How recognizable is each Smash Ultimate character?

one of my most vivid memories as a kid was discovering the existence of super smash bros brawl never before did my tiny brain even fathom the possibility of my favorite nintendo characters interacting in a game it felt like a dream i'd only ever seen commercials of the game and so when i finally got the chance to play for the first time and choose my characters in the character select screen i couldn't choose who to play first mario dk link kirby marth who the f is marth ice climbers captain falcon who were these guys i remember some of my friends being shocked at me not knowing who some of these characters were and as more characters got introduced throughout smashers like fan the more people i got to disappoint in this video i decided to see how unreasonable is it really that i don't know some members of the smash roster so i'm gonna go ahead and rank every single characters by how famous and recognizable they are remember we have to assume all data is based on if you picked up smash ultimate right now having never heard of the game before in your life and so you are seeing who is part of the roster for the first time and no i swear there's actually people like this [ __ ] losers am i right for a majority of the cast i'm primarily going off how many games they sold keep in mind not all characters are created equal some characters have much more than a game or two going on in shows or movies that help it out others would never have seen the light of mainstream if it weren't for smash also for many characters i will be going by individual games as opposed to total franchise sales like some characters for instance are really only known for their role in one game as opposed to the whole franchise you know rosalina and luma play a key role in mario galaxy one and two you know she's part of the mario franchise at this point but she really is only the star of the game in these two entries so i'm only gonna count these two for her however for characters like mario or sonic who are essentially the mascot of their companies and starring every game of their franchise and are literally in the title of the series i'm gonna be counting their franchise sales as a whole alright so here we go first we're gonna start with the bottom tier characters the games that would likely have died a long time ago if not for smash all these games sold under 1 million copies first on the list is roy whose debut game binding blade only sold 346 000 copies fun fact roy was released in melee before he debuted in his first game and so there was a moment where you really only knew roy from smash next we got lucas whose game mother 3 sold only 368 000 copies as it was only released in japan as reggie is reminded every single day do you think that the west will ever be able to receive mother 3. [Applause] ness is next with earthbound having sold 440 000 copies in his lifetime so there we have it so far we can see the pk boys were probably entirely unheard of to a strong majority of people who played smash at this point i'm positive more people have been hit by pk fire before they hear about mother 3 for the first time unsurprisingly i had never heard of any of these characters before smash next on the tier list we got games who could actually sell a million copies but not much more than that very unlikely you have heard of these characters unless you're part of that cult following that loves them ike's debut game under fire emblem path of radiance sold 536 thousand copies technically he got radiant dawn with him as a main character and it's a direct sequel so we'll count it adding up to 1.038 million sales total next we got dark cake whose only game kid icarus uprising sold 1.35 million copies richter first appeared in rondo upload which actually can't be pinpointed how many copies were sold but its direct port to the super nintendo called dracula x only sold 90 000 units however its direct sequel symphony on the knight sold 1.27 million units adding up to a total of 1.36 million copies sold honestly the first number seems wrong because 90k is ridiculously low but konami straight up doesn't release these numbers and so it's really hard to find out exactly where the belmont should be on this list then we got ice climbers from the hit game ice climbers wasn't that much of a hit actually sold 1.5 million copies next we got bayonetta honestly this one i was surprised people were excited for a smash dlc because i could have lived my whole life not knowing who bayonetta was but unfortunately now i do the bayonetta series as a whole has sold approximately 1.75 million copies then we got marth who sold 329 000 copies in this first game fire emblem shadow dragon and blade of light as well as its sequel mystery of the emblem that sold 776 000 copies this along with the remakes of those games add up to 1.96 million copies total next is the most recent dlc at the moment piramitra from xenoblade chronicles 2 which sold 2.05 million copies lucina robin and krom are all from the same game fire emblem awakening which sold 2.31 million copies and the last character we have in this tier is one of the most recent dlcs minman whose legendary switch game arms sold 2.38 million copies at this point we have over half of all the fire emblem characters represented in these two bottom tiers say what you want about fire emblem but they might be a bit overrepresented in smash bros in this list i only kind of sort of knew the existence of min min before smash like i knew of arms i'm pretty sure i saw minmid before but i definitely wouldn't be able to tell you her name so we'll count it as half a point and so that is it for this year now we move on to games that have sold over 2.5 million copies the games that nice gamers will probably be able to identify olimar's most popular game is his debut game pikmin which sold 1.6 million copies pikmin 2 also starts olimar as a main character leaving him at 2.72 million copies sold next we got shulk whose game sold 2.99 million copies total under xenoblade chronicles and xenoblade chronicles definitive edition i'm counting sales from both iterations just because it's the same game just a different system you know so good job shulk it counts after that we got coryn who sold 3 million copies with fire emblem fates pilot is next who's getting fire emblem three houses sold 3.02 million copies this is actually the last fire emblem game on the list three tiers in sakurai loves this fire emblem fellas what can i say next we got pit and palutana which both are in kid icarus which sold 1.7 million copies being the stars and kid icarus uprising as well that leaves them both at 3.05 million copies sold and the last character on this list is little mac whose most popular game mike tyson's punch out sold 3 million copies this along with the wii's punch-out put him at 4.7 million copies sold here i could say i knew of bilot's existence as well as little mac probably no one that i could tell you off the top of my head and definitely no games that i played next we got the games that have sold at least five million copies here we're starting to break through a little bit where your average gamer will likely have heard of these games dark samus is featured for the first time in the metroid series most popular game metroid prime which sold 2.8 million copies in this game dark samus had a much smaller role than ridley and samus in fact it was literally in the final cut scene that dark samus watch featured however because this was likely very epic at the time i guess we'll let it slide and give dark samus the total 5.31 million copies among the games that she's been in next we got captain falcon who sold 5.85 million copies under the f-zero franchise this one is interesting to me because falcon is basically the face of smash bros at this point like falcon punch is probably more iconic than a solid half of all the characters in smash but literally only exists because of his addition to smash which is kind of wild next we have joka from persona 5 which sold 4.6 million copies between persona 5 and persona 5 royal this with the new spin-off persona 5 strikers leaves it at 6 million copies sold with big j you better watch out though fellas because when persona 5 racing finally comes out whole new ballgame next we got hiro who is tough to rank basic hero sold 4.3 million copies in dragon quest 11. goku hero sold the most of the heroes in dragon quest 3 at 6.4 million copies aquaman hero sold 5.93 million copies to dragon quest 4 and finally pet owner hero sold 5.8 million copies under dragon quest 7 now i feel like since they aren't all the same character it wouldn't be fair to count them all as one right like it's the same series but different characters and so i'm gonna place hiro here as a whole under goku hero who had the most at 6.4 million copies banjo and kazooie is next with 3.65 million copies sold in their game banjo-kazooie a top 10 selling game on the n64 along with banjo-tooie this puts them at 6.65 million sales next we got sheik who got 7.6 million sales in ocarina of time and what is essentially her only main appearance outside smash and in this last year we got toon link his game wind waker got 6.77 million sales being more popular than his other appearance in four swords which only got 930k sales for a total of 7.7 million sales in this tier i've played wind waker and persona 5 but i only knew of their existence after smash before smash i didn't know anyone on this list and now that's it for this tier we move on to the 10 million mark the big boys who have reached the eight figures mark this group has a solid fan base you likely have a friend who'll probably love some of these games and would be disappointed in you for not recognizing the characters first on the list we got dr mario whose game dr mario sold over 10 million copies which kind of surprised me i didn't think it did so well next on the list are three characters fox falco and wolf all under star fox series star fox 64 sold 4 million copies and honestly i was surprised this game featured wolf i thought it was just falco and fox and pepe here the series as a whole has sold 11.9 million copies with each character starring in every game after that is wario who is a character that probably got the most recent boost in mainstream media wario's most popular game is wario land super mario land 3 which sold 5.19 million copies the total franchise sales for the series is at 13.3 million copies sold next we have youngling who dons his ocarina of time skin ocarina of time specifically sold 13.82 million copies great game or so i've heard i've never played here we have ridley which is represented as the iconic villain of samus in the metroid series with over 15.33 million copies he starred in which is every metroid game ever except for three which is why samus isn't tagged along here with him and now we have our first pokemon on the list which makes it the perfect time to include the pokemon claws while some pokemon have starred in every game since gen 1 the ones that haven't i'm only counting their debut games for sale since they become minor in the next games with that being said the worst performing pokemon game sales wise in smash is greninja's game pokemon x and y which sold 16.5 million copies as far as pokemon go i think greninja is a pretty popular one especially since ash has one so i think he could be a bit more popular than he is here however it'll complicate things if i make up a metric for that so yeah we'll just leave from here next is inkling whose most popular game splatoon 2 sold 12.2 million copies wow that's a lot more than i thought in total the series sold 17.16 million copies next we got daisy daisy's first appearance was in super mario land which sold 18 million copies and is her biggest and only main appearance that's just not a random playable character let's go daisy here we got zero suit samus she's technically in every metroid game but for most games you only really see her briefly during game overs or a special cutscene at best but i feel like whenever someone sees samus for the first time everyone's like yo you know she's a girl and so it's like hard to know zss without knowing samus so i'll put her here behind samus samus stars in every single metroid game in the series ever with the franchise as a whole having sold a total of 18.15 million copies total but did you know she's a girl though cloud and suffer author next with 18.2 million sales for final fantasy vii which includes the remake these guys are super iconic supposedly i don't know i've never heard of them before smash long hair anime man next we got rosalina and luma i mentioned in the beginning i'd only talk about galaxy one and two which combined sold 20.2 million copies and now the last character in this tier who is ironically one of the most forgettable fighters in smash lucario comes in with 24 24.73 million copies sold in pokemon diamond and pearl manz is the star of his own movie as well so yeah lucario got a lot of rep and so i feel that much worse for the pokemon fans who came in expecting a badass and discovered raw cheese instead so for this tyranny you have you know any wario ridley kinda greninja inkling daisy samus and lucario go me baby we're getting there next we have reached the 25 million copy soul tier from this point forward the average gamer has heard of every character on this list first on the list is incineroar the newest pokemon to be added to smash pokemon sun and moon and ultra sun and moon sold 25.09 million copies just making it onto this tier this is the third best selling pokemon title of all time so it definitely makes sense we gotta rep here next on the list is duck hunt from the game duck hunt which sold 28.3 million copies then we got the king himself k rool debuted in donkey kong country which sold 13.3 million copies adding this to all the other games he's the main antagonist in adds up to 29 million copies next we got meta knight whose most popular appearance is in kirby star allies which sold 13.02 million copies the same as firearm on three houses actually however meta knight has been at this point in literally every kirby game since debuting except for one so i find it fair to count up all these game sales as an icon of the series this leaves him as a total of 29.93 sales uh 29.93 million sales shoot after that is another pokemon pichu who being part of the gen 2 squad is in pokemon gold silver and crystal which sold 29.5 million copies beautiful choice by the way like imagine the gen 2 rep you got was like chickarito or something holy sh we got lucky fellas next we have kirby and king dedede who have starred in every kirby game with the franchise having sold 36.2 million copies total both of these guys are in kirby's most popular game kirby's dreamland which sold 5.1 million copies them and meta knight also had their own show on four kids by the way next is bowser jr who is the main antagonist along with his siblings in new super mario bros wii at 30.3 million copies sold now it makes sense that they have all these kids in smash like damn they sold a lot of copies junior himself though gets that mario sunshine bonus of 6.28 million with the game being his debut leaving him at 36.9 million total overall junior has definitely become a staple in the series but i wouldn't say is as recognizable to the average joe as the other mario characters now we have game and watch which sold 43.4 million units in its entirety the last game created in the series was released in 1991 so if you've played a game and watch game then this is a reminder to take your medication here we have the character your mom is most likely to know we fit trainer was there every day on that fitness journey on the wii fit which sold 43.9 million copies ninth best-selling game of all time by the way next we got ken and rio who have both appeared in every street fighter game this series has had its own movies crossover freaking rio was in wreck-it ralph because both of these guys appear in literally every game they qualify for the big money series boost at 46 million franchise sales total their most popular game by the way was street fighter 2. next we got yoshi who in this franchise has sold 25.5 million copies however the dinosaur actually debuted in super mario world that sold 20.6 million copies and while you could argue yoshi's island is the first true yoshi game he's on the cover of super mario world so i'll give him the glory of getting a fat 46.15 million copies sold here we got the pinnacle of pokemon sales with jigglypuff being featured in pokemon red blue and yellow this game sold 47.52 million copies and though jigs is a really popular pokemon overall i'd say isn't quite on the same level as the other three gen 1 pokemons we got left isabel is the last one on this list with 49.52 million sales in every animal crossing game since her debut in new leaf i always thought isabel was in every animal crossing game and so here i am making fixes and post recording dang it isabelle in this tier i knew every character except for gamer watching king k roll and isabel not bad come on give me props here next we got the 50 million club the characters you should probably know regardless if you played their game or not although it's called donkey kong country and not diddy kong country diddy stars in every dk country game which has sold 52.5 million copies total next we got snake the mascot behind the metal gear series and one of the most iconic video game characters ever his most popular game is metal gear solid 2 which sold 7.4 million copies however the metal gear franchise as a whole has sold 56.9 million copies and so snake definitely deserves this rank as the face of the series when i was doing my research though i found out his name is david huh what that's like telling me meta knight's true name is george or something i could have lived my whole life not knowing this here we got donkey kong whose franchise had sold 58.1 million copies total the main star of a masterful cinematic tv show and featured in one of the most iconic video games of all time psych that was a test intel from david tells me that this was dk's grandfather not dk so no sales are counted here however dk has been killing it since donkey kong country and remains as one of nintendo's most iconic characters okay so this one was the most surprising for me out of anyone on this list at this spot in the tier list we have villager and isabel who star in animal crossing new horizon which sold 32.6 million copies holy [ __ ] fellas is it just me but i had no idea it sold this many like i knew it was a hit and came under the perfect time during quarantine but still wow anyway the series as a whole has sold 66.33 million sales so legit half of these just came now from new horizons and that's it for this group and okay guys i can't lie i didn't know which snake was before smash is it just me same with villager i i didn't know who these guys were but now we got the 100 million mark and i promise i have no more embarrassing takes because i know every character from here on out and you should too like these characters are a part of our culture at this point there is no excuse first on the list we got link ganon and zelda having been in every legend of zelda games these guys are titans of the gaming industry with their franchise having sold 113.37 million copies total out of their default skin representations though link has the most games sold with breath of the wild being the best selling game in the franchise at 23.97 million copies sold the skin zelda has here is specifically from link to the past which sold 4 million copies but it's all that dude come on her name is honestly probably more well known than links and ganon finally has the ocarina of times game that sold 13.82 million copies now fellas if this list were being ranked by individual games sold this would be number one by far the game that has not only sold over 50 million copies not only over 100 million not just over 150 million but 200 million copies we all know who it is at this point but i'm a sucker for fanfares it's steve baby minecraft is ridiculous and on a whole other level 200 million copies sold under this one individual game holy crap while it's technically the only game in the franchise it sold so many copies it's in the top 10 best selling game franchises of all time if you didn't know who steve was before smash i don't know what rock you're living under next on the list we got the me's yup these [ __ ] sold 82.9 million copies under wii sports the most iconic game on nintendo's most popular console of all time as well as the fourth best-selling game of all time you could argue that this earns the me some respect to the smash character this is still debatable the wii series and yeah that's the official name is not referring to the console has sold 202.5 million copies again still debatable on the respect part pokemon trainer and mewtwo while these fellows were all in gen 1 like jigs down there they're all arguably a level more iconic than jigglypuff with mewtwo having his own movie and being the og legendary beast and charizard being the second most milk pokemon of all time this series overall has sold 373 million copies and these fellas have been there since the beginning through every card show app movies both animated and live action ever since this is also the most lucrative video game franchise of all time having sold over 90 billion in its lifetime and next we have the characters that have been featured in over 500 million copies who are in their own tier of this list luigi peach and bowser were all featured in super mario bros that sold 58 million copies while pokemon is the most lucrative the mario series as a whole is the best selling video game franchise of all time with 703 million copies sold this is equal to the entire 95 of the roster sales combined mario kart party odyssey and more are all iconic games featuring these three all giving them the glory also the reason i'm giving these guys a franchise bonus specifically instead of you know bowser jr or rosa and greninja or lucario for pokemon is because luigi bowser and peach were there from the first super mario game and have been a strong presence in every game ever since while there's a game or two that they might not be included in here and there they're synonymous with the mario franchise at this point and i thought it fair to give him that bonus but it feels weird talking about these three without talking about the namesake of the franchise but that's only because he's in a whole other level of gaming along with a few others but before we get into the gods here we have an emergency tier i have to go over in this mystery tier are characters who are very hard to rank due to legacy status or just unknown sales figures basically simon was pretty tricky to add to this list castlevania is actually one of the most popular video game franchises of all time with 20 million sales altogether however not all games feature simon in fact he's a main character in only two games while being a minor presence in other castlevania games castlevania even got its own show right now it doesn't feature simon though simon's most popular game is castlevania which sold 1.56 million copies and although he's basically the mascot of konami there are just straight up no sales figures i can go by and so shot in the dark if i were to rank him i put him probably in the same sphere recognizable piranha plant is such a weird character oh my goodness i love him but i truly don't know where to rank him it's not like he's pd piranha who you know is a character and you can actually play as in other games no it's just the generic enemy number 4 in the mario universe you could argue that he's super recognizable but he's not a character like luigi or daisy he's just an [ __ ] and so for that i put him in the mystery zone if you are wondering where terry goes honestly so am i could not find anything about terra bear online got desperate and asked all knowing reddit gods who said well we don't know neo geo doesn't release sales figures or copies sold and honestly i have never heard of terry before smash but i also never heard of snake before smash so who knows maybe it's a huge franchise but i don't think it is right so yeah mystery zone for terry because i have no clue robert is not a character in the video game but is a product sold along the nes and only the nes for like three years the nes sold four million copies and so in theory the max he could have sold was four million but it's extremely doubtful he sold even over a million at this point but i don't want to put him in a tear of shame down there either because while i was doing research i actually found out rob has a super interesting backstory highly recommend checking it out but you know after the video ends of course all right fellas and that's it for the mystery zone now we move on to the big daddies in this tier these characters have undoubtedly become part of america's culture despite having it all originated in japan mario pikachu sonic and pac-man are universally known whether you play their games or not pac-man hasn't seen much glory lately but is a video game icon and massively respected by boomers all over from his legendary arcade presence sonic has had his own cinematic live-action masterpiece tv shows animated movies yeah sonic basically represents the color blue in the gaming world with 144.9 million copies sold throughout its franchise but ultimately a bigger reach overall throughout his presence mario and pikachu have aged well into the modern gaming world with their new games being massive events for nintendo i've talked about these guys respective franchises before but it cannot be overstated how much of a titan these two are in the video game world their most recent main entry games mario odyssey and pokemon sword and shield each sold over 20 million copies and combined these two have sold over a billion copies with the respective franchises absolutely insane if your friend didn't know who any of these four were before they bought smash except maybe pac-man but show them downtown first so they get it then it's likely they just left under their rock for the first time in their life and so make sure to give them sunglasses to not blind them instantly so tommy fellas how many characters did you recognize before smash are you gamer as hell and you most or did only the top tiers here ring a bell leave a comment below telling me which ones did you notably not know before smash because if i can admit how many i didn't know so can you thank you guys for watching subscribe if you want to see more see ya you

Channel: TCNick3

Views: 1,009,803

Keywords: smash, smash bros, reconizable, iconic

Id: w9uBbU4yeaI

Length: 26min 28sec (1588 seconds)

Published: Mon May 24 2021