No. I cannot convince you to buy the game. I can tell you that it is a great game with loads of content. I don't think knowing all the character is in any way a requirement. I have played them all from the N64 till now, but I wouldn't say it sells because of nostalgia, more that it sells because it is a great franchise.

I suggest you try the game at a store demo or something to see if you like it. My wife doesn't game much at all, but she enjoys smash, very easy to pick up and play even as a gaming novice, but very hard to master.

Makes you wonder why Playstation didn't get on the bandwagon back when they had about a million characters exclusively on their system!  In fifth grade my friend and I were always dreaming of a game with Crash, Abe, Lara Croft, Spyro, Cloud, etc.  But hey, If you want to play as Snake you can always pick up a cheaper copy of Brawl to see if you like the gameplay.

Also, I agree, they are the best kind of sandwich.

Well it's always possible that a game might just not appeal to some people, and me describing what the game is like or why I enjoy it will never give someone that "joy" (and also there are plenty of reviews already out there), so I will just pick up a couple of specific points:

- As someone who owned Melee and who played the original on N64 before that I can't bring the perspective of someone playing the series for the first time, but imo there is no reason why the Wii U version shouldn't be just as enjoyable as your first game of the series. I must admit that knowing it was coming out I wasn't really anticipating "playing through" the game that much, I was just looking forward to upgrading the Super Smash Bros experience to HD and thought of things like unlocking characters, getting used to the new mechanics etc. as just chores to get through to have a fully unlocked Super Smash Bros that I was decent at again, but actually it is probably my game of the year even based on just these initial stages.

- I don't think it matters that much whether you like Nintendo characters that much. When I played the N64 version as a kid Pokemon was pretty much the only Nintendo game I had played and it was still fun, and when I got Melee I only really knew Pokemon, Zelda and some Mario characters, so even characters like Star Fox and Captain Falcon were completely alien to me. Didn't matter, still one of my favourite games of all time. Not to mention characters like Marth and Roy were many people's favourites despite Fire Emblem games not being released in the West at that time and loads of people never having heard of them.

- A bit like Mario Kart for me, a big part of what made the game amazing was playing it against people. I probably wouldn't have been nearly as interested in Super Smash Brothers if I was not fortunate enough to know people that were also into it as much as me. That local multiplayer experience is dying these days, but if you enjoy that then Smash is potentially as good as Mario Kart for it. It might be slightly more difficult to get started on than Mario Kart if you have never played it before, but after that stage I actually think it is easier to set up Smash brothers so that it is some fun for everyone (items, CPU players, crazy stages or modes) compared to Mario Kart. And obviously you can play it very seriously and competitively.

Something crazy like Hyrule Kings, a cruisader kings mash up with Zelda would do extremely well and brighten up a mediocre selling genre. Just one gritty game. I have black ops 2 on wii U and with local coop dual screen, it's my favorite of a genre that is over saturated and I will probably never buy within again.

I'd rather Nintendo create completely new franchises to fill those rolls. They tried before on the GCN with Geist and Eternal Darkness, but those concepts were far too niche to have ever been widely successful.

Its a fun little party game.

I enjoyed Eternal Darkness, although I never got around to finishing it. Geist looks like it could have been good.

My point isn't on their quality, it's on their appeal.

I know... I know.... And I agree. But.....Nintendo. Have to just love them like a pup that pisses on you're shoe.

It's the overall best game on Wii U! With the loads of variety and content in both single and multiplayer, whether you play it casually or hardcore you can't go wrong! Being a Wii U owner without this game is like having a peanut butter n jelly sandwich without the jelly!