Nintendo's First Samurai: Takamaru for SSB4 (Final Request: Ask the US HW devs to add Takamaru)

[Mega Bidoof]

That should be an exception just because of Gamefreak's input.

Yes, but it just shows that Greninja most likely didn't even START being programmed until after X&Y's release, since that's when they would know that he is popular and would make the decision to include him in Smash.

As for Takamaru, I don't think he is super likely just because of this.
Personally, I don't think that he will be playable. If Sakurai wants to make characters unique, why would he put THREE ninjas on the roster? Why have a normal samurai when you already have a water samurai?
However, I do think this is a revival to his series, and that he may be an assist in Smash 4, and then may continue to go on to be the Little Mac of Smash 5.

 

[Pacack]

As for Takamaru, I don't think he is super likely just because of this.
Personally, I don't think that he will be playable. If Sakurai wants to make characters unique, why would he put THREE ninjas on the roster? Why have a normal samurai when you already have a water samurai?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai

READ UP NOW!

NINJA # SAMURAI

 

[Reila]

Greninja.

I am not following. Are you implying Greninja was created after the announcement of Smash Bros 4? Or that they decided to put it in the game after the announcement? Because that doesn't make much sense. Either way, as R.O.B said, it could be an exception, because The Pokémon Company is quite annoying when it comes to their dear Pokémon being in Smash Bros.

I just saw your other post. Yeah I don't think Greninja was chosen to be the Pokémon newcomer just because it is popular. It wasn't even THAT popular before being announced for Smash Bros 4. None of the Gen VI Pokémon are as popular as, say, Lucario was when Pokémon DP was released. In short: I don't think Greninja is an exception to what I said in my post. I think it was decided to be in Smash way before the announcement, as every other newcomer.

 

[Fatmanonice]

I am not following. Are you implying Greninja was created after the announcement of Smash Bros 4? Or that they decided to put it in the game after the announcement? Because that doesn't make much sense. Either way, as R.O.B said, it could be an exception, because The Pokémon Company is quite annoying when it comes to their dear Pokémon being in Smash Bros.

I just saw your other post. Yeah I don't think Greninja was chosen to be the Pokémon newcomer just because it is popular. It wasn't even THAT popular before being announced for Smash Bros 4. None of the Gen VI Pokémon are as popular as, say, Lucario was when Pokémon DP was released. In short: I don't think Greninja is an exception to what I said in my post. I think it was decided to be in Smash way before the announcement, as every other newcomer.

I believe what he's trying to say is that since SSB4 started development in January/February 2012 and Pokemon X and Y didn't release until October 2013, it would have been hard for them to forsee Greninja becoming as popular as he has and thus become one of the more reasonable Pokemon to represent the latest generation. From past Smash games, we know that the roster is one of the first things knocked out with a few exceptions being made later in the development cycle (for example, Ganondorf and Zelda in Melee and Sonic and Wolf in Brawl) so Greninja could have simply been a late addition. What I think happened though is that Game Freak wanted to add the most popular final starter evolution from the start (as X and Y had supposedly been in development since 2010) but needed time to figure out who it was going to be. This is why, despite what a huge release it was, we barely got any new Pokemon info back in October. To deal with this, I bet Sakurai had plans ready to go for Chestnaught, Delphox, and Greninja but decided to go with Greninja probably in late November/early December when Game Freak had plenty of evidence to show that it was the most popular.

I feel that this makes sense given how, like in Brawl, most of the new pokeball Pokemon are from the previous generation (3rd in Brawl and 5th in SSB4) with those in the latest generation (4th and 6th respectively) being Pokemon that were shown off in prerelease promotions. In SSB4, the 6th gen Pokemon are: Chespin, Dedenne, Fennekin, Fletchling, Gogoat, Inkay, Spewpa, Swirlx, and Xerneas. A vast majority of these Pokemon were shown off in the first couple of months when this generation was first announced. Now let's go back to Brawl. These were the 4th gen Pokemon: Piplup, Munchlax, Bonsly, Weaville, and Manaphy. Once again, these Pokemon (including Lucario) were shown off as early as 2005 in promotional materials despite Diamond and Pearl not coming out until 2006 for Japan and 2007 for the rest of the world.

I also don't think they knew that Greninja was going to be the most popular of the three especially since it's contrary to what happened in the past. Except for 2nd gen (where cyndaquil and totodile were practically tied) and 5th (where no one was really that much more popular than the others), the fire starter was always the most popular so logic would have dictated that Delphox was going to end up on top. This is why I don't think they predicted the outcome or else it would have been significantly more likely that we would have seen Delphox a month ago. Some could argue that they wouldn't have added Delphox because Charizard was already a fire type but you have to remember that, last August, Game Freak came out and said that new Pokemon additions in Smash were largely based on their popularity and which they thought best promoted the brand so If they thought that was Delphox, it would have been Delphox but Greninja became the most popular. This is why I think Greninja was probably a late addition because Game Freak wasn't totally confident in the popularity of any of the starters, especially after what happened in 5th gen.

 

[AncientTobacco]

Guys remember, we should get our expectations TOO high

I totally agree. It's no fun to doubt.

Hehe.

From past Smash games, we know that the roster is one of the first things knocked out with a few exceptions being made later in the development cycle (for example, Ganondorf and Zelda in Melee and Sonic and Wolf in Brawl)

Zelda was a late addition? Where'd you hear that? I thought it was just the clones.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Zelda was a late addition? Where'd you hear that? I thought it was just the clones.

At E3 2001, Sheik was her own character while Zelda was no where to be seen.

 

[Staarih]

My support for Takamaru has been dwindling a bit lately, but the eShop announcement gave me energy to believe again haha! I feel like this could have been planned for some time now and I'm sure a US release will come soon too (maybe to tie in with a Takamaru for SSB4 reveal...?). Luckily I live in Europe so I won't have to wait for too long!

 

[AncientTobacco]

At E3 2001, Sheik was her own character while Zelda was no where to be seen.

That doesn't really prove anything.

From what we've heard from Sakurai, the clones are the only late additions.

 

[fogbadge]

when i finally get to play the game im sure my support of him will go up

 

[Chauzu]

Only problem with this European release is that I am now officially going to be disappointed if Takamaru isn't revealed at E3.

 

[Spazzy_D]

I'm really tired of people comparing Takamaru to Greninja.

The thing is, even if we forget for some strange reason that Takamaru is a Samurai and not a Ninja, he has ONE attack that even remotely resembles something Greninja would do. He has ZERO water attacks. Does Greninja use lightening magic? Does he turn invisible? Does he shoot fireballs? Does he have a sword that can reflect projectiles? Hell, Greninja doesn't even use his water swords for the majority of his attacks, and when he does he often uses two of them which would make his attack style FAR different from Takamaru. On top of this, he doesn't even use a shuriken, he uses kunai. It only looks like a shuriken in Nintendo Land because it was folded out of paper, as everything in Takamaru's Ninja Castle is made out of paper! (I find it odd that no one EVER brings that up.)

It's like people thinking Megaman would be a Samus clone.

 

[Speculator]

At E3 2001, Sheik was her own character while Zelda was no where to be seen.

Maybe you should watch the whole trailer. The entire Melee opening was shown, including the Zelda bits.

 

[Fatmanonice]

That doesn't really prove anything.

From what we've heard from Sakurai, the clones are the only late additions.

How does showing every other character in the starting roster at once except one not prove anything? There was no reason for Zelda to not be shown at E3 that year aside from her not being finished or added yet.

 

[shinhed-echi]

I'm really tired of people comparing Takamaru to Greninja.

The thing is, even if we forget for some strange reason that Takamaru is a Samurai and not a Ninja, he has ONE attack that even remotely resembles something Greninja would do. He has ZERO water attacks. Does Greninja use lightening magic? Does he turn invisible? Does he shoot fireballs? Does he have a sword that can reflect projectiles? Hell, Greninja doesn't even use his water swords for the majority of his attacks, and when he does he often uses two of them which would make his attack style FAR different from Takamaru. On top of this, he doesn't even use a shuriken, he uses kunai. It only looks like a shuriken in Nintendo Land because it was folded out of paper, as everything in Takamaru's Ninja Castle is made out of paper! (I find it odd that no one EVER brings that up.)

It's like people thinking Megaman would be a Samus clone.

Wait... Greninja was actually used AGAINST Takamaru? I thought people were only joking. O_o

But yeah, Takamaru and Greninja are nothing alike.
And not to demerit Greninja, but in my eyes, he's just a flavor of the month Pokemon. He's got NOTHING on a true classic that has inspired MANY Japanese developers.

If there were another Japanese retro classic character in the roster, then HE would be a more direct competitor.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

Like how after the big news, this thread's been getting as busy as a ninja swarm.

 

[Cheezey Bites]

Does he turn invisible?

About that, a good (or more bad) number of people seem to think he does... I don't know what they're hearing, but people talk about Shadow Sneak being an invisibility move quite a bit on Miiverse when it's quite clearly a teleportation. But we all know that this alone is enough to make Takamaru unique from the entire roster, let along all the other abilities he can use.

 

[Spazzy_D]

The only things that really makes me doubt Takamaru's inclusion are leaks (which I don't 100% believe, but I do take into account) and the fact that he wasn't showcased much in past Smash games. He wasn't an assist trophy, or even a regular trophy, in Brawl, which leads me to think that other retro characters might be seen as higher priority then him.

 

[shinhed-echi]

The only things that really makes me doubt Takamaru's inclusion are leaks (which I don't 100% believe, but I do take into account) and the fact that he wasn't showcased much in past Smash games. He wasn't an assist trophy, or even a regular trophy, in Brawl, which leads me to think that other retro characters might be seen as higher priority then him.

Well... wasn't Sakurai not so fond of him due to believeing that a Samurai character would feel too "bland"?
He still got a sticker, the Overworld theme song from his game, and a little piece of the title screen theme in Famicom Mix song too.

That's.... well, something.
(Unlike what StarTropics got...)

 

[AncientTobacco]

How does showing every other character in the starting roster at once except one not prove anything?

Because it doesn't. It's just something you're using as evidence for your claim. Proof would be an actual confirmation from Sakurai that the characters seen in the video are the only ones in the game right now.

Zelda being a late addition is your theory.

There was no reason for Zelda to not be shown at E3 that year aside from her not being finished or added yet.

Maybe you're right, maybe she wasn't finished. But doesn't mean she was a late addition.

As Speculator pointed out, we did see Zelda in the opening movie. And if you go to Japanese website of Melee, you can see a post made on May 17th 2001, the day the game was announced at E3. And guess who's in one of the pictures?

Spoiler

Anyway, this is off-topic so if you still want to argue about this, PM me.

 

[Spazzy_D]

Well... wasn't Sakurai not so fond of him due to believeing that a Samurai character would feel too "bland"?
He still got a sticker, the Overworld theme song from his game, and a little piece of the title screen theme in Famicom Mix song too.

That's.... well, something.
(Unlike what StarTropics got...)

I didn't realize his song was in the game, what stage was it on? (I really didn't play Brawl all that much compared to Melee, not a Melee purist or anything it's just that I didn't get together with friends as much to play video games and the physics were a bit too slow and floaty for me.)

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

I didn't realize his song was in the game, what stage was it on? (I really didn't play Brawl all that much compared to Melee, not a Melee purist or anything it's just that I didn't get together with friends as much to play video games and the physics were a bit too slow and floaty for me.)

The song was on the rather awful Mario Bros. stage with the turtles and crabs.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Stuff.

Touche. I wasn't aware that photo came out so early in the development cycle.

 

[egaddmario]

OH WOAH, Takamaru seems even more likely now with this news. I'm looking forward to his reveal. ...and for the game to come out in NA...

 

[Bingoshi]

I was thinking about all that has happened regarding Takamaru and how it all points to his inclusion in SSB4 (or getting a reboot) and it just hit me... It's too late, I'm already too hyped. Just the mere thought of playing as Takamaru in SSB4 is enough to make me hyped beyond belief. I thought I'd just go and list all the things that happened, even if I've probably done this before.

1: Takamaru appeared in Captain Rainbow.
2: He appeared as playable in Samurai Warriors 3 on Wii.
3: Takamaru got a mini game in Nintendo Land.
4: Sakurai said he's going to try and bring back old characters in SSB4.
5: Sakurai's random "1986" comment.
6: Captain Rainbow trophy in SSB4.
7: The Mysterious Murasame Castle finally leaves japan.

Those might not even be all the things that could be considered clues or whatever. I was thinking though, The Mysterious Murasame Castle got rated like a year ago, they had plenty of time to release it, but they waited a really long time and are going to release it suspiciously close to E3... It just makes me wonder, why wait so long? And why now? It seems the game is being treated special. Nintendo took their sweet time releasing this game out of japan, and it just all seems rather...staged I want to say? Like they were waiting for something? And we're this close to E3? I know I'm over thinking all of this. Well, guess I'll just sit back and wait to be disappointed after finding out all of this was just a coincidence and probably nothing more...

 

[Chauzu]

5: Sakurai's random "1986" comment.

I have totally missed this, could you please elaborate.

 

[Dj.D]

5: Sakurai's random "1986" comment.

I have wondered if there is an event mode like in Melee and Brawl, that maybe one of the events features only Pit, Link, Samus and Takamaru as selectable, you pick one of those characters and fight the others. I think it would be a great idea. It would make sense to use 4 characters for an event like that. Maybe named something like "1986 characters" Or maybe that event could be how you unlock Takamaru?

 

[Bingoshi]

I have totally missed this, could you please elaborate.

In the SSB4 Developer Direct, Sakurai showed Link, Samus and Pit all standing by each other. He then said that they were all born in 1986. He went on to talk about Samus and Pit, but completely ignored Link. It was random because this little bit of trivia has nothing to do with SSB4 and was almost out of nowhere. Also, it made you wonder why he put Link in the scene in the first place if he wasn't going to talk about him. It seemed like Link was only there just so he could say they were all born in 1986. We all know there was another Nintendo character born that year as well, Takamaru of course. Together they are known as the "Famicom Four", and that 1986 comment seemed like a subtle nod to Takamaru to me. Whether that really was the case or not? Who really knows.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

I was thinking about all that has happened regarding Takamaru and how it all points to his inclusion in SSB4 (or getting a reboot) and it just hit me... It's too late, I'm already too hyped. Just the mere thought of playing as Takamaru in SSB4 is enough to make me hyped beyond belief. I thought I'd just go and list all the things that happened, even if I've probably done this before.

1: Takamaru appeared in Captain Rainbow.
2: He appeared as playable in Samurai Warriors 3 on Wii.
3: Takamaru got a mini game in Nintendo Land.
4: Sakurai said he's going to try and bring back old characters in SSB4.
5: Sakurai's random "1986" comment.
6: Captain Rainbow trophy in SSB4.
7: The Mysterious Murasame Castle finally leaves japan.

Those might not even be all the things that could be considered clues or whatever. I was thinking though, The Mysterious Murasame Castle got rated like a year ago, they had plenty of time to release it, but they waited a really long time and are going to release it suspiciously close to E3... It just makes me wonder, why wait so long? And why now? It seems the game is being treated special. Nintendo took their sweet time releasing this game out of japan, and it just all seems rather...staged I want to say? Like they were waiting for something? And we're this close to E3? I know I'm over thinking all of this. Well, guess I'll just sit back and wait to be disappointed after finding out all of this was just a coincidence and probably nothing more...

He can still be a hidden character if he's absent from the entire E3 show. I'm more worried for what title Kamiya's working on since E3's so close. Since he's a bigger troll than Sakurai, he's most likely working on Star Fox despite "confirmed that he wasn't interested anymore". Him and Sakurai share one thing in common: It's hard to even predict what they're doing.

 

[swordbreaker]

He can still be a hidden character if he's absent from the entire E3 show. I'm more worried for what title Kamiya's working on since E3's so close. Since he's a bigger troll than Sakurai, he's most likely working on Star Fox despite "confirmed that he wasn't interested anymore". Him and Sakurai share one thing in common: It's hard to even predict what they're doing.

I've talked to Kamiya a bit at a con and followed his tweeter feed or whatever. He's not really that kind of troll. He pretty much just tells stupid fans that they are stupid like he should. Though I suggested that he not try to answer their questions every damn time. Asked him about Murasame and he said that the possibility to work on it was possibly there now. This was maybe around when the Wii was out for a month or two.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

I've talked to Kamiya a bit at a con and followed his tweeter feed or whatever. He's not really that kind of troll. He pretty much just tells stupid fans that they are stupid like he should. Though I suggested that he not try to answer their questions every damn time. Asked him about Murasame and he said that the possibility to work on it was possibly there now. This was maybe around when the Wii was out for a month or two.

YOU talked to Kamiya?

....

Yeah, ok, whatever.

I'm glad to see the European Release. Takamaru gets some light again!! Confirmation for smash?

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

I've talked to Kamiya a bit at a con and followed his tweeter feed or whatever. He's not really that kind of troll. He pretty much just tells stupid fans that they are stupid like he should. Though I suggested that he not try to answer their questions every damn time. Asked him about Murasame and he said that the possibility to work on it was possibly there now. This was maybe around when the Wii was out for a month or two.

If the later you've said was true, I guess his interested in Mursame a few years ago wasn't "out of nowhere". Maybe that was his favorite game on the Famicom.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Pretty much, the Sal leak + Takamaru, Mewtwo, K. Rool, and maybe Simon Belmont would be perfect Smash 4 for me. Assuming no veterans aside from Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Snake are cut, of course.

 

[Sobreviviente]

I must be the minority who thinks greninja is helping takamaru's chances.
To me is the roster rize the problem, mac could also be considered a retro by somes, but if nintendo is indeed trying to make him popular he will be in.

My bet is yes, he needs to happen.

 

[Speculator]

I must be the minority who thinks greninja is helping takamaru's chances.
To me is the roster rize the problem, mac could also be considered a retro by somes, but if nintendo is indeed trying to make him popular he will be in.

My bet is yes, he needs to happen.

Mac is only a retro character in the same way Mario, Link, Samus etc are retro characters. Generally we consider a true retro revival character to be a newcomer that hasn't seen a game for a good few generations - that's characters like the Ice Climbers, Mr. G&W, ROB and Pit.

 

[swordbreaker]

YOU talked to Kamiya?

....

Yeah, ok, whatever.

I'm glad to see the European Release. Takamaru gets some light again!! Confirmation for smash?

If you go to the bigger cons you can meet all sorts of people really. I'm a developer (not really for any big company), but that's usually enough for me to go to all sorts of things if my job let's me and there are educational reasons behind it. I usually just use it as an excuse to get street passes since there is no other way to get them if you live in the US heh heh. There are also probably younger fans who meet him too. I wish I could go to E3 this year but I just had a kid.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

If you go to the bigger cons you can meet all sorts of people really. I'm a developer (not really for any big company), but that's usually enough for me to go to all sorts of things if my job let's me and there are educational reasons behind it. I usually just use it as an excuse to get street passes since there is no other way to get them if you live in the US heh heh. There are also probably younger fans who meet him too. I wish I could go to E3 this year but I just had a kid.

Fair enough. What games have YOU worked on?

 

[Sobreviviente]

Mac is only a retro character in the same way Mario, Link, Samus etc are retro characters. Generally we consider a true retro revival character to be a newcomer that hasn't seen a game for a good few generations - that's characters like the Ice Climbers, Mr. G&W, ROB and Pit.

uhm i know, i think the same, but they could be thinking more in "classic and legendary nintendo characters" than anything.
I never really losed my hopes on takamaru, but honestly, that could very well be an end.

 

[shinhed-echi]

This is unrelated to Sakurai, but Hideki Kamiya made a comment about how he would LOVE to remake Nazo non Murasame Jo (or Star Fox).
And at least we know Wonder Red is a trophy, so there seems to be some communication between Sakurai and Kamiya.

 

[egaddmario]

This is unrelated to Sakurai, but Hideki Kamiya made a comment about how he would LOVE to remake Nazo non Murasame Jo (or Star Fox).
And at least we know Wonder Red is a trophy, so there seems to be some communication between Sakurai and Kamiya.

We know Sakurai visited Platinum Studios too. It's very possible.

 

[Chauzu]

Stop talking like that or I will start hyping "The Year of the Samurai". New Murasame game + Takamaru in Smash 4.

...now it just needs to happen. This E3 will be legendary.