I think many have gotten into discussion about who we all want from the plethora of Pokémon to be a playable fighter in Smash. It's a common, yet great subject. Everyone's got a craving, and someone's taste to be made real happens to be their Maractus, Tinkaton, or Garchomp. I have seen, and I have had discussions from time to time about the topic. And when certain Pokémon––or even when any Pokémon are mentioned at all.. there's at least some form of gate-keeping behind it, turning it into some kind of debate. Maybe I'm causing that with this post--Iunno. Personally, despite Smash's fighter roster being big, it's not large in comparison to the huge universe of Pokémon. Smash hasn't hit a 100-fighter-sized roster, whereas Pokémon has over 1,000. Even so, an overabundance of mons can be too much. Not wanting to have too many mons is fair. There should absolutely be a Pokémon platform-fighting game, or sumn though. But back to the topic---
I have seen like-minded fans approve and praise Deoxys, but I've also seen the standoffish opinions about 'em too. Common ones include:
-"Deoxys is a psychic type. We already have Mewtwo in the game, and we're not replacing Mewtwo."
--??? I've seen this, and my reply of reason is usually the same. While I agree that Deoxys is a psychic type... that doesn't they can't coexist in the same roster with Mewtwo along with the other mons. This
'type gatekeeping rule' is already broken with the electric, water, fire, and dark types in the game. It's plausible that fans want as many different types to be represented in Smash as possible, but the track record is already scuffed from the overabundance of starters. Even two dark types are in--even if they're secondary dark types, lol. They all co-exist in the same roster. While there are probably plenty of psychic types that can make great fighters... I'll stay on topic and just say that I think we can afford to have two psychic mons.
-"Deoxys doesn't have a chance."
--This echoes what my first point was about, but Deoxys being in smash as a non-playable fighter isn't inherently a bad thing. Imagine being a huge fan of Bandai Namco, and knowing they co-developed both
Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and WiiU, and
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mind you, they have a plethora of swell IPs like Dark Souls. Digimon. Katamari. Klonoa. Soulcalibur. Tales. Xenosaga.––Then to realize we only have two characters--albeit PAC-MAN and Kazuya are pretty good character choices. Now imagine the fans that have wanted a Pokémon to be playable, and it has yet to happen. But to be so desert-dry, that they're not even included in the game. Not even as an item. A trophy. Sticker. Spirit. Stage element. Enemy. Boss. Nothing at all. When I was heavy on wanting Sceptile for S4 DLC... the closest Sceptile or Grovyle ever got beforehand... was when Treecko was a SSBBrawl trophy. That was it. Hurts, right? Point is--if Deoxys were in the game at all--even if they were just part of a stage's background--that would be at least
something. But they have more than that. Brawl provided Deoxys as a new addition, who not only had a summon, but also had a trophy and even a sticker. In Smash 4, they had both a summon, and a trophy. Lastly, for Ultimate, we're provided a summon & a spirit. They've been a Pokéball summon for several Smash titles in a row. Being in the game in any form shows that there's enough appeal. That there's merit to have Deoxys somewhere in the game at all---and it's more than just one thing, too. Mii costumes and Assist trophies are essentially the 'runner-ups' as potential candidates, in a way. Look at Lyn. Shadow. Waluigi. Look at all the cool and iconic Mii costumes. Pokéballs are Pokémon Assist Trophies. In that way, that helps show that Deoxys is not only impossible--but they're relevant and likeable enough to stick around.
-"Deoxys wouldn't work. They'd just be a Mewtwo Echo Fighter."
--A very outlandish take, but I have seen this before. This ultimately comes down to them both being psychic types. And they're both legendaries. But if anyone knows a lick of both, they'd know that the two are massively different.
Deoxys statistically cannot be Mewtwo's Echo because they have fundamentally different body types and personalities. Therefore, their animations wouldn't be identical in the slightest, which means Mewtwo & Deoxys would play completely different.
-"Deoxys isn't that popular."
--I don't know how credible Bulbapedia is, but we all know if it, and their "Pokemon of the Year" for 2020 listing shows that Deoxys was only Hoenn's 23rd most popular--getting dwarfed by Rayquaza, Gardevoir, Flygon, Sceptile, & Blaziken. However, it then states that a 2021 voting took place, and
Deoxys jumped all the way up to Hoenn's 12th most popular. There's also this really good reddit post called,
"Favourite Pokémon survey 2024." If you click on the pastebin from the comments, you'll find the raw full list, and while Deoxys isn't ranked highly.. they did tie with Ivysaur who is in Smash already. Although, from the Gen III group, all of these Pokemon ranked higher in popularity, including: Breloom, Mawile, Milotic, Salamence, Absol, Aggron, Mudkip, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Flygon, Metagross, Rayquaza, and Gardevoir. So while I'm fine with agreeing that Deoxys isn't as popular of a Pokémon in its own respective region.. I want to say that popularity isn't the most prominant factor. Jigglypuff and Pichu––in my subjective eyes––are not popular because they are innately favored like the other mons. But rather, they're popular now because they have history of being in Smash already. This same effect is easy to replicate. If Deoxys gets into Smash, their popularity skyrockets by default just because they're playable in a Nintendo All-Stars platform fighter.
, Mega Charizard X, Shadow Mewtwo
, Regigigas, Diancie, Deoxys, Rotom, Genesect, Magearna
