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What Character Represents Their Series the Best and the Worst?

Cetus

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Explained in the title. In your opinions, which character do you think does the worst or best job at representing who they are in their games or the series as a whole? You don't have to hate or love the character. The main question is does this character do a good or awful job at representing their original game? You can do one or both and I guess the idea of accurate representation is subjective, but it'd also be interesting to see what your idea of accurate representation is. Especially since Smash has to obviously make a few adjustments for certain characters to make sense in a fighting game format. Plus, absolute perfect representation isn't too much fun either. I guess a better question would be which character is the best at being adapted into Smash while being a fun Smash character while retaining traits from their original game.

My opinions-
Worst: :4sheik:Sheik
To be fair, Sheik did nothing besides play a few tunes in Ocarina of Time. But if that's the case, I don't really know why she's warranting of her own character slot even if she is just Zelda. Now, I'm not really against making up Smash specific moves, but Sheik's moves don't really do much to tell us anything besides the fact she's a ninja who is fast and sneaky. Biggest reference I can find is her Up B which uses the flash from a deku nut. I think a more interesting approach would be the use of the songs in OoT. Since Sheik originates from OoT and songs are a vital part of the gameplay, making them a possible mechanic of hers would be a lot more faithful, but also a lot more interesting cause I'm not really digging the standard ninja even if she's decently fun to play around with.

Best: :4villager: Villager
Now, the mere fact that Villager is a fighter sort of goes against the basics of Animal Crossing. But the way they implemented AC into the Villager's moveset not only is faithful, but it's also fun as hell to play around with. Nearly all of the Villager's attacks use items from the AC universe. There's almost no simple punching or kicking moves which just makes him so much more interesting to watch. Side tilt is an umbrella, down tilt is weeding, up b uses balloons, aerials use turnips or the slingshot, down smash is a shovel, up smash is fireworks. Every move he has is so colorful while keeping the general Animal Crossing aesthetic with the sound effects and the patterns on the models. Villager is one of my favorite fighters in Smash because of his entertaining moveset and playstyle.

Tell me who you guys think are the best and worst at representing their series in Smash.
 

Idon

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Before I begin, I just wanna mention Hyrule Warriors has a Sheik that is half ninja stuff and half harp stuff.
Now,
Best: :ultmegaman:
In fact he represents his franchise a little too well with how weak he is compared to the rest of the cast. He's a pure zoner character with near all of his moves being projectiles or midranged attacks. He has to SPACE everything he does like the enemy is going to kill him if they touch him (which they very well can with his close range weakness). Every single move and animation has a source somewhere and they all have a specific purpose in mind. Each and every single one of Megaman's moves was taken from some other source and hell, they even reference Marvel vs. Capcom with Megaman's uppercut. Now Megaman is a character you could tell they put love and time into. Hell even his CUSTOMS had references within them! Now that's fantastic attention to detail.

Course, I hate playing him because I'm really really bad with him, but I still appreciate and love everything about the blue bomber.

Worst::ultshulk:
Now this is going to sound controversial here, but I think they really dropped the ball on Shulk's portrayal.
They turned his sick-ass laser sword USB into a goddamn flashlight.
In his own games he's a powerhouse of a character being able to out-damage the rest of the party with his long range whilst simultaneously buffing them beyond their limits. In Smash, he's a slow-lumbering oaf who doesn't keep the Monado drawn out and has to rely on gimmicks.
His entire repertoire of flashy and colorful Monado arts have been relegated to made up buffs which for some reason, also debuff him horrendously (which is also completely made up). Where's Buster, Purge, Cyclone, Eater? Why does Shulk put his sword away after every hit? And why would you shove Fiora in an already perfect Final Smash?

It's a shame because non-Monado moves are quite accurate like ftilt, fsmash, sideB, upB are all pretty great references.
I just feel Sakurai really honed in on the buff gimmick way too much and changed everything about Shulk to center around that.

 
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Cetus

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Before I begin, I just wanna mention Hyrule Warriors has a Sheik that is half ninja stuff and half harp stuff.
Now,
Best: :ultmegaman:
In fact he represents his franchise a little too well with how weak he is compared to the rest of the cast. He's a pure zoner character with near all of his moves being projectiles or midranged attacks. He has to SPACE everything he does like the enemy is going to kill him if they touch him (which they very well can with his close range weakness). Every single move and animation has a source somewhere and they all have a specific purpose in mind. Each and every single one of Megaman's moves was taken from some other source and hell, they even reference Marvel vs. Capcom with Megaman's uppercut. Now Megaman is a character you could tell they put love and time into. Hell even his CUSTOMS had references within them! Now that's fantastic attention to detail.

Course, I hate playing him because I'm really really bad with him, but I still appreciate and love everything about the blue bomber.

Worst::ultshulk:
Now this is going to sound controversial here, but I think they really dropped the ball on Shulk's portrayal.
They turned his sick-*** laser sword USB into a goddamn flashlight.
In his own games he's a powerhouse of a character being able to out-damage the rest of the party with his long range whilst simultaneously buffing them beyond their limits. In Smash, he's a slow-lumbering oaf who doesn't keep the Monado drawn out and has to rely on gimmicks.
His entire repertoire of flashy and colorful Monado arts have been relegated to made up buffs which for some reason, also debuff him horrendously (which is also completely made up). Where's Buster, Purge, Cyclone, Eater? Why does Shulk put his sword away after every hit? And why would you shove Fiora in an already perfect Final Smash?

It's a shame because non-Monado moves are quite accurate like ftilt, fsmash, sideB, upB are all pretty great references.
I just feel Sakurai really honed in on the buff gimmick way too much and changed everything about Shulk to center around that.

I agree on Shulk. They did well with portraying two arts and the vision as a counter, but his overall gimmick never really made too much sense to me. Feels like it sorta breaks up the whole focus of fighting with all these other options when a Shulk using just a few of the Monado arts for his specials would be more focused and probably make the learning curve a lot less daunting.

Thank Zanza they didn't change Adam Howden or else we'd have some serious issues.
 

Violenceman

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Worst: :ultrosalina:
You know, at least when Peach would pull out Toad to take a hit, it made sense. A little cold, maybe, but Toad is a Mushroom Retainer; the royal guard. Protecting the princess is their job. The same cannot be said for Rosalina. The Galaxy series defines the relationship between Rosalina and the Lumas pretty solidly; the Lumas are children and Rosalina is their mother. This is a key characteristic, she had an entire storybook detailing out this relationship. Seeing her use the Lumas as both weapons and shields is jarring to say the least. But the worst of it is when a Luma is KO'd, Rosalina just replaces it with a new one a minute later, like a disposable item. It just does not work on any thematic level.

Best: :ultpokemontrainer:
Pikachu may be the mascot, but Traner gets down to the core of what Pokemon is all about. You have a roster of different Pokemon, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and you switch between them depending on the situation. No matter what the challenge, you have a team member who is adept at handling it; it's up to you to manage your team properly to make the most of their individual traits and abilities, constantoy adjusting your strategy on the fly. Pokemon Trainer distills the experience of his entire game series into a single character and translates it into a fighting language better than any other character on the roster.
 
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Vanguard227

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Best: :ultryu:. I mean, his entire moveset looks pretty identical to moves in his Street Fighter 2, 3 and 4 arsenal, and you even have to put in the right inputs for some of them.
:ultgnw: ,:ultpokemontrainer: and :ultmegaman: are also really good for representation.

Worst: Probably :ultfalcon:, or :ultsheik: as most of their movesets are completely made up for Smash Bros.

Although Captain Falcon at least does a Falcon Punch in the F-Zero anime, and he does briefly drive Blue Falcon during his Final Smash. Sheik's only move that's kind of true to her Ocarina of Time appearance, is her up-B vanish move.
 
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TMNTSSB4

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:ultbayonetta: For the best and worst representation of her series
 

Kevandre

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:ultrobin:ultpokemontrainer: definitely the best, no question.

Worst... Uhh. Probably :ultfalcon: since only his final smash has anything to do with F-Zero
 

Diddy Kong

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Represents it very well:

:ultpokemontrainer:: Do I really need to explain it? He's the avatar of Pokemon, switching between them in battle and all. Only thing that isn't really presented is catching Pokemon. But the Pokeball item kind of represents that as a whole.

:ultvillager:: Probably one of the best in representing his games. Does a real good job.

:ultmarth:: Spacing your attacks and movement through his tipper, breaking defenses, double attacking, counters... Yes, Marth represents Fire Emblem very well. The tipper might even represent critical hits for all we know. Very well written character.

:ultrobin: Everything Marth doesn't do. Represents magic and weapon durability quite damn well. Also strategy and planning your attacks out ahead, spacing... Just very well done.

:ultmetaknight:: Does just about everything he's done in a Kirby game except for OP stuff, but that's a good thing, since Brawl Meta Knight already happened.

:ultsamus:: Ever since Samus Returns 3D, her Smash moveset represents her very well. Especially since Samus can charge up shots in the air now.

:ultlucas:: Multi hits represent the combo and music based combat system of Mother 3 extremely well.

:ultwiifittrainer:: Does poses done in Wii Fit, even has trophies of them.. Done surprisingly well!

The worst:

:ultsheik:: Basically does nothing besides teaching you songs in Ocarina of Time. Cool character, don't get me wrong, but Hyrule Warriors really portraits her a 1000 times better.
 
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osby

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Represents it very well:

:ultpokemontrainer:: Do I really need to explain it? He's the avatar of Pokemon, switching between them in battle and all. Only thing that isn't really presented is catching Pokemon. But the Pokeball item kind of represents that as a whole.

:ultvillager:: Probably one of the best in representing his games. Does a real good job.

:ultmarth:: Spacing your attacks and movement through his tipper, breaking defenses, double attacking, counters... Yes, Marth represents Fire Emblem very well. The tipper might even represent critical hits for all we know. Very well written character.

:ultrobin: Everything Marth doesn't do. Represents magic and weapon durability quite damn well. Also strategy and planning your attacks out ahead, spacing... Just very well done.

:ultmetaknight:: Does just about everything he's done in a Kirby game except for OP stuff, but that's a good thing, since Brawl Meta Knight already happened.

:ultsamus:: Ever since Samus Returns 3D, her Smash moveset represents her very well. Especially since Samus can charge up shots in the air now.

:ultlucas:: Multi hits represent the combo and music based combat system of Mother 3 extremely well.

:ultwiifittrainer:: Does poses done in Wii Fit, even has trophies of them.. Done surprisingly well!

The worst:

:ultsheik:: Basically does nothing besides teaching you songs in Ocarina of Time. Cool character, don't get me wrong, but Hyrule Warriors really portraits her a 1000 times better.
Hyrule Warriors better represent her better, it's a Zelda game.

By the way, how does she fights in there?
 

Idon

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Hyrule Warriors better represent her better, it's a Zelda game.

By the way, how does she fights in there?
She mainly uses quick ninja strikes with kunai and kicks with the ability to supplement her naturally strong style by playing her harp.

Each combo-ender causes a different effect to be used when you play the harp.
Water will buff your attacks
Lightning will surround you with an aura of constatly damaging electricity
Fire will summon a meteor in front of you
Darkness will cause a vortex to suck in enemies
Light will set down an area where she will constantly refill her special meter and allow her to use her AoE attacks easily.

All the songs she plays play off the Ocarina of Time corresponding music, like the bolero of fire or serenade of water.
 
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Diddy Kong

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Hyrule Warriors better represent her better, it's a Zelda game.

By the way, how does she fights in there?
Kind of a mix of real atlethic kicks and general ninja maneuvering as in Smash, but also elemental attacks by playing her Harp. Which is a great reference to the songs she teaches you in Ocarina of Time.

 

CardiganBoy

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Wario is easily the worst, for some reason he has these weird overly quirky animations, he has never behaved like this in any of his games, he can actually run and jump like normal, and don’t let me started on his random moveset, where he barely gets to use his brute force he’s know for.

And also they really want to rub it on that he’s this gross fatman and nothing else, wathever happened to his treasure hunter, muscle man side? Well at least his shoulder bash came back, i like Wario in his games but his moveset and animations keep me away from playing as him.
 

osby

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Wario is easily the worst, for some reason he has these weird overly quirky animations, he has never behaved like this in any of his games, he can actually run and jump like normal, and don’t let me started on his random moveset, where he barely gets to use his brute force he’s know for.

And also they really want to rub it on that he’s this gross fatman and nothing else, wathever happened to his treasure hunter, muscle man side? Well at least his shoulder bash came back, i like Wario in his games but his moveset and animations keep me away from playing as him.
Don't his weird animations and goofy antics comes from WarioWare?
 

CardiganBoy

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Don't his weird animations and goofy antics comes from WarioWare?
He’s mostly show in cutscenes but he doesn’t move like that, and the goofy antics are just the situations he’s in, not the way he behaves, and i don’t think giving him random looking movesets represent the microgames neither.
 

Guybrush20X6

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I'd say Wario represents Wario WARE well but I think he'd still be able to do that while being the tough slow semi immortal guy he was in the land series.

Worst overall is Dr. Mario by virtue of being a Mario Copy and not using any color matching
Best I'd say is Mega Man. If he played any more like his canon self, he'd be worse. (mashing the shoulder buttons to get the right weapon is tense enough in a platformer)
 

Untouch

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Best: Villager, for reasons explained earlier.
Worst: Ganondorf.
Unlike shiek, he has a lot of material to work with, but takes almost none of it. The sword he uses isn't even the sword he uses in TP or WW, but an obscure reference to a gamecube tech demo.
 

Opossum

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Honestly, if Smash was made in 2018, Captain Falcon probably would've been relegated to an assist trophy.
If Smash were made in 2018 Falcon probably wouldn't be in the game at all. :p
 

Idon

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If Smash were made in 2018 Falcon probably wouldn't be in the game at all. :p
In an alternate user mach rider could've been the made up character and we would've been asking for Falcon as a retro rep.
 

Jamison

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Best :ultmegaman: His moveset uses abilities from so many of his different games while still prioritizing the most popular even if the games are decades old. He plays like how you imagine he would. He keeps the feel of his games, partly BC going from a 2D side scroller to a 2.5D platformer isn't the biggest leap.

Honorable mentions: :ultryu::ultkirby::ultwiifittrainer::ultpokemontrainer::ultvillager::ultsonic:

Worst:ultganondorf: His moveset represents F-Zero more than it represents Legend of Zelda. At the time of Melee when Ganon was introduced it was a few years after Ocarina of Time where Ganon was widely seen as an evil mage. Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple and the first phase of Ganondorf both uses magic projectiles. Ganon had no projectiles in smash. I don't need to mention his lack of sword either. Seeing Ganon not ever get reworked and feel like he's actually just Samurai Goroh with a Ganon skin as Zelda games kept coming out and both Brawl and Sm4sh left his moveset untouched felt like further injustice.

Dishonorable mentions: :ultfalcon: the only thing about him that felt F-Zero esque is that he's fast :ultsheik: I think others have covered it well. She doesn't use needles(kunai maybe) or chains/grenades in OoT at all. Her Up B does fit and she does give off the ninja vibe but she didn't feel like Zelda at all and she didn't use a harp or ocarina at all. Sheik has since sort of evolved into her own character but she was created as a part of Zelda and she never felt like that, she's essentially a different character now.
 

Spinosaurus

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He’s mostly show in cutscenes but he doesn’t move like that, and the goofy antics are just the situations he’s in, not the way he behaves, and i don’t think giving him random looking movesets represent the microgames neither.
Warioware cutscenes were in a choppy style, that's where the idea came from.

Also keep in mind Wario in Japan embodied toilet humor, that was actually mostly present for Wario Land's marketing too. They did a whole Q&A for Wario Land 4 and tried to slap as much toilet humor as possible. Also his shtick from the start was garlic! The fart didn't come from nowhere.

Wario's fine. I'm glad they took creative liberties with his moveset ultimately instead of sticking 1:1 with his source material. Doing the latter can limit character design and make them feel rigid if they don't translate well, especially a character with two possible non-combat series to pull from. Doing their own thing while keeping it true to the character was the smart idea, instead of trying to cram as many references as they could. All he needs are the shoulder bash and bike.

EDIT: Of course, if we're talking strictly about representing their /series/, then yeah, Wario's not the one to look for here, for either of his series.
 
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lordvaati

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I'm gonna play devil's advocate for :ultfalcon:: because while he may not rep F-Zero well that much, he technically never did-he repped the cancelled Dragon Fighter game that would become Super Smash Bros. since he was built over a character's skeleton.
 

Ultinarok

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People saying Shulk's Monado Arts are not faithful to his game, you are correct in a literal sense. However, you're missing something important:

"The Monado bends to your will." ~ Alvis.

It is stated multiple times that the Monado provides it's wielder with abilities as he needs them. In Smash, Shulk needs to Jump higher instead of Purge auras. He needs to deal higher percentage damage instead of critical hit Mechon. The Arts are faithful because they represent the Monado's adaptation, not a carbon copy of It's in game utility.

It's also implied that wielding the Monado has negative repercussions on everyone but Shulk, but for the sake of Smash, it affects him too for both balance reasons and to represent the strain of the sword. This is also probably why he doesn't always have it drawn also. The Monado's arts nearly killed Dunban from overuse after all. Yeah Shulk is it's true wielder, but having drawbacks is still true to the sword.

And he can't have his sword be 30 ft long because balance needs to exist in a fighting game, so I'll settle for "still longest overall range and disjoint in the game" range.

Otherwise, ditto for many of the picks above for best and worst. Game and Watch should probably tie Mega Man for number one best. Koopalings deserve a mention too, as the clown car has always had those zany abilities, although they do lack their wands.
 
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UltimateWario

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Wario's fine. I'm glad they took creative liberties with his moveset ultimately instead of sticking 1:1 with his source material. Doing the latter can limit character design and make them feel rigid if they don't translate well, especially a character with two possible non-combat series to pull from.
The problem is that Wario has an entire moveset of actual combat moves that he actually uses and are unique enough to build a moveset around and none of it is there in favor of a bunch of weird two-frame slapping and contortion moves. Saying they took "creative liberties" with Wario but it's fine because he has his bike and his shoulder bash is like saying the Mario Bros. movie took "creative liberties" with the series but it's fine because there's mushrooms and Bob-ombs in the movie, and Mario and Luigi get super jump boots at one point.
For the record I love the Mario movie, unlike Wario in Smash.

As a Wario fan, it's a little annoying that my favorite video game character doesn't interest me in the least because the whole reason I enjoyed the character in the first place was put on the back-burner for some stupid "creative liberties" based around the Japanese marketing of the character. You can have Wario be "le hilarious japanese fart man" and still give him his goofy, muscle-headed moves from Wario Land and World. Hell, his "getting hurt and transforming" gimmick is still wacky while being true to his source material without being a bunch of nonsense. The fact that you'd consider him using actual Wario moves "limiting" is absolutely baffling, especially considering that most of his real moves are still over the top and goofy. Do you think Ganondorf getting actual Zelda-inspired moves would be limiting compared to his Grandpa Falcon clone status?
 
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Spinosaurus

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The problem is that Wario has an entire moveset of actual combat moves that he actually uses and are unique enough to build a moveset around and none of it is there in favor of a bunch of weird two-frame slapping and contortion moves. Saying they took "creative liberties" with Wario but it's fine because he has his bike and his shoulder bash is like saying the Mario Bros. movie took "creative liberties" with the series but it's fine because there's mushrooms and Bob-ombs in the movie, and Mario and Luigi get super jump boots at one point.
For the record I love the Mario movie, unlike Wario in Smash.

As a Wario fan, it's a little annoying that my favorite video game character doesn't interest me in the least because the whole reason I enjoyed the character in the first place was put on the back-burner for some stupid "creative liberties" based around the Japanese marketing of the character. You can have Wario be "le hilarious japanese fart man" and still give him his goofy, muscle-headed moves from Wario Land and World. Hell, his "getting hurt and transforming" gimmick is still wacky while being true to his source material without being a bunch of nonsense. The fact that you'd consider him using actual Wario moves "limiting" is absolutely baffling, especially considering that most of his real moves are still over the top and goofy. Do you think Ganondorf getting actual Zelda-inspired moves would be limiting compared to his Grandpa Falcon clone status?
Wario Land is a puzzle platformer where your only consistent means of combat are a shoulder bash (that he has here), jumping (footstools are universal) or butt stomp (referenced). The other instances is picking enemies up after they're already stunned or deliberately getting hit for power ups, which sure, you could try to make a moveset out of, but you're gonna have to try really hard to not make that gimmicky, and personally doesn't sound very appealing to me from a design stand point. Also that's a false equivalency, I'm not entertaining that. I already said that I think they largely made him still feel like he's Wario.

Wario's my favourite character too, and I'm more than fine with what they went for here. We're talking about a character with different interpretations, and I absolutely think Sakurai trying his own take on him is fine and actually a good thing to do. Also please understand what I mean by my point about moveset design, limiting yourself to their source material is not always a good idea. (And we're potentially gonna see that here as well, the shoulder bash dash attack change means losing Wario's only burst movement option just for the sake of accuracy? Not a fan.) Sakurai had a clear idea of how he wanted this character to play and designed a moveset around that, even Project M respected that by mostly giving him aesthetic changes closer to Wario Land while also only actually changing 3 moves (and I'd argue said new moves run counter to his design, but I digress, I still respect what they tried to go for). Sure Sakurai could've at least done that too, but I don't really wanna sound like a broken record saying "I think what they did with him is good", and I'm not really here to convince you to like it, either way.

I don't have any attachment to Ganon, so I can't comment on him. He's not even the same situation???
 

Gallowglass

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Okay I've read all of the post so far and I really like the reasoning for most of them. For me I would say.

Best :ultryu:
As mention before Ryu's move set is practically identical to how he is in Street Fighter. Its like Sakurai is saying, "Hey you want to know how a traditional fighting character does in a Smash game? Here ya go!" Even the traditional inputs for specials makes him feel like you are actually playing street fighter 2.

Worst :ultganondorf:
Unlike Captain Falcon or Sheik who really doesn't have any movesets to go off up Ganondorf did. Though granted before Melee the latest Zelda game they had was Majora's Mask but even then there was stuff to work with. To the energy ball, the ground slam for when you get to close, and the back hand use to reflect projectiles are just some of the power he showed. If you wanted to go further they could have used some of the Gerudo moves or Twinrova sisters since they raised him. If you wanted to go even further they could have used moves that Ganon used in Link to the Past or Zelda 1. So making a clone of Captain Falcon makes no sense with the exception of giving him the most powerful punch in the game (which is now second to Little Mac's star punch).
 

NocturnalQuill

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I can't really make up my mind on a single best or worst for each category, so I'm going list mode for this:

Gods among men
:ultgnw:
- Every single frame is literally copied from the source material. I don't think you can get more "representative" than that
:ultmegaman: - Beautifully animated, and very faithful to his games. Every move was clearly lifted from the source material.
:ultridley: - This one may be the hype, but Sakurai did a spectacular job of creating the illusion of size. Additionally, he realized that Ridley's size isn't the defining aspect of his character. For a purple space dragon, he gave him a ton of personality in his design. His moves have a tactical yet brutal feel. He's easily the darkest villain in Smash, and Sakurai knocked him out of the park
:ultrobin - The other Fire Emblem reps are fine, but what I love about Robin is that he manages to capture the mechanics of Fire Emblem. We finally got a rep that didn't just use a sword, and he represents the weapon durability mechanic.


Disgraces to their families
:ultwario: - This one's been beaten to death, but I'm just going to say it again: He is a horrible rep for both Wario Land and WarioWare. His moveset feels completely arbitrary and like it was made up on the spot. Between Wario Land, Wario World, and WarioWare, Sakurai has no excuse for this one.
:ultmiifighters: - These guys are just bizarre to me. Nintendo hammered these guys hard from 2007 to 2009. I will never understand why Sakurai gave them three generic movesets when he had tons of Mii-centric games to draw inspiration from. They could have been the perfect representation of Nintendo's dark age casual era

OBJECTION!
:ultfalcon:
- Sure, his moveset may have nothing to do with his game, but what was Sakurai supposed to do? Make the Blue Falcon a playable character?
:ultganondorf: - With Ultimate's changes to his smash attacks, he gets a pass this time
:ultsheik: - She didn't do much in Ocarina of Time, but I feel like Sakurai did a great job giving her a believable and inspired moveset with what little he had to work with.
 

Idon

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:ultganondorf: - With Ultimate's changes to his smash attacks, he gets a pass this time
.
I dunno, in my honest opinion, having only 3 moves changed is still leaving the rest of his moves falcondorfy.
Oh and swinging around a sword he doesn't even wield in his own game doesn't help represent him either.
 

NocturnalQuill

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I dunno, in my honest opinion, having only 3 moves changed is still leaving the rest of his moves falcondorfy.
Oh and swinging around a sword he doesn't even wield in his own game doesn't help represent him either.
Ganon's a bit of a tricky one in my opinion. We've only ever seen him in his human form in 3 games. He mostly floats around and shoots stuff at you in OoT. He dual-wields swords in Wind Waker. That could have been a cool twist, but Sakurai could have felt that it just didn't mesh with the realistic Ganon in Smash vs Toon Ganon. Twilight Princess sees him actually wielding a sword, although there's a fair bit of overlap with other sword wielders.

I would tweak some of his specials, but I an understand why Sakurai would have a hard time with him.
 

Armagon

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Worst

:ultwario: - I was never a fan of Wario but i do have to agree that they way he's represented in Smash isn't the best. I've played a few WarioWare games (never played Wario Land) and i never recall ever seeing him fart and yet, that's one of his most powerful attacks in Smash.

:ultsheik: - She barely did anything in Ocarina of Time. I don't mind her having her own slot though.

Represents it decently

:ultshulk: - I know some people on this thread were saying that Shulk doesn't represent his series well. I disagree.....but also kind of agree. Shulk represents Xenoblade Chronicles very well. Sure, some liberties were taken but his moveset still makes waaaaaaaaaaay more sense than Wario's, or even Ganondorf's. Monado Jump and Smash were made up but the rest work in ways similar to the original game. Monado Speed speaks for itself and Monado Shield actually works more like Monado Armor. Monado Buster's increased damage output is a reference to how it's super effective against Mechon. The reason the debuffs are there is because of balance. If Shulk could change his stats without consequence, he'd be decently broken. Now, the reason i also agree with him not representing his series well is because......he now only represents one game. All of the Monado stuff is exclusive to Xenoblade Chronicles and doesn't exist in Xenoblade Chronicles X or 2 (though i guess you can sort of make the case in 2 with Shulk being DLC and all).

Represents it the best

:ultpokemontrainer: - I don't think i need to explain, do i?

:ultpalutena: - Uprising is pretty much the only game that matters in the Kid Icarus series and Palutena represents it way better than Pit and Dark Pit do with how her moveset is based on all the Powers that are in the game.

:ultmarth::ultlucina::ultroy::ultike::ultcorrin: - All five of them are Lords and they pretty much represent a fundamental aspect of the Fire Emblem series: breaking through the enemy's defenses, critical hits, counters, etc.

:ultrobin - The strategy and durability aspect of Fire Emblem

:ultmiifighters: - The Miis were pretty much whatever you wanted them to be. Could their movesets be more varied? Sure. But they do fit into the three main fighting types in Smash and i think Sakurai implemented that well.

:ultmegaman: - Yeah, this one's pretty obvious too as he takes his moveset from his various abilities.

:ultinkling: - Obvious as well. Sakurai even went into detail on how the different Splatoon weapons would be used.

:ultryu: - Not only does he represent Street Fighter very well but also the genre of normal 2D fighters.
 

Idon

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- I was never a fan of Wario but i do have to agree that they way he's represented in Smash isn't the best. I've played a few WarioWare games (never played Wario Land) and i never recall ever seeing him fart and yet, that's one of his most powerful attacks in Smash.
Yeah that's a Japan exclusive thing. He was heavily marketed with potty humor over there while in the West, he's more known for just being really, really, greedy.
 

Spinosaurus

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Actually, I'll challenge the notion that Wario's moveset is entirely "made up", too.

A common theme with him is that all his moves comically enlarges his limbs and head, something that Wario World liked to do with him. Almost all his moves do this.
The old Brawl choppy, 2D-esque movement was a tribute to Warioware's cutscenes.
Jab combo resembles Wario's standard attack combo in World.
On top of that, he also does have a giant swing.
Down Throw resembles his Butt Stomp a lot more closely now.
Down Tilt enlarges his hand while pointing to the ground, a possible nod to the fact the Warioware typically has Wario's hand as a cursor. Might be a stretch, but it's a pretty out there move for a down tilt, so I'm pretty confident it was a conscious reference.
Up Smash is headbutt with him sizing up his head. Hey, he has that in World!
Shoulder Dash being a Dash Attack is fitting, that's even its official name to boot, not "Shoulder Bash". Either way, he has his signature move from the Land games.
His double jump animation, or his back double jump after Brawl, is a really neat callback to one of his Warioware Twisted poses.
Bite makes a lot of sense. He's a glutton! He also sucks up coins in World in a similar way.
Bike is self explanatory. His big defining move imo.
Waft also makes a lot of sense. This character's shtick from the start is that he loves Garlic, and moreover, toilet humor was prevalent with the character in Japan.
Corkscrew is original I'm sure, but it does share a name with a move in World with similar yellow highlights for what it's worth.

This is all off the top of my head, so I might be forgetting some other things. This is all fit in while also trying to keep a very clear design for him too, so it's mostly subtle or small callbacks than 1:1 references because they obviously wanted him to have a distinct identity, which is the best and most creative way to go with a character. He doesn't straight up need to be Game&Watch (also because there's way too many microgames, they're literally 2 seconds games). Either way, it's fine if you don't like him, but he seems pretty faithful with a lot of love poured into to him to me. *shrug*
 
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wedl!!

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honestly thank god fox was introduced in 64 because if he was in now people would argue that not being in an arwing is misrepresentation of the character
 

YoshiandToad

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Worst:
:ultrosalina:: Mother of Lumas, kind and compassionate. Throws her children into fight for her in Smash. Never showcased any puppeteering skills in the Mario series if I recall either.

:ulticeclimbers:: I've played Ice Climber, admittedly a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure their entire gimmick of being two fighters in one could have been pulled from ANY game with a 2P option. Also for guys trying to survive the ice, I find it pretty weird they can shoot blocks of ice and blizzards out of their hands for arbitary reasons.

:ultpeach:: Less awful than Rosalina, but Peach's Toad counter has been a very out of character part of her moveset until Ultimate where Peach is now the one hiding and Toad is attempting the protect. I'm still not best pleased the soldier/bodyguards of her kingdom are considered less fight capable than the quintessential damsel in distress, Peach being so battle ready has always struck me oddly. Why does she even need saving from Bowser?
To a lesser extent Peach's moveset needs an overhaul; her own starring game hasn't been repped really in the moveset at all and that's kind of disappointing. :ultdaisy:, as her echo naturally doesn't much fit the character. Whilst she's always been depicted as more battle ready than Peach, using Peach's moves really don't suit her...again, particularly Toad and most likely the turnips.

:ultsheik:: Not a single ****ing use of a harp, the only thing Sheik actually does in her game. Why? NOT EVEN A TAUNT?!?

Best:
:ultyoshi:: Not seen Yoshi mentioned much, but his moveset is one of the best representations I've seen of a series thus far. You eat your enemies, you lay eggs, you throw those eggs and that's how you progress. Obviously needed to be tweaked for balance(egg laying an enemy and then throwing them off screen would make Yoshi broker than Brawl MetaKnight, Melee Fox and Sm4sh's Bayonetta combined) but it's a pretty damn good representation of the series.

:ultpokemontrainer:: Maybe the reason I stopped getting excited for Pokemon newcomers post Brawl was this guy pretty much 100% nailed so many key points of the series. Others have summed it up far better than me. Whilst Brawl had a lot of issues regarding the mechanics like there not being any grass weaknesses and barely any water attacks for Ivysaur to take advantage of, the core concept of the Trainer using type advantages and managing a team of fighters was perfection. Pokemon Trainer may be one of the greatest fighter ideas Smash has ever seen.

:ultrobin: Like Pokemon Trainer, Robin represents MANY different mechanics in Fire Emblem that the previous Smash cast could not represent. Weapon management, magic uses, actual freaking magic...and whilst this made him a little frustrating to use, Robin was a character that you were meant to think about tactfully...which is his entire role(and indeed the players role) in Awakening.

:ultmiifighters:: Whilst not everyone's cup of tea, Mii fighters represented the Miis perfectly; customizable avatars for you to stand in with and pretend you're playing as someone you enjoy instead. A shame there was no online option for them. Kind of difficult to mess up, but Sakurai handled them better than we all feared he would.
 

Kori

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Best: :ultmario:

I mean...he's Mario, the face of Nintendo

Worst: :ultgreninja:

Just seems very odd...like...why this ONE Pokemon out of thed 908728738 that they have now?
I get that when Smash first came out :ultjigglypuff: probably made little sense too...but I was a kid, and in love with Pokemon so didn't care, then they added :ultpichu: and :ultmewtwo: ...makes sense, the baby form of Pikachu, when they were brand new, and of course Mewtwo...but then like :ultlucario: and :ultgreninja: ...why? It just makes no sense...It's like they put a bunch of pokemon on a dartboard and just went with what they hit. I know Pokemon popularity has something to do with it, but they just seem out of place. Everyone else is a mascot of some sort...and they're just random Poke'mon
 

Spinosaurus

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Lucario and Greninja are the most popular gen 4 and 6 Pokemon respectively, to the point of becoming their respective gen's mascots, they're not random choices at all...
 
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nuclearneo577

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Best;
:ultmegaman:: None of his moves are improvised, unless you count his pummel.
:ultgnw:: Every attack is based on some Game & Watch game, it's amazing how well it goes together.
:ultryu:: They put the face of Street Fighter, and to an extent traditional 2D fighting games as a whole into Smash and still made him feel like he's from Street Fighter. Plus now the Focus Attack gets to outlive Street Fighter IV.

Worst;
:ultfalcon:and:ultsheik:: For having entirely improvised (although cool and useful) movesets.
:ultganondorf:: Falcondorf will always be one of the weirdest parts of Smash, I don't even have that much against him, but it's still just bizarre.
 

ottobot

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Lots of characters have good movesets, so its hard to say the Best™, but heres a few good ones:
:ultlink::ulttoonlink:: both of these Links represent their respective games quite well, with a few nods to older games. Notably, the aerials that reference Zelda II. Anytime a characters A-moves represent their game rather than just the specials, you know theyre pretty good.
:ultinkling:: This characters smash attacks, specials, and jab all represent weapons from the Splatoon games, plus they have the inking opponents, ink meter, and painting the stage with splat roller. Thats 3 unique mechanics all designed to better rep their games. Even their taunts are taken from Splatoon. Also, the Squid form dash and throws are a nice touch.
:ultgnw:: others have mentioned this guy already but especially in Ultimate he takes a lot from his original games across both A moves and Specials.
:ultmegaman:: again, hes been mentioned a lot but for good reason, he reps his series very well in both A moves and Special moves.

As for characters with poor representation:
:ultfalcon::ultfalco::ultfox::ultwolf::ultsheik: are all kind of trash, but i think its a bit unfair to hate on their movesets as all of them had little to nothing to go off of in their original gmes.
:ultwario:: I just wish he was his Warioland brawler self instead of whatever this janky fart joke is supposed to be.
:ultluigi:: 2/4 special moves and almost all A moves are completely made up, and the 2 special moves that arent fabricated completely are just weird clones of Mario's moves. Sakurai needs to chill on his "luigi is weird mario butt of jokes" stuff. eh, at least they changed that atrocious final smash to something that represents his home games.
:ultmiifighters:: yeah these guys are just completely made up despite plenty of source material to go off of. I give them a small pass though on account of how Miis are supposed to be the ultimate generic "avatar" character and change to fit whatever game they're in.
AND THE LOSER IS......
:ultganondorf:: This guy is just a farce. they changed him a little in ultimate but its not nearly enough. Why is one of the most interesting and important nintendo villains, with tons of content to base a moveset off of, STILL a clone of a character from an UNRELATED series (im pretty sure hes the only cross-series clone in the game). To make matters worse, captain falcons moveset is ALREADY a completely fabricated thing that doesnt even represent CAPS game, so Gdorf is a clone of a moveset thats already bad at representing its source material.
 
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