Garteam
Smash Master
Past tense, my friend. GoldenEye wasn't off the table, which we explicitly know for Melee because Bond was briefly considered. That makes a lot of sense if you're thinking like it's 2001 and Goldeneye is the face of console FPSes. This logic doesn't exactly hold up in 2024 because Goldeneye doesn't have the same prestige as it once did. Now, its moreso fondly remembered as a stepping stone in the genre's development.They clearly are though. The one tiny reference that game had has been completely purged from the franchise ever since.
The Witcher is in a place that is more analogous to GoldenEye. Yes, the IP started in a different medium, but the video game adaptation has become so all-encompassing that it has effectively replaced the original work in the mind of the public. The game and its characters stand on their own merits, rather than being notable because they're adapting a book.
It just seems weird that people are treating the "no fourth-party" rule so strictly. I think it's because Sakurai was pretty strong in his language when dealing with Goku, SpongeBob, Shrek, etc. However, being very firm on those characters makes sense when they're unambiguously associated with another medium by the general public. We've already seen some flexibility with it early in the series' life for an exception to this general rule when an adaptation becomes large and important enough to overshadow the original work with GoldenEye. I don't think seeing this rule break is that unreasonable in what would likely be a one-time exception for a character with extremely unique and specific circumstances that will likely never occur again.
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