I hope you all enjoyed the first 13 characters in this Smash Fun Fact miniseries. It has definitely been fun for me getting to explore some of the more obscure facets of Nintendo character lore. I have another 13 characters for you all today so let’s waste no time into diving back into Smash Ultimate’s sea of characters.
Bowser: We have finally reached Mario’s sworn nemesis, the King of all Koopas, Bowser. Bowser might very well be the most iconic and recognizable villain in all of video games and that would not be much of a surprise considering he has been in well over 100 video games from mainline Mario titles, to spinoffs, to cameos. That little factoid is sure to surprise almost no one, so consider it just an appetizer fact to compliment the main course. Why am I suddenly making food puns? Well simply put, it is because the Bowser fact I have to share with you all is also a food related one. In Japanese, Bowser is named Koopa, that is a pretty well known fact. What is a little more obscure is the fact that the name Koopa is a Japanese phonetic translation of their word “kuppa” which itself is the Japanese name of a Korean rice and hot soup dish known as gukbap. Many of my best friends are Korean and I am willing to be that they did not know that Mario’s most famous foe, is named after a Korean soup dish that they have likely had multiple times throughout their lives.
Ice Climbers: The Ice Climbers, Popo and Nana, are two of the oldest characters in Nintendo’s history and it is certainly nice to have them back as a part of the roster after their absence in Smash 4. The one piece of trivia that everyone should know about this decades old game is that it was one of the first games to have changes between its Japanese and Western releases. One of the common enemies if Ice Climbers is called a Topi. In North America and Europe, the Topi is a small yeti like creature that the Ice Climbers can easily defeat by clubbing it on the head. However, in the Japanese release Topis were actually blue seals that you still killed by clubbing them with your mallet. Seal hunting in Japan is much more socially acceptable than in the West, so in order to avoid a major controversy, Nintendo changed the look of the Topis in the Western release.
Zelda: This next entry is going to be a little out of order for reasons that will make sense in the next entry. The way Super Smash Bros labels its characters, it does so in the order they were confirmed for the game unless the character is an echo fighter in which case, they are grouped right after the character they are based on. Zelda is labeled number 17 and despite being a more integral character to the Legend of Zelda franchise than number 16, she was actually confirmed a spot later. Zelda is essentially Link’s Princess Peach. She is the Princess of Hyrule and reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia. My favorite fun fact about Zelda is that she was named after Great Gatsby writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda Fitzgerald. In turn, Princess Zelda later became the inspiration behind celebrated actor and comedian, Robin Williams’, daughter’s name, Zelda Williams. Zelda is certainly one inspirational name.
Sheik: For those who have never in their lives played or heard of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time be warned because it is time for some 20 year old spoilers. Sheik the mysterious ninja-like figure from that game is in reality, Princess Zelda in disguise (I know big shock). Despite the fact that Zelda was a character long before Sheik was ever a thing, Sheik was actually confirmed for Smash Bros Ultimate before Zelda, hence why she is officially number 16 and Zelda number 17. For our interesting Sheik fact, I will once again turn to name origins. The name Sheik in The Legend of Zelda is derived from the Arabic word, Sheikh, an honorific title that usually denotes the ruler of a tribe. Sheik is a fitting name as she is Princess Zelda, the ruler of the Kingdom of Hyrule.
Dr. Mario: Mario changes into a white lab coat for his job as a doctor and becomes Dr. Mario. There is not too much different between Dr. Mario and regular Mario, but there is one piece of trivia I recall from his trophy in Smash 4 which states that the reason Dr. Mario is slower than regular Mario is because Dr. Mario is carrying an MD with him that slows him down and lowers his jumping capabilities. Dr. Mario is also unique in terms of his appearances within the Smash franchise as he was one of 5 characters cut from Brawl (Mewtwo, Roy, Pichu, and Young Link were the others), but was the only one of those 5 cut characters to make it into Smash 4 as a non-DLC character (Mewtwo and Roy would return as DLC). This makes Dr. Mario unique as the only character cut from Brawl who was added back into Smash 4 during the game’s actual development cycle.
Pichu: Pichu is the pre-evolved form of Pikachu and at the time of its introduction in Melee, Pichu was seen as Melee’s equivalent of a joke character as almost every one of Pichu’s attacks would cause damage to itself as well as being the lightest and easiest to launch character in the game. Pichu was one of a group of Pokemon introduced in Gen 2 known as Baby Pokemon that were pre-evolved forms of already established base Pokemon. One unique fact about the Tiny Mouse Pokemon is that it in Generation 3 it gained access to a signature move that could only be bread onto a Pichu if one of its parents was holding onto a Light Ball. This signature move is the shared Final Smash of both Pichu and Pikachu, Volt Tackle.
Falco: Fox McCloud’s cocky wingman, Falco Lombardi, is team Star Fox’s best pilot and he definitely makes sure everyone knows it. Falco’s first name obviously derives from Falcon, as in the small, fast raptors known for their extremely fast flying speed. That much anyone could have guessed. The really fun part about Falco is his last name. John Kirby was not the only person in the world whose name would be immortalized in the form of a video game character. In fact Lombardi, Falco’s last name also comes from a person who helped out Nintendo. Shigeru Miyamoto has gone on record saying that Falco Lombardi was named after Paul J. Lombardi, a special effects engineer who had worked on the now infamous Super Mario Bros. Movie. As thanks for Lombardi’s hard work, he was rewarded with a character named after him. I would say that certainly is not a bad reward for working on such a disgraceful film.
Marth: Marth is the Prince of Altea and the first Lord in the Fire Emblem Series. Fire Emblem has a rich history in Japan, but the first 6 games in the series never made it over to the west. This is quite possibly my favorite of all Nintendo franchises and as such, I know a fair bit of trivia about the franchise. In the case of Marth, one interesting fact about him lies in his name. Marth is a corruption of the name Mars, which is of course the name of the Roman god of war. That alone would be a fitting name for a main character who leads an army at war, but his name origins span a little deeper than most other characters, because Marth actually has a last name, at least if you are a believer in the short lived Fire Emblem anime. In the anime, Marth is called Mars and he actually has a last name, Lowell, which means Little Wolf.
Lucina: Lucina is one of the central characters in Fire Emblem: Awakening and is the first of Super Smash Bros. Echo fighters to be officially confirmed for Ultimate. Echo fighters are characters who are derived from other characters in the game and Lucina’s properties are based on Marth. This is quite appropriate as she is actually a distant descendant of the Hero King Marth and in her own game she even disguises herself as the legendary hero, hiding her face behind a mask. An interesting bit of trivia about Lucina is that all of her alternate outfits in the Smash Bros Series are references to other female characters in Awakening. Green references Nowi, a girl with Green hair who can turn into a dragon. Black references Cherche, a Wyvern Rider clad in Black Armor with Pinkish Red hair. White references Cordelia, a Pegasus Knight in shining White/Silver Armor with deep Red hair. Red references Tiki, the Divine Dragon and her Green hair. Yellow represents Lissa, Lucina’s aunt. Black represents Tharja, a dark mage with black hair. Finally, Pink references Sumia, another Pegasus Knight who canonically according to the lore of Fire Emblem Awakening is Lucina’s mother.
Young Link: This version of Link is based off of the child version of Link found in both Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. With the changes made to the adult version of Link, Young Link is actually the most similar Link to all the other versions of Adult Link. As Young Link shares many of his facts with all the adult versions of Link, it is a little harder to come up with facts unique to him, but from what I have seen and read before, in Majora’s Mask, apparently there is unused data for 3 other masks that all looked like Link. The prevailing thought is that these Link masks were originally intended to be worn by the Skull Kid, the game’s main antagonist as either a way to taunt Link or a way to have the Skull Kid transform into a twisted version of Link. Needless to say this idea was ultimately scrapped but the assets still remain.
Ganondorf: Just as Mario has Bowser, Link has Ganondorf. In one form or another Ganondorf has been the central antagonist of The Legend of Zelda series in almost all of the games in the series. The first appearance of the character known as Ganondorf was in Ocarina of Time, but the spirit of this evil, Gerudo, wizard has had many forms and many names over the years. He has taken the form of Ganon multiple times, has been an amorphous blob of chaotic energy called the Calamity Ganon, was originally a demon named Demise, and has even been a woman called Yuga before. To keep the focus on Ganondorf, one interesting fact about his appearance in Ocarina of Time is that depending on which version of the game you got. In the first version of the game, when you defeated Ganondorf, he would spit up red blood but that was deemed a little to graphic so in later versions the blood was changed to green.
Mewtwo: Pokemon 150, Mewtwo is the clone of the legendary Pokemon Mew, said to be the ancestor of all Pokemon. He has incredible psychic abilities and since the 6th generation of Pokemon games, he has gained the ability to Mega-Evolve into two more powerful forms. Despite his great psychic powers, Mewtwo has shown himself to be quite the deep thinker in his film appearances. One of the most profound quotes I and many kids ever heard growing up in the 90s came from Mewtwo who taught us all that, “The circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” That is not really a fun fact and more of an observation so for the fun fact, Mewtwo is one of a scant few Pokemon who actually have appeared on real world currency. In the region of New Zealand called Niue, $10 coins with Mewtwo on them had been minted. I remember wanting some of these coins as a kid but alas, I never got one.
Roy: Roy is the hero of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and his appearance along with Marth in Super Smash Bros. Melee was instrumental in convincing Nintendo to bring the series over to the west. The most interesting fact about Roy is that he is the only character in the Super Smash series to appear as a playable character in that game, before his actual franchise as The Binding Blade did not release in Japan for 4 months after Melee’s official release. A bonus fact about Roy is that despite coming out in a game that debuted after Melee, he was actually a concept as a character from before the original Super Smash Bros. was a concept. Roy was originally supposed to be a character in the scrapped Fire Emblem 64 project that was aiming for release around 1998, which would have been a year before the world was introduced to Super Smash Bros. in 1999. Roy has certainly had one weird development cycle as a character.