Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

[Mcmadness]

Considering that Little Mac was played by a former boxer who was the son of Italian immigrants in a live-action commercial for Punch Out on the Wii and said actor said he was asked to play a 'young Italian-American guy, good looking with a cocky attitude and a heavy New York accent', I'm pretty confident in saying that Little Mac is meant to be Italian-American and, you know, Italians are pretty widely considered to be white and not POC.

Of course IIRC Nintendo themselves have said that Little Mac's ethnicity is meant to be ambiguous so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I read him as being of Italian ancestry personally.

Well you did say Dark Skinned, you didn't specify ethnicity :V

 

[PaperMario77]

sora is in smash so uh cool.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Also, most men in Smash are either super hot or cartoony. Gannondorf is the exception.

I'm still waiting for a Boxer Mario alt as well as a shirtless Link alt and a shirtless Ike alt to square against Shulk and Zero Suit Samus in their beach clothes, as well as shirtless Sephiroth. We need a shirtless Sora.

As for racial representation, I still think giving dark-skinned alts for Pokemon Trainer, Inkling, Minecraft person (also isn't Steve not a white guy?), and Villager are highly welcome (Dark Pit has a dark skinned alt, buuut I don't like the whole dark skin = bad). Honestly, I'd like to see more skin tone changes for alts. Is it an issue with people of color if, say, Palutena, Olimar, Ice Climbers, Link, and others get dark skinned alts?

 

[Xiahou Ba]

I think you could argue that changing skin tone for someone like Palutena doesn't really address the problem because their facial features wouldn't be affected when the face/hair are also important parts of a particular race too.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Oh sure, I agree. I think people that design black characters focus on the skin tone rather than the features (and vice versa, people often don't make skin color go dark enough). But some of the characters I listed are a bit more ambiguous in their features like Olimar and Ice Climbers.

 

[Flygon64]

(also isn't Steve not a white guy?)

steve prrty confusing with his skin tone lol
it just like, changes every single time

some old promotional material just lightens up his skin a lot sometimes??
In the actual minecraft game, I can see it maybe going both ways
You could say he's like hairy and dirty cuz one he has hair on his arms and he used to have a more obvious beard ( Example : Classic look )
I think it's still there but it's just less " a couple of plain brown pixels "
for dirty : he hangs out in the woods punches corpses with his fists, cuts down trees, with his fists, he does a lot of work with dirt too
but I mean you can also just say that's not the case and he's just a default dude with some slightly dark skin and some old promotional stuff is just inconsistent with him nowadays

I don't really got a opinion on this cuz Idrc and I just kind of prefer alex lol

and pretty much only cuz she wears green my favorite color lmao

 

[zel]

i remember reading somewhere steve was supposed to have an ambiguous skin color???? not sure! im more certain on their gender beimg supposed (i have NO idea how to word this) to be ambiguous, same for alex, which is unrelated but interesting

 

[winstein]

With how the Smash newcomers are wrapped up, it seems to be a wise decision for me to hold it off because the character that I most wanted (Waluigi) is not made playable, unfortunately. I suppose there's always next Smash, whenever that will be. The thing that bummed me out is that were my most wanted added, it would be incredibly unlikely for everyone to be here again, so the character interactions and treatment of love by the developers may not necessarily be the same as Ultimate, which is the peak of how well they are treated. I don't foresee a good deal of characters making it back again, especially the third party ones and especially the ones with the most hurdles like Square. And then there is also the resistance against a new game to sell if not everybody can return.

That's not to say that I am completely unsatisfied with the game. For one, Daisy is added which I greatly appreciated because that's one of the characters I voted in the Smash ballot, and it was like a dream to see her being there when past game were content on giving Peach the same colour dress. Not to mention how much of a resistance there is from Smash fans about her inclusion with the most common reason being that Daisy is only prominently appearing in spin-offs (though I think that's a faulty reason since this prominence makes her more well-known in the first place). There's also the fact that this game is not a Wii U port, which is a trend I dislike (if old games need to be ported, prioritise the Gamecube games: the benefits are that the games are not sold as well and it will address the scarcity of the current copies, and it gives a chance for old games to find a new audience like Chibi Robo).

As for the trailer of the final newcomer, I think the thing I like a lot is that Mario, for once, plays a heroic role in inviting the newcomer rather than being the victim of the newcomer's assault yet again. Perhaps in the next Smash, Luigi should be the victim more often 'cause Mario already got enough of the brunt. This character is also a very good and inspired final choice, even if he's not my most wanted character, on account to how he's clearly the most requested and how well the character is treated.

There's something to be said about how much Sakurai is appreciated. To me, it feels like the only person to get this because Smash Bros. clearly has a hand by many other different developers, but Sakurai is usually the only person to be credited for the praise, not without merit since he's the one that called the shots. Working on established franchises also has its own advantages and disadvantages, with the biggest one stemming from representation. It must have been overall satisfactory because I don't think there are any misrepresentations worthy of news (not even the huge bias towards Sakurai-developed Kirby games). In this way, his role in creating a video game is more easily enjoyed because he's working on games that other people liked, and putting them together in a crossover, and it helps that he's got a pulse on the many different games he worked with. I would say that what he's accomplished so far is praiseworthy, even if his decisions do not necessarily align with everyone's. After all, a good thing is a difficult thing to get a hold of, and that needs to be appreciated to the fullest.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Bob Craples]

There is no way Disney would let their main 7 actually be in the same game as Bayonetta, Pyra and Wario

Yeah, that last one is waaay too sexy.