Side Note

Here are the political alignments of every ‘Super Smash Bros.’ character

Last May, we reported on the existence of a very charming video presenting the political alignments of all the Mario Kart characters. At the end, we wrote: “Next up: Super Smash Brothers.” Somehow, it is now January, and Art House Politics, the proprietors of that clip, have returned with a new spin on the same concept: the political alignments of all the characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which came out at the end of last year. There are more than 70 characters in the game, which is so many political alignments to dole out they had to split the video into two:

This one isn’t as novel: There are some repetitions from the Mario Kart video (as the games feature overlapping characters from the Mario world), and some of the characterizations are clearly phoned-in, as you might expect from having to come up with pithy one-liners about 70-plus characters. But Ryu as a “Japanese nationalist” is good, as is Wii Fit Trainer as a “YIMBY who calls the cops on black teens,” and Samus as a Lean-In feminist. The solid bit can survive a second pass, and maybe even a third. Next up: Kingdom Hearts?

Samus is a Lean-In feminist. Ryu is a Japanese nationalist. Nobody denies this.