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Super Smash Bros. U and Retro Characters

We seem to know more about Smash Bros U than we do about Zelda which is odd because we'll probably end up seeing Zelda first at the rate Sakurai works at.

One thing we do know is that Sakurai is very focused on using Smash Bros U to give some older more retro characters some limelight. It remains to be seen if Sakurai is just wanting to use smash Bros as a springboard for more returning video game titles like Kid Icarus or if he is being genuine and wants to give love to older and forgotten characters.

The question is this though; in a fickle and very modern gaming environment and with the main pull of any Smash Bros game being finding out which characters are going to be used, how would you all as contemporary gamers view characters included in Smash Bros whom you are unfamiliar with?

Would you prefer to see more recent characters in smash Bros or do you like Sakurai idea of putting the old classic and forgotten characters into such a mainstream and well loved game?
 

Krazy4Krash

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I don't want many new characters at all, let alone some old farts nobody's heard of in two decades. As quoted, SSB4 will not emphasise new characters. I love this. Characters have taken over the speculation, and being told that the new game will not feature new playable characters as much the last few is refreshing.

Even assuming for the sake of this thread that this isn't the case, I still don't want nostalgic garbage in the SSB4 roster. Best it be "reserved" for stronger candidates, other than "oh, you know that guy from the balloon fighter game? he should totally be playable! sure, he has no potential for a moveset whatsoever and nobody who cared about him in the 80s has given a damn since, but it'd bring back all those mediocre memories to 10% of our audience! Gotta bring him back..." Yes, I'm exaggerating, but I would think they'd be pushing it at this point.

What do I mean by 'stronger candidates'? Staple and representative first-party characters yet to be included. Third-party characters who have a strong history and/or current close relations with Nintendo. Even in these cases, I wouldn't be surprised to how many will miss out.
 

SNOlink

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I really liked the characters I was unfamiliar with (not necessarily "retro") in Melee and Brawl. I liked this because it was nice to discover new titles that I had never heard of before and made me interested in their games. I think having more retro characters in SmashU would be great for mostly this reason.
 

Cfrock

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I don't think I'd be thrilled to find a bunch of new playable characters I had never heard of. It was like when they revealed Lucas for Brawl, I had no idea who he was or what he was from and so I simply didn't care. The 'retro' aspect isn't what bothers me, it's the unfamiliarity. I have never played a Pikmin game so Captain Olimar's inclusion in Brawl was something I didn't care about, either, as a result.

If the new playable characters (however many or few there may be) were mostly characters I didn't know, regardless of whether they were modern or retro, then I would be disappointed. I probably wouldn't hold it as a negative aspect of the game, mind, it's just intially be a disappointment as I wouldn't find myself getting excited over any of them and I'd find myself having to go look into whatever game they were from, when, really, I want to be fighting and nothing more.

As for giving retro characters a day in the spotlight, I can do without that. Such thinking gave us the Ice Climbers so, if it were up to me, no more of that nonsense.
 

ThePurpleKnight

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I am hoping any new characters they put in at least have been in another game within the past 4 years, if I am gonna discover new games I want them to be worth playing and stuff before N64 was not worth playing, I would like to see more Sonic Characters, I know they arn't Nintendo characters but it bugs me that every new sonic game is just sonic and the other characters get no playing time.

Slightly more on topic I would rather they stick with current franchises but just add more and more unique characters.

Luigi = Mario 2, but he doesn't have to, brawl changed them slightly, could be fixed up a little more so luigis vacuum is more used.

Two links is fine, but why not use different items, keep arrows but change types, but change some other stuff, idk really but I want more unique characters.

Though some charactersI would like to see added that arn't in brawl are, Issac from golden sun, maybe Jenna to, Megaman and Zero, Fire Emblem Generals, perhaps Amelia, and perhaps the girl from Sword of Mana.
 

Akuhime-sama

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I really liked the characters I was unfamiliar with (not necessarily "retro") in Melee and Brawl. I liked this because it was nice to discover new titles that I had never heard of before and made me interested in their games.
I would have to agree- to some extent. I enjoy New characters not only for discovering new titles, but new move sets and options.
Though, as for the discovering new titles, that could happen ALSO through various stages, Items, music, and even in Trophies.
I never heard of Kururin Games until the Assist Trophy and trophy dealing with it.
Though, I was lucky enough to find Kururin Squash for 15 bucks on Amazon, so I can play it with my Gamecube Code Junkies Freeloader. I really like it too. ^^

But anyway, I really don't mind retro characters, or new characters, just as long as they are GOOD IDEAS. And by that, I mean that they have a good move set, and they have the ability to work well. Characters like Sonic and Snake however, I'm not sure if they were a good idea or not. I mean, they're not even Nintendo. Sonic is Sega, and Metal Gear is Konami. And, the idea of Super Smash Bros. was for NINTENDO characters to fight. Though, adding different companies in the mix isn't necessarily BAD, but they did kinda stray off their idea a little bit, even though their games may have appeared on Nintendo consoles.

But yeah, I'm cool with anything, as long as they have decent moves. I'm REALLY happy they have Meta Knight. He was always such a cool character to me. Though Brawl made my love for him really shine through xD

The only thing I'm hoping that will not be a total fail, are the controls. I'm skeptical on the control system, since I always played Gamecube Controller. And now I find that the new Wii consoles don't even HAVE SLOTS for those controllers? That's a little ridiculous in my opinion. I personally don't care if a Wii is backwards compatibility or not. I mean, I even prefer my Gamecube Games on the Gamecube itself. But the reason I'm a tad tiffed, is because they forgot all about the Mario Kart Wii and Brawl players who Prefer to use GC controls. Mario Kart Wii isn't too bad, because the Classic controller on that game isn't TOO much different than Gamecube, but on Brawl, the ABYX button layout of the Classic just confuses me to no end. So, I Stick with Gamecube controls.

But anyway, sorry for kinda going off-tangent. I just hope the new SSB will be good. :3
 
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I think they should use the ball from Pong.

Not really. I'm fine with retro characters being brought back to the forefront. Pit was old and dead before Brawl came along and revived him, which, in turn, spawned Kid Icarus: Uprising. Yeah, the latter concept could have been done with some other franchise, but the character interactions in that game as they were happened to be quite charming.

Throwing in weird characters just for the sake of increasing character selection is probably a bad idea. I'm sure Olimar's pretty cool in Pikmin, but he didn't come across as a very sturdy character in Brawl, not in any sense of the word. Some characters are hard to use, but they have a return that makes them worth mastering. Olimar never struck me as being that kind of guy. If HAL Laboratory really thinks about their next characters and designs them so they flow perfectly with the game, I'm all for more characters, but throwing them in just so there are more of them seems...redundant.

I'm all for slowing down on new characters so HAL can theoretically focus on gameplay. Gameplay in Smash Bros. has always been pretty awesome, but the more focus they can put on it above characters we probably don't need a whole lot, the better. Imagine an Adventure Mode that doesn't feel rushed and obligatory. I love that thought.

Nevertheless, if they're going to add new characters at all (and they probably will), I have a few suggestions for them.

Xenoblade (Shulk or whoever the new protagonist of the Wii U Xenoblade is)
Golden Sun (Isaac or another notable main character - I never played Golden Sun)
Kid Icarus: Uprising (Magnus; I would be genuinely surprised if he didn't make the cut)
Sin and Punishment (Saki or one of the protagonists from Star Successor - didn't play either of those, either)

I can't think of a whole lot of retro characters, but should some come up that make sense in Smash Bros. and they can be designed well, go ahead and throw them in.
 

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