I love nintendo, so naturally I love Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, everytime I pick it up to play it dawns on me that this generation of Smash Bros was a missed oppurtunity as far as hardware and 3rd party software sales are concerned. This thread mostly pertains to an idea that I think Nintendo is toying with.

Smash Bros. IS a sure seller on any Nintendo platform and I think the addition of Sonic & Solid Snake was more than just fanservice to respective groups of gamers. I think, and hope, that the Big N is toying around with including fledgling third party characters. This is, in my opinion, a one-two punch in maybe the next generation of video games, for getting the ball rolling with third parties and the evolved Wii, DS and Wii 2 userbase.

Simply characters like Travis Touchdown, the new Red Steel guy, as well as maybe characters like Zack & Wiki and even the Boom Bloxes, can find new brand awareness through the medium of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There are tons of people who have been exposed to Smash Bros. that propbably don't know Travis, or what a Boom Blox is.

So I was thinking that the Big N should use the inevitable future iteration of smash as a platform to introduce new 3rd party characters to new people, thus boosting sales for both the Big N(people who liked various franchises but didn't purchase smash, which may be small but albeit sizable enough to warrant the inclusion) and 3rd parties. I figure companies like EA & Ubisoft would be happy to increase their IPs brand awareness, even if the bloxes feature as pickup items or an immediately available stage. Any thoughts?

I think it would be a cool idea. I'm not sure how effective it would be as a marketing tool though. I never went out and bought a game because of something I've seen in Smash Bros.

Would you be more likely to buy a Metal Gear Game or a Game featuring Pit/Metaknight after there inclusion in Smash Brothers? Granted I am a huge fan of Kid Icarus and the Metal Gear franchise (though i don't own a PS3, i just play on my cousins), so this may not be for gamers. But i can imagine Nintendo centric gamers appreciating these new characters due to their inclusion in Smash Brothers, and you got to consider it is at least a cheap outlet to get to 8.49 million Wii owners (considering they all played it by themselves and had no friends).

It's a good idea only because we've seen it work with obscure Nintendo characters. Renewed enthusiasm for Mother series from Ness's inclusion, the localization of Fire Emblem from Marth and Roy

But it doesn't work universally. Certainly didn't help Pit and the Ice Climbers