Okay Cool recently did an interview with Nintendo of Canada’s Andrew Collins. There, Collins discussed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. At one point, the interview shifted to the reception to Waluigi’s exclusion from the character roster, as well as the reactions to King K. Rool being confirmed a playable character. Here’s the discussion they had about the matter in full:
Riley: *laughs* Okay, okay. What did you think of the reception to Waluigi being excluded? Because it took me by surprise and I’m a big Smash fan. I mean, obviously the Washington Post article was satire, it was comical…
Andrew: I think it’s great when something builds naturally because, you know, as a marketer, when you have something that goes viral like that it’s brilliant. You can’t buy that. You can’t create it. And when the fans do something like that, it’s amazing. But it’s so good to see from a passionate side of things. And let’s face it, it’s funny.
Riley: Okay! Did you see the fan-made thank you letter to Sakurai for including King K. Rool?
Andrew: I did, yeah.
Riley: What did you think of that?
Andrew: I thought it was sweet. It’s nice when… every developer gets letters and emails and I think that as a developer – back when I was a developer and working now – we work long hours. And this isn’t supposed to be about us, but when you see something from fans saying about how much they love what you do… it’s brilliant. You know, I love to go to a game store on the day that they’re out and watch people pick it up and buy it. It’s really satisfying. I’ve loved that since I made magazines, and it justifies all those hard hours and the long hours that you put in to know that you’ve created or helped do something which gives people that special moment.
It was funny at FIRST.
As someone who genuinely still wants him playable and has since before it was a meme, I’m glad he’s in the game in the first place.
Besides, I can think of many other Nintendo characters that would be more interesting to play as. Spring Man, Chibi-Robo, Paper Mario (as long as he’s not a Mario clone), Wolf Link w/ Midna, Petey Piranha, a crap ton of Pokémon, etc.
Yeah, making a playable character is hard work so one that is even in the game is amazing
Agreed, it was hilarious at first. But now it’s like this PAINFULLY overused joke, and it’s more frustrating to hear than endearing. Just like you, I’d love to see him playable as well, but I’m not going to go ballistic about him not getting in.
Waluigi fans get a bad rap now. Only 2 or 3 people harassed Sakurai but people think it was most fans.
Why do people want so many damn Mario characters? Can we be a bit original here? Next thing you know, people will demand for a Goomba to be playable.
Ugh…
What would Waluigi’s moveset even be? Sports? Sports would work with any other Mario character, doubt Sakurai would be okay with such a generic moveset.
Cue the partial defenders:
You know that there are mods of Waluigi in Project M, so it’s not like there are NO ideas for a moveset.
Why couldn’t he be a fighter that *embodies* the spinoffs, of which there are many? Hitting a dice block that does 1-10 damage to nearby opponents depending what number it’s on when he hits it (Mario Party), swimming in midair as his up-special/recovery (an ability we STILL don’t know how he has and has been seen in many Mario sports games including Power Tennis and Hoops 3-on-3), and his Final Smash could be a dance-themed attack that references DDR Mario Mix, in which he was actually the main antagonist. There do exist things to build his moveset from that aren’t just the sports games.
I said the same thing about K Rool. All he did was jump, walk, and throw a crown. And then use a musket. There wasn’t much to make a moveset out of.
But then Sakurai reminded me that he can come up with some new things… like how he made K Rool pretty much like a One Punch Man monster with an emphasis on his golden gut.
So yeah, there’s a moveset for Waluigi. He’s tall and lanky… kinda an interesting mix of awkward, vulgar, and antagonistic. There’s a lot you could invent there with that kind of character and body type (for Smash Bros).
#GOOMBAFORSMASH!
Personally I’d love more Mario characters in Smash, what I don’t like is Fire Emblem characters, just release a fighter game series for that series already!
Well, we got Fire Emblem Warriors. But you know, Fire Emblem does have A LOT of named characters, and there’s a passionate group of fans who want their favorite FE-hero to be in Smash.
Please don’t tell me you’re serious about Goomba for Smash.
After playing Bowser’s Minions… I want Goomba too.
Personally I feel that they should have put some Fire Emblem spear of axe users into the game instead of having seven sword fighters (not counting genders) represent the series.
While it is important to have variety, Mario as a franchise has a lot of character potential.
Unlike a random one-hit killable Goomba, Waluigi deserves to be playable because we need more characters to fill up the Wario series reps. Even if Waluigi never really appeared in a Wario game, he’s heavily associated with Wario. Just give him the W emblem. As for Miyamoto, include Waluigi as a main player in the Wario series already.
I’m sick of having to explain this to so many thousand different people.
Personally, I feel Kat and Anna would make a good Wario rep. Imagine, a ninja version of Ice Climbers!
Goombas certainly would be interesting, though id vote for a bokoblin playable!
Please tell me you’re not serious.
You see what all this is doing?
I’m guessing that since Smash has historically been about being a “smash up” of Nintendo characters, and Mario is Nintendo’s iconic series, people tend to want lots from it. Personally, I think it’s way worse that Toad has never gotten to be anything more than a shield for Peach, and was really hoping to see him with some Captain Toad flair this go around. Kamek would be cool. I’d rather they reach deep into their IPs for character designs than have so many non-Nintendo characters represented, personally. But I’m old.
That’s a very honest answer. Even if it’s unsavory, companies generally value such viral support for something they own.
I just hope one of these days… that a Camelot character… finally gets to be a fighter. Perhaps even more than one Camelot character
And I’m still waiting Bandana Dee in Smash
Now that would work. it’s definitly better then a goomba or Mario character #11
How long will this “why Waluigi isn’t playable in Smash” discussion end?
I mean, we get it already.
How the heck do people write emails to actual game developers? Back in the snail-mail days of my childhood and teen life, I wrote SO many letters to Nintendo and other game companies. More letters than what most pen pals would write to each other. But I know that nobody important EVER read any of them (those Nintendo consumer service representatives were a joke. I knew more about Nintendo than they did). Yet I always hear about how people send emails directly to important game developers etc., and how they actually read the emails themselves. The inner kid inside feels frustrated by that.
Well a lot of these guys have a public social media presence and you can usually get their email from that.
I doubt anyone seriously expected Waluigi to be in Smash and most of the people making an uproar about it just want him in ironically.
There are Waluigi fans who’d actually like him in. For the most part, it’s just a stupid meme though.
It really just doesn’t seem right that he’s the only secondary Mario character *not* playable in Smash.
As a Waluigi fan, I’m actually disappointed that we’re still talking about this. He’s an assist trophy. That’s fine. I’d like to salvage my reputation as a fan and get out of the limelight I didn’t ask for…
He’ll be there youre dumb if you think he won’t
Personally, I feel that having ten (not counting DK and Diddy, but counting Wario) representatives from the Mario series is enough. I also feel that Seven sword wielding Fire Emblem characters is more then plenty. Fire Emblem does have spear, axe and bow users too.
Id play the hell out of a bow user. Not like link use, but like actual moves revolving around the bow.
My Smash Bros character wish list: Paper Mario, Professor Layton, Chibi -robo, any character from golden sun, Birdo, Yarn Yoshi (probably as an echo), Captain Toad (echo), 9-volt, someone from Advance Wars, Starfy, resident evil character(s), Viewtiful Joe, Hogan, the NES ice hockey guy(s), Boo, Bionic Commando, Conker, and oh the list goes on…
Here’s an interesting question; If Geno does get in, would he be classed as a Mario Rep?
If you haven’t watched this yet you owe yourself to do so:
https://youtu.be/z15W-qy-WHE
Not the ad…….. THIS:
https://youtu.be/GsW6oezTCD8