geno, smash bros, and fan demand

so, the smrpg remake will be coming out a week from today. after years of endless fan support, we finally got some new smrpg media that wasnt a mii costume in smash bros. i think it's great that we were finally aknowledged and given more than crumbs. but during this agonizingly long buildup, ive thought about the past few years and what it was like to be a fan during those times. im talking the times from 2018-2021. when super smash bros ultimate was at the peak of popularity and, of course, speculation.

to get personal, i got into smrpg in early 2018. right as smash ultimate first got announced (i got a snes classic around the time). so ive just been used to the association of geno with the demand to be in smash. even before then, i always just kinda knew geno was a highly requested character. oftentimes, people asked me (and probably other smrpg fans) if they wanted geno in the game. usually id just respond with "i wish!". and yes- thats still the case. though smash bros is currently put to rest, i would like to see the day geno is added. though that isnt the only reason i like geno as a character, obviously. smash isnt everything. he has an identity outside being popular in smash speculation!

now you may be saying to yourself in your best walter white impression, "jesse what the fuck are you talking about?". let me explain. you see, a lot of the hype when it comes to new smash bros games almost always comes from what new characters are added. geno, a character from super mario rpg, has had an active campaign to get him added to the series. while fans have wanted him since at least when the orignal 64 smash bros came out, his fanbase really got vocal in around the time brawl was coming out. especially when it was confirmed the series director, masahiro sakurai, actually wanted to put him in the game but couldnt due to issues with square. and it has just gotten louder since.

obviously, with being a vocal fanbase comes people who find them annoying. or actively try to get a rise out of them. often by telling them directly that geno will never get in smash, usually by making silly memes like this gif. i actually get a laugh out of some of these. obviously theyre just attempts at trolling. why feed them and get defensive when you can just loosen up and laugh about it? or at least block them. that works too. but sometimes these memes can actually be made by smrpg fans who just wanna crack a joke. so to assume all people who make jokes like these are "detractors" would be incorrect.

common arguments against geno in smash often brought up "fan rules". these are rules in speculation made by fans to determine whether or not a character will get in. often as a means of breaking down the specifics to get an exact guess on who would be next. examples include "characters that are spirits or assist trophies cannot be upgraded to fighters" and "characters who dont originate from a video game cannot be added". while the latter one makes sense, i dont believe in fan rules. there were two square enix characters (sora and sephiroth) and two upgraded spirits (min min and pyra/mythra) in fighters pass 2. they got a rival company, microsoft (banjo & kazooie) and even disney (also sora) involved! it seems really nothing stops sakurai from adding characters people wanted.

but then there were controversial choices like byleth. who singlehandedly divided the community on what was basically a way to market a new game. im personally a byleth hater, but sakurai did what nintendo probably told him to do and added something marketable. cant really complain when there's already some great dlc characters to make up for it. often, people use byleth as proof that sakurai doesnt care about fans. but if thats the case.. then how the hell did he pull the carcass of the bear and bird from their xbox green grave? im sure it wasnt just because one of the microsoft employees wanted them in.

so really, does it really matter in the end? to get up in arms about a puppet from a snes game? on both sides, really. i used to be one of those geno fans who panicked at the thought of a dragon quest character being added to smash. but.. i grew from that. i think other people should too. i really hope that when the next smash bros game comes around, the speculation scene wont be as chaotic and divisive as it was during ultimate's cycle. but with the current state of the general nintendo fanbase, i fear what could happen.

genobros, lets all hope for the best in the unclear, but bright future.