Nintendo still showin' people how it's done.
I was kind of wondering what was they were going to reveal to make the Wii U version relevant. I still think releasing Smash Brothers on 3DS was a mistake, but not quite as big a mistake as releasing the 3DS version first. This could have been a HUGE sales boost for the Wii U. Instead, it'll be a nominal bump at best. The reveals they showed last week were certainly a help, though. At least Ridley's IN the game in a more substantial role than a stage hazard, though honestly I'd rather he be an assist trophy.
But whatever. It was a nice shout out to Metroid to at least give the Wii U version a game mode based on the game. I still think they could do some interesting things with Ridley as a character (you wouldn't even have to shrink him THAT MUCH based on what I saw, and as I've said before, Bowser's size has wildly differed between his appearances. I don't think it would break anything to shrink Ridley by a head or two. Nintendo's a clever company. I'm sure they could make it work.
No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.
Unfortunately, I'm 99% sure that will never happen now. They wouldn't make this game mode heavily featuring Ridley if he was ever planned on being in the game (hell, if he was ever planned on being in the game they would have found a way by now).
Anyways, enough harping on Ridley. On to my next character that should really be in Smash Brothers. This time I'm going on a theme rather than a character. As such, I'm offering three options (or all three could be added! :D)
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| Image from tshirtgifter.com/ |
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| Image from finalfantasy.wikia |
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| Image from finalfantasy.wikia |
Back in the day, in the nascence of mine youth, Final Fantasy was the premier RPG game pretty much. And Final Fantasy could only be found on the Nintendo. If you owned a Sega, you were stuck with Phantasy Star. Y'scrubs. (ok, I like Phantasy Star a lot, but gotta keep up appearances). So really, when one thinks of the old NES days, the purists among us think of a few franchises: Mario (natch), Mega Man, Castlevania (next time!) and, yes, Final Fantasy. The original 1-6 were NES exclusives. Nintendo and Squenix had a falling out around the time FFVII was in production, but they seem to be on fair terms now, particularly when it comes to portable entries in the series (which is where Squenix shines anyways, when they get away from that gritty, brooding, convoluted garbage that passes for mainstream Final Fantasy games these days). Crystal Chronicles, Four Heroes of Light, Bravely Default (a Final Fantasy game in all but name), this is where Squenix hearkens back to their days of yore and where the charm and delight of their earlier entries in the series really shine through.
Hell, Black Mage and White Mage were included in Mario Hoops. Clearly Nintendo and Squenix are buddies again.
I loved the idea of Nintendo and Squenix continuing this relationship, especially with their earlier, simpler entries and games/characters of that ilk. So I would love to see a shout out to those old days. But how?
Well, my first idea was to have a character that could transform between the four best-known "Warriors of Light" (pictured above). Yeah, SSB doesn't want to do the whole "transforming characters" thing anymore, but just for the sake of argument, let's stick with that. Warrior would be a heavy character that hits hard and has a variety of heavy weapon attacks, thief would be quick and mobile, black mage would have ranged nuking special attacks, and white mage would be primarily about support and recovery (or you could cut out white mage altogether, I suppose). Barring that, you could just go back to what Nintendo did in Mario Hoops and have black mage and white mage be different characters altogether, which is a fair idea as well. Both are incredibly iconic to the series and would represent it well.
And with the Warriors of Light included, one would naturally need their antagonist: Garland. Not much needs be said about him except that his final smash could summon Chaos. Wouldn't that be sweet?
The reason I chose the Warriors of Light/Garland over, say, any of the other characters from Final Fantasy 2-6 (i.e. the named characters like Cecil and Terra and Locke and whatever) is that, when you open up that door, you just have too many options. Going back to Final Fantasy I is more iconic, more reminiscent to the series' roots, where it is inexorably bound to Nintendo, and where their bonds formed. Hence why we get old school Mega Man rather than Mega Man X or any of his other, more recent incarnations.
Alternately, what is more iconic to the Final Fantasy series than moogles? I chose Mog from Final Fantasy VI for the image above, but you could do pretty much anything with the moogle, even pair him up with a chocobo like the chocomog summon. Mog in Final Fantasy VI is just one of the only incarnations of a moogle that is playable.
Other ideas that could work, particularly if you were going to choose multiple characters for my much touted fantasy roster include cactaurs (I believe there was a cactaur in Mario Hoops as well), tonberries (God I would love to just waddle around shanking people) or, as I mentioned above, any of dozens of named characters from the NES era Final Fantasy games. One could even go really off the reservation and pick Chrono (if you're not sick of generic swordsmen yet), Frog (if you're not sick of generic swordsmen yet), Magus, or any of a dozen other characters from Chrono Trigger, which also fairly well defined the NES (SNES) era of JRPGs.
Whatever character is chosen, I would love to see Nintendo and Squenix get back together again. They produced the best stuff together :-(
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