Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is officially done adding new characters, which means fans can look back on the roster in its totality. It really is a staggering achievement, assembling characters from dozens of franchises in one place in an overwhelming celebration of the video game industry's history. It's a major celebration for Nintendo's achievements in particular. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate chronicles Nintendo's many successful game franchises, spanning from Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda to Splatoon and Arms, showing just how much the company has changed and grown over the years.

The Pokemon franchise is particularly well represented in Smash Ultimate, with the Pokemon Trainer's team bringing the total up to ten fighters. Some Smash fans don't like how much representation Pokemon has, but maybe a different style of fighter would've wrapped up Pokemon's representation better. To be specific, Nintendo should've added a villainous human character: Giovanni. Team Rocket's nefarious leader is such an infamous character in the franchise that it's frankly shocking that he didn't make the cut. Not only is there some great mechanical potential in putting Giovanni in Smash, but he would go a long way in populating Smash with video game villains. On top of that, he might've been the Smash representative that Pokemon needed all along.

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Imagining Giovanni's Smash Moveset

Pokemon Giovanni

As a human without any remarkable fighters, Giovanni probably wouldn't have done his own fighting in Smash Ultimate. Instead, he would've borrowed his design from a Super Smash Bros. Brawl newcomer who returned for Smash Ultimate: the Pokemon Trainer. This Trainer is a unique three-in-one character package, letting players switch between Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard at will to make use of their different weights, speeds, and movesets. Giovanni likely would do exactly the same thing. As the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni has access to a wide arsenal of powerful Pokemon that he could could coordinate in battle in Smash Ultimate.

Giovanni has used many Pokemon in both the games and the Pokemon anime, but there's no doubt that his signature Persian would be a part of his team, probably offering a lightweight and high mobility team member similar to the Pokemon trainer's Squirtle. For a middleweight Pokemon, Giovanni might lean into his historic specialty in Ground-type Pokemon, using a Nidoking or a Nidoqueen, while his heavyweight character could be a Rhydon. The result is a well-rounded team similar to the Pokemon Trainer that celebrates Giovanni's history in the Pokemon series while getting more use out of the Pokemon Trainer's creative concept.

Expanding Smash Ultimate's Villain Roster

super smash bros. ultimate sephiroth

Aside from his creative potential, Giovanni would've provided an important service to Smash: he'd be another villain in the games. Aside from a couple occasional rivals or anti-hero characters like Wario or King Dedede, there's not a ton of antagonists in Smash in general. Bowser and Ganondorf have been in Smash since Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the series is chiefly the home of protagonists. While it makes sense that player characters usually get into Smash instead of their villains - protagonists are the mascots of their own games, after all - it also means that Smash doesn't paint a complete picture of the video game industry.

Smash Ultimate partially corrected this flaw by adding Ridley, King K. Rool, Dark Samus, and Sephiroth to the mix. Still, there's still lots of famous villains who would've been good fits for Smash but never made it, and Giovanni is one of them. As the ancestral Pokemon antagonist, he would've been a huge leap forward for villains in Smash, providing an antagonist from one of Nintendo's most famous franchises. Player characters and protagonists may be the stars of their games, but they're only as famous and successful as they are thanks to the villains that drive their stories.

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Changing the Last Smash Ultimate Pokemon Fighter

Inceneroar Pokémon
Inceneroar Pokémon

It's worth noting that Nintendo had the perfect chance to introduce Giovanni to Smash Ultimate, too. Incineroar was one of the very last Smash Ultimate newcomers revealed as part of the base game, and lots of Smash fans were annoyed that yet another Pokemon would be in Smash. Nobody was particularly surprised, due to the importance of Pokemon to Nintendo's brand and Pokemon's history of getting new fighters in every Smash game, but Incineroar still rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Nintendo could've subverted expectations and made fans significantly happier by adding Giovanni to Smash Ultimate in Incineroar's place. He might have still been another Pokemon fighter at the end of the day, but he still would be a big surprise simply by virtue of being a human character. His name recognition would have gone a long way too. As a Generation 7 starter Pokemon, not every Smash fan is attached to the relatively new Incineroar. In contrast, Giovanni's age and history as a recurring villain means he's more likely to tap into Smash fans' excitement, playing on their nostalgia for the Pokemon franchise's roots. Since Pokemon was always going to get one last Smash fighter, Nintendo should've at least opted for a more surprising pick like Giovanni.

Giovanni and the Future of Super Smash Bros.

Pokemon TCG Giovanni Card Art 4

Nobody knows what Super Smash Bros.' future looks like, so Giovanni's omission from Smash Ultimate is particularly sad. He may never get a chance to join the fighting game series, should Nintendo decide that Ultimate is a capstone for the series that can't be followed. Smash is such a valuable IP that it's hard to imagine Nintendo abandoning the series for good, but considering how Masahiro Sakurai and his team pulled out all the stops for Smash Ultimate, it's also hard to imagine what the next Smash game could possibly look like. The only thing that fans can reliably expect is that it'll probably be many years before Smash rears its head again, if ever.

Regardless of whether or not Giovanni makes the cut in a future Smash game, though, he definitely deserved to be in Smash Ultimate. As the definitive assembly of the video game industry, it's frankly a surprise to see that he isn't there. Giovanni and Team Rocket established the central Pokemon tradition of villainous teams, and Giovanni himself remains a hallmark Nintendo antagonist. It's a shame to think he missed his change in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate; he would've been perfectly at home there.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch.

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