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

[NonSpecificGuy]

Takamaru is a strong, independent Samurai that don't need no Edlockes in his life.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Sigran101]

Why should Takamaru be playable? (I realize that's worded poorly. What I mean is I don't know much about Takamaru but he seems to be a popular choice, so I want to learn more about him and what he'd do in smash from his fans.)

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

Why should Takamaru be playable? (I realize that's worded poorly. What I mean is I don't know much about Takamaru but he seems to be a popular choice, so I want to learn more about him and what he'd do in smash from his fans.)

That's a pretty large question that could span a few pages of why and how he would be a good character.

 

[Sigran101]

That's a pretty large question that could span a few pages of why and how he would be a good character.

Then how about just something brief? I think maybe the only reason I don't actively support Takamaru is because I don't know much about him. He seems interesting.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

That's what I've been thinking. Over the years since each Smash game was released, we have never had a single addition that represents the Famicom (or the Japanese side of Nintendo in general). There were many choices that could have been considered like Sukapon (He was said to not be expected), Donbe and Hikari (who is barely mentioned in Japanese requests), A Famicom Tantei rep (who may need TONS of work to make a moveset), Tamagon (who may have a chance of pissing of the religious in America), and so on. While Takamaru could easily be the best character to fulfill such missing representation considering the things that's been happening lately:

• He was chosen to the be the Nintendo guest of ALL Nintendo characters to be in Samurai Warriors 3 after Brawl's release.
• Had a supporting role in Captain Rainbow with a few other Japanese-exclusive characters like Lip and Devil.
• Had a minigame in Nintendo Land, despite his game not being a commercial success in the or having a small cult following
• Managed to get a few mentions in Brawl in the form of a sticker and the Main Overworld Theme as an unlockable track.
• Does get a few mentions/request in Japan pre-Wii U/3DS, though most retros are barely mentioned in the first place.
• One of the last of the 4 Famicon Action Titles (Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Murasame Castle) to be represented.
• And managed to released outside of Japan for the first time in history (despite having a European release for now).

He just have so many things going for him despite the odds being down due to a certain leak and feeling "done" due to Greninja arguably being the token "Japanese minority" (despite him actually being form a well established franchise). While the roster itself is shaping up to be good so far, there's a disturbing lack of reps retro/pre- Gamecube (IF you ignore the resident third parties Pac-Man and Mega Man). Don't get me wrong while I love how the game is shaping up and what the roster might be so far (based Sal Romano), but it still needs MORE nostalgia to have the quality that Melee and Brawl had to make themselves represent Nintendo history well. But we'll wait and see if the old samurai will finally make his appearance in the final roster or as a downloadable extra.

@ Sigran101 This post should pretty much answer your question. To really get a good idea of why he should be a great fighter, you should look at the playstyles we've made for him in the last page or play Nazo no Mursame-Jo.

If you're European, you can buy the game off the eShop. If you are American, downloading a Famicom ROM drive and Nazo no Murasame-Jo ROM.

 

[Sigran101]

@ Sigran101 This post should pretty much answer your question. To really get a good idea of why he should be a great fighter, you should look at the playstyles we've made for him in the last page or play Nazo no Mursame-Jo.

If you're European, you can buy the game off the eShop. If you are American, downloading a Famicom ROM drive and Nazo no Murasame-Jo ROM.

Thanks! It seems like he really is a pretty good choice. I'll look into the moveset.

 

[pupNapoleon]

Hmmm.... yeah, I don't understand why his fanbase is so huge.
I'm not at all opposed, but I am one of a few that thinks Greninja being modeled after nothing but a generic Ninja maybe makes his chances slihtly less great.

 

[Bingoshi]

Hmmm.... yeah, I don't understand why his fanbase is so huge.
I'm not at all opposed, but I am one of a few that thinks Greninja being modeled after nothing but a generic Ninja maybe makes his chances slihtly less great.

But Takamaru is a Samurai. What does Greninja being a generic Ninja have to do with Takamaru having less of a chance?

 

[8-peacock-8]

It's sad to see how people SOMEHOW can't tell the difference between a SAMURAI and a NINJA.

IT'S! NOT! THAT! HARD!

But they use Shuri-

Shut up.

EDIT: Not talking about DukeNapoleon either. Just talking about people that i've seen online.

 

[Pacack]

Hmmm.... yeah, I don't understand why his fanbase is so huge.

Consider playing the game. It's difficult, but fun. You'll probably understand more after that.

 

[PSIGuy]

I ordered the GBA port of Nazo no Murasamejou alongside Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru ages ago just to prepare for Takamaru possibly getting in. Honestly the game really is ripe for an Uprising style reboot; plenty to work with and expand on. They gotta keep the knife throw/blade block mechanic as a single attack; mashing special to counter projectiles while throwing out your own would be amazing.

 

[Pacack]

I ordered the GBA port of Nazo no Murasamejou alongside Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru ages ago just to prepare for Takamaru possibly getting in. Honestly the game really is ripe for an Uprising style reboot; plenty to work with and expand on. They gotta keep the knife throw/blade block mechanic as a single attack; mashing special to counter projectiles while throwing out your own would be amazing.

See this guy? He gets it.

I like you. You can stay.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

It's sad to see how people SOMEHOW can't tell the difference between a SAMURAI and a NINJA.

IT'S! NOT! THAT! HARD!



Shut up.

EDIT: Not talking about DukeNapoleon either. Just talking about people that i've seen online.

I know right? I guess we can call Ryu Hayabusa a samurai since he fights mostly with a sword.

Though it's a ninjato as opposed to a katana.

 

[bksbestbwoy]

But Takamaru is a Samurai. What does Greninja being a generic Ninja have to do with Takamaru having less of a chance?

What's more, Takamaru's primary enemies are ninjas so if anything, Greninja and Shiek set up an interesting dynamic for Takamaru to take advantage of.

 

[Marakatu]

I have a question to all of you (yes, even YOU. Don't you dare to leave this thread without answering it).
When did you first heard about Takamaru?

To me, it was in early 2009. Some people were talking in a forum about Kid Icarus, and one guy asked why everybody had good expectations for a possible revival of the series. Some other guy said that it was because the series that originated in the Famicom Disk System did great after getting 3D games (TLoZ: OoT and Metroid Prime). I didn't know what a Famicom Disk System was, so I did my research. After looking at a list a games that Nintendo developed for the FDS, I was intrigued by Nazo no Murasamejo. The fact that it wasn't released in the west, didn't get a sequel and got very few references in Super Smash Bros seemed unfair to me.
Those were good days. I discovered NinDB, I've written some articles on the Nintendo Wiki and created a YouTube channel with old videogame music. I was really surprised when Miyamoto himself appeared in a Tecmo Koei conference to reveal Nazo no Murasamejo as a mode in Samurai Warriors 3. Also, when Captain Rainbow was first announced. And finally, when I found out there was a NnM minigame in Nintendo Land.

 

[Pacack]

I have a question to all of you (yes, even YOU. Don't you dare to leave this thread without answering it).
When did you first heard about Takamaru?

To me, it was in early 2009. Some people were talking in a forum about Kid Icarus, and one guy asked why everybody had good expectations for a possible revival of the series. Some other guy said that it was because the series that originated in the Famicom Disk System did great after getting 3D games (TLoZ: OoT and Metroid Prime). I didn't know what a Famicom Disk System was, so I did my research. After looking at a list a games that Nintendo developed for the FDS, I was intrigued by Nazo no Murasamejo. The fact that it wasn't released in the west, didn't get a sequel and got very few references in Super Smash Bros seemed unfair to me.
Those were good days. I discovered NinDB, I've written some articles on the Nintendo Wiki and created a YouTube channel with old videogame music. I was really surprised when Miyamoto himself appeared in a Tecmo Koei conference to reveal Nazo no Murasamejo as a mode in Samurai Warriors 3. Also, when Captain Rainbow was first announced. And finally, when I found out there was a NnM minigame in Nintendo Land.

I don't remember, honestly. I think I knew of Nazo no Murasame jo for some time, but it wasn't until joining this forum that I actually thoroughly researched it.

 

[egaddmario]

First time i heard of him was when i heard him. Well, most specifically his music in Brawl. I downloaded the OST and looked up songs from games i didn't know.

 

[ThatShadowLink]

I actually learned about him a bit ago, probably 2010? Time flies a bit too fast for me to remember exactly. My friend told me that Warriors games were fun and he had bought Samurai Warriors 3, and we played a bit of the story mode. We eventually reached The Mysterious Murasame Castle mode. One thing I should mention is that I'm really big on video game music, so the moment that I heard the map theme, I was hooked. I never did beat the mode, due to a later level involving villagers that turned into statues, but I did manage to unlock Takamaru, and found him to be really fun. Plus, I love hammy, crappy voice acting, and Takamaru's VA was just that.
I became interested in the character and I wanted him to receive a revival in the next Smash Bros. like Pit did.

 

[Gallowglass]

If Takamaru is playable I know the first person I want him to fight.

http://www.miicharacters.com/index.php?mii=12984

 

[Jedisupersonic]

I know right? I guess we can call Ryu Hayabusa a samurai since he fights mostly with a sword.

Though it's a ninjato as opposed to a katana.

Samurai Gaiden doesn't quite roll off the tongue

 

[Soupeschleg]

I found out about him after hearing the theme in Brawl, too.

 

[Wonks]

I honestly don't think I heard of Takamaru until I started lurking here... It was about the time I was looking forward to the next Smash Bros, probably around the onset of the Wii U unveiling.

 

[Bingoshi]

It's hard to remember when I first heard of Takamaru. I know I didn't know about him until after Brawl, but I forgot how I really got to know the character. I'm kind of a Nintendo nerd, and I have a strange obsession with classic and forgotten Nintendo characters, which I believe started after I saw how Pit was revived in Brawl. From there, I started to get more interested in franchises of Nintendo's past and somewhere down the line, I found out about Takamaru. It's all really hazy for me, really.

 

[bksbestbwoy]

I knew about Takamaru from the pre-Brawl hype era (2006 - 2007). I was fiending for a samurai/iaido character for the cast and people (myself included) were pretty much set on Lyn until someone mentioned the old Melee polls and how a character by the name of "Takamaru" had been pretty high up on the list. A little bit of research later and he became one of the top 5 characters I wanted in an incarnation of Smash Bros.

 

[RhymesWithEmpty]

I discovered Takamaru while browsing these kinds of character threads during pre-Brawl speculation... 7-ish years later and I'm still here!

...Oh god, has it really been that long already?!

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

When did I first heard about Takamaru? Then let me tell you a story about how I've heard of the most underrated Nintendo swordsman.

Back when I was in 4 grade, My dad bought home a disk drive that had contained many NES/Famicom games that one could imagine since he was a computer expert. I've played many games throughout that disk and I've managed to beat them or fail to beat them depending on how much they had interested me until I've found one that I've really found foreign and readable (since Shin Onigashima was too unplayable due to the large amounts of foreign text). It was none other than Nazo no Murasame-Jo, which gave me that vibe that it could be as epic as any shone manga (and yes, I did start reading manga at the age of nine). THe engine was extremely similar to Zelda which gave me some sort of familiarity, but couldn't stop me from dying at least a few times in the first castle. Since it was nowhere near as grueling as Ghosts n' Goblins, I've kept playing the same game for many days until I've finally managed to beat it within a week and a half due to homework and school. I've started to do more research on the game which educated me on the Edo era of Japan ad introduced me to the mysterious, yet weird yokai that Japan believes in. Not to mention it made me an avid supporter of Takamaru, though I wasn't interested in joining Smashboards pre-Brawl at the time. I figured hat the game had never been released in America since it was too Japanese for an American audience and hard games like these wouldn't be enjoyable to them (hence the many ragequits on the aforementioned Ghost n' Goblins). I was quite happy that a song from the game was used in Brawl and Taka managed to appear as a collectible sticker, but that wasn't good enough since he would have been a better choice than the likes of R.O.B. (Though SE did make me take that back after playing that mode and feeling sorry for the robotic buddy). I was under the radar about the Warriors games at the time, so I didn't take me until 2012 when I've gotten Samurai Warriors 3 just to relive the Nazo no Murasame-Jo experience with Takamaru (and managed to unlock him in the end after completing the challenge). That game as well managed to get me into the controversial Dynasty Warriors games that many people had said been the "same button masher over and over again" and enjoyed them regardless of what the critics had said. I've also been told about Captain Rainbow by my Japanese penpal who had told me about that game's plot and what role that Takamaru had played in the game. Last but not least, I've convinced my parents to get the Wii U and Nintendo Land last for the sake of playing that unique and fun Ninja Castle based on Taka's game.

So here I am, now a supporter of him for this next installment of Smash and with a Smashboards account. Whew, that was quite a lot of typing while remembering that far back. And I'll hit the hay for tonight since it's late for my tastes.

 

[bksbestbwoy]

After writing and going over a post for a Takamaru move set in the Clone Engine thread, I've come up with the stupidest thing ever that I want to do for publicity. I want to do a fan edit of the first opening of Rurouni Kenshin using Smash locales and characters. I even have a few roles/settings in my head already:

Metaknight as Jin-e Udo's Silhouette
Link as Aoshi's Silhouette
??? (Maybe Little Mac) as Hanya's Silhouette
??? as Shiki-jo's Silhouette
??? as Beshimi's Silhouette
Bowser as Hyottoko's Silhouette
Ganondorf as Raijuta's Silhouette
Marth as Hajime Saito's Silhouette
Roy (?) as Makoto Shishio's Silhouette

Takamaru as Kenshin
Lyn as Karou
Nana & Popo as Ayame and Suzume
Dr. Mario as Gensai
Ike as Sanosuke
Pit (?) as Yahiko
Shiek, Greninja and Impa (maybe, I dunno) as the three ninjas ambushing Kenshin

Locales: Smash 4 Battlefield for the ninja ambush scene, Wii Fit Studio for the Kamiya dojo scene, Smashville 4 for the initial arrival in the city by river scene

As soon as I get my tablet pen back, I think I'm going to try brushing up my drawing and doing this, even if it's a simple trace edit. What say you all? I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the casting. lol

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

After writing and going over a post for a Takamaru move set in the Clone Engine thread, I've come up with the stupidest thing ever that I want to do for publicity. I want to do a fan edit of the first opening of Rurouni Kenshin using Smash locales and characters. I even have a few roles/settings in my head already:

Metaknight as Jin-e Udo's Silhouette
Link as Aoshi's Silhouette
??? (Maybe Little Mac) as Hanya's Silhouette
??? as Shiki-jo's Silhouette
??? as Beshimi's Silhouette
Bowser as Hyottoko's Silhouette
Ganondorf as Raijuta's Silhouette
Marth as Hajime Saito's Silhouette
Roy (?) as Makoto Shishio's Silhouette

Takamaru as Kenshin
Lyn as Karou
Nana & Popo as Ayame and Suzume
Dr. Mario as Gensai
Ike as Sanosuke
Pit (?) as Yahiko
Shiek, Greninja and Impa (maybe, I dunno) as the three ninjas ambushing Kenshin

Locales: Smash 4 Battlefield for the ninja ambush scene, Wii Fit Studio for the Kamiya dojo scene, Smashville 4 for the initial arrival in the city by river scene

As soon as I get my tablet pen back, I think I'm going to try brushing up my drawing and doing this, even if it's a simple trace edit. What say you all? I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the casting. lol

I'd suggest Wario as Shiki-jo and Isaac as Beshimi. All the others are perfectly fin for their roles, especially Mac being Hannya since they aren't air fighters. LOL

AS for your clone engine moveset, it looks absolutely fantastic and I could imagine him having such a moveset for Project M.

 

[bksbestbwoy]

OK, so the casting is complete. What about the stages/backgrounds? What stages should I emulate in this fan edit?

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

OK, so the casting is complete. What about the stages/backgrounds? What stages should I emulate in this fan edit?

Locales: Pyrosphere for the introduction with the villains in the background, Smash 4 Battlefield for the ninja ambush scene, Wii Fit Studio for the Kamiya dojo scene, Skyloft for the Sagara Forest Scene and Yahiko's part, Smashville 4 for the initial arrival in the city by river scene, and Palutena's Temple for the finale with Kenshin and the others.

 

[bksbestbwoy]

Locales: Pyrosphere for the introduction with the villains in the background, Smash 4 Battlefield for the ninja ambush scene, Wii Fit Studio for the Kamiya dojo scene, Skyloft for the Sagara Forest Scene and Yahiko's part, Smashville 4 for the initial arrival in the city by river scene, and Palutena's Temple for the finale with Kenshin and the others.

Yep, liking this. I wish if I could get some other folks in on this, this would be a fun project for all the time I have on my hands.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

So, what would Takamaru's home stage be? Would it be the Ninja Castle from Nintendo Land? Or what? post ideas please, now, please, now (insert Apu catchphrase here)

 

[Louie G.]

So, what would Takamaru's home stage be? Would it be the Ninja Castle from Nintendo Land? Or what? post ideas please, now, please, now (insert Apu catchphrase here)

Probably the roof of Murasame Castle or something.
With an awesome Murasame Castle remix playing and petals floating in the wind.

 

[egaddmario]

Probably the roof of Murasame Castle or something.
With an awesome Murasame Castle remix playing and petals floating in the wind.

Floating petals? Why won't my screen accept the money i'm throwing at it?

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

So, what would Takamaru's home stage be? Would it be the Ninja Castle from Nintendo Land? Or what? post ideas please, now, please, now (insert Apu catchphrase here)

As we've discussed many pages ago, it would be Murasame Castle from the original game as opposed to Ninja Castle (That's better off as an attraction in a Nintendo Land stage. Though the issue is how the stage's layout would go whether we are actually fighting in front of the building or touring through all castles like Castle Siege. Based on all of the stages we have in the Wii U and 3DS version so far, it have have to be something that doesn't rely on scrolling or have the abrupt changes like New Mushroom Kingdom.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

As we've discussed many pages ago, it would be Murasame Castle from the original game as opposed to Ninja Castle (That's better off as an attraction in a Nintendo Land stage. Though the issue is how the stage's layout would go whether we are actually fighting in front of the building or touring through all castles like Castle Siege. Based on all of the stages we have in the Wii U and 3DS version so far, it have have to be something that doesn't rely on scrolling or have the abrupt changes like New Mushroom Kingdom.

Just the top of the castle would be cool with me.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=44497315

I like this Takamaru design quite a lot since it combines the best of both Classic and Samurai Warriors Takamaru (especially with that sexy gold hawk emblem on the back). It combines the elements of both manliness and beauty without looking too pretty or too masculine unlike other designs I've seen. The best part is that it's a pretty recent piece from Pixiv.

 

[Soupeschleg]

I'm all for a design along those lines! Hoping for a bright color palette

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

I'm all for a design along those lines! Hoping for a bright color palette

That's what we've got Smash Wii U and 3DS for since they did manage to brighten Ike's Radiant Dawn appearance, especially considering how dull his original armor had looked.

 

[ThatShadowLink]

I hope they bring back the arm-guards. And incorporate them into block animations. That'd be pretty cool.