| Character Name | Character Number | Description/Explaination | Image |
|---|
Min Min | #76 | Yes, I'm sticking with Min Min. Despite there being other ARMS picks I'd adore to have seen in her place, Min Min's popularity and design overall just make her a really solid inclusion that I think makes sense as a more interesting ARMS rep than either Spring Man or Ribbon Girl (who, as much as I like them, are a bit formulaic.) | |
Jason & SOPHIA | #77 | Some might say that Blaster Master is a weird series to represent in Smash, but I think that especially at this time, the pairing of a boy and his sentient tank would have made a lot of sense.
SunSoft, the owners of the Blaster Master IP, have deep connections to Nintendo - being one of the original third-party licensees to the NES amongst other things. One of the more unusual, but well-recieved, series at the time was one of theirs - being the Blaster Master series.
Furthermore, the Switch had seen surprising success from the recent remakes/retellings of the classic title, specifically in the form of Inti Creates' Blaster Master Zero trilogy. As such, this puts Jason in an unusual situation where, unlike other third-party NES reps, he'd still be a relevant pick at the time of release! | |
Steve | #78 | I think Steve is an obvious choice, and having him here would work well. Placing him as a "hype pick" after a semi-anticipated first party and a semi-obscure third party would give him a lot of apparent star power, the likes of which probably won't be reached again until Sora's inclusion.
Minecraft being the powerhouse it is, I think he's just a really solid, obvious inclusion that makes a lot of sense in hindsight. | |
Tracer | #79 | Okay, now this is where I think a lot of feathers are going to be ruffled. Firstly, take note of Tracer's place in this list - her release would have been roughly equivalent to the real world's Pyra/Mythra, specifically early March. This places it shortly before the lawsuit put forth by the state of California, in July of 2021. Whilst I in no way condone the actions of the company or the like, this is just a dumb fun Smash "What If" scenario and I'd like to stress that I'm not trying to make a political statement or anything like that here.
With the lengthy preamble aside, why Tracer? Well, Activision is in an interesting situation where it's a surprisingly important company to represent somehow in Smash. Having a lengthy history, as well as the Blizzard side of it all? It made a lot of sense!
However, it was difficult to think who exactly could have worked from Activision - I mean, "Pitfall Larry" probably wouldn't have sold much, and I know next to nothing about Warcraft or Diablo so I won't touch that side of it all with a 20 foot pole (though maybe Leeroy Jenkins would be fun to see.) However, Tracer's unique design and concept made her pretty appealing - I think she'd fit well into a platform fighter.
Overall, her playstyle is similar to her game - a zippy and rapid one with her effectively using her arsenal and abilities with a high skill ceiling. (It also doesn't hurt that she's a bit more female representation on the roster too!) | |
Sephiroth | #80 | In a perhaps controversial move, I'm opting to keep Sephiroth here as opposed to taking the opportunity to introduce a different Final Fantasy character. This was a very difficult choice for me - I've been interested in seeing more representation of Final Fantasy as a whole - but the sheer response to his inclusion, the current relevance of FFVII specifically at that time, and the need to reference more of the "series" of Final Fantasy kind of just made him the obvious choice. | |
Toxtricity | #81 | This is probably going to be one of my most "boring" picks. With Gen VIII being in its "height" during this time, I think that the opportunity to introduce a new Pokemon would have been one Nintendo would leap at. The only problem being... which to pick? Gen VIII actually has a lot of pretty cool picks overall, and whilst I came very close to submitting Urshifu (with an Oro-inspired stance-change moveset to boot!), I decided Toxtricity would be a solid pick here.
The main "gimmick" he uses in this case carries over the stance-change idea, between his Amped and Low-Key forms. Overall, his Amped form is faster, but slightly weaker, whilst Low-Key is slightly slower but hits harder. However, the main difference is in their typings - with Low-Key focusing on a Poison-based moveset, whilst Amped focuses on an Electricity-based moveset (unique, of course, from Pikachu and Pichu.) |
|
Pyra/Mythra | #82 | Whilst I don't know too much about Xenoblade, I know at the very least that XC2 was popular enough to warrant inclusion here. The pretty fun design these two have fits well, and I think their movesets are solid too! Not only this, but representing a modern-ish Switch title is always good - especially if it's not Fire Emblem, apparently (HOES MAD!) | |
Neku Sakuraba | #83 | There's an obvious Square bias in this pass, I'll admit. Even so, Neku felt like too obvious of an inclusion not to add somewhere here. (And, well... I'm slightly biased as a TWEWY fan too.)
With the long-awaited sequel, NEO, having released around this time - as well as an unprescedented anime adaptation of the first game - it seemed to be the first time in a while that TWEWY had been in the spotlight.
Originally a cult-classic DS-exclusive RPG, notable for the use of the hardware in unusual and unique ways during gameplay, the series has had ties with Nintendo ever since... plus, I think he's genuinely a rather fun character. Whilst some may worry that his "psychic teen" gimmick would be too similar to the Mother characters, I believe his unique style (as well as an implementation of his partners) would make him a truly unique and interesting fighter here. | |
Kazuya | #84 | Tekken is too big of a series not to represent somehow, and I do think that upon researching a bit into the series myself, the choice of Kazuya - whilst odd - was an inspired one. The use of the Devil Gene in his moveset works well for a Smash character! Whilst I would probably have introduced Sub-Zero or Scorpion before Kazuya personally, I think he's a solid inclusion to the roster. |
|
Sora | #85 | Need I say more? Okay, I will.
Whilst I don't have much of a personal connection to the Kingdom Hearts series, I do recognise its importance and I absolutely agree that Sora was a brilliant final inclusion. I'll say this much, though just as a random idea - I'd love to have seen some of his various appearances in different worlds as alts (aside from just Timeless River, which is a solid choice as "the one rep of this" but like still.) Notably here, I'd love to have seen his attire from the Grid and his Pirates of the Carribean look. Those are my own biases talking though! | |
echo: