PSASBR actually had a good number of retro and legacy characters.
People just ignore them because they weren't third parties.
And this is arguably another reason why PSASBR failed. Sony actually does have a pretty hefty roster of first-party characters. The problem is, they're rarely at the forefront of gaming, and most of them aren't even at the forefront of the Playstation brand, which is why a game focused around them was probably doomed from the start (and likely why the game had to rely so much on third-party inclusions, which is also something they mostly fumbled on). I mean, if Sony's IPs were near as iconic as Nintendo's, there'd be forums upon forums of people clamoring for Jumping Flash to be included in PS All-Stars. As an aside, I'm particularly disappointed in the way All-Stars completed shafted ALL of its JRPG series (though a Legend of Dragoon character was planned), and looking back on it, that may've been an early sign of the utter contempt Sony now seems to have for Japan in general.
Ngl I legit do want to see Morshu in smash it’s probably gonna be one of the craziest reveal and pick out there due to the fact nintendo do want to erase that piece of their history and yet CD-i games would be a part of their biggest video game celebration
However if Nintendo loved to reference Virtual boy in many of their games then what’s stopping them from referencing the CD-i games?
Being serious though, unlike the Virtual Boy, the CD-i was never a Nintendo system. While it does have its roots in being an abandoned attempt at a SegaCD and TurboCD competitor, the system itself is all Phillips, who just happened to luck out with being able to keep the licenses to Nintendo's most recognizeable IPs. So yeah, as hilarious as it might be, I don't think it's a stretch to say that Morshu, Harkinian, Russian Toon Link, and others are never going to get into Smash.
On this topic, Honestly the best way to support persecuted groups like black people or LGBT people isn't even to give them characters in the video games like y'all are discussing, though you should still do that since it makes people feel nice. The real solution is to HIRE those people in REAL LIFE so that they get paid and actually have their lives made easier. Hire black programmers and pay them money! Hire Hispanic soundtrack composers and pay them money! Hire trans voice actors and pay them money! Quickest and easiest way to elevate them in the industry.
Plus there'll probably be some sort of trickle down effect that'll end up including more of these groups as video game characters if they entrench themselves in the industry anyway...
Correction: hire black programmers, Hispanic composers, and trans actors
if they're good. The problem with this whole diversity nonsense is that a lot of companies end up propping up people who are actually subpar at the job compared to their peers and were clearly ONLY hired for their skin color, sex, sexuality, or what have you. Now if somebody just happens to be part of a minority class, AND they're genuinely talented, then yes, by all means, hire them. However, despite what some shrieking harpies who graduated with a gender studies major seem to think, I don't think there's this pandemic of employers throwing resumes into the trash just because the applicant didn't appear Caucasian (in fact, that sort of blatant prejudice IS widely frowned upon and has been for the past several decades now). The issue of "not enough POC in this particular industry" is a matter of probability, more than anything. The United States is a majority white country, so naturally, it's going to have a lot of white people employed in most companies (in contrast, African Americans make up roughly 14% of the total population, and I'd say that's already reflected well enough in employment if not better). Likewise, Japan is STILL a mostly homogenous country, but I sure as hell don't see people whining about too many Japanese people being employed at Nintendo of Japan.
Well the reverse of that is tokenism. I don't think it's inherently wrong to want Smash to operate as a meritocracy.
The sad thing is that the sort of people who DEMAND "representation" also seem to want blatant tokenism (and often features it in their own creative works)..... then they'll go on to forget about it and revise history yet again, or they'll whine that the representation wasn't good enough. There is no pleasing those sorts of people, and it's best to not even try (to add insult to injury, they typically won't even show up to support whatever it was they demanded to change after said change has been made).
Hate to break it to you but:
First of all, fantastic job quoting YOURSELF to try and make your point. Second of all, while I'm sure it's a nice bonus to have some characters you could relate to (through physical traits or otherwise), I don't think the lack of such characters has been turning you off from playing games entirely, has it? See, the argument some of the identity-obsessed lunatics like to make is that there aren't enough black people playing video games. Supposedly, gaming's not welcoming and inclusive enough due to a lack of black characters or some such bullcrap. I'm a straight white dude, and guess what? I was just fine growing up on games that let me play as a female chimpanzee with a ponytail, a blue (and apparently female) "cobrasaurus", a female half-human half-Esper, and others. I sure as hell never turned off the system and walked away just because I realized I was playing as a girl. If anything, those were among my favorite characters that I've just listed. If the game's fun, you can enjoy playing it and even get immersed in it regardless of who or what the character you're operating with on the screen is.
Okay that I can definitely agree with. People cry "Politics!" at every little thing now, and it's becoming hella irritating. Not only is this discussion just about some facts of life and not really political, but also people probably should want to talk about politics every now and then cuz it's super important to our daily lives? Do not get the sudden paralyzing fear of politics on the net these days.
Maybe the reason there's such an adversity against "Politics!" is because some of us have seen the damage that people like Anita Sarkeesian can do to a hobby. I mean, I don't think there's a problem with politics so long as discussions can remain civil. The problem is when people unironically try to make politics be the center of everything. You drink milk? Well, you must be a white supremacist, then (I'm sadly not joking, that was an actual topic that has come up). And so, so many entertainers over the past half decade have been willing to tank their careers and their reputations for thinking they got to pull one over on the last president (and failing miserably at it).