Hello! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Well this is a little late but happy 25th anniversary to Super Smash Bros. In 1999 Nintendo released Super Smash Bros to the world. A game that would take Nintendo’s most iconic characters and have them battle it out with each other. Super Smash Bros. would go on to not just be a major hit but one of the greatest fighting games ever. Seriously, other companies have tried to duplicate the success of this series and all have failed. One of the great things about this game series was its amazing roster. This was a one-of-a-kind roster that only got better and expanded with each game iteration. Some of the characters that got the most love were the third-party characters. Alone, Nintendo had a roster that would make anyone jealous but adding in third-party characters was icing on the cake. Having your character appear in Smash was Nintendo acknowledging how popular and important this character was to the history of videogames and what better way to honor them than by adding them to this elite roster. There have been some great third-party characters over the years and their reveals always got us hyped to play them in the game and made us wonder and dream who would pop up next. I’m Justin and these are the Top 11Smash 3rd Party Characters.
Honorable Mention: Marth and Roy
This is cheating seeing as how both characters are owned by Nintendo but at the time of their reveal in Smash, they might as well be third-party characters. Fire Emblem was an exclusive series only available in Japan so unless you were a hardcore gaming otaku at the time nobody in the West knew who these characters were. Sakurai saw the potential of this series, took a chance, and put them in Smash to introduce them to the West. Thankfully, both Marth and Roy would become fan favorites as everyone found the characters cool and top-tier. Their popularity not only paved the way for more Fire Emblem characters to get added to Smash but also gave Nintendo the confidence to release Fire Emblem games in the West. Fire Emblem would go on to become Nintendo’s resident RPG series and it owes Smash Bros. for its success in the West.
#11. Ryu
He’s looking for a challenge. Street Fighter is one of the oldest and most well-known fighting games of all time and the most iconic character from the series is none other than Ryu, the traveling fighter. Ryu is as perfect a character for Smash as you can get. The character definitely made an impact by having a fighting style that was different and unique from the other characters and was inspired largely by the button inputs from the Street Fighter games. To make him more special they actually gave him two final smash attacks. Nintendo definitely pulled out all the stops to make this character special to the Smash roster and showed respect to the character and the series he came from.
#10. Pac-Man
When Bandai Namco was announced as the new developer of Smash, everybody started guessing who they were going to put in Smash. Surely it would be someone from Tekken like Heihachi or Kazuya. Or maybe even someone from the Tales Games. While we would eventually get Kazuya, Bandai decided the first fighter from their side to be in Smash was Pac-Man. This caught a lot of people off-guard but at the same was met with a good response. I think every gamer out there has heard of or played Pac-Man before in their life and were familiar with this character. At a time when videogames were still in their infant stage, Pac-Man paved the way for characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, Sonic, and Megaman to shine and make the videogame industry what it is today. While Pac-Man was never a top-tier character it was nice to see Nintendo and Bandai put him in the game and remind gamers everywhere who the original icon of videogames was.
#9. Bayonetta
The rise of Bayonetta’s stardom was really something to behold when she first appeared. Fans enjoyed the first two games and were crying out for her to be in Smash but knew it wouldn’t happen because she was considered too mature for the game. Well Sakurai said hold my beer because we’re putting her in Smash. At a time when newcomers to Smash were male characters, Bayonetta broke the mold and made a statement showing that anyone could show up in Smash. While she may have become a broken character down the line, Bayonetta got the internet buzzing with her arrival and made everyone know to never doubt Nintendo.
#8. The Hero
I really am not exaggerating when I say Dragon Quest is the most iconic game in Japan. It’s bigger than Mario. It’s bigger than Sonic. It’s bigger than Final Fantasy. I’ve talked about Dragon Quest before in the past and how it never really took off here in the West, but even I have to admit seeing the Hero in Smash was pretty sweet. Riding off the success of its latest game, the Hero reveal in a way was similar to the Marth and Roy reveal in Melee. It was Sakurai taking a risk and sharing a piece of Japan’s gaming culture with the West in hopes of spreading its popularity. While it didn’t reach the same levels of success as Fire Emblem, it still did introduce many gamers in the West to the most important JRPG series of all time.
#7. Snake
The first third-party character for Smash. Brawl was a huge announcement for the Wii and that trailer came out swinging getting everyone hyped. The trailer was already exciting with the introduction of Metaknight and Wario, but then Snake showed up at the end announcing his entry into Smash and the intrigue for this series went through the roof. While Metal Gear is associated with Kojima’s game on the Playstation, people forget that Metal Gear got started on the NES and Famicon. So seeing Snake return to Nintendo where it all began was like seeing an old childhood friend return after moving away and catching up with them. And you better believe we were hyped with when he returned in Ultimate. Snake set the standards for future third-party characters in Smash and let everyone know that anyone could pop up.
#6. Sephiroth
If you’re gonna pick a villain to be in your game then who better than Sephiroth to be in Smash? Hearing One-Winged Angel begin to play made everyone’s jaw drop as we couldn’t believe Sephiroth was appearing in Smash. With the release of the FF7 Remake, Nintendo decided to ride that wave and bring in Sephiroth knowing everyone would get a kick out of seeing him. His trailer was great and probably the best reveal trailer done in my opinion. Smash usually picks heroes to be in Smash so seeing them bring on a villain and probably the strongest villain of the bunch was something we didn’t expect to see and was a good surprise.
#5. Megaman
2013 was a bad year for the Blue Bomber. Capcom canceled two Megaman games and made no announcement to celebrate 25 years of him. However, Nintendo showed some love and shocked everyone by announcing Megaman as the first new character for Smash. Seeing Megaman in Smash cemented this series as one of the greatest fighting games ever made. Where else could you see a collection of characters like these in any other game? While Megaman never became a top-tier character the homages and respect shown to him by Nintendo was greater than anything Capcom ever did and honestly made me wish Capcom would just sell Megaman to Nintendo. If they’re not gonna use him then let’s give him to someone who will.
#4. Joker
We never saw it coming. When Joker was announced for Smash I thought it was a joke, but nope it was real. Sakurai loved Persona 5 and with the Persona Q games appearing on the 3DS, he had an excuse to put Joker in Smash and boy did he take it. Joker being the first DLC character for Ultimate was perfect as it set the stage for future characters. Persona 5’s popularity was already high but after the reveal trailer, you might as well have strapped a rocket to it and watch it fly off into space because everybody was talking about it and wanted to play it.
#3. Sora
The final DLC character for Smash. When it was leaked that Sora was the final character nobody believed it. We were promised Sora in the previous game and he never appeared so why get our hopes up again? Well, believe my friends because he appeared. Sora finally arrived and there were tears and cheers at finally seeing him in Smash. For a lot of people, Kingdom Hearts was their childhood game and to see that childhood finally appear in Smash was like a dream come true. While I wouldn’t call myself a Kingdom Hearts fan even I have to admit seeing Sora in Smash was awesome and him being the last DLC was the best choice as there was no way Nintendo could top this.
#2. Sonic
Rivals in the 90s. If you were a kid in the 90s you were either on Team Mario or Team Sonic. Sega and Nintendo battled for supremacy in the gaming industry throughout the 90s and early 2000s. While Nintendo would ultimately come out the victors, it seemed like Sonic and Mario would never share a game and would be eternal rivals trying to beat the other. But that all changed with Brawl as Sonic made his appearance. You could tell this was a late deal as Sonic played little to no part in the story mode but even so, this was amazing. For the first time ever, Mario and Sonic were in the same game together and it was a fighting game of all places. While they would go on to have their Olympic games, people would lose interest in them quickly. Smash on the other hand kept people coming back to play it and people enjoyed every minute having these two fight or partner up with each other.
And number one. . .
#1. Cloud
As cool as it was to see Sephiroth and Sora in Smash, it wouldn’t have been possible if not for this character. For those of you too young to know you have to understand seeing Cloud in Smash was huge. Cloud said it best: never thought I would see the day. For years, Nintendo and Square Enix refused to do any sort of business with each other and it all stems from this character. Seeing Cloud in Smash for the first time was Nintendo and Square Enix publicly announcing to the world that fences were being mended and they were heading in a direction that would see both companies profit. Cloud would go on to become one of the top-tier characters in the game and one of my favorite characters as well. Smash showed everyone that it had the power to end years of held grudges and bring people together for the common good, making the fans happy and giving them what they wanted. Cloud’s inclusion into Smash was something I thought we would never see but I’m glad we did and it opened the door for Sephiroth and Sora to be in the game down the line.
And that’s my list. Who are your favorite third-party Smash characters? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.