The beauty of Smash Bros. is in how it brings all of Nintendo’s many different series and franchises together. Smash Bros. makes possible for fans of Nintendo’s big franchises (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon) to discover and have a taste of many of Nintendo’s lesser series and allow for them to become fans of series they might otherwise never have played. This is true. When Smash Bros. was released, most people knew most of the cast with a few exceptions (Samus, Ness, and Captain Falcon). However, what the original Smash Bros. did was let fans of these series cross-polinate and discover a piece to series that they never played before. For example, after the release of Smash Bros., massive interest in Metroid and Mother increased, and a new generation of fans for these two franchises was born despite the last game in their series having been released 4 or 5 years ago at the time of Smash Bros 64’s release. I myself was interested in F-Zero due to Falcon’s appearance in the original, which made me curious enough to rent F-Zero X, and which after playing, made me a big fan of the series.
Although Melee only added only two new series the playable roster (Ice Climber although is technically counted as a series in Smash, it is simply a standalone game), its affects on creating a new generation of fans for gamers who never played their respective series prior to Smash Bros. was no less profound. The popularity of Fire Emblem and Game&Watch increased dramatically after the release of Melee (particularly with Fire Emblem in the West). Many people cite the popularity of Marth and Roy in Melee as the main reason as to why it Fire Emblem was finally brought over from Japan. Fire Emblem might have never been released outside Japan had it not been for the inclusion of Marth and Roy in Melee. Even myself became a fan of Fire Emblem due the inclusion of the Fire Emblem duo (for me it was Roy). I would probably have never of become a fan of Fire Emblem, let alone pick up a single game of it, had it not been for me maining Roy in Melee. I also bought Ice Climber-e for the e-reader since I was curious to see what the game of odd duo from Melee was like (however, I soon discovered how much of a sub-par game it was, good thing it was only five dollars). I also bought Dr. Mario for the NES due to Dr. Mario (and I liked it unlike Ice Climber).
Brawl continued a little bit better than Melee and added six new series as opposed Melee’s three. However, most of these series were very popular (Sonic and Metal Gear), or quite popular (Wario and Pikmin). Many people purchased Kid Icarus off of the Virtual Console thanks to Pit’s inclusion as well as increasing clamor for a new game in the series. Interest in many of Nintendo’s lesser series also increased a bit thanks to the Assist Trophies (particularly Little Mac, Stafy, Ray, Isaac, and Saki). However, I can say that Brawl had the least impact in my interest of Nintendo series that I never played compared to Melee and Smash 64. I personally feel that a playable character and a stage are needed in order for the played to grow an attachment to a character to a series in which they never played and make that attachment grow to a point in which the player’s interest will be piqued enough to try out the series in which that particular character hails from.
-ChronoBound
Super Smash Brothers 4 