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Filed under: Editorial, Industry People, Masahiro Sakurai, Rumor Reporting, Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Bros. Smash For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Series

On Character Selection: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS

In a (not-so) recent interview conducted in the Fire Emblem 25th Anniversary Book, Sakurai made a comment on how he creates the roster for each Smash game and it really shed some much-needed light when it came to fans trying to predict what to expect.

“Industry trends around the time when development begins is a pretty big factor. I started development on Smash for 3DS/ Wii U right after I’d wrapped up Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Fire Emblem Awakening was released one month after Uprising. So what’s popular around the time when I begin designing the game is important.” – Masahiro Sakurai (Translation by Soma).

With this new information in mind, I got curious. Is this something new for Super Smash Bros for Wii U & 3DS or has this been Sakurai’s philosophy throughout the Super Smash Bros series? Could the trends of the time really help to influence the roster this much? Does this mean that with the seemingly eventual Smash for Switch we should not start predicting characters until it is actually announced?

Smash For: August 2012

Many people really criticise this rosters layout. Those people are right, but the scope is certainly impressive.

Finally, here we are – the fourth & fifth game in the Super Smash Bros. series. The development for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U was quite different from the other games, mainly due to two games being developed simultaneously with many shared elements, characters included. However, while this joint development affected the returning characters, such as separating Zelda & Sheik or denying the Ice Climbers a place, I don’t believe it affected the newcomers. Smash For follows similar rules as the previous iterations in the series for its characters but, this time around, unique character concepts really got a focus.

For this article, I am going to go in the order these characters were revealed with clones and 3rd party characters coming in at the end. I will NOT be talking about the DLC characters however as they had a different process behind their inclusion. So let us start at the beginning.

Villager:

Let’s be honest, 24/7 behind a desk would drive anyone to Smash.

The Villager from Animal Crossing was the first newcomer revealed for Smash For, something that was not a surprise for many fans. The series was one of Nintendo’s few major selling series that didn’t get a rep by the time of Brawl. In fact, the Villager was actually considered for inclusion in Brawl, but the plan didn’t go forward as Sakurai had trouble envisioning him in his head in 2005. The series had also continued to grow in those years with two more mainline, successful games coming out. The latest at the time, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, was also about to launch at the time of Smash’s project plan (it had been revealed so Sakurai knew about it), so Villager was also very relevant. But in the end, the series was one of the biggest of  Nintendo’s franchises that had yet to get a character (the series got a stage in Brawl, the first without a related character in the series)so it was a matter of when and not why.

 

Wii Fit Trainer:

We should have seen it coming. The signs of a Warrior were here all along!

The Wii Fit Trainer was certainly a surprise to many Smash fans, considering the coach in a fitness game doesn’t instantly scream fighter. However, Sakurai clearly disagreed and, for him, it started with how yoga poses could easily lend themselves to a fighting game. Wii Fit Trainer was unique to most fighters because of all her moves are yoga stances, and that also made her unexpected which was further appealing to Sakurai. Wii Fit was also one of the most successful series on the Wii and sold a ridiculous amount. Everyone knew the Wii Fit games, and with them the Wii Fit Trainers. There was also another Wii Fit game being developed at this time for Wii U, so the series was also relevant.

 

Rosalina:

Hey now, eyes up here. And a bit to your left, it’s rude to not look a star in the eyes.

Rosalina (& Luma) are interesting picks. Unlike most newcomers in Smash, she isn’t a main character or even one of the major A-list players in the Super Mario series (although, granted, they’re already all in Smash except Toad). With that said, Rosalina was a growing star in the series. Unlike Daisy and Waluigi, she debuted and existed in the mainline, console Mario titles. Her debut, Super Mario Galaxy, is one of the most critically acclaimed games of the previous decade and a must-have title for the Wii. She had also begun to be added to the expanded Mario universe, appearing as a playable character in 2011’s Mario Kart 7 and Mario Tennis Open. Yet, all of this isn’t as important as how unique Rosalina was. Sakurai comments in the project plan that Rosalina is a “puppet fighter,” something not yet seen in Smash. She also felt intergalactic, a unique feeling in Smash (there are space characters, but they give off a very different vibe to Rosalina).  

 

Little Mac:

After taking the title ship clearly the only thing stopping Little Mac from total domination was the ref, Mario.

Every Smash Bros. character has added a retro character and Smash For was no exception. Often, relevancy doesn’t necessarily matter for these characters’ inclusion, as Ice Climbers were fairly unique and Pit could be considered a Nintendo all-star. Yet we know relevancy was a major factor for Little Mac and we know this thanks to another considered character for Smash For: Takamaru. The Mysterious Murasame Castle hero didn’t make the cut because he wasn’t well-known outside of Japan. Little Mac didn’t have this problem as Punch-Out!! was an international series, but also it saw a brand new game on the Wii in 2009. So people both new and old to gaming would be aware of this character.

Other factors to consider though is that Sakurai has commented that he likes to bring back older characters in Smash. Little Mac was also a very popular candidate like Ridley and Geno which is something we know Sakurai listens to. He was an Assist Trophy in Brawl which could’ve worked as a basis for the character and his role as a boxer was something Smash had yet to see. So there were many factors going into Little Mac, although recognizability and retro status were still the two most influential reasons.

 

Greninja:

Actual images of Greninja making sure he’s the only choice for Smash by eliminating the competition.

Every Smash game has seen a new Pokémon added and Smash For was no exception. Pokémon is Nintendo’s second most successful franchise after Super Mario and has been relevant with every Super Smash Bros. game. For Smash For, Sakurai was in an odd position. He was aware a new Pokémon game was in development but the game was set for October 2013 and he had no idea which Pokémon would be big. So, he did something similar to Ike in Brawl where he left a spot open for a ‘Pokémon from Gen VI’ (it was “next FE protagonist” there) and added him in later. Eventually he was sent some design docs for Pokémon X & Y, and from them Greninja was chosen. We don’t know what other Pokémon Greninja was up against (at least the other starters) but he was the most interesting and looked the best in Sakurai’s mind. Due to the timing of all of this, it seems the anime didn’t influence his decision like it did with Jigglypuff, Mewtwo & Lucario. Greninja’s later popularity there was coincidental, though it may have been influenced by the Pokémon Company’s knowledge of his inclusion.

 

Mii Fighters:

Could you imagine if Smash’s roster was just everyone walking around in a plaza? Might’ve been better laid out.

With the dawn of the Wii, Nintendo introduced their custom avatars to the world and began to put them in everything. They star in every Wii series game, from Sports to Fit, but also appear in other Nintendo titles like Mario Kart Wii and Metroid Prime 3. Everyone who had a Wii had to make a Mii, and the feature continued onto the 3DS and Wii U. It’s safe to say the Miis are both big and relevant to Nintendo, yet Sakurai originally turned them down for Brawl due to fears of online bullying. However; this changed in Smash For and the main reason is customization. Since the initial proposal, Smash For was going to allow players to customize their fighters; the Miis made perfect sense for this. They were, after all, already custom avatars.

 

Palutena:

Now let me show you who is really bottom tier, Pit.

Palutena was a character that was universally predicted for Smash For, and with good reason. The Kid Icarus series had just seen a resurgence in relevance thanks to Kid Icarus: Uprising, which came out a few months before the project plan was drafted.Sakurai was its director, so he was intimately familiar with the character and could easily take ideas from one game to the other. On top of this, Palutena is a very important character to her series. In Japanese it’s named after her (much like with Zelda), and in Uprising she appears in nearly every mission alongside Pit. So she is important, relevant and a character Sakurai knew very well so her inclusion was, of course, no surprise.

 

Robin:

“So please stop being mad at me about taking your spot. Please?”

Robin is one of the few characters in Smash For whose reasoning Sakurai has 100% confirmed. Initially, he wanted a character from Fire Emblem Awakening due to its relevance and major success, single-handedly saving the franchise. At first he thought of the game’s main lord, Chrom, but struggled to make him unique when put up against Marth & Ike. With Robin however we had a mage who was also a tactician and could use swords. This versatility in his weapon choice made him fairly unique for Fire Emblem characters. He was also a main character so anyone who played Awakening would recognize him. All of this pushed Robin ahead and ultimately pulled Chrom out.

 

Shulk:

“Oh wonderous Monado please tell me, what time is it?”

Shulk was an odd choice for Smash; Sakurai even said this himself. His game wasn’t massively well known and only just saw release internationally. While the game came out in 2012 in the US, and thus was relevant at the time, it actually launched two years prior in Japan. Shulk was also another sword-user, albeit a futuristic one. However, over the years we’ve gotten a few hints at why Shulk made the cut. First off, Sakurai himself said the character was highly requested – especially in Japan. Next, we know that Sakurai is familiar with the series and is a big enough fan to go to the Xenoblade Concert during Smash’s development. Finally, it is possible that Monolith Soft personally asked for Shulk to be included. In the latter’s case it is also possible that they informed Sakurai about Xenoblade Chronicles X, which showed Shulk’s series also had a future and Smash could help to promote that, a value Sakurai has seen in Smash Whether it was all of these reasons or just one, it seems that Shulk’s popularity was the big deciding factor for his inclusion.

 

Bowser Jr.:

So is Jr.’s car his own or did Bowser just severely outgrow his old one?

While Rosalina could be considered a side-character in the overall Super Mario series, Bowser Jr. had definitely built himself up as the series’ second main antagonist. Since his debut in Super Mario Sunshine, he appeared in every 2D and 3D instalment of the series by that point (excluding 3D Land). He was also prominent in spin-off series like Mario Kart, so he was very recognizable. When Smash’s project plan was being developed, New Super Mario Bros. U was revealed and Bowser Jr., with the Koopalings, were confirmed to return in their iconic Clown Cars. Sakurai has hinted that Nintendo may have given him access to the development files so this relevancy, coupled with the uniqueness of the Junior Clown Car, most likely earnt Bowser Jr. his spot. As for the Koopalings, they were also relevant and quite big names in the Super Mario series. The Clown Car allowing for a fixed hitbox is most likely what earned them their place but 8-Player Smash and relevancy likely contributed.

 

Duck Hunt:

How do we know those ducks weren’t working for him the whole time?

Duck Hunt is another character who Sakurai has 100% confirmed why he was included. Duck Hunt was this game’s surprise character like R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch. They represented Nintendo’s Light Gun accessory and so they could incorporate multiple games at once. Unlike other Light Gun characters like Mr. Stevenson (Gumshoe), Duck Hunt was an icon; Sakurai even commented that in the US, Duck Hunt had a 90% attachment rate with the NES (mainly due to it being a pack-in title). Lastly, Sakurai has commented that Smash allows him to bring back old and forgotten characters so Duck Hunt fits that bill as well.

So that does it for all the Nintendo characters that were apart of the project plan but there are three other characters that should be mentioned before I go into the guest characters. These are Smash For’s clone characters and in a Q&A after Smash For’s release Sakurai gave us a clear answer why these clones were added. They were initially made to be alts for existing characters due to being so similar in appearance and ability but with extra time towards the end of development they got boosted up to the playable status.

 

Lucina:

Girl, your future is bright just by being in this game. Have you seen the merchandising?

Lucina is a clone of Marth and was originally planned as an alt. This makes sense as in Awakening she is Marth’s descendant who pretends to be him. She fights just like him and dresses in a similar way. But ultimately she isn’t Marth, and her fighting style isn’t as clean or precise as Marth’s, so it made sense to separate them. As mentioned before, Awakening was a huge game for the series and highly relevant so having Lucina in is not that shocking. There is more going for her than just that however, as Lucina has been quickly growing as an icon for the series being used frequently in promotional material by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. It got to the point that some fans thought she might/should replace Marth altogether!

 

Dark Pit:

Faker? I think you’re the fake angel around here. You’re comparing yourself to me? Ha! You’re not even good enough to be my fake.

Dark Pit is a clone of Pit and originally planned as an alt. This makes sense as Dark Pit is literally a clone of Pit created in Kid Icarus: Uprising. His inclusion in Smash For as an alt turned clone makes sense for the same reason Palutena made sense as a character: Uprising was big, relevant and well-received at the time of the project plan, and series director Sakurai worked on both Uprising and Smash For so Dark Pit was another character he was very familiar with. A big reason for separating Pit and Dark Pit was because their personalities differed; using the Three Sacred Treasures and having taunts and victory animations that felt upbeat didn’t quite fit Dark Pit, so he was made into a separate character instead.

 

Alph:

Wake me up when Smash for Switch is here.

Alph is an interesting case as he ended up remaining firmly an alt, but he does need mentioning as he was still added into the game for a reason. Alph shares a very similar build to Captain Olimar and both fight with their Pikmin, which don’t change at all, so him becoming and even remaining as an alt was easy. Pikmin 3 was one of the big early games on the Wii U and it was first revealed, along with Alph, in E3 2012 – around the time of the project plan for Smash For. So his timing, relevancy, build and protagonist status all leant to him making it into the game as an Olimar alt. Now, why he didn’t get upgraded as well? Who knows but maybe in the next Smash game we will see it happen.

And that does it for all the Nintendo-owned characters but we have two more to cover under the 3rd party banner, as well as some considered characters. Like I said in the Brawl article, the 3rd party additions often get added under different criteria to the Nintendo-owned ones so we need to rearrange our thinking to accommodate. So, first the ones that made it in.

 

Mega Man:

Sakurai was really accurate to Mega Man but it went too far when Spike attacks caused him to insta-death.

Mega Man was the second newcomer revealed for Smash For and his reveal really excited the fanbase. This shouldn’t be a surprise, though, as Sakurai stated that, after Sonic, Mega Man was the most requested guest character for Brawl. Mega Man himself is a massive icon and the closest thing Capcom has to a cartoonish mascot like Mario. The series itself is massive with many sub-series and appearances in other media. In 2012 the series had just fallen stagnant after its main director, Keiji Inafune, left Capcom, but this didn’t affect Sakurai choosing him as his status as a legacy character was too strong.

 

Pac-Man:

Here’s the question of the day. Is this a real screenshot or did I make this in paint? We may never know.

Much like Mega Man, Pac-Man also has a strong status as a legacy character for all of gaming. He was a popular 3rd party pick and is the mascot for Bandai Namco. The character even has the attention of Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, who requested Sakurai add Pac-Man to Brawl. Back then, Sakurai couldn’t envision how Pac-Man would work but, like with the Villager and Miis, he eventually figured it out. The biggest reason that Pac-Man made the cut though was due to Bandai Namco actually developing Smash For. Sakurai said it made sense to add a character from the company because of this reason and while other characters like Heihachi from Tekken were briefly considered, but the only choice that made any sense to Sakurai was Pac-Man.

Maybe next time…

And with that, we have come to the end of this edition of On Character Selection. Before I sign off I want to quickly talk about Rhythm Heaven as data mining showed us that at one point a character from the series was planned for Smash For. Like with the Ice Climbers, emblem data for a ‘Rhythm’ series can be found in the character section of the games data. It makes sense for a Rhythm Heaven character to be considered as the series had been growing since its introduction on the GBA with a new title on every system since. Also, the concept of a ‘Rhythm’ or music based character is not one we have seen yet in Smash. As for who the character might’ve been, the infamous Gematsu leak hinted at it being the Chorus Kids from the DS Rhythm Heaven however it has not been fully confirmed.

Here lies Ridley, he tried thrice but Sakurai does not play nice.

While these were the only known planned characters for Smash For, other than Chrom, many more were considered. I mentioned a few of them above, like Takamaru and Heihachi, but another was Ridley. Ridley had a prominent focus in Metroid: Other M, the latest Metroid title, as well as the previous Smash game where he appeared as a boss twice over. However, the main reason he was considered was due to the massive fan demand for the character. Ultimately Sakurai failed to envision him and he was made into a stage boss instead.

So that is everything for the base game of Smash For but these aren’t the only characters in these games thanks to DLC. However, the DLC process was very different to that of the base game and seemed to focus on different priorities behind its character selection so I feel that it is worth a separate article (plus this one is getting close to being made into a boss article so let’s keep it player-sized). So, join us next time for the final Smash On Character Selection article where we look at DLC and beyond.

Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie
14 comments
  1. Why does the Smash community hate male Robin?

    Also, wow, I really like Lucina, but to replace Marth? I say give her a new or at least Luigified moveset. Let’s not open the can of worms about her cloneset actually not making that much sense for her.

    Also, since Punch Out Wii came out, I think that disqualifies Mac as the Retro rep. I would definitely give that position to Duck Hunt.

    Arthur 97 on May 31 |
    • At the very least, the Wire Mac alt is a callback to the original arcade Punch-Out!, so I think its fair to say Little Mac in Smash 4 represents both a retro title as well as its later successors.

      Bob Lennon on May 31 |
      • But the fact is, he isn’t retro anymore since he had a new game. You can reference old games as much as you want, doesn’t make them a retro rep.

        Arthur 97 on June 1 |
        • Why are you implying that Little Mac somehow does not both represent the Wii game as well as the far more prevalent retro titles? This seems like an argument of semantics as opposed to a legitimate criticism of the article.

          boblennonsg on June 1 |
          • I’m just saying he’s not the retro rep. Mario references older games, but he is not a retro rep. Duck Hunt fits that bill much better, and that’s something that experts should be able to determine.

            Arthur 97 on June 1 |
          • Who says there can only be one retro character per Smash game? Doesn’t both Pit and ROB being in Brawl debunk this assumption? Having a single game in the Wii era doesn’t change the fact that Little Mac’s popularity as a character primarily stems from the arcade and classic console Punch Out! titles.

            Bob Lennon on June 1 |
    • Because Waifus

      Second.

      Second.

      Zeebor on May 31 |
    • “Why does the Smash community hate male Robin?”

      Because Waifus, that’s why. Too bad for them, considering male Robin seems to technically take the ‘main’ spotlight, as if the female Robin doesn’t exist at all.

      Ironically enough, it’s the opposite for Corrin – not by Smash community standards though, Female Corrin seems to be preferred over the Male, and that’s not a bad thing. Granted, the male is still default in Smash, but pretty much everyone else ignores that.

      KL-Cobalt on June 1 |
      • Yeah, it does seem odd that the community for a series that has a reputation as a waifu simulator actually prefers the male Robin. I’m fine with him being the main Robin and female Corrin being the main Corrin.

        Arthur 97 on June 1 |
        • A reputation all too many would like to spurn.

          I myself just refer to them as “they” and default to male.
          The F!Corrin preference is unfortunately in part due to fanservice and in part due to female fans using her as a self insert to promote their own ships (the top characters by gender in the Fates Famitsu poll were F!Corrin and Leo).

          TheDanMan051 on June 1 |
  2. Hey. Would this picture explain the character order?
    Link: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfHLoJWUEAAuZlG.jpg
    Credit goes to Smb123w64gb

    Rosalinatehplumber on May 31 |
  3. Kid Icarus: Uprising was not that popular.

    backup368 on June 1 |
  4. When they showed Smashville in Brawl, I’ve thought they’d finally brought a character from Animal Crossing to Smash; but never did because they didn’t fit in a fighting game, which I didn’t understand back then. But as Sakurai had another thoughts regarding to that point, I’m glad he decided to bring the Villager to Smash. I was hoping for Mr. K.K. since he’s iconic to the series, but having the avatar character using various tools in battle did make perfect sense to me.

    Wii Fit Trainer’s inclusion was shockingly surprising back then. I even laughed when I first saw that trailer back then. But eventually, I’ve understand that Wii Fit back then was very popular, and her inclusion really made a big sense. I’ve always thought the lady would be the only choice here, but didn’t realized that the game could change gender as a choice. Well, that made sense, since Ice Climbers had an option to choose Popo or Nana.

    Rosalina’s inclusion was another surprise for me, which I really didn’t understand. I know she’s an important character in the Mario Galaxy series, but other than that, I really don’t recall her being that important. But eventually, back in that day when she was revealed as a playable character in Smash through Direct, she really had a lot of spotlight during that time, which she was secretly included in Mario 3D World, and returned to Mario Kart 8. She appeared three times during that Direct, and I really don’t know why. That day was definitely her special day though. But even then, I do sense she’s too overpowered that she can easily kill you if she’s a CPU.

    Little Mac’s inclusion did make sense. Not just he appeared as an Assist Trophy back in Brawl and even returned in his rebooted game for Wii, but even returned as a special guest character in Captain Rainbow, which I do believe that game helped him to revive alongside with Takamaru. Thanks to that, I do see many people requested Little Mac to join Smash, and it’s good that it came true.

    Greninja was an unexpected one for sure. Many thought Mewtwo was coming back during that trailer was revealed, but ended up being Greninja instead. But I don’t know, I do think his inclusion have prophesied his popularity, which he ended up appearing as Ash’s powerhouse in the anime, and becoming the No.1 popular Pokemon in last year’s poll. I do think Sakurai choosing Greninja from the start wasn’t a mistake, it’s like he knew it was coming. (lol)

    The Mii Fighters also did surprise me as well. I thought it won’t happen due to avoiding online bullying, but I guess it would make sense since there are lots of Mii-based games that became popular, such as Wii Sports Resort, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, etc. But not just only bringing a Mii of yourself or your real-life relatives and friends to the game, but making characters from the game and cartoon/anime to join Smash temporarily, like how I made an Eggman Mii being a Mii Gunner and wearing a robotic armor and spiked helmet like he’s fighting in his Death Egg Robot suit.

    Palutena’s inclusion is definitely what I’ve predicted so far. I mean her inclusion did make a lot of sense. If Pit’s there, then there should be Palutena without a doubt. I don’t know about the West though, but definitely Kid Icarus: Uprising was popular in Japan for so many reasons, and bringing a character from that game did a lot of sense to me. But I was quite disappointed with Dark Pit’s inclusion though. Making a Pit clone (well he IS Pit’s clone) without any differences but being a ripoff towards everything…I felt he’s worthless. But I do see many fans in Japan (even female players) were so happy to see him in the game. And why female fans were happy? Not just he’s cool, it’s part of otaku culture, when female fans sees two male characters in one place, they start to imagine things…so……ugh…….

    Lucina’s inclusion was also part of my predictions too. I mean why wouldn’t be so? She’s known to be the most popular female character in Fire Emblem:Awakening, and her inclusion does make sense due to that point. However, while I wouldn’t think she’d be a replacement of Marth, I’ve thought Chrom would be instead, because he’s Marth’s descendant. But Marth was understandably the iconic character from the first Fire Emblem game, so Chrom’s inclusion wouldn’t work as well. But even then, I wouldn’t thought an avatar character would join in instead, and chose over Micaiah for magic usage. Robin’s inclusion was unexpected on my list, but his uniqueness was something that made me impressed, that most of his specials weren’t focused on swords but magic which lacked in Smash, and even summoning Chrom as his Final Smash had made me laugh as he ended up as a joke. But even then, while I do accept Lucina as being part of my predicted character, making her as Marth’s clone really didn’t make sense. I think she could’ve done something more better like how she did in Project X Zone 2.

    While Shulk wasn’t part of my prediction, I’ve kinda knew he’d join in. Many people in Japan were predicting him so badly, even GameXplain were predicting him as well too, even Xenoblade wasn’t in the West back then. However, I do hear arguments whether he’s a second or third party because of Monolith, since the title somehow connects with Xenosaga (and maybe Xenogears). I really don’t know much about this game, but I do think his inclusion is acceptable.

    Bowser Jr. too wasn’t part of my prediction, but knew he’d join in. His inclusion does make sense because people were requesting his inclusion, and I think been hearing that more than Rosalina’s. However, didn’t knew he’d be riding on a Koopa Clown instead, and even bringing the 7 Koopalings as his alts. He was really special in every way, and I’m glad got in.

    Duck Hunt…I never knew it’d join in until that whole ESRB leak incident happened. I’ve always thought that would be fake because Duck Hunt’s inclusion wouldn’t make any sense. However, after looking at its gameplay and understanding how it’ll fight…I’ve changed my mind as I was really impressed. Using all Zapper-based games as referencing attacks is something I’ve never seen it coming, and I credit Sakurai for teasing me on that, he really did a good job. Further more, I now accept them being part of the Smash Bros., not just only the dog and the duck, but the Zapper itself being a third character fighting with them.

    I was hoping to see Alph being a playable character, but never knew he ended up being Olimar’s alt. I mean, he could’ve became a replacement instead, but being Olimar’s alt rather than a clone was something I was confused about. Possibly because they fight the same without a difference might’ve decided that way, but even then, they could’ve added the Rock Pikmin for Alph in some way. The way of his inclusion is really a complicated one.

    For Mega Man, I was so excited when I saw his trailer back then. That was even 4 a.m. (in goddamn Hawaiian time) when I was watching it, and when I saw him being in the trailer, I’ve shrieked (quietly since my family was sleeping) happily, just like how Sonic joined Smash back in Brawl. His inclusion really made a lot of sense since most of his games were released for the Nintendo console, except for Mega Man 8. His usage of special weapons was something I was hoping for, and I’m glad he finally joined Smash. At least this proved that Capcom still cares about him…I guess…

    Alongside with Mega Man, Pac-Man’s inclusion was also part of my prediction, as I thought his inclusion would make sense if Bandai Namco was helping the production. I’ve thought he wouldn’t join because I’ve heard an information that Bandai Namco wasn’t planning to bring anybody to Smash, but I’m glad I was wrong that Pac-Man DID join Smash in the end, in his nostalgic classic form. I really don’t know who made that information, but I’ve found it through wikia, which I should’ve have judged it from the start.

    I really don’t know about the Rhythm Heaven’s inclusion, but I do somehow feel that infamous Gematsu leak was quite positively correct at some point. Maybe the leak was actually from the planning board that wasn’t perfect during discussion. Few of them were right, while others turned false, possibly changed direction because of certain negative results happened during production. So far, although it became debunked, I could at least credit this leak as they’ve at least tried to be fully correct.

    And for Ridley…I’ll stop talking about him. This is getting too old.

    Now we have the DLCs left to be explained! Good job on this article!

    zoniken on June 4 |
  5. I have to say I’m not at all upset that a rhythm heaven character DIDN’T get in! However, I’m curious to hear one day Sakurai speak uninhibited by his own secrettive nature so we can know just what he was thinking. Because for quite awhile that gematsu leak was held to the highest standard, yet it was totally proven a farce! Well… for the most part!

    We still got our Fire Emblem character … just not Chrom. That leak was for real weird but it wasn’t unbelieable.

    The next smash is what I’m interested in, I write on my totally rad blog about stuff like it. I feel like I’m the only one who wants to see a reboot of the franchise instead of them just adding more and more newcomers. Smash 4 already felt like Brawl – i want something new!

    relaxedglasses on June 5 |