Going forward, I hope Nintendo doesn't stick to the "main" character first for the Super Smash Bros roster

[Busaiku]

And as I said, it evolved into that. It has more to do with the games industry walking away from anthropomarphic videogame characters than anything. As others have said, Nintendo or better Sakurai shouldn't focus on getting PoCs if that means reaching for the obscurest of side characters instead of the more logical main characters and villains.

If the franchises at his disposal simply don't have that many PoCs among their main casts it's an overarching problem that can't be fixed with this game.

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And my point is that characters like Captain Falcon and Ness would have remained just as obscure as anyone else from their respective franchises had they not been brought into Super Smash Bros.
It's not a problem that this game alone is gonna fix, sure, but it can definitely help.

 

[Renna Hazel]

I think it would be really weird if side characters got in over the main character. For Nintendo franchises we get plenty of side characters though, so it doesn't have to be one or the other. With that said I'm team Twintelle.

 

[Bard]

Let's be honest, nobody knew Captain Falcon before Super Smash Bros.

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Ah yes nobody knew the main character of a franchise that was alive and healthy in the N64 days. Also, out of everybody from F-Zero you pick Kate Allen? Jesus.

I somewhat agree with what you said in regards to always having to go for the main character, but I feel like ultimately what needs to be done is that Nintendo should push is for diversifying their protagonists instead of having to rely on secondary characters to fill Smash's apparent "diversity quota". Characters like that shouldn't just be on the sidelines and Nintendo should get more blowback for failing to tell more stories/make more games with characters who aren't all just white men/women. I feel like this is much more a Nintendo problem than a Sakurai problem, though he does share some of the guilt in terms of roster choices.

 

[Ragnorok64]

This seems like a terrible idea as far as brand identity, recognition, and marketing are concerned.

 

[BassForever]

There is no logical reason to include a support character over a main character in a cross over fighting game. They chose springman to be the assist trophy for obvious reason, and they chose to highlight the rex mii costume for obvious reasons. They'll be promoted to full fighter before Min Min/Twintelle or Pyra/Nia/etc

 

[WellbornWarrior]

And my point is that characters like Captain Falcon and Ness would have remained just as obscure as anyone else from their respective franchises had they not been brought into Super Smash Bros.
It's not a problem that this game alone is gonna fix, sure, but it can definitely help.

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I give you Ness but Captain Falcon? No way, FZero X and GX don't have a cult following for nothing and for better or worse, Falcon is the lead of those games.

 

[Deleted member 33533]

There is no logical reason to include a support character over a main character in a cross over fighting game. They chose springman to be the assist trophy for obvious reason, and they chose to highlight the rex mii costume for obvious reasons. They'll be promoted to full fighter before Min Min/Twintelle or Pyra/Nia/etc

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Luckily there's a Xenoblade with a female protagonist.

 

[BassForever]

Luckily there's a Xenoblade with a female protagonist.

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And she'll get passed over for Rex who's game is the best selling game in the series

 

[Deleted member 33533]

And she'll get passed over for Rex who's game is the best selling game in the series

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Which would be such a crime because she's far better of a choice.

 

[Neoxon]

And she'll get passed over for Rex who's game is the best selling game in the series

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To be fair, at least Elma has a chance of being revisited in a potential Xenoblade X2. In all likelihood, Rex will become irrelevant between now & the next Smash game if the numbered Xenoblade games continue to have a rotating cast, with the protagonist of Xenoblade 3 (or 4) being the front-runner for Smash 6/7 (I.E. the Smash game after Ultimate) instead of Rex.

 

[BassForever]

To be fair, at least Elma has a chance of being revisited in a potential Xenoblade X2. In all likelihood, Rex will become irrelevant between now & the next Smash game if the numbered Xenoblade games continue to have a rotating cast, with the protagonist of Xenoblade 3 (or 4) being the front-runner for Smash 6/7 (I.E. the Smash game after Ultimate) instead of Rex.

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So did Chrom and he got in

 

[Busaiku]

Chrom is in Heroes though.

 

[TheDinoman]

So did Chrom and he got in

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As a quick, low effort echo fighter. Whereas Rex would obviously have to be unique.

Not a good example.

 

[Neoxon]

So did Chrom and he got in

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1. Awakening literally saved Fire Emblem.
2. Chrom was an easy echo.
3. Chrom's popularity endured over the years.

Xenoblade 2 is the biggest Xenoblade game in terms of sales thus far, but there's no way of knowing if the next Xenoblade game will be even bigger or not tot he point of eclipsing Xenoblade 2. Likewise, we also don't know if Rex's popularity will endure in the coming years like what happened with Chrom or if his fan demand will fade like the Pokémon from Gens 3 & 5. And unlike Chrom, Rex can't really be made into an echo if they want to stay true to his character.

 

[BassForever]

To be fair, at least Elma has a chance of being revisited in a potential Xenoblade X2. In all likelihood, Rex will become irrelevant between now & the next Smash game if the numbered Xenoblade games continue to have a rotating cast, with the protagonist of Xenoblade 3 (or 4) being the front-runner for Smash 6/7 (I.E. the Smash game after Ultimate) instead of Rex.

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And sakurai made a big deal out of rex and spring man not being in smash ultimate, he'll make good on that in the next smash

 

[Neoxon]

And sakurai made a big deal out of rex and spring man not being in smash ultimate, he'll make good on that in the next smash

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Maybe Sakurai will make good on his word for Spring Man, though that depends on if we get ARMS 2 between now & the next Smash game (I do think it'll happen at some point given the first game's success, but it'll need to at least be in development around the time of Smash 6/7's roster selection process). Rex has the odds stacked against him at this point, so it's basically now-or-never for him.

 

[BassForever]

Maybe Sakurai will make good on his word for Spring Man, though that depends on if we get ARMS 2 between now & the next Smash game (I do think it'll happen at some point given the first game's success, but it'll need to at least be in development around the time of Smash 6/7's roster selection process). Rex has the odds stacked against him at this point, so it's basically now-or-never for him.

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You saying that makes me think rex is a 100% lock

 

[Neoxon]

You saying that makes me think rex is a 100% lock

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It'll ultimately become a question of how popular Rex will be several years from now compared to whoever is the current Xenoblade protagonist at the time.

 

[TheDinoman]

Would they really prioritise Rex over protagonists from newer Xenoblade games by the time the next Smash starts development?

 

[Neoxon]

Would they really prioritise Rex over protagonists from newer Xenoblade games by the time the next Smash starts development?

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There in lies the problem with Rex's long-term odds.

 

[Mobu]

Would they really prioritise Rex over protagonists from newer Xenoblade games by the time the next Smash starts development?

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Spoiler

No

 

[Neoxon]

This seems like a terrible idea as far as brand identity, recognition, and marketing are concerned.

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I think the OP's point is something along the lines of Morrigan over Donovan, not a Mega Man-not-in-MvC3 situation.

 

[NSESN]

Isnt Xeno 2 sales very on par with Awakening launch aligned? I wouldnt be surprised if Xeno 2 sells better in the end. You cant say awakening saved FE and then that Xeno 2 didnt save Xenoblade.

 

[Neoxon]

Isnt Xeno 2 sales very on par with Awakening launch aligned? I wouldnt be surprised if Xeno 2 sells better in the end. You cant say awakening saved FE and then that Xeno 2 didnt save Xenoblade.

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Xenoblade wasn't in any danger of dying as far as we know, whereas Awakening was originally gonna be the last Fire Emblem game.

 

[TheDinoman]

I mean it really doesn't matter, literally the one reason Chrom got in was just because he could be an echo fighter.

It's the same thing with Dark Samus, they're both characters that previously missed their window of opportunity, so them getting in as echo fighters with considerably less effort put into them than the real fighters was basically their consolation prize.

 

[NSESN]

Xenoblade wasn't in any danger of dying as far as we know, whereas Awakening was originally gonna be the last Fire Emblem game.

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I think people exaggerate this point, Nintendo wanted the game to sell 250k to continue the series, that is less than what the DS games did. So Fire Emblem wasnt is danger either

 

[Deleted member 33533]

So did Chrom and he got in

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Chrom, like others have said, was an easy echo. His model was already made from Robin's final smash and well, he was an echo.

Also Chrom has appeared in more than one game since Awakening. There's Project X Zone 2, Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Warriors...

If there's another Xenoblade game with Elma, it'll be the 3rd game she's appeared in.

 

[Clefargle]

This is mainly up to sakurai, so if he is there, it's going to be main characters and villains first.

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Yeah and tbh I'm fine with it

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Screw Rex, add Mythra on her own.

 

[Jaq'or]

Give me Twintelle god dammit!

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I'm right there with you, but part of me can easily envision a world in which Min-Min gets in first because the team perceives her as more popular (especially after winning the Party Crash Bash).

 

[Gartooth]

Mega Man's snub from MvC3 had me really pissed and disappointed. Main characters are best because they are the most iconic face of the franchises, represent the series' gameplay the best, and are most of the time the most fan demanded.

If they want to work on representation I fully support doing it for supporting characters of already represented series. Zelda and Splatoon for example have good candidates for PoC newcomers.

 

[Rlan]

I would love Twintelle as the ARMS character rep, my thought on why she wouldn't is less that she isn't the protagonist, but that... she doesn't use her Arms. You'd think their ARMS rep would use their Arms. Twintelle's got this weird hair thing instead.

I could see them going Ribbon Girl / Spring Man duplicates as they do with other characters. If they keep just adding the main character to the game, they'll just keep getting white dudes or blank slate characters.

 

[justiceiro]

Oh yeah, would be sure cool if had hot raiden instead of snake, right? And who can forget how happy people were with piranha plant inclusion.

And if Megan showed up in Tekken,it because the TV show pushed him to promote the show, not out of demand from the Tekken team.

 

[SirNinja]

I wish Rodin from Bayonetta was a playable fighter instead of an assist trophy. He could have easily been a full character with a unique moveset. So much potential wasted there.

 

[Neoxon]

I wish Rodin from Bayonetta was a playable fighter instead of an assist trophy. He could have easily been a full character with a unique moveset. So much potential wasted there.

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I feel like characters like Rodin, Elma, & Dixie Kong were ultimately screwed over by Ultimate's focus on the Smash Ballot for the base roster as well as "Everyone is Here". That's not to say that I hate the fact that everyone is back or the inclusion of Ridley, King K. Rool, or the Belmonts, but it would be nice to have the aforementioned characters as well (but I understand that neither time nor budget are unlimited).