Feature: Franchises given a second wind by SSB

[Deleted]

Cross-posted over at LVLs.

One thing I love about the Smash Bros. games is how their effect on old/obscure/dried-up franchises is nigh magical; the series has rejuvenated so many of those franchises that it's almost silly, bringing both big and small titles back from the brink. The fact that Smash Bros. games are pretty much advertisements for what Nintendo has to offer helps, of course (I got into WarioWare and Pikmin because of Brawl), but the truth is out there, friends, and it dates back to the very first installment of the series.

Samus is a prime (heh) example here; by the time SSB on the N64 rolled around, Nintendo's first bounty hunter/mercenary/whatever they want her to be this week had only had three games, the last of which emerging five years prior to SSB's debut. Metroid games have always been great, but Samus' inclusion in SSB - which had been a long shot and a surprising choice at the time - really put her on the map, because three years following the first Smash Bros. game (and eight years since Super Metroid), two new Metroid games launch side-to-side: Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. From here, the Metroid franchise just fucking took off like a rocket; Prime would receive two sequels (and then a compilation of all three games) and two spin-offs, the original Metroid would be released in the GBA as part of the Classic NES Series and then remixed for the GBA title Metroid Zero Mission, and in the future we have Metroid: Other M to look forward to. Metroid and Samus went from being franchise underdogs to absolute power players in the Nintendo market, becoming one of their biggest, most dominating franchises, especially amongst the western audiences. Perhaps a show of this strength can be found in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, being one of the few series represented by more than one new stage and carrying a massive, largely remixed song set - not to mention the inclusion of Zero Suit Samus as an additional character (a design first introduced in Metroid Zero Mission and teased at in the original Metroid game with the Justin Bailey code), and two boss characters in The Subspace Emissary.

The Earthbound/MOTHER series has received a much lower degree of success, Ness being largely unknown to gamers by the time the first Smash Bros. came about, but the amount of popularity it's garnered hasn't hurt. Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn't seem intent to bring the love to the Western audience, what with a lack of Earthbound on the Virtual Console and a translated version of MOTHER 3. But Ness (and now Lucas) are known characters, whereas Western audiences would have absolutely no idea if Ness hadn't been acknowledge in Super Smash Bros.

And let's not forget Captain Falcon and the F-Zero franchise; due to the good Captain's inclusion in Smash Bros., the F-Zero series boomed, receiving several GBA spin-off titles (of dubious quality) and (a rarity for Nintendo franchises) an anime in its honor (also of dubious quality, but hey, it's sort of flattering I guess). While there haven't been many mainstream F-Zero games (only three overall), Captain Falcon's continued presence in Smash Bros. titles and his immense popularity amongst fans (mostly as a meme, but still) guarantees that F-Zero will continue to live on in some form or another.

Then comes Super Smash Bros. Melee, where three largely unheard-of franchises come to light: Ice Climber, Fire Emblem and Game & Watch. In the cases of the first and third, much like Earthbound, the most to happen was raise fan-based awareness; thanks to Melee, Nintendo fans who didn't know better could associate Game & Watch to the company, providing a greater interest in the series, and Ice Climber, like the original Metroid, received a port in the Classic NES Series on the GBA.

Fire Emblem, however, managed to walk away the winner of those three; previously a Japan-only series, Nintendo took a gambit by including Marth and Roy in the US, European and Australian releases. While there was an ulterior motive involved (promoting Fire Emblem 6 and it's US debut, thanks to Roy's inclusion in Melee), the gambit ultimately succeeded as now Fire Emblem has a place amongst English-speaking countries and has seen numerous sequels in the time since Melee's release. Marth's presence in both Melee and Brawl also increased awareness of him as a character; this, I'm sure, is what prompted Nintendo to re-make the original Fire Emblem for the Nintendo DS, with spiffy new graphics and everything.

And then, there's Brawl.

In this case, it's mostly the Assist Trophies that do the advertising here, but a couple playable characters also contribute:

• Pit has skyrocketed the general awareness of the Kid Icarus series, although we have yet to see a new installment to the franchise
  
  
• Little Mac's inclusion has spurned a new Punch-Out!! title after so many years of idling
  
  
• Saki, in tandem with the Virtual Console translation of the original Sin & Punishment some years after it's Japanese release, has drawn attention to the series and allowed a world-wide release of S&P2
  
  
• Lucas and Porky have further promoted MOTHER, particularly MOTHER3 (irritating western gamers with a Japanese-only release for the title)
  
  
• To a lesser extent, Jeff increased awareness of Earthbound
  
  
• Olimar's presence cements the Pikmin series as a power player
  
  
• People actually know who R.O.B. is now
  
  
• Starfy being an Assist Trophy has finally brought the titular character's series to the west
  
  
• And finally, Isaac's presence has spurned a new Golden Sun game.

It just goes to show how much weight and power a multi-franchise crossover fighting game can sling around.

[Manspeed]

And let's not forget Captain Falcon and the F-Zero franchise; due to the good Captain's inclusion in Smash Bros., the F-Zero series boomed, receiving several GBA spin-off titles (of dubious quality) and (a rarity for Nintendo franchises) an anime in its honor (also of dubious quality, but hey, it's sort of flattering I guess). While there haven't been many mainstream F-Zero games (only three overall), Captain Falcon's continued presence in Smash Bros. titles and his immense popularity amongst fans (mostly as a meme, but still) guarantees that F-Zero will continue to live on in some form or another.

I don't know about this TEi. The anime series and it's tie-in games were an attempt to garner some recognition for F-ZERO in Japan, and it didn't do that good of a job considering the state of the franchise afterward.

Not to mention, Smash Bros. hasn't caused people to remember F-ZERO, it's caused them to remember Captain Falcon and his meme-tastic moveset. Nothing more.

[Hiker of Games]

You may be giving a little too much credit to the SSB series for some of these franchises, but it is interesting to see the trends involved there.

[Shrikeswind]

The only ones I take point to are...

Olimar's presence cements the Pikmin series as a power player

Pikmin was never really unsuccessful, having been at least a million seller with both games. They sell themselves, they literally jump into shopping carts, THEY PRINT MONEY.

Starfy being an Assist Trophy has finally brought the titular character's series to the west

Eh, Stafy was heading to western shores as it stood. If ever there was an eastern series so well known to the States it was Stafy. By the way, while the western game is in fact called "Legendary Starfy," I refuse to call him Starfy. To me its Stafy and Stapy, but everyone else can keep their new names.

And finally, Isaac's presence has spurned a new Golden Sun game.

Eh, Golden Sun was always a popular enough series, hence it didn't end at the Venus Lighthouse, as it could have. It also could have ended at Mars, but apparently it didn't so there's more to the story. Which I anticipate with great...um...anticipation.

[Boo Destroyer]

Those two boss characters in SSE (in that uber-minute boss selection) from Metroid are two Ridleys, which is nearly a shame.

Nov 3, 2009 11:29:08 GMT -5 Manspeed said:

Not to mention, Smash Bros. hasn't caused people to remember F-ZERO, it's caused them to remember Captain Falcon and his meme-tastic moveset. Nothing more.

Well said. If another F-Zero game does show up, then expect to see Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh as the only two characters in the game. Because according to most people, all the others don't exist. Either that, or nobody likes anything that isn't a playable fighter in Smash.

And to put it more precise, Smash Bros. also hasn't caused people to remember what else these many series have to offer, but only who's playable in these games.

Nov 3, 2009 12:45:08 GMT -5 Shrikeswind said:

I refuse to call him Starfy. To me its Stafy and Stapy

...





...............................WHY?










However, my biggest gripe with Brawl was that according to this game, there's no such thing as Wario Land. It actually tried that hard to pretend that it never happened:

"That's Wario, Snake. He really made his name in the WarioWare games."

Suck it, Colonel. Everyone who had a Game Boy knew who Wario was way before you and Snake made your names in the MGS games.




Anyway, just because a franchise wasn't featured in Brawl as a playable fighter or a stage doesn't make it any less worthy of any more recognition. Try not to let the Smash series fool you like that too easily. There are a lot of good games out there that did their best by far, sure, so they're all fair in my book. Try to remember that Smash Bros isn't exactly the determining point of what's popular and what isn't. Kinda never was to begin with.

Also, sadly enough, while Brawl did bring back a lot of this good stuff, it somehow hasn't cured Nintendo of their amnesia as to who they've always been all these years.

[Grandy02]

Nov 3, 2009 13:20:12 GMT -5 Boo Destroyer said:

Nov 3, 2009 12:45:08 GMT -5 Shrikeswind said:

I refuse to call him Starfy. To me its Stafy and Stapy

...
...............................WHY?

Simple, there are people who prefer the original (here Japanese) names rather than the names in their own native language. In this case it might also play a role that it took more than half a decade until the English names were introduced. I also refuse to call Sword Knight and Blade Knight by their new names Edge Knight and Sharpe Knight, which were introduced with European dubs of the Kirby anime (doesn't affect any English names).

But it isn't unlikely that Japanese media will adopt the English spelling Starfy as the official romanization, and Stapy might be spelled as Starpy now. Nintendo did the same thing for Koopa (formely Kuppa), Yoshi ( formerly Yossy) and Tingle (formerly Tincle).

[Boo Destroyer]

"Edge and Sharp"? Yeah, definitely doing with Blade and Sword. Because Edge and Sharp sound lame, not because Blade and Sword are the originals.

Apparently, "Stapy" is now known as Starly. Which is also the name of a 4th-gen Pokemon.


Anyway, I would have liked to see more of Cubivore, preferably another game. Too bad that "Alpha" never actually appeared in that game. And too overlooked a game.

[Fryguy64]

People do become attached to what they're used to. The majority of the world has been saying Stafy, including his few cameos in other games. So when they renamed him Starfy, some people are going to take some issue with this minor, but significant, spelling.

Not me though. I thought Stafy sounded retarded from the release of the first game, and I've been calling him Starfy all along

I still can't quite get around the Kyorosuke/Moe thing... Moe the Mollusc, I guess... but it's still retardo.

[Boo Destroyer]

I've always referred to him as Starfy from the beginning as well. He's a star, so it makes sense. But as you said, it's all a matter of rolling with it after a while. There goes that matter now...



Now, I still find it strange that even though the Ice Climbers made it back in Melee, they still haven't gotten another game of their own. It's open to a shit ton of more possibilities. I especially like how Smash shows that anything can happen. We never thought Captain Olimar would make it into Brawl due to his original size, but when he did, badaboom.

As for F-Zero:
It's just that I seriously don't see why nobody seems to notice or care about these guys.

Not just F-Zero either, but there are a lot of great underrated, minor characters out there in several Nintendo series.

And if you ask me, I think it's high time we get another Nintendo crossover series that isn't Smash-related. Some kind of adventure-type game that brings 'em all together once more. That old Nintendo RPG one of us came up with, anyone?

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2009 11:29:08 GMT -5 Manspeed said:

I don't know about this TEi. The anime series and it's tie-in games were an attempt to garner some recognition for F-ZERO in Japan, and it didn't do that good of a job considering the state of the franchise afterward.

I did mention the "dubious quality" of both the anime and the spin-offs; just because both of them flopped doesn't mean that the "effort" wasn't there (the aforementioned "effort" being, um, not very full of effort). You do have a valid point though, and I probably didn't make my own clear enough.

Nov 3, 2009 12:45:08 GMT -5 Shrikeswind said:

The only ones I take point to are...

Olimar's presence cements the Pikmin series as a power player

Pikmin was never really unsuccessful, having been at least a million seller with both games. They sell themselves, they literally jump into shopping carts, THEY PRINT MONEY.


Eh, Stafy was heading to western shores as it stood. If ever there was an eastern series so well known to the States it was Stafy. By the way, while the western game is in fact called "Legendary Starfy," I refuse to call him Starfy. To me its Stafy and Stapy, but everyone else can keep their new names.

And finally, Isaac's presence has spurned a new Golden Sun game.

Eh, Golden Sun was always a popular enough series, hence it didn't end at the Venus Lighthouse, as it could have. It also could have ended at Mars, but apparently it didn't so there's more to the story. Which I anticipate with great...um...anticipation.

So far as Pikmin and Golden Sun go, the last time we saw a new game for either one was back in 2004 and 2002 respectively, leading me to believe that both needed a shot to the arm; Brawl advertised the shit out of Pikmin and gave Golden Sun a nice little push, which validates Pikmin 1 and 2 being re-released with New Play Control and the Miyamoto-said rumors of Pikmin 3, and Golden Sun DS.

Also worth mentioning: storytelling in a game is important, but not nearly as important as being able to fund the game and how much it costs to make one. Case in point: Beyond Good & Evil has an incredible story that was meant to be told in three parts (which means, so far we've only seen a third of the whole thing), but poor sales made continuing the series a low priority for Ubisoft. Unfortunately, screaming, retarded rabbits and minigames associated with them sell more, which is why there have been at least three Raving Rabbids games from between BG&E's release and now.

So far as Starfy is confirmed, for Brawl it was just further advertising. That's really what it's all about.

Nov 3, 2009 13:20:12 GMT -5 Boo Destroyer said:

Those two boss characters in SSE (in that uber-minute boss selection) from Metroid are two Ridleys, which is nearly a shame.

Would you have preferred one Ridley? Or no Ridleys at all, and infact no Metroid Bosses? I view Ridley as a representation of the Nintendo-Metroid, and Meta Ridley as a representation of the Retro Studios-Metroid, something HAL Labs/Nintendo/Sakurai strove to establish throughout the game, from trophies to stages to music. Nintendo may have ulterior motives for doing this, if you're paranoid enough to figure (not you specifically BD, but "you" in a general sense), but I thought it was pretty neat that they put the effort into giving the Prime series its own identity.

And to put it more precise, Smash Bros. also hasn't caused people to remember what else these many series have to offer, but only who's playable in these games.

I never played a Metal Gear game before Brawl was announced, and I thought WarioWare and Pikmin were rubbish based on short-yet-frustrating tries at both series. Now I can safely say I have played a Metal Gear game and can likewise claim it's not my thing (Fire Emblem, Ice Climber, Sin & Punishment, Kid Icarus and Donkey Kong Arcade all fall into this group as well), and have fallen in love with Pikmin and WarioWare. I doubt this is just me.

Anyway, just because a franchise wasn't featured in Brawl as a playable fighter or a stage doesn't make it any less worthy of any more recognition. Try not to let the Smash series fool you like that too easily. There are a lot of good games out there that did their best by far, sure, so they're all fair in my book. Try to remember that Smash Bros isn't exactly the determining point of what's popular and what isn't. Kinda never was to begin with.

That's not the point of what I'd said, though. My point was, the Smash Bros. series serves as advertising for lesser-known franchises, and that is what has made them popular, has made Nintendo take a gamble on things that aren't Mario, Zelda or Pokemon. Sometimes it gets fucked up (F-Zero), sometimes Nintendo takes it for granted (Earthbound/MOTHER), and sometimes it's like having sex with the most experienced and beautiful woman in the world (Metroid) while the entire world turns to candy and pillows and fireworks (although you can replace "experienced and beautiful woman" with "Tingle" and I imagine you get a similar effect).

In short, getting into a Smash Bros. game doesn't require a franchise to be popular, unlike showing your tits to get into an exclusive club.

[Manspeed]

As I already pointed out with Captain Falcon, sometimes said advertising falls flat on it's face, sadly.

This subject is starting to make me wonder what it would've been like if they decided to balance the roster perfectly and only include 1-2 characters from each franchise instead of having 8 Mario characters and such. Would people notice the smaller franchises more if it were done this way?

Nov 3, 2009 15:52:22 GMT -5 Boo Destroyer said:

And if you ask me, I think it's high time we get another Nintendo crossover series that isn't Smash-related. Some kind of adventure-type game that brings 'em all together once more. That old Nintendo RPG one of us came up with, anyone?

Funny you should mention this, as I have been pondering something else about Smash Bros. lately.

Huge problem with SSB: One man gets to decide what goes in and out. Sakurai is basically the only thing preventing us from getting Sukapon or anybody from F-ZERO other than Captain Falcon in. This brings to mind how a Nintendo crossover would've come about had another developer handled it.

Example: Monolith Soft handles the Super Robot Wars games, which are massive Giant Mecha crossover StratRPGs. Since Nintendo bought Monolith from Namco some time ago, how do you suppose they'd handle a Nintendo crossover?

[Boo Destroyer]

I understand what you mean, TEi. I'm a fan of both Ridley and Meta Ridley (not Omega for some reason <.> ). I'm not saying the deal with them in SSE was bad or anything, but there easily could have been many more bosses than that few. (Boss Battles under Stadium would have to increase the amount you face as you up the difficulty, if so)

Other series shown in there got me curious as well (at least if I can gain access to more of them). And I like how these games pay a decent amount of attention to lesser-known series too, but I'm actually more a freak for lesser-known characters in any of the series. But that's just me (or maybe not).

Focus on minor characters at times also marks more possibilities for Assist Trophies, or even better yet, NPCs for a revamped SSE in two distinctions: cutscene devices or integrated into gameplay. That's the one part where it went weak; it apparently had only what, 2 to 3 of them? I'd love to reach the goal in a level under a timer to rescue a Nintendog or something from goons.

And suffice to say, I really, REALLY miss the days of Brawl's pre-release hype.

In regards to another Nintendo crossover, I came across this. Just read a lot of the guy's posts all throughout that topic thoroughly. (Once again about it: great concept overall, fail execution)

...And now I'm suddenly getting this urge to bring up that Nintendo-based comic I've got planned out, that I told some of you about.

[Manspeed]

Some of the ideas I read there were good, but most of the posts were pretty lousy. It sorta reminds me of my old personal Nintendo RPG idea where the protagonist was supposed to Captain N's son or something like that.

After that I tried out a ton of ideas and have only recently looked back into it. Couldn't decide who should be playable and how everything should be referenced. Recently I think I've come close to something suitable but I don't think it's post-worthy yet.

[Johans Nidorino]

It's hard to tell whether Smash Bros. was the reason some games appeared later, why some game series were revived later, or why were some imported later outside of Japan. For all we know, Nintendo may have decided to promote certain characters in newer games, with Smash Bros. being just one among many.

If the Smash Bros. series really did influence the release of later games, then my perception, maybe wrong, says it only happened from Melee onwards. Melee with Fire Emblem. Brawl with Starfy and Sin & Punishment which were previously Japan-only, and Golden Sun which had been forgotten for years.

I'm not sure about some. Punch-Out!! made you wonder why there wasn't a sequel for the Wii after you experienced Wii Sports, although it could count. Metroid's games had appeared on the NES, GB and SNES; it was already weird that they hadn't announced a Metroid 64 at the time (true Nintendo fans were wondering the same about Donkey Kong 64 or Kirby 64 at the time!). The development of Mother 3 had been hinted prior to Super Smash Bros. F-Zero had not really been forgotten because F-Zero X had just been released (however, the Falcon Punch in the anime is a most interesting thing ).

Nov 3, 2009 18:43:32 GMT -5 Manspeed said:

Huge problem with SSB: One man gets to decide what goes in and out. Sakurai is basically the only thing preventing us from getting Sukapon or anybody from F-ZERO other than Captain Falcon in. This brings to mind how a Nintendo crossover would've come about had another developer handled it.

That's also worth remembering. There a few things we know that Sakurai has included or omitted in the games he directed that no other person in the world would have done or omitted. If we attribute so much things to SSB, don't forget that it was Sakurai & Co, instead of Fryguy64 & Co. ^_^

[Hiker of Games]

Nov 3, 2009 18:43:32 GMT -5 Manspeed said:

This subject is starting to make me wonder what it would've been like if they decided to balance the roster perfectly and only include 1-2 characters from each franchise instead of having 8 Mario characters and such. Would people notice the smaller franchises more if it were done this way?

To be fair, there's only four characters from the Mario series (Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser). The other four have their own respective series and shouldn't be a strike against the Mario franchise.

In any case, it would be nice to see another mega-Nintendo game taken to the next level. Something like the Subspace Emissary being fully realized as its own game with a more in-depth story and (gasp) full voice acting. Mario and Luigi can continue to babble incoherently and Link can just grunt like an idiot, but I expect everyone else to talk as much is possible for them.