Your Smash Newcomer wants through the ages?

[MasterOfKnees]

This is a pretty cool thread, wish I had found it earlier.

Brawl:

Melee was my first Smash game, and it was actually the game that made me a huge Nintendo fan as it introduced me to most of the series I've loved for so long now. Above them all was Metroid, which I got into because of that cool sequence in the opening cutscene with Samus fighting Ridley, my very young self thought that if you got to fight cool monsters like that, then I just had to play it. Fast forward to 2007 and it's only then that I learn of the existence of Brawl, I found the reveal trailer on Youtube and for the first time learned the excitement that Smash reveals brought. Wario had me very excited as one of my first video games was Wario Land 2, ZSS was a neat surprise (my first Metroid game was ZM), and Meta Knight was a character that looked so cool to me that his inclusion got me into the Kirby series.

There was still something missing for me though, so I joined a forum called Brawl Central around the time the Brawl Dojo had just opened, with the sole purpose of finding others who wanted Ridley in Brawl just as much as I did. As I played the Kirby games I would later begin supporting Dedede as well, which obviously proved to be more rewarding on this occasion. Ridley not getting in was a crushing blow, because I had literally no other requests than him left at that point, and to me he was the most important Nintendo character of all.

Smash 4:

This would be the first time I did speculation on Smashboards, and once again it was with Ridley as the clear focal point for me. I was extremely active during Smash 4 speculation, reaching well over 6000 posts, and 1392 in the Ridley thread alone, that purple dragon was beginning to become an actual obsession. I did also like the idea of some other characters though, even if I didn't outright support them in the same manner. I loved the retro Mega Man games and as such was very hopeful for him (and happy during his reveal), Bandana Dee was just the natural next step as a Kirby fan, and K. Rool's fanbase and its tightly knit friendship with the Ridley fanbase made me want him a lot. I'd play through Earthbound for the first time during this speculation period too, and it became my favorite ever game (and still is), so obviously the admittedly unlikely idea of Porky became very appealing to me.

Smash 4 would prove to be quite cruel to me, but really it wasn't that I didn't get K. Rool, Porky or Bandana Dee that hurt, it was still the fact that Ridley wasn't in that disappointed me above anything else, I had really believed that I'd finally get my favorite Nintendo character this time. My disappointment was so heavy that I didn't partake in DLC speculation at all, I still hoped for K. Rool, and I liked the idea of Sceptile getting in due to the OR/AS hype as he had always been my Gen 3 starter of choice, but with Ridley being deconfirmed I no longer had the motivation to keep being active.

Ultimate:

For the first time I went into Smash speculation not believing Ridley had a chance, he was of course still by far my most wanted character, but I had no hope left for him, and as such I was more willing to look to other characters. For this reason I didn't actually plan to be very active for Ultimate speculation, but the early rumors of Ridley actually making it this time quickly changed my plans, and of course it would prove to be the time where it finally, finally happened.

Ridley's early confirmation was also part of the reason I began considering more characters, Dark Samus I had never previously wanted due to being competition for Ridley, but with him already in I was all for her inclusion now. I had played Skull Kid, Black Knight and Shovel Knight's games only after Smash 4 came out, and had also rediscovered my love for the Crash games, and Dark Matter while highly unrealistic is just a cool idea I hadn't previously thought much of.

I was extremely happy with Ultimate, Ridley alone was enough for me to love the newcomer roster no matter what, but then you add K. Rool, Dark Samus and the fact that every veteran returned, and it's just been a dream game for me. I was even very hyped when Black Knight and Shovel Knight were confirmed to be ATs, I always knew they were a long shot, so that they were even present in a notable role was super cool.

I really don't have much to add about Ultimate DLC, which would be the present, I'm so satisfied with what we already have that I'm not too bothered with what we get from here. I'd still like Porky and Crash, who are the two survivors from the above list, and I think Ryu Hayabusa and Agumon would be neat, but I'm honestly not sure how much I'd end up playing any of those, I've reached a point where what's in the game far outshines what isn't. Without Ridley my drive for actual speculation has fallen off a cliff, I still like to chat a bit in social threads on here and talk all things Nintendo, but I don't expect that I'll be doing speculation for the next game, at least not anywhere nearly as actively as I've done for previous games.

 

[shinhed-echi]

Smash was a surprise to me. One of the many many many times I went to my best friend's house, and he had other good friends of mine there, they were playing Smash 64.
I was already wowed by the amazing crossover game.
But it wasn't until Ness got unlocked, and trying him out, that I said: "Wait a minute.. He reminds me of Mike!" (Mike Jones, from StarTropics). "I wish he was in the game too".

And since then, Mike Jones has been my #1 most wanted character in Smash. Now considering him a pipe dream at best, I've wanted him in every Smash game since 64.
With that out of the way.

64:
- Mike Jones (StarTropics)
+ Got: Nothing


MELEE:
- One look at Roy's stock icon, made me want Crono.
+ Got: Nothing


BRAWL:
- 3rd parties were announced through Snake, and the promise of 2-3 total 3rd party characters. I wanted Sonic the most, along with Crono (and Mike).
- Also wanted Little Mac, Megaman, and Isaac pretty bad.
+ Got:


SMASH 4:
- Little Mac and Megaman were my most wanted (along with, of course, Mike).
- Also wanted Isaac, Saki, Takamaru, and Chocobo+Slime team (like Duck Hunt ended up being) since I kind of gave up chances of Crono happening, after Square-Enix's position on Chrono Trigger.
- DLC CAME. More specifically, Cloud. And I was already a huge Dragon Quest fan by then. So I wanted Dragon Quest 1 Hero, or Eight. (Though ATT, Dragon Quest 4 was the one I was obsessed about). So, I knew I wanted a Dragon Quest Hero to "counter" the Square side of Square Enix (since to me, the perfect way to have a S-E rep was either through Crono which combined both company efforts, or Chocobo+Slime, both company mascots).
+ Got:

ULTIMATE:
- Dragon Quest character (I played them all, except 10 and 11 by this point), Simon Belmont, and the return of Pokemon Trainer, as w ell as Doomguy are/were my most wanted.
+ GOT: HERO(x4)

 

[Deleted member]

After getting into the gaming industry through Megaman’s addition to Smash 4, I went through some periods as the normie and young person I was back then.

Ignoring the period when I considered 4th party stuff due to a lack of knowledge and veterans like Roy, my most wanted picks ended up being like this:

>Ridley since I was getting into the Metroid series and always loved playable villains
>Dark Samus for similar reasons
>Sora because I liked Kingdom Hearts
>Crash because I liked the bandicoot
>K.Rool due to a nostalgia factor born from the DKC cartoon and Jungle Climber.
>And Eight from DQ8, although I kept this one as a secret until last year due to the backlash I got on Miiverse and other parts of the internet due to my hype for Cloud.

As time passed, I dropped Sora since I started having doubts about his chances. K.Rool, Dark Samus and Ridley got in the base roster for Ultimate and Eight finally got in Smash Ultimate as DLC.

Right now, Crash is the only one left for me. Although I also feel open to many picks besides Bubsy.
Some highlights on that regard are Layton and Jill Valentine.

 

[StormC]

Going to steal MasterOfKnees format here...

Although I played and loved the first two Smash games, I wasn't really into the "Smash speculation" scene until the Smash Dojo started. I was pretty passive until I got hooked into the daily anticipation and drip feed of information, posting online about it. That really got me thinking about what characters I want to see in Smash. So going off of that, here's the format:

Blue boxes: newcomers I wanted that I felt had a good chance at the time/should be in.
Red boxes: newcomers that were lower priority for me, whether because they seemed unlikely enough to the point where I wasn't too invested in their chances, or they had a limited time window to get in, or anything else.
Green boxes: veterans I wanted back (I know this is a newcomer thread but still).

Brawl

After Mario and Pokemon, the DK franchise was one of my biggest obsessions as a kid, and still is to this day. Post-Rareware, the DK franchise was in turmoil to say the least. I was happy enough to just get Diddy considering the state of the franchise, and I also felt Dedede should be in, despite me being a bigger Meta Knight fan, because I felt Dedede was a more important character. I was also at this time pretty anti-third party, thinking a third party should only get in with "strong Nintendo connections," so I was really pulling for Mega Man, also being a big fan of that series. I hadn't played much Metroid yet but I actually learned about Ridley through Smash speculation, thought he was a cool character, and felt the primary villain of Metroid being in Smash was a no brainer. And Samurai Goroh seemed like a perfect fit for the second F-Zero character... which is why he was the first Assist Trophy shown. Oof.

Wolf was a character I thought would be cool to see but figured we were for sure getting Krystal if we got a Star Fox character so I didn't put much of my hopes and dreams on him. Bomberman was in Mega Man's spot of "honorary Nintendo character whose games I played growing up," but I thought he was much less likely than Mega Man and I was less of a fan so I wasn't too invested either way.

Sonic's inclusion got my hopes up for Mega Man, but sadly it didn't come to pass (though I did warm up to Sonic after his reveal trailer). No Ridley was disappointing as well since I got suckered into the hype and he seemed like a sure thing; in general the unlockables weren't much to get excited about after the incredible starting roster, though I was pleased to see Wolf at least. Diddy and Dedede were obviously huge wins and looking back on it, Brawl had by far the best newcomer batch of any Smash game (not counting DLC). Just so many iconic characters together and I got the two I wanted the most, so I was optimistic about the next game.

Smash 4

With Diddy in, K. Rool was the next logical choice for a DK newcomer. You could consider it a coin toss whether or not I wanted K. Rool or Mega Man more. Both were missing in action and I had hoped a Smash reveal would help either get back in the spotlight. Since I got Mega Man out the gate, I would say I wanted K. Rool more overall due to the speculation anxiety and waiting adding to the anticipation. I had fully boarded the Ridley train after diving deeper into the Metroid series since Brawl, and I had told myself if I just got Ridley + Dixie I would have been satisfied even without K. Rool! Turns out I got none of those! While I was happy about Palutena, Kid Icarus Uprising being one of my favorite Nintendo games of the Wii U/3DS generation, there was no real taking the sting out of the lack of K. Rool or Ridley. Having spent over a year in speculation fraught with anxiety only to end on the ESRB leak was extremely deflating. The ballot gave me hope for K. Rool (only to come crashing down with the costume), but I had long since given up on Ridley after the stage boss and Sakurai's statement.

Which brings me to my "low priority" picks, Cloud and Rosalina. I always figured if a FF character got in, it would and should be Cloud. And Rosalina was a character I always liked but felt she had a low chance in Smash and other Mario characters would be prioritized. Her inclusion in 3D World suddenly made her seem a lot more likely, and sure enough she appeared. But Cloud, man... freaking Cloud. I lost my mind at his reveal. Never in a thousand years did I expect he would appear in Smash like that. I needed that second wind of hype after K. Rool got costume'd. Cloud and Mewtwo coming back were the highlight of DLC and kept it from being a total wash (I was indifferent towards Mewtwo returning at the time but when he was confirmed I realized how happy I was that he was back).

Smash 4 was a weird game for me. I would never say it was a bad roster, but personally disappointing, despite getting a couple of dream picks out of it in Cloud and Mega Man. I think as a Nintendo fan I just felt let down because they weren't focusing much on the series and eras that I really loved (mainly SNES/N64 games) and a lot of the newcomers were from games I don't play, maybe even the majority. After a while I began to hold the irrational thought of looking at newcomers and thinking "okay, whatever, where's K. Rool and Ridley?!" I think if I was told out the gate those two weren't going to be in along with Dixie (meaning as a DK fan I'd be left high and dry), I could accept it a lot better and appreciate the "wins" on my wishlist a lot more, but it was just hard to spend months and months hoping only to be torn down like that. Outside of Cloud and Mega Man, the characters were all B-tier enjoyment/hype at best for me, and for a Nintendo crossover that was a huge bummer. The last batch of DLC didn't do much for me and I felt dejected and burnt out on Smash speculation. I joined SmashBoards specifically to talk about K. Rool and it got to the point where I couldn't imagine him not making it in. The cutting of Snake and Wolf really didn't help either and it felt like this was going to be it for me, and I considered myself done with Smash hype.

Ultimate

...but little did I know Sakurai was already working on the next installment.

I still wanted K. Rool something fierce, the constant rejection of him and Ridley only fueled my desires to see them realized, although I was really burnt out on Ridley speculation after Brawl and Smash 4 and didn't really even give him the time of day until the rumors started up. Sure enough, I made my way back to SmashBoards and hoped for one last ride to bring it all home. I was even less sure on Snake, I was sure he was dead in the water until again, the rumors started up. Brawl got me into the MGS series and for a time I considered MGS1 my all time favorite game (still a top 5, ironically Smash Ultimate dethroned it), and Solid Snake is to this day still my favorite video game character, so seeing him in Everyone Is Here was just mindblowing. Wolf came back of course, and then Ridley was there, so I was already coming out the gate feeling pretty damn good. As for Bandana Dee and Ganon, I warmed up to Dee during the Smash 4 ballot days and felt the idea of a cute little spear fighter would make a fun character, and I realized Pig Ganon is my #1 choice for a Zelda newcomer, he would make an unbelievably unique fighter and he'd just be damn cool to see realized in 3D.

Once K. Rool got in it was just a freaking party, it really felt like Sakurai was responding to the criticisms regarding the Smash 4 roster and I was just overwhelmed with joy, I started crying at his gameplay trailer. It was at that moment that I started to have serious hope for Banjo-Kazooie, at the time of the ballot I thought people were wasting their time supporting him, but the Banjo series is near and dear to my heart and I knew after K. Rool got in I really wanted to see them next. I accepted if they didn't get in because I knew it wouldn't be trivial to put a Microsoft character in Smash, but more and more evidence piled up in their favor (even surviving the Grinch Leak), and once again, plausible rumors came about, they showed up at E3 (despite thinking they wouldn't after the Hero trailer), and the tears followed again. K. Rool is still my #1 Smash reveal in personal hype, but Banjo came close. As for Decidueye, he was one of my favorite SM Pokemon and thought he would be great in Smash, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. I didn't put too much hope in that one and I'm happy with how Incineroar turned out, all things considered.

Even outside of my wishlist I generally speaking loved the Ultimate newcomers, Inkling was implemented really well and is a lot of fun to play despite me having never played the Splatoon series, Simon was an amazing reveal and got me to play his games, ditto Joker, Incineroar is goofy and fun in Smash, Piranha Plant made for a surprisingly enjoyable inclusion, etc. Without DLC I would say Brawl's newcomer roster is still better, but with DLC, Ultimate really is the GOAT, nothing else comes close, I mean, look at this:

Spoiler

And we still have two to go.

It's a very silly and perhaps immature way to describe it, but Ultimate really does feel like Smash 4's redemption arc for me, like Sakurai was saying "I'm sorry you were disappointed with Smash 4, here's Wolf and Snake back, along with all the other veterans. Ridley? K. Rool? Sorry they weren't in Smash 4, here you go. You want some cool characters that will introduce you to new games that you love? Simon Belmont and Joker, coming right up. Oh, you want an exciting character besides ones you've wanted for a decade? Maybe someone who you've considered ridiculous pipe dream for the last 20 years? Here's Banjo freaking Kazooie. Enjoy." Some people lament the focus on fanservice in Smash Ultimate at the expense of more risky or creative Sakurai-esque choices, but I've never been happier with the series. It feels like the game is almost responding to my demands actively, it's insane. I can't feasibly ask for anything else out of Smash, sure I'd like to see Dixie and Bandana Dee and think they should be in, but I'm just drowning in all the love Sakurai has given the fanbase with this game. It really is that meme "never ask me for anything ever again" at this point.

I know Sakurai is just a video game director on the other side of the world who I will probably never meet, but I feel really bad for some of the criticisms I've lobbed at him during the Smash 4 era, I wish I had been more open minded to see that he could respond to criticism and demand, and appreciate the good with the bad. Ultimate has proven he really takes the fans' requests to heart and I can't thank him enough for it. But I'll try anyway.

Thank you, Sakurai.

EDIT: I must also point out that without fail every game I get two of my primary wishlist characters in Smash... but only two!

Overall, my top 10 newcomer reveals, regardless of whether or not I was actively hoping for their inclusion...

10. Sonic
9. Meta Knight
8. Joker
7. Ridley
6. King Dedede
5. Diddy Kong
4. Mega Man
3. Cloud
2. Banjo-Kazooie
1. King K. Rool

 

[Frizz]

I was born in 2000, so I wasn't born during 64 or had consciousness during Melee to experience them normally or have a newcomer wishlist or anything. When Brawl came out, I was around 8 at the time, which I think is still too young to have a couple of favorite characters that I wanted to see in Smash.

Anyway, I got into Marth and Fire Emblem through Melee/Brawl, so I bought Awakening, and I loved Robin's character. I shipped him with Lucina, so I really liked them as their separate characters and as a power couple. When Smash 4 was announced to be in development, I immediately knew that I wanted Robin and Lucina together to be in Smash.

Come July 14th, 2014, I got just that.

As for Ultimate, no. I didn't want any specific character as bad as I did with Robin and Lucina. All I needed was for them to return, and I got just that too.

I kind of want PaRappa for DLC, but I could live without him since I got Robin to hold me over.

Of course, there are a couple of characters I'd really like to see, like Phoenix Wright, but none of them come close to as much as I wanted Robcina. Lurobin? I don't know the ship name.

 

[Brothanigus]

I would like Sakurai to put an end to terribly generic character choices(Joker) and STOP making a DLC fighter with a cloned moveset(Hero and Joker.)

Every DLC fighter should be unique and bring something NEW into the game, not just make another mismatch of moves already in the game. Joker DOES NOT do this, he's what's keeping me from buying the pass. I really, REALLY hope the last two characters don't fall into Sakurai's generic clone trap.

 

[StormC]

I would like Sakurai to put an end to terribly generic character choices(Joker) and STOP making a DLC fighter with a cloned moveset(Hero and Joker.)

Every DLC fighter should be unique and bring something NEW into the game, not just make another mismatch of moves already in the game. Joker DOES NOT do this, he's what's keeping me from buying the pass. I really, REALLY hope the last two characters don't fall into Sakurai's generic clone trap.

Joker and Hero aren't clones. At best they share a few animations. Also, not sure how a character like Joker is generic, but you do you.