Which Super Smash Bros. sequel added the best newcomers in the franchise?

[QuintonShark8714]

Melee:

Spoiler: Melee Newcomers

Brawl:
()

Spoiler: Brawl Newcomers

Smash 4:

Spoiler: Smash 4 Newcomers

Ultimate: (Terry goes here)

Spoiler: Ultimate Newcomers

 

[Dee Dude]

Brawl hands down.
-Introduced 3rd Parties and freaking
-Missing All Stars
-Characters with interesting mechanics without being overly gimmicky like Smash 4’s

 

[Zubyyyy]

I'm honestly gonna go with Melee here. Being the second game in the series, it set the tone for character inclusion for the rest of the games. I remember when I heard Melee was announced and thought 'who else could they possibly add?' and then what came out of it. Relative insanity still.

Brawl close second.

 

[soviet prince]

ultimate because it has ridley

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Brawl. We got King Dedede and Meta Knight, Wolf, Ike, Diddy Kong, Lucario and the Pokemon Trainer. We even got R.O.B., which is nice although it doesn't technically exist.

 

[smashingDoug]

Brawl


Ultimate


Four


Melee. not bad choices just not fleshed out enough. Mewtwo, Marth and Peach turned out the best

 

[Quetzal77]

Melee because Peach, Bowser, Zelda, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo were mind blowing to little kids everywhere at the time. Plus it introduced FE to the West.

Then 4, a great selection only slightly brought down by questionable DLC picks.

Third is Brawl, for adding icons like Diddy, the Kirby duo, third parties, and my personal favourites Ike and Lucas.

Ultimate is last as of now because it's the smallest set of newcomers while also having the least amount of them that personally got me excited (the Belmonts being the only ones I went crazy for, though I would have gotten more excited for a different Castlevania rep. I was pumped for Ridley and K Rool mostly because of them being way overdue).

 

[Diddy Kong]

Brawl for me. It basically sold the game. Lots of my personal favorites got added, and lots of missing core characters where added from the very first franchises of Smash. Diddy was added, and he’s my ever main and most wanted (reason of my username). Ike and Lucas I came to know about because Smash made me curious about their home franchises, thus having them was a joy. Toon Link made me happy, and all other newcomers I felt where worthy additions. I disliked quite a few of the other game’s new additions.

With Melee, which comes second for me, I liked Mewtwo the most. I was familiar with the Mario and Zelda newcomers, and retrospectively I really like how they added the Fire Emblem characters. I even felt hype for the clones, particularly Young Link, Pichu and Ganondorf. But Diddy was just missing, and I felt that.

Ultimate is next. Because of K.Rool most of all. I dislike none of the newcomers outside of Daisy, Isabelle and Inklings (due to their play style mostly).

Smash 4 had the most newcomers I didn’t care about honestly. Only liked the Fire Emblem cast, Little Mac, the Mario newcomers, return of veterans cut before and Greninja. Maybe Duck Hunt but that’s cause of a old DH supporter here.

 

[RepStar]

Brawl. It was the most innovative too.

 

[Xigger]

Really makes you think how different the fighters in each game are:

Melee: Pretty straightforward in retrospect. Only a few unusual fighters archetypes, and the clone issue didn't help.

Brawl: The biggest improvement. 3rd parties, and every single character is either incredibly dynamic, or a hands-down Nintendo all-star.

Smash 4: The most dynamic. Maybe too much? Feels like every fighter was built for their unique traits, rather than focusing on the character.

Ultimate: Feels like a return to the Brawl style of fighters. Interesting newcomers, but not too over the top.

 

[osby]

Unpopular opinion, but I liked the Smash for ones the most. They felt like they expanded the game's scope the most.

 

[TriforceBun]

4. Melee. Only four (or five) newcomers from the get-go, and all of them but Ice Climbers are from existing franchises already. Marth, Mewtwo and Game & Watch are solid newcomer choices, but the influx of clones weighs everything down. Particularly Ganondorf, who's never been able to really recover from it.

3. Ultimate. What's here--everyone--is actually really good. But it does have a pretty small influx of newcomers compared to past games. Inkling, Simon, Ridley and K. Rool are real standouts and great picks. I'm sort of torn on the Echoes; I think it's a smart bit of rebranding and it's fun seeing more characters included, but it's really inconsistent with who's an Echo (Ken) and who isn't (Dr. Mario).

2. SSB4. Lots of new fighters and some really creative movesets, which I can appreciate. I feel like there's a distinct lack of variety in the combatants though--11 (out of 19) of them are realistic/anime-styled human characters, whereas in Brawl, there were a mere 4. This is also when the Fire Emblem thing got totally out of hand, and I didn't love the DLC.

1. Brawl. Plenty of good choices here mixed in with a few surprises, and as a bonus, the only cuts it made from Melee were trimming the extra fat on the roster. Well, and Mewtwo which was kind of a shame.

 

[Augi]

Melee.
Adding the two most famous princesses in video games to a fighting game was jaw dropping at the time. I can't overstate how empty the games would feel if they had waited to put them in. It also introduced Fire Emblem to the west (as someone else said) and reignited an entire franchise.

Maybe it wasn't the most innovative (since it added the concept of clone fighters, though I guess that is technically an innovation...) but Melee was definitely the most impactful, personally.

As someone else stated, it also set the bar for "These are the kind of characters worthy of being in Smash Bros."

The generally accepted "fanon" criteria for getting into the game when I was younger was:
1) Characters of iconic and historical importance to Video Games.
2) Had to have appeared in a major installment on a Nintendo console at some point (cameos don't count)
3) The character got their start/originated from a Video Game.

Pretty simple criteria.

I can't tell you how much it makes my blood boil though when someone would shout "MASTER CHIEF FOR SMASH" or similarly "GOKU FER SMASH" unironically. Makes me want to chuck a brick at their head.

Brawl kind of broke these rules by adding Sonic, but I always viewed Sonic as being worthy of overlooking the rules due to being such an icon, his impact on gaming, and his history as Mario's rival in the market. After Smash 4 though, and even more so now with the announcement of Joker. **** man, there's no rules anymore.

Honestly I can't give a fair opinion on this topic because I hate Brawl with such a burning passion. It was such a let down that I didn't touch Smash again until it came out on the Wii U.... *wanders off bitterly muttering to himself*

 

[link2702]

Brawl.

We all may hate it for its watered down mechanics, and the inclusion of tripping, but at the end of the day it added some very important newcomers, including opening the floodgates for third parties with snake and sonic.

And about that....Sonic was probably the most hyped reveal in smash history, it was the dream of 90s kids everywhere to have Mario and Sonic face off, and brawl finally made that dream come true, brawl made the impossible, possible.

 

[osby]

We all may hate it

Speak for yourself.

 

[Sudz]

I voted for Brawl and Ultimate, but in reality it's a tie for me.

Snake, Dedede, and Meta Knight are the big umph among other huge inclusions and have me hype to this day. Ultimate added my childhood most wanted boys K Rool, Ridley, and Simon.

However, Smash 4 added Mega Man, Ryu, and the Pac, which is absolutely goddamn ridiculous. When Pac-Man was confirmed I'm pretty sure I busted.

Every game has had a baller roster tbh.

 

[nirvanafan]

1. Brawl
2. Melee
3. For
4. Ultimate

 

[ChikoLad]

Smash Wii U/3DS. The characters introduced in that game either represented the character extremely well with their movesets, had extremely unique mechanics that paved the way for more mechanics being added to expand the scope of what new characters could do in Smash, or in the case of some, notably the third parties, legitimately felt like the original character ripped straight from their game and perfectly converted into Smash.

I also feel it had a very solid mix of new franchises while also adding more reps from existing franchises that are fan favourite characters in their series such as Rosalina, Bowser. Jr, and Robin.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

For me:
1. Brawl: This one added some of my all time favorite fighters and had the most innovative selection of fighters to begin with, lacking for the most part of any clones other than Toon Link.
2. Ultimate: King K. Rool, Ridley, Inkling? No question about it.
3. Smash 4. We got some nice newcomers, some newcomers we didn't really need, and some newcomers that were trash. It felt like something was missing from this game.
4. Melee. Did we need Fire Emblem in Smash in 2001? No. Did we need five clones? No. Did we need Mr. Game and Watch, a Smash OC? No. Only half, probably less, of the newcomers felt truly belonging in Smash at the time.

 

[HypnoMaster372]

For me:
Did we need Fire Emblem in Smash in 2001?

Dude, that's completely unnecessary to say. Just because you (seemingly) ain't a fan of Fire Emblem doesn't mean it didn't deserve to be given playable representation in Smash at that point of time. Like, Fire Emblem was basically the only long ongoing franchise with a large-enough fanbase (in terms of in Japan) that didn't already house a playable representative by the time of Melee's Development, so it just made sense for FE to be given a playable representation for Melee.

Did we need five clones? No.

They only did so bloat the newcomer number due to the limited development period of 1 year but your definitely right that we coulda done without them.

Did we need Mr. Game and Watch, a Smash OC? No.

Your right in that we didn't exactly needed him since he never existed but his creation was only happened so to serve the purpose of honouring the legacy of the Game & Watch Series & it's many games. So in that sense, I feel Mr. Game & Watch deserved having that place in Smash by that point of time.

 

[ChikoLad]

I honestly never got this idea of Mr. Game & Watch being a Smash OC, maybe it's because I grew up playing Game & Watch Gallery 2 though.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Dude, that's completely unnecessary to say. Just because you (seemingly) ain't a fan of Fire Emblem doesn't mean it didn't deserve to be given playable representation in Smash at that point of time. Like, Fire Emblem was basically the only long ongoing franchise with a large-enough fanbase (in terms of in Japan) that didn't already house a playable representative by the time of Melee's Development, so it just made sense for FE to be given a playable representation for Melee.

They only did so bloat the newcomer number due to the limited development period of 1 year but your definitely right that we coulda done without them.

Your right in that we didn't exactly needed him since he never existed but his creation was only happened so to serve the purpose of honouring the legacy of the Game & Watch Series & it's many games. So in that sense, I feel Mr. Game & Watch deserved having that place in Smash by that point of time.

It would have made more sense for them to release Melee later on (maybe around 2003) when Fire Emblem actually existed in the West and we all knew who Marth and Roy were. Before that, Marth and Roy looked like made up characters (not to mention Roy was unheard of even in japan).

 

[HypnoMaster372]

It would have made more sense for them to release Melee later on (maybe around 2003) when Fire Emblem actually existed in the West and we all knew who Marth and Roy were. Before that, Marth and Roy looked like made up characters (not to mention Roy was unheard of even in japan).

Um, you do know that Marth & Roy inclusions in the Western Versions of Melee, & the reception they & their franchise received by Western Folks, was the whole reason Fire Emblem was brought overseas, right?

 

[nessokman]

Game and watch was not a smash OC. What we got in smash was the combination of all his games in one character. He was in all the game and watch games.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Um, you do know that Marth & Roy inclusions in the Western Versions of Melee, & the reception they & their franchise received by Western Folks, was the whole reason Fire Emblem was brought overseas, right?

Yes. I wouldn't have made that post if I didn't know that.
My point is even though Melee helped FE, It would have been a lot simpler for them to wait until later so it wasn't as confusing (and as I said Roy was in Melee 1 year before he even existed which is weird).

 

[osby]

Yes. I wouldn't have made that post if I didn't know that.
My point is even though Melee helped FE, It would have been a lot simpler for them to wait until later so it wasn't as confusing (and as I said Roy was in Melee 2 years before he even existed which is weird).

This is factually wrong. Melee released in 2001 and Binding Blade released in 2002.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

This is factually wrong. Melee released in 2001 and Binding Blade released in 2002.

*Whoops typo, meant 1 year.*

 

[Admiral Pit]

Definitely Brawl, not just because of my bias for , but it opened so many doors with being added, But for me, without Pit, I probably would've been stuck with Bowser, and that would've been a disaster.
Anyways, Brawl opened many doors like I said before, while providing some of the current franchises some attention, mostly noted the StarFox and Kirby ones, provided Pokemon variety. Tier bias aside, the only newcomer I didn't really like was considering we had a Link already... but I guess it's for those who wanted a faster Link I guess.

Also another thing I just remembered was that Brawl was a time when leaks and spoilers weren't as threatening or irritating as they are in this day and age, so the surprises were definitely great. The started strong and showed Snake at the end of the first trailer, they showed Sonic sometime later... I think (It's been over 10 years so)... and more surprises were made as time went by. A brilliant time for character reveals indeed. Honorable mention to the Brawl Dojo times.

Unrelated, but I like how close Pit and ZSS are up there

 

[Lodestar65]

Yes. I wouldn't have made that post if I didn't know that.
My point is even though Melee helped FE, It would have been a lot simpler for them to wait until later so it wasn't as confusing (and as I said Roy was in Melee 1 year before he even existed which is weird).

FE literally wouldn't have come to the west without a Smash appearance. No matter which game had the first FE reps, it would be confusing.

 

[Ramen Tengoku]

Smash 4 for me

May not have brought a lot of all stars, but almost all of the new characters were very unique, bringing some new mechanics with them, and were just so fun to play

Personal favorites for me, include

 

[Idon]

Brawl added Ike and not promotional characters like Roy and Corrin, so Brawl wins for me.

 

[Complex]

I'm honestly probably getting a bit ahead of myself here with DLC hopes, and maybe it's just the hype talking, but I'm going to have to go with ultimate. Looking at some of the highly requested characters finally getting their time to shine along with the already announced DLC this game's roster is incredible. Now if we can just get some more crazy announcements like Joker for the four remaining characters I doubt there will even be much debate.

But without looking ahead at DLC I might have to go with brawl just for the pure craziness of it at the time. Characters like Sonic and Solid Snake were just mind blowing at the time.

As for the worst I still have to go with Melee. It had some good obvious choices but was really hindered by it's short dev time.

 

[LoZ00]

Well, it's kinda hard to say which game added the best newcomers to the franchise.
I'd quickly leave out Ultimate and Melee because they both added few unique newcomers. However, I'd say Ultimate newcomers have a lot more personality than Melee's, so it ranks higher. Melee, on the other hand, added staples from well-known series, but sometimes they were a mess (Ganondorf and Bowser).

Then we have Brawl vs. Smash 4. Brawl's selection featured a more "graphical" variety, as we got fighters like Diddy Kong, Wario, Ike, Snake, and Olimar. Brawl's newcomers also are very unique, with the exception of a few poorly executed fighters (like R.O.B.). Smash 4 featured a lot more "long-leg-weirdos" but you have to admit that almost every character was completely flashed out. Think about Ryu, Bayonetta, Little Mac, Villager, and even Wii Fit Trainer, who fights using yoga poses.
So to me, Smash 4 has a slight advantage over Brawl. Then you have Ultimate and finally Melee.

 

[letsgetsmashing]

I really wanted to say Melee, but when you think about it half of it's roster were clones, and a lot of them shouldn't have been and still are today. () Plus a few of the newcomers were just bland and uninteresting to me () Also, I'm the type of person who likes to have many series represented in Smash, and Melee only introduced & representing Fire Emblem, for Game & Watch, and for Ice Climber.


Ultimate was out of the running for me just because there wasn't that many newcomers, and the appeal of the game moreso came from everyone returning. I did adore the newcomers they picked; & were a long time coming. ,, and show that Nintendo is still capable of producing fresh and interesting characters. And / are just awesome.

Choosing between Smash 4 and Brawl was so hard. On one hand, Brawl introduce 3rd parties for the first. One was from a more mature series that no one ever expected to be in Smash, being . The other was a longtime rival of Mario who finally had his day to battle it out with his arch-nemesis, being . Brawl also introduced beloved Nintendo series into the mix for the first time like (Pikmin), (WarioWare), and (Kid Icarus). Plus, another retro character was introduced, who is a way saved gaming, . On top of that, Kirby finally got some more representation with the widely popular and fan favorite joining. Fire Emblem added a swordfighter with an actual unique moveset, . Transformation characters became more prominent with the introduction of and , the latter which really needed to be in Smash in some way. finally got some exposure in the west by being in Smash, as he had widely been neglected a chance to shine in this hemisphere. joined DK and finally gave the series some more recognition. Star Fox added another clone-like character who felt different enough to warrant and inclusion. Plus adding gave the roster another villain. And lastly, we got the most popular new Pokemon at that time, in the game. It might've seemed a bit much to go through and explain each character, but I did so to exemplify how important every single one was. It truly seemed like each addition had reasoning behind it and was truly for the fans. And it appeared as if something new was always going on: whether it be the introduction of 3rd parties, transformation characters, new series, fan favorites, a villain or two, or underrated gems. Personally, I don't know if any other roster was able to do this, and while Smash 4 did have some hype picks like and , and some fun ones like and , a lot of them wouldn't have been possible without Brawl. and In my opinion Brawl focused more on hype fan favorites, and Smash 4 was more about getting all of the deserving characters and series in rather than the ones the fans wanted. I'm glad characters like , , and got in, but they're not exactly hyped if you know what I mean. So in conclusion, Brawl still reigns supreme as far as newcomers go.

 

[Deleted member]

1.(Brawl) Introduced a lot of iconic characters and fun ideas, as well as , and some WTF characters like and .

2.(Ultimate) Quality over quantity. Introduced long overdue characters like , or, and had some fun picks, echoes don't feel like padding

3. (4) Had some very fun picks like , , , and , some mild padding, where tf is Wolf?

4. (Gaylee) Some iconic picks like , , , and . A lot of padding like , , (However, I understand why.) . Missing characters like , , , , .

All games have SSS Tier rosters. God bless this game where Mario, Sonic, Pac Man and Snake can fight on a stage from Kirby Super Star

 

[YoshiandToad]

I'll take the alt route and choose it by the newcomer batch I had the least issues with:

Which is probably Ultimate. Unlike every prior entry there wasn't a single newcomer that I was annoyed about getting in although this may be due to the relatively low newcomer count. I'm not counting Joker in this yet, I want to see what he can do first and even if I find him not to my taste, he's an optional fighter I don't neccessarily need to buy.

 

[BXBX]

Melee.
Adding the two most famous princesses in video games to a fighting game was jaw dropping at the time. I can't overstate how empty the games would feel if they had waited to put them in. It also introduced Fire Emblem to the west (as someone else said) and reignited an entire franchise.

Maybe it wasn't the most innovative (since it added the concept of clone fighters, though I guess that is technically an innovation...) but Melee was definitely the most impactful, personally.

As someone else stated, it also set the bar for "These are the kind of characters worthy of being in Smash Bros."

The generally accepted "fanon" criteria for getting into the game when I was younger was:
1) Characters of iconic and historical importance to Video Games.
2) Had to have appeared in a major installment on a Nintendo console at some point (cameos don't count)
3) The character got their start/originated from a Video Game.

Pretty simple criteria.

I can't tell you how much it makes my blood boil though when someone would shout "MASTER CHIEF FOR SMASH" or similarly "GOKU FER SMASH" unironically. Makes me want to chuck a brick at their head.

Brawl kind of broke these rules by adding Sonic, but I always viewed Sonic as being worthy of overlooking the rules due to being such an icon, his impact on gaming, and his history as Mario's rival in the market. After Smash 4 though, and even more so now with the announcement of Joker. **** man, there's no rules anymore.

Honestly I can't give a fair opinion on this topic because I hate Brawl with such a burning passion. It was such a let down that I didn't touch Smash again until it came out on the Wii U.... *wanders off bitterly muttering to himself*

I agree. Not only did they add princesses to a fighting game, they were serious fighters too. I was really disappointed to find out ultimate added heart and rainbow effects to peach's attacks though and worst of all they added toad do her grab attacks. Peach is a strong indepdendent princess, she don't need no fungi.

Melee is also the last game that's "Nintendo's all-stars" so it will be special in that regard. As for the newcomers though, I wish instead of the clones (Dr. Mario, pichu, young link) we got more reps like olimar, or balloon fighter or more japan exclusives.

 

[QuintonShark8714]

I agree. Not only did they add princesses to a fighting game, they were serious fighters too. I was really disappointed to find out ultimate added heart and rainbow effects to peach's attacks though and worst of all they added toad do her grab attacks. Peach is a strong indepdendent princess, she don't need no fungi.

Melee is also the last game that's "Nintendo's all-stars" so it will be special in that regard. As for the newcomers though, I wish instead of the clones (Dr. Mario, pichu, young link) we got more reps like olimar, or balloon fighter or more japan exclusives.

Brawl added the hearts, Smash 4 added the rainbow and magic

 

[Deleted member]

Personal bias here! Brawl since it has my favorite Smash Character Lucas. (although it would immediately become Ultimate if they added Beat from Jet Set Radio)

 

[RepStar]

So uh, why do people hate brawl again? Aside from tripping what else is there to ***** about? Every smash since has been floaty, there were only 2 third parties, both wii u and ultimate copied and pasted alot from brawl. But yet, brawls the worst? ****ing how.

The foundation of brawl is heavily present in the newer games. Its the same house just remodeld so, yea, ****ing how.