Stuff...Smash Bros. stuff

I honestly hate regaling about my pet interests to those who could care less, even though I can seemingly get the most material out of it (kind of like how unimportant Wikipedia subjects have a higher word count than actual worthwhile stuff.) But it's going to happen, I guess, given the nature of the blog. Bah, screw it; I'll do what I want.

I already explained how lurking forums caused me to start thinking about Smash Bros. Brawl again, which I know will only make me want to play the damn game even though I know (and have known since last summer) that the game won't be out for months. Since I haven't done any 'idea-sharing' since the initial appearance at E3, I guess it won't hurt to go another round today.

If you've been paying attention to the more intricate details that have come up, the game's director has stated that "Some characters will disappear. Definitely." No other specifics were given, but it sure set the world ablaze. Anyway, if there are characters from Melee on the chopping block, here's who I think they are and in what order they should be considered for elimination:

1. Dr. Mario - If you played SSBM, you know that several characters in the game have attacks duplicated from another character. These characters were thrown in at the last minute in order to have a satisfactory character count even though they didn't have enough time to make whole new models for them. These 'clones', as they are called, are who the director may have been referring to for the most part when he made the above comment. Some of those clones, however, are important characters from their respective game series, so they are relatively safe and could possibly be revamped (another thing the director said would happen to the returning characters in the game).
Dr. Mario is not one of those characters. He's my favourite character in the last game, but he's terribly boring and pointless as a character choice. It was pointed out by our director friend on the Japanese Melee site that Doc was chosen so they could include the infectious theme song from the game. He's an easy loss.

2. Roy - Okay, unlike Doc, Roy is actually a unique character rather than just one of the other ones wearing a coat. But what renders Roy expendable is the fact that he is completely interchangeable with the hundreds of other Fire Emblem protagonists, many of whom come from much more popular iterations of the series. Marth is the original and the fan-favourite, but Roy only has his Smash Bros. appearance to make him recognizable to the masses.

3. Pichu - Another clone, whose appearance in Melee was mostly due to the Silver/Gold/Crystal versions of Pokemon still being in the public conscious. Without being a tie-in, he's really not much more than just a slightly smaller Pikachu with a cuter voice. Cuteness doesn't cut it much anymore, I'm afraid.

4. Young Link - What throws the kid elf down a few ranks is the fact that he can revamped into the Young Link from The Wind Waker, complete with some new moves to separate him from the adult version and having the cel-shaded style to make him stand out. Otherwise, there's no reason to keep him around.

5. Sheik - The favourite of the tournament players is also pretty likely to get tossed. Why? She's not a clone or boring character, and adds a cool concept to the game. Well, that is true, but what else is true is that if Zelda ends up in the game, she'll have her Twilight Princess appearance. And if they base her on that game, it doesn't make much sense that they'll include something she only did in Ocarina of Time.
This isn't a completely bullet-proof theory, though. Generally, Link in Smash Bros. is supposed to be Link IN GENERAL, pulling abilities that appear throughout the various games in the series rather than whatever one his appearance is based upon. The same could very well be true of Zelda.
However, it has been noted that Zero-Suit Samus shares some aspects with Sheik, and could in fact be a 'replacement'. It's possible, but I hope that Samus/ZSSamus don't switch in the exact same method (mainly because that isn't very creative, but also because I find that it doesn't make such sense). The 'under certain conditions' comment on her official profile, however, gives me hope.

6. Falco - This guy has the 'fan favourite' and 'important' shields, but how good are they? Star Fox fans clamour for more characters, which is why Falco was in Melee in the first place, but if someone like furry wet dream Krystal get in, does Falco really have much of a point? You'd really need to reach to make him unique (although some have suggested that he should become the Luigi to Fox's Mario, which makes sense). He's also my 3rd favourite character in Melee. I'm conflicted here.

7. Ice Climbers - I don't WANT them to go, because they are fun characters with a unique concept. They were originally chosen to represent early NES titles over characters from Balloon Fight, Urban Champion, and Excitebike because of this concept. But...I dunno, out of all the non-clone, non-transformation characters in the game, they seem to be the odd out.
And no, they haven't already been cut. That's a bullshit rumour that is also seriously old and disproved a billion different times.

That's about it. You may have noticed that I didn't include Mr. Game & Watch. That is because Mr. Game & Watch is too awesome to be removed and represents a part of Nintendo's history, moreso than the rest of these guys. People who think he should be cut deserve a kidney punch.

Now, if only I could put this much detail into a political rant...