The 12-man roster game

[Oddball]

12 characters.

Okay.

Mario, Link, Samus and Pikachu.

Those four are a given. I can't see the game NOT having them.

Donkey Kong and Kirby a bit less so, but strong enough contenders to count.

A want villains, so we bring in Bowser and Ganon. Not Ganondorf. Ganon.

I want something really retro Nintendo and think Duck Hunt fills that spot best.

Animal crossing is huge in modern times, so to represent modern Nintendo, we bring in Villager.

I wasn't thinking of using Captain Falcon at first, but thinking about it more, yeah. he gets in. he might just be more Smash Bros than he is his own series. That's gotta count for something.

And Finally, because it is my personal belief that you always need a "What is this guy even doing here?" character ... Harry from the Virtuaboy game Teleroboxer.

 

[SwagGuy99]

(or /)

No explanation necessary.
Luigi has had a lot of attention in the last 5 years with many, many appearances with more on the way. He's been around longer than anyone but Mario and DK and deserves to be here.
Villager has had numerous appearances over the past couple of years and has a moveset that represents his entire franchise as a whole.
Sonic is not only popular, but he's been appearing a lot on Nintendo consoles for a while now. He's also a classic character.
Pit is a great addition to Smash and has had his franchise brought back from the dead. Brawl literally defined all of his future appearances.
My controversial choice. Wario has more moveset potential than Yoshi and represents a part of the Mario Universe that gets a game every few years. Wario also appears very often in the Mario Sports titles as well and he fits in nice here.
// Pokemon needs another representative and these characters all have unique movesets and each of them represent a different type of Pokemon. Not to mention that they are all immensely popular.

Honorable Mentions:

and almost made it in but I feel that they don't represent Nintendo as well as they do their franchises.
or almost made it in instead of Sonic or Wario but since they both represent both Retro and Modern in their movesets, these guys didn't make the cut.
has the least potential out of any of the original twelve to have a moveset that does a good job of representing his franchise as a whole. Every move he has would have to be egg or tongue related.
almost made it as he was the first Fire Emblem character to make it into the US in his own game. He's also very popular. However, I felt that since it's been a while since he's appeared as the main character in his own game, and because he is vastly overshadowed by everyone else on my list, he just couldn't make it.
or almost made it, but I feel that a Smash with 12 characters doesn't need any villains, akin to Smash 64.
was close as his appearances in recent years were defined by Smash, but as Pokemon represents Nintendo better and Roy represents how Smash affected Fire Emblem more than Marth does, he didn't make it.
Out of all of the mentions, and were the closest to making it onto my list.

 

[KingDoop]

Made with the scenario that Smash hasn't existed until now, I started with the most iconic protagonist/mascots along with their villians/adversaries. The remaining four just who I think should be in on account of importance or uniqueness

 

[Khao]

Assuming that this would be the absolute first Smash ever and we were getting only 12 characters, I think it'd look something like this.

Mario is a duh. So is Link, Pikachu and Samus. That's pretty much Nintendo 101. Some would argue that Donkey Kong is a bit less relevant, but I think a lot of people underestimate just how damn iconic the character actually is. Aside from Pac-Man, Donkey Kong is likely the most famous arcade game of all time, and so is the character by extension. There's more people around the world who know who Donkey Kong is than the likes of Link, Samus, or Kirby. Which is why I think leaving him out of a compilation of Nintendo characters would be a HUGE mistake.

Kirby stays for the sole fact that he's been an incredibly consistent franchise on Nintendo consoles from day one. He's arguably not one of Nintendo's biggest series, but there's always new Kirby games on the horizon and they're always successful.

I chose to keep Luigi because he's basically the #1 Player 2. He's always been a part of Mario. Plus, by using Mario as a base, his inclusion is always simple from a developer standpoint. He'd be the only clone in this roster.

Star Fox is likely the series I'm the least convinced of. While Star Fox was a huge name in the 90s, the series hasn't seen a lot of success as of late, and Smash Bros. itself is arguably one of the biggest reasons the series is still relevant in the first place. Ultimately I chose to include Fox because even though it's not the most consistent series, he was still a huge success two decades ago. Games are infrequent, but very likely not over. The sole fact that it's one of Shigeru Miyamoto's series already gives him a huge advantage to be honest.

Marth could ultimately be replaced by a different Fire Emblem character. Choosing the first Lord is just as valid as choosing the newest one, but a Fire Emblem character is a no-brainer lately. The popularity of FE is at its peak right now.

There's not a lot that needs to be said about Villager. Animal Crossing is already one of Nintendo's core franchises, though I'd personally rather include a more "defined" character, such as Isabelle, who I think works better as a mascot of sorts.

One of the biggest reasons I chose Olimar is due to the timing of its release. We have DK, Mario, Luigi, Link and Samus representing the 80s. Kirby, Fox, Marth and Pikachu representing the 90s. Villager is technically already there representing the 2000s, but I thought we needed more than just one character.

Speaking of trying to represent each era, there's there Inkling representing modern Nintendo. Splatoon was a huge success, and has a super creative concept that fits right in with Nintendo's classic franchises. Inkling is the perfect choice for Smash Bros. if we want just a single modern character. I also thought about cutting Luigi and replacing him with a Xenoblade character to give modern Nintendo an even bigger representation, but ultimately decided against it.

And speaking of Inkling, you may have noticed that icon. I have free time today, and after seeing so many people use a bunch of icons and then just typing "inkling" in between everything else, I decided to create an icon that fits with the rest. It's not perfect, but if you want to use the icon for anything, just go ahead and take it off this post.

 

[Ciro Blanco]

Unlockables:

Battle Pack 1:
Guest-Battle Pack 2:

 

[Questionmark222]

I made this with a Smash reboot in mind, and with a self-imposed rule of no third-parties:

 

[Zinith]

 

[DjinnandTonic]

Just basing it on sales and recognizability...

It would just be all Mario and Pokemon characters. But if we limit it to one per series, then Nintendo's top-selling franchises are something to the tune of:

Mario (DK/Yoshi/Wario) > Pokemon >>>>>> Zelda > Kirby > Animal Crossing > Splatoon >>> Fire Emblem > Metroid > Pikmin > Star Fox (maybe?) > Xenoblade(maybe?) > Kid Icarus > everything else

There could be some minor differences in the lower part of that ranking, but it's close enough for the purposes of making a list. The biggest thing to debate for me is whether DK/Yoshi/Wario count as separate enough series to warrant their own representatives. Leaning towards 'Yes' for at least DK or Yoshi, who are consistently popular.

- I feel like these are the only 'locks' for a spot in a Nintendo fighter. Everything else is potentially replaceable or scrappable.

- And these are the other two that I think would round out a solid 'top 6'. DK for being Nintendo's earliest star, and Inklings for being the biggest New Thing that Nintendo has made in years.

- Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing are somewhat older series that have become big enough to be called hits on their own in recent times, so they'd most certainly get in over the veterans like Captain Falcon, Ness, or Jigglypuff. Metroid seems to have a lot more good will than Star Fox, so I'd give Samus the nod here. Lucina instead of Marth since she covers all of his good points, but is infinitely more popular and well-known in the FE fanbase. Not to mention getting more female representatives.

With three more slots left, I'd honestly give to them to more Mario or Pokemon characters rather than stuff like Star Fox or Xenoblade, despite my own preference for them. Yoshi or Wario have a good argument. Peach, Bowser, or Luigi are such important names that they could fill in these slots too.

But if we were sticking with one-per-franchise rule, then...

These franchises seem to hit a good mix of old and new and Sakurai's favorites.

 

[St. 64]

Mario, Link, Pikachu, Fox, Kirby, Fox, Donkey Kong, Marth, Samus, Charizard, Ridley, Bowser

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Sounds tough but I'll give it a go. I'm putting on emphasis on modern Nintendo and how relevant I think franchises are right now.

(+ Inklings)

If I had another slot I'd probably put Yoshi or Sonic in there....but I don't so here's the roster.

 

[edde]

ink

 

[Kori]

(Ridley)

Tried to Include 2 Fighters from most mainstream games.
Mario could have a luigi alt costume similar to Olimar and his alt

But you have:
vs
vs
vs
vs (Ridley)
then of course

who really have no "arch-nemesis"
K.Rool isn't in the game yet...Pikachu doesn't have a set "foe"...same for Yoshi...you could argue Wolf for Fox, but their moveset is super similar.

Ridley, would be the four unlockables. You would have to beat them in a boss battle first!
You COULD argue in place of as a more recognizable "foe" ...but I just like more

 

[Battiest Badger]

I found the 26-Man Roster First, and if I wanna do that, I suppose I should do this as well, to follow the rule of using your original 12. (I could easily skip it, but heck.)

:ultrobin


Just like the original screen, the center 8 are the starters. No change there. However, the unlockables are all different. Luigi's been swapped for Bowser, our one villain. Then we represent three pretty big modern franchises in Fire Emblem, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing. They're perhaps not the biggest three possible, but they could certainly be strong for Nintendo for quite some time.

 

[Scicky]

(KR)

 

[letsgetsmashing]

Let me give a little explanation

Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, Fox, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Samus (sort of) are all still relevent today and consistently star in games. Splatoon is huge right now which warrants Inkling's spot as the face of modern video gaming. Animal Crossing is one of the few new Nintendo IPs since 2000 that has succeeded while others came to an end. Pac-Man and Sonic are both gaming icons who are basically known by everyone.

Honorable Mentions
- Overshadowed by Mario but almost as known as him
- Greatest villain of all time
- Iconic 3rd party, but to me not quite as recognized as Sonic & Pac-Man
- Kid Icarus' revival gives hope to other dead Nintendo franchises
- Saved Video game industry
- Fire Emblem is huge nowadays
- Pikmin is one of few new IPs Nintendo that have been released since GameCube
- Face of fighting games
- 2nd most notable Pokemon behind Pikachu
- Not the first, but probably most notable damsel in distress

 

[Dixie Kong]

Something like this I suppose.

 

[Barbasol]

Base:
Unlockable:

It really hurt to cut my boy Captain Falcon, but F-Zero is so critically underutilized now

Notable changes:
*Chrom* - This is a bit of an oddball, but I am going off the assumption there was never a Smash bros until now. Chrom makes a lot of sense because Awakening was such an important game and breakout for the FE Series that the main character would be the focal point of the series in the minds of many. Marth and Roy knowledge in the west were driven by Smash.

 

[Zinith]

Hmm, maybe I should redo my list...



The OG 8 is still in. Yes, including Yoshi. I find it offensive to consider him a "Mario side-character" and nothing more.

The next 4 is where it gets interesting:

 

[FirestormNeos]

Starter Roster:

Unlocks:

 

[CrusherMania1592]

(Inklings)

If I may, I'll redo my list here

Base roster:

Unlockables:


Now if I wanted to add a few more characters as like a DLC pack:

 

[SmashShadow]

If it was made today the big 12 for me would be:


HM:

 

[Keeshu]

#1 Mario is basically Mr. Nintendo and I don't see that ever changing.
#2 Link because the Zelda franchise has always done well (at least to my knowledge, even if there's games that some people love to hate)
#3 Pikachu is, was, and always will be the face of Pokemon. Pokemon is insanely popular, I mean look at how well Pokemon Go did. I've never seen that many people on the streets doing stuff for and chatting for months in my life.
#4 Wii Fit Trainer represents one of Nintendo biggest successes. She kinda has to be in, and the Miis don't quite represent the Wii as much as the Wii Fit Trainer.
#5 Splatoon is crazy popular and would show that Nintendo can still do new IPs well.
#6 I don't know much about Fire Emblem's popularity outside of Japan, but I hear it's crazy popular in Japan and pretty popular elsewhere. It's also a good reminder how Smash brought life into a franchise that would probably never have been popular if it wasn't in smash.
#7 Xenoblade Chronicles is an insanely popular JRPG. He kinda has to be in.
#8 Kirby may not have been the most popular Nintendo series at any point, but he's really popular throughout time. Sadly, my main Meta Knight wouldn't have a chance to get in, despite his fights being one of the big reasons why I love the series.
#9 Animal Crossing is incredibly popular and has a special place in many people's hearts.
I feel like the first 9 are all must-haves. 7-9 a little less so though. It gets a bit hard to pick after this.
#10 Donkey Kong was doing poorly for a while there. However I think he deserves to be in because he was insanely popular with people who grew up with the SNES and N64. Also he had a couple games recently that were loved by most people, even by people that weren't fans of the original donkey games that older fans loved. Also Donkey Kong is one of the first Nintendo games that was really popular as well.
#11 Sonic is insanely popular across multiple platforms, and there's history with Nintendo + Sega's rivalry and now they work together. Just him being in Smash will make people want to play Smash.
#12 Ryu is Mr. Fighting game himself. Just having him in game will make people want to get smash because Ryu has crossed over in so many games so he is well known.

I'd probably put in Steve from Minecraft too and replace someone. He's basically the Mario of today with how crazy popular Minecraft is. That'd be the last 3rd Party character I can think of that would drastically increase how popular Smash is.

Notable Mentions:

Spoiler

I love me some Star Fox. It's just never been insanely popular and it's been a dieing franchise for so long. Makes me sad because Fox McCloud was the coolest character to me when I was a kid. Him along with Link and Samus made me want to get into learning about Nintendo.... Though learning more about fox made me realize how boring he was (but how cool Krystal, Falco and Wolf were instead)
IMO he's the face of Smash. He's always a fun character for people to watch. However, F-zero is a dead franchise (but Nintendo does love to acknowledge it's existence with cameos and such in games). Including Captain Falcon is almost nothing but fan pandering. Yeah he's a fun character to watch, but you could say that about many characters.
Super Metroid is a godly game. However after that, Metroid just never had the touch it once had, not even with the Prime series (even if it did do well in the west). It makes me sad because sometimes I want to say Metroid is my favorite franchise because it has horror elements in it, but it just doesn't do well enough.
Yoshi's games were insanely popular at one point, but I don't think that's the case anymore.
Pikmin games were somewhat popular. I've never seen people talk about it much. Shame, I loved playing Pikmin (came with my gamecube too!). Captain Olimar seems like a pretty cool dude, just too bad his character design looks so boring. Maybe someday Pikmin will have it's chance to shine
Kid Icarus did well for a while, but I don't think it's really important enough to put in with the limited roster we have.
Wario Games are pretty popular. Though I don't know how popular.

 

[DarthEnderX]

1. Mario [Super Mario Bros.]
2. Link [Legend of Zelda]
3. Samus [Metroid]
4. Kirby [Kirby]
5. Pit [Kid Icarus]
6. Mega Man [Mega Man]
7. Simon Belmont [Castlevania]
8. Ryu Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden]
9. Bill Rizer [Contra]
10. Arthur [Ghosts 'n Goblins]
11. Black Mage [Final Fantasy]
12. Kunio [River City Ransom]

No retros

ALL OF THE RETROS!!

 

[JonSmash]

1:Mario (Dr.Mario as a alt costume) [Super Mario]
2ikachu [Pokemon]
3:Link [Zelda]
4:Kirby [Kirby]
5:DK & Diddy Kong (they can switch out like in DKC) [DK]
6:Inkling [splatoon]
7:Villager [Animal Crossing]
8:Mii Brawler
UNLOCKABLES:
9:Luigi (Uses Poltergust) [super Mario/Luigi's Mansion]
10okemon Trainer (has 6 pokemon based on what red uses just replace his pikachu with jiggleypuff) [Pokemon]
11:Marth [Fire Emblem]
12:Urban Champion [Urban Champion]

(Yoshi would be a ridable item it spawns as an egg & you hatch him so he is kinda playable)

 

[KafkaKomedy]

I'll try my hand at this. I'm going to be assuming this is Nintendo's first Smash game so--
- Pretty obvious why he's here, he's Mr. Nintendo! I'd chop the FLUDD and Cape from his moveset though, put Cappy and the spin from SMG in as Side and Down B respectively.
- Sporting his BotW look like in Ultimate, but his specials would definitely be different, though I'm not sure if they'd be based on the Runes or the Champion's powers.
- Kirby probably wouldn't change much at all. He's just as popular as he's always been and really hasn't changed much over the years.
- Same with Pikachu, though I doubt he'd be saying 'Pika-pika' much since I think the anime has fallen pretty heavily out of relevance.
/// - Fire Emblem is still pretty big in Japan and with Awakenings got pretty big in the west, but I'm not sure who'd they put in as a representative. Marth and Roy wouldn't be popular over here since they're games would have never been popularized by Smash. My best guess would be Chrom since he's kind of recent, quite popular, and a lord. Whoever it was they'd probably have quite a different moveset simply because of the different team creating it.
- Animal Crossing is very popular these days despite not getting a game in a while. I think they'd include them as a nice tie-in or advert for a new Switch game, but they'd be proportioned as the newer, more realistic villager and they're default would definitely be the pink-haired villager that showed up in MK8D.
- A new Nintendo IP that has a good amount of traction (unlike ARMS, sadly) so Inkling would be a good choice. Wouldn't change much at all from Ultimate I'd assume.
- We have a new Metroid game on the way and the Metroid 2 remake was released recently enough, I think she has a pretty good chance overall. Might pull more stuff from Prime and that M2 remake for the moveset.

Unlockables:
- Both a heavy and a villain, two things the game doesn't have yet (assuming Ike wasn't the FE rep) and Mario has enough clout to get two reps in the first game just like it did in Smash 64, and I think Nintendo is smart enough to realize that with only 12 characters a clone won't fly nowadays.
Rex & Pyra - A representative of the rapidly growing Xenoblade series, and interesting mechanically as they're two characters in one (though Pyra herself may not do much.) The series clearly has some staying power since this is technically the second sequel and has DLC coming out for it, so I think they're popular enough to get in.
- Ness/Ninten would function as the game's retro representative, similar to Ice Climber's or Duck Hunt. The games have a hugely dedicated fanbase and Nintendo was smart enough to include Earthbound in the SNES Classic and finally releasing Earthbound Beginnings so it's not like they don't know if that stuff sells. If they feel like getting off their asses and giving us Mother 3 than they'd probably do Lucas instead.
- Nintendo and Sega are so buddy-buddy at this point that I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic got into their big crossover fighter in the first game. Now that the boost games have come out, one of his spin-dashes would probably be replaced with that but besides one move I'm not sure he'd change.

A MOTHER representative is probably biased on my part but overall I think it's pretty realistic, if for some reason Nintendo only made 12 characters in their new fighting game without making DLC.

 

[smashingDoug]

 

[Mercury203]

Ok here is my roster:
Starter: Unlockable:

: No-brainers
: Popular characters from semi-recent games
: Faces of pretty big franchises
: Retro rep who has newer games
: Second rep of Nintendo's biggest franchise and the only villain on the roster
: Can you imagine the hype train?

 

[Smithn]

: Obvious picks
: AC, Pikmin and FE are definitely big enough at this point to be included
: Works as a great retro and left-field pick
: New and already well-known character

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Nintendo's biggest heroes, plus their own villains/rivals