Welcome to the 11th edition of Rate That Character Round Up! But before then we have our third RTC Discussion. Now that Smash Ultimate has confirmed some new characters, all of which we covered in RTC prior, we decided to talk about it. From how accurate we were to how… mistaken we were.
Begin this week, NantenJex covered another cute, magical, girl obsessed with puzzles: Lip
Verdict: In the end, Lip could provide a pretty unique moveset for Smash being based around puzzles, but we have to ask ourselves if we will even get a retro character this time around. Sakurai said the amount of new content was going to be a bit limited and there is not really a character that Lip could be an echo of. With fewer newcomers being added and a focus on major fan favourites, Lip doesn’t really seem like the priority, unless Sakurai really wants another surprise secret character like Duck Hunt and ROB.
- 45%
Next, NantenJex went back to the retro drawing board to discuss another classic star: Balloon Fighter.
Verdict: Not every Nintendo series needs a playable character for representation. We already know that the Balloon Fight stage is coming back and as the motto of this game is ‘Everyone is here’ we may also see the return of the Flipper item and maybe the Balloon Fighter trophy. If that is the case the Balloon Fight may be well represented already. Regardless, the Balloon Fighter doesn’t seem like the priority for Smash, even amongst other retro reps.
- 20%
With Echo fighters being a bigger part of this title, Liquid12A wanted to give his thoughts on a potential copycat: Dark Samus.
Verdict:
In a pre-E3 2018 era, it would have been easy to write off Dark Samus as a character lost to time, unlikely to show up in Smash as she was, pardon the pun, well past her prime. But the specific details of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s E3 demo and the Echo Fighter concept leave the Dark Hunter in a decent spot to join the roster to represent a new type of fighter. Let’s see the final score.
- 65%
NantenJex comes back to give a three-in-one deal from the Kirby franchise with Rick, Kine and Coo.
Verdict: Unfortunately I don’t see these three getting into Smash. They are very much flavour of the month characters who have only had recent popularity thanks to appearing as Dream Allies in Kirby Star Allies. They are popular amongst the Kirby fandom but not so much outside of that. These three are legacy characters and this does appeal to Sakurai but they were not made by him which is a huge disadvantage from this series.
- 5%
For NantenJex’s final RTC of the week he shines the spotlight on musical master: Barabara the Bat.
Verdict: In the end, Barbara’s chances are comparable to the stars of other big series from the 2000s, like Golden Sun and Custom Robo. She has some form of acknowledgement from fans but not nearly enough to warrant her getting a place in Smash. Maybe if she had a new game released or if Sakurai wants a curveball character, but otherwise don’t expect to see Barbara rocking out in Smash anytime soon.
20%
Finally, PushDustIn makes his return to the RTC scene with a fan favourite puppet: Geno.
I’ll be giving two ratings, one as an echo fighter, and one as a unique character.Echo fighter – 65%
Unique fighter – 50%
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This was an alright round up. I think there is a chance that the limited newcomers will consist of highly requested characters so I would give Geno a little higher procent then 65/50.
Here are the rest of my suggestions.
-Medusa (Kid Icarus)
-Parabô and Satebô (Satellaview mascots)
-Anyone from Megami Tensei (including sub-series)
-Slime (Dragon Quest)
with the exception of Rick, Kine and Koo alot of these characters are ones that i really didn’t care a whole lot. anyway, i have a question for you guys if Bomberman is an assit trophy in the game then how would you feel if Slime from Dragon Quest was an assit trophy as well since i imagine that Sakurai would have a trouble time choosing a Dragon quest character in general.
Mona
Jimmy T.
Hades
Viridi
Anna
Lyn
Tiki
Caeda
Minvera
Slippy
Eevee
The Ultra Beasts
Lin
Kos-MOS
Ray
Saki
Vivosaurs
Chibi Robo
Dillon
Professor Layton
Jibanyan
Dr. Eggman
Megaman X
Megaman EXE
Zero
Ken
Phoenix Wright
Black Mage
Cecil
Bartz
Terra
Sora
Edea Lee
Dragon Warrior
Slime
Ryu Hayabusa
Zhou Yu
Cao Cao
Yukimura Sanada
Nobunga Oda
Sophie(from the Atelier games)
Jack Frost
Aigis, Teddie or Morgana
Devil Summoner
Lloyd or Yuri
While I won’t rule out the possibility of it becoming an AT, I don’t think it would be wise of Sakurai to make Slime into one. Considering the ‘legendary icon’ status the Dragon Quest franchise has in Japan, going the AT way with Slime would surely upset, to say the least, a LOT of people over there. Its probably true though that Sakurai has a hard time thinking about (if there will be one in Ultimate) a possible playable DQ rep, besides Slime, between the most popular heroes from the games.
Here are my comments upon these characters…
Lip: Lip is in the same boat as Arle. While her game was replaced with the existing IPs from Yoshi to Pokemon, which both looked bad due to NOT being Tetris while Pokemon had a terrible voice acting, Lip and the game has grown a little relevant these days, alongside Takamaru as well. Not just her costume have appeared in Animal Crossing’s amiibo update, but also made a crossover appearance in Captain Rainbow alongside Takamaru and Little Mac before, so her relevancy is still active. We even haven’t seen Lip Stick item in the demo either, but that doesn’t confirm her inclusion as well since the game is still in development. While I do love to see her join Smash for the first time, its true that we still don’t know whether another new retro character would join Smash since its limited this time. We’ll just have to see…
Balloon Fighter: I must agree that his inclusion is futile. It’s really difficult to think of how a fragile character would fight in Smash, as his moveset is really limited. Besides, his balloon helmet has already been taken by the Villager, which we already know its weakness. Due to that, I can’t see his inclusion at this moment, but maybe he’ll appear as an Assist Trophy instead.
Dark Samus: While Dark Samus may be an interesting character, I wouldn’t think the Echo Fighters would always be a solution whenever bringing a new character. In other words, I don’t want to see only Echo Fighters filling up the entire empty roster as new comers are now limited. On the other hand, since we already got Ridley in the game, I don’t think another Metroid rep would join in either. We’ll just have to see…
Rick, Kine, Coo: Honestly, I was thinking about their possibilities, as thinking about their Dream Smasher too. (lol) It would be interesting to see both characters changing in one place, which can differentiate with the Pokemon Trainer; Rick doing most of the ground attacks and specials, Coo doing the air attacks, and Kine doing………something else. (lol) But I do agree their chances are futile, even they’re made by Sakurai. But even then, somebody should make their Dream Smasher article.
Barbara: Her inclusion may be interesting as needing a music game rep, but I do think her possibilities are too low at this moment. While I don’t prefer having new comers for popularity over history, I do see her game isn’t popular than Rhythm Heaven, as many (mainly westerners) prefer Rhythm Heaven instead. Even the game is mostly Japan exclusive, which isn’t really relevant outside of Japan. But since Sakurai wants to focus more upon Japanese games, maybe there is a slight of possibility. But even then, I can hardly see that chance…
Geno: I do hear treating Geno as Mii Gunner’s Echo Fighter is a rude choice. I don’t see why a customizable Mii character need an Echo Fighter. I do prefer Geno to be his own unique character rather than being anybody’s Echo, since I don’t think Echo Fighters would be the only solution to bring new characters, as it does sound lazy to me. Eventually, he’s also a Square Enix character, and I do think SE might bring someone else instead than Geno, such as a Dragon Quest character since that game is a major franchise alongside Final Fantasy. I do sense he may appear as an Assist Trophy like Bomberman, or returning as Mii Gunner’s costume.
While I won’t rule out the possibility of it becoming an Assist Trophy, I don’t think it would be wise of Sakurai to make Slime into one. Considering the ‘legendary icon’ status the Dragon Quest franchise has in Japan, going the AT way would upset, to say the least, a LOT of people over there. Its probably true though that Sakurai has a hard time thinking about (if there will be one in Ultimate) a possible playable DQ rep, besides Slime, between the most popular heroes from the games.
Sorry for the double reply, thought it didn’t through the first time.