Part II . Newcomers
The following is a list of characters are not necessarily a list of characters we feel to be likely for SSB4. It is just a neutral stance on certain characters that are popular — or at least characters with loud fans. This is not a definite list, and is always subject to change as time goes on and as discussion about these characters brings about new thoughts.
The list so far:
– Ridley (Metroid)
– Dark Samus (Metroid)
– Lip (Panel de Pon)
– Sukapon (Super Robot Wars)
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2.1 The Call for Ridley
One popular potential newcomer for SSB4 is Ridley, a recurring antagonist from the Metroid games. Since the first inclusion of villains in the series with Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley has seemed to many a fairly obvious choice: Metroid is a large, respected franchise, and Ridley is (aside from the main character, Samus Aran) the most ubiquitous character in the games, as a recurring boss. The Metroid games never feature particularly deep or heavily-presented plots, but when they do Ridley usually factors in somehow. And in fact, if you travel back far enough in time, it was he who led the raid on Samus’ home planet of K-2L, which set off a series of events that eventually led her to become the galactic bounty hunter she is in the various Metroid games.
When talking about SSB4, Ridley usually comes up somewhere. Metroid as a franchise has been around since the early 1980s, and over the years has garnered a reputation for excellence that rivals Nintendo’s other big-name franchises, such as Mario, Zelda, Kirby and Pokemon. As of 2009, there have been a total of 10 Metroid titles, not counting re-releases on other systems (such as the GBA port of the NES original). All of these games have been well received critically and in sales, leaving the franchise as one of Nintendo’s top-sellers. Before the recent emergence of the Touch Generations games (such as Nintendogs or Wii Fit), Metroid was one of Nintendo’s top 5 best-selling franchises, on average, and after said advent, it still remains among the top 10.
Considering that far smaller series such as Star Fox have recieved more character representation in Smash Bros. than Metroid, it seems like including another character from the series would make some amount of sense.
One of the main problems Metroid faces here is it’s dearth of characters. If you exclude generic enemies (such as Zoomers or Shreikbats), characters that have only appeared in one game (Sylux, Ghor), and characters that have rarely or ever done anything physical in the games (Adam), then you’re left with only five characters: Samus, Mother Brain, Dark Samus, Kraid and Ridley. The only one of those that makes much sense is Ridley. While Mother Brain was the penultimate foe in a number of Metroid games, Ridley outnumbers her in appearances. In addition, she/it hasn’t appeared in a Metroid game (other than a slight cameo in Metroid Prime 3) since Super Metroid.
Kraid originally was of the same kind as Ridley: both were end-level bosses in the first Metroid game, and both are high-ranking Space Pirates. However, Ridley again has made more appearances than Kraid, who has to date only shown up in the original game, Super Metroid, and Zero Mission (a remake of the first game).
This leaves us with Dark Samus and Ridley. Dark Samus was introduced in Metroid Prime 2 as the main villain. It returned in the sequel, Metroid Prime 3. Many people see her as another possible addition, which will be detailed in a separate section. (It should be noted that Ridley also appeared in both those games – even if he wasn’t the main antagonist.)
As mentioned earlier, Ridley is, according to Metroid canon, the character who inadvertantly set Samus on her path to becoming the savior of the galaxy. It was he who killed Samus’ parents and destroyed her home planet: the mining colony of K-2L. Out of all the characters of the Metroid series, Ridley is one of the few with a strongly-developed backstory and a shared past with the main character. Although he never was the primary antagonist of any game, he always has been the leader/one of the leaders of the Space Pirates who hound Samus in practically every game. Even after his supposed “deaths,” Ridley always manages to revive himself, often as a cybernetic or half-robotic version, to confront Samus again.
One final note to make is that Ridley has technically been included in all three Smash Bros. games released so far. In Smash Bros. 64 he was seen in the background of the Planet Zebes stage. In Melee, he was seen in the introductory cinematic and his own trophy. And now, in Brawl, he appears twice a boss in the game’s Adventure Mode (Ridley and Meta-Ridley, a cybernetically enhanced version of the original). So despite not being included as a character, at least the developers of these games are conscious of the character.
2.1r – Arguments
>> “He’s too big”
A fairly common argument against Ridley ever being included as a character in a future Smash Bros. game is that his size is simply too great to mix with the rest of the cast. Which is true enough–aside from the original game, in which he was the same size as Samus, the pirate is always portrayed as a hulking behemoth many times the size of Samus. In Smash Bros. terms, he’d be almost the same size as Giga Bowser.
The equally-common counter-argument is that several other characters have been resized, so why not Ridley? For example, Bowser. In the original Super Mario Bros. game, Bowser was only slightly taller than Mario. In Super Mario Sunshine however, he’s almost the size of a small building. Another example is Captain Olimar, though for the opposite reason: in the Pikmin games, Olimar is smaller than such common household items as coins, paper bags, and AA batteries. Assuming the real world and Smash Bros. share similar sizes, Olimar would be crushed underfoot by even small characters such as Jigglypuff or Ness.
>> “He doesn’t fit into Smash”
A second, less-common argument is that Ridley’s feral, vicious personality and appearance simply don’t lend themselves to a playable character. In a series that actively plays safe with content control (such as the famous example of Solid Snake not using anything but explosives, when he’s more often seen in the Metal Gear games fighting with handguns and rifles).
The usual counter-argument is simply that the characters in Brawl are already diverse enough that Ridley wouldn’t seem so out of place. Both this argument and counter are rather nebulous, as there are an almost impossibly-large number of factors to consider when determining whether a character is too “grim” for inclusion in a game…but for argument’s sake, Ganondorf regularly destroys an entire land, Wolf O’Donnell is a remorseless mercenary, and again, Ridley is already a character in Smash Bros. (just not a playable one).
Ridley is still a popular candidate, and from the perspective of most, a very likely addition. Like always, take this opinion with a grain of salt, as Masahiro Sakurai himself apparently isn’t very sure about Ridley’s chances in a Smash Bros. game.
[Director’s thoughts on Ridley] / [Metroid comics]
– Spadefox
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2.2 The Dark Hunter
Alongside Ridley, possibly the most thought-of newcomer from the Metroid series is none other than Dark Samus. Given the immense critical and commercial success of the trio of games Dark Samus appears in (being all three games in the Metroid Prime trilogy), as well as the similarities to a character already in the game (Samus), many see Dark Samus as a no-brainer. It’s inclusion would be along the same lines as Meta Knight:Kirby, Luigi:Mario, Wolf:Fox, or even Ganondorf:Captain Falcon (though within the same franchise). A darker, more powerful semi-clone, sharing some of the same skills and mechanics, but with it’s own fair share of unique traits.
Within the franchise, Dark Samus has a very specific role. It plays three parts: the evil-yet-to-come in Metroid Prime, the shadowy puppeteer controlling the primary anatogonist(s) in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and the ultimate foe in the final game of the trilogy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Since all three games use the toxic substance known as “phazon” as a central plot device, and Dark Samus itself is made out of phazon (and later, the source of all phazon)…one might even go so far as to say that, while the player does not face it as the primary, final, end-of-game boss in two of the games, Dark Samus is still the real reason for Samus’ three adventures in the third dimension.
The least that can be said, then, is that Dark Samus has a good deal of relevance to the Metroid universe, and so would make a fine representative of it in that regard.
Aside from Dark Samus’ central role in those three games (which happen to be some of the most famous, and perhaps more importantly, most recent games in the Metroid series), the other major sticking point it’s supporters argue is that compared to creating a totally new, wholly orginal character from scratch (see: Ridley)…the foundation for Dark Samus is already there, in the form of Samus herself. Considering how varied “cloned” characters such as the aforementioned Wolf O’Donnell, Ganondorf, and Luigi are from their “source material”, this might not be such a terrible thing. The “cloned” characters from the days of Melee are no more post-Brawl. No longer do are the differences a “clone” has only slight physics/damage/control tweaks–the “clones” in Brawl have not only altered special moves, but entirely different normal attacks than their parents.
So it’s not difficult to imagine a second version of Samus, with more/less firepower but more/less overall range and versatility, with a set of different physics to boot, in the form of Dark Samus.
Of course, this is assuming a number of things. It assumes that creating a Brawl-level clone is indeed significantly easier to make than a wholly new character. It’s also assuming that Dark Samus is still relevant by the time production of SSB4 starts–that is, that by then there won’t have been made one or more new Metroid games with a new, perhaps more popular villain than Dark Samus.
Or not even a villain–any sort of character at all.
2.2r – Arguments
>> “Not another clone”
This is the only real argument against Dark Samus, the other being the much more opinionated one of “the 3D games aren’t as good as the 2D ones, so Nintendo should ignore them when choosing characters.”
This is a very easy to understand argument, and one whose counter point is rooted in practicality (a rarity here, you’ll see). Clones were never particularly well-received by the Smash Bros. community, and even with the vast improvements to these types of fighters Brawl made, some fans are still rather vocal about the opportunities Sakurai & Co. missed by simply giving us variations on certain characters as new fighters, rather than totally-new ones only (no matter how varied they are). Dark Samus is somewhat unique here, as by it’s very nature…it would almost have to be a clone. It seems difficult to make a totally new moveset for a character that shares their name with an existing Smash Brother.
And so the usual counter argument is just that it would most likely be more efficient for the developers to create a variation of Samus instead of a second unique fighter to represent the Metroid universe.
On that note, recall that Sakurai himself is not very sure at all of Ridley (the Metroid character most fans wish to see, and who analytically stands the best chance) due to how hard it might be to create a Smash-compatible version of the villain. Perhaps with that in mind, the director may choose to take the path of least resistance: Dark Samus?
[Director’s thoughts on Ridley] / [Dark Samus Info Page]
– Chief Mendez
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2.3 Japanese Flower Fairy
Chances are, if you’ve been following any of the speculation about this game (or Brawl before it released, for that matter), you’ve heard the name “Lip” tossed around. She is the main protagonist of Panel de Pon, known outside Japan as “Tetris Attack.” Lip, the fairy of flowers, sets out to rescue the land of fairies from the evil goddess Cordelia. In the Western version(s), Lip is replaced by Yoshi, Cordelia by Bowser and the fairy characters are replaced by generic Yoshi-series enemies. The reasoning behind this swap in theory has something to do with the American market at the time not being too receptive of a game featuring cute little anime fairies. So Nintendo chose to instead use iconic, already-established characters for the game.
This meant that Lip’s actual introduction to the West came much later (the original Panel de Pon game was a Super Famicom/SNES game) – in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Her magic rod, known to us as Lip’s Stick, was included as an item, and she was mentioned in the trophy description of that item. In Smash Bros. Brawl, she again never appeared personally. Her stick returns as an item, and a trophy for it. Also, her main theme from Panel de Pon was included as one of the possible songs on the PictoChat stage. Last, but not least, when Kirby uses his Stone attack, he sometimes transforms into a Garbage Block from the Panel de Pon games.
Given all that, she’s still a rather obscure candidate. Her face never actually appeared in the Smash series, but she has been referenced to death, which has made this a rather divisive issue.
2.3r – Arguments
>> “Japan-only”
The biggest argument against Lip is that she is a rather unknown character from a rather minor series only released in Japan. Although this is true, Lip can be a very interesting choice. She has several arguments speaking for her, as well – and those tons of references she has since Melee are only one of these arguments.
First of all, Panel de Pon is one of the two major Nintendo-made puzzle series (the other being Dr. Mario, and not counting one-shots such as Wario’s Woods or Yoshi’s Cookie). Both of them have a viable main protagonist representing their games: Lip and the titular doctor. The latter is playable in Melee as a clone of Mario, but was removed from the roster for Brawl. His presence is still felt in the form of two songs dedicated to him, however. Now that Dr. Mario has been removed, Nintendo’s puzzle games are without representation. This suggests Dr. Mario’s return, or alternatively, for Lip’s inclusion. So then what makes Lip a more likely choice than the good doctor? Besides Lip’s inability to be a direct clone of Mario, that is.
>> “Females”
The biggest argument for Lip is that she is female. That may sound sexist; but it’s true, females are rarely seen on the Smash roster and even Sakurai himself has stated that he’d like to see more female Smashers on the roster. Of course there are be far more popular female characters than Lip, but if you take the ‘puzzle’ argument into consideration, she doesn’t seem quite as far-fetched.
Lip is not really a retro character. Panel de Pon is a rather successful franchise, and like Marth, the first Lord of the Fire Emblem series, Lip is the first main protagonist of the Panel de Pon/Tetris Attack games. The references to her in Smash Bros., her role in the recent Wii game Captain Rainbow and several references in the Puzzle collections featuring Panel de Pon make her to a character who, although quite unknown especially to Western gamers, is well-recognized by Nintendo.
There are many other characters more likely to be seen in Smash than Lip, but she is still a likely pick. The list of arguments is small, and so is Lip’s popularity, but Lip remains a viable contender for a place in the Smash Bros. lineup.
[Director supporting female additions to Smash Bros.]
– Spadefox
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This cute guy is Sukapon. He is the main character and fighter of the Japan-only NES game Joy Mech Fight, which has been released in 1993. Joy Mech Fight is a game just like your usual fighter, using attacks ranging from normal punches to special moves to drain you enemies’ life bars.
Joy Mech Fight was one of the last games for the Japanese version of the NES, the Famicom, and has been released in the transition time from the Famicom to the Super Famicom (aka SNES).
Sukapon is a character who could nicely fit into the Smash roster, representing Nintendo’s first and only “real” Beat’em’Up game, and having a lot of moveset potential due to him already having a moveset in Joy Mech Fight. Just like Lip, the fact he’s only been in a Japanese game which, on top of that, has been released so long ago makes him a very unlikely and unknown choice.
Nevertheless, Sukapon was planned at some point for Melee (actually, that’s not totally clear. It could have been the first Smash, as well), but the team didn’t go through with it. Sakurai tells two fans that they probably shouldn’t expect to see Sukapon in the future. In an earlier comment, he said it was “doubtful” that the game would make it overseas.
Considering that Melee did make it overseas and Marth was supposed to be removed from the American version because he was Japan-only, these notes from Sakurai are to take with a grain of salt, making Sukapon a possible addition for SSB4 – as he has been planned for Melee already.
Blog postings of Sakurai regarding Sukapon:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/so…return510.html
Coming soon…
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Super Smash Brothers 4 