Greetings fellow Fire Emblem fans.
I've been singing this same, sad tune on the "Should Marth and Roy Return" and "The
Black Knight for Brawl" threads but I think this debate really belongs here. Please let
me know what you think.
Here's my two cents. Before Marth and Roy were included in Melee, the series that you
and I know and love as Fire Emblem had never been localized outside of Japan.
Therefore, it made perfect sense to select Marth (the original and most
popular Japanese lord at that time) and Roy (the lord in the then soon-to-be released
Japanese Fire Emblem 6) even though no one outside of the land-of-the-rising-sun had
ever heard of them or any other FE characters.
As everyone knows, this equation changed with the release of FE 7 for the GBA.
Suddenly, the rest of the world got a taste of one of Nintendo's finest game series and the game
was met with commercial and critical success internationally.
Ironically enough, however, just as the the rest of the world was becoming aware of the
sheer brilliance of the FE series, Japan was losing interest. FE 7 & 8 on the GBA were
not recieved well among FE's traditional fanbase, due in no small part to the fact that
they appeared on a handheld instead of a console.
Here lies the dilema: given that we will only get 2-3 Fire Emblem characters in Brawl
(realistically speaking) which characters will Sakurai select to represent the
franchise? The FE games are different from the Zelda or Starfox series in that its games
feature multiple locations and chararacters - meaning that they lack a definitive mascot
like Mario or Starfox. To Japanese gamers (who prefer the older console Fire Emblem
games) Marth's games are looks on with reverance while the GBA games are seen as
abominations. In the west, Fire Emblem 7 is considered the first (and most widely
respected) game in the series while all games previous might as well not exist (thanks
to Nintendo's questionable desicion not to release them outside Japan). So how can
Sakurai appease the legions of new Fire Emblem fans around the world without alienating
the series' tradtional fanbase in Japan?
The solution is to include characters exclsuively from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and
its highly anticipated Wii sequel Goddess of Dawn (which is already out in Japan). PoR
is the most recent game to be released internationally and it is the only Fire Emblem
game to date that is popular among Fire Emblem fans in Japan as well as
internationally. For those who question PoR's popularity, might I remind you that four
of the five Fire Emblem charcaters on Sakurai's poll (Ike, the Black Knight, Mia and
Sothe) were from PoR and Ike was ranked as the second most requested character, just
behind King Dedede.
Here are some objections that people might have to my theory:
1) "But Nintendo doesn't care about non-Japanese gamers!"
True, but Nintendo doesn't care about Japanese gamers either. As a bussiness, all they
care about is gamer's money. From a pure bussiness point of view, it doesn't make sense
to ignore non-Japanese Fire Emblem fans because there are currently more Fire Emblem
fans (aka people who buy Fire Emblem games) outside Japan than within.
Obviously, Nintendo will balance the tastes of all their key markets. If their only
concern was the Japanese market, then it would not make sense for characters from the
Metroid series (which is greatly undervalued in Japan) to be included in Brawl.
2) "Hector and/or Lyn are awesome! Who cares if Japanese gamers don't like them?"
Just because non-Japanese FE fans are the majority, doesn't mean that Nintendo will abandon Fire Emblem's traditional fanbase. It is far more likely that they will balance the tastes of all Fire Embelm fans and choose characters from exclusively PoR - which is popular among Fire Embelm fans in Japan, as well as everywhere else.
3) "Having FE representatives from only the Telius games doesn't make sense."
Remeber, Fire Emblem just doesn't have the fanbase of a series like Starfox and Pokemon to justify four or five chracters. This makes it impossible to give fair representation to all the Fire Emblem "universes" (for lack of a better term). Therefore, the few available spots on the roster should go to prominent characters to the two most recent Fire Emblem games: PoR & GoD. This has the disadvantage of leaving the older games unrepresented, but has the advantage of selling plenty of copies of GoD.
4) "But Marth and Roy are popular and cool!"
Marth and Roy are great characters in their own right, but becasue of their relative unimportance to the FE's new, global fanbase (they only appeared in Fire Embelm games released exclusively inside Japan) they make poor representatives of the Fire Emblem series.
While most would admit that Roy has little chance of returning, many still look at Marth's return as a certainty. However, given Marth's similarity to Ike (they are both male, sword-weilding lords with blue hair and capes) it seems unlikely that both of them will be put in the same game. Hopefully, we will see a greater variety of Fire Embelm characters in Brawl.
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So, now that I've given reasons for why the majority of Fire Emblem characters don't deserve to make the cut let me tell you about a few characters that do. I've narrowed it down to three.
1) Ike
http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image...emblem-path-of-radiance-20050923024657100.jpg
Ike - Lord of Path of Radiance (FE9)
Ike has a VERY good chance of getting in. Ever since PoR, he's topped Sigurd in popularity. Not only that, he's also very popular in the US. He's also the star of so far the most recent FE (but not for much longer). He's been in the polls, AND he has a unique fighting style. (Aether will definitely be in the game >| ) Also, he's known internationally. Wait, can it get even better? Yes it can.
*SPOILER*
Ike is one of the lords in FE10, making him the only playable lord TWICE, other than Marth. Of course, he's also the most recent, so that just gives him even better chances.
*/SPOILER*
I don't really need to say more.
Verdict: 99.9% Ike WILL be in Brawl.
I couldn't agree more, Ike will most certainly get in. As a lord in the two most recent Fire Emblem games and the second most popular character on Sakurai's poll I just don't see how he could not get in. Personally, I see him replacing Marth as the new Fire Emblem rep in Smash Bros. It's just a question of what other characters will make the cut...
2) Miciaiah
http://www.n-philes.com/games/WII/WII_fire_emblem/1.jpg
Micaiah - Lord of Goddess of Dawn (FE10)
Micaiah is indeed the lord of the new Fire Emblem. However, the fact remains that she is a mage, and that just makes it harder for them to implement her. However, she does have a handful of outfits to choose from :D. But anyways, let me make this clear about the possible FE10 leaders. All of them have a lower chance, simply because uses up a solid Tellius slot. With characters from Jugdral (FE4/5) and Elibe (Roy/Lyn/Hector) competing for representation of other FE worlds, characters from Tellius are gonna have much less priority. Because of that...
Verdict - 60%
Just as Roy was put in Melee to sell more copies of his game, so also could Maciaiah make it into Brawl in order to increase sales of GoD. It's as simple as that. However, since Ike also appears prominently in God, they may simply include him as a representative of both games.
Regardless, I think that if Sakurai's team decides to spend the time on another original moveset for a Fire Embelm character (in addition to Ike) Maciaiah is the best bet. Contrary to popular belief, Fire Emblem is about more than just sword fighters. By including a mage as a playable character, one could bring more diversity to the Brawl roster than if yet another sword fighter were included instead.
3) The Black Knight
http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/article/606/606079/fire-emblem-gcn-20050419050833987.jpg
Black Knight - NOT A LORD.
The Black Knight isn't a lord. Yes, he appears in FE10. Yes, you can control him. Yes,
I think I know who he is. That doesn't mean **** though. The Black Knight will NOT make
it in Brawl. He's way too overpowered (can you imagine throwing a huge pile of armor
around, or have him jumping around!?), his role wasn't central enough, he was a cliche
character, he has the Ike-factor going against him, and again, he's too ridiculously
strong. I just put him here so I could say that. His ONLY ONLY ONLY possible chance is
because he's an antogonist character. That gives him a 1% chance, with me being
generous.
Verdict - 1%
Reading that paragraph, one would think that Anti Guy's reasoning is the equivilant of a lethal blow against the Black Knight appearing in Brawl. In fact,
it's only a flesh wound.
In spite of a unpresidented level of hostility towards the character by some of the more irrational members of the Smash community, the Black Knight's chances are much higher than you would think. The Black Knight is Ike's greatest nemesis and the most prominent villian in the Fire Embelm: Path of Radiance. His return in Goddess of Dawn (as a playable character, none the less) makes his the only Fire Emblem to ever appear in two different games - and therefore the most important villian in the entire series.
The Black Knight's presence on Sakurai's Japanese poll is certainly a positive sign for his appearing in Brawl as it shows that he must have been at least considered for the game (which is more than we can say for certain in regards to most other Fire Emblem characters).
The way I see it, the Black Knight stands an excellent chance of being included as a Roy-esque clone of Ike. By that I mean that his moveset will essentially be copied from Ike's (they were trained by the same man after all) except he will he will be exceptionally more slow and powerful - much like Ganondorf was to Captain Falcon. In order to make him a bit more original they could give him his teloport ability in place of his triple jump. Since including BK as a clone would take significantly less development time than including a unique FE character, I'd say his chances are considerably higher than most.
"Too overpowered"? Please. If Smash was a realistic depiction of each character's power do you think that Pichu would be higher on the tier list than Mew Two? Or than Sheik would be so much more powerful than Ganondorf? Or that Princess Peach would last ten seconds in a fight with Samus Aran? The Smash team could design BK to be as strong or as weak as they see fit - regardless of his strength in PoR.
"Jumping"? If Bowser and Ganondorf can do it, so can BK.
"Clique character"? That's just one guy's opinion. Here's another: the Black Knight is the greatest villian ever to appear in any videogame. Period. But hey, feel free to disagree. We'll have plenty of time to discuss it after BK makes it into Brawl.
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I way I see it there are two possibilities. Either the Path of Radiance version of Ike get's in with the Black Knight as his clone or the Godess of Dawn version of Ike get's in with Miciaiah riding shotgun. I would love to see all three or even more FE characters make get into Brawl, but I just don't see it happening. Regardless, as long as the representatives are taken exclusively from PoR and GoD, the majority of Fire Emblem fans around the world should be satisfied.
But, again, that's just my two cents. Feel free to post why I'm a complete buffoon. Anti Guy has make a really great thread here, and I'd love to see it revived.
