Unpopular Opinions:
- Smash 4 and Ultimate have drained Smash of a unique identity. The aesthetics were so much more striking and almost ominous in 64 and Melee, and Brawl genuinely felt like a meeting of the gods. Smash 4 and Ultimate are stale bread.
- On a similar note, I don't like spirits in theory because the "toys come to life" gimmick is all but abandoned and the trophy selection was so much more magical and charming. It's almost as if they forgot the point.
- Punch-Out is the single poorest represented first party in the game. Aside from his most obvious shortcoming, Little Mac's character design fails to properly represent the actual mechanics and feel of the series (having super armor, having your meter increase when you get hit... this isn't Punch Out), and in a series full of dynamic and colorful boxers not a single one has shown up as an AT (not even Glass Joe!!!). Not to mention the barest bones song selection which doesn't even bother to port over the Wii boxer themes - which have no excuse to be excluded now that we have the (fantastic) ARMS soundtrack fully represented and half of them use the same motif. PO!! is treated like a retro series akin to Ice Climber or Duck Hunt when it has no right to be. (Rant over)
- Meanwhile, a series that nobody seems to recognize is also poorly represented is Street Fighter. There are more games than SF2, you know. Ryu and Ken are great additions to the series, I love the music that we do have, but god... SF3 and Alpha tracks are sorely absent (Third Strike, come on!!). The legacy of SF represented in Smash is basically regulated to a single game with a few moveset exceptions.
- What happened to Rhythm Heaven is downright unfair. Unlike the infamous Forbidden Seven, Rhythm Heaven was presumably fit to be a full, brand new series worth of representation introduced to the Smash universe. Why that fell through we still don't know, but it makes me incredibly upset that it was never revisited for Ultimate and we're left with such a poor excuse of a song selection. It should be here.
- As a hardcore fan of Kirby, the classic vs modern stuff is so heavily overblown. There's plenty of room for improvement (a stage, an AT...), but it makes sense that Kirby Super Star of all games has the most representation - it was the most pivotal game in the series and literally set the foundation for Smash as we know it. And as for ignoring modern characters on the roster, Kirby / Dedede / Meta Knight are still the most important characters in the modern games. Not to say there aren't plenty of Kirby characters who would make downright fantastic additions to the roster... but we're alright. There are plenty of series worse off than Kirby.
- Speaking of Kirby, the most baffling moveset omission in the entire series is Kirby's dtilt not being his Slide attack. C'mon Sakurai, you of all people should have fixed this by now.
- Sonic's moveset isn't as bad as people act like it is. You can do a little more with it, add some Sonic Battle moves, give him a new Side B at least but I mean... Sonic is known for curling up in a ball and rolling around. That's his thing. If you wanna complain about something make it his copy pasted aerials.
- Isabelle was as essential of an addition as Inkling. She's here to stay and doesn't get the respect she deserves. Wish her moveset was better though.
- Also Tom Nook is the most important first party character left. Dead serious.
- Xenoblade doesn't need more characters. It would be fine if they did get one, but let's avoid making it the next Fire Emblem please.
- Shin Megami Tensei should have been represented over Persona. I get it though, Joker got more people talking than an SMT character would have.
- Resident Evil was robbed. It's probably the most glaring third party omission, although I admit there are obvious things that could have led to its exclusion.
- Puyo Puyo should also have content in Smash. Not enough people recognizing how important this series is. If Puyo wasn't a puzzle game series and was a platformer or an RPG instead, the community would think Arle was a no-brainer. Expand your horizons and get creative!
