The Pokémon Partners of The Smash Bros 64 Roster
Pokémon excitement is at a high right now with a direct for the latest games, titled Sword and Shield, slated for the fifth. Excitement for Super Smash Brothers is also building, with a DLC character likely to be revealed at E3. What if these two franchises were combined? What if the icons of the Smash roster were all Pokémon trainers? Which Pokémon would they all use? I'll be answering that question for the original roster (excluding the Pokémon themselves) today. Bear in mind that these are not the Pokémon most similar to the characters, but the ones that they would most benefit from raising. The only stipulations that I will place on myself will be that legendaries and mythicals are off the table, and each cast member must use a different Pokémon.
Mario took some thinking, but his partner is clear. He would see great benefit from a large flying type, considering that his main games are platformers, and as such, being able to ride a large creature over entire levels would make his life so much easier. Considering that his main enemy is the fire-spewing Bowser, a resistance to fire would also be good. Evaluating these factors, Charizard would be a nice fit for our plumber friend. It is not only a flying-type large enough to ride, but also particularly well suited for shuttling people, considering that in the Alola region, it is a ride Pokémon who flies people around. Its fire type would also help with Bowser's flames, and finally, it is one of the more recognizable Pokémon, making it a great match for the face of gaming.
Next up is Donkey Kong, who has an even clearer partner: Watchog. Not only would it fit in with DK's animal theming, but it would play a vital role in aiding the ape; a Watchog would be able to protect the banana hoard from getting stolen, alerting the Kongs if an intruder approached.
Link would need a Pokémon capable of traveling around Hyrule alongside him, and what better candidate for this than Arcanine? Back when Rock Climb was an HM, Arcanine could learn it, so it could scale mountains alongside Link. Another move it learns is Extreme Speed, which would allow it to keep up with Link no matter how quickly he's going. One more perk that Arcanine has is that it would give Link an edge against the (probably) steel-type guardians that are littered around the world. Another use is that the type would allow Arcanine to tolerate hot areas, and stay warm in cold ones.
Samus's partner would seem like an odd pick at first. For her, I wanted a Pokémon that could learn teleport so that it could pick up nearby collectibles and bring them to her, and being small would help as well for morph ball sections. Natu fulfills both of these conditions, learning teleport at level 9 and being 8 inches tall. Its flying type also contributes to the collectible-grabbing idea, and the bird-like design is reminiscent of Samus's childhood, as she was raised by the avian Chozo race for most of her youth.
Meanwhile, Yoshi would likely have Archeops for a partner. Archeops is a rock type, and the rock type's attacks mainly focus on launching rocks as projectiles. Yoshi can likely eat these rocks for a supply of eggs, as painful as that may sound. Its flying type also means that it can do a decent job of keeping up with Yoshi as he traverses his games, and it fits right in with Yoshi's dinosaur design, since Archeops itself is based upon a prehistoric protobird.
Kirby's story is a bit more interesting. He would have Alakazam as a partner for one key reason: intelligence. Kirby tends to be a rather clueless puffball at times, so the 5,000 IQ Alakazam could help communicate to Kirby when his services are needed. This immense intelligence would also allow for it to get food for itself, which is important considering that any Pokémon of Kirby's would have to compete with his insatiable appetite.
Fox was one of the harder ones to pick, but ultimately, I decided on giving him Rotom as a partner Pokémon. Having a machine-possessing creature would be useful when your job primarily involves flying a sci-fi ship. A Rotom could enter Fox's arwing, from where it can help with emergency maneuvers or aid with targeting agile foes, akin to an astromech droid from Star Wars (think R2-D2).
Luigi's partner, Misdreavus, would a perfect fit. It's a ghost type Pokémon that gains nourishment from the fear of those around it, something which Luigi has a large supply of in his own Luigi's Mansion games. Speaking of those games, Misdreavus would also be rather helpful there, since ghost is strong against ghost. Finally, it's number 200 in the Pokédex; quite fitting for the one so often relegated to player 2.
Ness is a tricky one to pinpoint, but I've come to the conclusion that Ledian would be a good fit for him. First, it would parallel the person that gave Ness his initial call to adventure, Buzz Buzz, by virtue of being a bug type connected to the stars. A bug type would also be a pretty decent for a kid like Ness, who probably spends some free time catching and caring for bugs.
Finally, Captain Falcon would need a bird Pokémon to keep with his branding, and probably a fast one too. Pidgeot fills both of these requirements. It is, of course, a bird Pokémon, and one that the Pokédex states is capable of flying at mach two speeds; that's probably fast enough to keep up with the Blue Falcon. Its red and yellow plumage would also match Captain Falcon's helmet. Just give it a blue jacket and some sunglasses, and it would be a perfect fit for his branding.
Overall, this was a fun thought experiment. Since E3 starts in a week, expect more articles from me. Sorry about not uploading recently (like as in the past year); I've been quite busy. Regardless, let the hype begin!