Why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s next character needs to be female
Looking at the current roster for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it’s clear the next character needs to be female.
I was talking with my five-year-old about Super Smash Bro. Ultimate and the want to add more characters to the ever-growing roster. It was around then my son brought up that if he could add a character to Smash it would be Susie from Kirby: Planet Robobot.
Why I asked him why, his first response was “there need to be more girls”. In my head I was like, “Hold up, there are 77 characters, counting the DLC, how does it need more?” But then I broke it down. Check this out.
Okay, so there are 77 characters available to play as. But out of that 77, let’s count how many are female. Here’s the list of female choices:
- Samus
- Dark Samus
- Pikachu
- Peach
- Daisy
- Ice Climbers
- Sheik
- Zelda
- Pichu
- Lucina
- Zero Suit Samus
- Pokémon Trainer
- Villager
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Rosalina
- Mii Brawler
- Mii Swordfighter
- Mii Gunner
- Palutena
- Robin
- Bowser Jr
- Corrin
- Bayonetta
- Inkling
- Isabelle
- Byleth
- Min Min
- Steve/Alex
28 sounds pretty cool but there are some “Echo Fighters” in there. Echo Fighters are characters that have the exact same move sets as another character. In fact, there’s even a mode to show the roster with the Echo Fighters merged with their counterparts. So if we get rid of the Echo Fighters on the list we lose:
- Dark Samus
- Daisy
- Lucina
There are also a few characters on here who are literally the same person with multiple slots. While they have enough differences to qualify them as two different fighting styles, it’s still one person, similar to how Mario and Dr. Mario are still the same. So if we eliminate those from the list we lose:
- Zero Suit Samus
- Sheik
So we’re already down five. While there are a ton of characters on the Male side like Little Mac, Ryu, the Belmonts that are just male, there’s a lot of characters, like the Villager from Animal Crossing, that gives you the option to be either Male or Female. While technically giving you the option to be female, it’s not a female character, per se.
- Pikachu
- Ice Climbers
- Pichu
- Pokémon Trainer
- Villager
- Wii Fit Trainer*
- Mii Brawler
- Mii Swordfighter
- Mii Gunner
- Robin
- Bowser Jr.
- Corrin
- Inkling*
- Byleth
So, remember how I originally said there were 28 female characters? Even without eliminating the previous groups, you’re looking at LITERALLY half are only female as an option and notice how Wii Fit Trainer and Inkling have asterisks? Those are the only two of the 14 that default as female.
So let’s look at the list again. This time I’m just going to list the female characters who are just female with no caveats. Characters that have been women from the get-go without the option to turn it off or play as a male counterpart. Characters that aren’t just pallet swaps of other characters. And before I do this list, I really want you to remember and picture that there are 77 choices.
Here’s the list of characters that are simply women with their own story who aren’t customizable or a pallet/echo swap:
- Samus
- Peach
- Zelda
- Rosalina
- Palutena
- Bayonetta
- Isabelle
- Min Min
Eight. Eight characters. And to be fair, I’ll do a quick list of every male character that stands on their own who isn’t listed as an echo fighter or is multiple versions of themselves like the aforementioned Mario/Dr. Mario. And again, I’m holding the male characters to the exact same standards and eliminating all characters that are echos, the same character in a different outfit even if the moves are different and characters that allow you to choose your own gender. Exact same qualifications. Established male characters. Here we go:
- Mario
- Donkey Kong
- Link
- Yoshi*
- Kirby*
- Fox
- Luigi
- Ness
- Captain Falcon
- Bowser
- Falco
- Marth
- Ganondorf
- Roy
- Mr. Game and Watch
- Meta Knight
- Pit
- Wario
- Snake
- Ike
- Diddy Kong
- Lucas
- Sonic
- King Dedede
- Olimar
- R.O.B.*
- Wolf
- Mega Man
- Little Mac
- Pac-Man
- Shulk
- Ryu
- Cloud
- Ridley
- Simon
- King K. Rool
- Joker
- Hero
- Banjo+Kazooie
- Terry
That’s 40. Oh, and any with an asterisk just means “Fight me, I know the lore”. So there we have it. 40 versus 8. Literally five times the amount. And it’s not like Nintendo or the game world is lacking.
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My kids mentioned recently how amazing Susie from Kirby: Planet Robobot would be. Hatsune Miku would be a hilarious fighter and someone who has done exclusive work with Nintendo many times. People have been begging for Hat Kid from Hat in Time for a good long while. Tifa Lockhart would be a great character to have considering Cloud is in the game. Cammy from Street Fighter would work incredibly. Lara Croft, Shantae, Dixie Kong, heck, Amy Rose from the Sonic Universe and her massive hammer. There are so many female characters that would work incredibly.
And, honestly, in a community with as many sexual assault issues as the Smash community, this would be a really really good time to start showing some better gender representation.