Sakurai says there's no favoritism

[Meta-Kraid]

Overall Sakurai ignores his bias pretty well. That doesn't mean that he isn't biased though. Looking at Kid Icarus, Palutena is extremely justified. Alf may have been a better option than Dark Pit, but people would have complained that he didn't use Rock Pikmin or Winged Pikmin outside of his recovery. Dark Pit overall would be more authentic.

It's stupid that modern Kirby isn't acknowledged (heck Bandana Dee didn't even get a trophy). However, Kirby isn't starving for characters like DK.

Donkey Kong isn't due to bias either. Dixie was planned for Brawl and just didn't make the cut this time. The Kremlings were put in Smash Run so he either doesn't think K. Rool is important or he ran out of time. (The ballot will probably get him in though).

Speaking of Smash Run I thought that a bunch of obscure franchises were represented in it until I played Uprising. I went from not knowing most of the enemies to all but two (The Devil Car and the Bacura). I understand why Sakurai did this since it was so easy to port them, but really? He couldn't have cut down on the numbers even a little bit? It looks like a Kid Icarus side scroller if you play as Pit.

Zelda is criminally underrepresented and ignored, but @Kjaerlighet already explained how.

Metroid is an oddball. The hunters and Prime games get ignored. Other M is regarded as one of the series biggest games, but in reality many (including myself) don't consider it canon with the drastic character alterations, terrible story, and writing every other game except itself and the original out of the timeline if it's canon.

Everyone who says Fire Emblem doesn't deserve this many characters is kidding themselves. First of all, it's now one of the five Nintendo mainline series guaranteed a game every three years or less. The others are Mario, Zelda, DKC, and Pokémon. Heck it even has two games coming soon (four if you count separate routes in Fates). Starfox, Metroid, and even Kirby aren't given this luxury.

So Sakurai is biased in some ways (gameplay certainly isn't one of them unless you're a beginner who spams Kirby's Down Special). He's proved he can ignore his bias in the past with Meelee's roster, but over time he's fallen victim to something everyone does eventually.

 

[RIP|Merrick]

Overall Sakurai ignores his bias pretty well. That doesn't mean that he isn't biased though. Looking at Kid Icarus, Palutena is extremely justified.

Of course she's justified. Being considered the next major character in the entire series, she was a pretty obvious choice. Dark Pit being an extra add to the roster is just the icing on the cake.

It's stupid that modern Kirby isn't acknowledged (heck Bandana Dee didn't even get a trophy). However, Kirby isn't starving for characters like DK.

But it is though? Dream Land (64) has "The World To Win" from Triple Deluxe, "The Adventure Begins", "Through The Forest" and Floral Fields present in The Great Cave Offensive, all songs from his most recent Kirby games.

Speaking of Smash Run I thought that a bunch of obscure franchises were represented in it until I played Uprising. I went from not knowing most of the enemies to all but two (The Devil Car and the Bacura). I understand why Sakurai did this since it was so easy to port them, but really? He couldn't have cut down on the numbers even a little bit? It looks like a Kid Icarus side scroller if you play as Pit.

Speculation on my part, but that sounds more like a case of time restraints for me, wherein they stuffed the mode with as many enemies that obviously needed to be made from scratch into the game, the ones featured in Subspace Emissary, and then the Icarus ones would all be easily ported from there. Probably the same case for a clone, like, since they're so easy to bring in, why not just have them all in? An all or nothing kind of deal.

Metroid is an oddball. The hunters and Prime games get ignored. Other M is regarded as one of the series biggest games, but in reality many (including myself) don't consider it canon with the drastic character alterations, terrible story, and writing every other game except itself and the original out of the timeline if it's canon.

Yeah. Pretty much what you said. The series has kind of been at a major standstill for a longtime, with Other M having been the last major game in the series, and that was in...yikes, 2010? Having Samus modeled closely based off her appearance in Other M and the entirety of the Pyrosphere location and the game it's based off is really all that series got, plus Zero's makeover. I think that series having two characters was to be expected in the end, considering there aren't that many iconic characters in that series that would lend itself to that memorable of a fighter in my personal opinion.

Everyone who says Fire Emblem doesn't deserve this many characters is kidding themselves. First of all, it's now one of the five Nintendo mainline series guaranteed a game every three years or less. The others are Mario, Zelda, DKC, and Pokémon. Heck it even has two games coming soon (four if you count separate routes in Fates). Starfox, Metroid, and even Kirby aren't given this luxury.

Agree man. What was once a obscure series in the states has really picked up steam over time, and rightfully deserves to be one of Nintendo's flagship series. I don't think the Donkey Kong series as a whole gets that many games overall, I consider that more in line with Kid Icarus having pretty infrequent and not too common releases. Star Fox and Metroid getting two characters each as well as stages is actually great, especially since they each got one completely new stage. So both pretty much in the same boat as DK in my opinion, both having enough games to warrant the additions while not quite being popular enough or having consistent of releases to be Nintendos go to series for making games.

So Sakurai is biased in some ways (gameplay certainly isn't one of them unless you're a beginner who spams Kirby's Down Special). He's proved he can ignore his bias in the past with Meelee's roster, but over time he's fallen victim to something everyone does eventually.

Oh yeah, everyone can and is biased to an extent. It's something you can see when people form opinions over matchups in this game, over your favorite ice creams, anything really. It's just silly to me when people point to very meaningless things like multijump characters who can do that (Kirby, Kid Icarus), and those series just happen to have been worked on by Sakurai in some form.

 

[BKupa666]

Popping in for moderation's sake, this thread is doing a decent job at staying civil as of late, but let's not get complacent. People tend to get quite fired up when discussing this matter after all (not that I fully blame them). One thing I'd like to discourage is the all too common "why are you complaining??? enjoy the game!!!" brand of post, which does nothing but stamp out debate from people who may very well have valid points to make, simply by poisoning the well.

I don't think the Donkey Kong series as a whole gets that many games overall, I consider that more in line with Kid Icarus having pretty infrequent and not too common releases.

DK has never missed a console generation, has never had a "main series" game sell less than a million (only TF sold less than 4 million), and even at its most infrequent, received a number of spin-offs during the GameCube era. There are arguments to be made as to why it's okay that it only has the content it does in Smash 4, but there is zero comparison between it and a three game series with one moderately successful new release in twenty years.

 

[RIP|Merrick]

DK has never missed a console generation, has never had a "main series" game sell less than a million (only TF sold less than 4 million), and even at its most infrequent, received a number of spin-offs during the GameCube era. There are arguments to be made as to why it's okay that it only has the content it does in Smash 4, but there is zero comparison between it and a three game series with one moderately successful new release in twenty years.

It's a very popular series for sure, and certainly has been thriving more in terms of quantity of games compared to that of the less major games. It's obviously nowhere near infrequent as something like Kid Icarus. I'd be very happy seeing one of the two most iconic DKC characters Dixie or King K make their introduction to Smash.

The big thing I was trying to say with my post is that those series are certainly deserving of more. I just think it's silly that all the blame goes down to one person, you know? Or that it's some sort of conspiracy the decision making that goes into the game when series reps and the amount each get probably isn't as strongly thought about as many people are on here.

Although I do appreciate the passion and hope people have to see more from their favorite series. There's always still hope in the form of DLC that could make people very happy.

 

[BKupa666]

It's a very popular series for sure, and certainly has been thriving more in terms of quantity of games compared to that of the less major games. It's obviously nowhere near infrequent as something like Kid Icarus. I'd be very happy seeing one of the two most iconic DKC characters Dixie or King K make their introduction to Smash.

The big thing I was trying to say with my post is that those series are certainly deserving of more. I just think it's silly that all the blame goes down to one person, you know? Or that it's some sort of conspiracy the decision making that goes into the game when series reps and the amount each get probably isn't as strongly thought about as many people are on here.

Although I do appreciate the passion and hope people have to see more from their favorite series. There's always still hope in the form of DLC that could make people very happy.

Yeah, I understand what you're getting at, and some of the arguments people give are pretty shoddy (especially "Kirby characters have more jumps therefore bias," I mean, seriously??). I think it's just a combination of factors...Sakurai saying in interviews that "he decides what characters go into the game, no one else," then little things building up like Kid Icarus getting a ton of ATs/enemies/items and facetime in most Smash artwork/trailers/menus, followed ultimately by Kid Icarus having more characters than Donkey Kong, if only due to a clone. People, including myself, dislike the "reps" mentality people have, but when you have workable, popular candidates from a big series, they should at least get in alongside, if not before those from smaller series.

It's not a conscious conspiracy to "hate DK," but I think its fans are justified in feeling slighted. You get a clear sense of which franchises Sakurai likes and which ones he's just apathetic toward...and let's just say he's not going out and hosting Japanese Donkey Kong concerts.

 

[RIP|Merrick]

I suppose I could see that. Just so weird to me thinking that one man would tackle so much like that without any input on character decisions from his crew whatsoever.