So what do you think of the recent tweet that claims this iteration of Smash will see third-parties heavily represented? (link:
https://screenrant.com/super-smash-switch-third-parties/)
In my experience the guy has good scoops, so personally I think he’s for real, but what would that even mean? I felt that the last game had a lot of third-party characters already.
Also, if the other part about the 2-Player coop adventure is also true, then we’re likely looking at a new game, right?
First, if its Marcus, I'd say don't believe it as he's often wrong. But this does bring up an interesting topic. Would the new Smash focus on guest characters? This seems to be what a lot of folks think (which is why Marcus is saying it). Is it true?
First lets look at Nintendo and ask: do we have enough to draw from? Is there more or less. Here are the new Nintendo series added in Super Smash Bros 3DS/Wii U
- Animal Crossing
- Wii Fit
- Punch Out
- Xenoblade
- Duck Hunt
Of these, there was only two new character driven series that was added: Xenoblade (which was made by Monolith, not Nintendo proper) and Animal Crossing (which had been around since 2002, at least in the US). As for the other characters, they were drawn from a few series: Mario, Pokemon, Kid Icarus (which had a new game), Fire Emblem. Not considering the DLC or clones, this resulted in 10 new characters. So the discussion is 1)Are there more series to draw from and 2)Can we pull more from the existing series.
For the first point, we already know its better as Nintendo released Splatoon and ARMS during this time: both character-driven series. There are also other, smaller series, such as Codename STEAM (from Intelligent Systems and I beleive was directed by the same guy who did the earlier Paper Mario games) and Ever Oasis. Rhythm Heaven had gotten a new title and still doesn't have a character. And of course there are games like 1-2-Switch and Labo which could have oddball characters ala Wii Fit. So in terms of new series, Nintendo has a good amount to draw from.
Now the second point, existing series. Well, one advantage already is characters could be drawn from Animal Crossing (as its a massive series) and Xenoblade (which had two more games in the series). For reference, the only series added in Brawl to get new characters was Kid Icarus. So already, we have more to draw from. There is also the fact that Pokemon Sun and Moon released after Smash 4 (and did very well). Mario also has a lot to draw from, and you had a spin off in the form of Captain Toad, so there is another character who could be in. Breath of the Wild also did well and has characters that can be drawn from in the Champions, who had their own DLC and amiibo. And, as I'm sure many people suspect, K Rool probably did very well in the ballot, so there is always the chance he (or Ridley) could appeal as a fan favorite character. Already, we are up to 6 Nintendo series, an increase of 2 from last time. This doesn't consider Fire Emblem, which had a new game and is getting a Switch game, and Star Fox, which could have Slippy based off Star Fox Guard. Moreover, this also doesn't consider the chance that both ARMS and Zelda could get two characters. If you think this is crazy, remember that each game has had a series get 2 characters and Fire Emblem got two in its first inclusion.
So the conclusion we can draw is we have more Nintendo characters, not less. Now, let's look at the flipside. Are there more guest characters?
To answer this, let's take a step back in time to before Brawl was announced. Back then, it was understood that the game was only Nintendo. Nevertheless, one of the most popular suggestions was Sonic. The response was that he couldn't be in the game as he was owned by Sega. But this never detered people. When third party characters were a possibility for Smash, Sonic was the main suggestion. Followed behind him was Mega Man, which came up too but far less often. Both were the top two characters in the offical poll done for Brawl. Mega Man was also one of the most requested characters for Smash 4.
But since then we have gotten most of the characters people have specifically requested. The last two notable names were Final Fantasy (which we got Cloud) and Bayonetta (which wasn't as big but had at least a constituency). But since then, there really hasn't been an obvious character. There isn't that one character that comes out above the rest.
To ilistrate, here are the top 10 characters threads on SmashBoards.
- Krystal
- Ridley
- Daisy
- K Rool
- Bandana Dee
- ARMS
- Lip
- Issac
- Rex
- Shantae
Now, this isn't a great measure since thread views don't mean a character will get in or even that they are that popular, but the point is to show interest. In order to find any guest character, you have to go down to the 10th thread. The next one is the 13th thread.
And this is the problem. Rather than having one or two characters people really want, you have a bunch of characters people are sortof interested in. There aren't the same heavy hitters as before as they all got added in the last game. Outside of a few notable characters, like Crash or Bomberman, there really isn't that character people are hankering for. Even those two, though they appear to be two of the most popular, are about as popular as many of the Nintendo characters. I would venture to guess that the most popular character for this game was Inkling (which is why they decided to lead with them). This is different than the last two games where it was Sonic and Megaman.
So when you take all of this together, what do we have. We have a lot more Nintendo characters (due to new character driven series and more successful games with new characters) and fewer guest characters (as the most popular are already in Smash). So with this, we can conclude that we wont see more guest characters but fewer guests. The reason this idea comes up has more to do with a mindset over anything else. People assume that every character can be in Smash Bros now but ignore the fact that there aren't any characters on the same level as the ones already included.
