"There are a lot things to take into account when deciding [characters]." Sakurai wrote. "Does the character have something inherently unique about them? Can that be used to make Smash Bros. interesting? ... Basically, any character is accepted if I believe it works [in the game]. On the other hand, even if a character is unique, if they overlap with other characters and aren't unique as a fighter, they are rejected."
Now, it needs to be said that, overall, I think Sakurai and the team do a great job. They made Little Mac a character. They got Mega Man. And all the characters are (for the most part) well-designed and very fun to play.
Hell, one of the breakaway successes of the game for me so far is Pac-Man. F***ing Pac-Man.
But can you seriously tell me that Dr. Mario is unique and "doesn't overlap" with Mario? What about Dark Pitt and Pitt (admittedly I haven't played Dark Pitt to see how different he is, but he seems identical on first blush). Link and Toon Link. Lucina and Marth. How are these characters unique? I know in some cases they're slightly different, but only at the highest levels of play, in terms of stats, how hard they hit, their weight, their speed. I don't mind that they're there (well, except Dr. Mario. Just make him a color swap of Mario and be done with it), but don't go saying that Ridley isn't unique enough to put in the game but Dr. Mario is.
No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.
Anyways, as much as I like to bitch, the roster in this game is very diverse and robust. I wouldn't have any complaints at all if it weren't for Dr. Mario, really (though I'm still not a fan of having Samus and Zero-Suit Samus or Zelda and Shiek being different characters, but at least they are different characters). So far, I've not disliked any character I've played except Palutena, and even then only because her playstyle didn't really match mine. Though it still irks me that Kid Icarus has three characters and Metroid has only one.
No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.
Anyways, onto the next character: Wonder Red
(picture from the Wonderful 101 wiki)
So this guy's from the best game you've never played, the Wonderful 101. It's one of the most unique games to date. Brutally difficult and whimsically cutting, it deconstructs the Super Sentai formula and boils it down to its most basic parts...oh, and it has over 100 characters. Ok, to be fair only seven are really fleshed out (as much as anyone can be fleshed out in a game that basically boasts characters that are simple caricatures of common tropes), but it's a huge cluster-f*** and immensely fun.
Oh, did I mention it's brutally difficult?
Anyways, the premise of the game is that this team of Power Rangers-esque superheroes basically bond together to create objects comprised of human beings. Wonder Red, for instance, attacks with giant fists made of people. Sound silly? It is. Wonder Blue fights with a sword, Wonder Green with a gun (that fires people as bullets, natch), etc.
Now, I forsee some problems with using the Wonderful Ones in Smash Brothers and largely it is a problem of scale. The objects they create are huge in the game setting. But I think scale can be futzed a bit (No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go), and the huge combination attacks would be specials anyways, so they wouldn't be on the screen long. And that would make the kit unique because they would essentially be melee attacks with immense range.
Anyways, Wonder Red would be difficult to work into the game, but it doesn't get much more "unique" than this, Sakurai. I'm sure they could make it work.
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