Fans of Super Smash Bros. have had a number of newcomer reveals and new information drops that have been worth getting excited about thus far, and there's still plenty more to talk about in the months leading up to the series' debut on the Nintendo 3DS. The latest major piece of news consists of Fire Emblem: Awakening stars Robin and Lucina officially joining the fray (alongside Captain Falcon), but this reveal left the community to deal with a wide array of emotions.

Many followers have since been wondering why Chrom, the main protagonist from the latest Fire Emblem, was overlooked as playable character for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.

The creator of Super Smash Bros., Masahiro Sakurai, recently clarified his frame of thought for passing on Chrom's inclusion during his latest article in Famitsu Weekly. As it turns out, the reason the popular sword-wielder was given the cold shoulder had more to do with mixing up the play styles featured within the roster than anything to do with the character himself. In fact, he was even considered for the roster before Sakurai opted to take a different route with Awakening's representatives.

""What? Not Chrom!?" I suspect a lot of you will ask. Of course, Chrom is quite popular, being the protagonist of FE:A and all. However, I chose Robin and Lucina, and I will elaborate on my reasoning."

"I played all the way through FE:A and really wanted to include a character from that rich cast in Smash Bros. Naturally, I considered adding Chrom to the roster, but the decision wasn't easy by any means.

At the end of the day, Chrom would just end up being another plain-old sword-wielder like Marth and Ike. Compared with other characters, he lacks any unique characteristics."

Sakurai was right in the sense that having another sword-wielder would have been a little much considering that there's already a large number of them on the roster. It's for that reason that Robin fits so well into the mix as a representative of the Fire Emblem franchise. He/she has a number of different ranged and physical maneuvers that can be executed, which drastically differentiates the fighter from existing ones.

"Conversely, when the idea of including Robin came to mind, conceiving the character was so easy that I immediately saw how it would work. From standards to specials, grabs to throws, all aspects of his moveset just fell into place. Not only did he possess characteristics unlike other fighters, but he also captured the essence of the Fire Emblem series. It was perfect!"

"In the end, if a game isn't fun, then there's no point. Of course, it would be really easy to make a game by churning out a ton of similar characters, but that's not how I produce games."

While it's nice that Sakurai isn't keen on filling the roster with a copious number of similar characters (better known amongst Smashers as "clones"), some will immediately point to the fact that Lucina is almost an exact copy of Marth. If the famed game developer really was against implementing similar characters than surely Fire Emblem: Awakening's Lucina wouldn't be included in the forthcoming Super Smash Bros. games.

As it turns out, Lucina was originally considered for an alternate skin of Marth (similarly to The Villager's male and female variants), but the staff decided to slightly alter her mechanics and give her her very own roster spot. As Sakurai describes, she's "very lucky to join the fray."

"Initially, I had considered including Lucina as one of Marth's alternate costumes. After all, she has a close relationship with him in FE:A. In such cases, even if two characters' names and voices differ, as long as they function the same way, I assign them as alternate costumes. The Wii Fit Trainers, Villagers, and Robin are examples of this setup."

"However, even though Lucina shares her physical stats and techniques with Marth, the characteristics of their attacks differ. When two such similar characters function in an even slightly different manner, I give them a separate spot on the roster since that will affect battle records and whatnot. In that sense, you could say she was very lucky to join the fray!"

Chrom's absence as a playable character may seem bizarre to many, but half the fun of Super Smash Bros. is the fact that there's no telling who will make a playable appearance. Anyone from Wii Fit Trainer to Pac-Man are eligible for inclusion in the series and there are sure to be even more unexpected challengers revealed prior to the release of the latest titles on Wii U and 3DS.

Regardless, Robin and Lucina make for fine additions to a franchise that's filled with Nintendo all-stars. Best of all, there's no telling who else will join the roster. Could fans finally see the return of Mewtwo? Maybe Ridley is waiting to swoop in and grab the spotlight. Needless to say, the wait won't be much longer, so stay tuned to Game Rant for more news on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.

Were you surprised that Chrom didn't make the cut this time around? What other characters are you still waiting on?

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Follow Riley on Twitter @TheRileyLittle.

Source: Weekly Famitsu (via NeoGAF)