It's been more than half a year since Super Smash Bros Brawl came out, and yet I still think back to the crushed sadness I felt December last year when Inafune announced MegaMan was not in Brawl. It is definitely one of the most overhyped videogames of all time, but despite falling short of legendary amounts of expectations from the fans, Brawl in the end turned out a fantastic game. While there are online lag issues, and the SSE left something to be desired, the amount of dedication put into the huge original soundtrack and glorious graphics with exhilirating gameplay that is still fun today concrete its reason for being one of the best-selling games of the year.
But a lot of people realized how special Brawl was before it even was ever announced. The reason why Smash Brothers is such a popular title is not only because its a fun, 4 player smash fest with Nintendo favorites, but ever since Melee its also been a sort of 'video game museum' for the original game IPs. Furthermore, it is very rare for Nintendo characters to cross over with other company's creations (I don't ever believe we would see 'Capcom VS Nintendo'). Yet, when Solid Snake was announced at Brawl's unveiling, it was monumental. Nintendo commonly puts quality in most of their titles, but Smash Bros' expectations meant it would be receiving additional care and handling. In this sense, this is why Snake being in Brawl seems more of a favor for Hideo Kojima and Konami than vice versa, because Snake would be receiving the royal Nintendo treatment, trophies and all.
Then came Sakurai's blog, and the whispers of additional third party characters joining the roster. Early on, Sakurai made it clear only 1 or 2 additional third parties could be let it; Smash Bros was still to be primarily a Nintendo game, and oversaturating it with characters from here and there would leave less room to focus the game as a whole. It was evident that only a true video game star, someone popular enough with plenty of history and character would make the cut. Thus, it was in my own personal belief, that no better character could fill that destined spot than MegaMan.
Why MegaMan? We're talking about a hero from the golden NES days of Nintendo, someone who not only had a string of 8 titles, but spinoffs and even new generations, with X and Legends and Battle Network. MegaMan 2 was one of the most popular titles of the time, and definitely helped the NES stay strong in sales. MegaMan was so big he had his own cartoon show, and was featured IN the Captain N cartoon show, alongside Kid Icarus/Pit and Simon Belmont (from Konami, just like Metal Gear). He's always had a following, and was one of the most classic and most fun examples of platforming action video games have to offer period. MegaMan was not only a great candidate for Smash Bros to me, but I honestly felt like he deserved it.
So, it should be no surprise that the fateful night Sonic was announced to join the game, I felt happiness, confusion, and sadness all at the same time. Happy because I honestly love Sonic, his original games were excellent, and having him face Mario was a dream come true for me and so many others. Confusion because it seemed weird for them to be doing this after announcing Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games; did they just realize that was not going to be good enough and have to add Sonic for a true Mario vs Sonic battle? And sadness, of course, because this strongly indicated, without a doubt, that MegaMan was not going to make the final cut. It did not seem even reasonable: Nintendo and Sega had been rivals for years, with Sega trash-talking Nintendo's hardware from the getgo. Now, Nintendo was practically honoring Sonic for smack talking them for so long, featuring his soundtrack and cast of characters alongside Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu. Sure Sonic was popular, and would no doubt boost sales greatly, but Nintendo had made me honestly feel like Smash Bros was supposed to showcase te greatest of video game's history.
When Brawl was released, I found myself poking at a lot of its shortcomings. It seemed most of the trophies were of already rendered models Nintendo had already made, just slapped in for extra content. The gloriful cutscenes from SSE easily overshadowed the repetitive gameplay scenario found in the co-op mode, filled with strange 'subspace' enemies which were as uninteresting as the settings they inhabited. While Brawl in the end seemed like a project that didn't have enough time to be completed in some specific areas, it still hurt that MegaMan was not a part of it. The beautiful music, including the original title compostion, was far beyond the treatment most any game has ever received, and the graphics showcased that great visuals can be drawn from the Wii. And of course, the gameplay was as solid as ever, offering interesting stages to go crazy in with four friends without a care in the world.
Smash Brothers is as popular as ever, and its sales show that its not just some crazed select group overhyping its name. Sakurai made it seem like it would be the last installment, but even pulled back a bit from that statement after its release. Chances are Nintendo would not let such a big-selling hit slip their grasp, but rather give it time to breath much as they do with the Legend of Zelda games. It is just in my sincere hope that if there is another time, Nintendo does not overlook one of the biggest video game stars of all time. MegaMan is the official mascot to Capcom, one of the most well known third party game companies to ever exist, and a character I strongly believe deserves the honor of joining the ranks of Mario, Sonic, and Solid Snake.
