What's the big deal with Geno?

[dude984]

I don't want to come off as a hater. So here it is...
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a Geno hater or against him in any way.

There, that aside...

I was just curious as to how Geno became such a popular request by members of the smash community. I can see some characters having large fanbases...i.e. Ridley, as fans of the Metroid saga are yearning for a classic villain to represent the series. I can understand Krystal, since I agree she would make a unique character and bring a bit of freshness to the franchise (I'll leave the Krystal vs. Wolf war out of this).

However, from my view, Geno seemingly came out of nowhere. Now, I'm not a fan of RPGs at all (meaning I have no interest in Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, or Super Mario RPG for that matter...yet i did like Paper Mario...). that being said, I am not as familiar with Geno as everyone else is. But for some reason, he seems to be a VERY popular choice for fans. It seems like someone suggested him (which makes sense, he is kind of an obscure choice for most fans but still loyal to the Nintendo line), and then he EXPLODED in popularity...to the point where he's become famous beyond the realm of the smash community and to the internetz in general. It now seems that so many people are behind him and are assuming he's a shoe-in.

Can anyone please (respectfully) explain to me what the draw is to this character and why there is this near "cult" following behind him.

Just wondering...

Thanks for your time peoples...

Dude984 out!

 

[The Great Tama]

I will never understand where all of the hype came from, but Geno would be a kickass fighter.

 

[dude984]

from what i hear he can do...he would be kinda neat...it's just odd how he seemingly came out of knowhere with half the world in support...good for him i guess...

 

[No-Really-I-Suck]

Super Mario RPG was always sort of an underground classic. Think Earthbound (sorta).

When the 3rd party character wall came crashing down - everyone suggested everyone. A few die-hards jumped on the Geno bandwagon. When the Sakurai poll came out - even more SMRPG fans came out of the wood works, seeing as Geno might actually have a shot at getting in.

As for the huge explosion - well, that's just common internet fodder. People will cling to a popular idea regardless if they are fundamentally knowledgeable about it. I don't know why this happens, it's just the way memes work.

 

[joeysmash]

geno ******

 

[Oblivion129]

Geno has been my favorite video game character, or atleast one of them, for a long time. But I had no idea so many other ppl suported him, or that he even had a chance. Suddenly, the rush of ppl wanting him in brawl because he's that awesome.

 

[XxGUNZxX]

To me personally, Super Mario RPG was just an amazing game (probably my favorite) and bringing GENO back would be so nostalgic. I don't know how many of his supporters have actually played that game though but for those who did, then I completely understand why they support him. For those who haven't played SMRPG, they probably just looked him up on thought he looked cool and would have an awesome moveset (which cannot be denied.)

On a side note: I actually had the same question for Olimar. I never played his games but I don't think he looks cool in any way so I have no idea why so many people support him.


(20 posts! Im a Smash Newb LOL)

 

[DeuceBlade]

Geno isn't popular, 5 people voted for him in Sakurai's poll and then he got more attention and suddenly everyone is like "Oh I remember Geno... thus I must be apart of his fanbase"

Kinda like Ashley, and her music update. (Except Geno's chances are higher)

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Well Geno is kinda cool, but I would never have considered him having that much of a chance. By the way I'm not flaming him, just saying I would never have thought of him when it came to playable characters. But he seems to have gotten a lot of popularity.

I kinda wish Vivian could get that kind of popularity so quickly.

 

[Darkpaladin of Chaos]

Geno isn't popular, 5 people voted for him in Sakurai's poll

Four...

10~

 

[AmericanGTS]

Imagine you're eight years old. Then imagine that you're playing Super Mario RPG for the very first time. Keep in mind that Super Mario RPG had exceptional graphics and a rich storyline for its time. Then imagine you see an annoying little mushroom boy playing with his group of dolls... how lame. Then, because you're eight years old, you can relate to him playing with his toys. So he asks Mario to play with the dolls with him, Mario agrees. Suddenly Mario gets blown away by one of Geno's moves (keep in mind Geno is ONLY a toy right now) and seeing that happen to Mario for the very first time from this "unknown", "mysterious" looking doll and thats when the connection is made that this is going to be an amazing character. As Mario is snoozing around in bed, a star comes down from the heavens, picking the "strongest" looking doll out of the bunch. Of course it picks Geno, but if Mario and Bowser are so much stronger why weren't they picked?

Geno walks off into the woods, Mario wakes up, is told what happened to Geno and everyone is like "what just happened". Accompanied with an amazingly catchy and magical song, the woods are the most correlated to Geno, even though the woods are just a small "stage" which has very little relevance to Geno.

Seeing Geno fighting the boss (Bowyer) all by himself was so awesome.. nowadays everything is so flashy and so detailed, so it may be difficult to imagine how we, the fans, absorbed everything we saw. But it wasn't Geno's backstory, it was what he could do that makes him amazingly popular. Around the time this game came out, it was safe to say that Dragonball Z was slowly gaining popularity in the USA. Now I'm not going to discuss Dragonball Z, but I will say that it is arguably one of the most popular animes of all time. What makes Geno's moves so great is how closely related they are to Dragonball Z. Laser Beams (staple in Dragonball Z)? Geno Whirl (Destructo Disc)? Rocket Punches (Android #16)? Geno Flash (Android #16's Hell Flash)? All in a Mario game!? That was absolutely unheard of! Actually FIGHTING instead of jumping around on Goombas and just flattening them, you could slice them or toast them with lasers!? I mean, for an eight year old, you'd have to admit that it was an unprecedented experience until Super Mario 64 was released shortly after...


Geno is just a fond memory of many fans, I just don't see why he isn't a good choice for Brawl.. are people THAT selfish? Geno is a highly requested character, he's a "Mario" character, he's been a playable character in a past Mario game... all legal jargon aside, why can't the reason for Geno being in Brawl just be "because the fans want him"? Who cares about economics (holds up flame shield) or how many games he was in..? I'm not going to compare everything about Geno to Pit, but what makes Pit so special? Kid Icarus isn't that great of a game and yet Sakurai wanted Pit in Smash Bros Brawl.. so maybe, just maybe, we'll get Geno. For many people, it would be a dream come true.

 

[Collective of Bears]

I never understood Geno either. I had never heard of him of SMRPG before the Brawl hype.

 

[dude984]

makes sense

 

[Aryman]

I think this should have gone in the existing Geno thread, but w/e.

I don't get the hype. Everyone just seems to have jumped on the bandwagon.

 

[DeuceBlade]

Four...

10~

Thanks for further proving my point.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

Four...

10~

Wow...how many people voted on this poll?

I couldn't agree with ya more Dude984 about Geno, I hadn't even heard of him until I joined these boards and I can't really see how he has so much support, I'm not against the idea... I have a bad feeling he may just slip in, then everyone will hate him for ruining Geno design.

I'm looking forward to that...

 

[Gigan X3]

I Think he should be in Brawl, Looks like a Nice Punching Bag.

Jokes Aside, I don't know much about him but if he's in the game indeed I may like him as much as his fans.

 

[antimatter]

290 people voted, and geno was one of the characters with the most mentions. he tied with ridley.

 

[Senor Crouch]

I have no idea where this hype for Geno came from. I could have sworn that when I found the Smash Boards that I would be the only one who knew who Geno was. When I try to discuss cool old school games with my friends I would bring Super Mario RPG. They always answer, "I've never heard of it." I always figured that I was like one of the only people who knew who Geno was(until I found the Geno thread). Geno is probably the biggest reason I have beat SMRPG several times.

EDIT: Is it me or is Smash World Forums experiencing extreme lag?

 

[pcamtz]

290 people voted, and geno was one of the characters with the most mentions. he tied with ridley.

Actually 290 entries were picked by Sakurai (that he was interested in), Geno was in FIVE of them (the fifth one being the music one that also asked for Geno).

We are not sure how many people voted, or how many people voted for Geno, what we are certain of is that Sakurai was interested 5 (or four) times on Geno the same as Olimar, Diddy and Ridley.

 

[OddCrow]

Because everyone knows that Super Mario RPG is probably the best RPG or game ever made. No lie, after Melee, SMRPG is the best game ever made. And while you guys are PARTIALLY right that seeing 3rd parties in the game made people bandwagon Geno, also consider that Geno, is and ALWAYS has been popular, but there are no opportunities given to show that people love him. I would like to see him in MArio Party, Mario Kart, a Sequel to SMPRG, and Smash Bros.

 

[Cinder]

geno ******

Please, share more of your spammy wisdom, oh wise Joey...

Aaaannyyway...I can't really say anything that hasn't already been mentioned...Geno was a high ranker on the poll, has a great backstory, and has a unique character design...not much more you can ask for...in fact, he's so unique, I've made him a pivotal character in my story...check it out in the Creative Minds forum...

Sorry for the shameless plug...couldn't resist

 

[Sponge]

EDIT: Is it me or is Smash World Forums experiencing extreme lag?

Nope, I'm getting it too, REAL bad.

Someone needs to fix it badly.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Super Mario RPG was an awesome game and still to this day one the best and most imagative Mario games ever made. It had many firsts for not only the Mario franchise but for Nintendo as well and thus in many aspects was a revolutionary game. The appeal of the game really comes from how it went in a completely different direction then other Mario games and in the process created a very memorable experience and even more memorable characters. Geno was one of these characters.

Geno's appeal comes from the fact that he's so radically different from other Mario characters. He's essentially a wooden doll that has the artillary of a small army but is still wise, collected, and humble, characteristics that are rarely seen in the Mario games or shown in a cliche manner. In Super Mario RPG, he was the equivalent of Midna in Twilight Princess or Colette in Tales of Symphonia, not the main character but was basically the main character in terms of plot. Unlike the other characters, Geno was the only one that was directly involved with the games plot from beginning to end and even within the game itself, was often set aside from the others as a very unique character. Obviously, this is yet another characteristic that has not been seen in a Mario game since then.

Geno's fanbase has been around since 1996 and, believe me, they have been very vocal in trying to bring him back in some form. For example, in 2006, smrpglegacy.com was able to sent Nintendo a petition that had over 21,000 signatures on it demanding a remake or sequel to SMRPG. This push also comes from the fact that many people consider SMRPG to be by far the most underrated Mario game and Nintendo has even reflected this by not releasing a true sequel or even a simple port. Geno's fanbase has become more active in recent years, however, because Geno tied with King Dedede for the most mentioned character in Sakurai's journal. This journal reflects the 290 entries into the offical Japanese Brawl poll that interested Sakurai and his staff the most and this brought new hope to those that have been waiting for his return for so long.

As far as Brawl goes, Geno seems to fit the bill perfectly as a unique fighter and many people have observed that it's almost uncanny how well he'd fit into the plot of the SSE. With him comes a fighting style that'd be completely new to smash and refreshing to those who would play the game. For example, a majority of his fans have agreed that his Geno Beam, Geno Whirl, and Geno Blast would make excellent special moves and that his attack Geno Flash was made to be a Final Smash attack. The concept of how his wrists, fingers, elbows, and even knees contain weapon compartments makes for a character that'd be almost impossible to copy.

I, myself, have been a Geno supporter since 1996 when I played SMRPG for the first time and began my "campaign" for supporting him for the next Smash Bros game July 2005 with Iwata "pseudo announced" Brawl at E3 05. The reason I've supported him for so long and with so much passion is because I see SMRPG as an important part of my childhood. It was a game that inspired me to create my stories and characters and lit the fire to my imagination. Obviously, Geno was my favorite character because of his unique qualities and it could be said that I became emotionally attached to the character through out the course of the game. A key part of the game's ending is when Geno says goodbye to his traveling mates and departs for the heavens and, of course, being only 9 years old at the time, I was very saddened to see my favorite video character go. Eleven years have passed since then I still love the game and usually go through it once a year. With that said, I have gone through the game about 10 times (my most recent run-through about a month ago) and have come to appreciate it like some would appreciate a classic novel or painting. I feel like the game is a part of me and has come to be the foundation of why I'm still a gamer today.

That's my story at least but as you scan across a decent percentage of Geno's fanbase you'll find that many of his fans have similar stories to mine. 3 of the 5 Geno mentions in Sakurai's journal even express Geno and SMRPG in this manner so it's impossible to say that my feelings are exclusive.

 

[Youko]

Please save it for the Geno thread that already exists.