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A week or two ago, Little Mac was announced as a new character for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. games. Little Mac is from the Punch-Out series, which is pretty well-liked and popular outside of Japan… but it doesn’t enjoy quite the same level of popularity inside Japan.



So a question I’ve been getting lately is: “How have Japanese Smash Bros. fans reacted to this Little Mac announcement?”

So I’ve gone around to a number of different sites and message boards, gathered up a bunch of different comments, and translated them here. Keep in mind that this isn’t indicative of ALL Japanese gamers – I’m just posting what I’ve seen.

The Punch-Out guy?

He’s always been a highly-wanted character overseas

Too niche, should’ve been left as a trophy. They should be using other companies’ characters before ones like this

He’s extremely popular overseas and has been around since the Famicom days. I only learned about him from Captain Rainbow, though

I dunno who this is. They should’ve used the guy from Kung Fu instead

I think they should’ve left this as a secret character

Makes sense for him to be in it, I expected some retro game characters

The guy from Punch-Out? Is he really that memorable enough to be in Smash Bros?

This guy was pretty strong assist character. So he’s gonna be an actual character now?

I’m not as mad as I am dumbfounded. These character choices are such a joke

Congratulations on your promotion from being an assist character!

His dream from Captain Rainbow came true

Are they even taking these character rosters seriously?

Newer, cooler characters please

Sorry, but who is this?

I think Little Mac’s inclusion is nice. But why are they announcing this on the newest Donkey Kong’s release date?! I was hoping they’d announce Diddy and Dixie!

Punch-Out sure takes me back lol

This is the first I’ve ever heard of this guy

He looks strong and fun to use. I like.

He’s not well-known in Japan but he’s a pretty popular character overseas. There’s always been a big demand for him to be included.

Just like with the Wii Fit lady I was like “Wha?!” at first but actually seems fun to play

Whatever

YES

I had a hunch, since there was a ring stage

Who?

Awesome!

I’m sorry, who is this again?

ROFL who???

Who is this?

Looks fun to play as! ….But who is this?

He’s from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, right? Only middle-aged guys like me would know him

YES Little Mac!!!!

Who gains anything from including characters like this nobody wants?

Another character I don’t know

No one knows this guy

No thx

Punch-Out is all about the unique opponents; why would you include the bland main character?

Basically, if you wanna know who this is, you gotta buy Smash Bros.?

That was seriously like a movie! Hooray, Little Mac!

I’m honestly disappointed. I holding on to hope that you’ll actually pick some popular characters, Sakurai

All these characters are crap

I heard his name a lot – he finally got in? I’ve never played it but I liked the video so that’s good enough for me

At first I was like, “Huh? Who is this guy?” but now that I’ve seen the video I like him. Comparing his height with Samus was cute, too

I bet foreigners are delighted. His abilities seem neat, and his motions are cool

At first I was like, “Why would they go with Punch-Out now, of all times?” But then I remembered that Donkey Kong was a guest in Punch-Out for the Wii… Is that a connection? Yesterday was Donkey Kong’s release day and all

On a personal note, I’m sad that I didn’t run across any Japanese comments about SMAP!

EDIT: For reference, the comments aren’t from just one place – I basically searched for リトルマック and スマブラ and pulled a few comments from a bunch of different sites.

Also, since a few readers have asked, some of Japan’s most-wanted characters seem to be:

Paper Mario

Nick / Captain Rainbow

Monster Hunter

Lucina

Dixie

Daisy

Waluigi

Shulk

But that’s just from one poll I’ve found and shouldn’t be considered indicative of all Japanese fans.

If you liked what I've covered here and are friends with other Punch-Out / Super Smash Bros. fans, I hope you'll tell them about it. Thanks for the support!