Is Marth being promoted to a starter character

[pikachugamer21]

As you all know Marth is one of several unlockable characters that has been revealed so far along with Luigi, Toon Link, Sonic, and Lucario however I've realized that Marth appears in the Little Mac trailer while the other characters are absent from it and since Little Mac will probably be a starter character it stands to reason Marth is now as well what is everyone elses thoughts on this

 

[ぱみゅ]

At this point I am utterly unsure of which characters are Starters and which need to be Unlocked.
Sakurai is only trying to hype us up.
...
And he's achieving it.

 

[Commander]

Why are people even questioning this? The only unlockable characters ever revealed before release were Sonic and Snake. All other characters revealed prior to release have always been starters. There is absolutely nothing strange about Marth, Luigi, etc. being starters. Falcon and Ness were secret in 64, starters in Melee, and secret in Brawl again. Character's change the time you acquire them all the time. At this point, Sonic and Megaman are the only potentially secret characters but I doubt they will be secret at launch.

 

[ぱみゅ]

I would love it if every character were unlockable. As in, you start with Mario only and after 5 matches you unlock Fox and so on.
Everyone would be "forced" (in a good way) to learn every character.

 

[Commander]

That only forces people to play as characters they don't enjoy from the beginning and waste a lot of time before they can actually start having fun. People are already "forced" to learn every character when they try to unlock everything in the game anyways, but they actually have the option of having fun before, after, and while they are doing it.

 

[pikachugamer21]

I would love it if every character were unlockable. As in, you start with Mario only and after 5 matches you unlock Fox and so on.
Everyone would be "forced" (in a good way) to learn every character.

I like that idea even though it will likely never happen however I think at least the rest of the original 8 should be starters as well for more variety

 

[Xcano]

My guess is Megaman and Little Mac with be the unlockables this time . Marth is a veteran and players just expect him to be in the game without having to toil to unlock him now.

 

[Neanderthal]

Why are people even questioning this? The only unlockable characters ever revealed before release were Sonic and Snake. All other characters revealed prior to release have always been starters. There is absolutely nothing strange about Marth, Luigi, etc. being starters. Falcon and Ness were secret in 64, starters in Melee, and secret in Brawl again. Character's change the time you acquire them all the time. At this point, Sonic and Megaman are the only potentially secret characters but I doubt they will be secret at launch.

I think Sakurai may have changed his mind on the revealing of returning unlockables.
In a comment related to cinematic videos, he said that it's pointless putting in these things that people have to do work to unlock, because people just look it up on video sites (like yotube) anyway.
So I think he's applying the same logic to characters and just revealing the returning unlockables so that at least people view it on his site instead of other video sites.
I doubt Lucario and Luigi will be starters.

 

[pikachugamer21]

I think Sakurai may have changed his mind on the revealing of returning unlockables.
In a comment related to cinematic videos, he said that it's pointless putting in these things that people have to do work to unlock, because people just look it up on video sites (like yotube) anyway.
So I think he's applying the same logic to characters and just revealing the returning unlockables so that at least people view it on his site instead of other video sites.
I doubt Lucario and Luigi will be starters.

Lucario is possible but Luigi yeah definitely not

 

[Commander]

Lucario is possible but Luigi yeah definitely not

Why can't Luigi be a starter? Sakurai can do whatever he wants. Mario can be a secret character this time if he really wanted it.

 

[praline]

I'm pretty sure at least every first party character shown is a starter. That's how it was for Brawl. The only confirmed before it was released that were unlockable were Sonic and Snake. So probably Sonic, Megaman and what other 3rd party characters we may get will be unlockables.

 

[ぱみゅ]

Technically speaking, Fire Emblem, Mother and Pokémon are third-parties

 

[IsmaR]

I don't see how this would be considered a "promotion" at all. I always like having to earn Marth.

 

[Tetra's Tracker]

Technically speaking, Fire Emblem, Mother and Pokémon are third-parties

Trust me, they're not, or at least not by conventional definitions.

Fire Emblem is most definitely a first-party franchise, it is developed by Intelligent Systems, an internal Nintendo development studio.

Mother is generally accepted as a first party franchise also, all three games in the series were developed by first party Nintendo studios, Mother 1 and 2 by Ape (now called 'Creatures') and Mother 3 by Brownie Brown (now called '1-Up Studio'). HAL Laboratory, who is usually regarded as second party (although some say first) also helped develop those games, but I'd still consider the series first party.

Pokemon is definitely a second party franchise. It was created and is primarily developed by Game Freak, who are a second party company.


First Party - any development studio within Nintendo or any company owned by Nintendo (Nintendo EAD, Retro, Intelligent Systems, Monolith Soft etc)
Second Party - a company partly owned by Nintendo or an independent company that is contracted to make games exclusively for Nintendo (Camelot, HAL?, Game Freak etc)
Third Party - a company that is completely independent of Nintendo and has no special contract to make games for them (Sega, Konami, Capcom etc).


Back on topic, it makes sense for Marth to be a starter. He is what Pikachu is to Pokemon, he is the mascot of Fire Emblem and the FE character who has been in the most SSB games. However if there is a new FE character, then perhaps it is perhaps they who is a starter instead of Marth (as in Brawl) just for the sake of getting people excited by allowing them to play as a newcomer from the off.

 

[DaDavid]

I really kinda hope so. He's never been too tough to unlock, but regardless, he's one of the characters I'd like to use to unlock the actual newcomers this time around. Gives me a chance to get used to whatever changes were made to him, or just the game in general but with a character I'm very familiar with.

 

[Depressed Gengar]

He could go either way, honestly. I'm betting on starter though.

 

[DaDavid]

I really hope he's a starter. He's been a main since Melee so having him right away to test the waters of this new game would be very helpful.

 

[Jackson]

I still expect him to be unlockable. I think the other FE representative, likely Chrom, will be a starter.

 

[Sonicguy726]

Well marth is kinda the face of FE so I think he could become a starter while ike and the 3rd rep are secret

 

[Rich Homie Quan]

Right now I'm assuming that everyone that has been announced, including Marth, is a starter.

Might be a dangerous assumption to make, though...

 

[DaDavid]

Right now I'm assuming that everyone that has been announced, including Marth, is a starter.

Might be a dangerous assumption to make, though...

Yeah I'm kinda thinking that too. Veterans anyway, I think newcomers are probably a 50/50 split.

 

[Sonicguy726]

Yeah I'm kinda thinking that too. Veterans anyway, I think newcomers are probably a 50/50 split.

I'm thinking that characters who were announced to go along with games that were unlockable in brawl will be unlockable, like luigi and toon link but marth who was announced for no reason will be a starter

 

[DaDavid]

I'm thinking that characters who were announced to go along with games that were unlockable in brawl will be unlockable, like luigi and toon link but marth who was announced for no reason will be a starter

That sounds reasonable. In fact, I think Luigi's reveal specifically mentioned how he would normally be kept secret.

 

[Altais]

I think Sakurai may have changed his mind on the revealing of returning unlockables.
In a comment related to cinematic videos, he said that it's pointless putting in these things that people have to do work to unlock, because people just look it up on video sites (like yotube) anyway.
So I think he's applying the same logic to characters and just revealing the returning unlockables so that at least people view it on his site instead of other video sites.
I doubt Lucario and Luigi will be starters.

These are mine thoughts exactly. Though it is possible Marth could appear as a starter, assuming either Ike returns or a Fire Emblem newcomer appears, either one of those will probably be the Fire Emblem starter.

[Shrugs] That being said, there is really no telling. In Smash 64, Ness and Captain Falcon were unlockables, but in Melee they were starters. And in Brawl, they were unlockables again. So whom knows?

 

[Neanderthal]

These are mine thoughts exactly. Though it is possible Marth could appear as a starter, assuming either Ike returns or a Fire Emblem newcomer appears, either one of those will probably be the Fire Emblem starter.

[Shrugs] That being said, there is really no telling. In Smash 64, Ness and Captain Falcon were unlockables, but in Melee they were starters. And in Brawl, they were unlockables again. So whom knows?

Since that post I've started to think it might be more likely that they are all starters (bar Sonic).

 

[DA K1D]

If marth was a starter...... I would be very happy.

 

[Sonicguy726]

Since that post I've started to think it might be more likely that they are all starters (bar Sonic).

Even toon link and luigi a character that has always been unlockable since day 1

 

[Pacack]

He should be.

Whether he will be or not, I'm not positive. I do hope so, though.

 

[GunGunW]

Yeah, I would kinda like Marth to be the starter Fire Emblem character and the other one/ones have to be unlocked.

 

[BBG|Scott-Spain]

Makes sense to me. He's not that crazy of a character.

 

[dezeray112]

I'm guessing he will be a starter character.

 

[TerraRizerKing]

Cant be quite sure but I wouldnt be surprised by now. Marth being in smash since melle and well know character I wouldnt be surprised if he was a starter by now.

 

[Omega Tyrant]

I think it's pretty certain he will be a starter in Smash 4, even assuming Sakurai is openly revealing unlockables before release this time. Marth is now the clear face of Fire Emblem, is pretty much guaranteed to be a Smash standby from now on, and was barely an unlockable in Brawl; he was one of the unlockables openly shown in the intro video before being unlocked, was given the simplest primary unlocking method (just beat Classic in any way on any difficulty), and was the second character unlocked through the vs. mode method (requiring only 10 matches and only Ness required less). It also seems Sakurai is being more secretive with the newcomers instead and will focus on them being unlockables this time, what with how few newcomers have been revealed.

 

[TeenGirlSquad]

Uhhh...

I think this confirms it. Same with Rosalina.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

He's a x3 Veteran so I'm assuming starter. He better be cus I wanna use him immediately!

 

[Icedragonadam]

He's definitely going to be a starter here. He's on the boxart for crying out loud.

 

[BrianAure]

funny how marth is in the boxart over fox and the other 64 smashers :O

 

[jigglover]

Are you sure that the box art is completely conclusive evidence? Because that alongside Wii U means that the newcomers Rosalina, Little Mac, Villager and Wii Fit Trainer will all be starter, along with Link, Mario, Pikachu, Pit, Samus, Marth, Yoshi, Kirby, DK and Peach. Don't you find this at least a little excessive? While the majority of those characters (Link, Mario, Pikachu, Pit, Samus, Yoshi, DK, Kirby, Marth) makes sense to me, others (Rosalina, Wii Fit Trainer, Peach, Little Mac, Villager) really doesn't. Think about it, if we're following that logic, then one of every series will be starter besides 3rd party, as otherwise it doesn't make sense for someone like WFT, Little Mac or Villager to be starter.It means that Mii Fighter, Fox and Pikmin & Olimar will be starter too. It just really doesn't seem like enough unlockables, because assuming all veteran series' are coming back you still have these starters: Wario, R.O.B, Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon, Ness and Mr. Game & Watch, as well as probably Shulk and a RH Rep. This is a total of 24 starters, almost if not already half of the final roster. And it also means that Mario will probably not have an unlockable character. Same for Fire Emblem and Zelda. If we follow this logic, the only unlockables out of Nintendo's big 8 will be Jigglypuff, Meta-Knight, 1-3 Star Fox reps (hopefully 3), Ridley and K. Rool/Dixe Kong/Both (but probably not both). This is why I find an actual theory about all characters revealed already being unlockable totally baseless. All unlockables would be from unknown franchises using the logic here, which doesn't seem to give the player and actual incentive to unlock them. Especially the casual players, who only stick to the main franchises Nintendo has to offer. If they're all open for them to use from the start, why does he want to unlock more characters he doesn't know or care about?

That being said, there are 4 reps for Fire Emblem. I see Marth and Robin being the starters for the franchise.

 

[VioletSmashfan]

Are you sure that the box art is completely conclusive evidence? Because that alongside Wii U means that the newcomers Rosalina, Little Mac, Villager and Wii Fit Trainer will all be starter, along with Link, Mario, Pikachu, Pit, Samus, Marth, Yoshi, Kirby, DK and Peach. Don't you find this at least a little excessive? While the majority of those characters (Link, Mario, Pikachu, Pit, Samus, Yoshi, DK, Kirby, Marth) makes sense to me, others (Rosalina, Wii Fit Trainer, Peach, Little Mac, Villager) really doesn't. Think about it, if we're following that logic, then one of every series will be starter besides 3rd party, as otherwise it doesn't make sense for someone like WFT, Little Mac or Villager to be starter.It means that Mii Fighter, Fox and Pikmin & Olimar will be starter too. It just really doesn't seem like enough unlockables, because assuming all veteran series' are coming back you still have these starters: Wario, R.O.B, Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon, Ness and Mr. Game & Watch, as well as probably Shulk and a RH Rep. This is a total of 24 starters, almost if not already half of the final roster. And it also means that Mario will probably not have an unlockable character. Same for Fire Emblem and Zelda. If we follow this logic, the only unlockables out of Nintendo's big 8 will be Jigglypuff, Meta-Knight, 1-3 Star Fox reps (hopefully 3), Ridley and K. Rool/Dixe Kong/Both (but probably not both). This is why I find an actual theory about all characters revealed already being unlockable totally baseless. All unlockables would be from unknown franchises using the logic here, which doesn't seem to give the player and actual incentive to unlock them. Especially the casual players, who only stick to the main franchises Nintendo has to offer. If they're all open for them to use from the start, why does he want to unlock more characters he doesn't know or care about?

That being said, there are 4 reps for Fire Emblem. I see Marth and Robin being the starters for the franchise.

Marth & Robin are definitely going to be starters for the FE series this time around (unless it's just going to be Ike & Robin as starters (since Ike was a starter in Brawl while Marth was an early unlockable), Rosalina is definitely going to unlockable (she's been unlockable in every Mario spin-off game she was playable in (mostly the Kart games, not sure if she was even playable in any of the Mario Party games yet), she was also unlockable in 3D World (her 1st playable appearance in a main Mario game), Little Mac could go either way (although that 1 hit KO Punch would make him very hard to beat if he was unlockable, but it's easily avoidable), Villager is definitely a starter (since characters who have alternate costumes (this includes Wii Fit Trainer & Robin) usually start out as starters can't see Villager as an unlockable, as for the Pokémon series, Pikachu, Charizard & Greninja as the starters (this only happens if Pokémon gets 2 more reps with Lucario, Mewtwo & Jigglypuff being unlockables).

What I can possibly see happen is the starter/unlockable switching between the 2 versions based on both games' boxarts (Marth & Robin as starters for the 3DS version and maybe Rosalina & Little Mac (since they also appear on the 3DS boxart as well), while said characters are unlockable on the Wii U version.)

 

[_Sheik]

unless it's just going to be Ike & Robin as starters

If that were to happen, we would wind up getting the two clones as unlockable and I don't think that's really something good. I mean, both Falco and Wolf were unlockable in Brawl, yeah, but we had Fox as a starter.