Who is the most iconic video game character that does not appear in the Super Smash Bros. series?

[WestEgg]

I've had this discussion before with friends and would like to get ERA's thoughts on this. Obviously Smash accounts for Nintendo's heaviest hitters, as well as especially iconic third party characters like Sonic, Cloud, Ryu, and Mega Man. But taking all these characters away, who stands as the most iconic character in gaming?

Note: This is NOT a "Who should be in Smash" thread

I have a few candidates:

Master Chief- possibly the most famous FPS protagonist, and the de facto mascot of Xbox. Chief is definitely a gaming icon, despite being more recent than some.

Chun Li- Possibly even more iconic to Street Fighter than even Ryu.

Doom Guy- The OG FPS protagonist, and likely the face of the genre still to many, especially with 2016 DOOM.

Miles "Tails" Prower- Sonic's buddy and the Luigi to his Mario.

I'm going to add characters suggested below that I agree with enough to put on my list:

Space Invader Alien
Lara Croft
Steve?
Simon Belmont
Bomberman
Ray-Man
Crash Bandicoot

 

[shnurgleton]

Knack

Edit: Jack Frost

 

[MrS]

Adriano from PES 5

 

[Jucksalbe]

The aliens from Space Invaders. And Lara Croft, I guess.

 

[WestEgg]

Knack

Click to shrink...

I had to disqualify Knack, we all know about the upcoming Smash x Knack crossover, Super Knack Brothers, so it's not even worth talking about.

 

[Deleted member 24118]

 

[BGBW]

Namco's biggest star after Pac-Man.

 

[FireBeaver]

Tetris block

 

[Ehoavash]

Lara croft

Simon Belmont

Ryu Hayabusa

 

[RockmanBN]

Steve

 

[SOLDIER]

Goku.

 

[Soya]

The one and only Lara Croft.

 

[Servbot24]

I don't know if he counts, but Goku.

For characters that originated from games, Space Invader alien, Lara Croft, Master Chief, Nathan Drake, Kratos

 

[Egida]

Donte. I mean, Dante. So they could put this beauty on the cover:

 

[SM0KE]

I haven't played a smash game since melee, so I don't even know all the characters....

What about vault boy?

 

[Deleted member 2809]

Possibly Lara Croft imo, she's been around long enough

 

[Amiibola]

No Simon Belmont mention

smh

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

If we're counting people who don't originate from Video Games but have been in video games then:

Mickey Mouse
Son Goku
Naruto Uzumaki

Otherwise, I can't think of many characters that are legitimately iconic and haven't been in Smash because when you look at the best-selling non-Nintendo games, not many of them have characters that are the singular protagonists of their games.

 

[_Rob_]

Possibly someone from the Sony end of the industry:

Crash is pretty iconic

 

[ShinkuTachi]

Jack Frost

Click to shrink...

Agreed, the iconic Atlus mascot totally deserves a shout out!

 

[Deleted member 426]

Cloud is a candidate

EDIT: wait...damn

 

[Firemind]

Goku

 

[Silky]

Bomberman
Lara Croft
Master Chief
Rayman

--

Goku HAS to be Kid Goku if he ever ended up in Smash. Perfect fit.

 

[WestEgg]

I haven't played a smash game since melee, so I don't even know all the characters....

What about vault boy?

Click to shrink...

I'm on the fence about considering Vault Boy. He's definitely iconic to the Fallout series, but he's an in-universe fiction mascot rather than a gameplay character.

 

[Lost]

Namco's biggest star after Pac-Man.

Click to shrink...

Literally who

 

[Deleted member 1273]

The Boy

 

[RockmanBN]

Cloud is a candidate

Click to shrink...

Cloud is in Smash 4.

 

[Ghos]

 

[nosferato]

The one & only

 

[Stuart]

Kat from Gravity Rush. She's such a remarkable character that she's quickly turned into the de-facto mascot of Sony, and would be perfect for Smash.

 

[spindashing]

Bomberman's pretty iconic.

Crash was already mentioned but he was my first choice.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Knack

Edit: Jack Frost

Click to shrink...

Jack Frost is weird.
He's like the longest running, yet most obscure game character/mascot.

 

[Chocobo Blade]

When you say "iconic video game character" I immediately think of old school Lara Croft. And she's not in smash so...

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

The people suggesting anything from persona or SMT like jack frost, nah, you're wrong. They're hardly iconic compared to things in the OP like Space Invader, Master Chief. Crash and Minecraft guy (Steve) would probably be closer.

Kat from Gravity Rush. She's such a remarkable character that she's quickly turned into the de-facto mascot of Sony, and would be perfect for Smash.

Click to shrink...

I... Don't think so. I entirely expect to never see Kat again.

 

[Rosur]

Crash/ Lara Croft/ Spyro or Master Chief probably.

 

[Kickmaster Kim]

Jack Frost is weird.
He's like the longest running, yet most obscure game character/mascot.

Click to shrink...

I've seen that character around on the net a lot, but I have no idea what game it's from.

 

[jph139]

Minecraft Steve and the Dragonborn from Skyrim are probably up there, even if they're not "characters" in the traditional sense.

Lara Croft and Master Chief are absolutely the biggest when you're talking actual named, fleshed out individuals.

 

[Deleted member 1273]

In Toad's Voice - I'm going to murder all of you

 

[Hentai]

 

[Satonaka]

Can't believe no one has mentioned -

Edit: nvm someone did

 

[WestEgg]

In Toad's Voice - I'm going to murder all of you

Click to shrink...

I mean, kinda...

 

[Deleted member 26535]

I still think that only Nintendo characters should appear on Smash Bros. series.

I am annoyed with this since Brawl I can not fully enjoy these games because of this (and the lack of individual Break the Targets).

 

[CortexVortex]

 

[Briarios]

I think most of them have been hit, but I would add:

 

[Jimnymebob]

I've seen that character around on the net a lot, but I have no idea what game it's from.

Click to shrink...

He's from the Shin Megami Tensei series, which has been around since the NES days at least. He's the mascot for Atlus too, I think.

 

[acm2000]

CTRL+F Blasto

disappointed

 

[ArmadilloGame]

Bomberman:

Simon Belmont:

Blizzard Characters:

 

[EdgeWilder]

Billy Hatcher should have been in years ago

 

[Mike Double U]

 

[Deleted member 2809]

I still think that only Nintendo characters should appear on Smash Bros. series.

I am annoyed with this since Brawl I can not fully enjoy these games because of this (and the lack of individual Break the Targets).

Click to shrink...

Agreed on both points, BTT was secretly the best thing about melee. So much time spent on optimizing your strat and execution.
I think megaman and ryu are fine because they had huge games on nintendo system. Sonic and cloud though.. ehhhhhhhh