Probably not a surprise to anyone, but Zelda has been confirmed as a playable character in the new Super Smash Bros. She'll be retaining her Twilight Princess design. Presumably, her Sheik form will be back as well, though there isn't official confirmation of that, yet.

That's another recurring character dating back to Melee confirmed. At this point, all of the characters that I'd prefer return have been confirmed save for Captain Falcon and Samus's Zero Suit form. I'm more interested in seeing what other newcomers will pop up. How about you guys?

If there isn't an alternate costume version of Zelda from her Skyward Sword appearance I'm going to kill somebody!

Sheik or bust.

I think keeping this version of Zelda is smart. She seems more battle ready than the Skyward Sword version.

Now we just need Hilda.

I thought I saw that one of her powers was going to be inspired by Spirit Tracks?

Are you talking about this?

A Zelda/Hilda combo would have been interesting (I know they're not the same person, but they're kind of two sides of the same coin). Twilight Princess Zelda/Shiek doesn't make much sense, either. Still cool to see her return.

@hailinel: Yeah, that's it!

They actually used the Twilight Princess Zelda/Sheik combo in Brawl. They redesigned Sheik's appearance slightly to make her fit as TP Zelda's alter ego.

This is basically non-news, but I'm wondering if Sheik has a place in this version or not.

If they're going to bring in another Zelda character to replace Sheik, I'd go with Ghirahim or Impa. Ghirahim was, for the most part, the main villain in Skyward Sword and Impa is a significant character in Zelda lore going back to the beginning.

Fuck it, just add Groose.

It was through this announcement that I learned that Rosalina was in the game.

Anyhow, Zelda is cool and I like this design of her. Sheik seems popular enough to still be in it though I wouldn't mind if they became separate characters on the select screen at this point.

They should just make Sheik and Zelda separate characters. But at the same time I have a friend who likes to switch it up mid game, but for the most part sheik players stay sheik players and Zelda players stay Zelda. From my experience anyway.

i think its safe to say that main stays of the series will be in the new game, my current theory is that anyone from brawl that required original animation work will remain however clone characters will be reduced to costumes. being honest the only one out of the clone characters i would miss is falco and maybe Gannon (who is someone i can see getting a big overhaul this game anyway), this may also mean that other people could be added from games and require no additional work.

@jacksukeru said:

How long until Rule 34?

Well, Zelda's great and all, Sheik's even better, but... I really miss Roy! I'm sorry! I miss him so goddamn much!

I tried to build something special with Ike, but it just wasn't the same...

@video_game_king said:

@jacksukeru said:

How long until Rule 34?

I would say about 5 years ago.

just out of general curiosity i would like to know what the internal nintendo reason for keeping her Twilight Princess design was. i wonder if they prefer that design or if there's a perceived notion from them that the fans prefer the TP design? dunno

personally would've liked to have seen them just make up a new smash bros-specific design, just for shits and giggles. would've liked to have seen that for most of the returning characters actually, but I'm not much of a smash bros dude so whatevs

@5figh: My guess is that it's to keep her design in line with Link's, whose detailed, semi-realistic, design I would assume is the most popular. Or the reason for both of them not being in their Skyward Sword incarnations could be to keep them similar enough to a currently unannounced Ganondorf design (rather than make a new design for him since he didn't have an appearence in Skyward Sword).

Either way, I have a feeling a lot of time was spent in meetings trying to decide this very thing.

It is interesting that they chose this design for Zelda, and that Link doesn't look more like his Skyward Sword counterpart. Is it simply because this particular Zelda is more of a fighter, is it just some random choice on Namco's part, or was this a decision dictated by Nintendo due to their current thoughts regarding the Zelda franchise? I'm probably reading too much into this. Most likely because this announcement doesn't really give me anything else to think about. I'm still waiting for them to convince me that this isn't just a sideways or backwards step in terms of characters.

@video_game_king said:

@jacksukeru said:

How long until Rule 34?

This picture has plenty of it already.

We just need Ganondorf back in. Him and Zelda have been my two mains since I started playing. Their treatment in Brawl was a crime.

I have to say Zelda seems so basic an inclusion now that if she weren't in it, that might make it an instant no sale for me.

Not sure who I want added at this point, probably some Advance Wars General. Really haven't had any of those and they could be a fun addition.

What's up with all the same characters. It's been like 10 years since the last game, change the designs already.

@ghostiet:

Yes, that's exactly the joke.

@ghostiet said:

@video_game_king said:

@jacksukeru said:

How long until Rule 34?

This picture has plenty of it already.

Is that the rule where we put a bunch of captions below the image? Because I have a few already!

@video_game_king: Sorry, most of your jokes are so funny that I figured folks could use a hint, so someone else besides you could have a laugh.

What a tweest!

How about this: Nix Sheik altogether, add Tetra into the game with Sheiklike properties. I mean as much as I loved Sheik in Melee Sheik Brawl was terrible. I don't know that she'd be closer to Melee in these new ones even if they do have her and, honestly, combo characters are little dumb anyway unless there's a reason to switch like with the Pokemon Trainer. Better to start with a new character. Plus Tetra would be a fantastic character.

Is it really worth putting Tetra in the game if all you're doing is making her play like Sheik?

I'd expect Sheik to be an alternate Zelda form in the new Smash Bros. simply because that's been the way Zelda has played since Melee. They could certainly change her up and perhaps drop Sheik in favor of an expanded move set for Zelda, but if they were going to make a Sheik-like character, why not just include Sheik as a separate character selection instead of giving her move set to someone else?

@hailinel: Not her moveset, her basic properties. Her speed, power and snappyness. The whip, needles and poof can get the fuck out because they're crap moves. With Tetra you could ditch all those B moves. Get some good shit into those slots. Same basic idea, new character and specific moves. Like Lucario vs MewTwo.

Wait, isn't Zelda the little dude with the green hat?

No, that's The Tingler.

i lol'd

Sheik?

I'm hoping for those two as well, but definitely others, like Meta Knight and Falco. Surely you're looking forward to at least one of those two, right?

I would like to see R.O.B. show up again too. I want to see more of this sort of mildly-obscure, clever throwback inclusions. The kind that the majority of the infant demographic I assume these games are largely dependent on probably won't understand.

Not really. I was never a Meta Knight player and Falco is too much of a Fox clone. R.O.B. though, would be cool.

His name is Link.