Takamaru

Takamaru is the main protagonist of the 1986 game The Mysterious Murasame Castle. In the game, he is a samurai who goes on adventures to defeat enemies and protect his home. He has made a few appearances in the Super Smash Bros. games.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Takamaru's first appearance in decades, besides re-releases of The Mysterious Murasame Castle, is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he appears as a collectible sticker. In The Subspace Emissary, equipping Takamaru's sticker to a character gives them +11 to their attack stat.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Takamru appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. He was first announced in a Miiverse post by Masahiro Sakurai. Like in his original game, he attacks by quickly slashing with his katana and by throwing shurikens in the four cardinal directions. He constantly moves around while attacking and jumps back to the stage's edge if he starts to fall to a pit. If enough damage is dealt to him, he becomes staggered before disappearing; otherwise, he simply goes away after a period of time.

Early in development Takamaru was considered to be a playable character, but was rejected due to lacking familiarity.

In the sixth DLC Pack for the game, a Mii Fighter Outfit with matching headgear based on Takamaru was released.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Takamaru returns as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, acting the same as in the previous game. There is also a spirit of Takamaru.

Trivia

 * While Takamaru does not appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Sakurai stated that Takamaru was at the very least considered to be a playable character, but the idea was decided against, likely due to a lack of familiarity.
 * According to Masahiro Sakurai, he explained that Takamaru was briefly considered to be a playable character in the game. However, similar to how Takamaru was excluded from Melee, Sakurai felt that Takamaru's popularity was too low to even feasibly make the cut. This resulted in his Assist Trophy role.