Masahiro Sakurai Wanted Geno to be a Playable Smash Bros. Fighter

It would've been nice, but I think the ship has sailed on this one. It's been nearly 20 years since Geno has appeared as a proper character (read: not as a cameo). Either let it go or convince Square Enix to use the character.

He's not a character I particularly wanted to see added, but it's still interesting, nonetheless. I'd like to read the actual translated quote from the interview. Since Sakurai doesn't specify, I'm inclined to thing it was an issue with acquiring the rights from Square Enix, but I guess Cloud completely debunks that theory.

Shame he hadn't been included, but at least he was considered.

Could swear I read a similar article a month or two ago

I don't really know who Geno is. I have yet to play Super Mario RPG.

Seems too obscure for people now to know who this is, even with a Wii virtual console release. A lot of the costumes reached niche audiences though.

Would've been happier with em than Bayonetta

I'd have preferred Mallow.

I more of a Mallow fan but I'm sure his inclusion would have been cool and made a bunch of people happy.

Wait, so he actually wanted Geno playable as an actual fighter? But I remember reading an article before that said he didn't see any potential in him at all when he was commenting on his popularity and demand.
Weird, glad he actually changed his mind but too late now. Hopefully Smash 5 will be a thing.

Geno and Mallow please. Mallow is hysterical. Axem Rangers as an assist trophy would be awesome too

Geno isn't the character we need right now, but he can be the one we deserve...erm...I'll be honest I didn't really understand what Batman meant...

....I just flipped about 13 tables and punted several puppies. SakuraaaaaAAAAAAAAIIIIII!!!!!!!!

Nintendo really is milking this game and two others.

I would've liked Geno and Takamaru in the roster. Maybe for the next SSB.

The roster really could have used some extra charm like a character such as Geno. Instead we got the entire cast of Fire Emblem...

Maybe he couldn't think of a original move-set, wich seems quite the priority with these games. I don't know!

Meh, don't really care to be honest. Seem kinda niche and he's not my niche.

I don't know Geno yet but I see him requested a lot (perhaps it's the same people each time though). It would have been nice to have him added euther way. I like all the additional characters but towards the end I was pining for a new more cartoony character to balance things out.

I'm still a bit sad Dillon didn't get added (or any of their newer IPs) but the fact his assist was wonderfully done and Sakurai's comments show he clearly likes the character makes me happy. Maybe one day he'll get a proper retail title. I wish Nintendo would give Sakurai more resources to do his own thing more often.

@Dankykong They put Ness in the very first game. Earthbound sold VERY poorly in the US and didn't make it to other regions, yet they included him. Fire Emblem I don't think had been sold outside Japan until after Smash.

Super Mario RPG sold quite well in the states. Well enough for Nintendo to keep pushing it after Square left them for Sony.

I'm starting to wonder if it's someone higher up at Nintendo preventing it. Perhaps they simply didn't like the game's take on the Mario World, or the fact that, as good as the Mario RPG games have been, I feel like none have made the impact the first one did, and it may be a sore spot for that person.

@Kevlar44 I'm still kind of surprised Mallow doesn't have nearly the same following. I feel the two could work together as a single fighter. I mean, one's a cloud, one's a star: while one fighter's on the field, the other could be a sort of assist, with Mallow assisting from directly above with, say, HP Rain and Star Rain, and Geno using Geno Boost and "Geno Canon" from an angle, with the Star in Star Rain being Geno, and "Geno Canon" being Geno Flash but with Mallow as the ammo.

Darn I would have loved him to have been included! Means more to me than Bayonetta does for sure. Why voters? ?!

To people saying that Geno isn't relevant anymore because of how long since he's been in a game, being in only one game, or not being "recognizable" enough:

Ice Climbers. Pit. Duck Hunt. ROB. Mr. Game and Watch. The list goes on of characters that fit one or more of those categories.

And this upsets me, I was indifferent about Bayonetta but I would've been stoked if they threw in Geno. Grrr!!! Thanks for the tease, Sakurai!

Odd, so Geno can't be in Super Smash Bros. but for some reason Cloud Strife could? You know the Squaresoft character who was never in a Nintendo game until now (unlike Geno who was a Squaresoft character that actually was in not one but 2 Nintendo games).

With Brawl I assume Square was being awkward (after all it's only very recently that Square decided to support Nintendo consoles). As for Smash 4, it's probably due to Bayonetta winning the ballot instead.

I would love to see Geno in Smash, is he obscure, yes, but you can't tell me woth a straight face that every character in Smash is a mainstream character. Sometimes characters get in because they are a cool part of Nintendo's history!

I believe Geno would be, among several others, a great addition to the series. I personally see Rayman as my first choice, as he's relevant again these days for Nintendo gamers and his limbless body makes for an excellent moveset that differentiates him from the rest.

I am, among others, most disappointed by the Fire Emblem characters. I mean, seriously, did they get paid royalties for their inclusion as DLC? I don't dislike Fire Emblem, I just think 2 DLC characters devoted to the series is too much, especially considering they knew the DLC releases were going to be limited. I'm okay with Bayonetta, not amazed but okay. Her moveset and personality bring some variety at least.

So long story short: Gimme Geno!

I think square allowed Cloud and not Geno due to advertising reasons, after all, who's getting a remake/remaster coming out soon?

@BertoFlyingFox Takamaru was originally going to be a character, but Sakurai chose not to since he wasn't very well known. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere at some point

Huh. Well, hopefully he can get into Smash 5. Square already let them have 1 rep (albeit with some restrictions...), so maybe they'd be okay with letting Nintendo have another.

@ShadJV Eh, Ice Climbers are the only one of those your argument applies to, and they aren't in Smash 4. They also had one big advantage over Geno: their tag-team gameplay style.

@retro_player_22 It's odd that one of the most famous video game characters of all time made it in, but a supporting character from a footnote in gaming history didn't? Are you serious?

Geno > Bayonetta.

@Tsurii I'm gonna assume you're young and didn't play the game when it came out, so it probably wouldn't resonate that much with you now.

Look, I adored Super Mario RPG as a kid and thought Geno was all cool and mysterious like all ten year-olds, but nowadays he has to be the worst character frequently requested. His design is ugly, he has no character, no defining traits other than a Pinocchio who shoots... Like, it's hard to fathom what the hook is?

And I have to admit, it saddens me to see nondescript, mediocre characters like Geno garner substantial support... Then you have unique, fabulous characters like Hades, the best Nintendo villain possibly ever, relegated to complete obscurity. Completely disgusting.

@ACK I guess that just means we need a new game that redefines his character before he goes into Smash

@Denngar Smash 64 was originally gonna be a Japan exclusive game, so they had an extreme bias of choosing characters who were either popular or had recent games. On top of that, the game's 4 hidden fighters (Jiggly, Luigi, C. Falcon, and Ness) were all made be cloning and reworking members of the original 8 to varying degrees. Ness exists in Smash because he was popular in Japan and was able to be reworked (to an extremely significant degree) from Mario in 64.

@Peace-Boy He seems to have made this change of heart with a few characters lately. He rejected Miis and Villager from Brawl after all.

@Salnax Yeah, but this is the same Smash game. He said that during Smash 4's development I think. Now he's regretting his decision to not put Geno in.

Would have been a better inclusion than Rosalina. Did anyone even ask for her??

He's always been my dream choice, I'm crossing my fingers that he'll have another major role before a potential Smash 5.

@waluigifan1 Her legion of fans that think of her only as their "waifu"

@WoottWinds I approve of your Booster picture.

@Joestar- What's up with the current obsession with her and Daisy? People go crazy over them.

@Yoshi I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a Smash character hasn't otherwise appeared in years. Pit and Duck Hunt Dog come to mind.

@waluigifan1
I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and suggest that Daisy and Rosalina have been so popular within the Super Mario fanbase lately is because they are characters who are 1.) Female and 2.) Perceived as having much more interesting and better defined personalities than Peach, whom I've seen on more Top Ten "Worst" lists than I can count, and yet 3.) They haven't been quite as heavily over marketed and overexposed as Peach, who now seems boring, bland and overused by comparison.

I don't have anything against Peach personally, nor do I have any prefence or strong opinion in regard to fictional princesses, but it would definitely seem as though she has fallen out of favor with older gamers in the Western world, and therefore the fanbase seems to be asking for something else.

'sniff' He really does care.

@Peace-Boy Were you talking about this article?
(http://www.p4rgaming.com/masahiro-sakurai-each-time-i-am-asked-to-add-geno-to-smash-bros-i-delay-the-release-by-one-day/)

@Peace-Boy you sure?This is one of the few times geno is ever brought up

@Peace-Boy you sure?This is one of the few times geno is ever brought up

@Denngar That doesn't mean squat. If Earthbound was known in Japan, it doesn't matter that he was unpopular in the US. They expected to make an Earthbound 64 as well, so that could be another reason Ness is in Smash. Then they added Lucas because Mother 3 was in Japan. They didn't consider things like this before the way they do now. They also put Roy & Marth in Smash before the entire west really even knew what Fire Emblem was (or right when they decided to do the GBA games for us). Now is the first time in the history of Smash that Ness and his background are being explained first hand to new comers since the original game came out thanks to the virtual console.

Lol Geno is only in Super Mario RPG, and is featured in a small form inside a minigame in Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga for GBA. He's been mentioned once more (thanks to the GBA game) than a bunch of characters in their own games. Ice Climber, Duck Hunt, Ness, Lucas, and Dark Pit. Maybe another one or two. So you can't really go by mention. It doesn't make sense anymore if you judge by that.

@epicmartin7 Yes, that exact article.

@Peace-Boy Lol it makes me think of Kamiya saying no to Bayonetta in Smash, repeatedly, then finally he caved or Nintendo did their own thing and she won the Smash poll, and because as Kamiya even said, Nintendo paid for the rights to her and she's there. Maybe if there was somehow more time, Geno would have been rejected 100 times publicly, then added anyway.
TOO LATE you made the costume, no takesies backsies.

I don't really care for him, never got the hype.

I'd rather have Mallow. (although I don't care much for him either)

@Tsurii Sakurai wasn't mad because the story was leaked, he was mad because people saw the cutscenes outside of the game. He could give a frogs *ss about story lol. So I wouldnt say he's a hypocrite.

@waluigifan1 Way more people than Geno.

@Peace-Boy That article is actually satire lol.

@ACK Sounds like you're butthurt because "x character is more popular than my character!" Also, "Completely disgusting"? That's rather bold. lol

@zool Not sure how talking about a scrapped character = milking, but okay.

Geno is like Shadow the Hedgehog and Pinnochio had a baby...not something I was into. I'm glad Sakurai didn't get his wish on this one...though to be fair I'd rather have an original character like Geno then clones like Dark Pit or annoyingly overused franchise fan fodder like Ryu or Cloud.

"We know you're probably the most boring fighting character ever concieved...but let's put you in ANOTHER fighting game."

"Cloud, you sell games baby, even when your games are garbage spinoffs! Get out there and [email protected] yourself some more!...How do you feel milking fans with Episodes? Bad cause that's not what fans want? Mwhaha, too bad, because if you're in it they'll buy it anyway!."

I would've preferred Geno over yet another Fire Emblem character. Never mind the quality of Corrin as a fighter.

So there was something to the cut Forest Maze track in Brawl after all. I feel a little vindicated now.

Mallow's better, tho

I've never played Super Mario RPG before, but I really like to see characters from Nintendo's past make it into Smash. I was rooting for Shovel Knight, but if they put in Geno, Wolf, Snake, or King K. Rool I would not have been disappointed. Instead we got Bayonetta and Corrin. Bayonetta's position is debatable. She was one of the top candidates, but that was AFTER they weeded out all the "unattainable" characters, but did not provide a definition for "unattainable". For all we know, Wolf was considered "unattainable" because they were just like, "Nah, let's not do that." So I think the ballot results were a sham made to look like everyone and their dog voted for Bayonetta. Corrin's position in Smash is not debatable. AT ALL. Nobody wanted him in. The game wasn't even out in the U.S. or Europe! But because Sakurai loves his Fire Emblem, Corrin gets into Smash. A mostly-unknown JRPG that is not even one of Nintendo's top 20 best-selling franchises (including Japanese sales) somehow deserves 7 freaking characters? Pokemon is a worldwide phenomenon an deach game makes buku bucks for Nintendo. They get 7. Mario is literally the face of gaming. They get 7, considering Wario and Dr. Mario are their own things. The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo's other hit franchise, only has 5. Kirby only has 3. Donkey Kong, one of the reasons Nintendo got into gaming, only has 2 measly reps. But suuure, just keep putting in the characters from a mostly-unknown JRPG entirely irrelevant to both the history and profits of Nintendo just because you need to hype the new games coming out.

@happylittlepigs

...

...

...

Sakurai didn't want to add Corrin at first becaude he knew people would be upset about the number of Fire Emblem characters, but team members hounded him about it until he finally agreed.

...Just so you know.

I wish Geno would have made the cut. When Cloud was announced, after me and my wife freaked out for a good minute, my next thoughts immediately went to Geno, because I've hoped for him to enter Smash since Meelee.

Also still waiting for Dixie, Cranky, K. Rool, Meowth, Blastoise, Impa, Paper Mario, and a Baby Mario & Luigi team similar to Ice Climbers... Just to name a few ideas for first party characters. Surprised at least 1 or 2 of those didn't make the cut for Smash 4 honestly. Also for 3rd party I'd love to see Bomberman...

@-DG @Denngar Yeah i've wondered if they could be a tandem character before too. I'd be happy either way.

I don't care about the pokemon but i'd like to see pretty much all the same additions. Dixie was my vote in the Smash Ballot and i'd like to really see Impa to add some Zelda representations. The Baby tandem is a good idea i never had, i just worry that it'll be too many Mario's especially if Paper Mario does get added as he should. Bomberman is the 3rd party character that probably makes the most sense but since Konami owns him now it might be a tough go, although Snake and a Castelvania rep may also make sense from them. I also would like to see Adam Malkovich to add in another Metroid rep., and he could even be a clone/replacement for Snake.

@Dr_Corndog Characters? Last I remember Cloud is only one guy and is only in one game (FFVII) under a console not from Nintendo. Sorry dude Crisis Core is all about Zack, DOC is all about Vincent, and Kingdom Hearts is all about Sora and Mickey. He's only in Super Smash Bros. to advertised the crappy FFVII remake. Geno would had been a much logical choice. To me Cloud is nothing, he could be famous in your Sony eyes but to a Nintendo player like myself he's a nobody. It's like if a WCW guy jump to a WWE ring for the first time, he needs to prove his worth before I could take him seriously.

@epicmartin7 What does that mean???

@Peace-Boy An article that is fake deliberately for a nice laugh.

@epicmartin7 Wow, so I've been duped this whole time. DX

I figured his, & King K Rool's costumes were included, b/c Nintendo knew they were wanted characters.