Sunday, June 14, 2009

Blast From the Past SSBB

Part 1, circa May 10th, 2006
SSBB
Dude...when I saw the new Super Smash Bros. trailer, I went from 0 to Geek in .03 seconds...like seriously, thick framed glasses, a pocket protector, the works, all magically materializing on my person as I think of the wonderful possibilities this game could potentially hold. As soon as I heard the codec beep, I seriously crapped myself, and when he popped out from under the box, I think Snake turned me gay.

Think of the possibilities! Third party characters in SSB!? Assuming more are added, here, in no particular order, are my favorite picks:

Sonic (Sega)
Knuckles (Sega)
Tails (Sega)
Robotnik (Sega)
Vectorman (Sega)
Megaman (Capcom)
Viewtiful Joe (Capcom)
One or both of the Buster Bros. (Capcom)
King Arthur (Capcom)
Alucard (Konami)
Cyborg Ninja (Konami)
Bomberman (Hudson)
Bonk (Hudson)
Pacman (Namco)
The Prince (Namco)
Others (Anyone)

Any Sonic character is a MUST if anybody from Sega makes it. If Capcom's in, Megaman would HAVE to be there, but Viewtiful Joe (since it pretty much ripped off SSB anyways) would fit perfect too. Since Konami's on board, I suspect at least one or two more characters will make the cut, and Alucard and the Cyborg Ninja have the swordplay. Since Hudson's on board with the virtual console, and they've collaborated on things in the past (Mario Party, Wario Blast [a Bomberman/Wario crossover, btw]), Bomberman would be a real safe bet. As for Bonk...A guy can dream, can't he? Also, who can forget Namco? After all, Pacman has already appeared alongside Mario and Company in Mario Kart: Arcade GP. However, the Prince (from Katamari fame) is just wishful thinking...think about it...the Prince vs. Olimar (from Pikmin)...clash of the titans!

And of course, let's not forget the new Nintendo characters announced: Pit, Wario, and Metaknight pretty much rocked my socks off...Samus...well, she (the character) has already been in it, but it's still cool. One thing I do find humorous though, is that Kirby looks exactly the freaking same during the "transformation" sequence in the beginning.

-AfroRyan
I guess Ryu or Ken (or Ryu AND Ken) could work too...

UPDATE:
Phoneix Wright 2...awesome!

Part 2 Circa January 17th, 2008

So, on day one of the original SSBB trailer revealing Snake, I posted a list of my personal favorite choices for additional 3rd party characters in Brawl. They weren't predictions, just wishful thinking. Well, many things have come to pass in between now and then, the biggest of which was the reveal of Sonic as a playable character. I would have never predicted the Assist Trophies announcements, so I never would have thought that my character list might be wholly represented via playable characters/assist trophies. Cyborg Ninja was announced as an assist trophy a while back, so scratch him off the list. Still, I must say that my personal favorite coincidence was that I jokingly referred to a fight between Olimar and the Prince (from Katamari) turned out half-true. I would have never guessed Olimar, since I had determined (using fanboy logic) that Olimar had 0% chance of being in Smash Bros given his tiny size (at least 3 CM, at most 3 IN). Now, I'm being serious when I say this: if Prince is announced as a bonus "WTF" 3rd party character, I will probably just explode due to the excess amount of awesome that would accumulate within my body.

Here's my original dream list circa 5/10/06:

Sonic (Sega) - OMG SONIC CONFIRMED FOR BRAWL!!!111!!11!!
Knuckles (Sega) - Assist Trophy?
Tails (Sega) - Assist Trophy?
Robotnik (Sega) - Boss?
Vectorman (Sega) - NO
Megaman (Capcom) - NO *cries*
Viewtiful Joe (Capcom) - NO
One or both of the Buster Bros. (Capcom) - NO
King Arthur (Capcom) - NO
Alucard (Konami) - NO
Cyborg Ninja (Konami) - Confirmed as Assist Trophy
Bomberman (Hudson) - NO
Bonk (Hudson) - NO
Pacman (Namco) - NO
The Prince (Namco) - NO
Others (Anyone) - NO

And just to brag one more time, I also mentioned Olimar, who was confirmed.

I will update this list after the release of Brawl. I predict that the rest of the Sonic clan will probably be assist trophies, while Robotnik will most likely be a boss in SSE. As far as Vectorman goes, again, assist trophies make anything possible, and I wouldn't exactly be surprised to see more non-Sonic characters represented. Other companies though are a HUGE grey area. I'm personally doubtful of any additional MAJOR 3rd party character. My reason for believing so boils down to simple logic: Why would Nintendo not announce someone as huge as Megaman when they KNOW it would be sell more copies of Brawl? My pessimistic view of Nintendo when it comes to marketing doesn't prove anything, it's just a simple hunch. Lord knows, I would be PUMPED if Megaman was kept secret. It would prove to me that Nintendo still has some genuine love for their fans. Still, that's just a [warp] pipe dream.

EDIT: My predicted WTF character (note: only WTF to non-Japanese territories): DeMille, from Alpah Dreams' AMAZING original Mario RPG style GBA RPG, "Tomato Adventure." He would be awesome, and I for one would nerdgasm...one of probably very few Americans.

EDIT2: Had a sudden realization that Sketch Turner (Comix Zone) would make an amazing guest character. POWER SLAM *RIIIIIP*!!!!!!!! No chance really, but it would be crazy awesome.

EDIT3: So...everything leaked a few days ago (today is 01/31/08)...so yeah, I'm disappointed. I shouldn't be. If Nintendo wasn't so worried about making money (not a negative thing mind you), this exact same roster could have been awesome! All they would have had to do was make all the unlockable veterans (Captain Falcon, Ness, Marth, etc.) included in the starting roster, and make all the new original starting roster (Olimar, King Dedede, etc.) unlockable. That's not too hard to imagine. You know everyone would have freaked out when they saw Challenger Approaching: OLIMAR flash across their screens. Also, I know this would be impossible to pull off, but what if they had kept the 3rd party characters absolutely secret? It's funny; I would have fully accepted the roster, regardless of anything negative, had Sonic been the final unlockable (and it was a surprise). However, that's not how it turned out. Everyone's (including myself) freaking out because the final roster doesn't really impress. But that's the thing, the unlockables simply aren't as cool as the starters (I'm counting Snake and Sonic as starters, even though they are technically unlockable). I mean, the only 2 original unlockable characters we're getting are R.O.B. and Lucario. Everyone else is just a clone (although I was PUMPED when I saw that Toon Link replaced Young Link as a clone), or someone we were expecting (Luigi, C. Falcon, Jigglypuff, Ness)...Oh, and regardless of how I look at it, it really is unforgivable that there are three, THREE Fox clones...SERIOUSLY. I like Fox, and I know he's a go to character for tourneys, but seriously...three nearly identical characters. Ridiculous.

-AfroRyan
March 9th better be the REAL release date, or I'm killing myself.

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