TSR's Super Smash Bros Thread|SWITCH HYPE TRAIN NOW BOARDING

[Kriven]

I say Cloud is random because I really think he is random. A lot of the roster is strange.
Captain Falcon is a race car driver, and he's got a punch equivalent to the force of being hit by one because of Smash.

Dark Pit is a palette swap.

Dr. Mario is just Mario with a questionable doctrine.

Duck Hunt was literally just the thing that laughed at your failures and the thing you shot.

Wolf, Falco and Fox are pilots.

Jigglypuff is only in the game because of the anime.

Luigi is all kinds of different in Smash compared to his normal appearances.

Mr. Game & Watch is literally an entire generation of gaming.

Peach's most violent actions outside smash are a game about emotions and sports games.

R.O.B. is a peripheral.

Wii Fit Trainer is for exercise software.

Random isn't a bad thing by any means. I like random. It diversifies the roster and makes things interesting. Everyone complains whenever a new sword fighter shows up. No one complains when the animal crossing villager turns out to be a psycho killer in Smash Bros.

Almost none of these are random additions, and the ones that seem like they are now weren't when they debuted in the series (and have endured because they are legacy characters). Most of the Smash characters represent the previous gaming generation (with the exception of Smash 64).

F-Zero was a hot franchise for Nintendo when Captain Falcon was added to Smash 64. It was used to showcase Mode 7 on the SNES, had a sequel on the N64, and would go on to have two more sequels before becoming dormant.

Dark Pit is Sakurai's lovechild. He was around before he was even really a character (as Fallen Angel Pit in Brawl).

Duck Hunt - I'll Give you that.

Wolf, Falco, and Fox are mercenaries, first of all. They were also the most popular characters from a franchise which, at the time, was wildly popular. Fox got in because Star Fox SNES and Star Fox 64 were huge games, Falco was added again because of Star Fox 64, and Wolf came in following right on the heels of Adventures/Assault/Command. Literally none of this is random.

Jigglypuff was a primary character in the anime at the time and was extremely popular in Japan and was featured in a whole shitload of promotional material.

"Luigi is Different" but he didn't start that way and he really isn't all that different from his other portrayals. Luigi's character isn't very consistent. When Miyamoto depicts the character, he's as heroic as his brother... but at other times he's lazy, and other times he's a coward... in Paper Mario he's a deeply depressed character with a hero complex.

G&W - Pretty random, but I guess I should mention that Game & Watch Gallery was an active series at the time.

"Peach's Violent Actions" this still isn't random. This isn't how random works.

ROB - Yeah, he's a little out there, but he was still pretty predictable. Hell, I even predicted him if you go look at that old Pre-Brawl CSS I posted.

Wii Fit Trainer - Sure, but she also represents Nintendo's casual interests during the Wii generation.


A slew of highly financially successful characters in a game designed solely to profit on successful properties does not constitute "Random", particularly when those franchises are Nintendo-owned. Random would be Steve from Blue's Clues suddenly appearing in Smash.

Edit: The only reason anybody should have been blindsided by Cloud's inclusion is because of how weird SE can be with their properties and their relations with other companies. He's definitely in the "Top Ten" third-party characters that are likely to have representation, though. He's an A-List icon with Mario and Link.