Characters that Were the Least Well Implemented in Super Smash Bros.

Olimar is just a really boring character who doesn't really show much of the charm of the Pikmin franchise. First, there is a considerable design overlap between his side special, his smash attacks, and his grab. They all involve sending Pikmin to people, so this isn't really a creative moveset.

I think his side special would be more interesting if you could aim it to throw at different angles. We could also get a move that allows leaving a Pikmin on a certain portion of the stage and letting it attack there. Second, while in the Pikmin franchise, you truly care about your Pikmin and don't want them to die. In Smash, you can get back your Pikmin so easily that you don't care that much if they die.

I feel like getting a flower Pikmin should be a much bigger reward than it currently is, so that you would really want to keep them alive for as long as possible. Or maybe you could make picking up Pikmin much slower. There are also problems like how technical this character is, yet you could also just spam smash attacks and call it a day.

I realize Olimar is a very hard character to implement in Smash, which is why I only consider him the third least well-implemented in Smash. But we can still do better with this guy.

In my opinion, Little Mac is the worst-implemented character in Smash, and here is why. First, I am okay with characters being weaker in the air and stronger on the ground (or even vice versa). Piranha Plant, or if you go into other platform fighters, Toph in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, are well-made grounded fighters, for example.

The thing with Little Mac is that they made his aerials almost useless instead of just weaker than the norm, making his design way too polarizing. Not to mention, he isn't even that strong on the ground. With a poor grab game, his ground moves, while not terrible by any means, still suffer. His aerials are quite unquestionably the worst in the game, while there is much bigger competition for the best ground moves. Little Mac isn't always considered the best in every category. When I think of amazing ground moves, I think of Roy's jab, ROB's down tilt, Snake's up tilt, and other moves before thinking about one of Little Mac's ground moves. He also has an underwhelming Neutral Special.

This gameplay makes people want to flee from Little Mac in the air to dodge all his dangerous moves, which isn't fun to watch.

So, we've covered how Little Mac isn't good to use and isn't fun to play against. But the worst part about all of this is that I feel this design is unfaithful to Punch-Out! If I were to make a grounded fighter, I would choose a character known for lacking air abilities. Piranha Plant, for example, generally stays in one place and relies on traps, which is how he is in Smash. Or if we ever decide to put Captain Toad in Smash, making him a ground fighter would make sense since his gameplay involves going through platforming levels without the ability to jump.

In Punch-Out!, Little Mac doesn't jump, but it's not a handicap the game focuses on. Outside of specific attacks, the opponents always stay on the ground too. Kind of like how Villager in Animal Crossing doesn't jump either, but it isn't the focus of... more

If I have to vote for the most poorly implemented franchise in Smash, it would probably be Sonic the Hedgehog. Despite being one of the biggest video game franchises of all time, we only have two stages, both variations of Green Hill. We only have a single remix of a Sonic song. Sonic has been in this game since Brawl, yet he didn't get a second representative, even though other third-party franchises did.

The worst of all, Sonic is one of the worst-implemented characters in Smash. His gameplay completely contradicts his character. Sonic is probably the campiest character in all of Smash. Let that sink in! The character whose whole thing is speed creates the slowest matches in Smash. Sure, you could play Sonic more aggressively, but it is more optimal to hit the opponent, usually with a spindash, and run away to safety. Some Sonic players are probably doing this without realizing it.

Not only that, but Sonic probably has the most underwhelming moveset in all of Smash. Sonic has many games under his belt, many from which you could take inspiration to create a varied and interesting moveset. Sadly, most of his moves consist of going into a ball. His side special and down special, while having different properties, are still very similar and too visually redundant. I realize Sonic is probably like this because he was a last-minute addition for Brawl and was rushed, but why is he still like this in the other Smash games? If you turn his side special into the boost, and it gets more powerful if you fill the boost gauge by hitting enemies, it would already make Sonic a lot better implemented. The only reason why he isn't the worst-implemented character in all of Smash for me is that at least his combos are cool-looking, even though he is not a character where you often want to use them.

Now, Mii Swordsman, or Mii Swordfighter as I prefer to call him/her, seems like a strange pick. Miis are made to be whoever you want, not to represent a character from another video game. You might also wonder, why Mii Swordfighter instead of the others?

Well, there is a good reason why Miis aren't often used in tournaments: they are a bit boring. To be fair, however, I don't think there was much they could have done to improve them in that aspect. Since they are supposed to be whoever you want, and unless you give them more options for a moveset, which is unrealistic due to how much time it would take to develop, you can't give each move too much personality, or else it might be a personality you don't want for the character you want to create.

However, Mii Swordfighter's biggest problem is that while Mii Brawler does a good job at being a close-range combo demon, and Mii Gunner does a good job at being a projectile zoner, Mii Swordfighter clearly should have been the one that excels at the mid-range, spacing with his sword and everything. Instead, his special attacks make him more of a projectile zoner than anything. In fact, he/she is considered more of a zoner than Mii Gunner, which is crazy. Overall, Mii Swordfighter should at least focus more on his/her sword than projectiles next time he/she appears in another Smash game (if there is one after Ultimate).

Palutena is a goddess. Because of that, you should feel power when using her or fighting her, kind of like how you feel Ganondorf's and Sephiroth's power when using or fighting against them. While some attacks do make you feel that power, like her up smash, she overall doesn't feel that powerful, and that's despite her being a super strong character in Smash Ultimate.

I think the reason for that is because in Smash 4 she was supposed to showcase custom moves, and some of those custom moves were actually a good showcase of her power, but they weren't in her base moveset. Now, Ultimate got rid of custom moves, so that power is gone. I also more or less get her archetype. Overall, Palutena just needs to feel more powerful.

Metroid is a franchise with multiple appeals, but Samus in Smash isn't a very good representation of any of them. It's a franchise famous for speedrunning and its movement, but moving around with Samus isn't really that fun and mostly revolves around camping with projectiles. The moves that aren't projectiles don't feel that good to use, so you are incentivized to play this campy playstyle that doesn't really fit with the Metroid franchise, especially the later titles which focus a lot on action.

Samus also has a variety of weapons that could make for a wilder arsenal than she currently has since most of it is quite basic. Imagine if she got the speed booster. I bet it would be interesting to implement. Overall, Samus should have an overhaul to represent more of her franchise.

If you know me, you know I have a certain beef with Daisy. In the games she is in, we insist that she is a tomboy and that she is different from Peach, but with some exceptions, we tell it instead of showing it. So imagine how funny I find it that when Daisy ends up in Smash, she is not only an echo fighter of Peach but the echo fighter with the least gameplay difference from the fighter she is based on.

The only difference is a slight difference in the hurtbox of her character. Even though I find this funny, since it confirms my thoughts about Daisy, I would have been happy to see a game truly differentiate the two and have Daisy truly become a tomboy full of energy. She should be a more aggressive but less calculating Peach.

There are also things that don't make sense now that Daisy is a clone of Peach, such as the fact she uses Toad even though she has no connection to Toads. The same goes for the turnips. She should have a taunt where she says, "Hi! I'm Daisy!" because come on! Her final smash also should be different. Even though I don't care about Daisy, I wished that Smash would have been the game that made me like her.

Bayonetta isn't that bad personally. Sure, her Smash attacks lack impact notably, but her combos are quite flashy. At least in Ultimate, she isn't broken anymore.

For one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, the Legend of Zelda isn't represented the best. Most of the characters are variations of Link, with not as many changes as I would have hoped between each Link. Ganondorf lacks references in his moveset, and we haven't gotten a new rep that isn't a Link since Melee!

While Zelda herself isn't the most frustrating example of how her franchise is badly represented in Smash, I do think she is the least well-implemented Zelda character. At least Ganondorf is really good at selling his immense power, whereas Zelda is mostly a mess. She is a weird mix of moves that don't make for an interesting or coherent moveset.

To make matters worse, she was considered one of the weakest characters in all the Smash games she is in, except for Ultimate, where her moveset depends too much on Phantom, which isn't the most engaging gameplay style. I just don't get what Zelda is supposed to be. The reason why I don't put her higher is that Zelda is a character that doesn't do that much in her own games, so I guess it would be hard to implement that in Smash.

Why was Sora in Smash again? Really?

Most of the characters on this list are from games I know about, since it's easier to judge a character when you've played the game they came from. However, I did decide to look at other people's opinions on Smash characters from franchises I don't know about. Overall, the characters from games I didn't play don't have many complaints and seem to be well-designed.

However, I will say Robin does look like he/she needs to be reworked a little bit. I kind of admire Robin's concept. He/she plays like no other Fire Emblem characters, and his/her design represents aspects of the Fire Emblem franchise, like resource management. However, I don't feel Robin represents resource management in the Fire Emblem franchise as ideally as he/she could have. Ideally, Robin should be a character where the goal is to use their tomes and electric sword at the ideal moment.

In practice, while the way the tomes are handled is generally well done, since it's just a matter of using or not using special attacks, if you have the electric sword equipped, you are forced to use it for Robin's smash attacks and, most notably, aerials, and you can't save it for another moment later in the match. Personally, I would take out Nosferatu since this is not a very useful attack in Robin's kit and replace it with the ability to switch from the electric sword to the bronze sword. There are also some little issues, like how you need magic to recover, which isn't the best design decision.

If we need to cut Fire Emblem characters in the next Smash game, I think we should keep Robin, but perhaps it would be best to give him/her a rework.

Honestly, Diddy Kong is far from the worst-implemented character in Smash. However, I will say that he is a bit boring. Something that Smash tends to do with animalistic characters like those from the Donkey Kong franchise is to make them closer to the animal they are based on. Perhaps this is why.

Diddy Kong feels a bit too close to a real monkey, and this makes him not as expressive as he could have been. He is still expressive enough with some of his taunts and the explosion of his peanut gun, but he is a bit too basic. I feel like Diddy should be a faster, wilder, but frailer Donkey Kong, but that's not really what I feel with Diddy Kong in Smash. Most of these things are nitpicks, but I still feel like Diddy Kong deserves a more expressive moveset.