Awhile back, our friend Relax Alax, made a video titled If Smash Had ONLY 30 Characters (embedded below). We thought it would be fun to do a response to this idea. Joining me is several other Source Gaming staff members with our own ideas. It’s not easy to cut so many characters, and we welcome a discussion in the comments below, or on Twitter!
Unlike RelaxAlax, I wouldn’t include all 12 fighters from Smash 64. I would argue that Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox and Pikachu are the most iconic and relevant characters and have continually maintained that status over the past decade. It was difficult for me to cut Ness, but with the series not getting a sequel anytime soon…it was difficult to justify his continued inclusion.
From Melee: Peach, Bowser, Marth, Zelda, Mewtwo, Mr. Game and Watch.
I was torn between Zelda and Ganondorf. In the end, I decided to bring Zelda in order to buff the number of female representation in the roster. I’m also keeping all the Mario characters as the Mario series is just so well known to ignore.
From Brawl: Wario, Diddy Kong, Ike, Toon Link, King Dedede, Charizard, Pit, Olimar and Sonic.
For me, Sonic is a requirement in the roster. Nintendo’s rival for such a long time it’d be weird to have a scuffle without the blue blur. I was torn on including King Dedede or not, but in the end I decided to include him since I felt that Kirby needed another form of representation since the series is still healthy and popular in Japan. If I were to drop King Dedede, I’d include another stage based on Kirby. Ike could be replaced with Corrin (which would make the roster feel current), but I feel that Ike trumps Corrin in terms of importance to the Fire Emblem series. Also, I’m sure I’ll get some shit for including another Link over Ganondorf (or some other character), but Link is the most well known character of Zelda (even if he is confused for Zelda sometimes!).
From Smash for Wii U/3DS: Robin, Greninja, Little Mac, Duck Hunt, Mii, Villager.
Robin could also be replaced by Corrin, or even Lucina. It’s difficult to say which one is more “worthy” of representation. I also buffed up the retro representation, as the roster needs to pander to a wide audience. Little Mac, Duck Hunt and Mr. Game and Watch are probably the essential retro representatives from Nintendo. Greninja for additional Pokemon representation (though he could be replaced by one of the new starters), Villager and Mii to represent the newer era for Nintendo.
Overall, it was pretty difficult to limit a roster to “just” 30 characters. If I had more space, I would immediately add Ness, Pac-Man and Captain Falcon (in that order). Creating a balanced roster is quite difficult as you have to remove your own bias from the equation and focus on what is best for the most amount of players.
If I needed slots for newcomers, I would drop either Yoshi/Wario, a Fire Emblem rep, and Little Mac and Diddy Kong. So here’s two versions of the roster; one without newcomer slots, one with.
Without Newcomer Slots:
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Wario
Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong
Fox
Marth, Ike, Robin
Samus
Link, Toon Link, Zelda
Kirby, King Dedede
Pit
Charizard, Greninja, Mewtwo, Pikachu
Little Mac,Duck Hunt, Mr. Game and Watch, Mii, Olimar, Villager
Sonic
With Newcomer Slots:
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and either Wario/Yoshi
Donkey Kong
Fox
Marth/ Ike / Robin (pick two)
Samus
Link, Toon Link, Zelda
Kirby, King Dedede
Pit
Charizard, Greninja, Mewtwo, Pikachu
Duck Hunt, Mr. Game and Watch, Mii, Olimar, Villager
Sonic
x4 newcomers
| Mario | Luigi | Peach | Bowser | Yoshi | Wario |
| Donkey Kong | Link | Zelda | Ganondorf | Toon Link | Villager |
| Pikachu | Lucario | Greninja | Fox | Capt. Falcon | Ness |
| Kirby | Pit | Samus | Shulk | Little Mac | R.O.B. |
| Game & Watch | Wii Fit Trainer | Marth | Robin | Olimar | Duck Hunt |
Okay, few things. This list is constructed with the idea that Smash Bros. is still a known quantity. That means franchises with a strong association with the series, like EarthBound or F-Zero, get more attention than their lack of popularity might suggest. Similarly, franchises are largely pared down, allowing there to be a wider array of franchise diversity than anything else. The exception is Pokémon, which really deserves a fourth character (I’d cut Shulk, but it’s also good to show the new generation of the company). I also think it’s important to represent Nintendo history over hardcore interests or trends, so franchises that are popular beyond the core fanbase – Wii Fit, for instance – were emphasized.
First, I really wanted to limit how many franchises I cut. Only two from Nintendo got the axe, which are Earthbound, as it has been officially pronounced dead, and Wii Fit (which was kind of tough to cut). Some other thoughts I had:
-Wario had to unfortunately go, as Mario was pushing too many characters on such a limited scale.
-For Pokemon, I kept its mascot, and its most popular character.
-Wolf got in partly for his status as a villain, with Ganondorf and Bowser Jr.going, it left only Bowser on the roster as a villain.
-I debated between keeping Lucina and Marth as the sole FE rep, but ultimately chose Marth as he’s the original Lord.
-I kept the three biggest 3rd Party characters in terms of their name value and relevance to Nintendo. Some may find it odd that I chose Ryu over Megaman, but Ryu is the face of Capcom, and the “king of crossovers.”
So let’s go over what I did for this and why I chose these 30 characters.
Starting with the original 12 characters from Super Smash Bros. I feel like the only one who is not iconic enough is Jigglypuff. She is not really relevant anymore, and there are plenty of Pokemon who could take her place. Arguably, Ness and Captain Falcon are not relevant anymore except that I believe they are staples of Super Smash Bros. at this point. Ness represent the Mother series in its entirety, and the Virtual Console releases are finally making the series relevant worldwide (especially if Mother 3 does come out). F-Zero is not really that relevant, but let’s be honest here, Captain Falcon is known more for Super Smash Bros. than F-Zero. It is Smash that gave him all the personality that everyone knows him for. Remember what happened in the Robin reveal trailer? People were hyped for Robin but some were arguably more hyped for the Captain’s return. So I feel they should both stay and the other 9 are Nintendo’s all-stars.
Moving onto Melee, this game added the remainder of Nintendo’s all-star cast so characters like Peach, Bowser, Zelda and Marth are pretty safe bets. Mr. Game & Watch just scraped onto this 30 though. I felt like between him and ROB, he provided a more unique gameplay experience. He also is unique that he represents Nintendo before they broke into the home console business. As for the cuts from Melee, I felt that if we are limiting ourselves to 30 then every character should feel unique (except Luigi who can get away with it) so clones & semi-clones have no place here. That leaves Mewtwo, Sheik and Ice Climbers. With the latter two it was a matter of not being relevant and Duck Hunt perfectly representing the retro character for the roster. For Mewtwo however, it was tough. The only reasons Lucario beat him on was to make sure more than just generation 1 got a show and because Lucario is a fighting type and this is a fighting-party game so he makes sense. Its why he is the other mascot of Pokken Tournament alongside Pikachu.
Now onto Brawl: Pit, Olimar and Wario are all basically all-stars at this point as well, so their place was cemented. The other Brawl reps to make it into this roster were Diddy Kong, Lucario & King Dedede. I already explained Lucario and as for the other two, it was easy. The Donkey Kong Country and Kirby series are two of Nintendo’s biggest so two reps was easily deserved. Why I chose King Dedede over Meta Knight was because the former is the series Bowser, Kirby’s arch nemesis and recurring villain. As for the cut characters who were not already similar to others, like Lucas, there was ROB, Ike, Zero Suit Samus, Meta Knight and the Pokemon Trio. With ROB and Meta Knight I already explained and the Pokemon trio have the same reason behind them as Mewtwo. Zero Suit Samus received the cut due to their already being a Samus on the roster who is more iconic, as well as Metroid being still well represented with even one rep. Ike just lost out on a relevancy issue as Robin made for a much better Fire Emblem representative as he was more unique with his magic, represented various aspects of the Fire Emblem series that Marth did not and was a good representative of the modern Fire Emblem games.
Finally we have the latest Smash titles for Wii U & 3DS. The characters to stick around from this title were Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Duck Hunt Duo, Robin and Shulk. I already explained Duck Hunt Duo and Robin. Villager and Wii Fit Trainer can be seen as all-stars as both were from some of Nintendo’s best selling series ever. For Little Mac I felt he was receiving the Pit treatment, a classic character who came back with a new game and unique moveset so can be thought of as an all-star character now. As for Shulk he is essentially the Marth of the Xenoblade series which is one that is continuously growing and will likely be relevant in the future as well. For the non-clone cut characters we have Rosalina, Bowser Jr, Greninja, Corrin and Palutena. The latter two got cut for similar reasons to Ike and Zero Suit Samus. The other three all received the cut mainly due to space as they all had valid reasons for remaining but hey, it could only be 30 in the end.
To end off I thought I would talk about my choices for 3rd party characters as I decided to keep two: Sonic and Pac-Man. For the latter it was because he is easily the most famous and recognizable character of all of Smash’s guest characters. As for Sonic I still think he is important to Nintendo and Mario because of their history, even if he is not as much an icon anymore.
30 characters is pretty hard to cut it down to but it was certainly doable. The issue after this is which newcomers you then add to the roster to make it back up to 58. An experiment I did on twitter regarding this caused me to end up with a roster which did have some new icons but I felt a lot of Nintendo’s major icons are in the game already now and anyone else I added felt like secondary characters who were not as important.
Just cutting down to 30 Veterans was too easy, so I decided to go a step beyond: In this “30 Smash Characters” scenario, newcomers are also already included. Means I have to cut down EVEN more. The reason is: Nobody would buy a fighting game with so many cut characters and a few Newcomers. So I think it’s important to have that in mind as well.
Sp 8 unspecific newcomers would take a slot in this version of Smash Bros. That would mean there’s room for only 22 veterans.
To make things easier, I just pretended that a 30 characters smash would be a reboot. This means Characters have a chance to get a new moveset. I did that so I can concentrate ONLY the character and its franchise. Every character made it in the roster under the following criteria:
- The franchise is a big seller for Nintendo
- The character needs to be the face of his franchise. Means it’s impossible to not think of that character, when you hear the IP-name.
- How often Nintendo used that character in the past, including merchandise and cameos
- The franchise also needs to be relevant for Nintendo (f.e. History)
You can see who fulfills these criteria. I almost cut Captain Falcon, but then thought he’s relevant enough. If F-Zero wouldn’t be in Nintendo Land or be an DLC Pack in MK8, I would have cut him. Earthbound was a tricky one: I really love this series, but aside from a few merchandise… there is’t much anymore. Nintendo can’t invest in a new entry without Itoi’s agreement and Itoi himself is not interested in another Earthbound game. So sorry, Ness fans.
Lucina is, to admit, to most obscure choice here on the list. Awakening is soon an “old” game. But I still think Awakening would be still relevant as Fire Emblem’s first REAL breakthrough in the West. Wherecross-promotion is concerned, Lucina is most of the time one of the characters chosen (alongside Chrom). Robin would be the better representative for Fire Emblem as a whole since he’s a tactician. But Intelligent Systems chose Lucina as the representative of the “new age of Fire Emblem”, so I gave her that slot in the roster instead of Robin.
There’s a similar situation with Charizard and Mewtwo. Mewtwo has a huge following, but so does Charizard. And since Charizard was on the cover from the first Pokemon game, he’s also better known by everyone. We also shouldn’t forget that it’s VERY likely that Pokemon gets a newcomer anyway.
Retro characters were very hard to decide. I had 3 VERY important characters from Nintendo’s history with Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B. and Duck Hunt. But there was only room for one slot. Here, I decided on only ONE factor: Was the character known and popular before Smash Bros.? Game & Watch was a hit in the 80s, but most people forgot about that, even with the G&W Gallery and GameBoy Mini-Series. R.O.B. was an NES peripheral toy got some love from Nintendo and they gave him several cameos before Brawl. But it was more like Nintendo remembered R.O.B. and not so much by fans. But even if you combine Mr. Game & Watch’s and R.O.B.’s popularity before their Smash debut, it’s nothing compared to Duck Hunt. There were already requests as soon as Nintendo showed Melee for the first time and even now, Duck Hunt is even well known outside Smash unlike R.O.B. and Mr. Game Watch (which is funny, since R.O.B. has more cameo-appearances than Duck Hunt).
But I admit, I totally underestimated Olimar and Pikmin’s popularity. I think he’s the REAL important character, who’s missing here. But I think to everything else, I don’t really need to explain anymore…: I cut every 3rd-Party Character not because I’m a Nintendo purist, but rather to REALLY focus on Nintendo Characters. Or else, EVERY past 3rd Party Character (except maybe Bayonetta) would have made in the roster and that would mean I had to sacrifice 6 Character Slots for 3rd Party Characters. I think the Nintendo focus helped me to define the roster.
| Mario | Luigi | Bowser | Peach | Yoshi | Donkey Kong | Diddy Kong | Link | Zelda | Ganondorf |
| Samus | Cap. Falcon | Fox | Kirby | DDD | Pikachu | Mewtwo | Marth | Robin | Mr. G&W |
| Villager | Sonic | Mega Man | Pac-Man | Miis | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
My thought process in this was prioritizing the more iconic Nintendo franchises first, then going into more modern titles. Pokemon keeps its mascot and most popular legendary, Mr. G&W is more representative of Nintendo’s early major successes, Marth and Robin represent two eras of Fire Emblem, Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man represent some of gaming’s first true icons alongside Mario, and Miis are a staple of modern Nintendo, having existed for a decade now. The remaining 5 slots cycle between games for newcomers.
- Smash Ultimate Development Timeline - May 16, 2020
- Straight from the Source: Koji Igarashi on Castlevania in Smash, Bloodstained - October 16, 2018
- Sakurai Discusses Isabelle, Echoes, and Newcomers - September 26, 2018
30 huh?
1.Mario
2.Luigi
3.Bowser
4.Peach
5.Link
6.Zelda
7.Kirby
8.Pikachu
9.Lucario
10.Samus
11.Fox
12.Yoshi
13.Donkey Kong
14.Diddy kong
15.Marth
16.Lucina
17.Pit
18.Wario
19.Captain Falcon
20.Villager
21.Isabelle
22.Ness
23.Mr.Game & Watch
24.Olimar
25.R.O.B
26.Little Mac
27.Greninja
28.King dedede
29.Inkling
30.Miis
You know I have to agree with you Push. It is going to seriously kill me to say this because this is my second favourite from the first game. I honestly think the one that is getting harder to justify is Jigglypuff. Mewtwo, Squirtle and Ivysaur are all more popular.than Jigglypuff now so they ONLY lost their spots just because Jigglypuff was in since the original. I assume Ivysaur is more popular anyway. I think she is in Pokemon land. She definitely was on the school playground. Referring to Ivysaur as “she” because of Brawl.
The truth is if Jigglypuff did not have Smash Bros 64 going for her Mewtwo would have got in at the main roster and not as DLC.
Eh, but it’s nice to have the originals still around.
I wouldn’t be able to decide, but let me point this out. Imagine the salt if this were reality.
*suffocates under a pile of salt*
marth is more obscure than lucina
But he has “first” status.
My list:
1. Mario
2. Luigi
3. Peach
4. Bowser
5. Yoshi
6. Wario
7. Donkey Kong
8. Mr. Game & Watch
9. Link
10. Zelda
11. Ganondorf
12. Samus
13. Pit
14. Marth
15. Robin
16. Kirby
17. Dedede
18. Fox
19. Pikachu
20. Ness
21. Captain Falcon
22. Villager
23. Olimar
24. Shulk
25. Mewtwo
Maybe:
26. Pac-Man
27. Sonic
28. Mii
For me, this is easy. I don’t know if you’ve considered this but in total, 30 series has had character representation in smash over the years already if you include past games and smash 4’s DLC. If you take 1 character from each series, you can have every series stay and not worry. Also no series will get more characters than the other so it stays balanced.
1. Mario
2. Donkey Kong
3. Link
4. Samus
5. Yoshi
6. Kirby
7. Fox
8. Pikachu
9. Ness
10. Captain Falcon
11. Marth
12. Ice Climbers
13. Mr. Game & Watch
14. Pit
15. Wario
16. Snake
17. Pikmin and Olimar
18. R.O.B.
19. Sonic
20. Villager
21. Megaman
22. Wii Fit Trainer
23. Little Mac
24. Miis
25. Pac-man
26. Shulk
27. Ryu
28. Cloud
29. Bayonetta
30. Duck Hunt
Except that you cut Luigi, the embodiment of player 2, just so someone like the WFTs or Bayonetta could stay.
I mean I guess but it covers a large array of series where people might’ve started there video game journey. Although if I created the series myself, Bayonetta would be nowhere near the game.
You and I may get along after all.
I don’t think that shaving the roster to 30 fighters would be a good idea at this point. Remember the backlash that Capcom received when they reduced the fighter list greatly in Street Fighter V?
Of course its not a good idea, that’s not the point. Its just a “what if” scenario.
Going from 58 fighters to 30 is a terrible idea for Nintendo to do irl but this is still an interesting topic to discuss.
With a strict limit, it would allow them to focus on making the characters more original and varied. And if room is left open for a few new contenders, Isaac is certainly one to consider because he’d just be so damn unique and bring a lot to the table.
If we assume a strict 30 characters, I also assume no clones. So many people like to cut Diddy Kong, but that’s a ridiculous notion. Diddy Kong wouldn’t go anywhere.
He’s got a registered trademark, for one, that means he’s relevant and iconic enough that Nintendo believes he is a huge marketable character. And he appears in a LOT of games and throughout Nintendo’s marketing materials as well.
If we had a hard cut on the roster, we’d definitely lose third-parties first (the only one who MIGHT stick around is Sonic), we’d definitely lose Earthbound, we’d likely go down to no more than 2 FE characters, and we’d definitely lose all clones (the idea of clones, however, makes the notion of a clear cut strict amount irrelevant anyway, but we’re assuming a strict cut).
Here’s my speculation on this idea of dropping down to the bare basics (not worrying about the number as long as its less than 30, and not adding new characters, but assuming the previous games existed, so its actually cutting characters):
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi
Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong
Link, Zelda, Ganondorf (new moveset)
Pikachu, Charizard, Mewtwo
Kirby, King Dedede
Samus
Fox
Captain Falcon (he’s practically the face of the series)
Olimar
Pit
Little Mac
Villager
Mr. Game and Watch, Duck Hunt
Sonic the Hedgehog
This would potentially leave room for 5 more characters. Earthbound and Wii Fit cut completely and IC’s not brought back. I don’t know how to categorize Mii, so I left them off, but not necessarily cut completely.
No way we’d get more than one third-party with this restriction, and Sonic is it because he’s been in two games already and was a fierce rival of Mario. If we got a second, I’d argue Mega Man.
Most franchises get only one character. Mario gets 5, Zelda and Pokemon get 3, DK and Kirby get 2.
Damn, how’d I forget FE lol? Marth definitely needed there. Very iffy on a second, but if we got a second, it’d be Robin.
Plus Sega is pretty chummy with Nintendo these days.
Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser
Yoshi
Wario
Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong
Link, Zelda, Ganondorf
Samus
Kirby, King Dedede
Fox
Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario
Captain Falcon
Ness
Marth, Robin
Pit
Olimar
Little Mac
Villager
Wii Fit Trainer
Shulk
Duck Hunt
Sonic
———-
This roster cut most retro and third-party series and retained “essential” characters that are popular, recognizable, and/or marketable from each remaining series. Some close calls include:
Meta Knight is important to the Kirby series, but not quite as much as Dedede. 30 slots leave little room for rival characters.
Mewtwo barely lost out to Charizard. I wanted to focus on highly marketed and popular “mascots” for Pokemon, and while one could argue that Mewtwo fits the bill, Charizard eclipses it in popularity and market visibility.
Captain Falcon really only survives thanks to his extreme popularity and F-Zero’s crossovers with Mario Kart and Nintendo Land since his series has been dormant for a decade.
Ness was really close since the Earthbound/Mother series has been officially dead for a decade. Hyped Virtual Console releases and popularity barely keep Ness in.
Ike and Corrin lost to Robin for a slot. I picked Robin because of Awakening’s popularity, sales, and legacy within the series, which gives it lasting relevancy compared to Fates and Ike’s games.
I picked Duck Hunt over the other retro reps because he is the most well known. Unlike G&W and R.O.B., the Duck Hunt dog was popular (and infamous) even before Smash.
I picked Sonic over the other third parties because of his extreme popularity and ties to the Mario series.
Potential cuts in case of newcomers (unordered): Charizard/Lucario (if replaced by a new Pokemon), Captain Falcon, Ness, Wii Fit Trainer, Duck Hunt, Sonic.
If the first Smash Bros came out right now, the roster would obviously be hugely different. If we want to keep it at 30, let’s do it.
Mario series:
The big dogs. This franchise gets the most reps and sets the tone for how the other series are represented. These are the core characters and the most easily recognizable ones. They have the star power and are a great sample of the cast.
You’ve got the main character, the sidekick, the love interest, and the villain, plus the most popular side character. Sorry, Toad/Rosalina/Jr/Wario.
1. Mario 2. Luigi 3. Peach 4. Bowser 5. Yoshi
Zelda series:
When you get right down to it, despite the incarnations, only three Zelda characters matter; the Triforce trio. Without Melee’s influence, Sheik would be a long gone character. If we’re starting fresh, she’s gone. Toon Link could MAYBE have a shot, but maybe not in the first Smash outing.
6. Link 7. Zelda 8. Ganondorf
Pokemon series:
Traditionally, Pokemon has pretty much been on par with Mario for representation. A lot of that seems to be out of necessity because of the ever-widening scope of characters fighting for relevancy. Jigglypuff would never be considered at this point, and Greninja may not has been given a chance over characters making their debut.(Not only that, but his recent popularity in the anime and his pick as the #1 Pokemon in the franchise lend a lot to the “Smash Bump,” I think. Maybe) Pikachu is a no-brainer, and Charizard and Mewtwo are consistently popular. Lucario ekes by because it’s probably the most popular non-gen 1 Pokemon and for variety.
9. Pikachu 10. Charizard 11. Mewtwo 12. Lucario
Metroid series:
When it comes down to it, Metroid is a personal story about one character, and that’s all we really need. However, it seems like Samus and ZSS are both pretty equal representation at this point. But without Dr. Mario, maybe they wouldn’t want to “repeat” the same character too many times. I’ll play it safe and just include regular Samus, though I can see a strong case for ZSS.
13. Samus
Kirby series:
Like Zelda, only three characters in the Kirby series really matter. Everyone else (Gooey, Ribbon, Magalor, etc.) are one-and-done characters. The Kirby series getting third billing with Zelda seems like a fair place to put them, considering the durability of the franchise and constant influx of games.
14. Kirby 15. King Dedede 16. Meta-Knight
Donkey Kong series:
We all know DK deserves to be treated better than it is in Smash, but if this was the first outing, I think we’d only get one rep. It’s a Mario spinoff and I’m not sure if the “Returns” series is the product of a “Smash Bump” or not. If it is, DK probably would have fizzled out with the rhythm games on the Gamecube. Even so, he’s so important to Nintendo’s history that he couldn’t be left out.
17. Donkey Kong
Star Fox series:
Like DK and so many other franchises on this list, I think Star Fox’s continued popularity is the result of a “Smash Bump.” Without it, Star Fox’s relevancy probably would have ended at the DS’s awful Star Fox Command.
18. Fox
Fire Emblem series:
This is a series that has absolutely gotten a “Smash Bump.” Without Marth and Roy in Melee, Fire Emblem would have never caught on with western audiences, and Awakening would have been the last in the series. Since it was still so long-lasting, I think this hypothetical Smash team would have wanted to give them a nice send-off. Remember, in this alternate timeline, Fates never happened, so the two reps would be from the first and last entries in the series.
19. Marth 20. Lucina
Animal Crossing series:
The up-and-comer of the list. The opposite of many franchises in Smash, because while the “Smash Bump” keeps F-Zero and Fire Emblem and Star Fox alive, Animal Crossing got a rep on it’s own merit and with Sakurai saying he initially didn’t think it was a good idea. That’s hard to ignore. Even so, I think the existing rep perfectly encapsulates what Animal Crossing is.
21. Villager
Pikmin series:
For the Pikmin rep, I’m going to institute the “Marth Rule.” Olimar is the star of the first game in the series and is the character most closely linked to it. So he gets the spot.
22. Olimar
Retro series:
Sakurai loves the NES. Because of that, I think a lot of the remaining characters would be from that era. Again, in this alternate universe, Kid Icarus: Uprising never happened, as there was no “Smash Bump” (or rather, Sakurai Bump) for that franchise. This would have been the perfect opportunity to pull Pit out of retirement. I also think that F-Zero would largely be a dead franchise by now, so the Captain would be MIA. I know, I’m sad about it, too. As for Mother/Earthbound, one could argue that Fire Emblem is all the RPG representation this game needs, so maybe they’d be left out, too.
23. Pit
Since Sakurai likes retro stuff so much, and since he’d probably want to bring in wide appeal to other audiences, I think his next two picks would be based on the NES market overseas.
24. Little Mac 25. ROB
There’s always a “WTF?” character in Smash, be they Jigglypuff/Ness, Game and Watch, or Wii Fit Trainer. Since the game really only has room for one of these characters in its first outing, I’m going to go with the most iconic (Also, Jiggs wouldn’t be relevent enough at all to be considered, and I explained my reasoning against Ness above).
26. Mr. Game and Watch
With the modern customization of characters and the hours that have gone into producing Miis, there’s no way they’d not be considered at this point.
27. Mii
I’m intentionally leaving third parties off of this list. It’s the first game. Wouldn’t they want to test the waters?
But that ;eaves room for three more characters. When pressed, I’d probably say Zero Suit Samus, Wario, Diddy, Duck Hunt, and Toon Link are all logical choices. Maybe even the Ice Climbers, if the team didn’t hit the same roadblock as with the 3DS.
I think I said this before on the article about who might get cut in the next game, and I’m gonna say it again here: What’s the point? Why would you want to envision a Smash game with fewer characters? That just seems like backwards thinking to me. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I just see this as an excuse for people to cut the characters they don’t like and include the ones that they do.
People envision the next Smash game’s cuts because cuts happen, so it’d only be realistic to factor in cuts when speculating for the next game’s roster. People include characters they want and cut ones they don’t in fan rosters, as speculation usually involves opinion.
This specific 30-character roster is simply an interesting exercise for speculators. Other fighting games have trimmed down the roster in sequels, so a smaller Smash roster is a possibility, however slim.
TL;DR: Cuts happen, speculation is fun
I understand that speculation can be fun, but I don’t find the idea of imagining less content on purpose to be a worthwhile endeavor. When fighting game rosters get trimmed, it’s typically not because people want less characters, but because either they have less development time to work with (like the cuts that happen in Smash games), or because they want to focus on a specific section of their content (like what I think was the reason for SFV, I’m not too sure with that though). In either case, I’d rather think of “What would I do with more development time?” rather than “Who would I take development time away from?”
Long story short, if it’s speculation, why limit your creativity?
Although everybody refuses to have any cuts as there are certain characters that’s kept as favoritism, it is possible that there will be cuts no matter what due to certain reasons. So in my case, I have thought who may remain but who may removed if the rosters gonna be up to 30 characters, including new entries. First of all, may it’ll be the time when somebody from Smash 64’s veterans will be removed, and when clones won’t be allowed to return except for one. Here are my lists of 30 character rosters.
1. Mario 2. Luigi 3. Peach 4. Bowser 5. Donkey Kong
6. Link 7. Zelda 8. Ganondorf 9. Samus 10. Yoshi
11. Kirby 12. Dedede 13. Fox 14. Pikachu 15. C. Falcon
16. Ice Climbers 17. Marth 18. Mr. G&W 19. Pit 20. Wario
21. Olimar 22. Villager 23. WF Trainer 24. Little Mac 25. Shulk
26. Duck Hunt
– Although Mario series are important without limitations because they’re the face of Nintendo, we know that there’s too many of them as few of them aren’t that important, which is why I removed Rosalina and Bowser Jr., and Dr. Mario for being a clone. However, Luigi stays that he’s different from being a clone of Mario, and have experiences of being main protagonists from Luigi Mansion series (and of course that messed up Mario is Missing). Peach also stays as being a main heroine, while Bowser is the main villain as well. Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario will stay as the all represent their own franchises, as DK is to Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi is to Yoshi’s Island, and Wario is to Warioware.
– Zelda series is similar to Mario series, as I kept Zelda for being a main heroine, while Ganondorf is a main villain. I’ve removed Toon Link for being a clone, and Shiek as she’s no longer important as she’s OoT’s exclusive character. I could replace her with Impa if possible, but that wouldn’t be the point of this roster.
– Samus mostly takes action while wearing her space suit armor, so I’ve decided to remove her zero suit form as that’s no longer important.
– Kirby series is similar to both Mario and Zelda series, as Kirby is the main protagonist and Dedede is the main villain/antagonist of the series. Meta Knight sometimes doesn’t appear in every series as possibly rival characters aren’t that necessarily important, so I decided to remove him out of this list.
– Fox is the main protagonist of the Star Fox series, as Falco was decided to be removed for being a Fox clone. Wolf may be part of that too, but I won’t talk about that further on due to avoid that argument.
– Pokemon series is the difficult one to decide on, but since Pikachu is known as the most important character of the series as a mascot, I decided to keep it there while others were removed since there’s no exact main hero/heroine/villain in game.
– Sakurai said that those games without a sequel or games that have been ended won’t appear in Smash. And since the Mother/Earthbound series has been completely ended, I’ve sadly decided to remove Ness and Lucas out from this list due to that point. But for C. Falcon, even we haven’t heard any new games for F-Zero, the series have made many cameos and crossovers throughout many Nintendo games, so we can tell that the franchise is still alive, as I decided to keep everybody’s beloved captain in this roster.
– There may be too many characters in Fire Emblem, while most of them are clones which is disappointing. However, Marth is known to be main icon of the series as he’s the very first character from the very first FE game, so it is possible that Marth will remain while others will be removed. However, I guess Lucina will remain as Marth’s alternate palette, just as how it was planned in the beginning.
– As said above, Sakurai said that those games without a sequel or games that have been ended won’t appear in Smash. But the retros are different as they have been appearing many times as cameos and crossovers throughout many Nintendo games. Due to that, Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch, Little Mac, and Duck Hunt Duo would return as well. Unfortunately, ROB may be removed as the peripherals may no longer count anymore.
– Kid Icarus series is another difficult one to think of. Although Pit remains as main protagonist while Dark Pit is removed due to being a worthless and disappointing clone, I was struggling whether Palutena should remain as being the main heroine. But as we’ve already know that she’s been disliked by many players, I think she’ll get removed due to that point.
– Pikmin & Olimar, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and Shulk represents modern game characters, and since their franchises are still popular as there’s sequels, I think they’ll survive being part of the roster.
– Miis can be something interesting that you can play as your avatar character in game, but as some people refers that avatars aren’t that important in Smash, I’ve decided to remove from that reason.
– We know that Smash is the “celebration of video games”, but if this roster gonna keep its reputation of being a “Nintendo All-Stars”, then sadly, I must remove all third party characters due to that point.
– And for the remaining empty spaces, I’m gonna add the characters from the most popular and still continuing series. And those are…
27. Chibi-Robo 28. Inkling (Girl/Boy/Octoling) 29. Rhythm Heaven 30. Fossil Fighters
That’s quite it for my side. But to be honest, I wouldn’t hope this will happen in any form, as I do wish everybody would survive even new characters would be included. Once again, sorry for a long comment here.
I’d take Rlax Alax’s roster and replace Peach and Pit with Falco and Diddy Kong.