Who would you choose as a Second Rep?

In alot of cases, series tend to be so large to have more than one representative for the series, and this poll is simply a way to see what type of character people like to see more as the second rep of a series. I'll try to explain each choice below:

The Sidekick: I refer to this as the "Player 2," as this is usually the character that assists the main character the most, and is usually either the second player, hence the term "Player 2." Sometimes, there are multiple "Sidekicks," but the one chosen (first) is usually the most well known or iconic. Examples would include Luigi (to Mario), Tails (To Sonic), Falco (To Fox), and Diddy Kong (To Donkey Kong).

Alternate Hero: Unlike the Sidekick, and alternate hero isn't necessarily helping the main hero/representative directly, but still plays a large part of the story. Other times, this alt. hero is from a different part of the timeline, playing the same part as the main hero. Examples would include Peach, Toon Link, and Robin

The Rival: A character that is recurring in the series (appears on a regular basis) and commonly challenges one of the heros. HOWEVER, this character isn't necessarily evil or the main villain; they generally end up helping the main hero in one way or another. There aren't too many examples, but Wolf, King Dedede, and Shadow would all count

The Villain: The main villain. The Boss of the series. I don't think I need to explain this much. Bowser, Eggman/Robotnik, and Ganondorf are examples.

Other Icon: Some series have iconic characters that don't really fit in with the other categories. They all fall here. Some examples include FF's Chocobo Knight, MewTwo, and Tingle.

Feel free to vote and comment as to why you voted the way you did.

Off the top of my head I always feel like villains are a good and safe bet when looking for a "2nd" character from a franchise. While it probably comes down to what the franchise is and what characters are available, the villain from a franchise is generally much different from the main protagonist ability-wise, meaning that they'll be unique and interesting to use in-game; of course, if your main villain is DARK MAIN CHARACTER, then obviously there's some issues that are going to arise.

I guess my main example and reasoning for this is that I think that if Crash Bandicoot were to get a 2nd character, it'd probably be Dr. Cortex. He has appeared in most/all of the Crash games since the beginning, and his abilities are very different from any of the main characters that he'd be unique. Of course, this is coming from a franchise that didn't really have a "sidekick" until the 2nd game, (Coco Bandicoot), and even then she barely showed up and wasn't playable until the 3rd installment. She'd probably be the other one I'd consider, though I feel Cortex is more unique in that regard (she doesn't have a ton of unique abilities and shares quite a bit with Crash, though iirc they shoved kung fu into her arsenal in one of the more recent Crash games).

So... again, it depends on the franchise. If a franchise has a more prominent side character, or 2nd hero, or whatever, then I feel they'd probably take precedence over the villain. I just really like the idea of villains fighting heroes from other games, using their arsenals on someone who isn't prepared for their shenanigans.

I do understand that some series lack some categories. I personally weigh unique and iconic Sidekicks about the same as the villain, but as some series lack this trait...

That being said, some villains would be too powerful and/or awkward to put into a fighting game.

Cortex would be perfect for a second Crash Bandicoot rep, as the series doesn't have too many characters to pick  (from my knowledge at least)

"Dark" characters would probably be considered "Rivals" by my standards.

Definitely agree it depends on the franchise, but I definitely think Villain is a good choice in general.

In fighting games especially, the draw for me is when I can play as a character and fight somebody I can perceive as that character's rival. This is the strongest connection in this type of environment because it can be formed across franchises; Peach vs. Zelda being an example. This works to an even greater degree when a specific character really has no other representative in Smash, like Samus (in the official smash games) and C. Falcon.

I feel like this is series dependent.

Strictly speaking of franchises that only have 1 rep in-game so far (ignoring the obvious one-offs), there is Rayman, Crash, Yoshi, F-Zero, Klonoa, Punch-Out, Fire Emblem, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ristar, Ace Attorney, Donkey Kong, Bomberman.

- Rayman would probably have Globox. He's the sidekick, but there aren't really any other characters that are in multiple games. Mr. Dark is another option as the villain, but not as iconic. Donkey Kong fits here, as well as possibly Punch-Out (Doc Louis?).
- Crash would end up with Dr. Cortex, the villain of the franchise. While Coco is an option (would that be sidekick?), Dr. Cortex appears in every game and is iconic of the franchise. Yoshi and F-Zero also follow suit.
- Fire Emblem would have an alternate hero. Each game in the series has different characters. While we could go with a villain from Marth's game (Gharnef?), it wouldn't do the series justice. Final Fantasy and Mega Man are in a similar situation.
- Ace Attorney would get a rival in Miles Edgeworth. Villains aren't usually repeated in this series, especially in multiple games. The other option would be the sidekick (Maya), but the rival fits this series better. Bomberman is another one where the rival would apply to.

Basically, it comes down to whatever is the most well known or iconic. The most common pick, though, I feel would be the villain. It's just too wide spread to just narrow it down to that.

This absolutely depends on the series so I can't choose just one.

Yeah. I messed up with that...

I was contemplating setting it up to where you could select multiple answers, but I guess I didn't check the box, and with how polls are set up here, I can't go and change it unless a moderator does it for me.

Edit: It is really series dependent, and I understand that (Roy gave perfectly good examples for practically each "category")

I feel like the 'Iconic Other' is very rare, normally reserved for first reps (Persona with Jack Frost, Final Fantasy with Chocobo Knight, Wii Fit Trainer, etc). It does apply to Pokemon and Zelda (Jigglypuff and Zelda herself), but again, doesn't happen very often.

Roy wrote:

I feel like the 'Iconic Other' is very rare, normally reserved for first reps (Persona with Jack Frost, Final Fantasy with Chocobo Knight, Wii Fit Trainer, etc). It does apply to Pokemon and Zelda (Jigglypuff and Zelda herself), but again, doesn't happen very often.

<3