A while back I posted an article about what Japanese gamers thought about Little Mac in Smash Bros. and it turned out to be pretty interesting! A newer Super Smash Bros. announcement video has since been released (about a week or two ago, I think), and I was quickly inundated with requests to look into how Japanese fans responded to it – especially how Japanese gamers responded to the news that Greninja from Pokémon is going to be a playable character:
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Unlike with the Little Mac stuff, though, readers have been asking about many different parts of the Smash Bros. announcement video, like, “What did Japanese gamers think about the Greninja reveal?” and, “What did Japanese gamers think about the release date announcements?” So if you haven’t seen the full video yet, you can check it out here:
Overall, it sounds like Japanese fans really liked this update. Based on this poll, here’s a rough look at how well-received it was:
”What did you think of today’s program?”
- Very good: 84.5%
- Pretty good: 10.1%
- Average: 2.4%
- Not that good: 0.7%
- Not good at all: 2.3%
As for comments and message board posts, there are so many comments about so many different topics that I can’t even scratch the surface, but here are some for your reading pleasure and curiosity. They come from many different places (including Twitter), not just one or two sources, but even so, don’t take these as representative of everyone!
Also note that “Greninja” is actually called “Gekkouga” in Japanese – I’ve translated it as Greninja in these comments for simplicity’s sake.
I’m jumping with excitement like I’m a kid again
It looks like they’re hoping to please Japanese demand AND overseas demand. I totally like that!
If you’re gonna complain, you don’t gotta buy it
That Greninja video was so awesome!
I’m so happy!
You gotta play using THAT controller?
If you were a parent, which would you do?
1. Buy only the 3DS version, since your kid already has a 3DS
2. Spend tens of thousands of yen to buy the 3DS game plus the Wii U and the Wii U game
I’m so happy (Thank you, Nintendo!)
Charizard and Greninja, huh? That was an incredible Direct
Fanboys: “60 FPS & full HD or bust”
I don’t think he mentioned anything about 1080p
Charizard and Greninja were announced for Smash Bros. When I saw the video, for a second I mistook it for an announcement about Mewtwo. So here’s my question: personally, I still have faith since Mewtwo has a mega-evolution and the movie. Do you think Mewtwo’s spot in the roster would be announced after the game goes on sale?
Uh oh I can’t stop my excitement
So much awesomeness. I’m gonna buy the Wii U and 3DS versions. I’ll end up broke for sure, but I’m gonna buy ’em.
Why’s there a Nintendo Direct this early on a weekday morning?
They must’ve wanted a ninja
Overslept, missed it
Wii U version all the way. Are they idiots, selling the crappy 3DS version first?
Greninja is even more ninja-ier than I imagined
Just make a Pokemon Smash Bros. already!
Announcement of Wii U’s death
Nintendo Direct’s over, back to bed I go
Couldn’t they have just announced all this in Famitsu instead?
Pretty good, for Nintendo
The different-generation Rockmen was the biggest surprise!
We can at least have cross-platform saves… right?
It’s gonna be way suckier on the 3DS
He said the 3DS version will be 60 FPS with some things at 30 FPS – is the Wii U all-60 FPS though?
Oh, Greninja’s super-popular in Japan and among foreigners! I bet everyone’s smiling and ultra-happy about this
This current Pokemon character lineup is absolutely perfect
Greninja turned out to be cooler than I thought!
Where’s Wario?!
Mewtwo?
Why is Greninja considered a bad guy?
No characters from The Wonderful 101?
This announcement [about Greninja] came completely out of nowhere!
Is it me, or do I sense more love for Rockman in this Direct than from Capcom itself?
I’m curious to see what Greninja’s special attack is called
The release date is so far offff
Man, I’m so so happy
They probably wanted to include a ninja since they’re taking overseas players so heavily into account.
FF9’s movies looked better
Where’s Ike?!
Sakurai said Zero Suit Samus is weak, but I always thought she was a pretty powerful character
I just assumed Greninja being in Smash Bros was just a lie, but it turned out to be true!
Are they broadcasting it this early to target schoolkids before they leave for school or something?
Reggie & Foreigners: “Fuck! Who cares about the damn 3DS version?! Release the console version first!”
These graphics don’t even begin to compare to the PS4. Shitty graphics confirmed!
The Rockman All-stars was the best part. Hey, Capcom! You paying attention?!
I’ve played many games in my life, but this is the first time I’ve felt this excited about one in a long time
Greninja’s so cool. That just leaves a grass-type now, I guess
This new Smash Bros kicks ass! Greninja’s so cool!
Uhhh
Where’s Ike? And Snake? And Falco? And Meta Knight? All my mains are vanishing away…..
I can’t wait to play this!
They’ve only been doing one-game Directs lately…
I didn’t realize I was still a kid at heart way deep down
I hope the main character from “Nazo no Murasame-jo” will be in it
Greninja’s so cool!
I’m seriously glad I didn’t get a Wii U
Rockman’s in it too? Man, Capcom is completely on Nintendo’s side now, huh?
Bankruptdo’s final hope
Yeah, I guess Greninja makes more sense than Delphox, oh well
Sorry PS fanboys the Wii U’s sales are about to explode into victory
Is Falco gonna be in it?
Ashley’s cute
Greninja, huh? Greninja’s a personal favorite of mine, so I’m really happy
Just how many characters are there going to be?!
I never expected Greninja. I’m happy, but I want it now!
ROFL Greninja? Damn, I never even thought of that
Please tell me there are secret characters too. Gimme Jigglypuff and Mewtwo plz
Greninja’s so cute!
What are you holding a Nintendo Director at this hour for?!
Doesn’t 4 Pokemon seem a little too many? I thought for sure Mewtwo would be back, but it seems unlikely now
Why aren’t there any Xenoblade characters yet?
Please just keep Ike!
Greninja IS really popular with foreigners and all
So there you go. Although it’s pretty normal for negativity to sound the loudest online, it sounds like this latest announcement had a pretty positive response overall in Japan.
I salute the brave trooper that mentioned The Wonderful 101.
So they think he’s popular overseas?
Interesting, because as far as I saw, pretty much no one asked for him.
Seems like they think he’ll be popular because of the western fascination with ninjas…lol
Then their thinking is way, way off base. If we wanted a ninja, well, take a wild guess which famous ones most folks would have expected.
Wasn’t Sheik already kind of a ninja?
He was the most popular pick for Gen6 Pokemon representation, although that also has to do with how few Pokemon are important enough to deserve a spot on the roster.
…and these comments are nearly identical to the US reactions.
He’s the most used Pokémon competitively. So yes, he’s pretty damn popular.
(I know, 5 months old comment…)
Japanese fans: “This makes sense. Greninja is popular in the west”
Western fans: “What the hell is this ugly thing and why isn’t it Mewtwo?”
Yeah, I personally love Greninja but I don’t think he’s especially popular in the West, or anywhere.
He seems to be the most popular starter-line Pokemon from G6. I’ve encountered plenty of people excited for his Smash Brothers debut. I mostly hang on TV Tropes, though.
Greninja is the most popular Generation 6 Pokemon.
Well said.
I like the guy complaining about the time, because this was like the one time a Nintendo Direct was at a good timeslot for those of us in the West Coast. Usually they’re like 6 or 7 AM.
“When I saw the video, for a second I mistook it for an announcement about Mewtwo.”
Lol, i made the same mistake when i watched the direct. But yeah, i really want Mewtwo to come back, and i’m glad to see Japanese fans feel the same.
Anyone who plays Pokemon X/Y probably likes Greninja and thinks it’s a good choice, but in the West there are a ton of gamers who are “first generation only!” and dislike any new pokemon.
Because they’re nearly all ugly as sin compared to the first generation of Pokemon.
Let’s compare Minccino to Weezing and see who’s uglier.
There’ve always been ugly, cute, cool, tough, pretty, annoying, and all kinds of Pokémon. I don’t understand all of this generalisation.
haters are gonna hate
Ywah, Muk, Exeggcute, Jynx, Mr. Mime, Voltorb, Magneton and pretty much all gen 1 pokémon are beautiful…
Genwunner.
I’ll admit that I’m one of those kinds of people, as my interest in Pokemon only went through the first two generations. So naturally I thought Greninja an odd choice. Yet it’s only fair the current Pokemon generation receive some kind of representation, and I honestly can’t think of anyone with more universal appeal than the ninja frog
Yeah no thanks on this announcement, I already decided which two I’m going to be playing as primarily.
“No characters from The Wonderful 101?”
Nice to see someone stick out for W101, as someone already said above.
“Is it me, or do I sense more love for Rockman in this Direct than from Capcom itself?”
Ouch, I guess even Japanese gamers there know the struggle. Still hurts, man. 🙁
“Bankruptdo’s final hope”
Hey! Now that’s just mean!
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Nice to see another update emerge after a long drought, Mato. Hopefully this means you’ll update the AVGN section, soon, as well 😛
Aw man I also can’t wait for the next AVGN article update. Looking forward to see how Japanese fans responded to the famous Ninja Turtles episode, considering that’s arguably what caused AVGN’s career to skyrocket.
Yep, I really look forward to the TMNT one!
The past month+ was actually super-duper-busier-than-ever with my normal translation work, so pretty much all my hobby stuff like this site had to go onto life support. Updates might still be a little infrequent while I get back in the swing of things (and answer all my e-mails heh) so uh look over there a squirrel
Where! Where’s the squirrel! Squirrel!!
Personally I’m looking forward to the Final Fantasy IV updates. You’ve done a pretty good job so far of highlighting facts and misconceptions. I thought the initial US release (Final Fantasy II US) was good, definitely still playable.
But no matter what update you’re working on, keep it up.
Huh, so the sentiments in regards to Capcom’s lack of Megaman/Rockman love can also be found amongst Japanese fans.
All these comments about “being a kid at heart” are bringing a smile to my face. Nothing like a good geek-out to make you feel like a kid again, no matter where you’re from! 😀
Ha, and I totally forgot to say something! If ever there was evidence of a cultural divide, that comment about Famitsu would be it. For one thing, the fact that gaming magazines are dying out in the West, or moving towards small and specialty press-style things. Those mags that DO try to keep up with the news usually focus more on in-depth articles and reviews. Second of all, while scans from Famitsu do end up online, it isn’t necessarily that quick, meaning the news wouldn’t quite make it around the world!
I was pretty happy for this news as well. Though I’m easy to please. I like seeing positivity amongst gamers wherever they are.
Hmm. Well, I know a lot of us here want our Mother characters back, me more than others since Lucas is my main in Brawl… Luckily for me Pikachu is my secondary main, so I know I at least have him. I’m sure many people will be playing Villager at first because of the… special kind of hype he’s been receiving. Haha!
Oh, but to say something on topic, I was thinking, “Greninja? Well, that’s… weird”. It’s definitely strange to me. I don’t understand the decision to include him at all besides being a newer Pokemon, but I don’t necessarily dislike it. I just can’t decide whether or not it’ll make a difference in the long run. If that makes sense.
Just curious, does Gekkouga translate to anything? It kind of looks like the “Gekkou” part of his name is a katakana-ized spelling for “Gecko.” However, that wouldn’t seem to make much sense, given him being more of a frog and all.
Geko is the onomatopeia for the frog’s cry (although they also use “kero” for that)
Bulbapedia says : Gekkouga is a combination of げこっ geko (croak) and 甲賀流 Kōga-ryū http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dga-ry%C5%AB
In Addition,
Greninja in French is ‘Amphinobi’
Greninja in German is ‘Quajutsu’
All three localised names use a different Japanese Ninja word
English: Ninja, French: Shinobi, German: Ninjutsu.
Wait, the name is different in French? But “grenouille” is French for frog, which is part of the reason for the English name GREN-inja. I dunno, I guess nothing says they should be the same, but it just seems odd to me.
Most Pokémon have a different name in French and in German. One example that sticks in my mind is that Jigglypuff is “Pummeluff” in German. This is because the PAL version of Smash Bros Melee has European language options, and with the German setting, Pummeluff’s voice is really funny sounding. 😀
In Spanish and Italian, however, all Pokémon are called by their English name.
There are a few Pokémon that are called by the same in every language, a well. Usually these ones are mascot characters such as the electric rodent of the week, and also the legendaries featured on the box. That’s why Pachirisu’s name sounds so Japanesey… they wanted to make it a mascot of the Diamond and Pearl era, so it has the same name everywhere.
I guess it’s just odd to me because the portmanteau already based in French. But I suppose it’s possible they just wanted to go for something different.
That’s strange. I’ve never heard a frog use “geko” as a sound effect in anime or games. It’s always been “gero” as far I’ve known.
ゲコゲコ is indeed a common way to render the croaking sound a frog makes. It’s also found in its pre-evolved form’s name, “Gekogashira”, while it’s initial form’s name is Keromatsu, from ケロケロ, a slightly “lighter” way of rendering it.
Kero, gero, geko, all are used. It’s like having “croak” and “ribbit”. Nothing all that surprising.
Actually, speaking of use in games, Wario Ware DIY uses “geko”.
“Kero” I can agree on, since k and g are not distinct in Japanese and sound the same, but I have honestly never heard “geko” be used before.
I think it may also be why that one frog miniboss in Majora’s Mask is called a “Gekko”.
I’d have also preferred to see Mewtwo make a comeback (I don’t care how bad people thought he was in Melee, I still had fun playing as him
…dah, I’m sorry about that, I don’t HOW I accidentally posted that before I was finished. As I was trying to say, I’m glad at least someone over in Japan remembers Mewtwo and wants him to come back. He was fun for me to play as in Melee, even if other people may have found him bad or useless. But, I’m fine with Greninja making it in. He was my first starter choice, so. (Granted, I have a tradition to always start with the Water starter my first time through a game or at least Gen of Pokémon, since my favorite starter of all time is Blastoise, but just to say. Greninja’s cool in my book.)
Bulbasaur is the one true starter. Though I might have a different opinion if there was a ninja frog in any Pokemon game I’d played.
“The Rockman All-stars was the best part. Hey, Capcom! You paying attention?!”
I’m glad the West isn’t the only one wishing Capcom would pull their heads out of their …well, you know.
Still, between Gunvolt and MN9, I guess that’s what we have Inafune for.
Mato, why do you always refer to the series as just “Smash Bros.?” I know this sounds nitpicky, but it drives me nuts for some reason.
I dunno, I always have. I didn’t realize it was a me-only thing.
Same with Zelda, I always call it Zelda III rather than Link to the Past, although I’ve been changing it slowly ’cause nobody else calls it that it seems.
Do you also call A Link Between Worlds “Zelda 17?” 😀
Hey, I sometimes call it Zelda 3. Not always, but it is a shortening I accept!
I finally found someone who also prefers to call it Zelda 3!
Hooray! We should get married or start a club or something!
I do.
I also call Link’s Awakening Zelda IV.
Yeah! Fight the power!
I also call Ocarina of Time “Zelda 64.”
After that… eh, who cares?
And I’ve argued with some younger gamers about whether anyone EVER called the older games Zelda 3, Zelda 4, and Zelda 64 instead of by their subtitles.
Kids these days… kids which are actually adults now, which makes me feel even older.
I’ve heard “Smash Bros.” everywhere and also say it myself, but you’re the first one I’ve heard of saying “Zelda III”. But now more “Zelda III”ers seem to be creeping out of the woodwork in the above comments! Is that just what you naturally called it or did you pick it up somewhere? It doesn’t seem weird to me or anything, but I’d never have even thought to call it that. Which I guess is kinda strange since I don’t call Zelda II “The Adventure of Link”.
Maybe we’re just the crazies and mainstream America really DID read off the whole dadgum box every time.
I’d always assumed it was just a “back in the day” thing. We were calling it Zelda 3 before we had a box to read a subtitle off. I mean, that’s what the previews in GamePro and EGM were calling it*!
We didn’t truck with this prequel/gaiden/spinoff/reboot/non-canon alternate universe nonsense. If you made a game with the same name as an older game, we were gonna stick a number on it if you didn’t, and the gosh-darn whipersnappers should just be glad we didn’t decide it was “Super Zelda.”
…
I’m actually surprised no one DID call it Super Zelda.
Zelda 2 is legit any way you slice it, though. The box and title screen and manual all say “Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link”, and it’s explicitly a direct sequel to the first game. It’s not even “Legend of Zelda 2”, it’s just “Zelda 2”.
*Tangentially, I’m pretty sure calling “Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo” by the random mashup title “Castlevania: Dracula X” instead of a sane translation like “Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood” came straight outta GamePro.
And it’s finally dying out, too. People look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them the SNES remake of Rondo of Blood was titled “Castlevania: Dracula X” in the US because that’s what America ACTUALLY THOUGHT Rondo of Blood was called.
Yeah, it’s mostly a “back then” thing – before the game had a finalized title everyone just referred to it as Zelda 3/III (I think even Nintendo Power) – after all, the second one was called Zelda II (or was it 2), and the Super Mario Bros. games just went with numbers too, as did the Mega Man games, etc.. It wasn’t until maybe the early to mid-90s that I think fans started using the subtitles to refer to games, probably because after a certain point it feels silly/confusing to keep track of numbers. Although the Mega Man games beg to differ 😛
And then you have to explain why Megaman X isn’t Megaman Ten, and you’re on the OTHER side of the conversation suddenly.
I dunno I always have just said “Smash Bros.” too. Got me on Zelda though, there’s too many numbers to do that now, hah.
Mato is not the only person to refer to the series as “Smash Bros.”. Almost all fans use “Smash Bros.” to talk about the series.
I’m sure the majority of Smash fans already know, but in Japanese, the Super Smash Bros. series is known as 「大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ」(“Dairantou Smash Brothers”), which means “Great Fray Smash Bros.”. Notice that the title does not have “Super” in it. I don’t know for sure if this is the true reason why people call it “Smash Bros.”, but this is the best reason I can think of for why it is not instead “Super Smash”.
The Super Smash Bros. series does not have a game titled simply “Smash Bros.” without “Super” or 「大乱闘」, unlike the Mario series where “Mario Bros.” is a single-screen arcade* game and “Super Mario Bros.” is an NES* game spanning multiple screens.
“Super Mario Bros.” is not abbreviated to “Mario Bros.” because it would conflict with a game that already has that title. Instead, it is usually abbreviated to “Super Mario”. “Super Smash Bros.” is abbreviated to “Smash Bros.” because that results in a shared abbreviation with its country of origin, or so I think. This is not taking into account further abbreviations into initials and/or the Japanese style which takes the first 2 syllables of the first 2 terms in the title (「スーマリ」”SuMari” and 「スマブラ」”SmaBro” respectively, romanizations are approximate).
*I am aware that both Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. have NES and arcade versions respectively (Super Mario Bros. is ported directly to the PlayChoice-10 and modified for the VS. System), but that is beside the point, and I only use the original medium for description.
Aww, c’mon. We abbreviate it to Smash Brothers because it’s easier to say/type, not because we respect the proper japanese branding. We’re just lazy.
It’s the same reason people shorten Final Fantasy, Fatal Fury, AND Final Fight to FF. Althena forbid we ever see a demographic overlap between the three.
And people TOTALLY abbreviate Super Mario Brothers to Mario Brothers. Which is why I always have to spell the one game as “Mario Brothers. No, not Super Mario Brothers. The one BEFORE they were super.”
Yeah, I definitely call it Smash Brothers out of ease. I actually had no idea what it was called in Japanese. As far as the FFs go, I usually wait until I know for certain what we’re talking about before I use them just to avoid the confusion you described.
As far as Mario goes, I usually… Just say Mario and whatever else. “Let’s play Mario 3!” I think I only use “Super” when referring to Super Mario World, and that’s probably just because it was on the Super Nintendo.
I’m really glad that at least a few of them mentioned Ike. I’ve been really worried about him since before the game was even announced, even though, logically, he will return. It’s just all these naysayers and their naysaying.
They could choose to promote Chrom from their latest Fire Emblem game. I’m really excited for Sugita in a Brawl game (hope they won’t remove the Japanese dub)… but at the same time I don’t want Ike to go.
Earlier it was Ike from FE9, before it was Roy from FE6… Unless they get rid of Marth: even though he’s the original protagonist, I don’t see a problem with him leaving (though I may be biased since I didn’t grew up with the Famicom original but rather played the DS remake).
For me, Greninja came out of nowhere. I didn’t expect him in at all unless he was part of a Pokemon Starter trio, like how Charizard was. Like, if he was gonna be in, then I though it would’ve been with Braixen and Chespin, a middle and beginning starter stage Pokemon respectively, like how Charizard got in Brawl alongside Squirtle and Ivysaur.
Nonetheless, this direct made me happy because both Greninja and Charizard were my starter Pokemon in X and Y, which I’m sure was anticipated by GameFreak considering a ton of other people are saying the same thing around Smashboards.
Yeah, I don’t know. Greninja isn’t popular but he isn’t unpopular either. He’s pretty cool as far as recent Pokémon go.
I see the completely imaginary talk about “east” and “west” is present amongst the Japanese too, in the comment about the 3DS version… but then again I personally am not a good representation of the average European gamer these days.
I’ll be honest, my reaction to this was “meh”. I don’t really care too much about Pokemon anymore, but at least Charizard is more recognizable than frog-ninja.
I do remember playing SSBB one time though, and my sis asked me “Who’s Ness? Who’s Lucas?” So it may not be too huge of a loss. Only time will tell.
Also,
“Where’s Ike? And Snake? And Falco? And Meta Knight? All my mains are vanishing away…..”
Smash Bros metagame: serious business.
Heh, I’m sort of glad the Japanese are interested in this newcomer. That Direct deflated my hype for SSB4 just about instantly when it became clear Metroid was snubbed yet again in potential newcomers.
As a Western gamer, I’m actually more interested in the 3DS version than the Wii U version. Even if there are only two songs per stage (blearrgh), it still has the advantage of being portable.
I personally like this comment : “I hope the main character from “Nazo no Murasame-jo” will be in it”
I never played this game, all I know is that it was a japanese only game for the Famicom Disk System, and there was an attraction inspired by this game in Nintendo Land, but it sounds like exactly the kind of unpopular and forgotten character that could appear in Smash Bros., such as Ice Climbers, ROB, G&W, Little Mac…
You forgot StarTropics.
Murasame’s Mysterious Castle was, let’s say, an arcade-style Zelda reject and a medieval Japanese theme. On top of that it was delayed seven months only for the Zelda game we know and love to release before and steal the spotlight.
I don’t know, it’s like asking for the MC from a light-gun game to make it in SSB. At best, it would be a sticker. Wasn’t it included that way already in Brawl?
If there’s a Japanese-only thing that compares remotely to Big Mac, my guess is that it would be something like Ziria/Manjimaru from the Tengai Makyou series (not Nintendo-made, but pretty popular), or the main characters from Marvelous Another Treasure Island or Giftpia.
Lip from Panel de Pon is pretty high on Japanese lists of characters they want in, and is completely unknown outside Japan. That’d be your Mac equivalent.
I think Lip was/is ironically more requested and/or anticipated in the West than the East, although considering the obscurity of her home series over here, that’s barely saying anything. She’s got some Japanese advocates, but mostly from what I’ve seen Lip didn’t get a whole lot of votes from her home base this time around… they mostly went for characters like Shulk (plausible if not outright likely) and Hatsune Miku (keep dreaming).
Honestly, shoehorning that Hatsune Miku in anything and everything has got ridiculous and tiresome. So many forced “cameos”… Even retooling huge chunks of some of the series’ staple side content in 7th Dragon 2020 just to include her in an awkward contrived way.
Say, I just realized that in the little icons you use on this and the Little Mac article, they both seem to use the same kanji! That’s odd, since in English they all have different messages (Little Man Punches In, Greninja Makes A Splash)! What are those kanji, anyway?
It’s 参戦, which basically means to join/enter a battle: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/29958/m0u/%E5%8F%82%E6%88%A6/
If you do a search for 参戦 or 参戦 スマブラ in Google Images, you get a bunch of fake SSB4 character screens made by fans. Some of them can get ridiculous.
Phoenix Wright, sexy WiiFit Trainer, Dio(!), hentai WiiFit Trainer(…).
I… is that Space Battleship Yamato?
So I was wondering: Does anyone have any ideas on a Gen 5 Pokemon rep? So far, it’s the only Gen without a rep (since PT is based off of FR/LG Red), and I honestly can’t think of any good ones that would work in Smash. Zoroark was hyped around B/W’s release, but it doesn’t seem as popular as, say, Lucario.
I never thought that Pokémon Trainer was a Gen 3 rep. Interesting way to think about it.
The only Gen 5 reps I can think of are… uh.
– Serperior, to complete the Grass/Fire/Water trio that Charizard and Greninja have
– Emolga, as a sort of flying-type twist to Melee’s Pichu.
– Darmanitan, ’cause it was important to N’s story in Black and White. Plus something interesting could be done with Zen Mode.
– Something totally random and unexpected, like… uhh, like Sawk.
I doubt Zoroark would get in honestly. Gamefreak were trying to make him ‘the next Lucario’, but I don’t actually see him gaining anywhere close to as popular as Lucario is.
Garbodor or riot
Ah yes, this Direct. I came in expecting to be blown away and I was not disappointed.
However, I do recall sticking through to the very end and getting so effing pumped because of the triple whammy of Charizard, Greninja, and no Lip deconfirmation… then like an hour later the webmaster of I think it was Serebii? leaked a massive series of press kit screenshots…
…one of which shows Samus thwacking Olimar with Lip’s Stick.
Yeah, that was “fun”.
(I still believe in that one leak which also predicted the Master Ball though. Call me delusional if you want. >>)
I like the addition. I’m kinda burnt out with Kanto. So if Mewtwo or Jigglypuff don’t make it back. Couldn’t care less. If they add a Grass type counterpart for Charizard/Lizardon and Greninja/Gekkouga, I want it to be Sceptile/Jukain. It could adapt quite well to the gameplay style like the ones listed above. I may be the only one who feels that way. Started out with Kanto back when I was a kid. Have played all games in the series (started playing them in Japanese with Diamond, bought Japanese Emerald at the same time. Got SoulSilver then the English later. Same with White. Got Black 2 in Japanese and then White 2 in English. Bought X and Y, X has been one English file. Y, I’m on my 3rd file. First was Japanese, second German, 3rd Japanese again. Also bought Crystal in Japanese recently and bought the games prior to Crystal like a year or 2 ago in Japanese ($30 for 6 games is a steal). That’s my probably unnecssarily long explaination on my Pokémon history. But I’m okay with Kanto having less spotlight for the time being.