I’d personally classify them as whatever they originated as. Like I’d consider Ryu Hyabusa a Ninja Gaiden rep before a Dead or Alive rep. I’m actually unfamiliar with Akira but I’m digging her design. She seems like she’d be a cool Smash character on design alone.
Makes sense. What's more, I assume that Cody has the excuse of Final Fight being SO intertwined with S.F. over the years that him being classified as an S.F. character wouldn't make MOST folks think twice about the subject. Granted,
I'D be one of those folks who'd consider it 'Final Fight erasure', but...
Ngl, her design combined with her personality is what truly sold me on her as a character. No joke, Akira acts like she might as well be two completely different people, depending on whether or not she's wearing her big brother's biker outfit.
Heck, speaking of her brother's biker outfit? I wouldn't be surprised if (ESPECIALLY following her well-received appearance in Street Fighter 5 AND the upcoming Capcom Fighting Collection 2) the next Smash Bros. had said outfit as a Mii Fighter costume.
IMO (in order)
M. Bison
Akuma
Juri
Luke
Sakura
Guile (Nash echo)
I feel like after Chun-Li this is the remaining pool of SF candidates for Smash. i could be wrong, just my opinion.
Is it weird that, even back when Ryu was first added to Smash 4, I've felt as though SAKURA would have been a better fit for Smash Bros.? I mean, I've largely gotten over that thought process, but I used to feel as though she'd have been a better fit for Smash's 'aesthetic', if that makes sense.
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It's funny how seemingly desperate the final pre-release Ultimate Smash direct was in trying to make spirits seem like a cool fleshed-out universe of unique characters instead of a collection of 1000 or so PNGs that all pull from the same pool of 50 or so effects.
Like yeah bro... Louie, Wiggler, Helix, and the Pac-Man ghosts are my dream team, but seeing static images of them occasionally bounce up and down as they "hunt" for treasure doesn't really do it for me.
SHEESH... looking back on it now? You're totally right. It truly is hilarious (in a sad way, almost) how Nintendo tried to hype up Spirits as THAT big of deal.
Granted, when Spirits were fresh in our minds, I had an idea that borrowed from Shonen Jump's Nintendo DS crossover games and said games' manga-panel gameplay system allowed for certain NPCs to make little quips for whatever reason if they were powering up a certain character.
Of course, I imagine that wouldn't have been feasible with Ultimate's development time...
Honestly, I'd just like to see Smash acknowledge its thematic origins of being one big depiction of toys and figures being played with. Characters being ripped from their worlds directly to fight is cool and all but the way Smash took contextualizing its crossover a step further was always an artistic decision that really stuck with me. Overtime it's fallen to the wayside, with the only real sticking point now being that characters are still trophies technically, but even then we hardly see that represented in the games. The last time I felt that original theming was Smash 4 trophy shop, especially the Wii U's version. Genuinely one of the coolest pieces of presentation I've seen from the series. I want to see more of that!
I recognize that it's probably just a result of the series growing over the years and that its all bonus fluff that many won't entirely care about, but it's a flare that gives Smash something unique compared to most other crossover media and I think that's just cool as hell.
I'm overall kind of neutral on spirits, but my opinion is similar to Yeppers here where I'm remiss that Smash near abandoned its toys to life premise in any significant way. Trophies served as a nice reminder of the premise, so I miss them. Alongside the little blurbs about each character that taught me about a surplus of Nintendo characters and games I had never heard of as a kid.
I think though I'd be perfectly satisfied if we just added trophies for specific characters with existing roles in the game. Add fighters, maybe bosses and assist trophies and then you can honestly call it a day. We can still roll with spirits if you wanna represent a metric ton of other characters in the easiest possible way, but for the characters with major roles in the game I think they should still make an effort to tie them back to their toyetic roots. That seems like a fair compromise, to me.
Honestly, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who feels like Smash Bros. has been losing the "plot" with Trophies over the years. At the very least, I wish they kept the information blurbs for Spirits, as it certainly helped me feel all the more invested in what these characters' deals were all about.
What I find interesting is that, according to Sakurai himself, the concept of Trophies in Smash Bros. hasn't been TOTALLY dropped, given how (according to him, at least) every Spirit in Smash Ultimate WAS formerly a trophy prior to Galeem's onslaught.
Not only that, but Sora's reveal trailer also reinforced the Trophy concept too. Heck, said reveal trailer finally confirmed for me that even alternate-skin characters have their own separate trophy forms (Leaf, the pink-haired female Villager, and the male Wii Fit Trainer were seen alongside their default incarnations).
(Dear God... the more I think about it, the more I wonder... just how many toys does this child HAVE???)
I'd be down with this viewing of it if the connection was stronger. When it comes to stuff like trophies (or just dolls in Smash 64) there were other elements that pushed the toys-to-life idea, such as the bedroom in 64, the living room table in Melee, the trophy shop in Smash Wii U, etc. There's nothing intrinsically connecting spirits to the toys-to-life idea aside from the spirits being pre-existing art, but there's nothing that implies that the art itself is tied to the whole child imagination like there is with trophies. This is why the idea of turning spirits into collectable cards would significantly strengthen that thematic connection.
It's funny, when Sakurai first revealed his gaming setup at his (other?) house during the Min Min presentation, I instantly noticed that said setup looked STRIKINGLY similar to Melee's trophy... living room? Trophy DEN??
For real, is that a living room or a den in Melee??? I legit can't tell.
Yeah, I kinda miss the concept of characters coming to life from toys and figures. I thought it looked pretty cool when Mario came to life from his Trophy in the intro from Melee:
If I'm being honest, I think this is why the intros to Smash 64 and Melee have stuck with me for as long as they have. The concept of the Smash Bros. cast (playable and non-playable alike) actually being nothing but toys coming to life will never not be a fascinating approach to me.
For that matter, I'm still holding out hope for a new Smash Bros. intro that actually leans into the "toys-come-to-life" concept again.
My headcannon is that the Super Smash Bros. takes place in a nested universe. Canonically, everything is people playing with toys or imagining shenanigans for their figures to get up to, but it's also canonically a big 'ol world within this imagination where characters act like you'd expect them to for the most part.
Given Sakurai's occasional mentions of the 'world of imagination' being where Smash Bros. takes place, I think your headcanon of the Smash Bros. world being some 'interconnected reality' where all of these characters reside might be more rooted in confirmed canon than you think.
