Smash bros needs more girls? Why

[SuperMii3D]

Gender, sexual orientation, race, etc., are characteristics. However, they should not be THE defining characteristic, especially creating well-written characters (but these aspects can certainly help with development/depth). Unfortunately, there are exceptions. I've seen too many cases where these characteristics ARE taken as the defining trait, and most of them lead to stereotypes (or perhaps the [flat] "token" [insert gender/sexual orientation/race/etc. here]... but I won't get into that). I like to remember characters for their good character development, growth, how well I could empathize with them, and especially learning morals and lessons from them regardless if my own gender, sexuality, etc. is different... among other things. But I don't want to make a huge argument on what makes a "well-written" character -- I think people have different definitions anyway...

Well, that's just my two cents on the whole thing. Applying this to Smash: being female shouldn't be the deciding factor. Otherwise, I personally think it's a shallow reason to include such character. Not to mention Smash itself is a different context altogether; there are other factors to include as well, just like any other character, really. However, in the end there are some exceptions, making it hard to know how the heck Sakurai chooses things anyway.

Tbh, I haven't really thought of the question "does Smash need more girls?"a lot. Perhaps because I'm more concerned on video games in general including more strong female protags/roles.

Its not the fact that they are female, rather its the fact that there arent as many Female characters as opposed to the Male gender.

 

[Croph]

I understand that... or perhaps I'm missing something? The lack of female protagonists in Nintendo games is probably a major reason for this, though (cuz, y'know, makes more sense if the protag of the games gets in first. Also doesn't help if those games star males. I guess this could also apply to popularity to an extent), which is why I'm more concerned about Nintendo introducing more games starring females.. Not saying that there are no viable female fighters now, because there are, and some I do really think they deserve joining the brawl (due to importance, being a well-developed character, popularity, among other things). But for those who I think is deserve to be in, Sakurai may beg to differ...

WFT has always been an interesting case for me. I don' think I've said this before, but for some time I was a bit confused and annoyed as to why Sakurai chose the female version over the male. Probably because I didn't want the reason to be "just because she's female = more diversity". Is it because she's a more popular choice over the male version? Or perhaps there's an other reason? However, now that we may be getting a Male WFT alt costume (I'm being optimistic here), I'm a little more relaxed... which is weird because I usually don't get worked up over things like this (and I'm kinda upset at myself because of this) but whatevs...

But yeah, I kinda feel the same way about Villager. I'm really hoping for a female Villager alt costume. :3

If there's peeps out there that think that Smash needs more females because they offer more equality towards gender ratio and/or diversity, then that's your opinion and I respect that. Other then that, I'm not really sure as to why Smash needs more girls, unless including X amount of females will benefit the game, like improve sales... but I'd like to see some statistics on stuff like this that happened in the past. I'll think on this... but "need" is such a strong word...

 

[Vann Accessible]

I agree characters shouldn't be made playable simply because they're female.

For example, I don't think Krystal is an important enough character to merit being playable. People tend to want her because A.) she's a girl and B.) she wouldn't be a Fox clone. These things alone don't make her important even to be playable in Smash Bros. Let's be honest, Star Fox Adventures was mediocre, and marked the beginning of the end of the Star Fox series (and Rareware). Acknowledging it at this point would be silly.

Conversely, I think Dixie is the most relevant third rep for the DK series. I also think either Paluenta or Medusa would be a fine KI rep. My opinion that they would be good playable characters is independent of their gender. It's nice that they're female, but the selling point is their importance to their respective series.

 

[Erotic&Heretic]

Not sure if I already said that, but it's not that the game NEED more girls, it's just that some of them seems to be the next choice as newcommers for existing series:

Mario have Rosalina as a newcommer (but it's probably for her moveset possibilities)
Kid Icarus have Palutena (and Medusa, who is rather important to the series)
DK have Dixie
Wario had Ashley (for her popularity, happened to be an AT), there's also Syrup and Mona (Wario is really surrounded by ladies)
Fire Emblem have Lyn and Robin (who can be male, by the way)
Starfox have Krystal (I like Krystal, but I don't really see her as important to the serie. By the way, she is highly requested)

And probably some others that I forget.

 

[Hong]

Fire Emblem have Lyn and Robin (who can male, by the way)

She can male, but does she know why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

There's also Lucina, you know.

 

[Erotic&Heretic]

She can male, but does she know why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Well... I forgot how to thread I'll correct that.

 

[Critzilean]

Palutena is the only character (besides Pit) present in all 3 KI games. She got a lot of character development in Uprising and showed that she had the ability to fight. In Chapter 3 she also displayed the perfect FS, The Glam Blaster.

Krystal isn't that insignificant in Starfox. There are 5 unique games in the series, out of those Krystal is in 3 of them, so more than half. She is technically playable in all three (although for a very short time in Adventures) and in the DS one she gets pretty good character development. Although Starfox doesn't really deserve 4 reps (even 3 is pushing it) Fox and Wolf would really be the best 2 reps if cuts had to be made, but I digress. I also wanted to say, people are calling Adventures a bad game, it was good in its own right, it just did not fit in the Starfox Series.

Bayonetta would be cool, but I feel like the fact that she strips while attacking would keep her out.

Lyn would be my personal best candidate for Smash 4. She was the first taste of Fire Emblem that the states got. The best FE lineup IMO would be Marth (First Lord), Lyn (First International Lord) and Chrom (Most Recent Lord)

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Is it because she's a more popular choice over the male version? Or perhaps there's an other reason?

I have an explanation for that.

I recall reading somewhere that the majority of people (like 70% or something around that) chose the female trainer when they played Wii Fit. So yes, she is the more popular of the two!

 

[Hong]

I have an explanation for that.

I recall reading somewhere that the majority of people (like 70% or something around that) chose the female trainer when they played Wii Fit. So yes, she is the more popular of the two!

From my experience:

Out of the 25~ people I have seen use Wii Fit, only one chose the male trailer. Of the one that did, he chose him because the voice and hair style (which changes every month) reminded him of Captain Planet. :b

Of course it's a small sample size, though both my small local sample and what I have seen from online communities seems to indicate the female trainer is more popular in a number of regions.

 

[Croph]

I have an explanation for that.

I recall reading somewhere that the majority of people (like 70% or something around that) chose the female trainer when they played Wii Fit. So yes, she is the more popular of the two!

Do you happen to have a source for that? Not that I don't believe you (I vaguely remember discussing results like this before), I'm just curious on the whole thing.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Do you happen to have a source for that? Not that I don't believe you (I vaguely remember discussing results like this before), I'm just curious on the whole thing.

I don't. But I think someone mentioned this earlier in this thread.

 

[Croph]

I don't. But I think someone mentioned this earlier in this thread.

Oh, okay. I'll see if I could dig something up, though.

Edit: Idk... but I did find this (which I didn't know before). The article states that majority of [North American] females console gamers are Wii owners (at 80%) compared to the PS3 (9%) and Xbox 360 (11%). I'm wondering if Nintendo will take (or has already taken) these findings into consideration in the future. At the very least, I think it's a positive thing; it's helping to expand the market/audience.

If most players do choose the female trainer over the male, I'd really love to know the percentage of female and male Wii Fit owners. I'd especially love to know why the female version is more popular. I think there's going to be personal reasons and whatnot, but the crazy side of me would say that there might be some psychological reasons too. Ah, who knows...

 

[Superyoshiom]

I'm sure this has been said previously, but there shouldn't be more girls just for the sake of more females; they need to be something people really want and bring something new, like Rosalina and WFT. As for which girls that could still be put in, Palutena seems like a no-brainer, and Dixie Kong is a safe guess. Beyond that, there's probably Lucina from Fire Emblem (or Lyn, I suppose), or a female version of Pokemon Trainer and Villager. Lots of people want characters like Krystal and Daisy, but I'm not into that :/

 

[Pega-pony Princess]

I'm all for this gal.

 

[GuyWithTheFace]

I'm all for this gal.

I just noticed something from that art you posted. Why does she stop wearing pants once she promotes to grandmaster?

"I'M TOO POWERFUL NOW!!! PANTS CAN'T HOLD ME!!!! MUAHAHAHA!!!!"

 

[xpnc]

We should be less concerned with the gender of a character than with the popularity of said character

When you start to appease certain groups you just wind up ostracising everyone else

 

[ToothiestAura]

We should be less concerned with the gender of a character than with the popularity of said character

When you start to appease certain groups you just wind up ostracising everyone else

Yes, when you appease one group you upset another. Such is life. That isn't a reason not to do something, however. As doing nothing will also upset people.

 

[jaytalks]

We should be less concerned with the gender of a character than with the popularity of said character

When you start to appease certain groups you just wind up ostracising everyone else

I don't think that's necessarily the case, nor would be that the intent of the question posited by those in this thread.

In all honesty, I don't think we should be really that concerned with the popularity of the character as well. More so about what the character can bring to the table. Rosalina was not a popular character by any means on this thread when she was revealed, but she has since shown to be unique fighter that adds to the game.

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

Sakurai has demonstrated that he gives somewhere in the neighborhood of zero ****s about the popularity of the characters he chooses.

See: ROB, GnW, Climbers, Falcon in 64, Jigglypuff (to a certain extent) in 64, etc.

The man is a ****ing enigma. I have no idea why he chooses who he does.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Sakurai has demonstrated that he gives somewhere in the neighborhood of zero ****s about the popularity of the characters he chooses.

See: ROB, GnW, Climbers, Falcon in 64, Jigglypuff (to a certain extent) in 64, etc.

The man is a ****ing enigma. I have no idea why he chooses who he does.

I like that about him though, it somewhat levels the playing field for potential newcomers and everything isn't painfully obvious from the start.

I figure it shows he's good at being unbiased and is in control of his own decisions...while at the same time adding characters the fans want.

 

[Jaedrik]

-snip-

I'm all for this gal.

. . . Why does she have feet?

 

[Neanderthal]

Sakurai has demonstrated that he gives somewhere in the neighborhood of zero ****s about the popularity of the characters he chooses.

See: ROB, GnW, Climbers, Falcon in 64, Jigglypuff (to a certain extent) in 64, etc.

The man is a ****ing enigma. I have no idea why he chooses who he does.

He was born to troll.

 

[PolarisJunkie]

I do enjoy having playable female characters personally mostly because in general female characters tend to be speedy and lithe which is a trait I like in fighting games. Not to say men don't also have this trait, but this seems to be a universal women fighting game trope.

Dixie Kong I think is a rare exception (pardon the pun ) in Nintendo's female catalogue as she was created not to be a damsel but to be a playable character right from the start. She starred in her own game and not once was ever captured by the enemy (she actually saved both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and in the case of DK, twice!). She is definitely a deserving character just in the fact that she breaks the really tired damsel role that Nintendo loves with their females for their more well known franchises.

 

[Snagrio]

The answer to such a question is obvious. So there will be less yaoi fanfictions.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

The answer to such a question is obvious. So there will be more yuri fanfictions.

Fixed for accuracy.

Get a load of the Wii Fit Trainer to see what I mean.

 

[FooltheFlames]

I completely agree!
So many awesome female reps and so much wasted potential...

I'm very glad Rosalina made it in though! And we will most likely get a girl costume for Villager too.

About Wario Ware reps; Ashley isn't going to playable now but we still have good chance for Mona or maybe even Kat & Ana so keep your hopes up peeples!

With DK: Tropical Freeze coming up we have a good chance of Dixie Kong.

Krystal could very well end up being a Starfox rep.

It's long shot but maybe Amy, Cream, Rouge or Blaze could make it in if Sonic gets a second rep!

And I'm not even going to get into why Saria should have been playable! Or many, many wonderful Fire Emblem reps that would be great. Or how many I could name off from third party series...

 

[Guybrush20X6]

There seems to be a few potential females with some evidence that they'll be in the game.

Palutena (That leak)
Toon Zelda (That Phantom in the Zelda Picture could potentially be an early cameo)

Not to mention Zamus and Sheik

 

[Tetra's Tracker]

There seems to be a few potential females with some evidence that they'll be in the game.

Palutena (That leak)
Toon Zelda (That Phantom in the Zelda Picture could potentially be an early cameo)

Not to mention Zamus and Sheik

Also Miis look incredibly likely (oh noez miis in ssb4 im gonna cut ma wrists blah blah blah) going by the Mii series stuff revealed so far, and a female alt costume for Villager looks likely if WFT is anything to go by. You'd think Dixie is likely as well, but there's been nothing revealed yet that really points to her being so.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Also Miis look incredibly likely (oh noez miis in ssb4 im gonna cut ma wrists blah blah blah) going by the Mii series stuff revealed so far, and a female alt costume for Villager looks likely if WFT is anything to go by. You'd think Dixie is likely as well, but there's been nothing revealed yet that really points to her being so.

Wow, the female Miis completely slipped my mind. I wonder if there'd be a Leaf alternate if Red returned.

 

[Croph]

Other then that, I'm not really sure as to why Smash needs more girls, unless including X amount of females will benefit the game, like improve sales... but I'd like to see some statistics on stuff like this that happened in the past. I'll think on this... but "need" is such a strong word...

Speaking of which, has anyone actually come across any statistics? On how adding more playable females to whatever video game benefits sales?

I've came across studies that deal with gender ratios and how an unbalance affects people psychologically, but the context is much more general and does not pertain to video games. I don't think I could relate something like this to a fighting game roster.

At any rate, I'm kinda interested to see the game's box art. I'm wondering if they're going to bump up the female appearances than what we have on Brawl's.

 

[Koopaul]

I'm one of the few people who support Barbara the Bat, not because she's female, but because she represents a punk rocker style that no other character has.

 

[IsmaR]

Speaking of which, has anyone actually come across any statistics? On how adding more playable females to whatever video game benefits sales?

I've came across studies that deal with gender ratios and how an unbalance affects people psychologically, but the context is much more general and does not pertain to video games. I don't think I could relate something like this to a fighting game roster.

I don't think such things exist, as far as specific statistics/gaming specific studies go. And I don't think that's a bad thing.

At any rate, I'm kinda interested to see the game's box art. I'm wondering if they're going to bump up the female appearances than what we have on Brawl's.

Nothing will top 64's "females will get hit" box art.

 

[Jason the Yoshi]

I agree. We need Sakurai to start partying with ladies more often.

We need Krystal, Dixie Kong, Palutena, a female alternate suit for Villager if possible, and Amy Rose in a future title.

 

[Kickback]

I don't suport the whole ssmb needs more females thing, charecters should be added based on charecter/Move potential/ Importance to the franchise not based on gender.

I support some charecters that happen to be female

Sami: because I love the AW series , she could inherit snake's move sett( if snake is a no show) and also cause I'm not much of a Fan of Andy.

Rythem girl: sure this girl dosen't have alot of charecter but has a great move sett potential compared to other charecters of the series it wouldn't be that weird for her to have moves from diffrent mini games.

Shantea: great games, great charecter thats almost only exslusivly on nintendo consoles I'm sure if Nintendo asked them wayforward would gladly lend them shantea

I also supportDixie ifshe gets added as a forth slot after.King K.rool

 

[Croph]

I don't think such things exist, as far as specific statistics/gaming specific studies go. And I don't think that's a bad thing.

I kinda figured. I'm just curious when it comes to these things.

Nothing will top 64's "females will get hit" box art.

*checks 64's box art*

Whoa, I didn't even realize until now. O.o Haha.

To compare, here's Melee and Brawl's box art, Japanese included.

Spoiler

Interesting indeed. Perhaps we'll see WFT on the box art? Who knows...

 

[praline]

I agree. We need Sakurai to start partying with ladies more often.

We need Krystal, Dixie Kong, Palutena, a female alternate suit for Villager if possible, and Amy Rose in a future title.

That is hilarious. She's never gonna be playable.

 

[Jason the Yoshi]

That is hilarious. She's never gonna be playable.

Not necessarily, there is a lot of talk about the possibility of Nintendo buying SEGA.

 

[praline]

Not necessarily, there is a lot of talk about the possibility of Nintendo buying SEGA.

If that ever were to happen. Regardless of gender Amy Rose should be the last person they add.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Not necessarily, there is a lot of talk about the possibility of Nintendo buying SEGA.

Any reputable news stories about that? I heard rumors but nothing else.