Earlier this week, Nintendo announced that Mega Man aka Rock aka the Blue Bomber will be making his Smash Brothers debut in the newest installment of the series on the Wii U. Needless to say, I am absolutely stoked. I had a hunch that Mega Man would finally make it to Smash following the fan-made Super Smash Land, that was released roughly two years ago.
Joining Mega Man is Villager from the Animal Crossing series. Given that there were 16 playable characters added to Brawl back in 2008, I'm willing to bet that Nintendo is not finished with the roster for Smash Brothers 4. So I have compiled a list of seven characters that I would like to see included in the next installment.
You will be hard pressed to find someone who did not love the addition of Sonic in Brawl. However, there was very little homage to other characters from the Sonic universe. I guess they did include Shadow as an assist trophy, but nevertheless, Sonic only had one stage, and you do not see him until the very end of the Subspace Emissary. Knuckles would be a very simple character to develop, as he could be the slower, but stronger, version of Sonic - Making him a more well-rounded character. I think that adding a beloved character like Knuckles would be much appreciated by Sonic and Nintendo fans.
Was an assist trophy in Brawl, but now it's time to make him playable, especially considering that Punch Out! made a comeback on the Wii. Little Mac would be in his natural habitat, as he would be a professional boxer in fighting game. Although, I'm not sure what his special attacks would be besides maybe a jumping uppercut. I did notice that one of the stages from the E3 trailer is a boxing/wrestling ring, so perhaps this means that Nintendo intends to use one, if not various, characters from the Punch Out! series.
Who wouldn't want to see Crash in Smash? It shouldn't be too much of a hassle to license; Crash has been on Nintendo consoles in the past despite being the mascot for Playstation during the 90's. How funny would it be if yelling into that megaphone became one of his signature attacks? Adding Crash would mean some cool levels from the Crash Bandicoot series, as well as items, such as the Nitro crate. It would be fun to pit him against Sonic and Mario in matches, and it would be nostalgic for young adults who grew up on PSX.
The question here is: How has Simon Belmont not been featured in Smash yet? I understand that Castlevania has been on the XBox and Playstation consoles as of late, but come on! Nintendo managed to secure Snake and Mega Man. Is Konami really that stubborn? They still allow Castlevania games to be made for the Nintendo handhelds. With Simon's array of weapons, it should be rather simple to develop a variety of special attacks as well. It's about time that Belmont make a cameo - Castlevania was a huge staple during the early Nintendo years, and Belmont was even a character in "Captain N: The Game Master". Speaking of which...
While I'm pretty certain that most people under the age of 25 have no clue who Captain N is, I'm sure the older gamers would appreciate the addition of the Game Master. Special attacks should be no issue, as the Game Master comes equipped with the NES Zapper and his utility belt. Perhaps they could also add the Power Glove to his weaponry? A variety of different stages could be made based off of Videoland from the 80's cartoon as well. Overall, Nintendo keeps trotting Mr. Game and Watch out in Smash Brothers (as well has making R.O.B. a fighter in the previous installment), so why not add Captain N to the roster?
Another nice throwback, as Bomberman was a signature character during the NES and N64 days. Already has easy-to-make special attacks: Down + smash to plant bombs, forward + smash to throw bombs. The only drawback with Bomberman is that he does not have any memorable stages or music, which would hurt his impact on the game. Regardless, it would be nice to see Bomberman beat some Nintendo ass.
This needs to happen. Bonk started getting a bit of notoriety as Bonk's Adventure became one of the most purchased games on the Wii Virtual Console, so much so that Hudsonsoft planned to reboot the franchise before having to close down. It would be a nice tribute given the failure of his relaunch (along with the failure of the TruboGrafx-16, the very system that Bonk was a poster boy for), and would certainly help bring more awareness to the character. Adding Bonk would also mean a stage and other references (items, assist trophies) based off of his series, which would most likely include dinosaurs. Who doesn't love dinosaurs?
