How many characters will be in Smash4

[Neanderthal]

But why? There's no reason to be this negative really. I except 50 to be the least.

It's not being negative. 44 characters is insanely good for a fighting game with such diverse characters as smash.

And yes there Is reason to predict a number like this.
For example Sakurai saying that Brawls roster number is about pushing the limit and that he will focus more on redoing old characters instead of adding as many new ones in ssb4.

Expecting 20 new characters is just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Be thankful if we get half that.

 

[Knight Dude]

I would expect somewhere between 38 and 45. If I had to be more specific I'd say 42 characters would be in Smash 4.

 

[FalKoopa]

Expecting 20 new characters is just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Be thankful if we get half that.

We're not expecting 20. We want 20.

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Expecting 20 new characters is just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Be thankful if we get half that.

Actually, expecting 50 chars total is closer to expecting 10 newcomers, which isn't unreasonable.

 

[Noler_Mass]

While I think the people saying that we will get 55+ characters are being a bit rediculous, the people saying that we will get in the low 40s are being kind of rediculous too. Personally I think the fact that brawl already has a ton of characters helps this because it is accustomed to adding quite a bit of characters. Seeing as this game is mostly played casually and is 100% a fan service game, they will want to put in the game what the fans want. That's why we get the high number of characters and gimmicks and stages, these things may not be completely balanced although most of the time they even do a good job at that, but one thing they definetly all are is fun! For example that's why they put the coin launcher in brawl instead of the trophy dispenser thing. I for one know that when I had tons of coins I literally would spend over an hour shooting for trophies and sure as hell I had a good time. I know this may be the wrong place to say it since many of you are competitive smashers, but this is not a hardcore fighting game. If they spent all of their development on balancing characters and stages, it may make the game more competitive, but it would negate all of the excitement from new characters or stages or AT or a story or whatever the hell they want to put in smash 4. So to wrap this all up I expect somewhere around 45-50 characters.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

I'll repost this because it got ignored in favor of a trollish diversion

Just so we have the numbers straight

Smash 64 had 12 characters with 1 clone (Luigi)
Melee had 25 with 6.5 clones (Dr. Mario, Falco, Pichu, Roy, Y. Link, Ganondorf and Luigi (.5)) BUT with Sheik that's 26 models and movesets
Brawl had 35 BUT 5 were removed from Melee (Dr. Mario, Pichu, Mewtwo, Roy and Y. Link) and with Shiek, Zamus and all the Pokemon that's 39 models and movesets.

So in total
64= 12 new characters (Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Link, Samus, Fox, Kirby, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, C. Falcon, Ness)
Melee= 14 new characters (Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Zelda, Sheik, Ganondorf, Young Link, Pichu, Mewtwo, Falco, Marth, Roy, Ice Climbers, Mr. Game and Watch)
Brawl = 18 new characters (Wario, Diddy Kong, Toon Link, Meta Knight, Dedede, Pit, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, Ike, Lucas, Olimar, Zero Suit Samus, Lucario, ROB, Wolf, Snake, Sonic)

My point is, even if there is less characters than last time it'll still be a lot.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

While I think the people saying that we will get 55+ characters are being a bit rediculous, the people saying that we will get in the low 40s are being kind of rediculous too. Personally I think the fact that brawl already has a ton of characters helps this because it is accustomed to adding quite a bit of characters. Seeing as this game is mostly played casually and is 100% a fan service game, they will want to put in the game what the fans want. That's why we get the high number of characters and gimmicks and stages, these things may not be completely balanced although most of the time they even do a good job at that, but one thing they definetly all are is fun! For example that's why they put the coin launcher in brawl instead of the trophy dispenser thing. I for one know that when I had tons of coins I literally would spend over an hour shooting for trophies and sure as hell I had a good time. I know this may be the wrong place to say it since many of you are competitive smashers, but this is not a hardcore fighting game. If they spent all of their development on balancing characters and stages, it may make the game more competitive, but it would negate all of the excitement from new characters or stages or AT or a story or whatever the hell they want to put in smash 4. So to wrap this all up I expect somewhere around 45-50 characters.

Pretty well said. Smash Bros has never been a good competitive fighter, and it's obvious that the fun element of it is being focused on more than making it a big tournament game. Despite that, I still think it's necessary to consider balance when adding more characters to a character roster, and balance is easier achieved if you add only a couple of characters per game and not 14 or 18, on top of what we have. I think it'd be good if they added only a couple of characters in this one, then focused on balacing it, and then with the innevitable next Smash Bros after this one it'll be easier to balance things out since they'd only have to balance 18 or so characters instead of 26+18 new. I know that's looking a little too much into the future, but that's business for you. Plus, they'd likely have a team dedicated to balancing characters, so it wouldn't hurt the amount of stages or other fun gimmicks outside of the standard VS battles. I don't play competively, it sucks all of the fun out of the game for me, but even I don't really fancy getting whacked by Meta Knight when playing Jigglypuff.

Point is, yes, I'd also like some focus on some 10 (15 with some luck) new characters and a bunch of other fun stuff outside of it, but both Melee and Brawl's imbalance between characters can ruin the fun sometimes. It just sucks when you can't play your favorite video game character properly because he is either outmatched too easily (C. Falcon) or too overpowered to get any satisfaction out of (Meta Knight.) Other than that, yes, I do agree with the rest.

 

[Neanderthal]

While I think the people saying that we will get 55+ characters are being a bit rediculous, the people saying that we will get in the low 40s are being kind of rediculous too.

It seems most of you are choosing to ignore Sakurai's comments on the matter.

He has said on one occasion that there will not be so many newcomers as the previous games.
On another occasion he said that 36 is about the limit.
So again, what is it that makes low 40's ridiculous?

Smash Bros has never been a good competitive fighter

!?!?!?!?!?
Melee was one of the greatest competitive fighters of all time. 64 and Brawl not too far behind.
Even many Street Fighter players praise SSB's greater diversity of play since SF is a little repetitive with it's combo's while Smash has it's whole edge guarding dynamic and change of strategy depending on your opponents damage %.

We're not expecting 20. We want 20.

Vintage who I was responding to expects 20.

 

[FalKoopa]

Vintage who I was responding to expects 20.

Then I'd say he's setting himself up for disappointment.

 

[TheSqushiestManatee]

sakurai said he wants 48 characters. or at least thats want he is trying to reach.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

I'm gonna say that we will get 48 characters and no more, including transformations.

 

[APC99]

I'd say 52 (w/o transformations). It seems like a good amount, and with Namco on-board I think it's possible.

 

[Deleted member]

I expect around 42-46 characters. That seems a bit logical to me.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Let me change mine: 48 not including Transformations.

48 - Pokemon Trainer = 47
47 + Sheik, ZSS, and the three PT Pokemon (listed as PT) = 52

I'll say 52 altogether.

 

[BluePikmin11]

45 to 47, not including transformations. I'll take 48 too.

 

[Z1GMA]

I'd say 52 (w/o transformations). It seems like a good amount, and with Namco on-board I think it's possible.

This is actually sorta true.
Only Sakurai can set the limits.

 

[Zhadgon]

It will be 46 slots without transformations, with transformations it will be 50 characters.
.n_n.

 

[volbound1700]

I prefer getting veterans back over newcomers. I am not sure the number yet, but I say 46-48 sounds about right. I think we will get new characters but not a massive amount.

 

[Knight Dude]

I'm still going with around 45 or so characters to make it in the final game. Not counting transformations or anything like that.

 

[Arcadenik]

I would expect somewhere between 38 and 45. If I had to be more specific I'd say 42 characters would be in Smash 4.

38? So... only all 35 Brawl veterans plus the 3 SSB4 newcomers? So lame... I want a sequel, not an expansion.

 

[Knight Dude]

38? So... only all 35 Brawl veterans plus the 3 SSB4 newcomers? So lame... I want a sequel, not an expansion.

Well, to be fair that was my older post. I guess I didn't really think much on my numbers there. So yeah, 38 does seem rather low, perhaps I was expecting some cuts.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Assuming the Little Mac, Pac-Man, and Mii leak is true, it's going to be more than 41 characters.

 

[Hoots]

All of the early roster guesses are now totally ****ed since both Toon Link and Sonic have been confirmed, and many of the super lowball rosters practically axed half of Brawl's characters. Clearly, if Toon Link isn't cut, Sakurai isn't being nearly as liberal with cuts people were assuming. Also, I doubt a man with such high standards would be satisfied pumping out a game with only around 5-7 newcomers. I'm becoming more and more (cautiously) optimistic that we may get around 50 characters in Smash 4. However, the lack of a single newcomer reveal in 4 months has me nervous.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Assuming the Little Mac, Pac-Man, and Mii leak is true, it's going to be more than 41 characters.

Hmmmm the 25th is near the 29th maybe it will be true that pac man little mac and mii get revealed on the same day

(Wii u party comes out the 25th and pac mans game on the 29th and mac might get a case for hype just like villager and mega man)

 

[BluePikmin11]

Punch Out's anniversary is near, so I think its a coicidence that they will be revealed, all three of them near the end of this month.
You think it will be a pattern that there will be 3 newcomers revealed about at least every 3-4 months?

 

[Arcadenik]

However, the lack of a single newcomer reveal in 4 months has me nervous.

Same here... I remember that after Brawl revealed 5 newcomers at E3 2006, we didn't see a single newcomer till Ike was confirmed on August 2007 (one year and four months). We wound up with 18 newcomers (I am including transformations). Maybe we won't see any more newcomers till E3 2014 or later...

 

[Oniric Spriter]

I'm expecting 40-45, I can't really see them adding more, it would be nice if it actually happen though.

 

[stan423321]

Same here... I remember that after Brawl revealed 5 newcomers at E3 2006, we didn't see a single newcomer till Ike was confirmed on August 2007 (one year and four months). We wound up with 18 newcomers (I am including transformations). Maybe we won't see any more newcomers till E3 2014 or later...

It's quite possible. The Smash 4 marketing is in what I call backburner mode. Basically, Nintendo acknowledges we were waiting for the game a lot, while on the other hand giving us clear signals it won't release soon. So we get daily pictures, sometimes revealing some minor stuff, and Brawl veteran confirmations. The "tasty" stuff, like newcomers, explanations on version connectivity, modes, whatever, maybe even return of daily mini-article updates, is saved for a date closer to release (with obvious exception of the sample we got at the E3 2013), and E3 2014 would be a perfect fit. I wonder whether Melee-only vets count as backburner material or not (I leave aside scenario without one of those).

Meanwhile, regarding the total amount of characters. The craziness that Brawl development was seems to not be taking place this time (then again, we can't know for sure, but still). I can only assume the power of the development team is used in a more efficient way. While adding a character to a game with 20 characters is less problematic then adding a character to a game with 40 characters, I'd say expecting 42 chars w/o transformations is almost too safe. Almost, because we never know.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Punch Out's anniversary is near, so I think its a coicidence that they will be revealed, all three of them near the end of this month.
You think it will be a pattern that there will be 3 newcomers revealed about at least every 3-4 months?

japan is more likely for anniversary and japans punch out anniversary is November 21th but what day di the usa punch anniversary is if its between the 25th and the 29th I think we are looking at a newcomer package just like day 1 of ssb4 info coming in

 

[Hammer B]

I would say somewhere around 44-50 slots

 

[Ben Holt]

50 slots is a nice, even number for me.
Plus, that's 15 more slots, which is on par with the other games, as Guybrush pointed out.

 

[volbound1700]

Sakurai, as always, is very vague in his comments. Plus the translations are not done very well. I also think that at times he changes his mind, that is why he isn't more definitive. The only thing I took out of his comments is that he would prefer working over the vets rather than adding a lot of new characters. I am not sure that states anything about how many new characters we may get since he has probably seeing rosters that people are sending him in the 80s, etc.

I expect something in the high 40s because the Brawl roster is already around 39 and we have 4 newcomers announced already. There is probably a list of characters that he hasn't marked as cut but are less important and have a chance for the boot. However, I am not expecting very many cuts, if any, on this roster. Snake may have the worse chance because he isn't really known for being on Nintendo consoles, yet I can still see him coming back.

 

[Ben Holt]

Sakurai, as always, is very vague in his comments. Plus the translations are not done very well. I also think that at times he changes his mind, that is why he isn't more definitive. The only thing I took out of his comments is that he would prefer working over the vets rather than adding a lot of new characters. I am not sure that states anything about how many new characters we may get since he has probably seeing rosters that people are sending him in the 80s, etc.

I expect something in the high 40s because the Brawl roster is already around 39 and we have 4 newcomers announced already. There is probably a list of characters that he hasn't marked as cut but are less important and have a chance for the boot. However, I am not expecting very many cuts, if any, on this roster. Snake may have the worse chance because he isn't really known for being on Nintendo consoles, yet I can still see him coming back.

Snake is the only one I'm legitimately afraid will be cut.
But in his favor, he has a very unique playstyle, which is what Sakurai seems to be emphasizing.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

I see like 40 between 50

Just tricky because of the 3ds limiting it

 

[Vann Accessible]

44, not including transformations.

9 x 5 roster, with a Random slot.

Mark my words.

 

[Delicious Tears]

There is only one character in SSB4, and that character is GLASS! THE GODS FEAR HIS NAME! HIS SWORDPLAY IS PEERLESS! People keep saying characters like Mario and Link are in the game, but I think they're drunk or something. Glass is CLEARLY the only character in the game. The reason the game is taking so long to developed is because Glass has more moves than both the entire cast of MvC2 and UMvC3 combined. Yes, he has even more moves than that one guy from that one series who has a sticker on every box art in existence that says it features him.

 

[Kon]

sakurai said he wants 48 characters. or at least thats want he is trying to reach.

When and where did he say something like that? ôô Did I miss some sort of interview where I gave such interesting information?

I believe 45 is more than fine and 50 would just be awesome. I know at the end the roster Sakurai will give us is alright. The balance may not be at its best, but at least we will have another roster full of diversity.

 

[Dark Phazon]

Hmmm 44-48 imo but yh....anything can happen......still think about this game now and thennnn...

Ridley and Mewtwo keep me going.

 

[volbound1700]

@ Ben Holt...

That is true. I hope Snake returns. Sorry, my replies are not working for some reason.

 

[The Light Music Club]

Also when he says a low amount of newcomers, I don't think newcomers would include Mewtwo and/or Roy. So that could be two more "veterans" but would be different characters from Brawl, so that's a plus. I had myself getting around 8 more character slots (so that doesn't include transformations/pokemon) I have about 11 newcomers in the roster I made, so with the restrictions on newcomers, it most likely won't happen.