Super Smash Brothers may move units in the millions and empty out our wallets on controller adapters, amiibos, special edition controllers, etc., but despite being a global fan favorite that has spawned a huge competitive scene the game has also spawned a series of fighters/characters that were absolutely lazy and pathetic. Here are the top 5!
1. Ganondorf:
We can all look back and fondly remember the the classic N64 hit, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Perhaps the most iconic and famous scene in this game is of course the instance where Ganon powers up a punch and crushes Link in the face. His mighty punch is as iconic as it is powerful. Oh wait… nope. Never in the history of the franchise has Ganon ever used such a move. As a matter of fact, the Smash Brother’s move set features literally nothing that has ever been in a Zelda game for this fighter. Despite the countless times a Zelda game has featured a battle where Link and Ganondorf reflect balls of light at one another, the Super Smash version of this mighty villain is totally devoid of projectiles. This design was lazy, and was quite literally just a clone of Captain Falcon.
2. Captain Falcon
We have a character from a franchise so revered it misses over half of Nintendo’s consoles, and one that has not had a new entry in over a decade. In fact, the first F-Zero game did not even show faces of the racers. I would even venture to say that most gamers, even die hard Nintendo fans do not even know the plots of the F-Zero games or could even name another character from the series other than Captain Falcon. Despite the obscurity of the character, we would at least justify his inclusion for the sheer purpose of making the franchise more recognizable, similar to the Ness and Earthbound situation. This character choice could also be made halfway relevant if they at least gave him a move set that was in any way related to the F-Zero games. As a Ganondorf (see above) clone, with zero moves related to anything that ever happens in the F-Zero series, this character is a waste of a roster spot.
3. Mewtwo
Mewtwo is one of the most well-known Pokemon, and is arguably the most powerful entry in the entire Pokedex
(Arceus?). Despite being known as a competitive uber in the Pokemon games, he is a lazily designed Smash character. You’d think the powerful psychic Pokemon would at least launch a powerful psychic attack. Nope. His most recognizable move is Shadowball, a ghost attack. Go figure.
4. Lucina
Simply put, Lucina is nothing more than a Marth, Ike, and Roy clone, and a blatant advertising feature. Fire Emblem games are brilliant, but tends to suffer from lower than phenomenal sales (do everyone a favor and go out and pre-order Fire Emblem Fates). Lucina was seemingly included only to show off that she exists as a character so that gamers would perform a Google search to see from which game she came. Nintendo kept their fingers crossed for every Google search that they’d move an addition unit of Awakening. Again, she is literally just a bad Marth clone (even disguises herself as him in Awakening) with a very slight modification to her attack power. We have a ton of Fire Emblem characters as is, we did not need a fourth materially identical Fire Emblem clone.
5. Dr. Mario
Speaking of lazy clones. Why isn’t Doctor Mario just a costume option for Mario? Was making the Doctor form going to take away from that ridiculous red, white and blue option? The Mario character move sets are pathetic as is already, giving us a 3rd variation (Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario), was just beyond lazy.
Let us know what you think in the comments. Did any of these duds make your “main” list? Who should have taken their places on the roster? Or am I just totally off base?