u/RileyL2012

RULES (Read before commenting)
- No characters created after January 21st, 1999
- No Third Parties
- Must be from a game rated below M (RP, E or T)
- Be realistic, and try your best not to have the same cast, so be unique!
- Have Fun!

Smash 64's characters will be split into 4 categories

Full Fighter (Characters with fully unique movesets and models)
Mario (Cleared by Mario)
Donkey Kong (Cleared by Donkey Kong)
Link
Samus
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Pikachu

Model Sharing (Characters with fully unique movesets but have models built off of another character)
Ness
Captain Falcon

Semi-Clone (They share a similar moveset with another fighter)
Jigglypuff

Clone (They share a near-identical moveset with another fighter)
Luigi

So, we'll start off with the slots of the starter characters, so for the first 8 inclusions, they will have fully unique movesets.

Anyways, whoever's comment gets the most upvotes will have their character be the third to be on the roster!

RULES (Read before commenting)
- No characters created after January 21st, 1999
- No Third Parties
- Must be from a game rated below M (RP, E or T)
- Be realistic, and try your best not to have the same cast, so be unique!
- Have Fun!

Smash 64's characters will be split into 4 categories

Full Fighter (Characters with fully unique movesets and models)
Mario
Donkey Kong
Link
Samus
Yoshi
Kirby
Fox
Pikachu

Model Sharing (Characters with fully unique movesets but have models built off of another character)
Ness
Captain Falcon

Semi-Clone (They share a similar moveset with another fighter)
Jigglypuff

Clone (They share a near-identical moveset with another fighter)
Luigi

So, we'll start off with the slots of the starter characters, so for the first 8 inclusions, they will have fully unique movesets.

Anyways, whoever's comment gets the most upvotes will have their character be the first to be on the roster!

Rules
1. Must've made their debut before January 21st, 1999
2. Must've been in a game rated below M
3. No Third Parties
4. If two characters tie for first place, the more recent comment would win because they received that amount of upvotes in less time.
5. Be Realisic.

Character Roster
01. ???
02. ???
03. ???
04. ???
05. ???
06. ???
07. ???
08. ???
09. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???

The comment with the most upvotes by tomorrow, will have their character on the roster!

Welcome to this new series, I call it, redesigning Smash!

Basically, the point of this, is that I'll be showing you what changes could be made to every single Smash title, if I was the director instead of Sakurai.

However, I want to point out some rules, so this becomes a logical and realistic roster, instead of a Wishlist.

Firstly, I must have no knowledge on the current iteration of Smash, meaning that I have to rely on historical popularity records, sales figures if I want to gauge sheer popularity, and use my best judgement otherwise.

Secondly, this means that I have to acknowledge my shortcomings with creativity, and not rely on Sakurai's, meaning that Mr. Game & Watch would've never been added to Melee because I genuinely would never come up with him.

Thirdly, I have to limit the development resources to what was available at that time. This means I would have to match full fighters with other full fighters, clone fighters with other clone fighters, and much more. Meaning that the rosters would be the exact same size.

Lastly, I have to assume new ramifications based on my decisions for said entry in the series. For example, if Pit wasn't added in Brawl, that would mean that Kid Icarus: Uprising wouldn't release in 2012, since Smash has a huge impact on many smaller franchises, meaning that I have to use my best judgement on how my selections could alter the timeline.

Anyways, let's see what the roster would look like, and why I made each decision.

01. Mario (Full Fighter)
For a game with lots of recognizable Nintendo characters, of course the most iconic one, Mario, is your everyman character, with a moveset that is easy to understand.

02. Bowser (Full Fighter)
Because of Bowser's popularity for being the villain of the Super Mario franchise, Bowser was an easy no brainer, and was one of my biggest priorities

03. Donkey Kong (Full Fighter)
The iconic rival of Mario would definitely be in, especially after the success of the Donkey Kong Country Trilogy.

04. Link (Full Fighter)
Link was another no brainer, since The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's most successful franchises at the time, and since Link is a swordfighter, he would make a great fit.

05. Samus Aran (Full Fighter)
Metroid was also another popular franchise, despite not getting an entry for the Nintendo 64. Also, Metroidvania characters tend to fit nicely in a platform fighter.

06. Kirby (Full Fighter)
Since Kirby is sort of the mascot of HAL Laboratory, I would've had no problem including him.

07. Fox McCloud (Full Fighter)
Star Fox was also a relatively popular Nintendo franchise, and I would've actually been able to come up with a unique enough moveset based on real life foxes.

08. Pikachu (Full Fighter)
Because of Pokémon's recent rise, I of course had to act fast and include at least one character, and Pikachu is a must, since he is the mascot of Pokémon.

Now, for our unlockable fighters

09. Ness (Full Fighter - Mario Model Share)
Since Earthbound is owned by HAL, this was another no brainer, especially since there is so many PSI moves Ness can utilize in his moveset.

10. Little Mac (Full Fighter - Prototype Model Share)
Since Punch-Out!! was Nintendo's closest to an actual fighting game, Little Mac would be an easy no brainer, despite being more of a deep cut around this time.

11. Marth (Link Clone)
Marth's inclusion was very late in development, as I had to include either clones or semi-clones to increase the roster. Fire Emblem was semi-popular in Japan, and Marth could easily be built off of Link's attacks.

12. Blastoise (Bowser Semi-Clone)
For our first character unique to this alt. timeline, we have Blastoise. Very late in development, I was thinking of adding a fully evolved starter Pokémon, and I obviously went with Blastoise, mainly because his model can just be ripped from Bowser, and would have some unique moves from him, like using his cannons and watery attacks instead of fire.

And that is our roster, but, I know that I will get angry comments like, "WHERE IS YOSHI" or "WHY IS CAPTAIN FALCON NOT IN" and I will answer that.

Yoshi - I had to chose between Yoshi or Bowser as the second Mario rep, since I didn't want the roster to be overfilled with Mario characters, and I chose Bowser, since he was more iconic, and even though Sakurai considered Yoshi to be a seperate franchise, I would've still considered him a Mario character back then.

Luigi - Same reasoning as Yoshi, but much more of a cut, since Luigi wasn't that visually unique, just being Mario but taller, and having Green and Purple overalls instead of Red and Blue, and since he is a second plumber, I would've holden off of him, for now...

Jigglypuff - Even though I would've momentarily considered her because of her running gag in the anime, she wasn't visually distinct enough to be considered, so she was outprioritized, and because she missed her chance, she would never get in, fading out of the spotlight as I move onto other Gen 1 Pokémon and newer Generations.

Captain Falcon - Compared to the other 3 who I considered but ultimately scrapped, I would've never even consider Captain Falcon, mainly because we never saw him outside of his Falcon Flyer except for select cutscenes, and the anime, which came out after Smash 64's release.

Anyways, that's it for this post, if you disagree with my choices, you can put your choices down below, and I'll see you when I create Melee's roster.

Before I start this, I want to give credit to magnificent_maji for inspiring me.

Welcome to this series of posts where I show you guys what the Smash rosters would look like, if I had been in Masahiro Sakurai's place, of being the Smash director.

However, I need to address some rules, so this doesn't turn into a wishlist.

1. I have to assume I have no knowledge on the current version of Smash. This means I have to rely on historical popularity records and sales figures if I want to gauge sheer popularity, and use my best judgment otherwise.

2. This also means that I have to acknowledge my shortcomings with creativity and not rely on Sakurai's. For example (small spoiler), I'm not going to be including Mr. Game & Watch in Melee because I personally would never have even thought of that idea.

3. I must limit the development resources to what was likely available for that title. That means I have to match full fighters with other full fighters, and clones with clones, without including any extra characters. As such, the rosters will be the same size as the real games.

4. I have to assume new ramifications based on my decisions in this game. For example, Kid Icarus would likely not have gotten a new game in 2012 if he weren't included in Brawl. Smash has had a major impact on many franchises, so I have to use my best judgment on how current selections would impact the timeline.

Now, with that out of the way, let's take a look at what our roster would look like...

But before we get into that, I just want to say that all 12 veterans still return.

13. Princess Peach (Full Fighter)
She was a highly requested character on the Smash 2 poll, and such, she was an early inclusion. The most iconic damsel in distress would guarantee a slot on Melee's roster.

14. Yoshi (Full Fighter)
His unique body proportion and popularity and his own series of games, made Yoshi another obvious choice, and he was the second most requested newcomer...

15. Excitebiker (Full Fighter)
When I was choosing for an NES revival character, I went with Excitebiker, not only because I would've felt a stroke of inspiration from his unique body proportion and design, but also because he was still half-popular from Excitebike 64.

16. Princess Zelda (Full Fighter)
As the namesake character of The Legend of Zelda, the combination of a female fighter with some magical abilities, would make for a great fighter, however, she will be fighting solo, and I will explain, once we get to the canon Melee cuts...

17. Scizor (Full Fighter)
For Pokémon's next rep, I decided on adding a new Gen II Pokémon because of the rising popularity, and I chose Scizor, since it would introduce the Steel Type.

18. King Dedede (Full Fighter)
Kirby's arch frenemy is a very huge piece of HAL Laboratory, and would be a must inclusion for Melee, it would also add another heavyweight fighter.

19. Ganondorf (Full Fighter)
Because of the popularity of The Legend of Zelda, I had to bring in all 3 tri-force wielders, but luckily, Ganondorf would have a unique moveset.

20. Mewtwo (Full Fighter)
For our final fully unique newcomer, we have the psychic legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo. The recent rise of the movie was enough to get me sold on having two new additions (or is it three?)

Anyways, as for the clone characters, I just want to pick characters that match their base, and like the unique newcomers, I want to spread them around between different franchises.

21. Luigi (Clone of Mario)
For our first of the six clones, we have the Green Plumber, who happened to be the Smash 2 poll's most requested newcomer. But of course, since this was late into development, I was only able to have him be a Mario clone (aka, Green Mario).

22. Wolf O' Donell (Clone of Fox McCloud)
I decided that instead of choosing between the rest of Team Star Fox, I went with Wolf, since he did have a model in the opening movie, and we are aware that he would have a similar model to Fox.

23. Paula (Clone of Ness)
Because of her similar psychic powers, I am going to use Paula as a Ness clone, since Earthbound is a property of HAL Laboratory.

24. Raichu (Clone of Pikachu)
This may seem odd for the Pikachu clone and not Pichu, but he was one of the popular choices from the Smash 2 poll (Despite getting only, 7 votes...)

25. Leif (Clone of Marth)
Of course, the next step for a clone character has to be something from Fire Emblem, and instead of going for an unreleased character like Roy, I went with a character that by 2001, had already been established, and I went with Leif, who had appeared in multiple Fire Emblem entries.

26. Donkey Kong Jr. (Clone of Donkey Kong)
For our final character, I was struggling trying to choose a sixth clone character, but then I remembered DK Jr, and I decided, "Why not add him" since not only would it give the DK series a second rep, but also bring back a retro character from the Arcade era (and also Super Mario Kart).

And that is our roster...

As for the canon cuts, along side Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff, are:

Ice Climbers - I chose Excitebiker over her, because I wouldn't have ever gotten the idea to have Popo and Nana fight together.

Sheik - Super Smash Brothers is a marketing tool, for certain players that haven't played a character's franchise to go check it out if interested, however, including the transformation of Zelda & Sheik would spoil a major plot-twist in Ocarina of Time, which is why Zelda is fighting solo.

Mr. Game & Watch - Even though I think he would've been a great inclusion, I would've never even thought of him, since he is just an amalgamation of various different Game & Watch games.

Dr. Mario, Pichu, Falco, Young Link and Roy - Dr. Mario was outprioritized by Luigi, Pichu was outprioritized by Raichu, Falco was outprioritized by Wolf, I wouldn't have even considered Young Link, since we already have 1 Link, and Roy's title was unreleased by the time Melee came out.

Anyways, what do you think of this? If you agree, thanks. If you disagree, explain why you think that and show me what your roster looks like.

Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow when I get to Brawl!

Before I start this, I want to give credit to magnificent_maji for inspiring me.

Welcome to this series of posts where I show you guys what the Smash rosters would look like, if I had been in Masahiro Sakurai's place, of being the Smash director.

However, I need to address some rules, so this doesn't turn into a wishlist.

1. I have to assume I have no knowledge on the current version of Smash. This means I have to rely on historical popularity records and sales figures if I want to gauge sheer popularity, and use my best judgment otherwise.

2. This also means that I have to acknowledge my shortcomings with creativity and not rely on Sakurai's. For example (small spoiler), I'm not going to be including Mr. Game & Watch in Melee because I personally would never have even thought of that idea.

3. I must limit the development resources to what was likely available for that title. That means I have to match full fighters with other full fighters, and clones with clones, without including any extra characters. As such, the rosters will be the same size as the real games.

4. I have to assume new ramifications based on my decisions in this game. For example, Kid Icarus would likely not have gotten a new game in 2012 if he weren't included in Brawl. Smash has had a major impact on many franchises, so I have to use my best judgment on how current selections would impact the timeline.

Now, with that out of the way, let's take a look at what our roster would look like...

01. Mario (Full Fighter)
In a platform/fighter hybrid game with very recognizable characters, of course the tutorial character has to be the most known, and that happens to be Mario, the mascot of Nintendo, and gaming's biggest icon.

02. Bowser (Full Fighter)
As the villain of the Super Mario series, and the most iconic villain around this time, Bowser was an instant priority.

03. Donkey Kong (Full Fighter)
As Mario's first rival in the 80s, and becoming an iconic 90s character thanks to Rareware, Donkey Kong became an easy choice.

04. Link (Full Fighter)
The Legend of Zelda was also huge at the time, and he would be the series' first swordfighter, which would be interesting to see.

05. Samus Aran (Full Fighter)
Metroid was also decently popular around this time, despite not getting a title on the N64, though Metroidvania characters usually tend to fit nicely in a platform fighter.

06. Kirby (Full Fighter)
If we are going to include a character from HAL Laboratory, there is nothing more obvious than the pink puffball himself, Kirby!

07. Fox McCloud (Full Fighter)
Star Fox was rising in popularity around the late 90s, and I thought he was iconic and unique enough to let in, though I wouldn't have had the idea of having all team members take up a costume slot.

08. Pikachu (Full Fighter)
Despite there only being 1 Generation during Smash 64's release, Pokémon instantly rose in popularity, and since Pikachu is the mascot of Pokémon, he was a no-brainer.

09. Ness (Full Fighter - Mario Model Share)
Another property of HAL Laboratory that could share Mario's model to save on time, he was a creative enough choice because of the various moves he can utilize.

10. Little Mac (Full Fighter - Prototype Model Share)
While some argue he is a deep cut, I do think a boxer would be a great inclusion for a fighting game, after all, that is literally what Punch-Out!! is...

11. Marth (Link Clone)
Very late in development, I could only include clone fighters. I thought to include Marth as a clone to Link as his franchise had many titles that were semi-popular in Japan, and his moveset could largely be copied.

12. Blastoise (Bowser Semi-Clone)
Very late in development, and I could only include clones/semi-clones, and with Pokémon's popularity my choice for a 2nd Pokémon was a fully evolved starter, and I could've chosen Charizard if I had more time, but Blastoise would be very similar, but would instead shoot cannons and use water-like attacks instead of releasing a fiery breath, and he is visually creative enough that I let him slide in.

And that is my alternate roster for Super Smash Bros.

However, I am aware that people would be confused on the characters I cut, so I'll just explain it so there wouldn't be any confusion or anger.

Yoshi - I had to choose between him or Bowser for the second Mario slot, since I didn't want to overfill the roster with Mario characters, and because Bowser was more iconic, I chose him, and yea sure, you could argue that Yoshi had his own franchise, but around 1999, I would've considered him a Mario character.

Luigi - Just like Yoshi, I didn't want to overfill the roster with Mario characters, but this one was an even bigger cut, since he is yet another plumber like Mario, I held back on him, for now...

Jigglypuff - I wouldn't think she was a bad choice, especially because of her running gag in the recent anime around this time, but she wasn't visually distinct enough, so I went with a different Pokémon character, and she wouldn't be as lucky as Luigi or Yoshi, as she would fade out of the spotlight as I move onto other popular Gen I characters, and especially new Gen Pokémon.

Captain Falcon - What's crazy, is that this is the first character in the canon Smash series that I would've never came up with, since despite the popularity of F-Zero, Captain Falcon has never been seen outside the Falcon Flyer except for select cutscenes, and the anime, which mind you, came out after Smash 64.

Anyways, what do you think of the roster? You an agree or disagree, and maybe even show me your roster, until then goodbye!

Rules!
1 - The character must debut before November 21st, 2001
2 - No Third Parties
3 - If Two characters tie for first place, the comment that was more recent would win out, as they got the same amount of upvotes in less time.
4 - Maximum of 1 Transformation Character
5 - Must be from a game rated below M
6 - Be Realistic...

Also, Luigi and Poliwrath aren't gone forever, I'm just doing the starters first, and when we get to the unlockables, Luigi and Poliwrath will appear (As they would be unlockables)

Also, if you are wondering where the slots of the clone characters are, I will save them for last...

Rules!
1 - The character must debut before November 21st, 2001
2 - No Third Parties
3 - If Two characters tie for first place, the comment that was more recent would win out, as they got the same amount of upvotes in less time.
4 - Maximum of 1 Transformation Character
5 - Must be from a game rated below M
6 - Be Realistic...

Also, Luigi and Poliwrath aren't gone forever, I'm just doing the starters first, and when we get to the unlockables, Luigi and Poliwrath will appear (As they would be unlockables)

Also, if you are wondering where the slots of the clone characters are, I will save them for last...

The Smash 64 Roster
01. Mario
02. Pikachu
03. Link
04. Kirby
05. Fox McCloud
06. Samus Aran
07. Donkey Kong
08. Marth
09. Captain Falcon
10. Luigi
11. Poliwrath
12. Ness

I will continue this tomorrow...

May the 4th be with you...

Rules!
1 - The character must debut before January 21st, 1999
2 - No Third Parties
3 - If Two characters tie for first place, the comment that was more recent would win out, as they got the same amount of upvotes in less time.
4 - Must be from a game rated below M
5 - Be Realistic...

Current Cast
01. Mario
02. Pikachu
03. Link
04. Kirby
05. Fox McCloud
06. Samus Aran
07. Donkey Kong
08. Marth
09. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???

Rules!
1 - The character must debut before January 21st, 1999
2 - No Third Parties
3 - If Two characters tie for first place, the comment that was more recent would win out, as they got the same amount of upvotes in less time.
4 - Must be from a game rated below M
5 - Be Realistic...

Current Cast
01. Mario
02. Pikachu
03. Link
04. Kirby
05. Fox McCloud
06. Samus Aran
07. Donkey Kong
08. ???
09. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???

Rules!
1 - The character must debut before January 21st, 1999
2 - No Third Parties
3 - If Two characters tie for first place, the comment that was more recent would win out, as they got the same amount of upvotes in less time.
4 - Must be from a game rated below M
5 - Be Realistic...

Current Cast
01. Mario
02. Pikachu
03. Link
04. Kirby
05. Fox McCloud
06. ???
07. ???
08. ???
09. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???