So how did we miss Wii Fit Trainer

[SmashChu]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I have been thinking: How did no one guess the Wii Fit Trainer (WFT)? Looking back, it makes sense. Wii Fit is one of Nintendo's biggest new series. Wii Fit sold 22.67 million and Wii Fit Plus sold 20.86 million. Nintendo is also releasing a third Wii Fit game. We also see a silhouette on the box. So why did not one guess this character?

Each Smash tends to reflect on the past console. With Brawl, it reflect the Gamecube generation. The Gamecube games were more traditional games and mostly staple Nintendo series. By that token, SSBU will reflect the Wii and the DS. Those consoles had more unconventional games. Games like Wii Fit and Brain Age were considered non-games by some. Even today, some people don't regard this as games. So this reflects on how we view Smash and it's characters. We looked at potential characters and only saw specific characters and series. Most people ignored the Wii games despite the fact they are the best selling games on the Wii. So the thought of Wii Fit content didn't occur to anyone. Had we considered the Wii games sales and influence on Nintendo at the time, we might have looked more at Wii Fit. Likewise, another issue is that most Smash fans did not play Wii Fit. So Wii Fit and the other games are foreign to most Smash Brothers fans.

Smash is, first and foremost, a reflection of Nintendo. The game's characters and content take this into consideration. So WFT makes a lot of sense as it reflects an important part of Nintendo (their highly successful Wii Fit game).

 

[Katakiri]

Because instead of trying to get fit, Smashers were too busy sitting on their butts making character predictions and complaining about Brawl.

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

It's simple. We didn't see her coming for three reasons. 1) She had exactly zero notoriety, 2) She had exactly zero apparent usefulness and utility, and 3) She is a wire-frame fighter that stole the skin off some poor SOB and is keeping it artificially preserved. She stays pale to blend into our society as a mannequin. No one would have believed in the last few years that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own.

 

[FlareHabanero]

We didn't expect this character because the character doesn't had any establish characterization in any shape or form, and comes from a game that does not involve any form of combat. People are aware that the Wii games do sell well, but that severe lack of an establish universe made people overlook those games. Even then, people occasionally brought up the Mii and no one else.

 

[fogbadge]

probably because we had the miis down as representing wii fit (among others)

 

[BluePikmin11]

We trusted Sakurai's "can't fight" logic too hard.

 

[Curious Villager]

Yeah It's mainly because most of us thought of the Mii's in order to represent the Wii series and all so we never really looked further into them.

 

[EddyBearr]

Beats mii.

 

[TheTuninator]

Most people on here would never have guessed WFT because Wii Fit isn't really on the radar of most "serious" gamers. The Trainer is a non-entity from a line of extremely casual games and therefore simply wouldn't be thought about for inclusion. Even Animal Crossing's Villager, another essential non-entity, had the advantage of being from a series popular among the serious gamers as well as being from a series most gamers would recognize as an actual video game.

I think most of us probably saw Wii Fit as an exercise regimen rather than a video game, to be honest. I know I did. Wii Fit getting representation is obvious in hindsight due to its monstrous popularity, as you observe, but the game simply wasn't something people had any interest in seeing in Smash and therefore wasn't talked about.

 

[UndiaperedBaby]

I, for one, thought Wii Fit was really fun and - and for that matter had mini-games besides just strength, balance, and yoga exercises. Beyond that, although no I would never have been like "I want the Wii Fit Trainer!" or "I bet WFT is in Smash 4.", I'm really excited she's there and as of yet is definitely in my top first-play characters when the game comes out.

 

[Erimir]

Even if she had been brought up, I would've guessed very low (1-2% chance). I wouldn't have guessed 0% because looking into it yeah she has sales and Sakurai likes to pick some weirdo characters.

As said, Mii seems a more natural choice to represent "the Wii" so to speak. But also, Sakurai suggested he'd be more interested in characters that actually fight (even if it's not part of the gameplay as with F-Zero) and she doesn't strike people as an all-star. And she doesn't have much in the way of a personality or character. So yeah, why would she be in?

I guess what this means is that sales/"representing Nintendo" matter more than some people may have thought and of course, with her and the Villager we now know that characters that don't fight at all are totally fair game. How many more are possibilities is a question though (I mean, Monita's not getting in... right?).

 

[UndiaperedBaby]

Even if she had been brought up, I would've guessed very low (1-2% chance). I wouldn't have guessed 0% because looking into it yeah she has sales and Sakurai likes to pick some weirdo characters.

As said, Mii seems a more natural choice to represent "the Wii" so to speak. But also, Sakurai suggested he'd be more interested in characters that actually fight (even if it's not part of the gameplay as with F-Zero) and she doesn't strike people as an all-star. And she doesn't have much in the way of a personality or character. So yeah, why would she be in?

I guess what this means is that sales/"representing Nintendo" matter more than some people may have thought and of course, with her and the Villager we now know that characters that don't fight at all are totally fair game. How many more are possibilities is a question though (I mean, Monita's not getting in... right?).

Actually, WFT is representing the Wii U. The trainer from the Wii is short haired and wears green.
Also, she has quite a personality, I think!

 

[Maffewt]

she doesn't strike people as an all-star. And she doesn't have much in the way of a personality or character.

I agree with everything you said bar these two points. Her games have sold more than almost every series in smash, everyone recognised her immediately when was announced, Wii Fit was huge when it first came out... the only thing left to really qualify her as an icon was recognising her alongside the other Nintendo superstars like Mario and Link, as opposed to some sort of novelty in her casual-only bubble. and that recognition comes in the form of smash bros.

Plus, very few of the characters in smash have any strong personality, or had least they hadn't before they were in Smash. At least WFT had her whole motivational/calm/enthusiastic thang, as opposed to the likes of Link or Mario just being a silent protagonist, or Falcon with no character at all. Sakurai reads between the lines and brings out their character (like Peach being kinda ditzy) or adds to it in unique ways (like Falcon's OTT machismo). Characters who might be the main character in their own games might only be minor in Smash, and therefore Smash can be loose with their characterisation and try and make it stand out more or exaggerate it, like they're doing with the whole enthusiastic yoga instructor thing.

 

[Xigger]

Not that everyone else already explained every point or anything....

When Sakurai flat-out rejected Villager back in pre-Brawl days because "he didn't fit in a fighting environment" that narrowed expected characters to those without any cartoon violence whatsoever. Especially when Brawl was very evidently against including the non-fighting franchises, no one would expect a complete 180 when the next Smash came around and the same franchise problem still persisted.

That, and the oddball historic characters we usually expect are Mr. Game & Watch or R.O.B., not modern characters.

 

[payasofobia]

Because I didn't know Wii Fit had a Trainer. Or a character, for that matter.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Probably because gamers seem to be a bit snobby when it comes to games like Wii Fit. (Or casual "non-games" in general)

We were biased against something that would probably have been fairly obvious from the outside looking in.

 

[Kymnosk]

The same way nobody expects the Wii Party Announcer or anybody from casual games like Rhythm Heaven to be in.

They aren't traditional video games, and even though the Wii is filled with these games, it seems the general idea is that the Mii will represent like THE ENTIRE Wii which is horribly false as proven by Wii Fit Trainer.

 

[MexM]

The same way nobody expects the Wii Party Announcer or anybody from casual games like Rhythm Heaven to be in.

Actually, I have seen a lot of people suggesting character from the series.

 

[Kymnosk]

I suggested Rhythm Heaven off the top of my head, it's still fairly popular and similair to Wario Ware. However I'm sure there are some japanese only games that would surprise everyone.