Square Enix

12 Days of Christmas, Day 8: Super Smash Fun Facts Part 5

It has been a fun ride thus far covering facts on all of the various fighters who have shown up in the Super Smash Bros. Series over the years. When I first conceived of this project, I thought that it would be pretty easy since I was covering a series and characters that I love. Little did I know that almost 80 fighters is an insane amount of characters to cover! For Part 5 of the series, I am going to cover the last 13 returning fighters which means that Part 6 will conclude with all of the new editions to the roster so I hope you will look forward to that. It is time to dive in and take a look at our last 13 veterans.

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Mii Fighters: The Miis are back from Smash 4 but this time a little more standardized and retooled a bit to work without the need for custom move sets. As before, there are 3 types of Mii Fighters, the Gunner, the Swordsman, and the Brawler, and each Mii has a variety of different costumes that it can wear. Most people know that the Miis were originally created as player avatars for the original Nintendo Wii system, and the plan to include them in Smash had been in the planning stages since the Wii era too. Sakurai wanted to include them in Brawl, but ultimately decided against it, feeling like the idea for how they would work was not fully fleshed out yet. That may be your fact about Miis in Smash Bros. but since each Mii Fighter can put on a wide variety of costumes, for each of their entries, I want to mention one of my favorite character costumes for each of them.
Mii Gunner: My favorite Mii Gunner outfit is Ray Mk. III. Ray Mk. III is a robo from the Custom Robo series. The Custom Robo series was a really fun Action RPG style game where you would customize little robot fighters in order to compete in Robo combat battles. The concept of customizable robots who battle each other is nothing new in Japan as anime like Medabots and LBX Little Battlers Experience attest to. I just think that the Mii Gunner’s playstyle really meshes well with the look of Ray Mk. III and it is nice to get a little representation for a currently defunct yet fondly remembered series to many. This is one of the few outfits I am perfectly fine with being an outfit rather than a fully fleshed out character.
Mii Swordsman: My favorite Mii Swordsman outfit is also a bitter pill for me to swallow because as of yet, this character is not announced as a playable fighter in the game, but I am crossing my fingers that he comes as DLC. The best Mii Swordsman outfit for me is of Rex, the main character of the game Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Rex was an impulsive, naive, but strong willed, good hearted, and loyal young man who just wanted to save his dying world of Alrest from collapse by finding a way up to a legendary city known as Elysium. I refuse to spoil any more of this game, but it was one of my favorite JRPG stories of all time that left me in tears by the end. Having his outfit available for the sword fighter gives me a little solace that Sakurai acknowledged that had time allowed he would have loved to have gotten Rex into the game.
Mii Brawler: My favorite Mii Brawler outfit is Spring Man, the mascot character for one of Nintendo’s newest IPs. ARMS. ARMS is a fighting game where characters are able to stretch their arms out and fire them across the arena to attack opponents. Think of it like cartoonish boxing if your arms were springs. Like with Rex, it is unfortunate that we did not get a representative from ARMS in the game proper as their stretching arms and unique variety of weapon attachments would have made for excellent specials. As a fighting game character who battles with his fists, it is definitely appropriate that Spring Man be a Mii Brawler outfit. ARMS was not as wildly popular upon release as Splatoon was, but I hope that Nintendo continues to support the IP and doesn’t let its first entry be its last.

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Palutena: As mentioned before in my entry on Pit, Palutena is the goddess of light in the Kid Icarus series. In the original Kid Icarus games, she was only ever shown to be a kind and wise ruler, but her personality got fleshed out a ton in Kid Icarus: Uprising. She is still kind and wise, but her wisdom further extends to her quick wit and she never misses an opportunity to tease Pit, even when the latter is engaged in heated combat and his life is on the line. The way her wit bounces off of Pit’s own is a testament to the wonderful writing in that game. In Smash Bros. Palutena is a ranged specialist and in Ultimate is one of the most improved fighters in the series with her light reflector now doubling as a counter. An interesting fact about her is that she is based on the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena. Not only is she a commander of armies like Athena and depicted wielding a shield and staff, but as Athena did in Greek myth, Palutena also is responsible for transforming Medusa into a monster. It would be wise not to get on her bad side.

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Pac-Man: Pac-Man needs no introduction as he is almost as old as video games themselves. Coming out in the same year as Mr. Game & Watch, the yellow pellet muncher has been entertaining generations of fans for over 30 years. A lot of people probably know of his origin as Puck Man which itself was an English corruption of the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of chomping, “Paku Paku,” or that the design was loosely inspired by a piece of pizza with a slice removed. Even more are probably familiar with level 256 and its infamous kill screen. Those facts are casual information about the game that many people have heard either from interviews or secondhand sources over the years. One of the lesser known facts about the game that only those who actually cared about the mechanics of the game worked or would have paid attention to is that the AI system used for the ghosts is the reason why the game is so fun. One ghost is always programmed to track down Pac-Man. Another’s goal is always to get in front of Pac-Man. A third also wants to get in front of Pac-Man but attempts to flee when Pac-Man comes at him. The final ghost moves around in a seemingly random fashion determined by Pac-Man’s relative position. It is fascinating how simple, yet also how complex this AI system is.

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Robin: Another of the main characters of Fire Emblem: Awakening, Robin is the default name of the player’s Avatar character and as such can be both Male and Female. Robin’s looks are also customizable, but the versions that appear in Smash are based on the Male and Female defaults. In game, Robin is portrayed as a tactician of unmatched skill. Most consider Robin to be the most unique Fire Emblem character as he is as much a spell caster as he is a swordsman. He woke up one day with amnesia and was found by Chrom and his militia, the Shepherds, becoming fast friends with the young prince and a trusted advisor. The name Robin is appropriate for this character as not only is it gender neutral, it means bright, smart, and enlightened. Their Japanese name Reflet is equally as fitting as the name is derived from the word reflection, in reference to the character being a reflection of the player. Despite being an unmatched strategist on the battlefield, it is revealed in one of their supports with the Archer, Virion, that they can be defeated in the realm of board games, but only because Virion was willing to sacrifice his units to achieve victory. Robin’s intelligence on the battlefield is only matched his devotion to his friends.

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Shulk: Shulk is the main protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles and wielder of the mighty sword known as the Monado. The Monado not only grants Shulk access to various powerful abilities called arts, but also grants him visions of the future during battle, allowing Shulk the opportunity to warn and protect his allies from what likely would be dire results. Smash Ultimate has streamlined his Monado Arts system to rely only on a single button press and a directional input rather than rotating through them as in Smash 4. Despite his courage and resilience in the face of overwhelming obstacles, Shulk is not without his quirks. He hates vegetables and is deathly afraid of caterpillars, but hey, I think we all have a few somewhat embarrassing traits that we would rather our friends not know. That is part of what makes Shulk feel so human, and that was exactly the feel his creator, Tetsuya Takahashi, wanted. Shulk’s creation was meant to stand in contrast of other JRPG franchises that relied so heavily on dark and brooding emotionally reserved protagonists.

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Bowser Jr: The Prince of all Koopas, Bowser Jr is the son of Bowser who made his debut in Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube. Since his inception, he is commonly seen doing all he can to aid his father in his quest to either marry Princess Peach and or take over the Mushroom Kingdom. It is unknown as to who Bowser Jr’s actual mother is, but in Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser did attempt to convince his son that Princess Peach was his actual mom, but Jr. replies that he already knew Peach was not his real mother. His alternate arts in Smash Bros. are all of the Koopalings who made their debuts in Super Mario World, but the Koopalings have no know familial relations with Bowser Jr. as they are not Bowser’s children. An interesting fact about Bowser Jr is that canonically, he brought his father back from the dead. In New Super Mario Bros, Bowser falls into lava after the first castle and the goes on to become Dry Bowser. Near the end of the game, Bowser Jr throws all of Bowser’s bones into a cauldron filled with some kind of potion which resurrects the Koopa King in an enlarged form to battle Mario.

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Duck Hunt: The bane of many a young Nintendo fan’s existence, Duck Hunt are a unique character that is actually 3 characters in one. The Dog and the Duck are obviously the main combatants on screen, but the pair is always aided by some unseen Gunman lurking somewhere off screen. The Dog of Duck Hunt is particularly infamous for laughing at the player when he would fail in his quest to shoot all of the ducks in game. The game Duck Hunt utilized the NES Zapper, Light Gun peripheral and is considered to be a cult classic game of the 1980’s. Duck Hunt was such a staple of 1980’s gaming that he even made a cameo appearance in the movie Pixels where he was a trophy won by Adam Sandler and his crew for winning a game of Centipede. Love him or hate him, the Duck Hunt Dog will always have his place in the annals of Video Game history.

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Ryu: The mascot character of the king of all fighting video games, Street Fighter’s Ryu returns to Smash Ultimate after his debut as a DLC fighter in Smash 4. Ryu is perhaps the most well known character in all of fighting games, having been part of the game that invented the concept of combos common to virtually all fighting games today. His signature moves like the Hadoken and Shoryuken are legendary and have left an indelible impact on Video Game history. Even Mega Man X seeks to harness the power of Ryu’s moves in his games. It is not all good for Ryu as for years he has had to struggle against his own inner darkness and the allure of the “Satsui no Hado,” the “Surge of Murderous Intent.” This quest to defeat the “Evil Ryu” within has taken Ryu many years of intense training to accomplish. Though Ryu is undoubtedly powerful and does not look a day over 35, in actuality he is over 54 years old right now as his canonical birthday is July 21, 1964. One can only hope to look half as good as Ryu does when they hit their 50s.

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Cloud: The super soldier and main hero of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife returns to Smash again in Ultimate. More than any other character at the time, the inclusion of Cloud in Smash Bros. seemed absolutely insane as Cloud had never really made any real appearances on Nintendo consoles before his appearance as a DLC character in Smash 4. True to his appearance in FF7, Cloud wields his iconic Buster Sword in battle for Smash Bros, and he has a variety of elemental based abilities based on the various Materia, crystallized and condensed, physical energy, that is common in the game. While fans of FF7 could tell you all about the in game secrets, like how to get Cloud to go on a date with Barret or how access and defeat the Emerald and Ruby weapons, I think a more interesting fact about Cloud is that his rivalry and battles with main villain, Sephiroth, are actually based on the rivalry and famous duel between legendary swordsmen Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Legendary artist, Tetsuya Nomura, stated that he wanted the battles between Cloud and Sephiroth to match up the visions of these two sword masters’ duel as he imagined it in his mind.

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Corrin: Following in the footsteps of Robin, the Avatar character of Fire Emblem Awakening, Corrin is the main character and player Avatar in Fire Emblem Fates. He or she, is of royal blood and though born to the Kingdom of Hoshido, he was kidnapped and raised at a young age as a prince of the Kingdom of Nohr. The main theme of Fates is choosing the path of one’s own destiny and Corrin and the player must make that choice together, to side with the family who raised them, the family they were born to, or neither in their quest to somehow unite a divided world. Because of Corrin’s unique lineage, they have the power to transform into a Dragon form during battle and that unique ability finds itself to be a core part of Corrin’s play style in Smash Bros. Unlike with Robin, the origins of Corrin are a little more complicated to understand. Corrin is somewhat based on the Kirin, a mythical draconic, chimera-like creature whose descriptions are somewhat similar to Corrin’s dragon forms. Corrin can also be derived from Corinth, the city in which the Greek hero Oedipus was raised. Though in reality, Oedipus was a prince of Thebes, he was raised and grew up as a prince of Corinth, similar to Corrin’s backstory.

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Bayonetta: The powerful umbra witch, Bayonetta may have been one of Smash 4’s last DLC characters, but in her short existence with the franchise, she has already gained a somewhat toxic reputation for being near Brawl Meta Knight levels of stupidly unbalanced. Despite the controversy surrounding the character in Smash Bros, Bayonetta is certainly just as absurdly powerful in her own games as she is in Smash. She has the ability to use her hair as a conduit in order to summon and utilize the power and strength of various demons and she has even punched the god of her world into the sun. Many of the settings and places in Bayonetta’s world are based on Dante’s “The Divine Comedy,” from Purgatorio, to Paradiso, to even the Inferno itself. Her name is obviously based off of the weapon, the bayonet, and her four handguns in each of her games have collective names and references. Bayonetta’s gun set in the first game is called, “Scarborough Fair” and the guns themselves are named Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme respectively. In the second game, her guns are called “Love is Blue,” a set of blue handguns named, Red, Grey, Green, and Black respectively as references to the song “Love is Blue” made popular by Al Martino.