I’ll be completely honest. If you had asked me at the beginning or even middle of this week how exciting the Smash reveals were, I would have said I was underwhelmed. But thanks to a completely unexpected (at least, by me) reveal on Friday, it made everything so much more interesting. So bear with me as I work to Friday’s reveal, cause it is definitely controversial, if nothing else. Plus, we have a fantastic Most Wanted Brawler by Jonathan Higgins to cap everything off at the very end!

Let’s get Smashing!

Yikes! Giga Mac SMASH! Not much to say about this screen, but luckily it was accompanied by a hilarious quote from Sakurai – “Under certain circumstances, the creatures on this planet appear to grow larger and go berserk. The Pikmin and I must be cautious lest we lose our heads to these beasts.” Yes, Olimar, those circumstances are called Smash Balls. Which reminds me – I wonder what Olimar’s new Final Smash is going to be? I mean, his rocket WAS turned into an item, as revealed in the Direct… Hope the new one is as epic…

I’m gonna go ahead and float a potentially unpopular opinion here – the new design of the Assist Trophy capsule scares the crap out of me! It’s just so odd and freaky looking… Which is only exacerbated by what Sakurai reveals – “This is the capsule for the Assist Trophies. It may emit rainbow-colored lights, or even blink. Even if there’s something like a Color TV-Game 15 inside….” Makes them sound downright evil, if you ask me. Moving on…

Though pretty, Wednesday’s initial pic wasn’t all that exciting, at least from a gamer standpoint. It does, however, reveal how ridiculously thorough Sakurai and his team are – “The leg and arm positions of some characters will automatically be mirrored when facing left or right. Mario, for example, will have his chest shown in the foreground regardless of whether he’s facing right or left. This was quite a tedious task, but thanks to it we can show the best features of each character even better.” Luckily, it was joined by this other image.

Though Kirby looks adorable as expected, I love the new color swap for the Koopa King himself! Still menacing, but somehow even more compelling.

Thursday was a bit boring, albeit slightly interesting. Now teams will be outlined by colors to differentiate them, instead of Red team having to use red Mario. Minor fix, but I do enjoy being able to choose whatever color swap I prefer. Just keep on reading for the real reveal!

Ike is back! I have many things to say about this reveal, so let me get started. First of all, I do enjoy playing veteran Brawlers, and his Radiant Dawn redesign looks very nice. However, I had thought that Sakurai said a while ago that clone characters were a thing of the past, or at the very least, not a priority. I mean, I love Fire Emblem as much as the next guy, but do we really need two nearly identical sword wielders from it? Why not an Axe, Bow, Lance, or Magic wielder? Furthermore, this reveal came on the heels of a controversial new report about the Wii U version utilizing NFC tech. While it is unclear what precisely this will be used for, be it trophy unlocks or character unlocks, it is strange timing. Perhaps this is Sakurai’s form of damage control, distracting fans with a shiny new(ish) reveal. The more sinister possibility is that Ike and other clone characters will be NFC ONLY, which would increase the roster further but also enrage fans… Lots of possibilities.

So what do you think? Is Ike’s return a good thing, or was it completely unnecessary? Anyone else think he’ll be NFC only? Chime in below. Also, it wouldn’t be any sort of Smashing Saturday if I didn’t cap things off with some great original content! Stick around for a new Most Wanted Brawler!

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Most Wanted Brawler

JONATHAN: I’m just going to come right out and say it. Before I go into some level of detail regarding why Isaac from Golden Sun would make a good Brawler, I’ve just got to point out what being a Brawler will do for him/the Golden Sun series. Have I said I want Golden Sun 4 enough? Have I?

That’s what Isaac being playable in Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS will do. It gave the Fire Emblem franchise the boost it needed to gain momentum in the West. It was the precursor to Kid Icarus: Uprising. It’s probably going to spell out a new Punch Out game on Wii U. Heck—Isaac being an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl kind of signified that Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was coming. Including a Golden Sun character on the roster is a no-brainer at this point, for fans of RPGs and long-time fans of Nintendo and Camelot’s partnership.

But enough about that: Here’s why Isaac’s a sound choice.

But Jonathan! Jonathan! We already have Marth, Link (and probably Lucinda/Chrom/etc)! We don’t need another sword-wielder; Isaac uses swords! I hear you. And I think you’re half-right. I do believe Isaac’s smash attacks would be some kind of sword variant similar to Link or any given Fire Emblem character. But…the truth of it is that there’s more to young Isaac than meets the eye—the guy can use Psynergy.

Instead of relying heavily upon his blade, Isaac can blast earth from the ground even better than Donkey Kong, perhaps use an elemental Djinn in the same manner that Rosalina uses her Luma, or…well…move/squish/otherwise torment his foes with a giant invisible hand. The power and potential in Isaac, because of some of the mechanics present within the Golden Sun series, is effectively limitless. He could even use Ragnarok or Judgment as a Final Smash to completely obliterate his foes.

If Isaac were to become a playable character, I honestly think he would play similarly to Link. All of his standard blows and smash-attacks would no doubt use his sword. But instead of charging an arrow on a bow, imagine holding B to generate a hand to push (well…Move is more like it) foes away from you. I think all of his attacks would embody the Earth element…like a down-B that brings up the ground around Isaac, or a recovery attack that propels him upwards by summoning a hand or some similar psynergy to give him a boost. Since Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS seems to be all about making characters unique, they could even list off the spells he’s casting like a Golden Sun game would (in widescreen, with battle scenes like the ones pictured above) if his stage or other parameters were appropriate. Could you imagine a Final Smash that was, at its core, a big flashy Iris/Charon summon spell brought to life like never before on Nintendo’s newest platforms?

You’ve seen just a slice of Isaac’s potential from his use as an Assist Trophy in Brawl. While I wouldn’t necessarily be upset if he or Matthew from Golden Sun: Dark Dawn were mitigated to a similar role, I’m totally rooting for Golden Sun being given more coverage in Smash 4 than the previous game—for the potential of beautiful hand-held stages and more music like this.

Isaac is so much more than “just another sword-wielder”. As sure as he can make the earth crumble beneath my feet—he is definitely my Most Wanted Brawler.