Apparently lots and lots of people have never heard of your favorite characters
Do we spend too much time lauding the heroes of video games past? A new viral clip suggests we may not be spending enough: YouTuber D Piddy hit the streets to quiz random folks about the classic cast of Nintendo’s new blockbuster Super Smash Bros – and the results may shock you.
Sure, everyone recognizes Mario, (almost) everyone knows Luigi and everyone recognizes Link – even if they still think his name is “Zelda.” But after that things get interesting (and funny!) Apparently none of the interviewees recognized Punch-Out’s Little Mac, and the very existence of Fire Emblem or its Smash-returning fighters seems to baffle most. Kirby is well-remembered, but his nemeses King Dedede and Meta Knight? Not so much.
Samus Aran? Alternately misidentified as “Metroid” or “A Power Ranger.” Captain Falcon? “Is that The Flash?” Ganondorf? “Some Irish dude?” Even relatively-recent creation Rosalina gets tagged more as “Elsa” than as herself. And it’s not just Nintendo’s retro-icons they couldn’t place: Mega Man doesn’t seem to have the recognition he used to, either.
Still, the lack of recognition doesn’t seem to be hurting sales: Super Smash Bros is now the fastest-selling Wii U title ever, boasting 490,000 copies moved in its first three days of U.S. release – not bad for a game starring “A Power Ranger,” “Some Irish dude” and Mario’s brother “Larry.”
Source: D Piddy
