The 12-man roster game

[Kooj Kooj]

I think we all recognize this screen!

Originally, for Super Smash Bros 64, the game had been created with only 12 playable characters. Seeing how far this has come, compared to Smash4, it looks quite piddly. But at the time, I never remember thinking that it wasn't enough-- it was just fun to see a bunch of fun and interesting characters duke it out! (Admittedly, even if I didn't know who they all were.)

But let's take another look at the roster. Some of those characters, while incredibly relevant at the time, haven't seen a game in their series in several generations of consoles. So that brings me to the game!

If we had to, once again, drop the roster down to just 12 characters... who would those characters be today? Who are the "big guns" that would take a roster slot over some of the old characters whose series' have been neglected in recent years? Is a character's history in Smash more relevant to roster selection than promotion of new IPs? That's for you all to decide!

and also me 'cause i wanna play too ok?

So here's my thoughts on what a new roster might look like (in no particular order):

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6./
7./
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.


This is where I would personally see the line. The first five are pretty obvious-- major Nintendo characters who are still releasing relevant and main-stream games, but that have also been around a long time and are a part of Nintendo's history. I also specifically included

Both and could fill the 6th slot, being 1st party characters with a solid history with Nintendo, but that are slowing down a bit. Fox has a lot of notoriety from Smash games (thx melee) and his original games, and while they are continuing to release Star Fox games, the general consensus is they have been going downhill. DK, on the other hand, has been releasing games consistently that are more praised, even going so far as to re-release Tropical Freeze on the switch. However, there are fewer DK brand games being released, plus he has the disadvantage of having his identity shadowed by Mario's light (for example, taking board spaces in Mario Party games.)

The next 4 are characters whose series' have either been reinvigorated or entirely renewed by Smash's influence. and both gained a lot of notoriety from Smash Bros, but neither of them have had any relevant first party games (that I know of) in a very long time (GameCube for F-Zero GX?). However, they've both grown as characters to be seen as "faces of Smash" since their initial inclusion, and both could fill the Smash 64 slot nicely.

literally revived Fire Emblem in melee, and is one of the "Faces of Smash" now as well. I don't think I really need to justify this one very much.

In the case of , he was introduced in Brawl as a revival for Kid Icarus, having re-inspired the series to release Uprising in the next few years. It also helps that he's one of daddy Sakurai's babies, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

Finally seems like the most relevant IP whose introduction was in Smash4. He has a very unique and inspired moveset, and his series has been going as strong as the top 6 (if not stronger than characters like Samus, Fox, and DK) for a long time. He has a lot of notoriety and Smash has done nothing but improve that.

The last two slots were to represent Sakurai's more unusual choices. Since Melee's release, every game has had some sort of retro release () and/or, as I delicately like to put them, a "WTF" character (etc.) While the weird character choices often leave people wanting more from their first parties (Ridley, K.Rool, Waluigi...) they are a part of Smash's identity. And since weird choices is kind of subject to opinion, I thought representing this category as a whole with was appropriate.

And the last character, , is the guy who (along with ) started the whole third party craze in Smash. However, I personally give the edge to the one who got there faster. Sonic has (somehow despite a slew of pretty ****ty games) maintained a lot of relevance on Nintendo systems for years, and is one of gaming's biggest icons, to gamers and non-gamers alike. He seemed most fitting for this role.

Shout outs go to ,, and the Inklings for taking the world by storm. All characters I could totally see taking certain places, but decided against.

What do y'all think? Have some fun!
and try not to be too mean to me ok i'm a delicate little muffin

 

[Atem]

I personally think PAC-MAN should be in their (not because he is good or anything) but because almost every one knows about him. Fox and Ness in my opinion should be removed/replaced mostly because they are not as recent and as famous as Captain Falcon. Also I think you could swap out DK with Bowser (both work) because he is more recognizable as a villain which their are none of in this rooster.

 

[Al-kīmiyā']

Is the goal to make a new roster as if the first smash game were coming out now in 2018, or should the actual history of the series be taken into account, e.g., Captain Falcon becoming iconic?

 

[Enchess]

Sure, why not. I'll take a swing at this. My self-imposed rules are only one representative per franchise, only use characters who have appeared in previous Smash (just to make it easier), and try to pick as if Smash was a new series.

1.( as a costume)
2.
3.
Obvious 3 franchises. These are the only ones (other than Pokemon, but more on that in a sec) that my non-gamer family members would notice the absence of.
4.
Why not Pikachu? Well, Pikachu is known for anime appearance much more than game appearance. Smash is game crossover, so I picked most iconic Pokemon other than Pikachu. I'd accept Mewtwo as an answer too though.
5.
Animal Crossing just matters too much to modern Nintendo not to include. Plus I love non-threatening characters in fighting games. OP is awesome for agreeing on this. Tired of seeing her on people's 'cut' lists.
6.
I consider Super Metroid to be Nintendo's finest game. It was so good that it got a genre named after it. How many games can say that? I think Samus more than earned her spot.
7.
Series that has been going strong since the NES with tons of releases and a style that sets itself apart from the other entries. Marth is lord of choice because he's the original.
8.
Pseudo-RTS with cutesy claymation world and the constant screams of dying plant men. Pretty much the most Nintendo thing ever. I really don't have anything else to say.
9.
No explanation needed really.
10.
Wii is super important to Nintendo history. I truly think the console itself deserves a rep, and honestly WFT does a better job of capturing the trend that was the Wii than even Mii's do in my opinion.
11.
Xenoblade is the 'modern' series I chose to represent (I know Splatoon, but my self-imposed constraint). I am kinda bias on this one. Xenoblade is my all-time favorite RPG, but it is a series that has grown really fast and gotten some great reception. Plus I care about genre-representation in my Smash cuz I'm weird (a Fatal Frame rep would be in here for horror rep if I didn't have my restrictions)
12.
I hate fighting him, I hate playing as him, but I have always loved his inclusion. It's silly and educational.



Notable Exclusions:
They matter a lot to gaming history, but I can't justify third party reps with such a small roster
Relevance comes from the anime more than the game
I love Earthbound and Ness is my favorite character in the series, but I was trying not to be too selfish in my list. I just couldn't justify kicking someone else off my list for Earthbound, as much as I love it.
Was going to include, but decided not to count Yoshi as a distinct series.

Now for the selfish, I'm-basing-it-on-who-I-personally-enjoy-playing version:

...and this is why I don't pick based on my preferences. Nobody would want a Smash with this roster.

 

[Wyoming]

Pikachu is GameFreak's mascot, though. No way would they put Charizard ahead of him.

If we had a 12 character roster in 2016:

1. Mario
2. Donkey Kong
3. Link
4. Samus
5. Kirby
6. Pikachu
7. Fox (in 2016 I think he'd be much lower priority, could just be my viewpoint though. He'd still make it....just)
8. Yoshi
9. Luigi
10. Villager
11. Peach
12. Marth

 

[Kooj Kooj]

I personally think PAC-MAN should be in their (not because he is good or anything) but because almost every one knows about him. Fox and Ness in my opinion should be removed/replaced mostly because they are not as recent and as famous as Captain Falcon. Also I think you could swap out DK with Bowser (both work) because he is more recognizable as a villain which their are none of in this rooster.

PAC is definitely a contender for the 3rd party slot as well! I give the edge to Sonic personally though, I think their notoriety is about even, but basically Sonic arrived first.
Thanks for the input on those though, I like seeing how others view the differences!

Is the goal to make a new roster as if the first smash game were coming out now in 2018, or should the actual history of the series be taken into account, e.g., Captain Falcon becoming iconic?

I personally took the second approach, where Smash's history should be taken into account. However I think the idea that "Smash never existed until now" could also be interesting. In fact, the two rosters would be pretty different. Take whichever slice of cake suits you

 

[NintenRob]

My list.













Inklings


No retros, no third party, no franchises with more than one character, not even if they're quite distance like Donkey Kong

 

[Marcello691]

Kooj Kooj
I think your list is okay, it would be really hard to decide which 12 characters should represent Nintendo in such a game today.
DK is a very important character and there is no way he would be missing from that roster, so it's hilarious that you compared the star fox franchise with the DK franchise. DK is one of the most iconic and most recognizable characters in videogames, even people who don't usually play videogames know that tie wearing gorilla. DK games are still popular and selling.
I would left sonic out. There is no place for third party characters in a roster with only 12 characters. I don't know why people think that sonic is that important for smash. I think he is a disgrace. His games are really bad (considering he is Segas Mascot and most important franchise!) except a few ones like sonic colors and sonic games don't sell well anymore. Sakurai also seems to prioritize japanese player's tastes (Fire emblem characters) and Sonic has never been popular in Japan.

 

[Ghirahilda]

This is hard. But I will Try
If the roster gets dropped



If Smash Bros NEVER Existed and this will be the first one:

Inkling

A True Nintendo All-Stars
Also, Marth is not the face of Fire Emblem series. I think Ike is the favorite one. Marth is just the face of Fire Emblem in Smash games

 

[Enchess]

This is hard. But I will Try
If the roster gets dropped



If Smash Bros NEVER Existed and this will be the first one:

Inkling

A True Nintendo All-Stars
Also, Marth is not the face of Fire Emblem series. I think Ike is the favorite one. Marth is just the face of Fire Emblem in Smash games

Would Kid Icarus really be considered an important franchise without Smash? It only has 1 non-obscure game and most gamers I know have never played it even with Smash raising the series profile.

I'm kinda surprised to see your opinion on Ike. Marth is original, Lyn is first lord to appear in America, and Chrom started in Awakening which is definitely more popular than the radiance games. I would think Ike is obscure outside of Smash.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Inkling

Ike is far more popular than Marth so yeah.
Yoshi and Wario rep their own series, everything else should be self explanatory.

Ike easily won the popularity poll in Heroes beating Chrom and Marth by a landslide.
Roy came second surprisingly for the boys.

 

[nirvanafan]

Mario
Link
Pikachu
Kirby
Samus
Fox
Marth
Olimar
Villager
Shulk
Inkling
Ness or a 3rd Party if allowed (probably Sonic)

 

[Spatman]

funny!
I would go all in and will consider the incoming smash as the first smash in the hystory.
So I don't consider previous smashes' legacy and instead would pick only the 12 most relevant/important for nintendo hystory characters.
Oh, and no guest stars, the first smash wouldn't have any.


from beginning:

Mario
Link (BotW)
DK
Samus
Pikachu
Inkling
Villager
Kirby


unlockables:

Luigi
Bowser
Decidueye
Duck Hunt Duo


Dlcs:

Diddy Kong
King Dedede
Fox
Zelda (BotW)



yes, the game is still a game of nowadays, so it would have dlcs


edit: I completely forgot Marth! but, maybe, if this was the first Smash (in 2018) and so no Melee etc., Fire Emblem would have been confined in Japan and not would have been included in a smash all star like this

 

[Blackwolf666]

Rex+pyra, Inklings,

That's it for who I think is relevant now. The last 4 are the unlockable characters.


Now For though I just stuck him there since almost all FE games have a new protag and since he was the original. Now you may ask why Marth instead of another more recent lord... It's simply because there are over a dozen entries in this series and if a fire emblem rep gets in they need to be able to represent more than just their one game. I chose Marth since he has made more appearances than any other character and also was referenced quite a bit in Awakening.

I chose Rex over Shulk because he's newer. Personally, I find that the Xenoblade Chronicles games don't have a character that can be considered a face yet (if you take the current smash bros out of the equation that is) So, like I said before going with the newer kid that actually has a game on the switch.

edit: should have been on my list

 

[92MilesPrower]

Inkling

If the roster were shrunk down in size, it'd most likely be a reboot rather than a sequel (or basically "what if Smash Bros. never existed until today"). In that case, I removed 3rd parties, outright clones, and retro characters (G&W, ROB, DH), and set characters from already represented series aside (DK and Yoshi are from their own series as usual in Smash). Mario, DK, Link, Kirby, Pikachu and Yoshi are all basically the faces of Nintendo and easily recognizable by millions, they're basically shoo-ins.

Despite not being as recognizable as the others, Fox and Samus get in because of the popularity of Star Fox and Metroid, which are also still around unlike some other older franchises, such as Punch-Out, F-Zero, and Mother, which all haven't had new releases in quite a while (PO Wii, GX, Mother 3). Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon are all hugely popular franchises as well, and deserve to be represented in the game (Marth over other characters since he is THE original lord).

For the last slot, it was a tossup between Olimar, Wario, Pit, and Shulk, but Olimar barely edged the others out after thinking about it for a bit (Wario would be a bit too many Mario characters despite being from his own series, no KI games since Uprising and not too much popularity, and compared to most other franchises already represented, Xenoblade isn't as notable, despite its popularity). Pikmin has been around since the Gamecube era, is fairly popular, and the fourth game is likely still being developed (despite not hearing anything about it aside from the fact that it's in development).

Since I'm seeing this moreso as a "what if Smash Bros. never existed until today" situation, I've basically tossed Smash history to the side, which is another reason as to why some characters just didn't make the cut, as their popularity and presence in the series was a result of Smash Bros. being made in the late 90s rather than today, where certain franchises were still around, some never existed yet, and a couple of other reasons. For example, Earthbound and F-Zero X were still fairly new games, Fire Emblem had yet to come to the west, and extremely popular franchises such as Animal Crossing didn't exist quite yet.

 

[Opossum]

(Isabelle)(Inkling)

This would be what I think they'd ultimately go with.

 

[Al-kīmiyā']

A roster for 5mash with twelve characters.

A roster for 5mash with twelve Nintendo characters. [edited for design philosophy]

If the first smash game just came out with twelve characters.

If the first smash game just came out with twelve Nintendo characters. [edited for forgetting Inkling and for design philosophy]

 

[Roberk]

(Inklings)

This represents lasting franchises (Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, FE), new franchises (Xenoblade, Splatoon), Sakurai's baby (Kid Icarus), Nintendo-affiliated third-parties (Sonic, Mega Man), and a retro/WTF pick (R.O.B.).

Pretty much all of the lasting franchises are obvious except for and .
makes sense to appeal to a current audience of FE. She's from Awakening: a pivotal and recent game for the franchise. She reps the revival of FE through Awakening but also the old FE since she's so inspired by Marth. Most hate towards her is mainly just being a clone, but most hate in this scenario would just be a minority of vocal elitists going "what? No Marth? No OG Lord?" while the millions of people that played Awakening and not FE1, FE3, FE11, and FE12 enjoy Lucina.
now is just, eh. His only main-series appearance outside of Japan was in Shadow Dragon which was a bit of a low for FE. Points for being the original, but nothing in the relevance or popularity divisions.
is from the Tellius games which are not that relevant now and Radiant Dawn's sales almost killed the series. He's only so popular today because he was in Smash like Roy.
could be a good pick for the Awakening reasons and repping the strategy gameplay instead of repping Marth, but loses to Lucina since she's more popular and their equal number of Smash appearances cancel each other out.
don't make me laugh. Corrin is not well received and is too unique to represent FE through one character in Smash. Roy is the second-worst Lord (to Corrin, of course.)
(FE16 Character) could be a possibility if they had the same business practices to promote extremely recent or upcoming characters.

is the mascot of the Pokemon series and has been kept relevant with the anime, games, and general marketing. Everyone else loses out to these reasons.
he is a fighting Pokemon, perfect for a fighting game. Loses out to Pikachu due to less relevance.
a very iconic and powerful Pokemon. Pretty much the same deal as Lucario, but has a better chance due to being a Gen 1/OG.
never really cared for this guy too much, but tons love him. Is he Pikachu-marketable though?
has really lost relevance and popularity. A shame since it was promoted almost as much as Pikachu in Gen 1.
a solid relevancy pick. The reason Pikachu gets in and not him is because Pokemon is a lasting franchise and Pikachu has been consistently promoted throughout its lifespan.

Honorable mentions:
Probably the closest out of the honorable mentions. Metroid hasn't been doing too well recently but it is getting Prime 4. Not too good of an active franchise, not too good of a relevant franchise, overall just sort of in-between.
Star Fox has gone quite downhill. It's not a retro pick, it's not a relevant pick, it's just not a good pick if Smash only started this year. If Fox wasn't a Smash veteran than he'd probably be a "literally who?" today.
a dead franchise who's only inclusion in Smash today is due to him being able to borrow animations from Samus in 64.
maybe Pikmin 4 could do some favors if it comes out any time soon but there's just not the popularity.

Hope I didn't miss anything.

 

[Spatman]

respect for all ideas and opinions, of course, but... a list without DK is a bit... mmm, weird

 

[Deleted member]

Swap Shulk with Olimar if you'd like.

 

[DJ3DS]

12 characters:


(Inkling)

This covers the broadest number of Nintendo's biggest contemporary and historical franchises (seriously, no way DK should be omitted) alongside the two biggest third party inclusions by far.

 

[Sprite]

One rep from each big franchise

 

[Antimatter042]

Inklings

 

[MysticKnives]

Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff definitely would not be there if Smash wasn't made back in January of '99. FE I feel would likely get a rep, Pokemon possibly would have gotten a second one. I think Luigi would have managed to make it still as he's really big in popularity and importance, and from Nintendo's flagship series.

 

[VexTheHex]

Inklings


Mario, Pikachu, Link, and Kirby are obvious.

Donkey Kong is like right below that, though could be roped into the Mario section.

Samus helps supply a female, Metroid not as popular or active as it use to be though or at least feels that way.

Olimar, Inklings, and Shulk to represent new series that have stabilized their footing in the future of Smash.

Robin or to represent Fire Emblem global, was a toss up for me. I went with Robin for the mix of magic.

Bowser and Greninja to supply two of the biggest franchises with their 2nd rep. Bowser was my pick cause he would match better with Mario alone than Peach would. Greninja to represent one of the newest hits from the Pokemon generations. Pikachu, Charizard, Eevee, Mewtwo, Blaziken, Grovyle/Sceptille, Lucario, Greninja, and Mimikyu kind of stand out to me as strong presence pokemon. I have bias for Greninja, but he is also the only pokemon to gain a new form based on his bond with Ash that had many people rooting for Ash and Greninja to win the League.

Hmm, I guess Bowser could be swapped with as well. I guess that's another toss up, but I'll stick with Bowser for the time being.

 

[Diddy Kong]

- Too iconic
- Needs heavy weights plus Mario is guranteed to have at least 2 characters
+ a proper duo character that behaves much like how they do in the Donkey Kong Country Returns games, Side B for example is DK hurling Diddy towards opponents and he does his own Side B attack variations. Down B has DK Ground Slapping and Diddy shooting his Peanut Popguns. Diddy also assists with recovery. This is how the characters would be implemented in a modern setting am quite sure.
- Too iconic
- Iconic and his home series feel most like Smash, will use more of his own Abilities in his moveset
- Still the most iconic Pokemon and heavily promoted always
- Most popular Pokemon, since Smash 64 Pokemon has had two characters
- Token projectile based character and popular, if there was no Prime 4 I doubt I'd include her
- Overall very popular
- Mostly cause the rest of the veterans are already there.
- Most popular main character of Fire Emblem ever
- For modern and old fans alike, sort of retro character

 

[spinalwolf]

Hmm. Interesting idea for a thread. If we were to drop down to only 12 (never gonna happen of course) I'd say the following characters would more likely get in:

: The face of Nintendo and the most iconic character in gaming. I don't think I really need to justify this.
: The mascot of Nintendo's second biggest selling franchise. Pokemon is insanely popular and it's only logical to have Pikachu as the representative of the franchise.
: Loz is another one of Nintendo's popular franchises. Link is the main character, so its quite obvious to put him in.
: Yeah this pretty much speaks for itself. Kirby is another popular series, and Kirby himself is the main character. Enough said.
: If there was any third party character that was likely to get in, it would definitely be Sonic without a doubt. Sega's mascot, and rival mascot to Mario. Not much else to say really.
: An absolutely adored franchise. It would be criminal not to add Samus to the roster.
: Donkey Kong as a character is insanely popular and very synonymous with Nintendo. Even if you're not into his series, you still know of him. Donkey Kong Country is still a relevant franchise to this day.
: with Fire emblem not long ago becoming popular now in the west, and the overall series selling very well overall, It only makes sense to have a representative of the franchise, and who could fit that role more than Marth? The original protagonist of the first game, and pretty much the face of the franchise.
: While his series has fallen from grace in more recent times, Fox Mccloud himself is still a very relevant and popular character. Not to mention Star fox is still a beloved franchise of Nintendo.
: Pikmin is still going strong. With its popularity, I think Olimar has earned his spot among the 12 characters. I think most people can agree that its only natural for Olimar to represent the Pikmin franchise.
: F-zero hasn't been relevant in a long time. The last main series game we got was GX on the gamecube. It's been well over a decade since a new game sadly. Falcon is still one of the most popular smash bros characters however, and it just wouldn't feel right cutting him from the roster.
: This was a tough decision to make for the last slot. I argued between 2 other popular Mario series characters (Bowser and Yoshi) or Ness to represent the Earthbound series. Ultimately however, I decided on Luigi. The reason being is that Luigi is insanely popular. Luigi is Mario's brother after all and well known sidekick. He's probably the second most popular Mario character in the series. Furthermore, Earthbound hasn't been relevant in a very long time, and its not as popular as other Nintendo franchises. Thus cutting Ness from the roster seemed logical.

 

[Imadethistoseealeak]

And I thought the 30 character roster was hard...

I based this off the concept of a Smash reboot based around what's big in Nintendo now, specifically what's going on the Switch (coincidentally this is also what I've based my actual prediction roster on). Because of this, characters like Fox don't appear because there's been no word on the series since his Wii U game which also wasn't well received.

Isabelle instead of Villager because they are a better mascot for the series. Fire emblem lord from upcoming switch game. Rex & Pyra to represent the growing popularity and importance of the Xenoblade series. Spring Man in this would be kind of the surprise character, but if you were to pick the top twelve Nintendo series being most represented currently, Arms would definitely be there. More so than Yoshi, but he does have a game announced for the Switch at least.

Feels weird not to include Ness and Captain Falcon too, but their series have long been dead and only relevant to Nintendo in Smash.

Fun concept though!

 

[Sprite]

Hmm. Interesting idea for a thread. If we were to drop down to only 12 (never gonna happen of course) I'd say the following characters would more likely get in:

: The face of Nintendo and the most iconic character in gaming. I don't think I really need to justify this.
: The mascot of Nintendo's second biggest selling franchise. Pokemon is insanely popular and it's only logical to have Pikachu as the representative of the franchise.
: Loz is another one of Nintendo's popular franchises. Link is the main character, so its quite obvious to put him in.
: Yeah this pretty much speaks for itself. Kirby is another popular series, and Kirby himself is the main character. Enough said.
: If there was any third party character that was likely to get in, it would definitely be Sonic without a doubt. Sega's mascot, and rival mascot to Mario. Not much else to say really.
: An absolutely adored franchise. It would be criminal not to add Samus to the roster.
: Donkey Kong as a character is insanely popular and very synonymous with Nintendo. Even if you're not into his series, you still know of him. Donkey Kong Country is still a relevant franchise to this day.
: with Fire emblem not long ago becoming popular now in the west, and the overall series selling very well overall, It only makes sense to have a representative of the franchise, and who could fit that role more than Marth? The original protagonist of the first game, and pretty much the face of the franchise.
: While his series has fallen from grace in more recent times, Fox Mccloud himself is still a very relevant and popular character. Not to mention Star fox is still a beloved franchise of Nintendo.
: Pikmin is still going strong. With its popularity, I think Olimar has earned his spot among the 12 characters. I think most people can agree that its only natural for Olimar to represent the Pikmin franchise.
: F-zero hasn't been relevant in a long time. The last main series game we got was GX on the gamecube. It's been well over a decade since a new game sadly. Falcon is still one of the most popular smash bros characters however, and it just wouldn't feel right cutting him from the roster.
: This was a tough decision to make for the last slot. I argued between 2 other popular Mario series characters (Bowser and Yoshi) or Ness to represent the Earthbound series. Ultimately however, I decided on Luigi. The reason being is that Luigi is insanely popular. Luigi is Mario's brother after all and well known sidekick. He's probably the second most popular Mario character in the series. Furthermore, Earthbound hasn't been relevant in a very long time, and its not as popular as other Nintendo franchises. Thus cutting Ness from the roster seemed logical.

I think yours is perfect minus sonic. If it's a Nintendo fighting game with such few characters, than I don't think sonic or any third party deserve a spot.

I'd replace him with Ness. Earthbound is still popular online and has a cult following similar to F-Zero, and Ness gone from the roster I feel would be like killing a family member

 

[CrusherMania1592]

(Inklings)

 

[Deleted member]

(Inkling)
These ones are all no-brainers imo. They're the main characters of Nintendo's most succesful, relevant and popular IPs that casuals actually give a **** about. I know DK is strongly associated with Mario but I feel that it's distinct enough to be considered its own thing.
The last 3 were much tougher for me to decide though
(Crash Bandicoot)
Bowser is here for villain representation. He may be another Mario character with no game to call his own, but he sure as hell is an iconic video game character.
3rd parties are an absolute must if Nintendo wants the game to sell, and I picked Sonic and Crash because the whole Mario vs Sonic vs Crash thing from the 90s could be a huge selling point. Crash is still picking up but he's much more relevant and popular then he's ever been during Smash's lifespan, and not just on Nintendo systems.
Now that I think about it though I could swap either Crash or Bowser for because Link vs Cloud was one of the things Nintendo hyped about his inclusion, but that's already been done before. I guess one of them could be DLC.

(This is completely unbiased btw. Ignore Crash on my sig - I want him but I haven't actually played that much of his games)

 

[Crystanium]

A few from the original twelve were clearly cut here. Additional characters from the same series were removed, so that meant Luigi, Yoshi, and Jigglypuff were removed. Mario was originally a character of Donkey Kong, with the latter series being released in 1981 and the former being released in 1983 as Mario Bros. If this meant that Mario or Donkey Kong had to be removed, I'd have to remove Donkey Kong, even though he has seniority. He wasn't the protagonist, and furthermore, as time went on, it was realized that this incarnation of Donkey Kong is actually Cranky Kong, with Donkey Kong Jr. being the current Donkey Kong everyone recognizes today.

Mario is the protagonist of Donkey Kong and is the face of Nintendo. So it would make more sense to keep Mario and drop Donkey Kong if such choice had to be made. If this choice had to be made, then Donkey Kong could be replaced with Olimar, R.O.B., Villager, Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, or Duck Hunt. Personally, I'd probably have to go with R.O.B. or Duck Hunt because of seniority. If it came to that decision, I would probably go with Duck Hunt due to being a year older and because he and his bird friend started out as video game character. My roster would end up looking like this.




It might bother some that these are all Nintendo character. Well, I personally think that the Super Smash Bros. franchise needs an overhaul of the roster to start fresh. The original game only had Nintendo characters. Not to mention, there wasn't a single antagonist from any Nintendo series. I suspect it was because this was meant to be a fun, light-hearted fighting game. That doesn't necessarily mean the game cannot be played competitively. I prefer it to be played that way. I just think there are too many Mario, Zelda, FE, and Pokémon characters. This doesn't allow for other characters from different franchises to be part of the roster without making it unnecessarily large.

 

[MrRoidley]

(Inklings)

Bonus - costumes: (for Mario); (for Lucina); (for Olimar)

Spoiler: Reasonings

: iconic and all that, Nintendo's face. became a costume since he fits as one because of similar attacks, is already a clone so why not become a costume in this case
: I wanted to get a Mario spinoff character, so it was all down between . Yoshi is the franchise that had more games between 2015-2018, counting upcoming games (Yoshi had three games and a port, compared to DK's one game and port, and Wario's sole compilation)
: Too much Mario characters? hmm, Mario is still Nintendo's biggest franchise anyway. Besides, a crossover with no villains? (I know SSB64 had no villains but still)
(Inklings): Nothing much to say here, big franchises
: nearly didn't make the cut. If Metroid Prime 4 wasn't an upcoming thing, I'd probably left her aside, regardless of Samus Returns already existing.
: It was more of a question which would me the "main" character, her or . Since Lucina is the poster girl of the best selling game in the series, I decided to put her as the main one, but keeping Marth as her costume.
: another one that I almost left out, but seeing how the series seems to have a future, had a recent 3DS spinoff, and is Miyamoto's precious child, I thought it'd be included
: I felt Xenoblade had to have a character since it's probably the most successful Nintendo's IP from the 2010s that isn't Splatoon. I was unsure of who to pick, but since Shulk starred in the debut, that was remade and was the New 3DS's launch game, and appeared in Smash already, I felt he'd be familiar

 

[MrReyes96]

12 is a very hard limit
Giving a few more slots to make a one rep per franchise smash bros roster I would add

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

The only major difference between mine and most of the people here is that I added Little Mac, he's an iconic character and he's as relevant as pit is, it makes sense.

I also wanted to use characters who fit well into a fighting game, hence mac over olimar and villager.

 

[Freduardo]

1) Little Mac
2) Harry from Teleroboxer
3) Donkey Kong with Boxing gloves from Punch Out Wii
4) Spring Man
5) Mario in his boxing referee costume
6) Bald Bull/ Masked Wrestler from arm wrestling
7) Mr. Sandman
8) Max Brass
9) Balrog (US Street Fighter)
10) Bowser with his oddyssey boxing glove hat
11) Bowser Jr/Koopalings
12) Bonk.


...wait, what’s Smash brothers?

 

[RouffWestie]

Wasn't too hard for me.

 

[Xiivi]

Option 1:




----

Option 2:

 

[DaUsername]

Can't beat the original.

Sure, why not. I'll take a swing at this. My self-imposed rules are only one representative per franchise, only use characters who have appeared in previous Smash (just to make it easier), and try to pick as if Smash was a new series.

1.( as a costume)
2.
3.
Obvious 3 franchises. These are the only ones (other than Pokemon, but more on that in a sec) that my non-gamer family members would notice the absence of.
4.
Why not Pikachu? Well, Pikachu is known for anime appearance much more than game appearance. Smash is game crossover, so I picked most iconic Pokemon other than Pikachu. I'd accept Mewtwo as an answer too though.
5.
Animal Crossing just matters too much to modern Nintendo not to include. Plus I love non-threatening characters in fighting games. OP is awesome for agreeing on this. Tired of seeing her on people's 'cut' lists.
6.
I consider Super Metroid to be Nintendo's finest game. It was so good that it got a genre named after it. How many games can say that? I think Samus more than earned her spot.
7.
Series that has been going strong since the NES with tons of releases and a style that sets itself apart from the other entries. Marth is lord of choice because he's the original.
8.
Pseudo-RTS with cutesy claymation world and the constant screams of dying plant men. Pretty much the most Nintendo thing ever. I really don't have anything else to say.
9.
No explanation needed really.
10.
Wii is super important to Nintendo history. I truly think the console itself deserves a rep, and honestly WFT does a better job of capturing the trend that was the Wii than even Mii's do in my opinion.
11.
Xenoblade is the 'modern' series I chose to represent (I know Splatoon, but my self-imposed constraint). I am kinda bias on this one. Xenoblade is my all-time favorite RPG, but it is a series that has grown really fast and gotten some great reception. Plus I care about genre-representation in my Smash cuz I'm weird (a Fatal Frame rep would be in here for horror rep if I didn't have my restrictions)
12.
I hate fighting him, I hate playing as him, but I have always loved his inclusion. It's silly and educational.



Notable Exclusions:
They matter a lot to gaming history, but I can't justify third party reps with such a small roster
Relevance comes from the anime more than the game
I love Earthbound and Ness is my favorite character in the series, but I was trying not to be too selfish in my list. I just couldn't justify kicking someone else off my list for Earthbound, as much as I love it.
Was going to include, but decided not to count Yoshi as a distinct series.

Now for the selfish, I'm-basing-it-on-who-I-personally-enjoy-playing version:

...and this is why I don't pick based on my preferences. Nobody would want a Smash with this roster.

I guess you could consider Pikachu less important if you ignore the anime, Pokémon Yellow, Hey You Pikachu, Detective Pikachu, the Cosplay Pikachus from ORAS, his inclusion in Pokken, his exclusive Z-move, and the fact that he's the mascot of the series.

 

[osby]