Super Smash Bros. All-Time Merit Ranking (Finale in Issue 194!)

DIDDY KONG IS LOCKED IN!

Now we're just a week away from the April Shroom characters being known. At the current moment, that will be Bowser and Min-Min while Mr. Videogame himself would be the final non-shroom section of this batch.

Bowser 26
Min Min 24
Mario 22
Diddy Kong 16
Pac-Man 14
 
HALF WEEK WARNING

As of currently, we are slated for Mario being the final non-shroom section. With Bowser and Min-Min as our two characters in the Shroom. It's all very close though with only 2 points seperating between their placements. Any 2-3 votes for a different character could dramatically change things.
 
1. Mario
2. Bowser Jr.
3. Diddy Kong
4. Donkey Kong
5. Mr. Game & Watch

1. Lucas
2. Little Mac
3. Wario
4. Fox
5. Donkey Kong

I felt that it would not do Mario justice to be delegated to a forum post, so I am going to change my vote to hopefully put Mario out of the spot.

Thank you for reading.
 
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1. Min Min
2. Fox
3. Roy
4. Ganondorf
5. Little Mac
1. Min Min
2. Fox
3. Roy
4. Ganondorf
5. Wario
 
1. Lucas
2. Bowser
3. Robin
4. Bowser Jr.
5. Lucina
 
LAST CALL!

Tomorrow decides the April issue characters! If nothing else changes. Lucas shall be a non-shroom section. While Bowser and Min-Min will be the two Shroom sections

Bowser 26
Min Min 24
Lucas 20
Diddy Kong 16
Pac-Man 14
Wario 18
Little Mac 14
Mario 12
Fox 12
Robin 10
Bowser Jr. 8
Simon Belmont 8
Toon Link 8
Ike 8
Pyra 8
Mewtwo 8
Captain Falcon 6
Cloud 6
Inkling 6
Ridley 6
Zero Suit Samus 6
Peach 6
Mii Fighters 6
Roy 4
Bayonetta 4
Wolf 4
Young Link 4
Lucina 4
Ganondorf 4
Donkey Kong 2
 
ALL CHARACTERS LOCKED IN!

Bowser and Min-Min will be in the Shroom. While Lucas will be a non-shroom section ^^

Bowser 26
Min Min 24
Lucas 20
Diddy Kong 16
Pac-Man 14
 
PAC-MAN
Pac-Man_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 55
Fighter Group: Smash 4 Veterans
Franchise: Pac-Man
Game of Origin: Pac-Man (Arcade, 1980 (US/JP/EU)​

What we have right here now, is an absolute legend. Pac-Man of course is one of the oldest video game characters. I think it's safe to say a good majority of characters owe their existence to Pac-Man. Now, Pac-Man of course isn't the oldest Smash character in the roster. That notion belongs to Mr. Game and Watch. But Pac-Man was marketed quite differently then the more generic LCD characters of the Game and Watch. Pac-Man was essentially the very first video game mascot. A notion of a cartoon character that was simple enough to show in the game and also have quirky art to put on the arcade cabinet. Pac-Man paved the way for many video game franchises to come. He is also the longest lasting franchise in Smash, predating both the arcade Donkey Kong and continuing on to this very day.

Even if most of the games carry on the rather simple gameplay of the arcade original, Pac-Man has delved into many other genres much like Nintendo's own plumber. There are 2D Platformers (Pac-Land the rather infamous stage that is in both Smash 4 Wii U and Ultimate is in fact based on Pac-Man's first platformer ever), Puzzle games, a point-and-click adventure, 3D Platfomers (The Pac-Man World games being where Pac-Man's design in Smash is heavily derived from), Party games, Pinball, Kart racing (Even appearing in the exclusive to Arcade Mario Kart games), and probably others on a more obscure level.

Pac-Man's even delved into a fair bit of media in terms of a TV show in the 80s and the more recent Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. Although… in terms of the latter perhaps the less said about it, the better. This scene may be all you need to know about it. There's a rumor going on that if Sakurai had been mandated to use the Ghostly Adventures design, he might of rejected Pac-Man as a character outright. While that does sound a little extreme, as they could just make the different Pac-Man's as alts if Namco really wanted it. We probably couldn't fault him for wanting to keep Pac-Man a bit recognizable.

And while Namco's gone on to produce plenty of other lovable franchises from the Tekken games, the Tales of Series, Klonoa, and plenty more. Pac-Man's remained the company's main claim-to-fame and enduring mascot. When it was announced that Bandai Namco was involved with Smash starting with Smash 4, that instantly rose up all speculation about Pac-Man being in Smash. While there was some debate on maybe Namco would try not get too much special treatment. There was no doubt for many that it felt like Pac-Man could very well be inevitable as the chance must be too good to pass-up.

And happened it sure did. We had Megaman announced from the very first trailer for the game, Sonic would be announced to return. And come a rather surprisingly closed door session for Smash later in the day that the Mii Fighters and Palutena had already been announced. A trailer begin which would have two color stripes. Mario for red, Megaman and Sonic for Blue, and what is the 3rd primary color? None other then yellow, with the color of the stripe zooming out to the screen. A yellow circle appears on screen, and then shows the very simple look of Pac-Man as the tagline "Pac-Man Hungers for Battle!". And once gameplay is shown, the Pac-Man World design is shown for his 3D appearance with an assortment of wacky moves based on classic Namco arcade games.

It's a wondrous inclusion that completed what I like to call the Mount Rushmore of gaming. Of which I mean Pac-Man, Mario, Megaman, and Sonic. I actually made it my mission to get an amiibo of each one so I could have sort of my own gaming Mount Rushmore in my house. I didn't get too huge into the Amiibo craze. As aside from those 4, I only got Waluigi, Luigi, and Pikachu. But those 4 I absolutely had to have. (I initially thought of getting every 3rd party character Amiibo, but given what that would have meant by the time Ultimate came around… I think I'm happy I didn't decide to pursue it to that level). While it was sad to see Snake couldn't have returned, the 3 3rd parties that were in the base game of Smash 4 were of legendary icon status that just made a whole ton of sense. As of this group of 3 3rd parties, my favorite of them is actually the least merited for Smash. But that just tells you how awesome this set of 3rd parties were. Regardless of how many other 3rd parties join Smash. They're just not going to reach quite the level of these 3 altogether as the type of characters that most people's grandma knows. Pac-Man and Mega Man in particular are characters that are never going to be beaten in merit by any other 3rd party..

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Pac-Man is just one of those special cases where regardless of my greater attachment to Sonic and how Pac-Man isn't always Nintendo focused. He has a legendary status in gaming history that includes a multitude of appearances on Nintendo consoles since the 80s that mostly continues to this day. Pac-Man was 20 years old by the time Sonic was on a Nintendo console for the first time, and relevance to Nintendo matters for a Smash merit list. It would make absolute no sense for me to put Pac-Man below Sonic just because I like the latter more. And while Banjo and K. Rool are more Nintendo-centric, this is a case where Pac-Man's legacy starting from they hey day of the arcades is an even more enduring x-factor then the difficulty and/or popularity of the character. It's even fair to say that Banjo was more popularly requested all-time then Pac-Man is. But what certainly can't be argued I feel, is Pac-Man absolutely deserved to be in Smash. I at the very least hesitate to put him above Luigi But I feel it makes sense for Pac-Man to have one of the highest rankings of any 3rd party character to ever make it into Smash.

1. Link
2. Luigi
3. Pac-Man
4. Banjo & Kazooie
5. King K. Rool
6. Sonic the Hedgehog
7. Rosalina & Luma
8. Snake
9. Shulk
10. Pit
11. Ness
12. Jigglypuff
13. Duck Hunt
14. Steve
15. Mythra
16. Byleth
17. Wii Fit Trainer
18. Chrom
19. Dr. Mario
20. Dark Pit
21. Piranha Plant
 
DIDDY KONG
Diddy_Kong_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 36
Fighter Group: Brawl Veterans
Franchise: Donkey Kong
Game of Origin: Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 1994 (US/JP/EU)​

As I stated when covering King K. Rool I haven't played much of the Donkey Kong Country series. So my experience of Diddy Kong is low outside of the Mario spin-offs Diddy was included in. It is probably a travesty that he was never included in Mario Kart 8, though he was rather infamously put in Mario Kart Tour for a very high price. (It cost quite a bit more to play as Diddy then the entire booster pass for Mario Kart 8.) For me when he is included, he is kind of just there. Though I will say like many of the other character themes, he has a bop in Strikers Charged. Maybe it's not exactly fitting that Diddy gets this whole indian theme for him. But hey, it was a cool theme for him nonetheless.

Anyway, Diddy Kong pretty much serves as the Luigi in the Donkey Kong Country games. Though he stars as the Player 1 in the 2nd DKC game due to Donkey Kong being kidnapped. And DKC2 happens to be the most popular of the classic trilogy. (Poor Donkey Kong getting sidelined in his own classic trilogy past the 1st game. As the 3rd one didn't even include Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong as playable.) One pretty famous (or infamous if you were on that side in the 90s console war) was DKC2 had a place where Diddy could get up the rank up Cranky Kong's video game heroes. Where you could try to beat out Mario, Link, and Yoshi. Though off to the side next to a trash can in Sonic's shoes and Earthworm Jim's blaster next to a sign that says "NO HOPERS". A diss put out at two characters that were on rival systems. (Kinda funny now that Earthworm Jim 2 is now available on the SNES Nintendo Switch Online service. Double that you have DKC2 itself on there too, and there is the Sega genesis games in the Expansion pack. It's just something amusing to be able to have all that together given that jab put in Donkey Kong Country 2.

I should actually make something of a note about Dixie Kong. Who was Diddy's partner in DKC2. It's believed that Dixie is among the "Forbidden 7". A group of characters that were reportedly on a datamine of Brawl but must have been just too late for them. 3 of them were simply returning Melee veterans like Roy, Mewtwo, and Dr. Mario. But there were possibly 3-4 potential Newcomers in Dixie Kong, Toon Zelda (Who would have either transformed into Tetra or a Toon Sheik that would have been unique to Smash Bros.) and supposedly Plusle & Minun (Who probably would have been a mix between Pichu and Ice Climbers). It's very likely Dixie Kong would have been at least semi-cloned off Diddy. Though Dixie would certainly have to have something over Diddy in terms of her flight ability. If there ever turns out to be a 4th Donkey Kong character make it into Smash it probably will be Dixie. In some ways I hope she does, alongside a certain other flying character that debuted in 90s platformers in a franchise already in Smash…

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As for where Diddy lands on the rankings. I think it's fair to put him over Banjo & Kazooie being that Diddy's somewhat been recurring over the years. If Banjo was still owned by Nintendo and got a steady stream of games it's likely he would be higher. As much as the Microsoft deal is an x-factor, I don't think I can consider putting Banjo currently over a long-standing Nintendo icon in the DKC series that even has the Nintendo logo on his very hat. Probably helps that Diddy came first too. I am however, putting Diddy below Pac-Man as I just don't think Diddy has that kind of status even when you consider just Nintendo-wise. 4th as of the current list I think is still a very respectable place, I assure you

1. Link
2. Luigi
3. Pac-Man
4. Diddy Kong
5. Banjo & Kazooie
6. King K. Rool
7. Sonic the Hedgehog
8. Rosalina & Luma
9. Snake
10. Shulk
11. Pit
12. Ness
13. Jigglypuff
14. Duck Hunt
15. Steve
16. Mythra
17. Byleth
18. Wii Fit Trainer
19. Chrom
20. Dr. Mario
21. Dark Pit
22. Piranha Plant
 
LUCAS
Lucas_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 37
Fighter Group: Brawl Veterans/Smash 4 DLC
Franchise: Earthbound/MOTHER
Game of Origin: Mother 3 (Game Boy Advance, 2006 (JP)​

Poor, poor Lucas. Of many of the fighters, Lucas has one of the absolute saddest journeys of any Smash character. I won't spoil everything, but I think it's fair to say the very first big one. In that his mother Hinawa dies early on in the game. And there's plenty more tragedy to come after that. (It's why I made special note of mentioning Lucas when I covered Rosalina). I won't go too far other then that though as to let people either play through it through fan translations (We know Mother 3 is probably never ever going to get localized in the West, or at least not as faithful to the Japanese version because of a few certain aspects) or watch Let's Plays of people playing the fan translation.

Lucas has a bit of an interesting history in that he almost was going to replace Ness if Mother 3 had released when it was planned to. Instead, it got delayed and Ness got to live another day. Then there was a strong period during Brawl's speculation that it had finally indeed happened that Lucas was in and Ness was out. As I had mentioned when I got to cover Ness. Luckily however, there was room for the both of them after all. However, when it came time for Smash 4… the shoe was on the other foot. Ness came back, but Lucas was not present in the base game. He did reappear via DLC. But otherwise Smash 4 marked a point where Ness was going to remain the face of the MOTHER franchise when it comes to Smash. While there are many fans who will say Mother 3 is a much better game then Earthbound, Nintendo's refusal to localize it makes it hard for Lucas to have the same reach/legacy Ness has had. The irony of Lucas having two chances at Smash to become the new face of the franchise worldwide, and it's snatched away from him both times. Perhaps even meta-wise, Lucas can't escape from tragedy..

For those who don't pirate, Smash Bros. is the only official method to experience Lucas in any way unless they shill money for a Japanese GBA and a Japanese copy of Mother 3. (Or a Japanese Wii U for Mother 3 on the eShop… granted that's going away not too long from now too). A request so demanded it got lampooned when the creator of Robot Chicken got to provide animations for Nintendo's E3 in 2014. Though it's probably true that a majority of those who really want to play Mother 3 already have in some fashion. So it's not like there hasn't been ways to experience it, just not in any official capacity. And it'll likely stay that way for some time. The fact we just recently got Mother 1 and Earthbound on NSO probably only cemented that fact. It's still a regrettable situation. But hey, at least Smash is helping Lucas along in likely bringing people curious about this cult classic game.

Lucas is one of the characters I use in Ultimate. it's kinda fun what they did to change PK Freeze because they allow it to edge guard and fling opponents off stage. Making it super dangerous. (Though I imagine annoying to fight). I wouldn't say I prefer using Lucas to Ness. But it's nice that I kinda enjoy them both if I play as them in Ultimate. The only other experience I have with Lucas is that I watched Chuggaaconroy's LP of Mother 3 from years ago. It's been a long time so I may be a little fuzzy on the details but I am very aware of many of Lucas' major tragedies in his life.

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Sadly, the status of Mother 3 not being released outside of Japan is pretty detrimental to his merit. Enough that despite being older, I think I can't see him above Minecraft's Steve. A Worldwide game that's been able to play on Nintendo Systems for a little while and being THE best selling game of all-time.. While Ness and Earthbound get more credit for the more recent quirky RPGs since they actually released outside of Japan in places that current indie game creators were kids. I will at least keep Lucas above very new characters like Mythra and Byleth as at the very least having been in every Smash since Brawl (Even if in Smash 4, was through DLC) it still marks him as a decently known Nintendo icon. But the sad thing is, Lucas' merit may fade even lower in coming years (Though unless a new Wii Fit comes along that majorly features the trainer, I can't see Lucas ever going below her). Of all the Brawl Newcomers, he probably has the least merit. Though that actually to me says how strong Brawl's choice of newcomers were. That even it's lowest is one that still has much fervor for the character and/or game to this day despite the unlikelihood of it being released outside of Japan.

1. Link
2. Luigi
3. Pac-Man
4. Diddy Kong
5. Banjo & Kazooie
6. King K. Rool
7. Sonic the Hedgehog
8. Rosalina & Luma
9. Snake
10. Shulk
11. Pit
12. Ness
13. Jigglypuff
14. Duck Hunt
15. Steve
16. Lucas
17. Mythra
18. Byleth
19. Wii Fit Trainer
20. Chrom
21. Dr. Mario
22. Dark Pit
23. Piranha Plant
 
It's now time to start voting for the May issue! ^^ Here's the current standings.

Wario 18
Little Mac 14
Mario 12
Fox 12
Robin 10
Bowser Jr. 8
Simon Belmont 8
Toon Link 8
Ike 8
Pyra 8
Mewtwo 8
Captain Falcon 6
Cloud 6
Inkling 6
Ridley 6
Zero Suit Samus 6
Peach 6
Mii Fighters 6
Roy 4
Bayonetta 4
Wolf 4
Young Link 4
Lucina 4
Ganondorf 4
Donkey Kong 2
 
1. Greninja
2. King Dedede
3. Bowser Jr.
4. Ganondorf
5. Lucina
 
1. Mario
2. Wario
3. Donkey Kong
4. Mr. Game & Watch
5. Kirby
 
Since everyone else is going ahead and doing it
1. Mario
2. Greninja
3. King Dedede
4. Bowser Jr.
5. Ganondorf
 
HALF-WEEK WARNING

Seems so far, voters are determined to make May the May-rio issue heh. Still, we have a bit more time until that's decided as currently it's Olimar currently slated in 5th place that will be locked in on Sunday

Mario 48
Wario 24
Captain Falcon 16
Donkey Kong 14
Olimar 12
Bowser Jr. 10
Fox 8
Greninja 8
Simon Belmont 8
Toon Link 8
Mewtwo 8
Cloud 8
Peach 8
King Dedede 6
Ganondorf 6
Inkling 6
Ridley 6
Zero Suit Samus 6
Mega Man 6
Little Mac 6
Robin 4
Ike 4
Roy 4
Bayonetta 4
Wolf 4
Young Link 4
Mr. Game & Watch 4
Joker 4
Mii Fighters 4
Kirby 2
 
Min Min and Bowser's sections are in today's Shroom issue!

And also...

LAST CHANCE (for the 5th spot)

As of currently Kirby and Bowser Jr. are tied for the 5th spot. Kirby will be locked in if nothing else happens before tomorrow.

Mario 58
Mr. Game & Watch 32
Wario 24
Bowser Jr. 16
Kirby 16
Donkey Kong 14
Captain Falcon 12
Little Mac 8
Fox 8
Greninja 8
Simon Belmont 8
Toon Link 8
Mewtwo 8
Peach 8
Mega Man 8
King Dedede 6
Inkling 6
Ridley 6
Zero Suit Samus 6
ROB 6
Joker 6
Cloud 4
Robin 4
Ike 4
Bayonetta 4
Wolf 4
Mii Fighters 4
Young Link 4
Ganondorf 2
Olimar 2
 
KIRBY IS LOCKED IN!

Bowser Jr.s support is older then Kirby so it has higher priority in case you're wondering why they have the same amount of points yet Kirby is chosen to be #5. Though anyway Bowser Jr. is next up should nothing change a week from now

Mario 58
Mr. Game & Watch 32
Wario 24
Bowser Jr. 16
Kirby 16
 
MID-WEEK WARNING

Nothing has changed since Sunday. But a heads up that Bowser Jr. is still set to be locked in on Sunday
 
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