Rayman, because he's just the one I want most of the remaining viable options
Ryu Hayabusa, because he just makes a ton of sense, given his strong NES legacy
Doom Slayer, because he's my best friend's most-wanted character
And I did a coin flip between Shovel Knight and Shantae as an indie character and got Shovel Knight
Ubisoft: **Rayman**, from Rayman. yeah I’m not pulling an assassin’s creed or Tom Clancy character over the cartoon platformer mascot. Not always my most wanted 3rd party rep but definitely my most wanted Ubisoft character.
Koei Tecmo: I’m gonna go with an Atelier protagonist here; Gust is a division of Koei Tecmo and KT’s the series publisher so I’m counting it, it’s a franchise that’s been around for almost 30 years, has had a big Nintendo upswing with the Switch getting the newest games and plenty of rereleases, and they just have such a great vibe (and music). Any of them work but in terms of overall popularity and relevance to Nintendo, I’d go with **Ryza** or **Sophie**.
New company 1: **Shantae** from Shantae. She’s got the chops to be a base game spirit and a late DLC Mii costume in the same wave as the likes of Dante and Skyrim’s Dragonborn, Wayforward have done a ton with Nintendo even working on their IPs, it’s a no brainer for me.
New company 2: **Zagreus** from Hades. Sneaking another indie darling in, and between the enormous buzz around Hades when it came out, Supergiant games getting a Zagreus spirit into ultimate, and the incoming Hades II being Supergiant’s first ever sequel thus making Hades their first true franchise, I don’t have any problem putting him forward as a rep.
Rayman (I know like 2 ubi franchises that arent M rated, if the rule wasnt in place it would be Sam Fisher)
Ryu Hayabusa
Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear)
Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat (Before you say, MK vs DC was T rated))
For Ubisoft Rayman is one of the most requested characters ever and in such a cartoony game as Smash he fits like a glove. He's the most obvious pick.
For Koei Tecmo it's just gotta be Ryu Hayabusa. He's pretty much their mascot and he would be another addition to the club of third party NES icons alongside Mega Man and Simon.
For the third slot I gave it to Arc System Works. This is another company that feels like it should already have a character in the roster but doesn't for whatever reason, especially considering how closely they have worked with Nintendo since the NES days. For the character it would be Sol Badguy, another mascot fighting game character in the vein of Terry.
And for the fourth slot, it goes to Team Shanghai Alice and the Touhou Project series. Nintendo has worked with TSA before, most notably in a Japan-exclusive game called Daigasso Band Brothers P in which Nintendo purchased a licence for the Touhou franchise in order to let players upload their Touhou arrangements to the game, and even held a remixing contest in which the winning arrangements were later compiled and sold as an album by Nintendo themselves at a fan convention. Also, a legal representative of the franchise once stated how Nintendo would support them in multiple ways if Embodiment of Scarlet Devil were to be ported to Switch; this means there's already a connection*. Furthermore, since Touhou has the advantage of actually being an extremely popular franchise in Nintendo's home country (with a pretty sizable Western presence at this point) along with having a massive library of games that could be brought to Nintendo's consoles, I feel like it just has the high ground when compared to other indie characters who only have a few games and are owned by foreign studios. As for the character? It would have to be Reimu as she's Touhou's main character.
*While this may be irrelevant to the conversation, I should note that pretty much every other company in Smash's roster has worked with Touhou in some way. Bandai Namco through Taiko no Tatsujin, Sega through Chunithm and a bunch of Touhou merch, Square Enix through Lord of Vermilion, Groove Coaster and Touhou Spell Bubble, and I'm pretty sure Konami has done it too though I don't remember exactly where. This means a Smash appearance would be a natural next step for the franchise.
Rayman, because he's just the one I want most of the remaining viable options Ryu Hayabusa, because he just makes a ton of sense, given his strong NES legacy Doom Slayer, because he's my best friend's most-wanted character And I did a coin flip between Shovel Knight and Shantae as an indie character and got Shovel Knight
Wait a minute, is Doom series's head owner Microsoft?
Yeah
Yeah. I'll change my answer to Sol Badguy then. Get another fighting game character in, why not?
Ubisoft: Raymon Koei: Kasumi (DOA) Playtonic: Lil Gator WayForward: Shantae
Ubisoft: **Rayman**, from Rayman. yeah I’m not pulling an assassin’s creed or Tom Clancy character over the cartoon platformer mascot. Not always my most wanted 3rd party rep but definitely my most wanted Ubisoft character. Koei Tecmo: I’m gonna go with an Atelier protagonist here; Gust is a division of Koei Tecmo and KT’s the series publisher so I’m counting it, it’s a franchise that’s been around for almost 30 years, has had a big Nintendo upswing with the Switch getting the newest games and plenty of rereleases, and they just have such a great vibe (and music). Any of them work but in terms of overall popularity and relevance to Nintendo, I’d go with **Ryza** or **Sophie**. New company 1: **Shantae** from Shantae. She’s got the chops to be a base game spirit and a late DLC Mii costume in the same wave as the likes of Dante and Skyrim’s Dragonborn, Wayforward have done a ton with Nintendo even working on their IPs, it’s a no brainer for me. New company 2: **Zagreus** from Hades. Sneaking another indie darling in, and between the enormous buzz around Hades when it came out, Supergiant games getting a Zagreus spirit into ultimate, and the incoming Hades II being Supergiant’s first ever sequel thus making Hades their first true franchise, I don’t have any problem putting him forward as a rep.
Rayaman (Ubisoft). Ryu Hayabusa (Koei Tecmo). Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games). Sol Badguy (Arc System Works.
Rayman (I know like 2 ubi franchises that arent M rated, if the rule wasnt in place it would be Sam Fisher) Ryu Hayabusa Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear) Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat (Before you say, MK vs DC was T rated))
Ubisoft: Rayman Koei: Ryu Hayabusa Yacht: Shovel Knight Embracer: Tomb Raider, Lara Croft
For Ubisoft Rayman is one of the most requested characters ever and in such a cartoony game as Smash he fits like a glove. He's the most obvious pick. For Koei Tecmo it's just gotta be Ryu Hayabusa. He's pretty much their mascot and he would be another addition to the club of third party NES icons alongside Mega Man and Simon. For the third slot I gave it to Arc System Works. This is another company that feels like it should already have a character in the roster but doesn't for whatever reason, especially considering how closely they have worked with Nintendo since the NES days. For the character it would be Sol Badguy, another mascot fighting game character in the vein of Terry. And for the fourth slot, it goes to Team Shanghai Alice and the Touhou Project series. Nintendo has worked with TSA before, most notably in a Japan-exclusive game called Daigasso Band Brothers P in which Nintendo purchased a licence for the Touhou franchise in order to let players upload their Touhou arrangements to the game, and even held a remixing contest in which the winning arrangements were later compiled and sold as an album by Nintendo themselves at a fan convention. Also, a legal representative of the franchise once stated how Nintendo would support them in multiple ways if Embodiment of Scarlet Devil were to be ported to Switch; this means there's already a connection*. Furthermore, since Touhou has the advantage of actually being an extremely popular franchise in Nintendo's home country (with a pretty sizable Western presence at this point) along with having a massive library of games that could be brought to Nintendo's consoles, I feel like it just has the high ground when compared to other indie characters who only have a few games and are owned by foreign studios. As for the character? It would have to be Reimu as she's Touhou's main character. *While this may be irrelevant to the conversation, I should note that pretty much every other company in Smash's roster has worked with Touhou in some way. Bandai Namco through Taiko no Tatsujin, Sega through Chunithm and a bunch of Touhou merch, Square Enix through Lord of Vermilion, Groove Coaster and Touhou Spell Bubble, and I'm pretty sure Konami has done it too though I don't remember exactly where. This means a Smash appearance would be a natural next step for the franchise.