SSB Character reveal thoughts...

So, nope, it wasn't Shulk from Xenoblade like we all thought (including myself, though I was very happy to find out it wasn't him), but the announcement still comes as a disappointment to me. First off the bat, we have Captain Falcon back. Big deal, I pretty much expected that much already. At least now all those whiney trolls can stop typing "WHERE'S CAPTAIN FALCON??????" on every SSB post now (first it was "where's Yoshi", then "Where's Falcon", now I predict a "where's Ness" movement). The new characters, however, are both from the same game. It also happens to be a game we already have two characters from (three in the series previously) and it happens to be a game that, despite an increased global popularity since Melee and a consistent popularity in Japan, still doesn't compare at all to the success of Mario, Metroid, Pokémon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, or really any of Nintendo's there major franchises. That's right, we got 2.5 more Fire Emblem characters to play as, bringing the current total to 4 character slots. Damn. Metroid has two versions of the same character while Fire Emblem has four slots. And who are these characters? One's Lucina. She's a slender teenager in armor and tights with a cape who uses a sword. Just can't have enough of those characters I guess. Now, I don't follow the series too much, so, while I know I've seen her many times, I don't know much about her except she's Krom's daughter. To me, she looks JUST like Marth with long hair. Seriously, it looks like somebody hacked Marth's model and added long hair. This seems like another forced effort on Sakurai's part to just try and add as many female fighters as possible, even if they bring nothing unique to the table. Seriously, every girl is just some slender young human hero girl. Why can't we get unique female characters like Dixie Kong or Medusa? So many of these new characters are just so un-noteworthy and generic to me. I will often forget about them undoubtedly. The other character, Robin, from what I can tell, is just the generic "you" character from the most recent Fire Emblem game (go easy on me if I'm wrong. I don't follow the games like that). The character is a wizard which makes for much more interesting attacks, but it's just another avatar. You can be male or female Robin, which was cool the first time they did it but it's getting really old and played out (Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Mii Fighter, Robin... OK, we get it). Introducing a wizard and leaving Lucina out would have been a better idea in my mind, but at least add a wizard who's established enough of a character to not need an interchangeable sex. So, all in all, I was disappointed. I don't think Fire Emblem needs that much representation, I mostly feel it's an intentional and exaggerated response to SSB fans liking Marth, Roy and Ike so much (and the weird trend lots of SSB fanboys seem to follow of only letting themselves play or like the "realistic fighters"). While I knew it wasn't Ridley, I was hoping for something more original or unique than what we got. Nintendo also needs to stop pretending they have more "realistic fighters" than they really do. Face it guys, you make cute games. Your cute characters greatly outweigh the "realistic" ones. Represent what you are really about, not what you think "older gamers" want you to be about.

So, that's it, right? Actually, no. There was something today that really grabbed my attention. In his usual obnoxious fashion, Sakurai posted a screen capture of a Rayman trophy today saying that Ubisoft gave them loads of 3D model Rayman Origins style Rayman character references to make the trophy. Nothing more was said, but unless hey plan to go through all the hard work and money of getting loads of third party support just for some silly trophies, I'd say he may be playable, which would kick ASS. Sure, he's not as retro and classic as Pac-Man, Sonic or Mega Man, but Rayman's a legend (pun intended) and just the right type of fun and wacky character that belongs in SSB, not to mention a huge contributor to Nintendo's third party success since the N64. I would freaking love to have Rayman playable. In the recent games (Origins and Legends) he literally has an attack, running attack, walking attack, up attack, air attack, back air attack, forward air attack, up air attack, down air attack, a chargeable smash punch (from the original) and much more Smash style attacks (including his classic heli-hair recovery and ledge grabbing) that make him slide right into the roster smoother than butter. Now, while it's very hard not to think Ray is in the game having a trophy, it certainly is a possibility knowing what a troll Sakurai is. Well, since Ridley's a lost cause, please do this one for me, Masahiro!