We are officially passing the halfway point in our Smash Ultimate Fun Fact series. With today’s entry we will have covered 52 characters and that by itself is pretty insane. At the time I am writing this and having played the game for about a week now, I have not ever played as all the characters once yet. This game is not Ultimate for nothing and if we are ever going to finish this series, we better start diving back in to the fun facts.
Sonic: We are hitting the ground running by covering the Blue Blur, the Hedgehog who casually ‘runs around at the Speed of Sound,’ Sega’s mascot and the eternal rival of Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog. If you know anything about video games in the 90’s you would know how much the rivalry between Sonic and Mario, Sega and Nintendo shaped the video game landscape. Sonic’s history as a character is so storied that like Mario, there are hundreds of interesting fun facts about him that most people will not know. To choose just one is difficult, but I really like the early development stories about how Sonic almost was not a hedgehog nor was he originally named Sonic. The first concept for Sega’s then unknown mascot character was that he was going to be a bunny who could grab things and swing around with his ears. This idea was eventually deemed to conflict too much with the running theme of the game so the team turned their attention to animals that could roll up into balls because they felt that would make more sense with their concept and the two animals they were deciding on were an armadillo and a hedgehog. Ultimately they chose Hedgehog, but the name Sonic was not their first choice of name, as the character was original called Mr. Needlemouse. It took a long time for the character we know as Sonic to take on his final form.
King Dedede: The ruler of Dreamland, King Dedede, has been a recurring antagonist for Kirby since the first game in the series in 1992. Though he has since become more of an anti-hero, Dedede has never failed to be at least a minor annoyance to Kirby whenever he has gotten the chance. Definitely more selfish than malicious, the King has even been known to indulge himself in a bit of friendly competition with Kirby much the way Bowser does with Mario. He may not be the picture of nobility, but Dedede may very well be Smash and Kirby series creator, Masahiro Sakurai’s favorite character. After all, my fun fact for him is that Sakurai has voiced King Dedede in all his appearances in the Smash Bros. series so he certainly has some level of affection from the big, yellow, penguin, thing.
Olimar: Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Olimar is the main character of the first 2 games in the Pikmin series. He was the first person from the planet Hocotate to discover the Pikmin after his ship crash landed on their world. Not only did he discover the Pikmin, but soon found he could direct the Pikmin and get them to help him complete tasks by whistling specific commands to them. For an Olimar fun fact, we once again turn to name origins. Olimar is actually an English adaptation of his original name in Japanese, Orima. If you had not already put the pieces together Orima is an anagram of Mario. Fitting that Olimar should be named after Nintendo’s favorite plumber considering the creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, also was the producer of the Pikmin series.
Lucario: Lucario is the aura Pokemon, and has an almost extrasensory level of awareness due to its ability to see and read the aura of all things. Lucario can use this connection to understand human speech as well as predict its opponent’s moves. It can also manipulate its own aura into a form of energy powerful enough to shatter boulders. Ever since this Pokemon was first revealed in the movie, Pokemon: Lucario and Mystery of Mew, I have always loved it. Its design is based largely on the Egyptian god of the dead Anubis. Not only did Anubis have the head of a jackal like Lucario, but he also had the ability to weight and read people’s hearts, judging them for their actions in life. Lucario’s name itself comes from a variety of roots as well like the metal, orichalcum, the Spanish word for to fight, luchar, and the Latin word, lucarius, meaning luminary or providing light, a reference to its aura reading abilities.
R.O.B.: R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy was a gaming peripheral for the NES that came out back in the mid-80s. It was only really used with two specific games, Gyromite and Stack Up and would ultimately be forgotten until its sudden re-emergence as a cameo character in games like F-Zero GX and the Star Fox series. R.O.B. would not become fully playable again until Mario Kart DS made him an unlockable character, paving the way for his appearance in Smash Bros. R.O.B. was actually created in response the the great video game crash of 1983 as a way for Nintendo to market their console as an interactive toy rather than just a video game machine.
Toon Link: The cell-shaded version of Link, known in the Smash series as Toon Link, is a reference to how Link appeared in the Windwaker and its subsequent sequel, Phantom Hourglass, and spiritual successor, Spirit Tracks. For those familiar with the Legend of Zelda Timeline, many will know the events of these games take place in what is known as the Adult Link Timeline, the future of Hyrule after the Hero of Time returned to his own time. Just like Young Link, Toon Link shares many of his fun facts with Adult Link and as such it is a little hard to come up with facts unique to him. One bit of obscure trivia that we do know about Toon Link is that because he is based on Link from Windwaker, he is the youngest character to have a definitive age in Smash Bros. being 12 in the Windwaker. The Villager may be younger, but since the Villager is a player character, their age is technically whatever the player believes it to be. Red, the character that Pokemon Trainer is based on is most likely based on his Manga incarnation at the time of the FireRed/LeafGreen arcs in the manga where he was confirmed to be about 15 years old at the time.
Wolf: The leader of Team Star Wolf and eternal rival of Fox McCloud, Wolf O’Donnell, is a space pirate/bounty hunter who relishes any chance he gets to show up Team Star Fox. Wolf is well, a wolf, because he was created to be a foil for Fox. While foxes in nature have come to be associated with wisdom, cunning, and trickery, wolves are associated with strength, virility, instinct, and tenacity. This fits in line with the spiritual and symbolic origins I talked about in Fox’s entry. These characteristic traits of foxes and wolves show themselves prominently in the rivalry between McCloud and O’Donnell. Wolf’s last name, O’Donnell, is Irish in origin and references the many Irish legends about wolves in the country’s folklore.
Villager: The Villager is the generic name for the player character in the Animal Crossing franchise. In all honesty, the Animal Crossing series is not my cup of tea and I know very few fun facts about the series that fans of the series do not already know. In light of that, I will hit you all with three quick facts that I found interesting even if they were probably already known by fans of the series. The first is that the leaf logo of Animal Crossing is a reference to Tom Nook being a Tanuki who in folklore had the power to turn leaves into money. The second is that Mr. Resetti, a mole who would yell at you if you did not save your game regularly, was actually so scary to some players that he made people cry. Finally, the third interesting Animal Crossing fact I have for you is that the series was inspired by the feeling of moving away from home and getting settled in a new place with new faces (so basically college).
Mega Man: Capcom’s Blue Bomber Mega Man joins the battle once again and boy was I ever excited when he was first revealed to be joining Smash Bros in Smash 4. He is a ‘super fighting robot,’ built by Dr. Light who has spent years fighting against various Robot Masters sicked on him and the world by Dr. Light’s jealous colleague, Dr. Wily. I am sure most readers are familiar with basic facts about Mega Man like how his Japanese name Rock Man is a running theme with many of the recurring characters having plays on musical terms as a part of their names like Roll, Protoman (Blues), and Bass or that Mega has absorbed the powers of over 70 different Robot Masters over the years, but one of the coolest bits of trivia I had learned about Mega Man over the years about how originally his first game was supposed to be an Astro Boy game. Manga’s famous robot boy, Astro, was originally supposed to be the main character in the early stages of Mega Man’s development. For a variety of reasons, this never got off the ground and thus Mega Man was born into the world and I for one count that as a blessing.
Wii Fit Trainer: The Wii Fit Trainer is your guru to all things healthy in the world of Wii Fit. No matter if you choose female or male, the Wii Fit Trainer will constantly remind you to stretch and watch your posture. The original Wii Fit game was actually incredibly popular despite the added cost of the Balance Board peripheral. It ranks as the 6th best selling game on the Wii and Wii Fit and its successors are still used in many health clubs and nursing homes to this day. Even the military of countries like Finland have adopted Wii Fit into their camps in order to give soldiers a fun option for working out during down time.
Rosalina: A cosmic guardian and adopted mother to all Lumas, Rosalina is one of the most powerful figures within the Mario universe. She is the keeper of the Comet Observatory and the one who tasks Mario with retrieving the Power Stars that were stolen from her observatory by Bowser. Rosalina is canonically one of the tallest characters in the franchise and actually classes as a heavyweight or power character in games like Mario Kart and Mario Tennis. An interesting fact about Rosalina is that she might be ambidextrous as she is depicted as right-handed in a lot of her artwork while she is left-handed in most of her games. Mario Golf: World Tour bears lends credence to this observation by letting the player choose whether or not Rosalina is right or left handed.
Little Mac: Is the main character of the Punch Out! games and despite his small size, he has the heart of a champion. Having received training from the legendary Doc Louis, Mac uses his skill to dominate the World Video Boxing Association. He has even defeated legendary Heavyweight Boxer, Mike Tyson in the ring before so you know his skills are the real deal. It is heavily speculated that because of his underdog status in his original game, Little Mac is based off of Rocky Balboa, but this has not been officially confirmed. Those who are familiar with the Punch Out! series or have played as him in Super Smash, will know that Mac has a special trump card ability called Giga Mac, where Mac turns into a gigantic muscular version of himself where his speed lowers but his punches become absurdly more powerful, but Giga Mac was not the name the development team originally wanted to use for this form. The team at first really wanted this form to be called Big Mac, but in order to avoid potential lawsuits from McDonalds, the name was changed to Giga Mac.
Greninja: Greninja, the Ninja Pokemon, is the final evolution of Generation 6’s cute little bubble frog, Froakie. It is lightning fast, the fastest of all the final evolution starters and that agility shows itself very well in Smash, as it cuts opponents to ribbons with its signature Water Shuriken attack. Greninja’s Final Smash in Ultimate showcases the version of the Pokemon known as Ash-Greninja, a more powerful form, that was unlocked in the anime due to the strong bond between Ash and Greninja. This time around, the name origins of this Pokemon are far less interesting than its cultural origins and references. The name Greninja obviously derives from ‘grenade,’ ‘grenouille,’ (French for frog), and ‘ninja.’ It is the explosive frog ninja. The cultural origins of this Pokemon are rooted in the Japanese folk story, “The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant,” a story about a ninja who learns the art of toad magic from a toad sage and gains the ability to transform into a giant toad. The other part of his origin is derived from the ‘Rogue’ class in Dungeons and Dragons. Greninja is a Water/Dark type Pokemon, which contrasts the other two starters of this generation who are Grass/Fighting (The Warrior), and Fire/Psychic (The Mage) respectively.