Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[GoldenYuiitusin]

I have to wonder if it's a matter of the Pokemon Company specifically requesting not to do Digimon since its like their rival series, if Namco doesn't want to do it, or what. It's a notable series that's just weird not to have some form of representation.

Doubt it.

Namco Bandai admittedly doesn't handle the series well, so a lack of representation is likely more on their end than anything else.

 

[dream1ng]

People who wanted to play as Chrom didn't give up. People who wanted to play as Decidueye/Mimikyu/Lycanroc did.

Even if those characters still had a lot of demand their chances would be pretty poor. It's not going to outweigh the promotional aspect, so you'd have to hope for multiple original Pokemon newcomers, with one of those three being demanded enough to clinch the spot over the rest of the series.

Chrom wouldn't have gotten included had he necessitated an original moveset. None of the echoes would've. People still haven't given up on Lyn, and look at all that's done.

 

[Guynamednelson]

so you'd have to hope for multiple original Pokemon newcomers

well pokemon reps WERE a lot better back when we got two per game

 

[ninjahmos]

If Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia ever gets into Smash, they should give him a new remix of Fatalize. His stage could be the Tower of Salvation.

Another Namco rep that I think would be interesting might be The Prince of All Cosmos (Katamari). Just imagine Smash remixes of Katamari On The Rocks, The Moon & The Prince, Lonely Rolling Star, Katamari On The Swing, etc.

 

[dream1ng]

I have to wonder if it's a matter of the Pokemon Company specifically requesting not to do Digimon since its like their rival series, if Namco doesn't want to do it, or what. It's a notable series that's just weird not to have some form of representation.

Digimon hasn't been a real rival to Pokemon for over 20 years, if ever. Agumon in Smash isn't going to affect the bottom line of Pokemon games.

What TPC would demand they not put in Smash is Palworld.

 

[fogbadge]

I have to wonder if it's a matter of the Pokemon Company specifically requesting not to do Digimon since its like their rival series, if Namco doesn't want to do it, or what. It's a notable series that's just weird not to have some form of representation.

i really fail to see why. i mean surely by this logic they wouldn't let tekken in

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I have to wonder if it's a matter of the Pokemon Company specifically requesting not to do Digimon since its like their rival series, if Namco doesn't want to do it, or what. It's a notable series that's just weird not to have some form of representation.

Nah, it's just that Bandai Namco doesnt give a **** about Digimon.

sigh

If Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia ever gets into Smash, they should give him a new remix of Fatalize. His stage could be the Tower of Salvation.

Another Namco rep that I think would be interesting might be The Prince of All Cosmos (Katamari). Just imagine Smash remixes of Katamari On The Rocks, The Moon & The Prince, Lonely Rolling Star, Katamari On The Swing, etc.

I think SRW would mak for a good Namco series to add to Smash, just for the novelty of having another one of the biggest crossover series in gaming clash in smash brothers.

The original music tracks in these games are nothing but bangers too.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

I know that Skyrim is one of the few Western games that really hit it big in Japan, both commercially and critically. It’s the first Western game to receive a perfect Famitsu score, followed by GTA V and Ghost of Tsushima. Among these games, Elder Scrolls definitely feels like the most realistic addition to Smash, but really struggles by not really having an obvious distinct character to add. The Dragonborn feels a bit too much like a blank slate in terms of personality, gameplay and appearance.

I feel like Skyrim kind of "miss the boat" a bit. I wouldn't 100% sleep on it because I know how influential the game was and still is today thanks to a healty mod community, but I see little reason to go for Dragonborn when Doom slayer is at this point most requested and way more relevant among Bethesda picks, and that's not even talking about other Microsoft picks in genereal.

I wonder which Pokemon in Smash would have still be highly requested if they hadn't made it in sooner? I feel like people do want to play as those characters... I mean, I still think Mimikyu is a really cool idea at least. But with Pokemon especially it must feel like kind of a lost cause to keep whining about it, and even more than Fire Emblem these characters get muddled into a sea of like 20 other Pokemon you'd like to see playable.

If fans didn't give up on Decidueye for example, would they still be a strong candidate for a future title? TPC and Sakurai will always barter for someone brand new first, and with the exception of Pokemon Trainer legacy picks have not had very much luck. Even the return of Mewtwo, maybe the most apparent example of Pokemon demand detached from their prime, had to be delayed to DLC in Smash 4. So I have to doubt much would come from it, and can understand why people just give up immediately until remakes or recently the Legends series decide to focus on whatever generation / Pokemon again.

The most compelling question to me is whether or not we'd be hearing requests for Lucario today if he didn't make it into Brawl. For how prominent and popular they've remained over the years I can imagine it feeling like a more striking absence, but I also think a Pokemon's presence in Smash does a number on their longevity by proxy.

Personally I don't think past genereations Pokémon really have a strong chances in Smash. Take Fire emblem for example, Lyn is a fairly big request since Brawl's era, but she still haven't joined. Chrom was the big exception of a older characters making it in a future titles trough request, but my guess is that he wouldn't have make it if it wasn't for the fact that he's an echo fighter.

Edit: I guess you could make a case for Lucario in Smash 4 since he got a brand new mega evolution at the time, but assuming there was only one spot for Pokémon I don't think he would have taken Greninja spot either way.

There isn't any proof, it was just a false rumor pushed around by fans. It also makes no sense as it's one of their most popular franchises and one of its directors is the son of the company owner, so there's very little reason to believe it when the easier solution is just that they worked out something that the team would (perhaps begrudgingly) allow.

No it's not a false rumor, there's actually an interview that says that the team of MVC3 wanted Monster hunter in the game, but the Monster hunter team didn't want at the time because they thought it wasn't a good fit for the game. Source

 

[dream1ng]

I feel like Skyrim kind of "miss the boat" a bit. I wouldn't 100% sleep on it because I know how influential the game was and still is today thanks to a healty mod community, but I see little reason to go for Dragonborn when Doom slayer is at this point most requested and way more relevant among Bethesda picks, and that's not even talking about other Microsoft picks in genereal.

Because Skyrim isn't incredibly niche in Japan like Doom is, and a goal of including third-parties is recognition. Which is why we've barely received any who don't resonate globally. Most third-parties don't get in due to fanbase demand anyway, they get in due to just being prolific.

Also, Skyrim is an older game now (not that that's stopped third-parties), but Elder Scrolls as a series isn't, like, dormant (not that that's stopped third-parties either). Plus Skyrim is always getting re-released in new packages, so it is still "relevant" to Bethesda, fwiw.

Plus Skyrim by itself has sold 60 million copies; it will be perennially qualified.

Dragonborn isn't my MS character of choice but I do think they're incredibly slept on as a candidate.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Its been established that Sakurai's a big fan of them.

 

[Perkilator]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Well, we know KoF is the game that inspired Sakurai and thus indirectly got him on the map, so at the very least I can say Terry was chosen out of appreciation for SNK.

 

[Curious Villager]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Isn't Sakurai known to be like, a massive Persona and Fatal Fury fan? Even going as far as having Smash itself inspired by Fatal Fury (or was it King of Fighters?) after he beat someone in a tourney and having Ultimate's menu's inspired by Persona 5 or something?

 

[CatTastic]

1) Eevee would go with Rival trainer from Yellow version as the lightweight.
2) Exeggutor as the midweight.
3) Arcanine or Blastoise as the heavyweight.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Collaborative relationship with Atlus (which yes is a subsidiary of Sega now but still) and SNK.

 

[Ivander]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

I'm positive Fatal Fury was somewhat a personal pick for Sakurai. Sakurai says Nintendo is mainly the one who decided the Fighters' Pass characters, but with how much Sakurai loved Fatal Fury and how much he talked regarding the Terry Showcase, I wouldn't be surprised if either Nintendo asked him, "What character you do personally want?" or those at Nintendo who personally knew Sakurai and his likes chose Terry for Sakurai.

Persona and Joker could've somewhat been as well, since Sakurai did like Persona 5, but considering how huge and how much attention Persona 5 was getting still, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo chose it while people were still hyped regarding Persona 5, probably a "chosen at the right timing" similar to Fire Emblem Awakening.

 

[Schnee117]

The Chrom comparison falls flat when Chrom still saw consistent use after Awakening (if anything, he got overused with how he got like 4 alts in Feh within the span of little over a year alongside being in Fates dlc and being featured in Warriors) and had an easy echo base to use in the form of Roy.

Lyn and Black Knight haven't shown up for a reason and Edelgard will (unfortunately) almost assuredly join those ranks.

The most compelling question to me is whether or not we'd be hearing requests for Lucario today if he didn't make it into Brawl. For how prominent and popular they've remained over the years I can imagine it feeling like a more striking absence, but I also think a Pokemon's presence in Smash does a number on their longevity by proxy.

The same question would be especially interesting for Mewtwo and Charizard too. Yeah Mewtwo was very popular for Smash 4 but that's largely driven by it being in Melee and having to get cut from Brawl. Would there have been anywhere near as much noise however, if it wasn't in Smash before?

Smash has largely nailed down the evergreen 'Mons I feel. I think it'd take Sakurai wanting to deliberately go back and add an older Pokemon to get something that isn't from the latest games, I also don't see it being Eevee when it doesn't have a compelling enough hook to go with it being the "last evergreen Pokemon"

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Persona 5 blew up and was everywhere in 2017, the series may not be large but Persona 5 absolutely was with its impact that goes far beyond raw game sales and awards show presence. Nintendo absolutely took notice of this, there's a reason Joker was the first DLC character and got a reveal at the game awards, I think people attribute a little too much to Sakurai Bias here but I do think it's something he probably made a bit of a push for too.

For Terry I think it's a mix of SNK being strong partners for Nintendo over the years, SNK being extremely easy to work with and a bit of Sakurai pulling for him. SNK are also a strong pillar of the fighting game genre. They're not huge like any of the big 3 and they've been taken over by ArcSys since but there's a very strong history and an old rivalry with Capcom there.

 

[dream1ng]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

I think why not AA or Bravely is in no small part due to if you're approaching Capcom or Square you might as well aim higher.

Why Persona and... I hesitate to say Fatal Fury, because it wasn't simply Fatal Fury, it was Terry being SNK's mascot, including being in both FF and KoF. But why those two specifically, who knows. Cost, wanting to build bridges/bring in new companies, bias, personal request, bargaining chips, amenability, someone dared Sakurai to do it, they picked names out of a hat, all we can do is guess.

 

[Golden Icarus]

Do you feel the same about Monster Hunter and Chosen Undead? I do wonder if that plays a part in them not being prioritized.

I know what you said was more or less the reason the Monster Hunter team shut down the idea of the Hunter being playable in MVC3. I don’t know if they changed their mind when MVCI was being developed of if the MVCI devs added the Hunter without consulting with the MH team. I remember hearing the latter was the case, but I don’t know of any proof of that.

I would guess that it does play some part. Despite Monster Hunter and Dark Souls being insanely popular I see them requested for Smash surprisingly rarely. "Blank slate" characters just make everything a bit more difficult because there isn't really much of a name or face or even playstyle to identify them with. The fact that Solaire is the more appealing choice to a lot of Dark Souls fans says a lot.

I'm sure characters like Chosen Undead can be added, but it's definitely a disadvantage.

I feel like Skyrim kind of "miss the boat" a bit. I wouldn't 100% sleep on it because I know how influential the game was and still is today thanks to a healty mod community, but I see little reason to go for Dragonborn when Doom slayer is at this point most requested and way more relevant among Bethesda picks, and that's not even talking about other Microsoft picks in genereal.

This is fair. But I would argue that despite Doom Slayer being more requested he's still way less of a Bethesda icon. Bethesda is known for Elder Scrolls and Fallout above all else and among every game they've released Skyrim is the most popular and it isn't close. Skyrim alone has sold 60 million copies compared to Doom's 10 million copies. And that's comparing the sales of a single game versus the sales of an entire series. Skyrim is dummy popular.

It's not a 1-to-1 comparison at all, but I think of Geno back in Smash 4 speculation. Geno was far and away the most requested Square character (at least in the West), with no other option being considered very seriously. But of course they added Cloud instead. The poster boy of the company's biggest franchise. And much like FF7, Skyrim might be over a decade old, but it's cemented in gaming history. I'm sure even 15 years from now when we have TES6 and TES7, we'll still probably be talking about Skyrim and the impact it had on gaming.

 

[CatTastic]

The Chrom comparison falls flat when Chrom still saw consistent use after Awakening (if anything, he got overused with how he got like 4 alts in Feh within the span of little over a year alongside being in Fates dlc and being featured in Warriors) and had an easy echo base to use in the form of Roy.

Lyn and Black Knight haven't shown up for a reason and Edelgard will (unfortunately) almost assuredly join those ranks.



The same question would be especially interesting for Mewtwo and Charizard too. Yeah Mewtwo was very popular for Smash 4 but that's largely driven by it being in Melee and having to get cut from Brawl. Would there have been anywhere near as much noise however, if it wasn't in Smash before?

Smash has largely nailed down the evergreen 'Mons I feel. I think it'd take Sakurai wanting to deliberately go back and add an older Pokemon to get something that isn't from the latest games, I also don't see it being Eevee when it doesn't have a compelling enough hook to go with it being the "last evergreen Pokemon"



Persona 5 blew up and was everywhere in 2017, the series may not be large but Persona 5 absolutely was with its impact that goes far beyond raw game sales and awards show presence. Nintendo absolutely took notice of this, there's a reason Joker was the first DLC character and got a reveal at the game awards, I think people attribute a little too much to Sakurai Bias here but I do think it's something he probably made a bit of a push for too.

For Terry I think it's a mix of SNK being strong partners for Nintendo over the years, SNK being extremely easy to work with and a bit of Sakurai pulling for him. SNK are also a strong pillar of the fighting game genre. They're not huge like any of the big 3 and they've been taken over by ArcSys since but there's a very strong history and an old rivalry with Capcom there.

This Pokémon thing is the most frustrating thing about Smash in my opinion. It'll never be settled and some folks are gonna come back cryin.

1000 too many spanning multiple generations.

 

[Laniv]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Sakurai is a big Persona fan, and a massive SNK fan. Terry's review trailer started with a history lesson on SNK and the Neo-Geo

 

[Scrimblo Bimblo]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Joker was probably chosen to represent a recent hit. Not to dismiss him, but it could have been 2B or someone else like that.
Terry I don't know, it could have been as simple as Nintendo/Sakurai wanting to boost the presence of classic fighting games in Smash past Ryu and Ken, if a Tekken character was still considered unworkable and Mortal Kombat is a no-go... Yeah Terry would be the best choice. A little more niche but still a classic character who fits in well.

 

[Speed Weed]

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Others can speak better on Joker than I can, but Terry's an interesting one. People always bring up Sakurai bias but Nintendo picked the DLC, plus I just generally never liked that argument - I feel it devalues these characters' genuine merits in attempt to rationalize why a smaller pick got in. If I'm looking at this purely from a Nintendo exec perspective, I feel like it's worth pointing out how the Neo Geo games on Arcade Archives were a big deal in the Switch's early days, so that might've helped spark an incentive to strengthen relationships - among potential other factors. Who knows.

 

[fogbadge]

Nah, it's just that Bandai Namco doesnt give a **** about Digimon.

sigh

if that was true they would keep making games and anime

 

[Golden Icarus]

The most compelling question to me is whether or not we'd be hearing requests for Lucario today if he didn't make it into Brawl. For how prominent and popular they've remained over the years I can imagine it feeling like a more striking absence, but I also think a Pokemon's presence in Smash does a number on their longevity by proxy.

I would guess that Lucario requests would be pretty similar to Zoroark or Blaziken right? Blaziken is probably the best example with a very similar level of popularity, coming in just one generation prior, both got megas at the same time, both are in Pokken, both are in Unite. Blaziken however is "just another fire starter" so in this hypothetical scenario, I imagine Lucario supporters might actually end up completely drowning out Blaziken fans for reasons like that. "Why add that humanoid dual fighting type, when you can add this one who is also steel type." Idk I picture something like that.

But yeah it's so hard with Pokemon. I imagine even Lucario would have a really hard time competing with more relevant Pokemon and the classics from Gen 1.

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Despite the relatively small popularity of Fatal Fury/KoF, I feel like Terry really appealed to the idea of representation. He represents a totally unique console in the Neo Geo, represents a franchise that is exceptionally popular in Latin countries, represents a genre that only had one series representing it up to that point. Fatal Fury might be small, but there's a significance behind what it represents that makes it feel a lot bigger.

Persona 5 was crazy popular in Japan and a critical darling. I would say that's the main thing that got it in, alongside Atlus being a major company that hadn't been represented in Smash yet. I mean at this point, if we wanna get reductive, I feel like it's pretty safe to say P5 is to Atlus what FF7 is Square.

But the real answer is Sakurai bias /s

 

[dream1ng]

Sakurai is a big Persona fan, and a massive SNK fan. Terry's review trailer started with a history lesson on SNK and the Neo-Geo

Sakurai speaks glowingly about most series he adds to Smash, because it would be very unprofessional and counter-productive to speak negatively about them. He also purposefully doesn't talk much about other games/series, because people always try to tie it to Smash. That gives the illusion Sakurai must be a big fan of these specific series, when really it's a function of Smash.

Not to say he isn't a fan of them, but dude spent what felt like five minutes just going over Tooty's route in the background of the Spiral Mountain stage. And told people to go play B-K on Xbox. If people didn't know any better, they'd say Sakurai is a huge fan of that series and that's why they got in. But we know why they got in. So we don't default to "Sakurai must be a fan".

Moreover, Sakurai speaks positively about most games he talks about. He's spoken positively about Sonic 06 and Cyberpunk shortly after its horrible launch. Not only that, but I feel like Sakurai has spoken the least about Joker/Persona of the DLC characters, given it was the only one that predated the Sakurai presents format.

It's that we don't know why Joker and Terry specifically were chosen, so people are just presuming it's bias. They're not only presuming it's bias, but completely overlooking where Sakurai said Nintendo chose the characters.

And tbf, I don't believe he wasn't at all involved in the selection process past feasibility, but the "Sakurai must be a fan" defense to explain inclusions usually arises mostly when there's no obvious better reason, not necessarily because it's the actual driving force. We just don't know what that force is.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Doubt it.

Namco Bandai admittedly doesn't handle the series well, so a lack of representation is likely more on their end than anything else.

Apparently, Bandai Namco hasn't been treating many of their IPs well in general. I don't know the full details, but apparently it involves Tales games getting delisted?

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Apparently, Bandai Namco hasn't been treating many of their IPs well in general. I don't know the full details, but apparently it involves Tales games getting delisted?

You see Bandai Namco usually pays more attention to their anime licensed games rather than their original IP's

Little Tail Bronx fans can tell you more about that after Bamco made their devs become "The Naruto game"guys.

 

[CatTastic]

I would guess that Lucario requests would be pretty similar to Zoroark or Blaziken right? Blaziken is probably the best example with a very similar level of popularity, coming in just one generation prior, both got megas at the same time, both are in Pokken, both are in Unite. Blaziken however is "just another fire starter" so in this hypothetical scenario, I imagine Lucario supporters might actually end up completely drowning out Blaziken fans for reasons like that. "Why add that humanoid dual fighting type, when you can add this one who is also steel type." Idk I picture something like that.

But yeah it's so hard with Pokemon. I imagine even Lucario would have a really hard time competing with more relevant Pokemon and the classics from Gen 1.
But the real answer is Sakurai bias /s

People just don't get the big idea in regards to Pokémon.
It's about what carries the core and spirit of Pokémon in each generation, instead they want every generation represented and other stuff.

It's the protagonist trainer, rival trainer, villain trainers, gym leaders, Pokémon league, and legendaries.
As fighters, makes sense to have the mascot, trainer protagonist, fully evolved starters, and a legendary but I'd like more trainers such as Team Rocket and Rival trainer, rather than a gym leader or any of the Elite Four or champion.

Usually a big franchise will have 6 through 8 fighters in Smash.

 

[BuckleyTim]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to the grave saying that SNK and their IP are anything but niche in Japan as well as the parts of the world that didn't get woo'd by Mortal Kombat in the 90s. Seriously, they were a cornerstone of the fighting game circuit during its golden years.

Just kinda irks me when people suggest that sakurai bias is what made SNK representation manifest when in reality that company partially helped make fighting games in Japan what they are. Their legacy is important, and if you were picking fighting game reps in smash then it makes sense regardless of director that Terry would be on that shortlist. Capcom didn't make multiple crossover games with them for nothing.

 

[GoldenYuiitusin]

Apparently, Bandai Namco hasn't been treating many of their IPs well in general. I don't know the full details, but apparently it involves Tales games getting delisted?

If that's true, oof.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

Have ya’ll seen this, it’s certainly… something

Players' Poll: The Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time

Lara Croft has been voted the Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time. Explore the Top 20.

www.bafta.org

Terry and Joker are from smaller franchises than most third party franchises included. They certainly aren't unpopular but they aren't titans of the industry like Dragon Quest, Minecraft or Tekken.

Why do you think, out of all the smaller franchises out there, were Persona and Fatal Fury chosen? Why not say... Ace Attorney or Bravely Default? Why those two in particular?

Aside from both coming from long running beloved series with characters that lended themselves well to Smash, I think there was a desire to collaborate with SNK and Atlus and vice versa. Persona 5 was also an huge hit and it seems like getting SNK content in Smash was cheap as hell lol.

 

[HyperSomari64]

Have ya’ll seen this, it’s certainly… something

Players' Poll: The Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time

Lara Croft has been voted the Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time. Explore the Top 20.

www.bafta.org

The fact that there are two Baldur's Gate characters make me happy.
Also, I don't want to see another "Original characters in video game" discourse again since BG is based on Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to the grave saying that SNK and their IP are anything but niche in Japan as well as the parts of the world that didn't get woo'd by Mortal Kombat in the 90s. Seriously, they were a cornerstone of the fighting game circuit during its golden years.

Just kinda irks me when people suggest that sakurai bias is what made SNK representation manifest when in reality that company partially helped make fighting games in Japan what they are. Their legacy is important, and if you were picking fighting game reps in smash then it makes sense regardless of director that Terry would be on that shortlist. Capcom didn't make multiple crossover games with them for nothing.

That's a fair opinion to have, it's just that a series that had apprehension including guys like Marth and Lucas due to their obscurity in the west suddenly going after a third party series that's obscure in the west kinda sticks out.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Have ya’ll seen this, it’s certainly… something

Players' Poll: The Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time

Lara Croft has been voted the Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time. Explore the Top 20.

www.bafta.org

So according to this, Lara Croft is more iconic than Mario, Agent 47 is more iconic than Sonic, Sackboy is more iconic than Pac-Man, Shadowheart AND Arthur Morgan are more iconic than Pikachu...

Guys, I think I might hate this list.

 

[HyperSomari64]

Some people consider Tabletop RPGs and Board Games in general as Gaming.
Monopoly Guy will never join Smash.

 

[Wonder Smash]

I never saw Terry's inclusion as Sakurai bias. SNK games are very popular in Japan and are a big influence in the genre, so it's no surprise that he's a fan of their games.

 

[ninjahmos]

Imagine if Point Blank and/or Time Crisis ever made it into Smash somehow…

 

[fogbadge]

So according to this, Lara Croft is more iconic than Mario, Agent 47 is more iconic than Sonic, Sackboy is more iconic than Pac-Man, Shadowheart AND Arthur Morgan are more iconic than Pikachu...

Guys, I think I might hate this list.

it’s by bafta, it’ll be very skewed

 

[HyperSomari64]

Some people consider Tabletop RPGs and Board Games in general as Gaming.
Monopoly Guy will never join Smash.

There goes the dream of Lord Licorice in Smash.
Why am I self quoting?