Measuring Character Popularity for Smash 4

[jaytalks]

PN: You receive a lot of requests for new characters, from fans and even developers. Do you take those requests into account or would you rather keep your vision of how the game should be pure, keeping the sought-after balance intact?

S: Actually I do take into account fans requests. But the phase where I gather this information is already over and we're currently adding content to the game. We always strive to put as much content as we can in our program.

My theory has always been that he knows which characters rank high in popularity just based off fan requests and overall popularity, but he select characters off the list which meet his criteria. The list could be long or it could be short.

Sakurai's choices for first party characters have never appeared to be just a list of the most popular characters. He chooses the characters which are important to a franchise; naturally, these characters are popular. He has done polls in the past, but ranking high in a past poll does not account for new characters created since that poll was released. I've been wondering this and there is currently no thread discussing this.

I don't believe there is a way to accurately assess who is the most popular character for demand unless there is an official poll released.

According to official polls:

Spoiler

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/PostResult2.html
Top 20 most requested new characters from Smash Bros on the N64

(1) Bowser [Super Mario series]: 169
(2) Princess Peach [Super Mario series]: 66
(3) Wario [Super Mario series]: 65
(4) Great King Dedede [Kirby of the Stars series]: 46
(5) Ganon(dorf) [Legend of Zelda]: 36
(6) James Bond [GoldenEye 007]: 35
(6) Mewtwo [Pocket Monsters]: 35
(8) Banjo & Kazooie [Banjo & Kazooie's Big Adventure]: 33 ([Banjo-Kazooie])
(9) Kinopio [Super Mario series]: 27 (Toad)
(10) Mew [Pocket Monsters]: 24

(11) Marth [Fire Emblem]: 21
(12) Dosei-san [Mother 2]: 18 (Mr. Saturn [Earthbound])
(12) Satoshi (main character) [Pocket Monsters]: 18
(12) character from Fire Emblem [Fire Emblem]: 18
(15) Gooey [Kirby of the Stars series]: 17
(16) Diddy Kong [Donkey Kong series]: 15
(16) Sukapon [Joy Mecha Fight]: 15
(18) someone from Pokemon [Pocket Monsters]: 12
(19) Meta Knight [Kirby of the Stars series]: 11
(19) Lugia [Pocket Monsters]: 11

The next top three characters after Bowser and Peach (who inarguable merit inclusion regardless of requests) did not make in Smash exactly. Wario and King Dedede did not make the cut for Melee and Ganondorf only made it in as a last minute clone because he shared Captain Falcon's body type.

The Brawl Polls have never been posted to my knowledge.

How does everyone else think Sakurai measures character popularity?

 

[Speculator]

I don't think popularity is a huge consideration, either. It is usually about significance to a franchise. The Masked Man is hugely popular for example, but he'd never get in over Lucas.

 

[jaytalks]

I don't think popularity is a huge consideration, either. It is usually about significance to a franchise. The Masked Man is hugely popular for example, but he'd never get in over Lucas.

I think the past "most wanted" characters bear this out.

 

[MattX20]

I'm pretty sure Sakurai measures character popularity a little, but he prioritizes that have unique qualities more often.

 

[greenluigiman2]

Not many characters have been added due to fan requests in my opinion, because most of the time highly requested characters were already going to make it in in the first place.

Characters I think were added largely due to fan requests: Sonic, Mega Man, Lucario. That's about it. Every other character would have made it in with or without our noise.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Makes sense.

Important characters would be in Smash. Not popular, though franchises with multiple representation may cater to popular characters.

So, from this moment we should believe that main characters from franchises that haven't been revealed yet are an obvious choice like Chrom from FE.

3rd parties of course may have unbelievably different systems of approval.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Popularity plays a decently sized role, I'm sure.

It's just that.... There are many other factors to consider as well.

 

[jaytalks]

Not many characters have been added due to fan requests in my opinion, because most of the time highly requested characters were already going to make it in in the first place.

Characters I think were added largely due to fan requests: Sonic, Mega Man, Lucario. That's about it. Every other character would have made it in with or without our noise.

And even Lucario is suspect, considering the methods Sakurai has said he picks Pokemon. Sakurai said that the Pokemon Company recommends the Pokemon, and Lucario would have been one they were promoting around Brawl's early development.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I believe it depends on a few factors, the primary three being-

Popularity, potential, And relevancy.

I'm sure there are a lot of wanted characters for Smash with potential, but relevancy plays a role as well. This can be a bit difficult to take into account when it comes to characters like Wii Fit Trainer. Sure, no one was expecting her, but she did have potential, and Wii Fit is one of the best selling Wii games, so she had two of those reasons on her side.

And as far as Pokemon goes, that's a bit different. According to a prievous interview, Sakurai seems to choose Pokemon based on their current popularity. Though this isn't the only one applying to Pikachu, being Pokemon's mascot, and if Jigglypuff returns, I think it's safe to say it isn't applied to her either. The mascot of a franchise is always the first one to get in, if his/her franchise is included with playable characters at all. (Wii Fit Trainer could be considered a special case, given there are two different genders of trainers in Wii Fit)

Thus far I don't believe we've had any characters as unexpected aside from Wii Fit Trainer and R.O.B.

Young Link had appeared in Ocarina of Time 3D just a few years ago, and Wind Waker HD is coming out this year. I don't believe Young Link is a very requested character, Toon Link will appear more recently in the upcoming Wind Waker HD remake, and has much more support. That being said, he does have a good amount of people opposed to him returning as well, and while he had potential, he was only a bit different from Link in Brawl, having missed a chance to be significantly different from Link. Furthermore, Sakurai said he wanted to keep a child Link in Smash, and Toon Link is the more likely of the two child Links for the prievous stated reasons.

The characters get in based around three main factors, with a few additional ones applying to certain characters and franchises.

 

[jaytalks]

I believe it depends on a few factors, the primary three being-

Popularity, potential, And relevancy.

I'm sure there are a lot of wanted characters for Smash with potential, but relevancy plays a role as well. This can be a bit difficult to take into account when it comes to characters like Wii Fit Trainer. Sure, no one was expecting her, but she did have potential, and Wii Fit is one of the best selling Wii games, so she had two of those reasons on her side.

And as far as Pokemon goes, that's a bit different. According to a prievous interview, Sakurai seems to choose Pokemon based on their current popularity. Though this isn't the only one applying to Pikachu, being Pokemon's mascot, and if Jigglypuff returns, I think it's safe to say it isn't applied to her either. The mascot of a franchise is always the first one to get in, if his/her franchise is included with playable characters at all. (Wii Fit Trainer could be considered a special case, given there are two different genders of trainers in Wii Fit)

Thus far I don't believe we've had any characters as unexpected aside from Wii Fit Trainer and R.O.B.

Young Link had appeared in Ocarina of Time 3D just a few years ago, and Wind Waker HD is coming out this year. I don't believe Young Link is a very requested character, Toon Link will appear more recently in the upcoming Wind Waker HD remake, and has much more support. That being said, he does have a good amount of people opposed to him returning as well, and while he had potential, he was only a bit different from Link in Brawl, having missed a chance to be significantly different from Link. Furthermore, Sakurai said he wanted to keep a child Link in Smash, and Toon Link is the more likely of the two child Links for the prievous stated reasons.

The characters get in based around three main factors, with a few additional ones applying to certain characters and franchises.

Mr. Game and Watch also came out of nowhere.

Smash tends to reflect the previous and early current generation. So franchises created or continued in the previous generation stand a better chance that those who debuted another generation.

I very much agree additional ones apply to different franchises.