Smash Bros Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses is Fighter #5

[thePlinko]

As I said earlier, popularity doesn't factor into it as much as history. Sakurai gave us some background on FE in the video presentation and as I also said earlier, Smash and FE have been closely linked since melee. There's no such thing as fighters that "need" to be in there when it comes to Smash. Smash is Smash.

I also don't care about clones. I like being able to pick between characters, for example; I don't like using Marth, but Lucina is one of my mains. Clone arguments usually get a snore from me. I don't fuss over them because I'll just use who I like; which by the way is what Smash is about.

By that logic “Pitfall” should have more representation than Super Mario. Pitfall was an Atari game so it has much more history. Popularity is by far the more important factor, and having 8 characters from an incredibly niche series is not a good thing. If you don’t care that there’s close to no difference between Marth and Lucina why do you need them as separate characters? Why not just have them as separate costumes like Bowser Jr? Saying the argument bores you because it doesn’t apply to you doesn’t invalidate the argument. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people already disliked the ridiculous amount of FE characters in the game, so adding another isn’t good.

 

[Azure Sage]

By that logic “Pitfall” should have more representation than Super Mario. Pitfall was an Atari game so it has much more history. Popularity is by far the more important factor, and having 8 characters from an incredibly niche series is not a good thing. If you don’t care that there’s close to no difference between Marth and Lucina why do you need them as separate characters? Why not just have them as separate costumes like Bowser Jr? Saying the argument bores you because it doesn’t apply to you doesn’t invalidate the argument. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people already disliked the ridiculous amount of FE characters in the game, so adding another isn’t good.

FE isn’t niche. I’d argue it’s more popular than say Xenoblade or even Metroid. Even regaining popularity in recent years it’s still been pretty big in Japan. Same reason why Hero didn’t get much excitement in the west but japan went nuts for him. There’s more than one target audience here.

The difference between their movesets is why I prefer Lucina. Marth has tippers and she doesn’t, and I don’t like tippers. If she were an alt costume of his that wouldn’t change that and I wouldn’t use em at all. The differences with most echo fighters make them better, at least for me.

 

[thePlinko]

FE isn’t niche. I’d argue it’s more popular than say Xenoblade or even Metroid. Even regaining popularity in recent years it’s still been pretty big in Japan. Same reason why Hero didn’t get much excitement in the west but japan went nuts for him. There’s more than one target audience here.

The difference between their movesets is why I prefer Lucina. Marth has tippers and she doesn’t, and I don’t like tippers. If she were an alt costume of his that wouldn’t change that and I wouldn’t use em at all. The differences with most echo fighters make them better, at least for me.

FE? More popular than Metroid? You have to be joking! It doesn’t matter if it’s more popular in japan. Japan is an incredibly small audience compared to Europe and North America. Maybe since it’s made in japan they have a more skewed view on what is and is not popular but that doesn’t change the fact that in most places of the world FE is considered “that one game the class nerd plays” and not much else. Sure it’s gained popularity in recent years but nowhere near the point of Nintendo’s other franchises. I’d put it around the level of pikmin. The reason Hero didn’t get much hype is because it was outshined by Banjo (which is a shame because hero is easily my favorite of the DLC characters so far).

That may be the reason to have one clone. Keyword: ONE. Marth has 3 entire clones. The lack of a tipper, which really isn’t even that big a deal, could be enough for a single clone, none of the others have a reason. Roy is the exact same but on fire, which only does more damage and nothing else. Chrom is the exact same as lucina but with Ike’s up special. Nobody needed this! These all could just been alternate costumes.

 

[Azure Sage]

FE? More popular than Metroid? You have to be joking! It doesn’t matter if it’s more popular in japan. Japan is an incredibly small audience compared to Europe and North America. Maybe since it’s made in japan they have a more skewed view on what is and is not popular but that doesn’t change the fact that in most places of the world FE is considered “that one game the class nerd plays” and not much else. Sure it’s gained popularity in recent years but nowhere near the point of Nintendo’s other franchises. I’d put it around the level of pikmin. The reason Hero didn’t get much hype is because it was outshined by Banjo (which is a shame because hero is easily my favorite of the DLC characters so far).

That may be the reason to have one clone. Keyword: ONE. Marth has 3 entire clones. The lack of a tipper, which really isn’t even that big a deal, could be enough for a single clone, none of the others have a reason. Roy is the exact same but on fire, which only does more damage and nothing else. Chrom is the exact same as lucina but with Ike’s up special. Nobody needed this! These all could just been alternate costumes.

Metroid, a series that has less entries and is all but dead with a delayed revival, does not strike me as a series that is more popular than FE or one that has more history (it doesn’t). But I’m not here to dunk on Metroid. The bottom line is FE is incredibly popular in Japan and it’s had a surge in popularity in the West with at least 4 very successful games in the past couple years, with a strong connection to Smash as a series since Melee, lots of history, and also one that Sakurai likes a lot. FE is a good series to have in Smash and personally the “clones” don’t feel nearly as similar to play as as you say they are. Also sword characters are the best characters. mic drop

 

[Kirino]

It's understandable that people are disappointed in this addition and think that Fire Emblem is over represented, which is a fair opinion. At the same time, it's a popular series (it's hardly niche at this point), and Three Houses in particular has done very well. So it's not surprising that a representative from it was added, and plenty of people are excited about Byleth. Like I said, being disappointed and expressing that is fine, but the over reaction from some people is silly, and is why the fanbase has developed a reputation for excessive whining. I haven't seen much of that in this thread, but I've seen it elsewhere.

Sure it’s gained popularity in recent years but nowhere near the point of Nintendo’s other franchises. I’d put it around the level of pikmin.

This is just ridiculous. A quick Wikipedia search tells you that Pikmin 3 sold 210,000 copies about 3 and a half months after release, whereas Three Houses sold 2.29 million copies only about 2 months after release. I'd certainly put Fire Emblem close to Metroid in terms of popularity at this point, and likely above it.

 

[thePlinko]

Metroid, a series that has less entries and is all but dead with a delayed revival, does not strike me as a series that is more popular than FE or one that has more history (it doesn’t). But I’m not here to dunk on Metroid. The bottom line is FE is incredibly popular in Japan and it’s had a surge in popularity in the West with at least 4 very successful games in the past couple years, with a strong connection to Smash as a series since Melee, lots of history, and also one that Sakurai likes a lot. FE is a good series to have in Smash and personally the “clones” don’t feel nearly as similar to play as as you say they are. Also sword characters are the best characters. mic drop

Looking it up, Metroid has sold around 17.5 million copies, slightly more than fire emblem. This is with three houses, which is easily the most popular game in the franchise. I imagine that once prime 4 releases the sales for Metroid are going to fly right by FE. I’d also like to point out that FE has really only had three popular games in the past few years, being Awakening, fates, and three houses. I agree that FE has a connection to Smash, as in Smash was the only thing keeping FE alive for about a decade. It may be popular in japan, but as I said Japan isn’t the only place in the world. You say the clones feel more different but if you played marth and lucina side by side, and then immediately tried a different sword character you’d definitely feel a much bigger difference. I’m also not criticizing FE as a whole, I think it’s a fantastic series, but it’s not 8 characters good and I think you’re making it out to be more popular than it truly is.

Also you’re preaching to the choir about sword characters. Both my main and my secondary are sword characters. I have no problem with sword characters, I have a problem with Fire Rmblem characters.

 

[Ronin]

I’d argue it’s more popular than say Xenoblade or even Metroid.

EXCUSE ME?

But nah, it's true lol. Xenoblade's still relatively new, whereas Fire Emblem is seventeen installments in. In total, I'd wager that Xenoblade has sold about 5 million units across the board, whereas FE is more than double that across its entire lifespan (just an educated guess, I don't have any hard numbers). I'm extremely interested to see how the Xenoblade remake's gonna function on the Switch, and if it's gonna outsell above Three Houses or even come close. But honestly, pitting XC against Fire Emblem and METROID ain't exactly fair, man.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

EXCUSE ME?

But nah, it's true lol. Xenoblade's still relatively new, whereas Fire Emblem is seventeen installments in. In total, I'd wager that Xenoblade has sold about 5 million units across the board, whereas FE is more than double that across its entire lifespan (just an educated guess, I don't have any hard numbers). I'm extremely interested to see how the Xenoblade remake's gonna function on the Switch, and if it's gonna outsell above Three Houses or even come close. But honestly, pitting XC against Fire Emblem and METROID ain't exactly fair, man.

even for a relatively new series [if we're ignoring the previous ones], Xenoblade has gotten a good amount of popularity for some time now, despite not being from the 80s like the other two, besides, I wouldn't take how long a series has been around into account for its popularity since I'd wager splatoon is even bigger than all of these

 

[Spirit]

I'm sure all of this makes Byleth very sad

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I'm sure all of this makes Byleth very sad

thinking about it now, I am slightly more bummed that we still haven't gotten a new zelda rep, but eh, what are you gonna do

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

It's a really disappointing inclusion. The last thing I wanted was another sword fighter character from Fire Emblem.

 

[Quin]

Terrible way to end the pass honestly, and that while it was the most hyped up character in the pass. Terrible trailer, terrible direct in general, Boring (8th!!)FE character and the worst new stage in ultimate we got. Its nothing I get mad about, but this has to be my biggest smash related disappointment since Cloud and corrin for me.
It should have just been a quick reveal like how they did Terry and I think the general dissapointment would have been a bit lower.
Man, 8 Fire Emblem Characters. Meanwhile, Zeldas newest unique fighter is still zelda/sheik from melee....