The Melee poll was much more simplistic then the Brawl poll. For the Melee poll, all you did was write the character's name.
I guess moar text=moar passion.
Who plenty of other people voted for. What? Are you trying to tell me that Geno stole votes from the likes of King Dedede, Ridley, Krystal, and Diddy Kong? That's kind of petty...
The fact Geno did steal votes from the likes of Dedede, Ridley, Krystal and Kong certainly is very petty. Goomba did the same thing. I believe Mallow did as well. Heck any character that popped up on the poll stole a vote from one of the big dogs.
And yet for 8 of the 10 franchise categories in the final Melee poll results, Sakurai included the most popular character in the game... He makes his own decisions but it's more then obvious that he's definately looking out for the fans.
How would he be looking out for the fans if he chose a relatively obscure character like Geno to be in Brawl? Mind you, those suggestions do not represent the actual poll results.
... Paper Mario wasn't even mentioned in Sakurai's Journal... want to see what Mario characters were though?
[Koopa Troopa (Super Mario Bros. - 1985)
Hammer Bros. (Super Mario Bros. - 1985)
Toad (Super Mario Bros. 2 - 1988)
Petey Piranha (Super Mario Sunshine - 2002)
Geno (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 1996)
Mallow (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars- 1996)
Hey! Look at this! Besides Geno and Mallow, all the others have made it in some form and they were only mentioned once apiece. Should I bring up again how Geno was mentioned five times? Nah, I'll spare you this time...
Should I mention how Toad already made an appearance in melee? Koopa Troopas lined the mushroom kingdom segement in adventure mode and are the enemies that would make most sense in mushroom kingdom. Hammer Bros. weren't allowed in pokeballs, so it would make sense to add them in with the new AT item. Petey was a boss in 4 major games console and handheld, made an apperance in Double Dash, was in a multitude of sports games, and looks to be a boss in Mario Galaxy as well. How is he a surprise? I'd be more shocked if he didn't pop up.
If you're going to pull the "Oh, but Sonic wasn't either" card, Sakurai did mention him in an interview in September of 2006.
Characters Sakurai has mentioned in interviews:
1. Lip (Panel de Pon)
2. Lolo (Adventures of Lolo/ Kirby franchise)
3. Muddy Mole (Mole Mania)
4. the Balloon Fighter (Balloon Fight)
5. Sonic
6. Little Mac (Punch Out franchise)
7. Lucas (Mother 3)
8. Sigurd (Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu)
You're forgetting one thing, Sonic was still the most demanded character for Brawl, an edge Geno didn't have in this character race.
Also, Paper Mario is just that, Mario in Paper form. Googaflaf! How exciting! Paperfy everything that's in the other Mario games and you have the Paper Mario franchise. The Mushroom Kingdom vs the Paper Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser vs Paper Bowser. Peach vs Paper Peach. Do you see what I'm getting at? You could argue that some of the locales and characters are different but, heck, the locales and characters chance from Mario game to Mario game so that arguements moot.
Paper Mario is just Mario in Paper form. Well you're half right, but if you had bothered to play the Paper Mario games, you'd know Paper Mario's scope of abilities extends a little farther than Mario's do and Paper Mario's world is just a tad different from Mario's world from the items they use to the way they fight. In Superstar and Partners in Time, a lot of Mario's techniques center around teamwork with Luigi. Paper Mario has a multitude of badges and star power abilities that make him a stand-alone RPG Mario unlike Mario from the non-paper handheld RPG games. If you want to bring up Mario from the original SMRPG game, then hes not too far off from his current self in Brawl barring the hyperexaggerated jumping abilities and fireball techniques which means hes still worlds away in differences from what Paper Mario does.
Here's an even better question, why does the same person need to represent the same franchise twice? Spare me with how Paper Mario is radically different because he can roll up into a tube and has a hammer (which first came from SMRPG, by the way and so did many other concepts that appear in all the other Mario RPGs). At least when it comes to Link and Young Link, Young Link now is the main icon of all the handheld Zelda games, has a very different repitoire of items like the mole claws and deku leaf, and occupies different times/settings in the Zelda franchise and isn't just Link in another form. So you say Paper Mario should represent the Mario RPGs. Let's see... There are basically two true Paper Mario RPGs and there is SMRPG and both the Mario and Luigi games. Geno appeared in SMRPG and Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga. With that being said, he's appeared in 2 of the 3 Mario RPG series. So what do we have here? Geno actually incompasses more of Mario's RPGs then Paper Mario does. Ain't that a shocker...
The pinnacle of ignorance has to be when someone confuses Young Link with WW Link. First off the two aren't even in the same Zelda storyline. Young Link is essentially Link in another form. He showed up in OOT and then got his own game in Majora's Mask. WW Link is a completely different monster altogether that got 2 of his own games. I also do not agree with how you haphazardly lump Young Link into the WW universe whilst separating Paper Mario from the Mario RPG universe. Paper Mario was originally supposed to be called Mario RPG 2. Issues with Square caused the title to become Paper Mario. If the developers fail to see what separates Paper Mario from the Mario RPG series then what on Earth are you doing saying that sort of stuff?
In essence, we already have the main character of the Mario RPGs represented, Mario himself, so why in God's name do we need him AGAIN in paper form? It basically becomes an arguement between having a unique character added to the roster or a simple rehash of one that's already made it. Also, I'm sure all the people who grinded their teeth when Dr. Mario hit the stage would looooooooooove to see Paper Mario in action...
Yes, I'm sure those same people would have never fathomed the possibility that Dr. Mario would be one of
several clone characters.
It doesn't help when your moveset mirriors normal Mario. Thats something I can't say Paper Mario will end up doing.