Lucas for Super Smash Bros. 4? Mother 3 and Nintendo.

[JacksonDemolition]

This is a subject that has been in my mind for a while. I want Lucas for SSB4. But my mind covers with doubt. Nintendo could've announced him on Valentines Day. Since his favorite thing is Love right? No. Little Mac. Although I don't hate that. I wished Lucas was announced instead, while Little Mac being moved to a later date. But then again. Lucas has another chance. April. Thats when Mother 3 was released. In Japan of course. But, I can never really trust Nintendo, like with other companies. Lucas, if announced. Should have a moveset more separate from Ness. I would like to hear what you guys have to say on this. Don't be a troll on this thread. Don't go "OMG LUCES IZ A FAGET NUSS IS BETER!!!111 XD". If only Mother 3 was outside of Japan.

 

[Sould1n]

In a way, I feel Lucas has both a not so great chance of returning as well as a great chance of returning. As a Japan only second rep for a represented series who was a semi-clone of the series original SSB playable rep, if it comes to cutting characters, Lucas seems like one of the most likely to go.

That said, Sakurai doesn't like cutting characters and it seems he is trying to avoid doing so. We've got Toon Link returning, who seemed like the most likely character of all to be cut. I feel that there will end up being a cut/cuts, but I don't see many of them happening. At most, I see 4 cuts happening, as I believe that we will see less cuts than in the transition from Melee to Brawl. That said, I consider Lucas among those likely to be cut, particularly if there the total of 4 cuts that I expect in a worse case scenario.

I guess we will have to wait and see though. If he is cut, as he is a semi-clone character and a 2nd rep to an already represented series, I don't feel his loss would affect me at all but neither would his rejoining. I'm neutral on Lucas as a whole but I will wish you luck in that he returns for your sake.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

That said, Sakurai doesn't like cutting characters and it seems he is trying to avoid doing so. We've got Toon Link returning, who seemed like the most likely character of all to be cut.

Of course Toon Link returns. He's one of every Nintendo fangirl/boy's wet dream character, let alone one of Nintendo's money makers. I'd be shocked if he didn't return.

OT: I'm fairly certain Lucas will be cut. As an avid fanatic of the MOTHER series, I'm not holding out much hope for him. These things are popularity contests, albeit Japanese led, but I digress there. He was a clone of Ness with a different style, like Boba and Jango Fett. Nintendo won't miss such a minor franchise character disappearing, especially with Porky being defeated since Brawl. But who knows? Not this guy.

 

[Liquidprid3]

I think it would be more interesting if Paula appeared, or Kumatora, since they actually have the PSI powers like PK Freeze, Fire, Thunder, etc. Maybe one of them could be an assist trophy, like Jeff was in Brawl. As a recent fan of the Mother series, that's probably me asking too much.

 

[Leemaster777]

You know what I'd like to see? Nintendo taking a different approach with the inclusion of "clone" characters.

Simply put, I'd like to see clone characters represented, but not as individual characters... but as alternate costumes for existing characters. The differences in playstyle between Ness and Lucas is so minor that you could just make Lucas an alternate costume for Ness and that'd be enough. Ditto for Dr Mario, Pichu, and (arguably) Falco and Wolf.

I'm not saying this would work in EVERY scenario (Ganondorf being an alternate costume for Captain Falco would be... weird), but it'd be a nice way to appease the people who want these characters included. Hell, there's already a precedent for it. Wario had an alternate costume in Brawl, why not give more characters alternates in the same fashion?

 

[Daniel C 'Magistrex']

Since the reveal that Lucario is returning it's been difficult to predict which characters will be cut, but given that Ness hasn't even been announced (and as people have said, he's been around since the original), I'd say that we're not going to see Lucas returning. The roster is filling up now, and we've yet to see characters like Yoshi or Captain Falcon return, and there's probably still a few new character reveals coming too.

 

[Souplex]

They said they were trimming the fat from the roster. Lucas is a Ness clone and is roster fat.
Then again, they brought back Lucario, and I can think of very little from Brawl's roster as extraneous as Lucario.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I would rather see Lucas than Ness come back at the moment since I preferred his moveset, but because of his seniority, Ness has a better chance of returning by default.

That being said, I can't see anyone else from the Mother series replacing Lucas considering there have not been any popular, fresh characters from the series to dethrone his position.

 

[Sould1n]

They said they were trimming the fat from the roster. Lucas is a Ness clone and is roster fat.
Then again, they brought back Lucario, and I can think of very little from Brawl's roster as extraneous as Lucario.

I have to disagree with you in considering Lucario extraneous and frankly expected him to return to SSB. Without him they'd only be Gen 1 reps in Brawl, and considering how Pokémon is a series that constantly introduces new 'playable characters' and thus new players grow up or are familiarised with new Pokémon, it makes sense to try and have a broader appeal when it comes to the series representation than just Gen 1.

As for this SSB, Gen 5 I feel has missed it's chance for representation much like Gen 3 did back in Brawl. Then when you think about Gen 6, very few of the actual Gen 6 Pokémon were promoted outside of the starters or Sylveon. More of the focus went to Mega Evolutions, and while true that some focus was paid to fairy types, Sylveon was the only specific fairy type to get a lot of promotional attention. If it came to giving Gen 6 playable representation, I feel the better and more likely option would be through having a Gen 6 Pokémon Trainer using the Gen 6 starters.

As for Lucario himself, Gen 6 renewed his relevancy quite a bit. Alongside giving him a Mega Evolution they also had him involved in the X/Y game themselves by having a Lucario be the means through how the player is introduced to Mega Evolution. It also helps that is an overall popular Pokémon, particularly in Japan.

 

[Sould1n]

That said, Sakurai doesn't like cutting characters and it seems he is trying to avoid doing so. We've got Toon Link returning, who seemed like the most likely character of all to be cut.

Of course Toon Link returns. He's one of every Nintendo fangirl/boy's wet dream character, let alone one of Nintendo's money makers. I'd be shocked if he didn't return.

OT: I'm fairly certain Lucas will be cut. As an avid fanatic of the MOTHER series, I'm not holding out much hope for him. These things are popularity contests, albeit Japanese led, but I digress there. He was a clone of Ness with a different style, like Boba and Jango Fett. Nintendo won't miss such a minor franchise character disappearing, especially with Porky being defeated since Brawl. But who knows? Not this guy.

Ooh, thanks for quoting me, I always like to see someone having noticed my comment. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by Toon Link being one of Nintendo's 'fangirl/boy's wet dream character'. I mean he's popular, but I wouldn't really describe him to such an extreme. Furthermore even with his popular the general consensus was that he was the most likely to go, given how he not only uses similar moves to Link (though thanks to height and weight difference is able to be classed as a Semi-clone) but is literally another Link.

As for the Lucas thing, I feel there are a couple characters more likely to be cut, but do agree he is likely to be cut. You do mention him having popularity in Japan though, and it is important to remember that SSB is usually Japan focused in it's choices. We'll have to see though, as noted I think Sakurai will do what he can to avoid cuts but some may end up being inevitable, either being intentionally replaced or unable to be added due to time constraints.