The Super Smash Bros. series is truly a celebration of all things Nintendo. With hours upon hours of remixed tunes, over a hundred stages collected from gaming history, and hundreds of combinations of unique matchups and modes, there is no shortage of fun to be had in SSB Ultimate. However, nothing causes a fan to delight more than when their favorite character is added as a playable fighter.
The cast of 70+ characters is the main attraction, and everything else is seen as ancillary. Who cares if Geno is a Mii costume, I want him to be a playable character! Goomba as a trophy—no way, he should have been added to the roster back in Melee!
And so, Smash fans wait on pins and needles to catch a glimpse of their favorite phantasy fighter, hoping that Father Sakurai will do them justice.
You could hear the collective groans around the world when Waluigi was shown as merely an Assist Trophy at E3. He was “deconfirmed.” He didn’t stand a chance.
I disagree. I think you can look at all the Pokeball Pokemon, all the Assist Trophies, Mii Fighter costumes, and every one of the 1,000+ Spirits and be looking at a list of DLC candidates.
My opinion isn’t popularly shared, so let me explain:
- Sakurai didn’t decide the DLC. Nintendo did, just as development on the title was wrapping up. (Side-note: Nintendo is careful not to work on DLC too early—otherwise gamers would accuse them of charging extra for content that was made under primary development time.) Sakurai did not know what his bosses would settle on for future roster additions, so he couldn’t have kept every potential fighter from showing up by some other means.
- There are over 1,000 characters represented as Spirits in this title. If being a Spirit disqualifies a character from inclusion in the main roster, then there’s no one good left to pick from gaming history.
- Overlap happens. One good example is Smash 3DS, where you could take Pac-Man to his stage, throw an Assist Trophy, and have 3 instances of Pac-Man ghosts on the screen at once (Smash Attack, stage, and Assist Trophy).
Being in Smash in one form doesn’t mean you can’t be in Smash in another form. If a Pokeball Pokemon was converted to a DLC fighter, I honestly think the developers would see no problem in removing that Pokemon from the Pokeball lineup anyway!
Don’t despair. Your favorite character still has a chance.
Scott
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