Quillion
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
- Messages
- 5,642
This is a question I've been meaning to ask for a while. I've seen it come up that Pokémon deserves to accumulate all of its characters while Fire Emblem doesn't because the former is so big and the latter isn't. I've also seen talk on how one-shot Zelda characters should or shouldn't be in Smash.
But this time, I'm bringing up this topic in a more general sense. How should Smash handle all of these franchises that have a revolving door cast? Should they just be allowed to accumulate characters with each Smash endlessly? Should they be limited to a fixed number? Should they have just a core cast while there are a few that swap in and out with each Smash?
First, I would like to define a "franchise that switches out main characters" is one where the core cast of characters is completely swapped out. For the examples in the title:
So what is the best way to handle franchises like this? We need to settle this on a general level.
But this time, I'm bringing up this topic in a more general sense. How should Smash handle all of these franchises that have a revolving door cast? Should they just be allowed to accumulate characters with each Smash endlessly? Should they be limited to a fixed number? Should they have just a core cast while there are a few that swap in and out with each Smash?
First, I would like to define a "franchise that switches out main characters" is one where the core cast of characters is completely swapped out. For the examples in the title:
- Fire Emblem goes without saying. Characters almost never reappear from one game to the next, let alone core characters. There's always a new lord, new implied love interest, new green and red cavs, new low-growth prepromote.
- Xenoblade is in the same boat as Fire Emblem, which is to be expected as it follows the Final Fantasy school of casts. Each game (kinda, spoilers) takes place in a new universe with a new set of people. There are some recurring races like the Nopon, but the characters themselves change entirely.
- Pokémon is a franchise that changes its mon availability every game. Yes, each new Pokémon that is added to the National Pokédex is a part of the series forever, but each game always has a different lineup of Pokémon: new starters, new regional birds, new common rodents, new pseudos, new cover legendaries. There's usually a number of old Pokémon available, but very few of them aside from Pikachu take center stage from game to game.
- Mario may have some recent additions to the core cast like Rosalina or Captain Toad and some one-shots like FLUDD or Cappy, but the staple cast will always be Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Bowser Jr.
- Kirby's cast will always be Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, and (debatably) Bandana Dee. Susie, Magolor, Marx, Gooey, Adeleine, and Ribbon are one-shots, Star Allies notwithstanding.
So what is the best way to handle franchises like this? We need to settle this on a general level.
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