Thread by @MonkeyDLenny

Why the Smash fandom ACTUALLY hates Fire Emblem: A detailed thread

No knee jerk reactions, an actual in-depth discussion on where the hostility comes from

"Too many anime swordsmen" is a meme generalization within the fandom that outsiders take at face value. The real root as to why the Smash fandom reacts so violently to FE is due to a lot of little things all snowballing together to create a veritable perfect storm

1. The fact that half of the FE cast plays almost identical to one another.

Marth was first, Roy copied his moveset with a few tweaks, Lucina is LITERALLY a Marth clone, and Chrom is a clone of Roy, who again is a MARTH clone.

Imagine four Dr. Mario's on the roster for example

To be sure, Ike, Byleth, Robin, and Corrin have broken this mold, and Echo Fighters have done well to loosen the stigma surrounding clone fighters; but it doesn't change the fact that half of the FE crew being identical is so off

2. The fact that Fire Emblem's presence in Smash has, since the beginning, been about one thing: They're walking commercials

Now that's a statement that could admittedly apply to a NUMBER of characters on the roster, but FE is a different case

The only reason Marth and Roy were in Melee is because Sakurai wanted to sort of trojan horse Fire Emblem into the west, and it worked. The only other foreign exclusive character on the roster is Lucas; and that was because Sakurai didn't know Mother 3 wasn't getting localized

Corrin was the most REVILED pick of Smash 4 because Fire Emblem Conquest was out for only six months in Japan and NOT EVEN OUT YET in the west at the time of their reveal.

To compare, FE: Awakening was out for two years before Lucina & Robin joined the roster, enough time passed

Corrin getting into Smash 4 when the game wasn't even out at the time in America and JUST after their game launched in Japan said "This character is only here to sell their game to you"

Lucina & Robin had two years to build up a legacy, their inclusion felt more 'earned'

No one complained about Chrom getting in. Why? Because he had a legacy, he had longevity, and his being publicly shunted for Smash 4 only to get his redemption here felt vindicating

His inclusion felt harmless and again, 'earned': Corrin feels like what we call a "Shill Pick"

And now we see the same thing happening again with Byleth. The fact that the DLC was decided long before hand, and Sakurai said he had to play an early build of Three Houses to get Byleth's movest down means from the START, Byleth was put into the DLC to be a commercial

Also this is INCREDIBLY unfair to the Xenoblade fans!

Sakurai made a big point of stating Xenoblade Chronicles 2 entered development too late for them to include Rex in the roster LAST YEAR, so instead they got a Mii fighter

But Three Houses came out this SUMMER

That's biased

Inclusions on the Smash roster mean a lot to the fanbase as the game has evolved; it's the veritable "Hall of Fame" for Nintendo, and now, gaming itself with the likes of Cloud, Snake, and Ryu

So the fact that a character can get in to sell you something feels insincere

Which leads to the third point:

3. The fact that Fire Emblem of all Nintendo franchises keeps getting newcomers when other Nintendo series fans keep begging for keep getting passed over.

Captain Falcon is all alone in representing F-Zero, Kirby hasn't had a newcomer since Brawl, Zelda has THREE Links and none of the other memorable villains or side characters, Star Fox fans have begged for Krystal, Waluigi...

Especially hurts when Ridley and K. Rool got in too

And then there's the fact that the Byleth trailer literally CALLS OUT the criticism the fans have: "Too many swordsmen are there?"

The fact that they KNOW how the fanbase feels about Fire Emblem, but picked Byleth anyway feels kind of insulting

(Though I found the joke funny)

Fire Emblem: Three Problems

Homogenization
Commercialism
Favoritism

Put it all together and you get a series that the Smash Fandom loves to hate

It's not that the Smash fandom is ungrateful for things like Joker and Banjo, it's that we're frustrated that we can get all of these amazing characters, but when it comes to Nintendo's OWN series the table is tilted and the balance is off.

We just want things evened out is all

Now for hundreds of you to not read this thread and spam "HOES MAD! HOES MAD! HOES MAD!" in the replies