http://kotaku.com/dont-expect-a-lot-of-third-party-characters-in-the-nex-513203533

This game is sounding like a disaster. Don't like the new characters at all, the name is plain and uninspired, and now this. I'd love for Smash on the go, but at the expense of the main core game? No thanks bro.

I'm into the new characters and I kind of assumed it was a working title (though... who cares, really?) but yeah, if they're limiting the roster because of the 3DS game, that's pretty sucky.

This is fine with me. There was already a shit ton of characters in brawl, and we don't know how much they're limiting the number by. I'd be alright with dropping some of the more unnecessary characters. Sonic and Snake are ones I can see easily being dropped since Mega Man is filling the 3rd party spot. As well as Toon/Young link. That character was my secondary, but do we really need 2 Links with slightly altered moves in every game? I could see them just making Link slightly faster to help accommodate for the Toon Link style and leaving it at that. Lucario and Jigglypuff (she was in brawl right? shit its been so long) likewise seems like prime candidates to drop given that Pikachu and Pokemon Trainer can already sufficiently represent the pokemon series. I can also see Ike getting the boot while Marth stays. Although I really wish they would replace Ike with a character from Awakening. The same can go for a couple others, but I'm not going to bother listing them all.

I'll probably catch some flack for saying that I'm alright with a good chunk of these characters getting the boot since Nintendo characters have a knack for attracting people in powerful ways, but I'm trying to look at this from a neutral perspective.

OK.

They said back when the game was first announced that this one would likely have a smaller roster, as they want to focus more on unique characters and have a better overall balance.

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as long as the roster doesn't feel overly small. Some franchises had too much representation in Brawl and in other cases, certain characters felt shoehorned in for the sake of expanding reps for a franchise. Did we really need Fox, Falco and Wolf or the 17 Pokemon characters?

If King Dedede is dropped so is this game, that's all I'm sayin'

That's because they're working titles. They're not honestly going to sell these games under those names.

I'm perfectly fine with cutting characters. Immediately the people that should go that come to mind are R.O.B, Toon Link, Lucas, Diddy Kong, Wolf and Lucario. Maybe Ike? Game and Watch is hardly a fan favourite.

Jigglypuff too, now that I think about it. I love me some Jigglypuff, but she really shouldn't have even gotten past the first game.

I think not liking the Wii Fit Trainer is a criminal offense in some parts of the world.

@deegee: The fact Toon Link appears in the background of one of the stages more or less confirms he's gone. I agree with your list though and if we need two Fire Emblem characters it should be Marth/Lucina and Chrom.

I think Fox should be cut just to mess with that crowd.

That's fine. A lot of characters' move sets in Brawl were cloned or uninspired, anyway.

@deegee: Wow, I forgot about ROB. If they keep him over someone else more important I'm going to be heavily disappointed in their choices.

@dekkadekkadekka: Has that crowd even existed since the release of brawl? When I was floating around in the more competitive crowd Final Destination was still a thing, but no one I ran into cared about Fox being the "skill" character after everything became more floaty.

OP has a strange definition of disaster.

Brawl and melee are two different scenes as the game appeals to different players. Both are still going strong. melee is even part of evo this year.

I can live with this, I like having a bunch of characters but truth be told many of them end up feeling underdeveloped or not very good. if a smaller roster allows better character design overall I can take that balance.

It has Mega Man so I don't care.

So....you don't like two characters and the name. Yeah, that game is a trainwreck

That suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

That kinda sucks, but Mega Man is twice as cool as Sonic and fits in much better than Snake. Also, Animal Crossing Villager looks fucking sweet, and Wii Fit Instructor is just downright hilarious.

The only downside is, by the time this comes out I'll probably have a WiiU so I'll be a little more chapped about the 3DS holding it back.

You take my Game and Watch and I'm gone.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/13/e3-2013-smash-bros-wii-u-3ds-final-names-revealed

I was thinking about getting the game on 3DS but a smaller roster puts me off immensely

I only ever rented Brawl, but I gotta say, the tedium of unlocking all those extra characters, and being disappointed almost every time makes me care a lot less about a smaller roster. Though I do wholly support putting Chrom in this game.

So the game is going to suck because the title is bland, you don't like the characters they did give you and there wont be a plethora of third party characters? Take this gargabe to gamefaqs.

Oh, fuck.

Umm, did anyone read the actual article?

"The reality of the situation unfortunately is that there are certain limitations on the 3DS," Sakurai said. The 3DS and Wii U versions of the next Smash Bros will have the same library of characters.

"So we're forced into the situation where we may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree. but we're really working hard in order to include as many characters as possible."

He's not saying the 3DS version WILL be limiting the roster, he said it COULD be. Christ, read the entire thing before you post a knee jerk reaction.

Too bad, Snake was the only reason I played as much Brawl as I did. I don't think this will be the game I buy a Wii U for, but I do look forward to seeing how the 3DS version pans out.

@cheesebob: It's not a smaller roster on the 3DS , it's a potentially smaller roster in general for both games. The roster on both platforms will be identical.

@dystopiax: You contradicted yourself. Potentially smaller =/= the roster on both platforms being identical

@wintersnowblind: Hah, it would be pretty funny if they included a Marth that way.

@cheesebob: The article flat out states that both games will have an identical roster. The potentially smaller roster being talked about is the roster being smaller on both platforms because of the 3DS limitations.

If they cut out all the clone characters, and have a decent number of genuinely different characters, then I'm perfectly fine with a smaller roster.

As for the name just call it Super Smash Brothers 4.

N...not my Falco right?

I'm jacked about Mega Man

While I always prefer as many characters as possible in Smash Bros., I have no problem trimming the roster as long as they eliminate some unnecessary clones like Toon Link and Wolf. If they cut it down to 30-32, that's enough variety to satisfy most Smash Bros. fans, I believe.

Also, Snake was a cool idea and all, but not really a character that's synonymous with Nintendo. I would cut him before anybody else. Mega Man, on the other hand, seems like a more appropriate fit, especially old-school Mega Man.

I think Brawl was a step down from Melee because they included so many characters that you could tell some of them didn't get as much attention as others. This also screwed with the balance and led to a lot of clones. So trimming the roster sounds good to me, but if they're going to do that, then that makes news about the Wii Fit Trainer kind of suck. I have no problem with her being included if they're going all out crazy, but if they're trying to make a more restrained roster than I'd rather see her valuable spot go to someone more meaningful.

Also the news in that article about 3rd party characters is lame. Even if he didn't play that fun, Sonic was one of the most interesting additions to the Brawl roster, and there are a ton of other 3rd party characters who would scratch that same itch. I'm not sure how much further they can go with first party characters.

Oh no guys we won't have 30 clone characters fuck everything.

End of an era, RIP Nintendo.

This can only be good news. Too many characters in any fighting game actually makes it worse. Characters don't get enough attention and it eventually just feels diluted and unbalanced in the end. A new HD Smash Bros. with the cool new characters they've already announced is enough for me at this point.

"This game is shaping up to be a disaster." We've only seen 1 trailer. Relax.

Yeah, screw MegaMan. Ripping parts out of his enemies and installing them into himself? Freaking lame. And what's with that theme music? Get some dubstep in there, wtf.

He's like some Iron Man ripoff that can't fly and doesn't objectify women.

I doubt the Smash Bros. team has the resources to properly balance a game above the 25-35 character range, so I'm pretty fine with the roster being Brawl-sized or a little smaller. I certainly wasn't expecting it to suddenly be an MvC 3 roster or anything.

Take my Ness, take my Luigi, and take my Kirby. BUT PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY PUFF!!!

I'm ok with less characters if its balanced better and they fix some of the big mistakes they made with Brawl. Melee is still the supreme SSB game (despite all the efforts with Project X) and I hope Nintendo knows that and makes the game competitively viable again (in my opinion).

Metaknight can go.

There were too many of similar characters in Brawl. Do we really need Fox, Falco AND Wolf? Link AND Toon Link? Sure they all technically played differently, but I would much rather see a much more diverse lineup, which I why think The Villager is awesome. Also, fuck Wario. Cut him. Please.

I'd hope that they give some battle-related subtitles to both versions but in a world where "Wii Party" exists, I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to market an actual video game under the name "Super Smash Bros for Wii U"

Also, it's one trailer. Also there were plenty of extraneous and unnecessary characters in Brawl, so I wouldn't cry if Wolf/Lucario/Toon Link/ROB/Lucas were cut out in favor of whatever batshit weird characters Sakurai wishes to troll the internet with. (Also, you know they're going to get rid of Ike for Chrom)

I would :(.

No, I don't. I still need to play the damn game.

Definitely a bunch of clones, but some people like those clones. Ganon is basically Falcon, but I always preferred Ganon cuz Ganon.

The names were confirmed in an IGN article I believe.

Just everything about this new Smash has been rotten for me personally. I just recently watched the reveal trailer for Brawl and was immediately reminded of how exciting it was. You get introduced to several new characters (Metaknight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, and of course the huge reveal Solid Snake). It was fantastic. This one was so...lackluster. Like they just didn't have any fucks to give. It was like "hey here's your new uninspired Smash, blah, blah blah". They reveal Villager because people have TOTALLY been clamoring for that, Mega Man (which was actually a cool sequence) and then they hype up a brand new character and reveal...Wii Fit Lady...Fuck off Nintendo. All of that combined with the Wii U version basically being gimped because of the 3DS one just really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I totally DO want Smash on the go, but not at the expense of the core console game. Just make them separate experiences. Hell you'll make more money that way.

Could be = It will. Be real here. The fact that they will have the same amount of characters is telling in of itself.

Sonic and Snake were some of the most broken Brawl characters because of their cheap final smashes, so I'd be fine seeing them get cut. Cut Ike, replace him with Chrom, cut Lucario and replace him with...uhhh...some new pokemon (maybe the Awakened version of Mewtwo they have now? Victini?), cut ROB, cut Wolf, cut Toon Link. Can't think of many characters to add in, even from a 3rd party, that would fit in.

EDIT: Wait, Wii Fit trainer is an actual playable character? I thought she would just be an assist trophy or something. I mean, what? Also, I guarantee you that a Mii will be a playable character. Also, the Punch Out kid. I forget his name. Punchy McPuncherson or something like that.

I agree on getting rid of the clones. Sorry to rain on the parade but I am disappointed that they decided to add MegaMan instead of Zero. It's a shame, since Zero was pretty boss in MvC 3.

Damn ittt. You're totally right. He better play identical.