The Real Reason Blastoise Didn't Make The Super Smash Bros. Cut
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the fighting game crossover gift that just keeps on giving.
Not only did it bring back every roster member from previous entries in the long running series, but it also included a host of new combatants that fans were overjoyed at seeing. Post-launch, Masahiro Sakurai and the rest of the developers behind the latest iteration of Smash Bros. have added even more familiar faces to the game's massive roster.
Even with an ever growing collection of characters to play as in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there are still those who have been letdown by their preferred favorites being relegated to an Assist Trophy or not being included at all. There's a certain Water-based Pokémon that was originally set to join the Smash roster at one point. But sadly, it didn't get the chance to hand out its own form of punishment on other Nintendo characters.
Here's why Blastoise didn't make the final cut as a Smash roster member.
Blastoise was a part of the Pokémon Trainer's fighting trio before being switched out
Anyone who's ever played Super Smash Bros. Brawl knows how the Pokémon Trainer approaches each battle.
Choosing him/her lets you command a trio of Pocket Monsters, who just so happen to be Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. In the middle of a fight, players have the ability to switch between all three creatures and utilize their varied movesets/elemental differences. Longtime Pokémon fans will instantly recognize that trio as a callback to the original game's starting lineup of selectable monsters. Squirtle fights in its starting form, while the other two team members appear as their evolved forms.
You may be surprised to learn that this wasn't the original trio created for the Pokémon Trainer. Blastoise was supposed to fill the spot that Squirtle ended up taking. During an interview with Famitsu (with translation via Source Gaming), Sakurai provided his reasoning as to why Blastoise didn't make it into Smash.
"I came to the conclusion that Squirtle would be able to establish himself as a character better than Blastoise, plus I thought having balance with the sizes and stages of evolution would be good," Sakurai stated.