Instead of saying that "newer Kirby needs to be represented", ask yourself: is there any vital facet of Kirby originating in the modern era that needs to be represented? Focus on quality and not quantity.
Again, there's nothing that modern Kirby does that classic Kirby doesn't already. Modern Kirby may be doing it better, but it's not doing anything different.
And the quality of representation is also pretty jarring too. Marx is the best thing we have, and I'll concede that he's definitely the best boss in the game, but that's peak Kirby content in Smash for you.
- The music selection is questionable and lackluster
- We have three (3) versions of green greens
- Meta Knight still has a made-up moveset (shuttle loop doesn't count since it was integrated in Kirby games after he was added)
- Dedede's moveset has a few callbacks to Kirby games but lacks inspiration (albeit some of the very first Kirrby games, nothing new)
- Kirby's moveset is very basic and focuses on the oldest copy abilities. There's a whole pool of different attacks to choose from with some of the new copy abilties yet we're stuck with:
- Stone (Down B)
- Cutter (Up B)
- Fire (Dash attack)
- Hammer (Side B)
- Fighter? (Up throw?)
- None of the spirit battles stand out (then again I never liked Spirits so this one is more of a matter of preference)
I don't care what your belief on quality versus quantity is. The truth remains that most Kirby content in Smash ignores 20+ years of game design, and as someone who has enjoyed several post-Sakurai Kirby games I find that unacceptable. Even if they unleash mind-blowing Kirby content in Smash, I, like many others, will be disappointed if most of it is from Super Star or beforehand. Imagine if Pokemon content was limited to Gen 1 to Gen 3 and anything beyond that got bottleneck representation. People would be
outraged, and that's how it feels. There's an enormous pool of content the devs could be choosing from, and they continually decide to pick from games that cater to a generation of people that played games 15-20 years ago.
My point is that eventually the quantity does matter, because if you limit something to a low quantity of content then you need to carefully decide what is going to make that up. And the comparatively low quantity of Kirby content in Smash heavily favors the games designed before Sakurai left the franchise in 2003. People who play Kirby games today have little to connect to other than the three fighters themselves, because none of the stages, assist trophies, or even new remixes are from any recent Kirby game.
99% of everyone who plays the newest Kirby games agrees that Bandana Dee is the new fourth main character. I've defended him a hundred times, and I will again if I have to. The fact that 12 years of crusading for his inclusion has yielded only a spirit, whereas Byleth gets a free pass in the game simply for being from Fire Emblem, is daunting (I'm using this as an example, not to suddenly bash on Fire Emblem here). And it's more than just one potential newcomers. There is a plethora of Kirby content, be it newcomers, stages, music tracks, assist trophies, or bosses, that is being shafted due to Sakurai's (presumable) bias against Kirby games he didn't design.
What's worse is that uneducated people will jump to the conclusion that he's biased
in favor of Kirby if he so much as mentions the franchise. The poor man has had to clarify several times that he did not make any decision in favor of his own franchise out of bias, and yet still people will attack him with bloodlust if we ever get another Kirby newcomer. When Brawl came out, people accused him of being biased when he added Dedede and Meta Knight, and we have never had a Kirby newcomer since then. Coincidence? You decide, but I think not.
In short: Kirby fans have been getting the short end of the stick since 2008, and I say it's objectively reasonable for them to want something bigger than what we have now. It no longer matters how much they touch up the representation of older games, they no longer reflect what's going on with Kirby games now. It's like if someone tried to take an antique car on a highway because they polished it and expected it to go faster. It doesn't matter how pretty something is, you need to be with the times. And right now, whoever is in charge of what Kirby content gets into Smash is clearly not with the times.
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