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

KEN IS LOCKED IN!

Final week of voting now. It seems pretty much decided already. But in case there's a want to surge Incineroar into the Shroom, you have that option. Otherwise if things stand Corrin and Lucario will be the finale's characters

Corrin 50
Lucario 46
Incineroar 34
Ken 30
Kazuya 22
 
HALF-WEEK WARNING

No change has happened. Corrin and Lucario are still slated to be the Finale characters and Incineroar the final non-shroom section
 
IKE
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Fighter Number: 32
Fighter Group: Brawl Veterans
Franchise: Fire Emblem
Game of Origin: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Nintendo Gamecube, 2005 (US/JP/EU)​

By the time of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo could get a feeling of the impact of bringing Marth and Roy to Smash Bros. back in Melee. What was once a Japan exclusive series garnered interest and eventually Nintendo took the chance to finally bring the series worldwide. Funnily enough, while some would initially think the first game to release in the West would be about either Marth or Roy to familiarize people. We instead started with a tale of Roy's father, Eliwood. Though this isn't Roy's section, but thought it'd be important to get into Fire Emblem's releases in the west. After Blazing Blade, came Sacred Stones. Both Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones were many people's introduction to Fire Emblem

Eventually, the series had to make it's introduction to the west on a home console. And that's where Ike comes in, as he'd be introduced as the main lord of Path of Radiance for the Nintendo Gamecube. Ike also played a major part of a follow-up that released on the Wii not long before Brawl would come out. Though uh… the latter game ended up being released in the same month as Super Mario Galaxy. Fire Emblem was pretty niche in the West for a while, it wouldn't be until games like Awakening and Three Houses really invigorated the franchise. That said, despite the sales numbers. The games Ike starred in I believe are some of the more popular among the more hardcore Fire Emblem fans at least story-wise. It just didn't translate to sales as well. It probably doesn't help that a physical copy of either game costs an arm and a leg to get. Most sellers ask for over $100 or even $200 for Path of Radiance. Radiant Dawn is somewhat less daunting to find a relatively decent price for, but you should also expect it to never be less than $60. So if you want to experience both of Ike's adventures, you better have the cash to spare or otherwise you'll have to do some careful looking into piracy (I'm not linking any ROMs though, do so at your own risk)

Though even if you don't know a thing about Ike's games. I think it can be safe to say Ike is still a decently liked character just from what we get from him in Smash. Who doesn't like a man who proclaims that he fights for his friends? His large sword is also quite satisfying to land a hit on, he's the first Fire Emblem character in Smash to be voice acted in English. And in Smash 4 and Ultimate, he has alternate costumes where you can choose his more regular build from Path of Radiance or his more buff looking design from Radiant Dawn. Apparently they even made the effort to make the voice between the two different costumes be a different take from the other. Which… I'm not sure why they felt the need to do. But they did it nonetheless.

I will say Ike's kind of in a weird spot when it comes to the Fire Emblem characters. He hasn't been around nearly as long as Marth, but he definitely well earned his roster spot before Brawl came out with 2 games that starred him coming out which is a very remarkable improvement upon the Fire Emblem character he sort of replaced until Smash 4 DLC's returned them. Though unfortunately his game is not nearly as accessible as the newer Fire Emblems, and despite their general quality. It seems the sales numbers were so disappointing for Nintendo, that Awakening was almost the last Fire Emblem game if it did not become the runaway success it ended up being. Ike has a place in Nintendo history, but sadly might be one of the more unappreciated characters in comparison to many others who have been in Smash.

Nonetheless though, I can say that I like Ike. And I hope you do too!
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As with the rather strange in-between of Ike being a relatively popular character, but unfortunately rather diminished stature when it comes to impact. Ike is much lower then Marth is overall. Just under Duck Hunt, but above Greninja. He should still be the 3rd most merited Fire Emblem character by the end of this list

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. King Dedede
20. Mewtwo
21. Ridley
22. King K. Rool
23. Zelda
24. Meta Knight
25. Ganondorf
26. Mr. Game & Watch
27. Sonic the Hedgehog
28. Cloud
29. Sora
30. Ryu
31. Villager
32. Bowser Jr.
33. Olimar
34. Fox
35. Rosalina & Luma
36. Marth
37. Zero Suit Samus
38. Toon Link
39. Isabelle
40. Inkling
41. Snake
42. Shulk
43. Pit
44. Ness
45. Captain Falcon
46. Sephiroth
47. Robin
48. Jigglypuff
49. Falco
50. Wolf
51. Pichu
52. Duck Hunt
53. Ike
54. Greninja
55. Steve
56. Bayonetta
57. Lucas
58. Pyra
59. Mythra
60. Joker
61. Sheik
82. ROB
63. Min Min
64. Byleth
65. Ice Climbers
66. Wii Fit Trainer
67. Chrom
68. Daisy
69. Dr. Mario
70. Dark Pit
71. Piranha Plant
 
PALUTENA
PalutenaSSBU.png

Fighter Number: 54
Fighter Group: Smash 4 Veterans
Franchise: Kid Icarus
Game of Origin: Kid Icarus (NES, 1986 (JP), 1987 (US/EU)​

When it comes to the many Smash fighters, we know a great majority of them have one thing in common: That they're mortals in their worlds. Sure many of the characters, especially Kirby, Bayonetta, and/or the characters that come from RPGs have fought the supernatural and/or divine beings that could be called gods. But there's only two characters in the game that a player could consider them to be a goddess. One being Rosalina, although it's sort of a question mark if she truly is a god in the Mario universe. The ending of the first Super Mario Galaxy seems to imply she can straight up can grow giant and reboot the universe. Though ever since then she seems to be just another of the Mario princesses, You could even make her someone's devil rather then the angel she seems to be in Mario Party Superstars.

However, there is one character that is indisputably a goddess in their universe. And that's Palutena from Kid Icarus. She's the Goddess of Light that employs Pit to take down the evil forces of Medusa and Hades. In the Kid Icarus world, the gods are more akin to that of the Greek gods that are just as human as mortals are and thus sometimes quite willing to abuse their power even if it means killing many living beings. Like heck, Viridi becomes an Ally at some point in Uprising even though it's quite clear she's killed many humans, Sure the humans killed were those in the middle of a battlefield for the most part. But Viridi still generally has a contempt for humans in general and at least early on in the game would gladly bring them into extinction. Palutena's probably naturally one of the more goody-goody goddesses, but she certainly has character flaws like any human. (Heck, there's a short where we find out Palutena does not know how to cook)

However, I must get real for a moment. I apologize in advance to people who really like Palutena. But I've never been quite sure why she needed to be playable in Smash. Now now, I'll at least say that while this does mean she's probably one of our lower merited fighters, she's not in the Bottom 10 of our current list (Although she will be decently close). Palutena in the original NES game was simply gives Pit his weapons to fight off against Medusa and just cameos here and there. She does similarly the same thing in the Game boy sequel Myth and Monsters. Naturally, she does have a much bigger role in Uprising since it is essentially a recharge for the franchise that didn't see a new game since the 90s. I do however feel Palutena's inclusion was maybe a bit of Sakurai dipping his toes in advertising his own game too heavily. Between Palutena, Dark Pit, the Palutena's Guidances (AKA the new codecs), and a good majority of Smash Run enemies being from Uprising. Sakurai may have been tooting his own horn with Smash 4 a little too much. To add to the bias, Palutena was the only fighter aside from the Miis to have a complete set of 16 different special moves to mix and match. Sakurai, we get that you personally revived Kid Icarus, but it might have been worth treating it the same way you did for Kirby. For the Kirby franchise he was incredibly modest and didn't give Kirby any new characters until Brawl. Although both Meta Knight and King Dedede certainly would still have an excellent amount of merit to warrant including in Melee. But the way he represented Kid Icarus Uprising in Smash 4 made you feel like Sakurai desperately wanted you to know that it was his magnum opus.

I'll also never forget how Palutena's practically one of the few characters to be almost hinted at so obviously that they might as well have confirmed her when they did a fake out of what looked like to be a trophy of Palutena, only for it to be the ugly pseudo-Palutena once it turned around. From that point on, it was obvious Palutena was being added on the roster to Smash. It almost felt... less earned when Palutena was eventually revealed later on.

Don't get me wrong though, I wasn't entirely opposed to Palutena as a fighter. As it does help diverse the female representation in the roster. But even with the Uprising revival, it feels odd to promote what is actually somewhat of a minor character in the grand scheme of Nintendo's history. Now maybe that's because of the HUGE gaps between Myth and Monster's release and Uprising. It just feels like Palutena got in Smash more so simply because Sakurai himself developed Uprising. If Sakurai had not been the one to create Uprising, I'm not so sure Palutena would have been added to Smash. The gap the Kid Icarus franchise left doesn't give Palutena the staying power as much as most of the other female fighters. She's not exactly playable in any games outside of Smash and while that's for the most part true for a number of other fighters such as Wii Fit Trainer, Isabelle (Well besides Mario Kart and Amiibo Festival anyway), K. Rool (Also besides Mario Sluggers), and Ridley. She isn't as front and center as say... Isabelle or even as symbolically as Wii Fit Trainer, and she's not the main villain ala K. Rool or Ridley.

I do think Palutena did have some support for Smash, and I'm sure her popularity grew since her appearance in Smash 4. But part of what's considered for merit here is the timing and circumstance of their original inclusion. And I just get too many vibes of Sakurai promoting Kid Icarus Uprising more than anything else other then the more natural path of fans requests and garnering a proper legacy compared to many other characters. She can smite me all she wants, but it won't exactly change that she basically had to curry a favor from the director that basically adopted her.

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I will at least say she's a spot above Joker in our Rankings as she is a Nintendo character. But despite being so much older. I don't feel like she's above either of the Xenoblade 2 duo of Pyra and Mythra. She is important in Uprising yes, but you actually can control Pyra and Mythra in battles. While Palutena feels like the equivalent of including General Pepper in Smash 4 if say the original Star Fox and/or Star Fox 2 was out in the early 90's but the Star Fox games didn't get another entry until the 3DS era. If Kid Icarus had more prominence in the late 90's and 2000's, Palutena would be higher. But as is that break absolutely kills her merit, with Pit taking the majority of the merit for Kid Icarus as a whole.

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. King Dedede
20. Mewtwo
21. Ridley
22. King K. Rool
23. Zelda
24. Meta Knight
25. Ganondorf
26. Mr. Game & Watch
27. Sonic the Hedgehog
28. Cloud
29. Sora
30. Ryu
31. Villager
32. Bowser Jr.
33. Olimar
34. Fox
35. Rosalina & Luma
36. Marth
37. Zero Suit Samus
38. Toon Link
39. Isabelle
40. Inkling
41. Snake
42. Shulk
43. Pit
44. Ness
45. Captain Falcon
46. Sephiroth
47. Robin
48. Jigglypuff
49. Falco
50. Wolf
51. Pichu
52. Duck Hunt
53. Ike
54. Greninja
55. Steve
56. Bayonetta
57. Lucas
58. Pyra
59. Mythra
60. Palutena
61. Joker
62. Sheik
83. ROB
64. Min Min
65. Byleth
66. Ice Climbers
67. Wii Fit Trainer
68. Chrom
69. Daisy
70. Dr. Mario
71. Dark Pit
72. Piranha Plant
 
HERO
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Fighter Number: 72
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers/Fighter's Pass 1
Franchise: Dragon Quest
Game of Origin: Dragon Quest III* (NES, 1988 (JP), 1992 (US) AND Android/iOS, 2014 (EU)

*The oldest of the playable four Heroes is Erdrick. Which it's why he's credited as the game of origin. The protagonist of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 isn't represented.​

As much of the many characters that have gotten into Smash have a general worldwide appeal. It's also pretty true that even to this day, the roster is very japanese Video game industry-centric. In fact, the only characters to make it into Smash that were not developed in Japan was Diddy Kong, K. Rool, Banjo-Kazooie, and Dark Samus. Sure, there's also characters that were developed in Japan but became more popular in the west then they did in Japan. Some Japanese Smash fans called Ridley "Captain America" for how much western fans wanted him, and while Sonic does have a following in Japan. The blue blur's popularity there is not on the same level it is in the US or the UK. The characters that are popular outside of Japan do have some influence, but it is considered a detriment to any potential characters ESPECIALLY if they're 3rd party if they were developed by a western studio. It is very much a concern when it comes to characters like Master Chief, Doomguy, Any Bethesda representative, Mortal Kombat characters, etc. Cause even when you consider the 4 Western characters in Smash. Most of them were already in an established Nintendo franchise, and Banjo-Kazooie USED to count as a Nintendo-exclusive franchise. Never say never, as it'd probably a good bet that this may change whenever the next Smash comes around. As Cloud likes to say, Limits are meant to be broken.

Though who we're talking about this time is no doubt a character that is practically only this popular in Japan and not as much elsewhere. In Japan, Dragon Quest is just about the video game equivalent of a rock star. But anywhere outside, Dragon Quest tends to be seen as just another RPG. But for many in Japan, it is THE RPG. The OG RPG you might say. The original Dragon Quest outdates the original Final Fantasy. So in a lot of ways, they're not all that wrong about that. It's probably true that Dragon Quest introduced what would become the standard for RPGs of that era. A huge reason why the series never quite made it as big as it did in Japan is because it took a number of years for the series to be ported after it's original release. Where as Final Fantasy released before Dragon Quest could. So for many in the West, Final Fantasy was viewed as the OG RPG with the most influence despite it being true that Dragon Quest came before Final Fantasy did. And nothing since has exactly corrected that status, Final Fantasy is still considered the most prestigious RPG series in a Worldwide sense. Dragon Quest certainly has some world wide popularity, but it has never hit quite as big as the peaks that Final Fantasy achieved. There is no Dragon Quest game that's an equivalent to Final Fantasy 7 that captured the whole world's attention.

When Hero was announced officially for Smash, and later got Banjo in the same direct. It was definitely like Nintendo wanted to please both fans back home and abroad. Japanese fans certainly recognized Banjo for the most part, but most of their hype had to have been for Dragon Quest in Smash. Meanwhile, the West had been practically expecting Hero based on a pretty credible guesswork on a codename for the character. But anyone who remembered the N64 era popped off as Banjo was revealed. This was definitely one time Smash was pretty close to having something for everyone

A fun thing to note of course for Hero, is that you have the famous Akira Toriyama who designed the characters. Let's just say this is hardly the only series Toriyama was involved with that had the word Dragon in it that has captured the world's attention. (And definitely on a more larger scale then Dragon Quest has, given if there's any "4th Party" character that is the most requested for Smash. It's Goku). Perhaps one day Smash will blow our minds with delving into non-Video game characters. But until then, Dragon Quest and Sean Schemmel as Lucario is as far as you're going to get

We also have to note how Hero is not simply one character. While the default Hero is of the latest installment, you have Erdrick of Dragon Quest III, Soto of Dragon Quest IV, and Eight of Dragon Quest VII. Erdrick is by far the most iconic of the four and is considerably more revered in Japan more than many others (It's why he got such a dramatic appearance in the trailer).

My personal experience with Dragon Quest is low, I have not played a single game in the franchise. The closest I've gotten is playing as the Slime in Mario Sports Mix. In some ways for a time, the Slime was more iconic to those outside of Japan then the main characters were because of the appearance in Mario Sports Mix. Now of course they weren't getting in Smash. As the Slimes are very much the Goombas (Granted, very marketable goombas) of the series. But some who did not want yet another anime swordsman probably would have liked to see what Sakurai would come up with.

Hero in Smash also just has to be one of the wildest, unpredictable characters to fight. He could be an absolute menace with as many possible skills he has… although he could very well be a laughing stock worse then Pichu if say you have the bad luck of the move that can do anything choose the self-destruct move. I have to imagine there's been times where a Hero player got the worst luck possible and managed to blow them selves up multiple times in the same match. Though of course there is the inverse where somehow Thwack kills early out of nowhere and other situations where probably for a time, competitive players may have seriously considered banning him just for the RNG factor.

While to many Japanese Dragon Quest fans, I'm probably just one of many uncultured western fans that don't know the full story of the Dragon Quest series and why it's do big over there. I do understand that this was a big inclusion to Smash and I am happy for those who have wanted Dragon Quest in Smash. As I mentioned earlier, it probably is the closest thing we will ever get to Dragonball until Nintendo goes insane enough to try to get the rights for Non-Videogame characters. It might arguably be the only way they can top getting through to Disney just for Sora.

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While perhaps there are Japanese fans who would say they should be higher. I hope at the very least where they're at is currently respectable enough. I'm putting Hero behind Simon Belmont. Hero is older then Simon, but also Castlevania is more well-known worldwide when it comes to platformers. This does at least make it so that the only RPG-origin characters (Not counting the Mario RPGs, I mean the series that actually started as an RPG) is Pokemon. Being a representative of multiple games helps them leap over Cloud as well as our first-party villains. I could potentially see an argument for Hero to be maybe a spot below Pac-Man if maybe I was Japanese. But as is I can only see how unfortunately limited they are with being generally only super popular in Japan. That said, I wouldn't say 19th is a bad spot to be out of this long list. That still puts Hero in the Top 5 for 3rd parties and a spot above my favorite inclusion of all-time (Sonic the Hedgehog of course) as Hero does generally have a long history on Nintendo consoles that has not slowed down as far back as the 80s. While Sonic's been a 3rd party partner for only half that long.

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Ness
46. Captain Falcon
47. Sephiroth
48. Robin
49. Jigglypuff
50. Falco
51. Wolf
52. Pichu
53. Duck Hunt
54. Ike
55. Greninja
56. Steve
57. Bayonetta
58. Lucas
59. Pyra
60. Mythra
61. Palutena
62. Joker
63. Sheik
84. ROB
65. Min Min
66. Byleth
67. Ice Climbers
68. Wii Fit Trainer
69. Chrom
70. Daisy
71. Dr. Mario
72. Dark Pit
73. Piranha Plant
 
LUCINA
604px-Lucina_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 21e
Fighter Group: Smash 4 Veterans/Echo Fighters
Franchise: Fire Emblem
Game of Origin: Fire Emblem Awakening (Nintendo 3DS, 2012 (JP,)/2013 (NA, EU)​

Having discussed Fire Emblem Awakening enough in both Chrom and Robin's sections. I probably shouldn't get too much more about the game. Though Lucina is sort of the poster child of a mechanic in the game where S-Supporting your characters can result in giving birth to children characters. Her father must be Chrom of course, but you can actually choose who her mother is. Whether that could be the female Robin, Sully, Sumia, Maribelle, and Olivia. Who her mother is actually impacts her stats when you have her in battle. Awakening isn't the first game in the series to have characters based on who you get romanced each other as that was first in Genealogy of the Holy War, the 4th title in the series.

Of course, even if Awakening wasn't the first title in the series to it. It's probably fair to say it popularized it. Cause there's one thing that the early 2010's had that the mid 90's didn't: fandoms widespread on the internet. And in particular, the idea of shipping. Now shipping characters in fandoms certainly have been there in fandoms before the Internet. I'm sure before the… twist that they were actually siblings. There had to have been some rivalry between Luke Skywalker + Leia fans and Han Solo + Leia fans for Star Wars early on. But I think ships in fandoms have certainly exploded in the age of the internet. For better or for worse depending on who you ask. Though when it comes to shipping, there's usually only a few canon relationships. It's part of why shipping can sometimes get toxic, because for some people when a ship becomes canon. It means they "won" or something like that. Leaving the rest to have to make alternate universe fan art or fan fiction where the ship they prefer happened instead.

But that's where the S-Support and child character system comes in Fire Emblem wise. You can actually choose who goes with who and bears a child. Lucina in particular is the one you're sort of forced to have. But you're free to decide who her mother ultimately is. It can be based on who you believe gives her the best stats for your style of battle. Or you can just go by who you think would look cuter next to Chrom. Whatever works. No need to see who Chrom canonically chooses, all the possible relationships that end up in creating Lucina are valid.

Probably a big reason it was so shocking that Lucina got in Smash before Chrom is because of how dependent on Chrom's existence the character of Lucina is. Like I mentioned in the very first character section I ever got to do. It has to feel somewhat humiliating for their own daughter and either best friend (if Robin is male) or potentially a wife (if Robin is female) getting in before him. That was rectified in Ultimate but certainly still sticks out as a pretty big surprise in the history of Smash reveals.

Lucina is also the other retroactive Echo Fighter next to Dark Pit. Though Lucina does have something of a distinction that puts her far above Dark Pit. Besides being a relatively popular Awakening character with her own unique design rather then simply a dark edgy mirror version of Pit. She serves as a sort of "Marth for Dummies". She doesn't have a tipper, no matter where you swing with Lucina's sword it will do the same damage. In theory, that should mean people who can master Marth will have an advantage as they learn the distance you need to hit with the tip more consistently. However, in practice it feels like Lucina's difference arguably makes her more effective then Marth. You don't need to worry about spacing, you'll do the same no matter where you hit. You won't have the satisfying hit a tipper might, but in some cases. Who cares when you have the same average regardless of where you hit the opponent. She was by far the best of the more clone-ish character in Smash 4 in the base game for both of these significant distinctions despite being another Fire Emblem character. It is true that with both her and Chrom, it contributed to the inflation of Marth clones. But allow me to say this, I don't think any Marth clone inclusion is worse then… the original for reasons I'll share when I get to it.
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For now though, where Lucina ranks I think makes sense to be directly below her father despite being in Smash for longer. Like I said, Lucina depends on Chrom as a character being of course he is her father. if the father is the character that is prominently featured first and was even the expected Smash character before things threw a wrench in that plan. I think it's fair to say Chrom has the slight merit advantage over Lucina. And while Lucina is younger then Daisy… more effort was put into Lucina as a character with her difference from Marth while like I said before… Daisy is the laziest echo fighter yet. Lucina being a prominent character in Awakening and appearing in other games like Fire Emblem Warriors and even Fire Emblem Engage already puts her above Daisy despite the history of Mario spin-offs. Maybe if Daisy had been a unique character, it'd be a different story. But until Daisy's fate is changed, that's how it'll be. And don't expect Lucina to go back in time to make sure of that.

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Bayonetta
59. Lucas
60. Pyra
61. Mythra
62. Palutena
63. Joker
64. Young Link
65. Sheik
66. ROB
67. Min Min
68. Byleth
69. Ice Climbers
70. Wii Fit Trainer
71. Chrom
72. Lucina
73. Daisy
74. Dr. Mario
75. Dark Pit
76. Piranha Plant
 
Last edited:
I messed up, I didn't realize Kazuya's list would be the last covered.
 
DARK SAMUS
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Fighter Number: 4e
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers/Echo Fighters
Franchise: Metroid
Game of Origin: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo Gamecube, 2004 (US/EU), 2005 (JP)​

The Echo fighters as a concept that was introduced in Smash Ultimate (Though retroactively been in the series since Smash 4) has certainly provided an interesting mix of reactions. Labeling fighters as echoes help to sort of quell the blood boiling reaction when a character plays exactly the same as another character. Though at the same time even with the rather surprisingly small sample size we got of Echo Fighters there were at least one or two characters that sort of bend what it meant to be an echo. Now Dark Samus isn't really one of those outside of animation differences, but you have say Chrom who had an entirely different up special from Roy, and Ken who had a fair share of differences including movement speed from Ryu.

I think the most surprising thing about echo fighters is how under utilized it ended up being. When it was introduced, especially when there was a whole thing about how there'd be an option to merge the Echo fighters with their counterpart on the roster screen. You'd think that'd mean there was doing to be a ton of them. Besides the retroactive echoes of Dark Pit and Lucina, we only got 5 characters designated as echoes. And I don't think we should fault people for thinking there'd be more, and especially DLC to take advantage of echo fighters (But they decided to not do any echoes in DLC).

Just think of what possibilities fans were dreaming of. Some ideas that fans thought about include the following. Some might have required at least one major difference but that doesn't mean they couldn't have worked in some fashion: Funky Kong (Donkey Kong), Birdo (Yoshi), Blood Falcon (Captain Falcon), Ocarina of Time or Skyward Sword Impa (Sheik), Dixie Kong (Diddy), Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic), Tom Nook (Villager or Isabelle), Proto Man (Mega Man), Zack Fair (Cloud), Jeanne (Bayonetta), and Octolings (Inklings). And these are probably not even the only ideas that could have worked. So combine all that buzz with all the potential Echo Fighters seem to promise to have the sort of oddball characters and/or popular characters that just weren't likely going to be given the time to have a full moveset made for them. And it was ripe with disappointment when we learned there were only going to be 5 new base game echoes combined with them being entirely ruled out in DLC speculation.

It probably didn't help that all 3 of the new echoes in that August direct had us dreaming of the possibilities. Chrom was a character even the anime swordsman haters felt may have gotten a raw deal in Smash Bros. And Richter's inclusion had people 100% certain that Shadow the Hedgehog was happening now it was confirmed that 3rd parties could get echo fighters too. Though I don't think there was an echo fighter ever as hyped as who I'm talking about today. Dark Samus, the moment she appeared on screen. You could probably tell a huge "Awww. yeah!" from many a western-based fan. Metroid fans were eating good, they had finally gotten Ridley. And now they also had another beloved villain in the cast. Sure, because of echo fighter limitations she could only do things that Samus could do and not any of the cool things her Assist Trophy could do in Smash 4. But that was a sacrifice I'm sure many were willing to pay for her actually being playable in general.

The Metroid Prime games are beloved games and it was just nice to have a representation of that level in the Smash roster. Just note how many people were made happy by the announcement of Metroid Prime Remastered last month. And we're sure to have the 2nd and 3rd games eventually get the same treatment, and more people will get to see what Dark Samus meant to others. Before hopefully Metroid Prime 4 finally arrives in a finished state eventually.

One particular fun note about Dark Samus? She's the only character in the roster that was originally developed in the US. A great majority were in Japan, and the only other exceptions were UK based (For Donkey Kong characters outside of the main kong himself and Banjo-Kazooie). Might be a bit of a disappointment that of all the video game characters made in the US, all that's gotten in is simply a clone of Samus who's been in the roster with a relatively unchanged moveset since the first game on the N64. Still, at least it's something. Dark Samus as a whole still feels like perhaps the most well-recieved Echo Fighter out of the entire cast. She embodied much of the hope people had for the concept of Echo Fighters. There was a Snowball's chance in hell of Dark Samus ever making it in as a unique fighter in Smash. This was the best she was going to get, but that's exactly why people were happy to see her as a surprise addition that enriches the choices on the roster even if she's no different gameplay wise. Dark Samus still carried some history with her to be worthy of a playable spot even if of course her circumstances limit her from being chosen to be a full-fledged fighter. She was Dark Pit done right. Rather then feeling like an edgy counterpart added just for the sake of promotion, it was an addition that made fans happy because it was like Metroid Prime was really getting some due respect in Smash besides of course the stage and music. Even echo fighters can carry sentimental value with them, and it's also why it's a shame the concept felt so under utilized.

I don't know if Echo Fighters will return in the next game. But they're now there as an option if Nintendo wants to both save time with additional characters and providing some fun options of characters who would normally never get in any other way. The differences that Chrom and Ken have even gives a bit of leeway for them to be more different then you'd think. I still have two more echoes to cover after this one, but I felt it was appropriate to talk about it here with Dark Samus now. as I feel for both Richter and Ken there's some things I can say about them individually. Even as someone who isn't a longtime Metroid fan, I do feel Dark Samus is the best choice for an Echo Fighter of the ones we got. That's why I wanted to cover the echo fighters now. As for me, Dark Samus was the highest peak they achieved with the concept.
____________________________________________________________________________

Now being an echo fighter that does pull Dark Samus near the bottom of our list. But that shouldn't be seen as an insult. I feel it should be natural that echoes lag behind almost all of the unique fighters. I might be at least tempted to put Dark Samus above Wii Fit Trainer and the Ice Climbers at the very least. But those are both unique characters, with Wii Fit Trainer having more exposure overall due to being a part of Wii Fit and the Ice Climbers have way more history on their part. She is for now the most merited Echo I've covered yet. Though I will say she probably isn't the most merited Echo in general. She is however still as I said my favorite addition as an echo out of all of them. That should at least mean a lot

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Bayonetta
59. Lucas
60. Pyra
61. Mythra
62. Palutena
63. Joker
64. Young Link
65. Sheik
66. ROB
67. Min Min
68. Byleth
69. Ice Climbers
70. Wii Fit Trainer
71. Dark Samus
72. Chrom
73. Lucina
74. Daisy
75. Dr. Mario
76. Dark Pit
77. Piranha Plant
 
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JUST A QUICK HEADS-UP

I will be delaying Roy and Richter's coverage in the Shroom to April, and thus also move the finale to May. A power outage in the last week of February plus the loss of Wi-Fi just a few days killed many days I wanted to be productive in enough to meet the deadline for this month's shroom. So as such, there will be a brief break. May even not post Terry's until April is here as well.
 
TERRY
Terry_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 74
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers/Fighter's Pass 1
Franchise: King of Fighters
Game of Origin: Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (Arcade, 1991 (US/EU/JP)​

It'd be disingenuous of me to say that I knew everything about every franchise into Smash. While I did go on this endeavor, I gotta say that even some of the biggest franchises in Smash I'm not incredibly in-depth about. Some would probably call me a fake Nintendo fan simply for never playing many of the Zelda games, maybe even a fake gamer in general. I'm definitely not going to be able to tell you about what the King of Fighters series is all about. Since it's definitely perhaps the most obscure 3rd party series to get into Smash. At least in comparison to a good majority of the rest. Maybe arguably Banjo-Kazooie as a whole is less known then King of Fighters, but from a Nintendo perspective that couldn't be farther from the truth. I know some things that I can glance about what Smash provides us, and Sakurai gave an introduction vid to the franchise. But for the most part it's still basic stuff like KoF being a franchise that followed in Street Fighter's path of competitive fighting games and stuff like Geese falling off high places being a running gag.

Its very true that the inclusion of Terry is an odd one. It's not exactly a traditional Nintendo franchise. It did have some games on the Game Boy of all things. The GBA had some spin-offs, and there was at least one crossover that was on the Gamecube. But otherwise… King of Fighters started in Arcades and/or the Neo Geo. And went on to be more of a every major console except Nintendo sort of franchise. Honestly, it might have been partly a good thing that the fact SNK was getting a character got leaked. As otherwise, I feel like most Nintendo fans might be wondering just who in the hell were any of the characters in the trailer. At least when it leaked, it got us prepared and we could research who's the most likely. And it seemed pretty obvious that it was going to be Terry Bogard as he was very much the Ryu of the franchise.

However, while the relations to Nintendo is very slim when it comes to the franchise. There IS something of a connection between King of Fighters and Smash in terms of Sakurai's past. Sakurai himself was once a competitive fighting game player himself, there was one day where he'd head to the arcade to play. This particular KoF machine having some sort of blinder where you don't see who your opponent was. Sakurai ends up demolishing whoever ended up being his foe at the other end. Sakurai would go over to see who his opponent was, and it was a young couple who was probably just trying out the game and/or rookies at it. Sakurai felt sorry for them and was afraid defeating them so handily kind of turned them off from the game. This is what would inspire his mindset going into Smash to making a more simplified way to fight without needing to remember complex combos. There is still a skill ceiling to Smash no doubt, but it's not as intimidating as with most fighting games… at least every one but Melee's anyway. The skill level gap in KoF and other fighting games was why Smash turned out the way it did. So that it could eventually meet a nice middle ground where there's a skill ceiling for the hardcore but also decently easy to learn for more casual players. You could say KoF has more to do with Smash then it does with Nintendo in that sense.

I wonder though, when Sakurai approached the young couple he had beaten in the game. Did he ask them if… "ARE YOU OK?!"

____________________________________________________________________________

Terry is naturally on the lower end of the merit scale for reasons I mentioned in covering King of Fighters. Though he does have a decent amount of history that allows him to outrank many characters younger then him. Although it stops short of Steve despite that, it feels like at this point Minecraft has more reach on the general gaming sphere then KoF does. But Terry is at least above Bayonetta for the age of his franchise. Not to mention that despite not always being really Nintendo-central, it still does have a history on the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance which definitely is much older then when Bayonetta became a Nintendo exclusive

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Terry
59. Bayonetta
60. Lucas
61. Pyra
62. Mythra
63. Palutena
64. Joker
65. Young Link
66. Sheik
67. ROB
68. Min Min
69. Byleth
70. Ice Climbers
71. Wii Fit Trainer
72. Dark Samus
73. Chrom
74. Lucina
75. Daisy
76. Dr. Mario
77. Dark Pit
78. Piranha Plant
 
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KAZUYA
SSBU_Kazuya.png

Fighter Number: 81
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers/Fighter's Pass 2
Franchise: Tekken
Game of Origin: Tekken (Arcade, 1994 (US/EU/JP)​

As with Street Fighter and Fatal Fury, I can't say I'm knowledgeable about Tekken. So I may once again have to do another subject to fill in this one. And I think I'll dedicate this one, to the history of E3 for Smash Bros.

E3 for the longest time was the time for gamers to hear exciting announcements for their favorite video games and consoles and sometimes entertaining moments on stage (Whether they were actually decent, or so cringe that you can't help but laugh). And E3 certainly has been a place to look forward to for Smash reveals. While Melee certainly had a presence in the very early days of E3. It's fair to say it wasn't until Brawl where we got out first look at major live reveals of characters. The cinematic trailer that showed Pit, Meta Knight, Wario, and Zero Suit Samus were going to be among the new characters in the game. Before we got the surprising reveal that Solid Snake would be the first ever non-Nintendo character to ever make Smash.

Even if there's no gameplay to show yet, the mere announcement that a new Smash Bros. game is in development usually got hype… Iwata announced Smash 4 was in development… and the funny thing is Sakurai wasn't even aware yet supposedly. There could have been a real chance that Sakurai handed things off to someone else if he decided he'd give another person a chance. Regardless, once Smash 4 could finally show character trailers again. We got to see Villager, and none other than Mega Man to headline the next game.

Then the next E3 oddly headlined the Mii Fighters and Palutena, while longtime gaming icon Pac-Man was more of a private showing late at night.

The E3 after that was kind of ruined by a DLC leak. As the E3 characters shown were Ryu from Street Fighter… and Fire Emblem's Roy that I was not exactly subtle about my issues with his merit. in some ways, I'm kinda glad we knew Roy was leaked because it would have been a bit groan-worthy for me to see live.

The next E3 involving Smash revealed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate more officially then the tentative title that was seen in the March direct. Where we got EVERYONE IS HERE! along with Ridley as our first hype newcomer.

Then our first E3 during the DLC speculation period brought us something each for eastern and western fans alike with the combo of the Dragon Quest heroes and Banjo-Kazooie.

Going into our final E3 before things would wrap up. Expectations were through the roof, this was what people thought going to be the biggest name out of all the DLC fighters. …It kinda goes to show how high expectations were, when an important character of one of the most enduring fighting game franchises might have been seen as a disappointment to some. Although, you should understand that because this was E3… people expected this character, whoever it was… to be the last 3rd party in the game. That would turn out to be false as of course we got none other than the Ballot winner Sora saved for last (It's why it was so surprising they actually ended things with a bang like that, the patterns we've gotten through Smash up to that point had a disappointing ending).

Regardless, on Kazuya and Tekken itself. It's definitely a worthy successful franchise, though it certainly has even less history with Nintendo then either Street Fighter or even Fatal Fury. There have been Tekken games on Nintendo consoles, but they're few and far between. Though in a general sense, Tekken is more known in the gaming sphere then Fatal Fury is. Tekken feels like it's up there with Street Fighter for games fighting game enthusiasts look forward to whenever a new iteration comes up. Street Fighter and Tekken even had a crossover game back in 2012. There was also going to be another that was more Tekken styled, but it eventually got canceled.

One general thing to know about the Tekken franchise, is it's hard to say that there's a real heroic protagonist really. Each and every character has their number of sins or skeletons in the closet that won't make them role models anytime soon. Kazuya's certainly no exception, in the first game he was kind of the closest being the son of Heihachi that swore revenge after his father threw him off the cliff as a baby. But Kazuya grew up to be just as much of a monster as his father, with the addition of demon powers and everything. Kazuya is far away from being the hero of the franchise on the same level as Ryu and Terry in their respective franchises. Do not play Tekken to look for characters to strive to be like. Maybe only in terms of being merciless to your opponent should you get good at the game, but in most cases never do what the fighters from the franchise have done in real life.
____________________________________________________________________________

Because the Tekken series has a bit of a limited reach when it comes to a Nintendo audience, Kazuya is among the lower end of merited 3rd parties. Although the length of time the Tekken series has endured certainly puts him above the likes of Bayonetta. And while Terry has more presence on Nintendo systems, Kazuya's probably more well known so I'm giving him the edge on merit there. Both Steve and Terry better look out though, they could easily be tossed off said edge as Kazuya makes space for himself on our list ha.

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Kazuya
59. Terry
60. Bayonetta
61. Lucas
62. Pyra
63. Mythra
64. Palutena
65. Joker
66. Young Link
67. Sheik
68. ROB
69. Min Min
70. Byleth
71. Ice Climbers
72. Wii Fit Trainer
73. Dark Samus
74. Chrom
75. Lucina
76. Daisy
77. Richter
78. Roy
79. Dr. Mario
80. Dark Pit
81. Piranha Plant
 
KEN
Ken_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 60e
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers/Echo Fighters
Franchise: Street Fighter
Game of Origin: Street Fighter (Arcade, 1987 (US/JP/EU)​

We've reached our final Echo Fighter, I've already given a pretty decent overview of the Echo Fighters back when I covered Dark Samus. So I won't delve too deep regardless echoes as a whole. But I suppose it is important to mention that Ken isn't just any echo fighter. He is the original echo fighter, perhaps you could argue Luigi is more so being a direct palette swap of Mario. But we just mean in the fighting game genre. In the original Street Fighter, he played pretty much exactly as Ryu did. I imagine later games have given him a few differences since then, some of which that may have even factored into Smash itself. But at it's core, Ken is supposed to be an alternate way of playing Ryu's moveset. And in-game story wise, he's pretty much Ryu's best friend that trains in the same dojo.

I think the most significant thing about Ken in Smash Ultimate though. Is that he absolutely pushes the limits of what constitutes as a echo fighter. While he does have the same special moves as Ryu does. They generally act different from Ryu's. Hell, Ken is even slightly faster then Ryu in ground speed. Adding stuff like Ken having outright moves unique to him. And It's probably honestly arguable Ken is more like a Melee-esque clone then the usual carbon copy echo fighters. They even bothered to give them different final Smashes! More than any other Echo fighter, there's much more nuance in asking the question on which one you should use more between him and Ryu. The big similarity being that if you know how to perform the bread-and-butter Street Fighter combos, you'll kick just almost anyone's butt playing him.

While certainly not on the same level as Mario and Luigi. Ryu and Ken are certainly an iconic duo that makes sense they'd be there together in Smash. I still wish of course that there'd be a few more iconic duos 3rd party wise, as I've mentioned several times before. Having Sonic and Tails up there with these pair of fighters would be epic. Maybe next time?
____________________________________________________________________________

Anyhow, while Ken is a rather special case of an Echo Fighter. I'm not treating him all that different in the merit list although he is pretty much automatically the most merited of the Echo fighters. You could maybe make an argument that his longevity should put him up there for as high as say… Palutena. But we should of course remember that Ryu takes most of the credit for the merit of Street Fighter, and thus a lot of the reasons to include Ken is hard to argue against unique franchises even if Ken is historically more merited then many of the new characters or even underused old characters (Outside of Smash that is) like the Ice Climbers. So yes, he stands alone on top of all the echo fighters. But even with his differences from Ryu and his legacy, he's not rising above any truly unique character outside of the plant.

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Kazuya
59. Terry
60. Bayonetta
61. Lucas
62. Pyra
63. Mythra
64. Palutena
65. Joker
66. Young Link
67. Sheik
68. ROB
69. Min Min
70. Byleth
71. Ice Climbers
72. Wii Fit Trainer
73. Ken
74. Dark Samus
75. Chrom
76. Lucina
77. Daisy
78. Richter
79. Roy
80. Dr. Mario
81. Dark Pit
82. Piranha Plant
 
INCINEROAR
Incineroar_SSBU.png

Fighter Number: 69
Fighter Group: Ultimate Newcomers
Franchise: Pokemon
Game of Origin: Pokemon Sun/Moon (3DS, 2016 (US/JP/EU)​

I've mentioned time and time again that my knowledge of the Pokemon franchise mostly drops mid-way through the 3rd generation of Pokemon. So expecting me to go over the 7th gen is certainly asking a lot from me. But I do have a topic I can get extensively one in regards to Incineroar's part of Smash history.

And it alllllll has to do with an infamous box… and a certain Dr. Seuss character.

The Smash fanbase was still reeling from the absolute joy that was the August direct that revealed not just Simon and Richter (Even if Simon was a somewhat known commodity for both people paying attention to potential leaks not to mention Nintendo goofing with Castlevania music being put on the site before Simon was officially revealed). But there was Chrom and Dark Samus as two awesome choices for echoes. And then we also got none other than King K. Rool, someone who was at the top of the polls in nearly all collections of fan votes. With about 3-4 months to go before the game's release. It had people buzzing about what could possibly be next, even dreaming of a great finale where even more long-held wishes come to life. Or at the very least a look at into what could be expanded upon through the game's DLC. But before then, we still had people having huge hopes for the remaining base game roster. If you look at posts from after K. Rool was revealed. I imagine you'd had seen many who were expecting more than 2 characters left to go. Never mind that the roster was already huge as is after Everyone is Here + Inkling and Ridley, never mind that Sakurai explicitly warned that there wouldn't be too many more characters (Though trying to point this out often was replied with saying that Sakurai is just trying to temper our expectations to blow our minds with the final direct before the game's release).

Perhaps in hindsight the August direct was Smash Ultimate really blowing it's load when it comes to character reveals. It might been more palatable if say they had only Simon/Richter and maybe Chrom as an additional echo fighter. Then announced Dark Samus and King. K Rool either alongside Isabelle in the September direct or elsewhere. So that expectations aren't totally through the roof after 5 relatively well-received characters were revealed in one direct.

But regardless, let's get to mentioning the box I mentioned. Sometime in September, an image came out for a more special physical release of Ultimate that included a gamecube controller adapter and single controller with it. That's all normal and stuff, but what people got to pay close attention to was the way characters were ordered on the box… and at the time… only two missing spaces.

smashbrosultimatespecialedition-1.jpg

The funny thing is the controversy could have all been avoided if Nintendo just didn't allow a view of the character section in it's advertising material. But speculation drive on whether these missing spaces meant anything or not. Some said that while it's certainly likely they hid characters on the box, that it wouldn't be weird to have just made at least a digital version of how it'd look with all the currently revealed characters. Maybe make the character blocks smaller if there were more than 2 newcomers. Or at the very least they could have hidden some of the characters on say the bottom of the box. Nevertheless, the box quickly began a deep divide in the Smash community between those who would temper expectations that the Box theory is right that there was only 2 newcomers left.

We would get one of those spaces filled in with Isabelle's reveal later in the month.

But moving on, it probably didn't help, that one particular design function seemed to rule out someone who many thought was sure they were coming at some point. An anthropomorphized red and black bipedal character… that wasn't Incineroar. I'm talking about none other then Shadow the Hedgehog, a popular choice for a 2nd Sonic character who happened to avoid being deconfirmed at the time the box theory arrived. And we even had Knuckles revealed as an Assist Trophy along with the reveal of Richter, a 3rd party echo. After the August direct, there were plenty of people who may have outright said they were at least 90% sure Shadow would make it in as an echo. (…And one person who metaphorically died on the hill that Shadow would be playable in base game AND be his own unique fighter. So he ended up drinking seven cups of mustard water and recording himself for his youtube channel when neither happened. But that's neither here or there). As someone who preferred Tails to be the next Sonic character I did have to begrudgingly accept that things were looking pretty good for Shadow's chances at that time.

But let's take a look at how meticulously designed the character listing was. To visualize it as best I can, I will put the numbers of each base game fighter from the side that was visible from the initial image without Isabelle and Incineroar first

9 10 11 12 13 13e

14 15 16 |

|25 25e 26

27 28 28e 29 30 31|

|43 44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51-53 |

|62 63 64

65 66 66e 67 68 (Isabelle) 69 (Incineroar) |

This isn't just some weird code combination. This is all these fighters grouped by nine. With oddities like the Mii Fighters being next to Corrin instead of Palutena or why Sheik is on that side, but Zelda isn't. And while the box has been long released out. I can also give what the other side would be with the other half of the base game roster. (Granted, the box is out and I could probably look for an image of the other side. But to be full authenticity for what things were like in the September the box theory was out. Here's what started as speculation but became true when we compare one side to the other)

| 1 2 3 4 4e 5

6 7 8 |

|17 18 19

20 21 21e 22 23 24 |

| 32 33-35 36 37 38 39

40 41 42 |

|54 55 56

57 58 59 60 60e (Ken) 61 |

The order of this meant there was no echo in Sonic's group but there was one where Ryu would be. Thus ruling out entirely that Shadow would be playable at all in the base game unless the box theory could be debunked. Some people however got so caught up into believing Shadow was going to be playable, and/or there would be more than 2 newcomers left that they let themselves be blind and deny that Nintendo could have goofed so hard with a marketing ploy like this. Eventually it all came to an impasse where obviously there wasn't going to be a sufficient enough case to prove the legitimacy of the theory until a Smash direct comes down to show what characters would ultimately make it.

…Now if only that was the end of the remaining drama that would be unleashed onto the Smash community in the last weeks before the final base game direct. Cause there'd be ANOTHER twist in this saga. Where we got none other than the Grinch leak. For those who either may not remember why it was connected to the grinch or were not there for that moment of time. The alleged "leaks" contained some meticulously crafted material that seemed to show a banner exactly like the one shown with a noticeable amount of extra characters next to promotional material for Illumination's Grinch movie.

Screen Shot 2023-05-09 at 6.20.14 PM.png

While the leak does at least somewhat corroborate something the box theory was hinting at, with the inclusion of Ken in the base game. The Grinch leak seems to tell us that not only would it be him, but the Chorus Men from Rhythm Heaven, Mach Rider, Isaac from Golden Sun, Geno, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Banjo-Kazooie all packaged with the base game before any DLC drops down. 6 additional characters aside from Ken. 4 more then the box theory hints at, and the notable exclusion of the highly (and many times begrudgingly) expected Incineroar.

I think in retrospect, people should have been decently more skeptical that Gamefreak wasn't going to shill the latest generation at the time. But perhaps some were thinking they'd add a Pokemon as DLC to compensate Gamefreak. Some even hoped that Gen 7 would be cursed much like Gen 3 and Gen 5 before it to be excluded from a Smash Bros. representative (I think some even called it the odd numbered generation curse. Aside from Gen 1, but that one was exempt because of course it was the first and thus most iconic gen of Pokemon). The Grinch Leak giving hope that we wouldn't be getting a "shillmon" along with these popular characters drove people who really wanted the Grinch leak to be real. And many forums talking about Smash Bros all over became split between #Teamreal and #Teamfake. Those who believe it was real quickly drew comparisons to stuff like the ESRB leak for Smash 4 to insist why this could all be pointing to be real. It was a short time before we were going to get the the full base roster revealed to us. And while I'm sure some members of Team Fake had their own unsavory agenda. I think most of the well-meaning members of Team Fake were more so thinking that they'd love to be wrong on this one but there was something fishy about all this that was hard to pinpoint. And many of the reasons the Team Real people insisted proved the Grinch Leak was legit at times felt almost as insane as a Qanon conspiracy theory.

All-in-all, the Smash community tore itself apart for the about two weeks that the Grinch Leak was mulled over before it was finally time for all to be revealed on November 1st. No matter what happens, the Smash community was not going to be fully prepared for what was in store for them.

It all started normal enough, Sakurai giving a brief hello before transitioning us to a trailer he says will show all the final remaining characters. Whether it was only 2 like the box theory, or 6 as the Grinch Leak implied. It even straight up starts with Ken, a character heavily implied In both. So at that point, there was still hope in the eyes of #Teamreal. But it's at about 1 minute and 45 seconds where the result of the weeks of debate were about to reach it's end. Yellow glowing eyes from someone in the backstage. Ken knocks Little Mac into the scoreboard, before he is then fastly approached by a black and red anthro character seemingly ready for vengeance… with a belt made of flames. And with a roar, we got the reveal of Incineroar. The Grinch leak was dead, and the box theory was not just still on the table. It would be confirmed to be the truth all along.

And just in case people were still hoping that there was going to be some sort of compromise where Ken and Incineroar really weren't all that's left in the base game. Sakurai outright says "Last new challenger" when introducing him. Everyone who believed the Grinch Leak had to admit that they've been bamboozled. The funny thing is, I believe to this day no one knows who was the person behind the grinch leak. There was a name that some people initially thought was the leaker, but that was the name of a former employee that hasn't worked there for a few years.. It's an unsolved mystery that will forever haunt Smash speculators. It probably doesn't help that by the time the next Smash arrives, now fakers will have AI Art/Deepfake technology that will likely be able to at some point make more convincing looking fakes.

To pour salt on the wound, both Isaac and Shadow would be revealed to be returning as Assist trophies rather than playable characters. With no sign of anyone else. The only other character to "survive" the Grinch leak aside from of course Ken would turn out to be Banjo. But otherwise everyone else was an assist trophy, a spirit, and/or a mii costume. To this day, we still don't know who was actually responsible for the Grinch Leaks. There's rumors and/or people who have anonymously claimed to be the one who did it. But this is certainly a cold case as of right now. Although it isn't a crime to fool the internet, so it's not like we'll have all that many professionals trying to track down the source.

To add FURTHER salt in the wound though for those watching, Sakurai would of course get to DLC characters. But what is the first character we get? You should know, they'll be at the very bottom of the ranking list at 83rd now. I think I even noted back in that coverage of the character, how much it just contributed to the misery of that day for those who were so hopeful for something cool other than Ken and Incineroar only for a Mario mook to get in before their favorites. That November 1st was a date that lived in infamy for many a Smash speculator. Box theory was proven true, the final characters were exactly what people guessed as far back as September. All the chaos introduced from the debates over the box and then the Grinch leak all for naught as those who kept their expectations low to the box theory got what they were expecting. Though it probably goes without saying that once again, those who had their expectations low because of either the box or were on #Teamfake during the Grinch leak they were at least silently hoping they were wrong because no one truly wants LESS characters to be in Smash. 6 was more than 2, so naturally people hoped the Grinch leak was correct. but it just wasn't meant to be

And all this talk about the box and the grinch leak certainly overshadowed Incineroar's existence in Smash and in some ways still does. I suppose I can at least say some personal feelings about the character. I think Incineroar is a fine character, although one I don't use a whole bunch. I think part of the heat (no pun intended) he recieved from fans is he was part of a trend that annoyed Pokemon fans of perfectly fine quadrapedal starter pokemon that grew into bipedal fighting types (Although Incineroar ironically broke the trend despite being wrestling related by being part Dark type). Then of course there was the fact there was a leaker who was adamant that he was in. Just another reason so many were hoping the Grinch leak was correct that they left out Incineroar out. But all-in-all it is kinda fun to have a pro-wrestling inspired character regardless, and one fun tidbit is that Incineroar was the last role of Heihachi from Tekken's japanese voice actor before he passed…

Oh no… perhaps… Incineroar… THREW MOST OF THE GRINCH LEAK CHARACTERS OFF A CLIFF! AAAAAAAAAAAH!
____________________________________________________________________________

Being a new Pokemon does instantly put Incineorar in the lower half here. I'm putting him above Palutena but below the Xenoblade 2 girls. He represents Gen 7 of Pokemon decently enough to have some form of reason to be included where as I mentioned I've been a bit skeptical of why Palutena was all too necessary of an inclusion despite the length of which the character existed. But being a Pokemon does have disadvantages against the Xenoblade protagonist just for the sheer amount of Pokemon reps.

With that, all non-shroom sections are finished. Tune in for Shroom Issue 194 for the finale!

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pikachu
4. Donkey Kong
5. Kirby
6. Samus
7. Pokemon Trainer
8. Luigi
9. Wario
10. Yoshi
11. Bowser
12. Peach
13. Mii Fighters
14. Mega Man
15. Pac-Man
16. Diddy Kong
17. Banjo & Kazooie
18. Simon Belmont
19. Hero
20. King Dedede
21. Mewtwo
22. Ridley
23. King K. Rool
24. Zelda
25. Meta Knight
26. Ganondorf
27. Mr. Game & Watch
28. Sonic the Hedgehog
29. Cloud
30. Sora
31. Ryu
32. Villager
33. Bowser Jr.
34. Olimar
35. Fox
36. Rosalina & Luma
37. Marth
38. Zero Suit Samus
39. Toon Link
40. Isabelle
41. Inkling
42. Snake
43. Shulk
44. Pit
45. Little Mac
46. Ness
47. Captain Falcon
48. Sephiroth
49. Robin
50. Jigglypuff
51. Falco
52. Wolf
53. Pichu
54. Duck Hunt
55. Ike
56. Greninja
57. Steve
58. Kazuya
59. Terry
60. Bayonetta
61. Lucas
62. Pyra
63. Mythra
64. Incineroar
65. Palutena
66. Joker
67. Young Link
68. Sheik
69. ROB
70. Min Min
71. Byleth
72. Ice Climbers
73. Wii Fit Trainer
74. Ken
75. Dark Samus
76. Chrom
77. Lucina
78. Daisy
79. Richter
80. Roy
81. Dr. Mario
82. Dark Pit
83. Piranha Plant
 
Lucario and Corrin are now covered, and thus the list is complete!

Once again a big thank you to everyone who voted and hope you enjoyed seeing the list grow overtime. I even included how each game's pool of characters would look by themselves with their ranking number in the full list.

All that's left is if you'd like to give some comments and/or asking why I put some characters where they are. I will admit that it's probably likely that many of the middle characters are ranked above one another on flimsy pretenses. I never mean to take it as gospel that every single character above the other has more merit than the next. Although the more closer they are to the Top and the Bottom of the list I'm more firm with my ranking of them overall.

I've also once thought about having a "What If?" sort of thing where I give where characters might be on the list if they had gotten into Smash. But I don't think I will put it into the Shroom. Feel free to tell me if you'd be interested in something like that, if I decide to do it. It will remain forum exclusive however. But may be still in this thread for just a little extra fun side thing to do whenever I want.
 
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