You're exhausting me, my dude.
1: I wasn't necessarily suggesting that the monsters be stage hazards, but rather background elements you see walking and whatnot. Sure some of them could hop out and attack you, but the point is that you face these monsters along your journey, so having them represented within DQ's stage just makes the most sense for their roles in actual DQ games. They're monsters that roam dungeons and overworlds, so seeing them in the stage would actually be pretty cool.
Too inaccurate. They rarely appear outside of bosses. The normal Monsters make only sense as some kind of summon or appearing in things like Taunts.
2: There are plenty of ways. The monsters could be spirits, Slime could be DQ's symbol, they can appear in the stage, maybe Slime could appear in Erdrick's moveset in someway (I don't like this idea, but whatever), maybe Slime could be in one of Erdrick's victories or taunts, etc. They don't have to be playable to be represented.
I mentioned the taunts. I could say the same thing as Erdrick. He could make just as much sense. That's the point I'm making. Slime does all that stuff very accurately and all the other Heroes and Monsters work fine. You haven't shown why Erdrick or any Hero legitimate outshines Slime at all for a single crossover choice. You also still ignore the point that was made. The reason why Link worked is because he's the mascot of the Zelda series, not because he was the Hero. This is why Mario was chosen, not just because he was the Hero, but the Mascot. So far, the Mascot has actually been more important.
3: Are you seriously telling me that Link is the best choice to represent the Zelda series with? If we could only get one Zelda character in Smash, would Link not be the one best suited for the role? The heroes of DQ are like what Link is to the Zelda series; the main heroes that we play as in every game. Erdrick represents the heroes the best, so he should be the one to represent DQ in terms of being a playable character, in my opinion. Especially since we can only get one playable rep at this time.
I... think you need to read your paragraph a bit more. Sure, but I would not dare to represent it with Link alone. But again, Pokemon proves it wrong that the generic hero is not actually always the best option. And sad to say, Erdrick is kind of meant to be generic. That's actually the point of the heroes. They aren't meant to be major stand-outs, just have enough of a strong design to feel like a hero. Besides that, Link in the series Mascot too. Not just the hero. Most of the time, the heroes are also the mascots. DQ isn't the same way. Slime is still the de facto mascot of the series as a whole. Erdrick absolutely is doing better than he used to be, where he wasn't nearly as known. But he isn't the actual series mascot either. He's just the most known hero. Both Slime and Erdrick have tons of gaming legacy. The problem with Erdrick is the legacy is pretty much not very known worldwide and doesn't really have much better legacy than the first game's hero when it comes to impact RPG's in the way DQ1 did. Slime meanwhile absolutely impacted RPG's to come. The bots in the Zelda series? Slime. They've been in rpg's to come. They aren't just a mook, they're the most well known monster in gaming history. The particular Slime managed to get its own spin-off series, and take the role as the PIkachu of the series as a whole more than once. That's why he's definitely a strong choice.
4: As for the rest, you literally claimed that the heroes are never used in spin-offs. I was just showing you that they were.
I never made that claim. I asked if they had spin-off presence. Huge difference. Because I didn't know. You need to really read closer. I also noticed you made some typos on your explanation of Link. I knew what you meant "Would you really choose someone other than him", instead of what you said.
The heroes don't need their own spin-offs, their games are the main series games.
To stand out compared to any other hero? They kind of do. There's no reason to choose Erdrick over any other if they all stand out pretty much the same in itself. The only reason Erdrick is even chose is because he's the only one heavily known overseas. That's all he has that separates him from the other heroes, who are all meant to be similar. Which is logical, cause that how Toriyama wants it. It's why the heroes of the DB series are very similar designs to Goku. It makes sense.
The video was just showing the hero of DQ1 making an appearance in a spin-off game called "Dragon Quest Rivals". That was all.
So... an eh thing. I don't see how any Hero stands out from the other then. Sounds like they're all pretty much equal. But I know you can't choose tons of alts due to too many different designs, so Erdrick was kind of the only option. Though let's be frank, the point of the hero was to be a mostly generic player avatar in DQ. It even had the bonus of giving you different builds based upon your name. LIke, there's no denying Erdrick is the most known, but the series' mascot he is not.
Every single character was also the mascot of their particular game being represented when added. It didn't matter if they were the main playable character or not. Link, Mario, Pikachu, etc. They were the mascots of their franchise too. Joker is the mascot of Persona 5. Now, I could see Erdrick in as the mascot of Dragon Quest 3. That can absolutely happen. But that's the only game he's the strict mascot of. So it depends if Sakurai wants "mascot of the series" or not. In which case, Slime definitely wins without a doubt.
But the Pokémon ARE the important aspects, it’s even the series namesake.
That's irrelevant. The mascots have always gotten in before the playable character. If a playable character is the mascot, then they get in. This is why Pokemon Trainer didn't come in till Brawl. Same difference. Link got in not because he was the hero, but because he's the de facto mascot of the Zelda series. Cloud is the actual FFVII mascot at that point. I could go on, but it was always the mascot first and foremost. If a player character gets in, they're either the strict mascot of the series or the mascot of their particular game.
This isn’t the case with DQ. This time, the Heroes and party members are the main focus, not the creatures.
This isn't really true either. There weren't party members at first. That's a later thing when the series involved. It's a misinterpretation of the game that actually influenced tons of games to come. It's why tons of RPG's don't care about party members, but care about the player character being key. And them gaining equipment, items, levels, some kind of actual ability/skill/magic, and fighting creatures. Every single aspect is what mattered. Well, story too, sometimes, when it exists. They're all extremely important to what makes an rpg an rpg. This focus doesn't really exist in the way you think it does. If only party members matters, why did they add tons of rpg's that only star one character? That's clearly not the case and just an option that some games have. Party members is not a key rpg criteria. Never was, never will be. Hell, equipment isn't either. Items and skills/abilities/magic, as well as the main playable character, some kind of story, and the enemies they fight are what makes an rpg an rpg. Level ups can vary, though.
Tbh, I see a lot of flaws with your arguements on why Slime is on the same level as Erdrick. You can argue about how the lore doesn’t matter in Smash, but it doesn’t change the fact that series protagonists were always chosen in Smash because the lore and stories told in games shape them up to be the important aspects in the first place, and in the case of Pokémon, the main character was a slateless avatar to insert yourself since the game is mainly about the experiences you have with the Pokémon you meet and it’s centered around them.
Lol, no. They were also the mascots first and foremost. Story didn't really ever transfer over to Smash at all. There was no reason to. All-Stars is about the character's recognizabilities. The Mascots. This is why they got in first and foremost. Every single one was the mascot of the series or their own game. There is no exceptions to that at all. You can't find one. The first of the series was the original mascot in some way.
You bring up spin offs and how Slime appears constantly in all the games, but that’s simply because Slime is a common enemy that was marketable due to it’s cutesy aesthetic for it be a mascot. And even then the DQ cast does appear in a lot of spin offs as well so that isn’t unqiue solely to Slime.
And this is why he's the mascot. He's the most marketable and recognizable, never mind has been part of the logo for centuries to come. You aren't going to easily market someone who didn't even appear yet. Erdrick is very important to the story, but you don't have a story if you don't have the monsters, so they will always matter.
To be honest, I really doubt Slime was something Sakurai considered for DQ. If anything, it’s the Heroes he would’ve looked at since they are what are central to the games, and Erdrick is the biggest over all the others and would most likely be the one chosen. If anything, I honestly think Sakurai and his team would’ve wanted to work on Erdrick more than Slime.
I don't see this as remotely true. Otherwise they would've never chosen Pikachu over Pokemon Trainer. They would've had him still in the game, even if it was him controlling Pikachu. They chose the mascot, even if they're not the player character, because they are the most known in the franchise. In some cases, the mascot is the player character, or a mascot of a particular game. Erdrick is not the mascot of anything but DQ3 proper. If he wants to hard represent the game, that makes sense. However, that game is very hard to find worldwide due to SE not translating a lot of games. People know the first two games the most. It makes more sense to use the most recognize hero worldwide, which is Erdrick's Descendant, if you want to stick with just the whole player protagonist thing on itself. That's the one people know more. He's not a literal who for many. He's more accurately the Marth of the series in some ways. The first real protagonist we ever meet. The one that showed up worldwide and influenced tons of games to come. Erdrick is awesome, but he wasn't the one that impacted games to come. His impact is not much outside of DQ in itself. He deserves credit for that, but when it comes to gaming history, it should be someone from the first game, since that's the one that mattered the most. It's part of why I want Slime, since he's the de facto character from the first game that had the most influence... and actually had an official name. I still find it weird that there is no name proper for Erdrick's Descendant, but here we are.