
Originally Posted by
Aussie2B
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know how well the recent Fire Emblem games have done, but that has little to do with Marth or with the impact of the franchise as a whole. The original Fire Emblem (starring Marth) is basically the preeminent strategy RPG. It's to strategy RPGs what the original Dragon Quest is to traditional RPGs. Monshou no Nazo, the third Fire Emblem and first on Super Famicom, contains both a remake of the original and a direct sequel, and it was immensely popular and sold incredible well. It held the #1 spot in Famitsu for an entire year, which was highly unusual. It had an anime based on it, a whole slew of other related products, and it was remade yet again for the DS. Of course Marth isn't AS popular as Mario and Link, but he's definitely well-known and loved by the Japanese and the Fire Emblem franchise has been very important to Nintendo. Arc the Lad doesn't remotely compare.
Being relevant isn't purely a matter of having a recent release. Twisted Metal, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Spyro, Crash, Parappa, Syphon Filter, Medievil, etc. etc. are all far, FAR past their high points as franchises OR mascots. No one cares about these series and characters anymore. Even if characters like Samus, Marth, and Ness hadn't seen a release in awhile, people very much still cared about the franchises and characters, everyone knew that the series would eventually continue, and Nintendo did indeed follow up. Characters like Pit, Ice Climbers, R.O.B., and Mr. Game & Watch are irrelevant to this conversation because they're essentially bonus content. They're extra lesser-known B-list characters for the super hardcore fans. Like I said, it's nice to add some more obscure characters, but the problem is that Sony's game is nothing but B-list characters.
Where on earth did I fixate on it being a Smash Bros. rip-off? My point is simply that Sony does not have the caliber of characters at this point in time for a concept like this. Maybe it'll be a good fighting game, I don't know, but I'll still scoff at the "All-Stars" title.
If a character can't hit mascot status and be identifiable with the company or hardware, then, yeah, it does mean that it's less liked. For half of the modern games being mentioned in this topic, I couldn't even tell you anything about who stars in them. I could name the hero (or at least describe him) in plenty of games I haven't played because the characters are so entrenched in the minds of the gaming populace, but nearly every mainstream Sony game this gen is popular just for the game, not for the characters. If some people like the characters, okay, but that doesn't mean they're "All-Stars". For that, a character needs to be ubiquitous.
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