On today’s episode of Nintendo Direct, several new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters were revealed, though one in particular has risen among the ranks to become the most controversial character to ever be included into the series – Piranha Plant.
That’s right folks, the random baddie from Mario somehow is getting a place in the game over the likes of super fan-favorites like Geno from Super Mario RPG, Shadow from Sonic, and even Waluigi among many others. Needless to say, fans aren’t exactly thrilled with the news. A Reddit thread discussing the character has blown up over the past several hours, with tons of angry Smash players coming to vent their frustrations.
Redditor u/jet_10 summed up the general feelings of most players.
CoffeeHamster pointed out the most obvious problem with the character – it doesn’t have any legs.
https://snowradish.tumblr.com/image/179653937684
The frustration over Piranha Plant’s introduction spilled out onto other social media platforms as well. Twitter is full of Piranha Plant joke memes. Have a look at a few of them below.
https://twitter.com/chasearooni/status/1058059737735028737
https://twitter.com/Erikibm1/status/1058005520307679232
https://twitter.com/p3nny_man/status/1058007840986664961
It doesn’t end there either. Apparently, Piranha Plant will be a DLC character that players can acquire for free if they purchase Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and register the game before January 31st, 2019.
Piranha Plant is available after Smash's release. Will be free character for a limited time pic.twitter.com/oD0Sah2JVK
— Wario64 (@Wario64) November 1, 2018
This clever marketing tactic to get more people to preorder the game also has some fans grumbling on Reddit.
Nintendo is really trying to promote the character hard. He’s even getting his own Amiibo!
Piranha Plant takes root in Super #SmashBrosUltimate! This fighter will be available as a bonus for players who purchase the game between 11/1 & 1/31. This fighter will arrive around February 2019, & look forward to a new #amiibo figure on 2/15 as well!https://t.co/0Jwx7QMtml pic.twitter.com/imjzxuXhZk
— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) November 1, 2018
As a big Smash fan, I can relate to all of the comments here. The Piranha Plant is a generic Mario baddie tantamount to a Goomba, and as such, doesn’t really seem like it deserves a spot on an all-star roster of fighters.
Given that Nintendo doesn’t appear to mind releasing more fighters as DLC, all of this could be a crafty sales strategy. By making more popular fan-favorite characters like Geno and Banjo DLC characters as opposed to including them in the game from the get go, Nintendo can seriously supercharge their profits. Sounds a bit underhanded to me, but from a financial perspective, it makes sense.
Featured Image Source: YouTube
