Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[fogbadge]

Huh, when he said they were avoiding world-specific themes, I assumed he meant actual disney film songs they wouldn't be able to get the rights to. This makes significantly less sense. I wonder if disney considers them more linked to their franchises than the other songs.

series composer Yoko shimomura has said she tries to emulate the film’s soundtracks when making the music

 

[Momotsuki]

I'm a bit late to the party, but yeah the people that went "who?" at Kazuya were kind of telling on themselves a little bit. I can understand having never played Tekken, but I can't fathom not having heard of it. And then there were the people who once again got upset about a traditional fighting game character being in Smash. Not a majority of course, but the same folks you'd expect to take issue with it.

I've never really understood why this specific genre is a point of controversy. Like yeah, silly people will complain about "RPGs" (a ridiculously broad label to complain about characters from) but that's always been more of a joke (and taken as seriously as one even when it's not) than anything else. But then with traditional fighters there's this talking point of them "not belonging" or whatever. Again, it's not a majority opinion or anything, but one I see bizarrely frequently. What makes them belong any less than the countless other genres represented in Smash?

 

[Ivander]

God this. Kh2+ is when they went the **** IN on the soundtracks, both in terms of emotion and hype.

They really did, but at the same time, considering they used the KH1Remix tracks for Smash Bros, I'm assuming they would've used KH2 Remix tracks and while some of the remix tracks are great, some of the other tracks I vastly prefer the original PS2 KH2 composition over the Remix version.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I think the setting itself is cool, it just doesn't feel "Punch-Out" enough. I mean, the fact that the stage was announced with the first trailer of Smash 4 and Little Mac got announced months later and pretty much nobody realised that it could be a Punch-Out stage before the character announcement is saying a lot.

I kind of did have a feeling it was a Punch-Out!! stage before Little Mac was revealed, as it really didn't fit any other series other than Punch-Out!!.

I have no issue with the stage itself but yeah, everything else could have been much better, like assist trophies and more music. It's kind of really annoying since Little Mac is my main and was my MW.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Honestly, the Koopa Kids being his children was something done in some media, but was never shown in the games itself either. It's just a cartoon thing(and comics/manga where applicable. I don't remember where they applied that way).

Bowser Jr. is the only one officially in the games(at least in the normal universe. Some spin-off universes might work differently, like Paper Mario is actually its own universe as confirmed in the crossover game. So that might have them as his actual children in comparison, though I don't remember it coming up in that story or the Mario & Luigi stories either). They were just... cool bosses.

That said, I do think it would've worked better, especially with the cartoon giving them a great dynamic. That said, is what it is. And them maybe being adopted makes more sense, as Bowser Jr. is just his only biological son. A good compromise that ties in multiple media with no oddities while it gives the fans a bit more stuff to have fun with.

 

[Perkilator]

I don’t mind not using music specific to the Disney worlds, but at the same time, that’s even less of an excuse to only use KH1 music. If I could pick about 50 KH tracks to use, this would be my list (bold denotes a track that would be remixed; some fanmade remixes will be used as examples)

1. Dearly Beloved
2. Destati
3. Night of Fate
4. Destiny’s Force
5. Shrouding Dark Cloud
6. Blast Away! ~Gummi Ship Medley~
7. Squirming Evil
8. Hand in Hand (New remix + the victory theme version)
9. The Deep End
10. Scherzo di Notte
11. Forze del Male
12. Fragments of Sorrow
13. Disappeared
14. Another Side
15. The 13th Struggle
16. Lord of the Castle
17. Tension Rising
18. Sinister Sundown /
19. Working Together
20. Desire for All That is Lost
21. Rowdy Rumble
22. Vim and Vigor
23. The Encounter
24. The 13th Dilemma
25. A Fight to the Death
26. Darkness of the Unknown
27. The Other Promise
28. Rage Awakened
29. Fate of the Unknown
30. Critical Drive
31. Vector to the Heavens
32. Enter the Darkness
33. The Tumbling
34. Unforgettable
35. Black Powder
36. Dismiss
37. Master, Tell Me the Truth
38. Hunter of the Dark
39. No More Bugs!!
40. Dream Eaters
41. UNTAMABLE
42. Majestic Wings
43. L’Impeto Oscuro
44. L’Impeto Oscuro / Wave of Darkness
45. Wave of Darkness
46. Anger Unchained
47. Eye of the Storm
48. Rise of the Union
49. Forza Finale
50. Nachtflügel

 

[Gengar84]

I don’t mind not using music specific to the Disney worlds, but at the same time, that’s even less of an excuse to only use KH1 music. If I could pick about 50 KH tracks to use, this would be my list (bold denotes a track that would be remixed; some fanmade remixes will be used as examples)

1. Dearly Beloved
2. Destati
3. Night of Fate
4. Destiny’s Force
5. Shrouding Dark Cloud
6. Blast Away! ~Gummi Ship Medley~
7. Squirming Evil
8. Hand in Hand (New remix + the victory theme version)
9. The Deep End
10. Scherzo di Notte
11. Forze del Male
12. Fragments of Sorrow
13. Disappeared
14. Another Side
15. The 13th Struggle
16. Lord of the Castle
17. Tension Rising
18. Sinister Sundown /
19. Working Together
20. Desire for All That is Lost
21. Rowdy Rumble
22. Vim and Vigor
23. The Encounter
24. The 13th Dilemma
25. A Fight to the Death
26. Darkness of the Unknown
27. The Other Promise
28. Rage Awakened
29. Fate of the Unknown
30. Critical Drive
31. Vector to the Heavens
32. Enter the Darkness
33. The Tumbling
34. Unforgettable
35. Black Powder
36. Dismiss
37. Master, Tell Me the Truth
38. Hunter of the Dark
39. No More Bugs!!
40. Dream Eaters
41. UNTAMABLE
42. Majestic Wings
43. L’Impeto Oscuro
44. L’Impeto Oscuro / Wave of Darkness
45. Wave of Darkness
46. Anger Unchained
47. Eye of the Storm
48. Rise of the Union
49. Forza Finale
50. Nachtflügel

Great selection but I’d personally try to fit Hazardous Highway in somewhere. That’s one of my all time favorite Kingdom Hearts tracks and I feel like it goes under appreciated.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

 

[Arcanir]

Honestly, the Koopa Kids being his children was something done in some media, but was never shown in the games itself either. It's just a cartoon thing(and comics/manga where applicable. I don't remember where they applied that way).

It is in the games, a Japanese manual for Super Mario Bros. 3 refers to them as his kids.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

It is in the games, a Japanese manual for Super Mario Bros. 3 refers to them as his kids.

I should've been clear I meant literally in-game(via dialogue stated). My bad either way.

But yeah, who knows why it got retconned later. The only real notable thing is that the Koopalings only dynamic with Bowser related to family wasn't even present in the games themselves. It "existed" at most and was kept to other media. Meanwhile Bowser Jr. was written with a clear intent of in-game having a core family dynamic. But that doesn't really explain the reason for the retcon either. It was clearly a thing, just not much of a notable thing in the games(even with the manuals, as they were simple explanations with no real depth to it). It would've been nice if they lightly went into the concept in the games with very minor referencing the cartoon to get decent personalities traits(it doesn't have to be anything major. Just boss banter and that's it. Nothing notable writing-wise like the early Super Mario era was).

 

[Momotsuki]

Given it's a Mario series plot point, I'd probably be more concerned if it was consistent.

 

[SPEN18]

Apologies for going back to this since much of the thread has been moving on, but I feel I should defend myself on some of these points.

This. My initial post was about how people create a conveniently ignorant view of basic facts and history. Anyone who argued Banjo Kazooie is more important historically or less niche than Dragon Quest and Tekken is just choosing to ignore facts. Tekken is huge and one of the most influential games out there. It’s a massive series with a huge fanbase. Same with Dragon Quest. Dismissing both out of hat because they are “niche” is just wrong. They both are far more mainstream than plenty of first party series in smash.

Obviously this isn’t the sole barometer of why a character should get in. Nowhere in my initial post did it say that: it was honestly very simple.



You do know most Nintendo fans own other systems right? Like, there is actual data on this.

Even then, you make such a straw man of my argument. Somehow, saying “smash fans are being dumb for saying X series is niche and Banjo isn’t niche” amounts to this massive reach to say “smash fans should only get big characters”. I know you have your own polarizing thoughts on third parties broadly. You don’t need to project your own insecure thoughts on the state of smash onto a simple statement that smash fans are being dumb for saying Hero is niche.

Here’s a fun challenge for you. Read my initial post. Seriously read it.

Tell me where I say it’s an “issue” that people like characters like Banjo. Tell me where I say people can’t want characters that are “more familiar” to Nintendo switch owners? Here’s a hint. There isn’t one. I never said in this you are in the wrong for wanting Banjo or what have you. I wanted banjo. But Banjo is far from this massive piece of gaming or even Nintendo history.

If anything, your post makes even larger leaps of logic. Do you honestly think every person that plays smash is some kind of gaming historian? How many people are going to be familiar with the characters in it outside of smash? Did every person playing Ultimate have strong feelings about Ridley? Did they all have their own deep connections to Byleth? No. It’s a massive false equivalency and comes off as insecure. Smash on the Swich alone sold close to 30 million units. Are you seriously going to say all those people are more familiar with characters like Isaac or Geno than Hero and Kazuya? It’s a massive leap in logic to assume that.

Don’t put words in my mouth again. I am sick and tired of you misconstruing even the most basic arguments.

I made two posts on the matter.

The first was NOT responding to you in particular. The whole thing with DQ and Tekken started when someone posted a hypothetical roster that cut DQ and Tekken, and some people took issue with their reasoning. But then correcting this one singular person got blown up into generalizations about Nintendo fans and bafflements over people not knowing about Tekken. I don't mean to point fingers at anybody in particular and I didn't detect that anybody was posting with ill intents, but it felt like things were getting too close to an overly defensive or "how dare you not know this character" kind of attitude that's not necessarily healthy. I meant to point out that it's really not surprising nor an issue for somebody mostly playing Nintendo games to not know something like Tekken or DQ. Could have been expressed less provocatively, though I was trying to make a point.

Also, someone not knowing Tekken and/or DQ doesn't mean they don't know any other third party games either. It's easily possible for someone to know a lot of Nintendo games, know a solid number of other games, and not know Tekken/DQ. It's easily possible for them to own other consoles and not know Tekken/DQ.

My second post was in response to you, but it was not intended to be accusatory in nature. I did not say or imply that you were saying people couldn't want certain characters. I was not trying to put words in your mouth. I was actually just responding to the one part of your post where (in my reading of it) you expressed surprise that people would mistake Tekken/DQ for being more niche than Banjo. Then I just went on to explain why I didn't think it was that surprising that some people would think that way.

--

I don't think anybody is "being dumb" for not knowing about a particular video game franchise or character, or for mistaking one for being a bigger pull than another. Of course, if they don't get their facts straight before saying things then they are liable to being corrected, but that's just a mistake of acting on assumption or lack of thoroughness that anybody could easily make at one point. It's worth correcting to prevent misinformation, but it doesn't make them unintelligent.

Clearly I don't think every Smash player is a gaming historian if I think it's completely reasonable that they might not know something like Tekken, which you called a "juggernaut" franchise. You're right that without further evidence I shouldn't be making any big claims about which characters are most recognized by the Smash player base as a whole, but I don't think I really did anyway. While I can see how it would be interpreted otherwise, I only meant to refer to a subset of the fanbase (of unspecified size) that exclusively or mostly plays Nintendo games.

 

[Garteam]

Big Boss needs to be an echo fighter. I know most of Snake's moveset is themed around MGS 1 and 2, but I don't care. He's too cool not to include.

 

[fogbadge]

I don’t mind not using music specific to the Disney worlds, but at the same time, that’s even less of an excuse to only use KH1 music. If I could pick about 50 KH tracks to use, this would be my list (bold denotes a track that would be remixed; some fanmade remixes will be used as examples)

1. Dearly Beloved
2. Destati
3. Night of Fate
4. Destiny’s Force
5. Shrouding Dark Cloud
6. Blast Away! ~Gummi Ship Medley~
7. Squirming Evil
8. Hand in Hand (New remix + the victory theme version)
9. The Deep End
10. Scherzo di Notte
11. Forze del Male
12. Fragments of Sorrow
13. Disappeared
14. Another Side
15. The 13th Struggle
16. Lord of the Castle
17. Tension Rising
18. Sinister Sundown /
19. Working Together
20. Desire for All That is Lost
21. Rowdy Rumble
22. Vim and Vigor
23. The Encounter
24. The 13th Dilemma
25. A Fight to the Death
26. Darkness of the Unknown
27. The Other Promise
28. Rage Awakened
29. Fate of the Unknown
30. Critical Drive
31. Vector to the Heavens
32. Enter the Darkness
33. The Tumbling
34. Unforgettable
35. Black Powder
36. Dismiss
37. Master, Tell Me the Truth
38. Hunter of the Dark
39. No More Bugs!!
40. Dream Eaters
41. UNTAMABLE
42. Majestic Wings
43. L’Impeto Oscuro
44. L’Impeto Oscuro / Wave of Darkness
45. Wave of Darkness
46. Anger Unchained
47. Eye of the Storm
48. Rise of the Union
49. Forza Finale
50. Nachtflügel

only 50? at least you have the encounter one of the most epic boss themes out there

 

[dezeray112]

I kind of feel the same way about Terry. He's a character with an incredibly rich legacy, spanning 30 years and ongoing. He's a symbol used to represent the company that owns him. And he provides neo geo representation. He's pretty much the ideal third party, but he existed outside the smash speculation bubble, so people question his inclusion, which I find kind of baffling.

I believe Terry Bogard is considered as one of the most well known and popular characters within the SNK franchise which (coming from someone who has been interested in fighting games franchises for a very long time) I kind of understood why he was chosen for Smash.

I began to know several of the SNK characters including Terry when I first played Capcom Vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millenium 2001 and King of Fighters: Maximum Impact.

 

[Gengar84]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

 

[fogbadge]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

hmm always an interesting question though I haven’t played many fighting games cause they’re not always easy to get into. Apart from smash the series I played the most of is soul calibur so my pick would be my favourite from that Kilik

 

[Gengar84]

hmm always an interesting question though I haven’t played many fighting games cause they’re not always easy to get into. Apart from smash the series I played the most of is soul calibur so my pick would be my favourite from that Kilik

Yeah, I love the idea of fighting games and there’s a ton of cool characters but I don’t play too many because I’m not great at them. On the SNES, I owned Killer Instinct, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Super Street Fighter 2, and Mortal Kombat 3. Since then, I pretty much stuck with Smash and Soul Calibur until someone bought me Killer Instinct (2013) on the PC last year.

 

[DynamicSmasher]

I'm a bit late to the party, but yeah the people that went "who?" at Kazuya were kind of telling on themselves a little bit. I can understand having never played Tekken, but I can't fathom not having heard of it. And then there were the people who once again got upset about a traditional fighting game character being in Smash. Not a majority of course, but the same folks you'd expect to take issue with it.

I've never really understood why this specific genre is a point of controversy. Like yeah, silly people will complain about "RPGs" (a ridiculously broad label to complain about characters from) but that's always been more of a joke (and taken as seriously as one even when it's not) than anything else. But then with traditional fighters there's this talking point of them "not belonging" or whatever. Again, it's not a majority opinion or anything, but one I see bizarrely frequently. What makes them belong any less than the countless other genres represented in Smash?

Fighting game characters? There's always been some degree of bad blood between traditional FGC players and Smash Bros players, so it's not super surprising that it extends to distaste for FGC players in Smash. It's not really right, and it gets a little overblown by the internet(considering there is, indeed some overlap in the fanbases), but we're on the internet, so...

As far as Persona music goes I wish we got the fighting game version of Reach out for the truth

It's annoying that they went specifically with KH1 music when KH2 is where all the bangers started to show up in KH games.

It's a real shame that no spin-off music gets used in Smash besides from the Mario ones. I would really love some of the Pokemon Spin-off music, like the boss theme from super mystery dungeon

Or even the Boss Theme from Learn from Pokemon: Typing Adventure

 

[Gengar84]

Fighting game characters? There's always been some degree of bad blood between traditional FGC players and Smash Bros players, so it's not super surprising that it extends to distaste for FGC players in Smash. It's not really right, and it gets a little overblown by the internet(considering there is, indeed some overlap in the fanbases), but we're on the internet, so...


It's a real shame that no spin-off music gets used in Smash besides from the Mario ones. I would really love some of the Pokemon Spin-off music, like the boss theme from super mystery dungeon

Or even the Boss Theme from Learn from Pokemon: Typing Adventure

Totally. The Warriors spin-offs have great music too. Here are some of my favorites:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

 

[osby]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter - partially because I'm really curious about how Sakurai would handle adapting such a grounded take on 3D fighting games to Smash.

Also, not happening but Sion from Melty Blood would be pretty fun.

 

[Wonder Smash]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

For a new Street Fighter character, I think it would be Chun-Li.

For a new series, it could be either Mortal Kombat, Guilty Gear, or Soul Calibur.

However, I believe there's a good chance ASW would be one of the new companies for the next game and there's no doubt in my mind that Sol Badguy would be a rep for that company if that happens.

 

[FazDude]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

Gimme someone from Skullgirls. I’d prefer Peacock or Squigly (especially the latter since she’s my main), but just about anyone else would do (with enough design censoring in some cases, heh).

As for existing franchises, I’d love another SF rep.

 

[Perkilator]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

I know it would’ve been extra difficult but I would’ve loved to see Iori Yagami and Nakoruru as part of Terry’s Challenger Pack.

 

[Sucumbio]

I'd love for them to upgrade Akira to playable.

I'd also love the addition of any MK, KI or SC fighter, these would be dope. I would be most pleased with Scorpion, Orchid and Mitsurugi respectively.

I'd be super psyched for King from Tekken... SF, Chun-Li.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Tbh this Kazuya discussion does make me think about which characters become bigger pop culture icons then their source material, and which ones it effects. Like I don't think someone needs to have played a Kirby game to know who Kirby is, but I don't think there's a lot of people who know who say - Sheik is if they haven't learned about her through playing Smash/OoT directly despite Ocarina of Time being a huge deal in the gaming landscape. And of course I think there's probably more people out there who know what a Pikmin is then know who Captain Olimar is, especially if my mom is anything to go by.

I've definitely heard of Tekken before it got put in Smash, and I'd probably seen or heard of Kazuya a number of times without it really sticking. I'd probably seen a meme of him dropping someone off a cliff before but that might just be the mendela effect idk. I feel like he's a character you have to actually play Tekken to really appreciate. But as someone who never played fighting games, do you know who I did know from Tekken?

No, it wasn't Heihachi.

It was this freaking bear.

This, of course, is just a personal anecdote. And I am a Nintendo baby who actually does live under a rock and can't afford to go multiplat. And I certainly don't mean to imply the bear would actually be a better pick.

But Tekken has a bit of a reputation among non fighting game fans as that crazy game where you can play as a bear or a kangaroo. And then of course there's Lucky Chloe.

Freaking Chloe. The one Tekken character outside of Kazuya/Heihachi by name, all due to the rediculous controversy around her.

Actually you know what they should've made Lucky Chloe the playable Tekken rep, I'd like to see the fallout. /j


Anyway uh yeah, there's not really a point to this post. I guess it's to show that there's more nuance to a Smash pick then how well known (or marketable) a character is, and to a character's marketability beyond game sales. Putting a martial artist bear into Smash would have certainly garnered a lot of attention from non-Tekken fans but I think a lot of actual Tekken players would probably agree Kazuya makes more sense. But it does sadly mean we'll probably never get the legendary Banjo vs Kuma (appearently his name is Kuma) match up.

On that note I'd have no idea who Banjo and Kazooie were if it weren't for Smash fans either, but I'd certainly still be familiar with Dragon Quest at least as the game with the cute little slime guy.

 

[Soy_Man]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next?

Baby Bonnie Hood from Darkstalkers. It would be funny. If they can't put in Morrigan, then I don't really know what character should represent the series.

 

[Perkilator]

Baby Bonnie Hood from Darkstalkers. It would be funny. If they can't put in Morrigan, then I don't really know what character should represent the series.

Well, Jedah Dohma is another option as long as they tone down the blood.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next? Here are some of mine:

Fulgore
Black Orchid
Hisako
Glacius
Sub-Zero
Scorpion
Nightmare
Astaroth
Sol Badguy
Hakumen
Susanoo
Guile
Vega
Cammy
Jin Kazama

My top three would be Fulgore, Sub-Zero, and Nightmare.

As a big Mortal kombat fans I have to say Scorpion, but Sub-Zero would be fun too. If they want to go with a even more crazy pick I think Shao Kahn would be an amazing vilain rep.

Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter - partially because I'm really curious about how Sakurai would handle adapting such a grounded take on 3D fighting games to Smash.

Also, not happening but Sion from Melty Blood would be pretty fun.

If they add a Virtua fighter rep, I'd rather have Kage Maru or Pai Chan personally. I don't know, Akira is just very boring imo even for the series standard.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see?

Morrigan [Darkstalkers]
Nightmare [Soulcalibur]
Nakoruru [Samurai Shodown]
Sol Badguy [Guilty Gear]
Scorpion [Mortal Kombat]
King Hippo [Punch-Out]
M. Bison [Street Fighter]

Big Boss needs to be an echo fighter.

Nah man. Liquid.

 

[osby]

If they add a Virtua fighter rep, I'd rather have Kage Maru or Pai Chan personally. I don't know, Akira is just very boring imo even for the series standard.

Fair, I'm just a sucker for Bajiquan fighters and I like how he's widely considered to be one of the hardest characters in VF to master despite being the face lmao

 

[fogbadge]

Tbh this Kazuya discussion does make me think about which characters become bigger pop culture icons then their source material, and which ones it effects. Like I don't think someone needs to have played a Kirby game to know who Kirby is, but I don't think there's a lot of people who know who say - Sheik is if they haven't learned about her through playing Smash/OoT directly despite Ocarina of Time being a huge deal in the gaming landscape. And of course I think there's probably more people out there who know what a Pikmin is then know who Captain Olimar is, especially if my mom is anything to go by.

I've definitely heard of Tekken before it got put in Smash, and I'd probably seen or heard of Kazuya a number of times without it really sticking. I'd probably seen a meme of him dropping someone off a cliff before but that might just be the mendela effect idk. I feel like he's a character you have to actually play Tekken to really appreciate. But as someone who never played fighting games, do you know who I did know from Tekken?

No, it wasn't Heihachi.

It was this freaking bear.

This, of course, is just a personal anecdote. And I am a Nintendo baby who actually does live under a rock and can't afford to go multiplat. And I certainly don't mean to imply the bear would actually be a better pick.

But Tekken has a bit of a reputation among non fighting game fans as that crazy game where you can play as a bear or a kangaroo. And then of course there's Lucky Chloe.

Freaking Chloe. The one Tekken character outside of Kazuya/Heihachi by name, all due to the rediculous controversy around her.

Actually you know what they should've made Lucky Chloe the playable Tekken rep, I'd like to see the fallout. /j


Anyway uh yeah, there's not really a point to this post. I guess it's to show that there's more nuance to a Smash pick then how well known (or marketable) a character is, and to a character's marketability beyond game sales. Putting a martial artist bear into Smash would have certainly garnered a lot of attention from non-Tekken fans but I think a lot of actual Tekken players would probably agree Kazuya makes more sense. But it does sadly mean we'll probably never get the legendary Banjo vs Kuma (appearently his name is Kuma) match up.

On that note I'd have no idea who Banjo and Kazooie were if it weren't for Smash fans either, but I'd certainly still be familiar with Dragon Quest at least as the game with the cute little slime guy.

see now that’s the kind of fighter we should have. that’s what I like about platform fighters the crazy characters. sure traditional fighters still have crazy characters but with platforms they’re practically obligated to

also correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there three bears in tekken?

 

[Rie Sonomura]

while playing pikmin i found myself wondering: how many parents do we have among the fighters?

Depending on if you consider F-Zero Maximum Velocity to be canon, Kent Akechi, a racer in MV, claims to be Captain Falcon’s son

 

[osby]

see now that’s the kind of fighter we should have. that’s what I like about platform fighters the crazy characters. sure traditional fighters still have crazy characters but with platforms they’re practically obligated to

also correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there three bears in tekken?

Yeah, I wish our Tekken rep was something crazy like a human/demon hybrid who can fly and shoot laser beams from his eye

 

[CapitaineCrash]

see now that’s the kind of fighter we should have. that’s what I like about platform fighters the crazy characters. sure traditional fighters still have crazy characters but with platforms they’re practically obligated to

also correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there three bears in tekken?

There's 2 bear, their both called Kuma, there's also a Panda.

Tbh Kuma is funny design wise but moveset there's nothing crazy about him. He's just a regular bear that can fight. That's his whole gimmick. I don't think he would have been that interesting in Smash. Like Osby said, Kazuya is way more crazy. If you want crazier Tekken characters there's Yoshimitsu or Alisa that could have been very fun too for example.

Edit: Design wise I think the most iconic Tekken characters is probably King actually. I know many people who never played Tekken but can recognise his iconic Tiger mask.

 

[Gengar84]

see now that’s the kind of fighter we should have. that’s what I like about platform fighters the crazy characters. sure traditional fighters still have crazy characters but with platforms they’re practically obligated to

also correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there three bears in tekken?

Yeah, I’m a big fan of really unique looking nonhuman characters. My preferences tend to lean a bit more towards a dark fantasy vibe rather than cheery animal mascots but there’s plenty of room for both. I love characters like Illidan, Raziel, and Death because they are so unique and cool looking and stand out quite a lot from the characters we have already. That’s another reason I like the Battletoads as a beat ‘em up rep. Their designs really stand out and have really exaggerated attacks and expressions that fit so well in a game like Smash.

There are definitely a lot of really cool and unique characters from fighting games like the ones I mentioned earlier. That’s one thing I really like about Killer Instinct. About half the characters are some kind of monster or robot so the designs really stand out for me. It’s cool how everyone has their own opinions on what’s cool to them and I don’t think there are too many Smash fans that share my tastes.

 

[fogbadge]

Yeah, I wish our Tekken rep was something crazy like a human/demon hybrid who can fly and shoot laser beams from his eye

sounds so token how much trouble am I in if I call him a humanoid Ridley?

 

[Gengar84]

sounds so token how much trouble am I in if I call him a humanoid Ridley?

Not that Illidan has much a shot in the first place but Kazuya reminds me a lot of him. Both have purple demonic winged transformations and both can fire lasers from their eyes. I wonder if Kazuya’s presence kills any slim chance Illidan might have had. Illidan does have very unique bladed weapons so that’s one thing that sets the two apart since Kazuya fights hand to hand. Kazuya’s cool though and I’m glad to have him. Worst case scenario, he makes for a great base for an Illidan mod.

 

[Soy_Man]

sounds so token how much trouble am I in if I call him a humanoid Ridley?

I say Ridley is a dripless Kazuya.

 

[ARandomFruit]

Since we’re on the topic of fighting game reps in Smash, what other fighting game characters would you like to see? Who do you feel is most likely to be next?

Most of the FGC I want are just characters I main in other fighting games.
so the list would probably be like
Ky kiske (Guilty Gear)
M. Bison (Street Fighter)
Yoshimitsu (Tekken)
K' (King of Fighters)

The only one I want that I don't play would be Sol badguy.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Design wise I think the most iconic Tekken characters is probably King actually. I know many people who never played Tekken but can recognise his iconic Tiger mask.

Oh yeah King, I could've definitely recognized him before Smash.

It was a bit of a brainfart for me to not include him in my original write up, but I guess he wouldn't have proved my point as well. I think people probably would've liked King in Smash but I guess we already got Incineroar this same Smash game as an homage to that same tiger masked wrestler trope.