Ummm... holy ****.URGH. GENO. URGH. OKAY. Prepare yourselves () for a long *** rant. This ain't gonna be pretty and probably the most volatile rant I've ever done on a character. Try not to get upset. I'll spoiler it in case you want to avoid.
****. Geno. Genuinely **** this little insignificant puppet.
Okay, let's dial it back, that's clearly a very strong way to feel about any character so I'll try and breakdown why Geno irritates me so as a Smash character suggestion.
I have no doubt Geno is popular for legit reasons(to an extent), but so is Medli from the Legend of Zelda Wind Waker yet no one is vying for her despite her ability to offer unique gameplay and fulfill a fan favourite niche. Vivian is an incredibly popular Paper Mario partner, yet there's absolutely no outcry for him/her.
My favourite Pokemon is Alakazam, a Pokemon who is actually pretty damn popular amongst the Pokemon fanbase and yet I see absolutely no support for Alakazam and nor will I ever support him for Smash. I barely ever see any support for Gengar who is even more popular than my spoon bending psychic fave.
Why is that?
Because overall they're not important to their franchises.
Yes, SMRPG has it's fans, but Geno is so ridiculously low on the scale of signifance to the Mario universe it's frankly insulting to entertain the idea of him getting in before the far more important Toad/Captain Toad(and if you're going to argue Geno is more important to the Mario series than Toad you're ****ing delusional pal), the superior RPG series of Paper Mario, or even a character who makes frequent appearences in spinoffs like Waluigi.
So what sets Geno apart from say Goombella, Vivian or even fellow SMRPG partner Mallow in terms of Smash support?
Sakurai mentioning he liked him.
That's it.
That's all it took to take Geno from a literal "who?" on the level of Goombella to suddenly being seen as the next viable Mario related candidate after WARIO in Brawl. Notice Mallow, a character with an actual character arc in SMRPG with genuine development gets precisely zero backing. Because he wasn't mentioned.
So what has said Sakurai said he likes about Geno in particular? His arm has a gun and he thinks that'd be fun for Smash.
Well...we've got that already with far more popular and iconic characters with actual significance in their series;
Geno meanwhile has not once been brought back into a Mario game outside a single cameo in Superstar saga(which at the time, NGL I was excited by) which was removed in the remake of said game. We have Pom Pom playable in Super Mario Party, and literally no one cares about her, yet Geno, an apparently popular character constantly gets overlooked and removed.
We could have had him in the Mario Sports Mix, which let's be real would have been PERFECT as it was made with a collaboration of Square and Nintendo. We even got Square characters! Oh man, to see Geno and Mallow slamming hoops next to the main Mario cast would have been incredible...but wait! We didn't get that. We got five Final Fantasy characters and a Dragon Quest character. That's six possible slots Square could have used for Geno and yet not a single SMRPG character was probably even discussed.
Square don't care about Geno. And Nintendo don't either. Sakurai is the only person who seems to, and he's the Geno's fans lifeline to maybe somehow getting Geno to reappear in a future Mario title.
I can understand their frustration, but given that absolutely perfect game to include both Geno and Mallow and it didn't happen, why should Geno be chosen to represent Mario in Smash over literally any other Mario character who's done something in the past twenty years?
Captain Toad? Has his own game, it sold well, Toads are the literal face of the Mushroom Kingdom and yet no playable Toads.
Paper Mario? RPG character who has had several super successful games over the past decade and is chock filled with unique gameplay and creativity.
Waluigi? Certainly has a fanbase, and is at least THE Mario Sports spinoff character at this point.
His Mii outfit was great. Hell I was excited by him being a Mii outfit for Gunner. But that's all he should be until the fans convince Nintendo to buy his rights and put him in some actual Mario titles again, even if it's spinoff sports games or cameos in more RPGs(rather than removing him) before I can see Geno as anything but a slap in the face to fans of Toad, fans of Paper Mario and fans of Waluigi(of which he does have some, I refuse to believe Waluigi's entire fanbase is based off of memes).
Want: 0% but I'd be in negative numbers if possible.
As a fan of Captain Toad, Waluigi and Paper Mario I think this is the one inclusion that would genuinely **** me off enough to not buy the game if he's chosen over all of them.
Especially at this stage. If he made more appearances in the future in spinoffs, the RPGs or the main Mario series games I'd be signifcantly less disgusted by the idea of his inclusion but as it is, he's nothing more than an overblown meme from a game which is honestly overrated. Better Mario RPGs have come since, better RPGs existed before, and considerably better third party and Mario series character options are available.
Chance: 50%
That said, irritatingly, I can see Sakurai saying **** it and adding who he wants if this is truly his last Smash game regardless of whether or not they're the Mario series equivalent of adding in Ricky the Kangaroo for a Zelda rep over Impa, Tingle, Midna, Ganon etc.
I'm not gonna tell you you're wrong for not wanting Geno in the game, but when you start seeing a character's hypothetical addition as an insult and reason to boycott a product, that's when I think you need to step back and reevaluate your perspective on this whole speculation business. There are lots of characters I don't like, or even hate the idea of ever being in Smash (coincidentally, Captain Toad and Waluigi are among them, and not just for being in direct competition with my boy), but you don't have me out here vowing to not buy this amazing game if any of them get in.
