Why Masahiro Sakurai chose Robin

[Deleted member]

At the end of the day, Chrom would just end up being another plain-old sword-wielder like Marth and Ike. Compared with other characters, he lacks any unique characteristics.

Conversely, when the idea of including Robin came to mind, conceiving the character was so easy that I immediately saw how it would work. From standards to specials, grabs to throws, all aspects of his moveset just fell into place. Not only did he possess characteristics unlike other fighters, but he also captured the essence of the Fire Emblem series. It was perfect!

Wow. Sakurai was on the same page as most of us. I'll have to agree on him on this one; Robin felt more natural when designing a moveset since he could do so much while I struggled to think how Chrom could be unique as a fighter.
I just feel bad for all of the Chrom supporters since this was yet another slap in the face for them.

Though, this article makes me more confident in Shulk especially. I dunno if Sakurai is a fan of Xenoblade or if he even played it. If he did play it and he is a fan of it, then Shulk's moveset would be natural for him to make, just like Robin's was for when he played FE:A.

 

[Smallgenie549]

Wow, my respect for Sakurai just shot up. Hopefully now he can see how unique a character Paper Mario would be.

 

[DaDavid]

Great read, and probably the first time that I read something he's said with which I was 100% on board. Usually I understand why he does things but this time I couldn't agree more.

 

[Altais]

I wholeheartedly agree with Sakurai's reasoning.

Even though Lucina was mine most wanted Fire Emblem newcomer, deep down inside I always thought that if we DID get a Fire Emblem newcomer, it should be someone whom uses magick or something other than swords, as they would undoubtedly bring something totally unique to the table. I always thought that if we did get a non-Lord character, it would be either Anna, Soren, Micaiah, or Robin. I always imagined Soren would use a combination of magick and knife fighting. Even if he managed to give Chrom a unique playstyle, in the end he would just be another simple sword user, which I think we have enough of as is. This just once again proves that Sakurai does not select characters based solely on popularity, but rather on diversity, which gives me greater hope for Isaac's inclusion in the game--but I digress.

Personally, if I was ever absolutely opposed to a character being in Super Smash Bros, it was never because I disliked them personally, but because I did not feel they would bring anything new.

So yeah, even though Robin was not mine absolute most wanted Fire Emblem newcomer, I am very happy he/she got in because he/she brought a totally new recipe to the menu. It seems Lucina was an added bonus.

I must say, Sakurai is truly one in a million designers.

 

[•Col•]

Yessssss.

I was saying since forever that if you wanted to support an Awakening character, Robin by far had the most moveset potential and represented FE as a whole much better than any other character could. So happy to see that Sakurai thought this way as well.

 

[Delzethin]

Sakurai really seems to have gone through some character development over the last 10 years or so. Back around when they kicked off work on Brawl, he seemed to have something against competitive Smash, and insisted the games were "party games" first and foremost. Brawl's engine was a direct counterpoint to Melee's, and he clearly didn't care how the game turned out competitively and even added mechanics like random tripping to raise the hax luck factor.

Now he spoke out about how he wants SSB4 to appeal to casual and competitive players alike, chose to collaborate with a company known for fighting games, and he's clearly putting a lot of thought into which newcomers they bring in, with special focus on them being unique and interesting. He even set up an exhibition at E3 and gave Nintendo the clear to sponsor EVO '14!

 

[Reila]

Sakurai really seems to have gone through some character development over the last 10 years or so. Back around when they kicked off work on Brawl, he seemed to have something against competitive Smash, and insisted the games were "party games" first and foremost. Brawl's engine was a direct counterpoint to Melee's, and he clearly didn't care how the game turned out competitively and even added mechanics like random tripping to raise the hax luck factor.

Now he spoke out about how he wants SSB4 to appeal to casual and competitive players alike, chose to collaborate with a company known for fighting games, and he's clearly putting a lot of thought into which newcomers they bring in, with special focus on them being unique and interesting.

Just so you know, he still thinks Smash is a party game

Also, looking at some aspects of Smash 4, it doesn't seem like he cares a lot by competitive players.

 

[Morbi]

I thought that Sakurai chose Robin because we prayed to Lord Grima. This explanation makes more sense though.

Anyways, it is great to have confirmation on regenerating tomes.

 

[Roy-Kun]

I knew that was the reason why Sakurai decided to pick Robin over Chrom. I always said that Robin had a much better moveset potential than Chrom, and the only thing that gave the Lord an advantage over the Tactician was his status as the overall protagonist of Fire Emblem: Awakening (which is shared with The Avatar actually).

I'm still not convinced at his reasoning for adding Lucina though. He should have went the Alternate Costume route.

And before anyone says anything, yes I would have wanted Roy in, but if he was a clone of Marth, I would have complained too. Kind of.

 

[JaidynReiman]

I knew that was the reason why Sakurai decided to pick Robin over Chrom. I always said that Robin had a much better moveset potential than Chrom, and the only thing that gave the Lord an advantage over the Tactician was his status as the overall protagonist of Fire Emblem: Awakening (which is shared with The Avatar actually).

I'm still not convinced at his reasoning for adding Lucina though. He should have went the Alternate Costume route.

And before anyone says anything, yes I would have wanted Roy in, but if he was a clone of Marth, I would have complained too. Kind of.

I think Roy will actually be an alt of Ike at this point. And frankly, I don't see the big deal. Either she was a skin or a clone with a VERY slight difference. She didn't "steal" anyone's slot, she got her own.

 

[Roy-Kun]

I think Roy will actually be an alt of Ike at this point. And frankly, I don't see the big deal. Either she was a skin or a clone with a VERY slight difference. She didn't "steal" anyone's slot, she got her own.

Never said she stole a spot. But she just goes against what Sakurai wanted in Smash. I love all the attention FE games are getting, but with 3 was enough to me.

 

[JaidynReiman]

Never said she stole a spot. But she just goes against what Sakurai wanted in Smash. I love all the attention FE games are getting, but with 3 was enough to me.

What did Sakurai want in Smash? He's making original characters. I don't see how turning one skin into a slightly different clone "goes against what Sakurai wanted in Smash." He wanted an original FE character, he made one: Robin. Lucina was just a last-minute change, but its not like its to fill up additional roster slots or anything. Based on his wording I think we'll get a bunch of alternate characters as skins this time around.

 

[Roy-Kun]

What did Sakurai want in Smash? He's making original characters. I don't see how turning one skin into a slightly different clone "goes against what Sakurai wanted in Smash." He wanted an original FE character, he made one: Robin. Lucina was just a last-minute change, but its not like its to fill up additional roster slots or anything. Based on his wording I think we'll get a bunch of alternate characters as skins this time around.

He did say that, yes. Original characters with unique movesets. And even as a last-minute change, I'm just disappointed because Lucina could have easily been different than Marth. Even if she's his descendant, lore-wise, she had a huge potential for being a different fighter. And the whole "Einherjar Marth" fights just like her, I feel that it was just her model of "Masked Marth" (without the mask in this case) being reused, just like how the other Einherjar characters are just recolors of the Avatar.

That was another complain in FE: Awakening if I remember correctly. Anyway, I don't want to turn this thread into a discussion that shouldn't take place here, so this is my final post here on the matter.

 

[Unicorn]

4 character slots for FE, clone or not, can only be seen as a victory for fire emblem. Roy will likely/hopefully return as an alternate costume, bringing the total to 5. We should be ecstatic! Most were thinking Marth plus Ike or Chrom, so even though I wanted Chrom, I'm not disappointed because this is beyond what I hoped for. Plus Robin seriously looks like the most intriguing fighting style ever in smash.
So please, no dissapointment. Unless Roy doesn't come back. Then much dissapoint.

 

[Banjodorf]

I must be the only one who doesn't care for Roy in Melee and ESPECIALLY not Binding Blade.

He wasn't a very interesting character, and I dunno, I never liked his design. Oh, and basic sword wielding lord. Robin wears t3h ph1r3 better.

#ShotsFired

Note: This post is not meant as a slight against sword-wielders, or Lucina, who I find a much more interesting character than Roy based on her own game.

It's more that I find people who didn't want Chrom, but ask for a non-clone Roy funny.

 

[Hong]

Speaking of which, even just on a visual level Robin is far superior to either of the Awakening leads. I think visual and thematic variety is hugely important to the roster, which is why I like characters like Wii Fit Trainer and Toon Link who stand out from the others. With Fire Emblem, you're always going to get humanoid anime characters, but at least Robin has a nice contrast from Marth and Ike just based on appearances.

Oh, by the way, I know why Sakurai chose Robin and most people requesting Chrom wanted him and are so fed up that Chrom isn't playable. The difference is Sakurai ACTUALLY played the game.

(Not saying all Chrom fans say that, but a large portion of them I've heard keep saying Chrom should've been the rep and not Robin, but they also admit they don't know anything about Fire Emblem.)

This is true. It bothers me that the majority of people who want Roy haven't even played his game, or even Fire Emblem for that matter. There are some legit diehard Roy fans, though. I'll admit I don't actually mind him in his own game, performance aside.

Awakening DLC designs I liked included Roy, Leif, Alm, Seliph, Ephraim and Katarina.

Everything else was... kind of average at best... :|

I forgot about Katarina. She is simply magnificent. I hope that becomes an alt costume for Robin, since it's just hair and colour.

 

[Minato Arisato]

People still pronounce his name as "Chrome"? Ugh. At this point, I stop listening.

 

[ToothiestAura]

People still pronounce his name as "Chrome"? Ugh. At this point, I stop listening.

I thought was just a joke? Although, I've never heard it pronounced that way. I've only seen it typed like that.

 

[Morbi]

I thought was just a joke? Although, I've never heard it pronounced that way. I've only seen it typed like that.

Sometimes "Chrom" is auto-corrected to Chrome in my case. It is ever so slightly annoying. That is one of the predominant reasons that I am glad that Sakurai chose Robin. There is no auto-correct variation of her name, perhaps that was one of his reasons despite it not being cited in the article?

 

[Minato Arisato]

I thought was just a joke? Although, I've never heard it pronounced that way. I've only seen it typed like that.

I've got a few friends that were peeved over Chrom's exclusion as a playable character. And they do pronounce his name like that. When I asked them if they ever played any Fire Emblem games, they kind of gave me this blank look. And then they asked me which game Robin was from.

...Needless to say, I'm not talking to them for about a week. I need some time to cool off. Otherwise, I most likely would have said something downright nasty.

 

[TechPowah]

I do pronounce it "Chrome", but I do realize it's pronounced "krom" like his JP spelling, and it's really more force-of-habit than anything and it's cooler sounding to say, anyway. Plus, just like Google Chrome, he got zero results. (Sorry fellow Chrom fans, I just wanted to get that horrible joke out of the way.)

 

[Hong]

Aside from playing through Awakening, by the looks of the way Robin uses Arcfire, he's at least sampled the GBA games as well. :>

 

[JaidynReiman]

Aside from playing through Awakening, by the looks of the way Robin uses Arcfire, he's at least sampled the GBA games as well. :>

Yeah, I noticed that exactly. Its awesome. :D

Granted, Sakurai did his research with Marth and Ike, too. That shouldn't have been too surprising. The ONLY attack Ike uses in Smash he never used in the original game is Eruption... and Eruption was only added because Ragnell's projectile was too OP. And honestly, Ragnell's projectile WAS OP in the original game, it was supposed to be. (I still hope Sakurai includes it in some way.)

 

[Hong]

Still a bit odd of a statement. Surprised they didn't just tie it to a passive recharge (like Wario Waft), or make it so perhaps you have to deal damage to build a charge. Ike could have really used tools to maintain a high threat level.

I don't know. I got bad vibes from Ike in Brawl. His victory quotes, those which have garnered much reverence among the Smash community, don't even fit him. It's not even localization either, since it's a good translation from the Japanese version. I hope he receives as much love as Robin does. He's my favourite lead, after all.

 

[IronFish]

Still a bit odd of a statement. Surprised they didn't just tie it to a passive recharge (like Wario Waft), or make it so perhaps you have to deal damage to build a charge. Ike could have really used tools to maintain a high threat level.

I don't know. I got bad vibes from Ike in Brawl. His victory quotes, those which have garnered much reverence among the Smash community, don't even fit him. It's not even localization either, since it's a good translation from the Japanese version. I hope he receives as much love as Robin does. He's my favourite lead, after all.

Well at least Robin stays in-character in smash

I wish people would get, Sakurai isn't lazy, he just saw more potential in Robin then he did in Chrom, simple as that.

 

[Frostwraith]

Still a bit odd of a statement. Surprised they didn't just tie it to a passive recharge (like Wario Waft), or make it so perhaps you have to deal damage to build a charge. Ike could have really used tools to maintain a high threat level.

I don't know. I got bad vibes from Ike in Brawl. His victory quotes, those which have garnered much reverence among the Smash community, don't even fit him. It's not even localization either, since it's a good translation from the Japanese version. I hope he receives as much love as Robin does. He's my favourite lead, after all.

Well at least Robin stays in-character in smash

I wish people would get, Sakurai isn't lazy, he just saw more potential in Robin then he did in Chrom, simple as that.

With Eruption now having blue flames, I hope they could change Ike's lines to be more faithful to his character in his games.

To be honest, a lot of the characters this time feel more like they're taken straight from the original games compared to previous Smash games. From the more colorful art direction, character expressiveness, voice acting (for those who have it), you definitely feel that. Bowser feels taken from the recent Mario games, Pit and Palutena behave exactly like their Uprising counterparts and, of course, Robin and Lucina act just like how they appeared in Awakening.

Back to Ike, I actually wouldn't mind him having a new voice actor, because Radiant Dawn's voice acting is quite mediocre, especially compared to Awakening's. But they will probably re-use Brawl's voice clips for him...

 

[JaidynReiman]

With Eruption now having blue flames, I hope they could change Ike's lines to be more faithful to his character in his games.

To be honest, a lot of the characters this time feel more like they're taken straight from the original games compared to previous Smash games. From the more colorful art direction, character expressiveness, voice acting (for those who have it), you definitely feel that. Bowser feels taken from the recent Mario games, Pit and Palutena behave exactly like their Uprising counterparts and, of course, Robin and Lucina act just like how they appeared in Awakening.

Back to Ike, I actually wouldn't mind him having a new voice actor, because Radiant Dawn's voice acting is quite mediocre, especially compared to Awakening's. But they will probably re-use Brawl's voice clips for him...

I agree, Ike's lines should reflect the games a LOT better this time. Considering how Sakurai was extremely faithful to Robin and Lucina, though, I'm confident Ike will be fine this time.

 

[Hong]

But they will probably re-use Brawl's voice clips for him...

I wouldn't say that.

Nintendo has changed a lot since Brawl, and I think the Smash 4 demo had a lot of place-holders. I think if they can hire exceptional voice actors for games with low commercial expectations like Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Fire Emblem: Awakening, surely they can bring in equal or greater talent for Smash Bros.

I mean, Awakening had over 40 characters to VA if you count the 6 Robin variations as well as NPCs. Even taking those away, they still did voice work for over 30 playable characters, with no less than 20 lines each factoring in dialogue blurbs. Of course many of those are repeat VAs, which is fine if they have enough talent to pull it off. Smash 4 is slated to ship four times as many units minimum if you factor in both versions.

In any event, I really just don't want Jason Adkin back on Ike again. It would suck if we had two Robins and a Lucina with great voice work, only to get a sucky Ike back.

 

[JaidynReiman]

I wouldn't say that.

Nintendo has changed a lot since Brawl, and I think the Smash 4 demo had a lot of place-holders. I think if they can hire exceptional voice actors for games with low commercial expectations like Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Fire Emblem: Awakening, surely they can bring in equal or greater talent for Smash Bros.

I mean, Awakening had over 40 characters to VA if you count the 6 Robin variations as well as NPCs. Even taking those away, they still did voice work for over 30 playable characters, with no less than 20 lines each factoring in dialogue blurbs. Of course many of those are repeat VAs, which is fine if they have enough talent to pull it off. Smash 4 is slated to ship four times as many units minimum if you factor in both versions.

In any event, I really just don't want Jason Adkin back on Ike again. It would suck if we had two Robins and a Lucina with great voice work, only to get a sucky Ike back.

Personally I kinda hope Marth gets an English VA, as well. I didn't really mind Ike's existing VA, but then again, Ike probably could use a new VA to voice him in this game that sounds more gruff, better fit for his bulkier build.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Aside from playing through Awakening, by the looks of the way Robin uses Arcfire, he's at least sampled the GBA games as well. :>

Great reference

 

[AustarusIV]

In any event, I really just don't want Jason Adkin back on Ike again. It would suck if we had two Robins and a Lucina with great voice work, only to get a sucky Ike back.

But...but...he fights for his friends...

Personally I kinda hope Marth gets an English VA, as well. I didn't really mind Ike's existing VA, but then again, Ike probably could use a new VA to voice him in this game that sounds more gruff, better fit for his bulkier build.

IIRC, Marth was voiced by Spike Spencer for the English version of the Fire Emblem OVA. I wouldn't mind seeing him voice Marth for SSB4.

 

[Hong]

Personally I kinda hope Marth gets an English VA, as well. I didn't really mind Ike's existing VA, but then again, Ike probably could use a new VA to voice him in this game that sounds more gruff, better fit for his bulkier build.

IMO best thing they can do is give Marth an English VA, and let the play pick and choose between English and Japanese VA. I know a lot of Japanese fans would appreciate the English voices more as well.

But...but...he fights for his friends...

 

[Skyblade12]

Personally I kinda hope Marth gets an English VA, as well. I didn't really mind Ike's existing VA, but then again, Ike probably could use a new VA to voice him in this game that sounds more gruff, better fit for his bulkier build.

Well, Marth has now officially appeared in a game that has been translated to English. Even if Shadow Dragon was horrible.

But I agree with Hong, they'd kind of need some way to leave the choice open, because I know a lot of people would be miffed if he was English only.

 

[Delzethin]

I agree, Ike's lines should reflect the games a LOT better this time. Considering how Sakurai was extremely faithful to Robin and Lucina, though, I'm confident Ike will be fine this time.

Good point, actually. Nintendo seems to have higher standards for voice acting nowadays, and we've already seen Pit go from having a horrible VA in Brawl to a really good one in Uprising and SSB4. That actually makes me feel a lot better about the odds of Ike getting better voice work this time around.

Hopefully his voice clips themselves are up to recent standards. Awakening's crit lines proved that Fire Emblem characters can still be memetic when they're acted well.

 

[Shaya]

Has this thread gone past it's topic of Sakurai/Smash relation? If so it should be getting closed, if not, you guys should be moving into the social thread.

 

[mimgrim]

Has this thread gone past it's topic of Sakurai/Smash relation? If so it should be getting closed, if not, you guys should be moving into the social thread.

I'll stop.

sowwy.

 

[Sen. Sawft]

He does have Robin, Lucina and Marth to fight for.

That pic made me spill my water. Thank you.

I still have this lurking feeling that Chrom might be a character still...

 

[sunshinesan]

Thread too long. But Robin kills a bunch of birds with one stone.
- Female Rep
- Magic User
- Doesn't have blue hair
-

Spoiler

Villain

Chrom eat your heart out.

 

[Folt]

Thread too long. But Robin kills a bunch of birds with one stone.
- Female Rep
- Magic User
- Doesn't have blue hair
-

Spoiler

Villain

Chrom eat your heart out.

Also:

-Male Long-range Magic User Rep

 

[JaidynReiman]

Thread too long. But Robin kills a bunch of birds with one stone.
- Female Rep
- Magic User
- Doesn't have blue hair
-

Spoiler

Villain

Chrom eat your heart out.

Also:

-Male Long-range Magic User Rep

-DOES Have Blue Hair


Don't forget that, too. Robin CAN have blue hair, and probably will have that as a recolor option. :D