hasn't taken it down, though, then that does hurt the idea of it being a real leak.

This is one of those things that you can go down a massive rabbithole and justify a video deletion as confirmation or deconfirmation and never get to an answer.

1. They left the video up - Okay it's not a real leak then or Nintendo would order them to take it down, right? But wouldn't that look even MORE suspicious if they did take it down? It would almost be better for them to just not make any statement on it at all since we're only 4 days out from the supposed direct so let's let the fanbase be confused and argue with each other. The wording in the video is terrible and that allows them to plead the fifth.

2. They took the video down - Oh god, he's in. This is it! Or they deleted it because they don't want the bad vibes that come from accidentally misleading us into believing something that isn't true, which makes fans rabid.

At this point we aren't going to get an answer and no scenario really makes anything more or less likely at this point.

A side note is I'm fed up with people insulting this woman's intelligence like she's some ****ing idiot who just doesn't know what she is talking about. This is her job, people. If you even watched the full video (I assume most didn't), she absolutely GUSHES over SMRPG as her favorite RPG and how much she loved it as a kid. Am I supposed to believe that someone with a prominent position in the gaming industry who loves SMRPG literally doesn't know that Geno isn't in Smash? I don't buy that.

 

[MisterMike]

Shhhhh, My child
You will get those nugs
View attachment 278695

Yo, why you posting naked nuggets, my pal?

Quick question, how long has a real leak been up before being taken down? I understand that Nintendo does not play around, but has there been an instance where a leak flew under their radar for a couple of days? Genuinely curious.

I dunno, it depends on what we're dealing with. If it's something small like the Ken Leak or the CacoMallow post, I could see them not wanting to draw any attention to it by flagging it down, Streisand Effect and all that. But if we're talking ESRB Leak or SwSh Leaks where it's so obvious that it's real, Nintendo Ninjas have most likely already pulled that **** down.

 

[Dynamic Worlok]

But if you did it as the up b it also opens up room to use all his moves. Nuetral B could be blast, side b could be whirl, and down b could be boost. Then flash is the final smash. I'm not actually advocating for this per say, I just think it's a fun idea to entertain.

It doesn't really open anything up, though. It's just shuffling his moves to different inputs. Personally, I feel that beam works best as a neutral B

 

[Droodle]

I think at this point Nintendo has probably learned that taking down a leak only confirms it as real. Granted, I mainly say that to hold onto hope for CacoMallow, but I feel like there were other legitimate leaks that were never taken down.

The thing is that those leaks at the very least has the excuse of being completely anonymous for a large part. This is not, Gamestop is a decently close partner to Nintendo; and even without Nintendo looking there way, if they figured out that they "accidentally" leaked something, they would take it down. The last thing gamestop needs is to get a huge target on their back from Nintendo. I don't doubt that Gamestop hasn't noticed it by now considering that the video spiked in views comparatively to everything else on their channel.

So I'm at the point where even if Geno is a character on Monday, than it's still likely that at the very least this was just a poor choice of words and not a "leak" (ie. this Pamela didn't know anything about Geno actually being confirmed). If it does turn out to be a real "leak" (Pamela did know/was in a position to know about Geno) then I can safely say that Nintendo would likely not send any highly confidential information to Gamestop ahead of time.

EDIT: I think this is closer to something like the Ubisoft "Rayman for Smash" leak rather than Ken/Cacomallow. In that case, they sent out emails asking if you bought DLC for Smash Ultimate and around the same time, their own voice assistant stated something like "Fighter 5 is Byleth, yes another Fire Emblem character. Hopefully Rayman is next!". And a week later I think both the emails and voice assistant were changed to something more generic, lacking anything relating to Ubisoft in Smash bros. Obviously, it could have been a leak; or it could have simply been them underestimating the "hecticness" of the Smash fan base and how literally everything is seen as evidence for a fighter.

Really both this, and the Rayman leakhave enough plausible deniability that it's impossible to tell if it was "actually a leak", "lucky guess", or just a "coincidence that meant nothing" until it is actually revealed.

 

[Cuzeba123]

Yo, why you posting naked nuggets, my pal?
View attachment 278697

Gennugets is the best Mario OC

 

[vivala]

"I serve a higher authority," says Geno, dressed up in a little waiter's outfit as he serves Eldstar his order of chicken nuggets.

 

[Sigran101]

It doesn't really open anything up, though. It's just shuffling his moves to different inputs. Personally, I feel that beam works best as a neutral B

Oh I completely agree it works best there. I was just saying that if they went the route of a Hero/Robin recovery like the post I quoted suggested, then Geno Beam could be a cool option.

 

[Trevenant]

Yeah like what has been pointed out, I think the overlords running Nintendo would have to be pretty oblivious to have not noticed that taking down a leak confirms it's real even with the ESRB. That just proves Nintendo would rather look at what makes sense from a legal perspective so to speak and then that results in a takedown at least with video leaks. Pictures are an entirely different mess. Although I'm not really surprised they would rather ruin a surprise (aptly named) and jump on it rather than leave it be. That's kind of what screwed Cacomallow before all the other stuff. Either way Geno has other stuff going for him so again no skin off anyone's shoulder.

If this is a leak it'd probably go down a similar road minus everything which better applies to leaked in game footage and add on everything which appropriately applies with the fact that Gamestop is obviously somewhat associated with Nintendo.

 

[SSGuy]

If this was an actual leak, there’s a decent chance Pamela may get fired. As much as I want this leak to be real for Geno, I really don’t want Pamela to lose her job... especially in her recovery. Dang dude.

I think we are blowing up the idea of Pamela getting punished for this.

I don't think anything that drastic is going to happen. It isn't like there is any hard confirmation about it. This isn't like leaking Ken where Nintendo's own information was compromised and I don't think Nintendo is like Square Enix to the point of baiting their employees with fake names to fire them.

The truth is, the video was barely going to go noticed and you aren't seeing this major blow up of 'Geno is in' on social media which is best case scenario for anyone who is worried for her job. She'll be fine and if something were to happen, I'm sure we (Operation StarFall) can find a way to help her out.

I'm off to find ideas for Meganium in a Geno hats now. Gotta find a good look for her.

 

[JarBear]

KCCHIEFS27 totally agree with your assessment on the whole thing.

granted, I’m still holding off from going all in since, well, you never know. But so much of the “not being a leak” is essentially saying she messed up or worded it wrong.

I am not bringing in politics to derail, it has a vibe like when Trump said “I’m going to cut off funding from schools” and the official White House response to that when pressed was “no, he means he wants to put MOrE money into schools.”

I’m sorry I really am not trying to drag this into current political things since I’m neutral on all of that but I can’t help but get a vibe, albeit small one, that is the rational on it.

 

[Fatmanonice]

It never ceases to amaze me how many times Geno would be brought up in gaming related media. For someone who is supposedly "irrelevant", he keeps popping up in conversations and videos regarding Smash quite frequently, to the point a Gamestop video of all things, whether a leak or just poorly worded, brings him up

That's the crippling irony of all this because Geno has been part of leaks real and fake and suspicious going-ons since 2018 but supposedly he's "irrelevant" and "nobody cares about him":

-The Seven Squares scandal

-"Sassy Geno"

-The Grinch Leak

-The SMRPG music takedowns

-Geno Mii costume missing

-The Starling

-The Legacy XP takedown

-SMRPG being one of only two major SNES titles tied to a first party IP still not on the NSO

-The Polish Amiibo leak

-And now potentially this.

 

[vivala]

That's the crippling irony of all this because Geno has been part of leaks real and fake and suspicious going-ons since 2018 but supposedly he's "irrelevant" and "nobody cares about him":

-The Seven Squares scandal

-"Sassy Geno"

-The Grinch Leak

-The SMRPG music takedowns

-Geno Mii costume missing

-The Starling

-The Legacy XP takedown

-SMRPG being one of only two major SNES titles tied to a first party IP still not on the NSO

-The Polish Amiibo leak

-And now potentially this.

What are the Seven Squares scandal and the Polish Amiibo leak?

 

[zferolie]

I dont think anyone here is attacking the lady who voice the voideo. She seems nice and legitly loves SMRPG. I think most of us feel it was the script writing, or an accidental phrasing, thats to blaim here.

 

[MonkeyDLenny]

That's the crippling irony of all this because Geno has been part of leaks real and fake and suspicious going-ons since 2018 but supposedly he's "irrelevant" and "nobody cares about him":

-The Seven Squares scandal

-"Sassy Geno"

-The Grinch Leak

-The SMRPG music takedowns

-Geno Mii costume missing

-The Starling

-The Legacy XP takedown

-SMRPG being one of only two major SNES titles tied to a first party IP still not on the NSO

-The Polish Amiibo leak

-And now potentially this.

Okay actually this is the first time I'm hearing about a Polish Amiibo Leak, what's the sitch?

 

[Fatmanonice]

What are the Seven Squares scandal and the Polish Amiibo leak?

Seven Squares scandal: In August 2018, Sabi leaked an official document from Square Enix showing the characters they were most interested in using for Smash in some capacity were: Slime, Erdrick, Luminary, Crono, Sephiroth, Sora, and Geno. Because Vergeben and Sabi were up and coming leakers, Krono took the fall for them. Many people were fired in the aftermath and it caused several previous insiders such as Xenother and Hitagi to lose most of their networks in the aftermath.

Polish Amiibo leak: In early May, the following leak happened:

https://gonintendo.com/stories/360765-polish-retailer-listing-may-point-to-amiibo-reprint-on-the-way

This reprint not only presented the reprinting of many popular Zelda and Splatoon Amiibo but showed Square Enix and Mario Amiibo would be coming out together in September as well. Recently it was confirmed that, from Square Enix, both versions of Cloud and Hero would be released in September.

 

[SSGuy]

I dont think anyone here is attacking the lady who voice the voideo. She seems nice and legitly loves SMRPG. I think most of us feel it was the script writing, or an accidental phrasing, thats to blaim here.

I agree. And I did enjoy the ton of praise SMRPG got in the video.

I think Nintendo is to blame for a lot of this if it is true since they are the ones not telling anyone a set date for any of their projects. I don't doubt Nintendo is playing a role in not telling anyone anything going on which could have easily played into this blunder.

 

[vivala]

Seven Squares scandal: In August 2018, Sabi leaked an official document from Square Enix showing the characters they were most interested in using for Smash in some capacity were: Slime, Erdrick, Luminary, Crono, Sephiroth, Sora, and Geno. Because Vergeben and Sabi were up and coming leakers, Krono took the fall for them. Many people were fired in the aftermath and it caused several previous insiders such as Xenother and Hitagi to lose most of their networks in the aftermath.

Holy **** that's huge! I can see why insiders have been pretty iffy on Sabi, given the fallout. And also I'm shocked people don't give Geno more credit after that, considering Square themselves put him in the same tier as Crono and Sephiroth! Thanks for the info!

 

[link2702]

Oh, man. Geno Alliance, and especially SMRPGLegacy...that takes me back.

I haven't posted about it here, but back in the early 2000s, I ran a small site called Secrets of the Seven Stars that had guides and info for Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario. SMRPGLegacy popped up around the same time, and there was a bit of a rivalry between us. You can see a partially broken version of my site here: https://web.archive.org/web/20091019132527/http://sotss.classicgaming.gamespy.com/

View attachment 278557

Secrets of the Seven Stars went offline when GameSpy got bought up. But it was a lot of fun while it lasted. I still have all the files for the site, and I honestly will probably throw them back up online somewhere in the event Geno finally gets in Smash.

this is a very late response to this but....


I think this was the very website I mentioned several months ago that I couldn't remember the name of. When we were discussing if someone was gonna make a website that had tons of beta content and promotional artwork for smrpg, I mentioned there used to be a website years ago that had something similar.


And this was it, pretty confident of it now. Surprised the owner of that site is now here, and happy to now he's still a strong supporter of Geno for smash. Thankfully now that I know the name of the site again it'll stop nagging me in the back of my mind.

 

[TexasToast]

Crazy theory but what if we get a SMRPG Remake then we get Geno to promote it.

 

[Deleted member]

Holy **** that's huge! I can see why insiders have been pretty iffy on Sabi, given the fallout. And also I'm shocked people don't give Geno more credit after that, considering Square themselves put him in the same tier as Crono and Sephiroth! Thanks for the info!

So I guess if that’s really the case, that would debunk the “Square would never use Geno because he’s not profitable!” argument. Geno is on the same list as Sora, DQ, Crono, and Sephiroth. If Square sees Geno as a complete joke and not even worth a slot, why put him there? Why not put Lara Croft or Neku instead? Square may indeed be aware of Geno’s popularity in the Smash community.

 

[SSGuy]

Crazy theory but what if we get a SMRPG Remake then we get Geno to promote it.

That's too perfect of a scenario to ever happen/be real Especially if they are keeping Geno hidden throughout the SMRPG reveal part.

I can't see it ever happening.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Also, for people asking about the Seven Squares Scandal, this was the official discussion thread about it back in late 2018. This was also almost a full year before Krono and others would talk to me in private about what went down:

https://smashboards.com/threads/spo...a-square-enix-general-support-threads.464600/

And, to once again clear Krono of wrong doing, this was his testimonial on December 8th, 2019:

 

[Droodle]

So apparently something interesting came up in regards to Paper Mario and it's characters. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/interviews/paper-mario-origami-king/.

TL;DR: IS isn't allowed to make unique characters out of already established characters in the Mario Setting (like Goombario or Goombella), and while they can make wholly new characters that don't borrow design elements from the Mario Universe (Origami twins or stationery bosses); they can't keep on reusing them in the future (they're forced to be one offs).

And apparently this isn't just Nintendo controlling Paper Mario really hard either. According to this comment by a deleted insider at resetera from back in 2018 (this was made in a topic where people were wondering why Waluigi isn't in WarioWare).



Here's the truth:

Nintendo has a quality assurance team whose goal is to make sure that all of the characters and worlds stay consistent. It was established after the early Wii era...people like Miyamoto noticed around 2009-ish that Nintendo contractors like Camelot / Alphadream / Intelligent Systems were getting a little too liberal with their interpretations of the Mario IP...so now they watch over everything and establish standards.

It's this team that prevents Waluigi from appearing outside of sports games.



It's pretty much everything related to the Mario IP. AKA it's likely that this team also decides which Mario characters are allowed into Smash as spirits, mii costumes, assist trophies, and fighters. And considering that they're still being reluctant with allowing unique characters to return in future entries or giving them bigger roles in the rest of the Mario IP; I won't lie when I say it makes me a little hesitant on Geno's chances, so far every playable Mario character has had an appearance in multiple different mainline Mario games, so that may be the team's criteria for who gets to be playable or not. Waluigi for example is entirely relegated to spin-offs.

Hopefully Sakurai manages to convince this Mario IP team to let him add characters like Geno or Waluigi as playable characters this time, and maybe they end up seeing how much unique characters matter a lot to people and bring things like unique NPC/partner designs back.

 

[Enigma735]

This is one of those things that you can go down a massive rabbithole and justify a video deletion as confirmation or deconfirmation and never get to an answer.

1. They left the video up - Okay it's not a real leak then or Nintendo would order them to take it down, right? But wouldn't that look even MORE suspicious if they did take it down? It would almost be better for them to just not make any statement on it at all since we're only 4 days out from the supposed direct so let's let the fanbase be confused and argue with each other. The wording in the video is terrible and that allows them to plead the fifth.

2. They took the video down - Oh god, he's in. This is it! Or they deleted it because they don't want the bad vibes that come from accidentally misleading us into believing something that isn't true, which makes fans rabid.

At this point we aren't going to get an answer and no scenario really makes anything more or less likely at this point.

A side note is I'm fed up with people insulting this woman's intelligence like she's some ****ing idiot who just doesn't know what she is talking about. This is her job, people. If you even watched the full video (I assume most didn't), she absolutely GUSHES over SMRPG as her favorite RPG and how much she loved it as a kid. Am I supposed to believe that someone with a prominent position in the gaming industry who loves SMRPG literally doesn't know that Geno isn't in Smash? I don't buy that.

I couldn't have said this better myself. I feel like either way, we won't get the answers we're looking for until we see the actual reveal of CP7

 

[Powerman293]

I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of 'freaking out' that we think is being implied, here.

You think Gamestop and Nintendo want to admit people have negative reactions to people who wanted playable characters instead of Mii Costumes?

 

[AdamBel731]

To get sentimental for a minute, as I said in my post last night, it makes me genuinely happy to see so much energy in this thread right now. It makes me happy to see some dormant accounts who haven't shown up here in recent times (like Dynamic Worlok , Franco Geno , and of course my girl Ovaltine ) join us again (if only for a brief period).

Despite me making it clear that I'm not a Super Mario RPG pro, I have been in this thread for over a year and I've definitely seen the thread go through stuff. As someone who really values sentimentality, when I hear you guys wanting to cheer a cancer patient (survivor?) up, when I hear you guys being hyped while also being responsible, helping put our Sigran101 (you rock, don't ever leave), hell when I just see that people enjoy a post I make... it makes me smile. As I make all too apparent, I'm a pretty young guy in this thread (about to turn 18 fun fact, though Nicnac and ActualGarbage are the youngest if I did the math right). So the fact that your dedication managed to turn a young zoomer who hasn't even played Super Mario RPG into a campaigner for Geno and actively interacts with you boomers () on a regular basis just speaks volumes, in my opinion.

I mean bloody hell, I'm about the enter my senior year of high school and one of the most pressing things on my mind is you guys. I've said it so many times that is probably is annoying at this point, but I truly want Geno for you guys and gals in here. For those who remember my huge "confession" post, I admitted I used the hate the idea of Geno in Smash. But you guys and the dedication of the community made me realize how long you guys have been in the trenches and should finally get your dues. As such, it saddens me when beacons of light like Ovaltine or any other burnt out Geno fans just up and leave due to being so tired of it all.

While not everyone in this thread is my cup of tea (shout out to the people who remember the Mephiles days), it is really amazing to see new faces pop up who become mainstays like QQS , Lord Woomy , and Enigma735 . I'm sure not everyone likes me in here either, but I can only imagine how it feels to long-time supporters like KCCHIEFS27 , Fatmanonice , xpnc , PsychoIncarnate (and the list can go on) to see that their long-standing hope for Geno isn't in vain. There are so many people in this thread who I think are gems and I can't wait to see them freak out once Geno gets in. Trust me, I could list all the people in the thread who I think are rockstars (though I'd feel bad if I were to forget anyone), but for now I'll just remind you all that regardless of whether you believe in leaks, or rumors, or evil theory-crafting, that you have being here is worth something and because of you guys Geno is now at the forefront of Smash speculation. A one-time, 20+ year old, admittedly not the most relevant, jointly owned Nintendo & Square Enix character is now thought to be one of the most likely characters to appear in the greatest gaming crossover as DLC. For that alone you guys should be excited. Your guys' dedication is already paying off and I think we all know what the final reward is.

I look forward to the day when people the thread can start laughing like hyenas and busting open the champagne bottles due to the war finally being won. Until then, as I always say... "I'm with you all until the end of the line." Thanks for reading.

 

[pinshadow]

Look, we've discussed this to death already, it's just another mark on the "may or may not be real" list of things Geno has going for him, and unless something changes with it there's really not much else to talk about.

On an unrelated note. in case you haven't seen it yet, theres a new interview related in Origami King. And OOOOOH BOY, this might actually be WORSE than what we learned in the infamous 2012 interviews for Sticker Star (I think those were through Iwata Asks?).
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/interviews/paper-mario-origami-king/

• How do you make sure the story appeals to a broad audience? And what challenges does existing within the Mario franchise present to your writers?

Tanabe: In Super Paper Mario, the elaborate story led the game away from the Mario universe, so since Paper Mario: Sticker Star I’ve refrained from using stories that are too complicated. Personally, though, I like games with stories. During the production of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, we made use of a system for character settings and real conversations in order to build the story, which was a first for a game in a series. (I also wrote the text for this game.)

• Mario is famous for its iconic cast of villains. Can you talk about the new villain in this game and how you design a character to stand alongside all-time greats like Bowser and Kamek?

Tanabe: Since Paper Mario: Sticker Star, it’s no longer possible to modify Mario characters or to create original characters that touch on the Mario universe. That means that if we aren’t using Mario characters for bosses, we need to create original characters with designs that don’t involve the Mario universe at all, like we’ve done with Olly and the stationery bosses.

Spoiler: AHEM

Well, it certainly explains a lot, doesn't it. And before you ask, this doesn't seem like something that's JUST being applied to Paper Mario, in fact it actually explains some weird things in other games.

Remember all the weird inconsistencies in the changes for SuperStar Saga? You actually look and the sprites that are actually changed or redesigned seem to only be characters/enemies specifcally connected to the main Mario World and not the Bean-Bean Kingdom. (this includes changing all the unique Toads in Little Fungitown to generic ones which isn't shown here)

But what about Odyssey? Well, that game completely distances itself from the Mushroom Kingdom entirely, so it's allowed to do weirder stuff I guess. Also it's the main Mario team, they probably have more leeway. Either way, it's completely infuriating and I want to slap Miyamoto across the face because of it.

 

[DarkShadow20]

So apparently something interesting came up in regards to Paper Mario and it's characters. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/interviews/paper-mario-origami-king/.

TL;DR: IS isn't allowed to make unique characters out of already established characters in the Mario Setting (like Goombario or Goombella), and while they can make wholly new characters that don't borrow design elements from the Mario Universe (Origami twins or stationery bosses); they can't keep on reusing them in the future (they're forced to be one offs).

And apparently this isn't just Nintendo controlling Paper Mario really hard either. According to this comment by a deleted insider at resetera from back in 2018 (this was made in a topic where people were wondering why Waluigi isn't in WarioWare).



Here's the truth:

Nintendo has a quality assurance team whose goal is to make sure that all of the characters and worlds stay consistent. It was established after the early Wii era...people like Miyamoto noticed around 2009-ish that Nintendo contractors like Camelot / Alphadream / Intelligent Systems were getting a little too liberal with their interpretations of the Mario IP...so now they watch over everything and establish standards.

It's this team that prevents Waluigi from appearing outside of sports games.



It's pretty much everything related to the Mario IP. AKA it's likely that this team also decides which Mario characters are allowed into Smash as spirits, mii costumes, assist trophies, and fighters. And considering that they're still being reluctant with allowing unique characters to return in future entries or giving them bigger roles in the rest of the Mario IP; I won't lie when I say it makes me a little hesitant on Geno's chances, so far every playable Mario character has had an appearance in multiple different mainline Mario games, so that may be the team's criteria for who gets to be playable or not. Waluigi for example is entirely relegated to spin-offs.

Hopefully Sakurai manages to convince this Mario IP team to let him add characters like Geno or Waluigi as playable characters this time, and maybe they end up seeing how much unique characters matter a lot to people and bring things like partners back.

So another case of Miyamoto meddling.