Unpopular Smash Opinions (BE CIVIL)

[Champion of Hyrule]

Tingle would be a better Zelda rep than Impa

 

[Louie G.]

- The structure of Smash's roster actually limits how creative and interesting it can be. Since Smash often opts for the most important / prominent character from a given series, we end up with a lot of pretty standard and/or silent kind of protagonists or straight up avatars more recently. This is doubled down on by the community's obsession with proper "representation" and filling quotas over adding dynamic, strong characters with the most interesting potential.

That's why I prefer Isabelle to Villager and it's why I'm glad we got Min Min over the default ARMS picks, for example. Vs Capcom gets this right more frequently than Smash does and as such their rosters end up feeling more diverse and interesting as a whole.

- Smash has lost a lot of its identity over the years. 64, Melee and even Brawl all had very clear aesthetics and moods to convey and running themes that tied the roster and world together best it could. Smash 4 abandoned any attempt at creating an interesting aesthetic and Ultimate continued down this road while also abandoning trophies - the basis of Smash's "toys come to life" presence and for the hours and hours I spent browsing through them in the previous games to educate myself on Nintendo history. I get that it had a lot to do with ease of development but a lot of soul was lost in the process (ironically, lmao).

- Kirby is actually pretty much fine as it is. I'd swap out a stage (GB Dream Land) and AT (Nightmare) for better modern content, but with that very minor change I think Kirby's problems are solved. Kirby, MK and Dedede are still the most prominent characters in the series and their abilities are not all that different between the classic and modern eras. Non-Sakurai Kirby has 15 tracks including 2 arrangements (02 Theme, Squeak Squad), which is way more than people like to acknowledge. I'll take all the Kirby content I can get, but people really play this one up when it isn't all that bad.

- It's way more important that unrepresented Nintendo IPs get a character on the roster than catering to "under-repped" series that already have 3 or more. I've got plenty of characters I want on both fronts but people don't give enough attention toward the former unless it's Golden Sun.

- Sonic doesn't need special treatment / isn't owed anything just for being Sonic and Chun-Li would be a better addition than any additional Sonic character.

 

[Planet Cool]

Tingle would be a better Zelda rep than Impa

Big agree. Of all the most requested characters (Waluigi, Dixie Kong, Waddle Dee, etc.) Impa is definitely the least interesting, imho.

 

[CheeseAnton]

So... I absolutely love , and am happy that she got in.

Granted, I would've preferred Ninjara or Helix (my favorites) but I still love , I don't feel as if she is that annoying to play against, she brings a completely different playstyle to Smash that I love, she came with a fantastic stage with great songs. In fact I love the concept and playing of so much, I hope in the next game she gets an echo fighter (one with 3 different ARMS than what Min-Min has. Some characters I would love are Helix and Ninjara again, but also Kid Cobra, Dr. Coyle, Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Master Mummy, Fanservice Twintelle).

 

[Janx_uwu]

Replayed Subspace the other day.
I still have fond memories of it, but now I realize it's not nearly as good as I remember. I want to explore Nintendo worlds, not generic desert, generic forest, etc. Also the level design itself is just really, really boring. And enemies with huge health bars are a pain and unfun to deal with.

 

[Perkilator]

Replayed Subspace the other day.
I still have fond memories of it, but now I realize it's not nearly as good as I remember. I want to explore Nintendo worlds, not generic desert

Wanna know the sad irony?

They have a Nintendo world that is a generic desert. That would've been at least some kind of fun for an SSE level; both the ground and underground versions.

 

[Pupp135]

Related to Mushroomy Kingdom, I kinda wish that 1-2 would return as a map with Pokefloats (less unpopular than 1-2 though).

 

[Planet Cool]

Replayed Subspace the other day.
I still have fond memories of it, but now I realize it's not nearly as good as I remember. I want to explore Nintendo worlds, not generic desert, generic forest, etc. Also the level design itself is just really, really boring. And enemies with huge health bars are a pain and unfun to deal with.

Nintendo worlds would've been better, but I love the settings of Subspace Emissary, generic as they are, especially the plain, forest and swamp. Also, Step: The Plain is an amazing song.

 

[Oracle Link]

Wanna know the sad irony?

They have a Nintendo world that is a generic desert. That would've been at least some kind of fun for an SSE level; both the ground and underground versions.

this Stage just makes me Sad

Also its Uncanon because the Lonely Goomba lives there and its still nice looking

 

[Pupp135]

Even though I am also guilty of this, I feel like this fanbase‘s focus on the roster causes us to forget about other things about the SSB series like the stages and gamemodes.

 

[Oracle Link]

Bandana Waddle Dee is the most deserving Character right now!

(because being from nintendo(or hal and gamefreak) makes a Character a lot more Deserving)

 

[AlRex]

Banjo & Kazooie have a more fun moveset than Marth.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Really sour on Captain Falcon after months and months of fighting the CPU post-buffs. He needed buffs for sure, I just don't like the direction they went with them. Combos into knee are getting old when it's the same old same old. You have to shield a lot because it's now difficult to react to Raptor Boost, but it's also difficult to react to Falcon Dive and even regular grab at times due to the character's speed. But the biggest offender is up smash - it scoops from way further than it looks like it should, doesn't have much startup and virtually no endlag, and kills really early. I'm glad Falcon's good but I feel like he went from meh to one of the most annoying characters to fight. Thinking this won't be such an unpopular opinion once offline returns.

 

[Bowser D.X]

I only count this as half an opinion as I'm sort of on the fence, but part of me wishes they'd stop DLC and just wait for the next Smash. On one hand it's cool getting updates and new characters, but on the other I feel that it makes character reveals feel less special and gives us less to look forward to with sequels. Remember how hype the Brawl trailer was? I doubt it would have been the same if there was 5 years of new content inbetween.

 

[Dolph63]

Lucas should have had some sort of rythm mechanic. It would have been a neat reference to Mother 3 and would make him more than just Ness without a mom.

 

[Pokelego999]

Hot take: Corrin was actually a fun and unique addition to the roster.

 

[Pupp135]

I kind of hope that this game ends with FP2 and that we get a new developer for the next SSB game, so Sakurai (he’s done a great job with this series) is able to make different game that might interest him (sort of like him making KI Uprsing between Brawl and For)

 

[Ridley64]

Corrin shouldn't be cut.

 

[CheeseAnton]

I don't know if this is unpopular, but I think it is. Captain Falcon and Ganondorf are some of the least hype and boring characters in the game. I get more excited when a Snake throws a grenade than a Falcon/Warlock Punch (okay, bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point).

 

[Dolph63]

Ninten isn't a good option for an EB rep because he looks too similar to Ness. One thing is Kirby and Jigglypuff, who are both round, pink and squishy but one has ears, hair, very different eyes, etc. Another thing is Ness and Ninten, who look almost the exact same.
I'd rather go with a character like Ana or Poo for a PSI user or Ness/Lucas echo, since they look much different compared to the pre-existing Mother reps.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Ninten isn't a good option for an EB rep because he looks too similar to Ness. One thing is Kirby and Jigglypuff, who are both round, pink and squishy but one has ears, hair, very different eyes, etc. Another thing is Ness and Ninten, who look almost the exact same.
I'd rather go with a character like Ana or Poo for a PSI user or Ness/Lucas echo, since they look much different compared to the pre-existing Mother reps.

Agreed. I'd rather get Giegue for a Mother 1 rep, or Porky. The thought of a third PK boy who will likely be a semi-clone of Ness and/or Lucas doesn't excite me much, particularly when it means the franchise as a whole will be repped by nothing but very similar characters.

It's for this reason that I also don't want Brittany or Louie or any other captain very much if we get another Pikmin rep. I'd rather see Bulborb or something.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

TBH I think Shadow would be fine as an echo. People act like it’s blasphemous for the character to be something besides a completely original character from Sonic, but I disagree. A completely new moveset could work, but making him an echo would be fine

 

[StrangeKitten]

TBH I think Shadow would be fine as an echo. People act like it’s blasphemous for the character to be something besides a completely original character from Sonic, but I disagree. A completely new moveset could work, but making him an echo would be fine

Just give him Chaos Control for his down B and he's good to go! Which wouldn't be hard, just port Witch Time over from Bayo onto him, give it different effects and you're good. I'd of course prefer unique Shadow, but he played mostly the same as Sonic in his debut game anyway.

 

[Ridley64]

I would prefer Shadow to get an echo over any other character if he gets a DLC.

 

[Perkilator]

Just give him Chaos Control for his down B and he's good to go! Which wouldn't be hard, just port Witch Time over from Bayo onto him, give it different effects and you're good. I'd of course prefer unique Shadow, but he played mostly the same as Sonic in his debut game anyway.

I think Chaos Control would work better as an Up B, similar to Mewtwo and Palutena; however, opponents close to him when he does it would be briefly slowed down.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I think Bayonetta has a good moveset

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

Toad has been massively neglected in Smash. Even the community forgets about him: whenever anyone asks what people think the most important and recognisable Nintendo character not yet in Smash is, I see characters like Waluigi and Bandana Waddle Dee thrown around but never Toad.

I've come to think it's because he's essentially been reduced to a forgotten, de-facto NPC in Smash-franchise as a whole. It's been supported heavily by the decades-long growing impression that Sakurai finds Toad relatively uninteresting and bland as a possible fighter: to point that we've even received over him despite having grown quite a repertoire of adventures and identity in Captain Toad and various mainstream 2D + 3D Marios.


Though that's before discussing the more infamous and somewhat in-team ridiculed omission of Waluigi.

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Here’s some of mine

• I never got the hype for Geno OR Ryu Hayabusa
• I think Doom Slayer is too violent for Smash. Unlike Bayonetta where her sexuality was her main appeal (which was toned down) and the violence was optional, I feel the violence is a key part of the Slayer’s character. He’d fit right in in Mortal Kombat though, and I prefer Dragonborn as a Bethesda rep
• I wish we got more Echoes.
• We NEED another Bandai Namco rep, it bugs me that they only have PAC-MAN playable
• It will always bother me that Tsubasa’s the only Spirit from Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Where are her friends??
• Why haven’t we gotten an Undertale Spirit Event for that matter?
• I do NOT think, or want, that the next Smash be a drastically downsized reboot with radically changed play styles for some veterans
• I don’t want the overall format of Smash to be changed either
• Everyone Is Here is a great thing and should maybe even be the norm going forward
• I wish we got more Spirit Events for smaller (often indie) games on Switch that could never hope to have playable content. A lot of missed potential there
• I also wish Spirits got lore blurbs like Trophies did
• The fact Theme of Captain Falcon from F-Zero GX isn’t in Smash yet is a TRAVESTY. there’s a lot of other missed opportunities music wise too
• I would be totally okay with an Ultimate Deluxe, not only for new characters, but also more base game (often single player) content, and an improved netcode (since they can’t fix it this game it seems)
• I also really want the ability to access the WoL-exclusive stages and possession effects outside of WoL. Joker’s and Hero’s trailers respectively did it
• WoL, while I prefer it to SSE, does leave some things to be desired. I feel it’s got a big thematic parallel thing going but it falls flat in some areas. Like, since the Off the Hook spirit is in the Dark Realm, why not put the Squid Sisters spirit in the Light Realm to complement that?
• Xenoblade Chronicles X and Elma were robbed.

 

[Pupp135]

Ready for criticism, but I feel that proportional representation is mostly used as an argument if it supports a character that people want.

Spoiler: reason

I agree that the number of FE characters is disproportionate compared to the number of sales (it has sold less than LoZ, DK, AC, Kirby, Yoshi, Wario, Luigi’s Mansion, Splatoon, and Metroid, with the first four by a large degree), and I think that FE would still be ok with just Marth, Ike, and Chrom. The problem with some who advocate for proportional representation is that they cherrypick which franchises should have more, yet neglect others that would be underrepresented under this idea, especially Animal Crossing and Yoshi. While I think that characters from requested franchises would contribute something to SSB, I think that the less requested underepresented franchises should also be supported if we argue for proportional representation.

 

[Perkilator]

The fact that people think a 1st party would only get in to promote an upcoming or recent games saddens me.

 

[Mamboo07]

The fact that people think a 1st party would only get in to promote an upcoming or recent games saddens me.

I think it happened with Corrin back in Smash 4.

 

[Perkilator]

I think it happened with Corrin back in Smash 4.

Well, yes, it has happened before, to be fair. It just pisses me off that it's desensitized people to act like you're out of the 1st party running if you're not currently relevant.

 

[Glubbfubb]

I want Zero more than Waluigi in smash

 

[Ze Diglett]

• I think the next Smash game should be a reboot of some kind, or at the very least take the franchise in a new direction. Ultimate seems kind of like Sakurai's swan song for his vision of the franchise, and let's face it, this series has been pretty mechanically stagnant since Brawl. (Sure, the content's different each time, but gameplay-wise, they're about as similar as the NSMB games are to each other, for instance.)
  • On that note, I think the next game being a port of Ultimate would be a HORRIBLE idea and would merely cause the series to stagnate even more than it already is.
• Smash's roster is getting incredibly bloated, and I genuinely worry that we're running out of standout characters to add.
  • Ultimate in particular stands more for quantity than for quality at this point. I obviously can't say they didn't try, but I feel they put too much effort into stuffing as much "content" into the game as possible rather than giving the game an identity of its own and freshening up its gameplay.
• People care WAY more about the characters that are in this game than they should. I get it, it's a crossover and the characters are kind of the main draw, but Christ, some people treat it like the goddamn Olympics and act absolutely rancid when they don't get what they want (or conversely, when they get something they don't want) - trust me, I say that as someone who was there once.
  • That said, Ultimate's DLC has been pretty underwhelming so far and the only reveals to elicit anything beyond an "eh" reaction from me have been Banjo, Byleth, and Pyra/Mythra. (Banjo being a sympathetic "cool", Byleth being an utter groan that persuaded me to drop the game entirely, and Pyra/Mythra being my favorite reveal thus far - there's another unpopular opinion for you.)
• Smash is MUCH better as a casual game than a competitive one, and the more Nintendo leans into that aspect of it, the better.
• "Deluxe Mii Costumes" are a flimsy distinction fabricated by Smash fans that doesn't actually mean anything. Just because a costume looks more faithful to the character in question doesn't put it in a category of its own or whatever; call them "head replaces" if you must.
• Ultimate's singleplayer, while better than the absolute no-show that was Smash 4's, is still barely a decent distraction at best. Sure, there's technically a lot to do, but when about 95% of it is the same "battle the CPU(s) under a kooky condition," I'm left wanting for variety in that regard. (World of Light was decently fun on a first playthrough, but I would MUCH rather play through SSE's beat-em-up style progression any day, even with Brawl's bogged down gameplay and more limited roster.)
  • Although I will say, adding unique Classic Mode routes for each character was a HUGE step up and something I wouldn't mind seeing carried over into future installments.
• Geno is easily the single most OVERHATED character in this entire fanbase. (Yes, you read that right.)

 

[Gleam]

1.) Subspace is the best adventure mode of any Smash game, blows the monotony of World of Light out of the sky.

2.) Melee, while not a bad game, is an outdated game that has had much of its content and gameplay improved over time with the other series.

3.) Brawl is the best Smash game in terms of content, delivering not only vast improvements over its predecessor, but adding many aspects which would become staplemarks of the series including soundtracks and stage builder. Let's not also forget, as noted above, the introduction to the best adventure mode ever. It was the kind of game whose content is what the other games should strive to be like. original, unique and rewarding.

4.) If half the cast was cut out in the next Smash game and the other half left replaced by new characters, you'd still buy the game.

5.) Ultimate's single player content is a numerical shallow mess that put more emphasis on shoving a bunch of .png icons in your face through a bunch of monotonous fights than doing anything original, unique or rewarding. It's a telling sign that Subspace can be completed within 8+ hours and is full of trophies, stickers, adventurous locations and over 100 cutscenes while the nearly 20+ hours long World of Light can't even muster 1/10 of the same level of unique content.

 

[Lenidem]

4.) If half the cast was cut out in the next Smash game and the other half left replaced by new characters, you'd still buy the game.

Depends which half. I didn't buy all the Smash games.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Depends which half. I didn't buy all the Smash games.

Would depend for me, as well. And if the newcomers seemed worthwhile for me or not. Good news is, I doubt they'll cut half for the next game, and Bowser is safe even if they do.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Tingle would be a better Zelda rep than Impa

I see you're provoking me for war right here

I mean, it's not even an unpopular opinion, or used to be. Tingle was more requested than Impa, before she stated to appear in more games with more prominent roles.

But you gotta be honest here, Tingle has a lot going against him. No appearances in new Zelda titles, he was deliberately left out of Twilight Princess, his games never reached Europe, and outside of the first DS game, never had success out of Japan either.

 

[Lenidem]

I see you're provoking me for war right here

I mean, it's not even an unpopular opinion, or used to be. Tingle was more requested than Impa, before she stated to appear in more games with more prominent roles.

But you gotta be honest here, Tingle has a lot going against him. No appearances in new Zelda titles, he was deliberately left out of Twilight Princess, his games never reached Europe, and outside of the first DS game, never had success out of Japan either.

Well, technically, the guy who hosts the mini-game with the hookshot is supposed to be a Twilight Princess version of Tingle, if I remember well. And I agree with Champion of Hyrule. Lots of characters are already in despite Tingle's cons : K. Rool has not appeared in a DK game since forever, Mother 3 never left Japan and yet we have Lucas, nobody in Europe and America knew about Fire Emblem when Melee arrived, and we could continue.

The thing is, whenever a character gets in, we find reasons why he was inevitable, or at least we are suddenly convinced that the pros were "obviously" more important than the cons. I'm sure it would be the same with Tingle. If he ever becomes playable, the vast majority of fans will think that it makes total sense.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Well, technically, the guy who hosts the mini-game with the hookshot is supposed to be a Twilight Princess version of Tingle, if I remember well. And I agree with Champion of Hyrule. Lots of characters are already in despite Tingle's cons : K. Rool has not appeared in a DK game since forever, Mother 3 never left Japan and yet we have Lucas, nobody in Europe and America knew about Fire Emblem when Melee arrived, and we could continue.

The thing is, whenever a character gets in, we find reasons why he was inevitable, or at least we are suddenly convinced that the pros were "obviously" more important than the cons. I'm sure it would be the same with Tingle. If he ever becomes playable, the vast majority of fans will think that it makes total sense.

K.Rool was massively requested, didn't you notice ? Lucas is a beloved veteran, and MOTHER 3 was supposed to be an international release, or at least Sakurai thought. Fire Emblem is a now we'll established franchise in the West, with more games released internationally than as Japan exclusives.

Those aren't good examples lol