Gengar84
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Messages
- 6,581
This is a pretty unique roster list. I’m happy to see Sephiroth brought back because most lists I’ve seen dropped him and he’s my favorite Smash character. It would definitely be a change in direction to get so many characters from a single third party franchise in one game but I generally like all of them so I wouldn’t be mad at that. Zero’s on my list of characters I’d love to see and others like X, Knuckles, Alucard, and more would be cool too. My only contention is that I think it would be fun to vary up the Persona reps a bit other than three main avatar characters. It’s not likely but my favorites from each game are Mitsuru, Kanji, and Makoto Niijima (Queen). I feel like Aigis would be a solid rep for Persona 3 because she had the whole FES expansion centered around her and she had a pretty big role in Persona 4 Arena.I decided to try my hand at making a Smash 6 roster:
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[spoilers= General Ideas Behind the Roster]
[/spoilers]
- The two main goals when making this roster were 1. make it realistic and 2. make it so people wouldn't view it as a clear downgrade relative to Ultimate.
- I limited myself to 50 veterans, not counting any echo fighters or the Miis (mostly because they're more like a mechanic than conventional fighters at this point).
- When choosing veterans, I prioritized recognizability, fan favourite status inside and outside of Smash, characters that repped their own franchises, unique playstyles, and characters that could be ported from Ultimate with minimal changes (a lot of Ultimate's newcomers returned for this reason).
- I wanted the number of unique newcomers to fall somewhere below what Brawl and Smash for's base game brought while being above what Melee and Ultimate's base game brought. I landed on 14 unique newcomers, which is still a little high side but still within the realm of reason.
- I wanted every newcomer to be an exciting addition that would generally get people excited.
[spoilers= Veterans]
[/spoilers]
- Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Link, Zelda, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Marth, Pit, Shulk, Villager, Inkling, and Olimar don't really need any explanation.
- Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Dr. Mario, and Piranha Plant didn't make the cut in the interest of not filling the roster with Mario characters. I feel pretty bad about cutting Rosalina and Bowser Jr. in particular because they are popular are far as Mario characters go and they have unique playstyles for Smash.
- I considered cutting K. Rool, but he was such a massive request prior to Ultimate, he's relatively popular among the casual crowd, he's pretty unique for a heavy due to his focus on projectiles, and Donkey Kong could use the representation.
- Ganondorf is kind of a no-brainer, but I'd ideally like to see him diversified more. I really considered cutting Sheik because of her very minor role in the greater Zelda series, but she's so popular amongst the Smash fanbase that I figured she could be grandfathered in and I didn't want Zelda to just have the main three. The Little Links didn't make it in the interest of adding more unique characters.
- I was really torn between Ridley and Zero Suit Samus, but I opted to go with Ridley in the interest of having the series' main antagonist over an alternate form of Samus. Plus, it'd be kind of depressing for Ridley to be cut after his first entry in the series following a 17-year campaign to get the guy in.
- Cutting Meta Knight felt like sacrilege, but King Dedede was prioritized over him due to having a more major role in the Kirby series and a more unique moveset. If I could add one more veteran, Meta Knight would be second in line behind a character that I'll cover later.
- StarFox was a series I deliberated a lot on. I considered keeping all three, keeping Fox and Wolf, and just keeping Fox at one point. I decided to choose Falco due to his status as an icon of the Smash series and his popularity in Melee and Brawl. I still feel pretty bad about cutting Wolf due to how much of an impact he's made in Ultimate.
- Keeping Pokemon Trainer could be considered cheating because he's technically three characters in one, but he's one of the most iconic characters on the roster to a general audience, the trio of Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard are pretty amazing as far as Pokemon reps go, and Ultimate really hit a bull's eye in their implementation, which not only made the character popular but makes them relatively easy to port over with few changes.
- I opted to go with Mewtwo and Lucario for the remaining Pokemon slots due to both characters being iconic, popular in the Pokemon series, and their frequent appearances in merchandise. Greninja almost made the cut for similar reasons, but Mewtwo and Lucario feel just a cut above Greninja in this regard (even if Greninja did outperform them on the Pokemon of the Year poll). I'd still like to see Lucario reworked so he doesn't feel like a floaty mess.
- Jigglypuff was hands down the hardest cut in this roster simply because she's a member of the original 12. However, I didn't want to flood the returning vets roster with Pokemon and Jigglypuff is relatively unremarkable in her home series. I cut Pichu and Incineroar for similar reasons. If I had another slot remaining, I'd fill it with the Puff.
- Ness and Captain Falcon are too popular within the Smash series and their series are too fondly remembered to seriously consider getting rid of them. Lucas was largely a victim of the 50-character limit, as I wanted to include a wider range of playstyles and Mother still has Ness.
- Deciding which retro reps to keep was the toughest choice I had to make in this roster, as there's a pretty strong argument for all of their inclusions. I decided to limit myself to 2 characters from this category, as any more would force me to dip into secondary characters from active series and the third parties that would otherwise make the cut. I decided to keep Mr. Game & Watch and Little Mac. G&W has become something of a Smash staple and the revamp that he got in Ultimate really makes him feel actualized in both his playstyle and appearance, which makes him relatively easy to port. Little Mac is probably a somewhat controversial choice, but Punch-Out's extensive legacy (seriously, how many references did it get in the Mario movie), Little Mac's unique playstyle, and the fact that Punch-Out is a series rather than a singular release like many of the other retro reps led me to prioritize him.
- Ice Climbers, R.O.B., and Duck Hunt were all considered, but I opted to go with Little Mac and G&W for the reasons above.
- Fire Emblem was also a really tough series to decide. Ike seemed the most obvious inclusion (behind Marth) due to his unique moveset, the popularity of the Tellius games in the Fire Emblem fanbase, Ike's popularity in both Fire Emblem and Smash, and his prominence in Ultimate's marketing. I really struggled to decide between Robin and Byleth, but I opted to go with Byleth in the interest of representing Three Houses, Byleth's popularity in Ultimate's competitive scene, and because Awakening already has a rep in Lucina. I did consider bringing Roy back, but I opted to go with the Fire Emblem characters that have more unique movesets. Corrin just wasn't popular enough to include.
- I considered bringing Palutena back due to her unique moveset, but Kid Icarus didn't have enough priority over other series to get a second rep.
- Pyra/Mythra are popular in Smash and Xenoblade, they have a pretty unique moveset, and Xenoblade is definitely big enough for a second rep, so they stayed.
- Isabelle almost made the roster, but I cut her due to her somewhat unpopular playstyle in Smash and her somewhat diminished role in the Animal Crossing series relative to in the Wii U and 3DS era.
- I heavily considered Wii Fit Trainer and Min Min, but they both hail from series with somewhat dubious futures and are relatively unpopular in Smash (although they are not without their fans)
- I decided to bring back most of the DLC characters from Ultimate, simply because they all have a lot of merit behind their inclusions.
- The exceptions to this trend were Hero and Sora, both because they seem to have additional licensing issues that most other third parties don't have (Hero's issues with Sugiyama's music and Sora happening by the skin of his teeth in Ultimate, although it remains to be seen if things change) and in the interest of not completely filling the returning vets with DLC characters.
- If I had 10 more slots, I would add Jigglypuff, Meta Knight, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Robin, Greninja, Zero Suit Samus, Ice Climbers, Hero, and Sora.
[spoilers= Newcomers]
[/spoilers]
- Waluigi - Arguably the most requested character of the post-Ultimate period, he's the most notable Mario character to not have been in Smash after Toad, and his personality gives him a lot of moveset potential.
- Bandana Waddle Dee - His role in the Kirby series and his popularity as a Smash candidate only continues to increase, his source material perfectly tailors him to have an easy-to-envision and unique Smash moveset, and he has limited competition in both his home series and among other popular first-party characters.
- Meowscarada - Pokemon's newest gen always gets a character, it seems like the Springattio line will have a major role in the new season of the anime, and a moveset based around grass-type attacks and sleight-of-hand tricks could be a lot of fun.
- Octoling - While Octoling could be an echo fighter, Splatoon is big enough of a series to justify a second unique fighter and Splatoons 2 and 3 added enough new weapons for Octoling to be distinct from Inkling
- Ring Fit Adventurer - Ring Fit Adventure is Nintendo's most successful new IP from the Switch era and the combination of utilizing the ring and her exercise-based attacks would allow her to be a fun and distinct successor to the Wii Fit Trainer.
- Geno - He's incredibly popular, he's got a unique basis for a moveset, and he's finally back in the limelight with the Super Mario RPG remake.
- Tails and Knuckles - I'm covering these two together because there's a lot of overlap in the reasons behind their inclusion. I put a lot of emphasis on filling out the supporting casts of third-party franchises, as this is an easy way to get a lot of big newcomers that catch eyes into Smash without blowing up the game's licensing budget. Sonic is an incredibly popular franchise, he's the sole third-party character to appear in every Smash game featuring non-Nintendo characters, and his new movie franchise has introduced the series to a new, wider audience. So, I think two newcomers from Sonic isn't that out there. Tails and Knuckles seem like two of the most obvious candidates for this role given their legacy in the Sonic games, their major roles in the second Sonic Movie, and the way that you could juxtapose an aerial and ground-focused moveset between the two of them. While I also considered Eggman as a Sonic newcomer, I ended up liking the combination of Tails and Knuckles more than Tails or Knuckles and Eggman.
- X - I imagine this will be the most controversial newcomer, but I think X deserves a spot for a couple of reasons. Mega Man is a massive franchise with a strong legacy and it has received a ton of content in Smash between Smash for and Ultimate. So, I don't think two newcomers are necessarily that out there. X is the most popular and iconic version of the blue bomber after Mega Man himself and he's the protagonist of X1, which is up there with 2 as one of the most celebrated, popular, and iconic games in the Mega Man series. Additionally, X himself has a relatively easy-to-envision moveset, based around a glass cannon playstyle with strong movement options, a sea of projectiles, and the ability to charge his weapons for powerful mix-ups while being light and having very options for close combat.
- Zero - He's an incredibly popular and important character in the greater Mega Man series that is slowly building up support as a Smash candidate. He's also got a tailor-made moveset for Smash and he'd fit in incredibly well alongside X, given the Mega Man X series' emphasis on X and Zero's bond.
- Chun-Li - She's the first lady of fighting games, Street Fighter is seeing a renaissance with the success of Street Fighter VI, and she's slowly gaining support in Smash speculation.
- Alucard - Much like with Mega Man, Castlevania is a massive name that has received a ton of content in Smash. Alucard seems like a no-brainer for the next Castlevania character. He's incredibly popular and important in his home series, he has a ton of moveset potential, Symphony of the Night is simultaneously one of the most popular games in the series and a crown jewel of the PS1's library, and Sakurai has even considered him in the past.
- Yu - Persona's explosion in popularity since the release of 5 and Joker's insane popularity as a character in Ultimate definitely justifies getting a second Persona character. Yu seems like the most obvious edition, being the protagonist of the most popular entry in the series behind 5. Plus, while Joker focused on Persona's dichotomous gameplay system through alternating between a resource-gathering phase and a combat-focused phase, Yu could represent Persona's combat systems by augmenting his attacks through switching through a handful of Persona (probably Izanagi, Jack Frost, and Jack O' Lantern for a electric-ice-fire trio).
- Bomberman - Between the assist trophy and the deluxe Mii costume, he seems like a very strong candidate for the next Smash. Plus, he's from a series with a ton of legacy and his abilities lend themselves well to a fun, trap-based moveset.
- Crash - Due to the number of third party series I brought back, I decided to limit myself to only one fully new series. I opted to go for Crash, as he was the popular character during Ultimate's DLC era that didn't get anything in the main game.
[spoilers= Echo fighters]
[/spoilers]
- I opted to bring back most of the echo fighters from Ultimate, as most of them require little dev time and there's really no reason not to include them.
- Chrom was the exception to this trend, as Roy himself was not brought back.
- Dixie was included as a Diddy echo as an easy way to pad out the number of Donkey Kong characters. Ideally, she'd have unique throws and her Up-B would be replaced with a variation of Spinning Kong.
- I'm honestly surprised that Shadow didn't make it as an echo fighter in Ultimate given the fact he's a Sonic clone in SA2, Heroes, and Forces. So, I decided to add him here. He'd be slightly slower than Sonic, but would hit harder and have a teleporting Up-B to compensate.
- Jin is probably the biggest stretch to make an echo fighter, but I think it could work if you primarily based Jin off of his Tekken 3 appearance and his ability to swap with Devil Jin in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, similar to how Ken is primarily based on SFII so he could echo Ryu. Kazuya's newer moves could also be swapped with some of Jin's moves from Tekken 4 onwards.
- Big Boss was added both to get a second Metal Gear rep in, to promote the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, and because Big Boss is the second most important character in the series after Snake himself. His trapping moves would be worse than Snake's, but his physical attacks would be better because of his association with CQC.
- Makoto was added to represent the three Persona games that Atlus loves to promote and to promote the Persona 3 remake. He would swap Jack O'Latern for Orpheus and Izanagi for Pixie respectively.
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