Characters I want in Super Smash Bros. - Revisited

In December of 2018, I released a quiz titled “Characters I want in Super Smash Bros.” Smash Ultimate had just released and I was feeling the burn of my dream characters not making it into the game, so I made a quiz to share said dreams to the world (since user blogs didn’t exist yet). But that was over four years ago, and alot can happen in that amount of time. Some of those characters actually ended up in Smash Bros. as DLC! Some of these characters I don’t ever want in the series at all now. And the rest are just characters that I would still like to see make it in one day. I thought it would be fun to go back and take a look at this quiz and talk about my opinions more in depth then I did back then as well as how I feel about my choices now.

Let’s start this journey off somewhere simple with the characters on my list that made actually it into the game. The reasons I wanted them in the game are generally the same reasons that Nintendo and Sakurai wanted them in the game, so the decision-making process behind these characters' inclusions are fairly well-documented. Rather than regurgitate this easily accessible information, I'll mainly focus on how well I feel this characters were implemented. Not all of these characters were added as full-fledged fighters, but they were all added in some way that was more or less what I was hoping for so they do all fit together in this category.

This was the first of my ‘dream picks’ to graduate to full-on Smash character, and I think of all of them this was probably the one I wanted the least. For the others I wanted them because I either really like their game or they had an ability that would make for a cool gimmick. I mostly just wanted the bear and bird in the game because they were a very popular pick whose inclusion would make alot of people happy, and I thought that they would bring a fun move set that would mesh well with the rest of the original Smash cast. Unfortunately, Banjo was neither fun to play as nor against. Shame.

Technically Sans was never added to the game, but there was a Mii Gunner costume of Sans released as DLC. It was the first Mii Costume that was explicitly designed to make you feel like you’re playing as the character, rather than just your Mii wearing a costume based on them. It was also the first to come with a music track and the only one to come with a brand new remix made specifically for Smash. While Sans definitely had potential to be a full fighter, I’ll admit that he probably works better as a Mii costume. He's the type of character that likes to avoid combat as much as possible so it'd be a bit weird to see him duking it out with Mario and the gang. I’m quite partial to putting the Sans head on the Minecraft bodies.

OK, so Spring Man is absolutely not playable in Smash Bros. in any way, but the reason I wanted him in the game has less to do with Spring Man as a character and more to do with the unique gameplay of his home game, ARMS. Spring Man was just the de facto main character of the game and was thus the de facto "request" for Smash. When it came time for ARMS to get its own DLC fighter in Smash, it was NOT Spring Man (due to his status as an Assist Trophy) and the honour was bestowed upon Min Min instead. While the long-range boxing aspect of ARMS certainly made for a unique Smash character, I’ve heard that Min Min was not very fun to play against. I can’t verify this as I’ve never played against a Min Min, rather I am the Min Min everyone else has to suffer through. Yes, I am truly despicable.

On my quiz I had listed Steve and Alex as separate answers, as I thought they would be in Smash as separate fighters. Echo fighters was a concept I thought would’ve been expanded upon more than it was since it allowed the Smash team to add more characters without using as many resources. However, all seven echo fighters in Smash Ultimate were all available in the base game back in 2018 and no more were ever added through DLC. While that’s disappointing for numerous reasons, I struggle to see how they could’ve implemented it for the Minecraft characters given how unique they are to the rest of the roster. I had initially envisioned Steve and Alex as more… Smashified characters that would play similarly to the rest of the roster, and I was shocked to see what was essentially a whole Minecraft sub game in Smash Ultimate. It totally blew my expectations out of the water and it was way better than anything I had come up with in my head, which I’m grateful for since Minecraft is one of my favourite games of all time. The addition of Zombie and Enderman as alternate skins were a welcome surprise, too.

These are the characters that I no longer consider among my ‘dream picks’. They were mostly just joke characters, except the only “joke” would be them getting in Smash. Or characters I want only out of nostalgia and would add very little to the game. Or both. Or a third thing. The main point is that I absolutely do not want them in Super Smash Bros. anymore.

This pick was definitely a remnant of a different era. While Reggie Fils-Aime, the real-life COO of Nintendo of America, was always a stupid pick for a playable character in a fighting game, at the time it at least made a very small amount of sense. I think him retiring a few months later was what twisted this as Reggie always being a funny ha-ha Smash pick in my head, though in retrospect I don’t think I was totally crazy for wanting him in the first place. Reggie, alongside Iwata and Miyamoto, was a central face of Nintendo during the WiiU era and the three would often take part in skits to promote games. This was very unique as most other corporations try to ‘hide’ the people behind it, especially ones so high up the corporate ladder. Reggie felt like an unofficial Nintendo character who had his own small fanbase, myself included. Like R.O.B. Reggie was tangentially related to video games, however unlike R.O.B. he was not a mass-produced item and his exclusion from Smash was almost inevitable. Oh well. At least we have his appearance in the Mii Fighter trailer where fights Satoru Iwata. That was pretty cool.

Of all the (fictional) characters I’ve talked about so far, Linebeck is probably the most obscure. He’s currently the least guessed answer on the quiz sitting at a measly 19% and understandably so. Not including cameos he’s only appeared in one game, being The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass; AKA, the game most often considered the worst Zelda game. And even though he accompanied Link throughout almost the entire adventure, he appeared in very few major story beats. He was mostly restricted to occasional dialogue whenever you crash his ship into a rock or something. The few times where he takes the spotlight he certainly leaves an impression on the player, hence why I wanted him in Smash, but he and his game haven't made enough of an impression in the gaming world as a whole (or even just Zelda as a series) to really justify a spot in Smash Bros. There was a comment chain on an old upload of Linebeck’s theme that talked about a potential Smash Bros. move set that got my imagination running, but outside of being completely incompetent and hitting people by accident there really isn’t any fighting potential for this character. I still love him though.

There’s a lot to unpack with Prince Fluff, but let me just start by saying that I love him and his game, Kirby’s Epic Yarn. I think he’s really underrated and should come back more often, but therein lies one of the main reasons I don’t want him in Smash: he’s just not relevant anymore! The Kirby series loves bringing back old characters yet Prince Fluff is consistently left out, with his only non-Epic Yarn appearance being a sticker in Planet Robobot. It’s unfortunate but he’s pretty clearly not an important part of the Kirby series, so including him would be an odd pick when you have so many characters you could chose from. Another problem I have is that there isn’t alot of move set potential. You could look to pretty much any Kirby character and a Smash Bros. move set writes itself, but for Prince Fluff? He only has a handful of attacks he can use and nothing about it would be particularly interesting. Again, I love the character, I love the game, but unless HAL wants to do more with him and expand upon his character I don’t think Smash Bros. should really be in his future.

Snivy was my first Pokémon ever. I think that’s a decent enough explanation as for why I wanted it in Smash. If Snivy was going to get into Smash then they missed their chance seeing as there are now 9 generations of Pokémon and Smash rarely pulls from any generation earlier than the current one for new Pokémon fighters. The only way I could see Snivy getting in would be if they wanted to go back and add in a Pokémon from every generation, and while that would be a cool idea there are much more interesting Gen 5 Pokémon than Snivy, plus there’s already so many starter Pokémon in Smash, plus plus we don’t need to double up on the grass type Pokémon since Ivysaur basically uses every attack that Snivy would use in Smash. I'm happy with Snivy's inclusion as a Pokéball Pokémon, though I'm NOT happy that Snivy doesn't have a spirit battle. Bruh.

Kamek would just be a very boring character to add to Smash. His whole gimmick is making other enemies stronger and having them fight for him, rather than doing any fighting himself. I’m fairly certain the only reason I wanted Kamek was because he would’ve been the first Yoshi character added to Smash since Yoshi himself, though considering how intrinsically linked the Yoshi series and Mario series are (especially when compared to the Donkey Kong and Wario series) I don’t think anyone is exactly itching for a new character from either series for the sole reason of adding a new character from said series. And similar to Snivy, there are other ORIGINAL characters in the Yoshi series that are just as, if not more deserving to be on the Smash roster.

Title explains it all. I still want these characters in Smash. Do it Nintendo, you won’t.

Sort of a cliche pick for Smash Bros., though I can’t help but want him despite that. He’s really the last major Mario character to not be in Smash, so he would just naturally become one of the most wanted characters. I’d imagine that he’d have some sort of cheater mechanic where he can grab opponents in the air or use his final smash twice. Something that just very explicitly breaks the rules of Smash but in a fun way! Not like how they ‘accidentally’ gave the DLC characters cheater mechanics… grumble grumble…

I think these two would make for fun echo fighters for Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong respectively, with both of them having enough unique aspects to them to change up at least one or two moves Chrom style. Dixie would obviously use her ponytail for many attacks including her recovery and Funky could use his surfboard… somehow. Outside of DK himself and to a certain extent Diddy Kong, the Donkey Kong series is very unattached from the Mario series as a whole, so any additional characters are welcome.

I don’t understand the anti-Bandana Dee argument. Just a Goomba with a hat? He’s the default Player 2 character in many modern Kirby games! In the single player games he’s Kirby’s main ally! He’s Kirby’s best friend! He has a spear! What’s not to love about him? I’d go into more detail about how I think he could be implemented in Smash, but doing so is beyond the scope of this short blurb of this blog. Maybe some other time.

I want Ninten for the same reason I want Dixie and Funky: would make for a cool echo fighter of Ness (or Lucas). Ninten is probably a bit more justifiable for Smash since he was the protagonist of the original Mother game, which is the same reason Marth has stuck around since Melee. Considering there are only 3 Mother games having at least one character from each game is a much more attainable feat than having a character from each Pokémon or Fire Emblem game. The only thing really going against him is the fact that Ness is just an upgraded Ninten, so his inclusion could feel at best redundant and at worst confusing having two nearly identical boys wearing nearly identical outfits fighting. But it’s about what Ninten represents, not necessarily who he is, so like… who cares?

Inkling echo fighter that uses different weapons for its specials. There are so many cool weapons in the Splatoon series that would be nice to see in Smash, and it would be a shame to not have them in some fashion. Having them attached to an Octoling moveset is my preferred outcome, and Inklings make for a perfect to build off of. This is probably the single most likely character on my entire list to be included in Smash at some point, given the ease of development and the ever-growing popularity of the Splatoon series.

The DS is my most wanted ‘character’ for Smash. It started out ironic then turned unironic the more and more I thought about it. Imagine the PictoChat stage but as a fighter, where everything you draw turns to life and can damage your opponents. The stylus and the clamshell design of the console can fill out the rest of the normal moves with sword and bite type attacks. Is it ridiculous? Absolutely. Is it stupid? Maybe. But everyone’s allowed at least one absolutely ridiculous and maybe stupid pick, and mine happens to be a hypothetically sentient Nintendo DS console.

So that’s the end of this blog. I was originally going to add a section for characters I want now that I didn’t include in my quiz back then, but writing just these ones took a long while and I’d like this blog to release at some point in my life. I could talk about that kind of stuff for hours and I would never stop if I didn't put SOME type of limitation on it. If people are interested I may make a follow up, but who knows. I’m pretty notoriously bad at following up on my blogs 😅

Bye for now!

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