The Wii U launch is approaching and the anticipatory
build-up for this new system has been… well, pretty underwhelming. (Seriously
Nintendo, you had NOTHING to show for G4?)
We were promised, among other standard “like you would really put out a
new console without this game” franchises, that we would get a new Smash Bros.
game. Honestly, that would be my biggest reason to buy the system. I am a huge
fan of the Super Smash Bros. series going way back to the N64. I love the
unique fighting style and insane gameplay of the series as well as getting to
use so many diverse video game characters, each utilizing their own special and
often legendary attacks. Now the Gamecube and Wii installments each brought
many new characters to the game which really expanded the possibilities of play
and I imagine that the Wii U will provide an even bigger array of playable
characters to choose from. No two additional characters changed the franchise
as much as the inclusions of Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. Both those
PC’s are special in that they are not owned by Nintendo and as such really
opened the door to all sorts of dream match-ups and battles. So, here is my
list of the Top 10 PC’s, either owned by Nintendo or not, that I want in the
next installment of Super Smash Bros.
Honorable Mention: Shadow – The evil Sonic could be
awesome, but the game designers would really need to make him different from the
blue hedgehog. The best way of doing that is with his Chaos attacks. The
problem is Shadow seems a lot like a repeat of Sonic, like Dr. Mario, Young
Link and Pichu from Melee.
10. Bowser Jr. – Imagine a smaller Bowser with the same
shell attacks as his daddy, except make those attacks slightly less powerful in
exchange for greater speed. It seems
inevitable that at some point King Koopa’s favorite kid, and considering Jr. is
the youngest of 8 that’s saying something, gets included in a Smash Bros. game.
He may offer some unique attacks such as using the magic paintbrush or throwing
Koopa shells. I think there is definitely enough potential to make a cool and
different character for the game.
9. Tails – He’s one of the characters people asked about
when Sonic was revealed to be a part of Brawl. Tails is a fan favorite of the
Hedgehog series and being a flying character he could be very interesting to
play. Plus his mechanic skills could lend him some weapons and gadgets to
attack with.
8. Waluigi – You have Wario, why the hell not Waluigi? I suppose
the biggest problem would be making Waluigi distinct, especially after Wario
was made so drastically different from Mario. But he is definitely a character
that people asked about when they saw he was only an Assist Trophy in Brawl and
Wario was a playable character. Maybe Waluigi could be based on various sport
appearances he’s made like in Super Sluggers.
7. Bonk the Caveman/AirZonk – Going back in time there was a
groundbreaking videogame system known as the TurboGrafx 16 which at the time
was the only home console to offer 16 bit graphics. The original mascot for the
system was Bonk, a cave-boy with a large invulnerable head that he would use to
head-butt his enemies. He was featured in several games before being retired
and replaced with his great, great, great… way too many greats to bother
listing, grandson AirZonk, who was a punk/cyborg boy from the future. Either of
these characters would be cool, or Bonk could ‘evolve’ into Zonk much the same
way Zelda could become Sheik or the Pokemon change out in midgame; then you
could have a change in gameplay as Bonk is more physical and Zonk is a
shooter.
6. Dr. Robotnik – It only seems fair that since we got
Sonic, we should get his nemesis. I’m not sure what his power set would be,
partly because I haven’t played very many Sonic the Hedgehog games. Maybe he
could summon minions like King Dedede (I think that was his name, he was
Kirby’s nemesis) or he could use robotic weapons.
5. Knuckles – Again, it was awesome to get Sonic, but
Knuckles was a cool character that can be used to expand the speedster design.
Knuckles seems made for Super Smash Bros. as he is a major brawler. I would
guess this want of mine has one of the best shots at being made into a PC due
to his following.
4. Samurai Goroh – This villain of Captain Falcon first
appeared in the game as a trophy in Melee, then as an Assist Trophy in Brawl. I
think it’s time he graduates to a full on character. His move-set could be
similar to Falcon’s, except slower. In return, however, Goroh can attack with
his katana. I could even see a special energy slash attack similar to the
“Falcon Punch”
2 & 3. Megaman and Dr. Wiley – This might be wishful
thinking as Capcom seems content to make their own fighting games using their
own catalog of characters, but I would actually want those two 2 characters
(Megaman and Dr. Wiley) and one Assist Trophy (Rush). Now we don’t really need
Megaman when you consider Samus is really similar to him, but he is so iconic,
plus if he could change out types of blasters (ice gun, fire balls, etc.) he
could be really cool. I could see Dr. Wiley having a Shang Tsung type of shape shifting ability where he can summon
robot armor resembling (and having the powers of) various robot bosses from the
games. Rush could be a flying missile launcher or something, I’m not sure, but
he should be there. If they wanted to expand further, I would also love to see
Zero and Proto Man join the fray.
1. Simon Belmont – Perhaps another case of wishful thinking
(unless a deal can be made with Konami), the hero of Castlevania 1 & 2 has
been such a Nintendo icon that he appeared in that bizarre Captain N: The Game
Master cartoon. I think he could be an entirely unique playable character.
Nobody uses a whip! Samus and Link have a grappling hook, but that’s not the
same. Simon could whip opponents and use his leathery weapon to latch onto
cliffs to avoid falling to his death. Plus, he could have throwing knives,
those ‘wall of flame’ magic things he threw in Simon’s Quest, maybe have
options for the flaming whip… I don’t know, there are a lot of possibilities
here. All I know is before Brawl came out, there was 2 Nintendo characters I
wanted most to appear… one was Pit from Kid Icarus. Poor Simon has yet to join
the fight.
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