Shaq, of Shaq Fu fame.
Self-explanatory.
Oh my god, why am I getting so many bad (or hilariously bad) victory quotes in my head. Maybe I'm just that big of a NBA fan.
"Hey Charles*, now it's your turn to shut up and jam!"
"The Big Aristotle Strikes again!"
*Backboard breaking sound*
"You should learn, from the Superman!"
*Proceeds to trip and fall over*
(Winning versus Mario characters) *In a really bad Italian accent* "You've been Shaqtin-a Fooled! Eh?"
(Winning versus Sonic) "Unlike you, I earned my rings!"
I'll see myself out now.
(Half-)Seriously though:
I have a question for all of you that is partial sparked from that Darth Vader discussion we had a while back. Let's say you were given the choice to choose one non-video game character into Smash and you have been told that the agreement with the character you chose would be very exclusive, so it is legally impossible for any more non-video game characters to appear after this one(So no floodgates would be open), who would you pick and why?
I'm decently open to non video game characters compared to most, but I still have a lot of reservations really. I've talked about it before, but my views have changed a bit upon further reflection. As long as they're kept to a video game theme and they're not "floodgate-d" (easier said than done, admittedly) I'll be okay with them. Like one non-video game character per 50-75ish characters maybe? That way it's not likely that we'll see a bloated select screen.
I do feel that a non-video game character's likely
eventually. Likely one of the massive showstoppers, to really sell people on Smash once obvious video game icons start to kinda dry up (we're already running out of obvious Japanese video game icons AFAIK. Could be wrong admittedly.). Such as Goku or Darth Vader. For the record, I'm thinking Smash 6, 7 and beyond. If James Bond was just briefly considered, then it's not completely out of the question. The biggest hurdle "4th parties" have is of course legal troubles - James Bond was swiftly rejected partly because of Brosnan's likeness, according to Sakurai. Not every "4th party" has that problem (refferring to an actor's likeness that changes) though. EDIT: Imagine Smash 64 and Melee with Brosnan's Bond - then Sakurai has to negotiate for Craig's by Brawl. Now that's a legal nightmare.
Anyway, only one huh?
I'll choose Batman, partly due to the above stated reasons by
EricTheGamerman
. But also because the Bat has tons of ways to build him. Do you go with close quarters mainly? Projectile and item-based? You can also literally go with almost (don't go with Crazy Steve. Ever) every single personality with him. Personally I favor the Arkham take because its a very influential video game series.
As for close runners-up, I'll go with Jotaro as my Manga / Anime rep, Vader as my film rep, and Donald Duck as my cartoon rep.
*(Charles Barkley, fellow 90s NBA Superstar and co-worker with Shaq on Inside the NBA. Also has a video game along with Shaq and Michael Jordan -also, stars in the bizzarely epic Godzilla vs. Barkley comic.)