Can this character say the all powerful forbidden word?
Chance: 1%
This is too much of a broad concept for me to really see. Could a character like say, an african american character, be in Smash? I guess so, but that's never have been a reason for Sakurai to choose a character, and the only people that seem to have this mindset are Twitter people who care FAR too much about a fictional character's sexuality or rather irrelevant stuff like that in an action show. Sakurai's reasoning for choosing a character is because of the popularity of a character, the moveset potential, the importance this character has, if it's relevant, etc, etc, ect. He NEVER has asked himself "hmmm, now which black character i should add?" This isn't current Marvel Comics we are talking about, this is Smash Brothers, a game that is developed in Japan, and they don't really care about American or other Western Political Correctness stuff like this. I mean yeah they will remove stuff like guns and so on, but they usually do not create characters for the sake of having a person of color.
There's also another problem once you compare Smash to other Fighting games. Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, KoF and Tekken are all games that take place on Earth. Yes, an exaggerated version of earth, but it's still earth, and most of these games use real life cultures and martial arts as inspirations for their characters, so there's an argument there to add characters from other countries and regions and use them as basis as characters. Smash..............does not do that, a lot of the characters in this franchise are not even real or could not be real. This is a game where an Orage Dragon fights a Pink Puffball of destrucion, and you care about having a dark-skinned character on the game? Come on.
And lastly, as wrong as this sounds...........i can't come up with a Black/Brown/Dark Skinned Character that screams "YES, let's Put them in SMASH!". Yes there are characters that could be fun to play as, but they aren't particulary requested in the Smash Sphere nor even that popular in their franchise where they would get over other characters. Adam Hunter is a fun Streets of Rage, but there's no real reason he would get over the series's poster boy, Axel Stone or even Blaze Fielding. Heavy D has only appeared in only two KOF games and one of the was not even canon, and he is usally portrayed as a weakling who gets his invitations to KOF stolen, Urbosa doesn't really stand out compared to any other champion, and her popularity doesn't really stand out compared to other Zelda characters that have been requested in Smash for far longer like Skull Kid or even Impa. and so on and so forth.
Could a character like this happen? Sure, but it will happen because the character has merit and is popular, not to fill some quota that only the Twitter Crowd would care.
The only character that i could see being likely was Twintelle and...........yeah Min Min happened.
Want: 1%
I.......don't think this is in my far priority list. I mean i can name some characters i really love. Skate Hunter is my favorite Streets of Rage character and was super upset about him not getting a return in the 4th game (outside of the retro mode) but Axel comes first, Lucky Glauber is my favorite KOF character in general, but he ain't getting over Iori and Kyo, and im okay with that. There's also Doc Louis from Punch Out, but why would you add him over Glass Joe, Bald Bull or even Mr. Sandman? (who is also a person of color i might add) I like those characters not because because they are black, but because of interesing moves and backstory and personalities they have. Adding them just because "MUH REPRESENTATION OF NON-WHITE PEOPLE" is such a reductive statement that removes a lot of the merits these characters have.
Honestly this whole idea of rating them just because of this really specific aspect comes across as kind of demeaning, as if these characters could only get in just because there are not enough black people on the roster, which i find absurd. I mean an African American is far, far different from someone who lives in Africa, or in Haiti, or Colombia, and so on and so forth. When i see Richter and Peach, i don't see "oh those 2 are white people", i see a Vampire Hunter who wields a whip, and a Princess from a Fantasy Land.
Yes, i know some people will go "YOU PRIVILEGED AS;DNSANDLKSADLSADKLSAJDJ" but i stand by this. I main Simon Belmont, and yes im white and male just like him.................and that's where the similarities end. I am a Chilean dude with Asperger syndrome that works in a warehouse and is kinda fat, while Simon is a Hungarian Vampire Hunter who is super muscular and uses holy weapons. There are far more differences than similitudes here, and the only people that would see us as the same person are probably having serious issues. The other characters i play are a Walking-on-two-legs Bear, a ****ing clone abomination, a Robot, and so on.
Yes, diversity is important, but there's more about diversity than "MUH BLACK PEOLE", "MUH FEMALES", "MUH LGBTMNT", and Smash should care about the different genres of gaming, the different demographics certain games have (compare Puyo Puyo's audience to Crash Bandicoot's for example) the moveset and abilities they have, the regions in which are more popular (Doomguy in America, Rex in Japan, Layton in Europe) etc.
Like, if you had 2 Fire Emblem characters, with one that fought like Marth but was Black and female, and the other was a White Male who can use Axes and Crossbows and Bombs and Magic, i would undeniably prefer the latter over the former. Diversity is not Skin Deep.
From personal experience, i am chilean as i said before, and our country has almost NEVER been acknowledged in media. You see Mexico this, Peru that, and maybe a little Argetina here and there. The only thing that people know about Chile is the Moai from Easter Island, and that's kinda like representing Disney with a Stormtrooper. I have never seen a Chilean character be a major character in a fictional story aside from Io de Scylla from Saint Seiya, and im okay with that.Would it be cool to see more of them? Sure, why not, but it's not something im really dying for. and neither im dying for this.
