Geno

Geno as he appears in Super Mario RPG

"*"I serve… a higher authority…"*"
— Geno, *Super Mario RPG*

**Geno** (real name **♡♪!?**) is a character from the 1996 video game *Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars* for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by the Japanese role-playing game legend Square (later merged into Square Enix) and published by Nintendo and he is also in Earthbound. He is one of the few party members that Mario meets on his quest to defeat the evil robot Smithy and his army of weapons. Due to his normal star form being unsuited for the task at hand, Geno would end up possessing a wooden doll that conveniently gave him access to a wide range of weapons. Despite hardly appearing after his debut, Geno would go on to be widely considered the most well-known and popular character to first appear in his original game, even being considered a representative in general for it by some people. That said, much of Geno's notoriety actually comes from the surprisingly large amount of support towards inclusion in the *Super Smash Bros.* series and the fanbase that spawned around it.

Geno has a very interesting history with the *Super Smash Bros.* boards on GameFAQs. During the speculation surrounding *Super Smash Bros. Brawl*, Geno would actually end up gaining an unexpected amount of traction despite his relative obscurity, especially compared to many other popular picks. He had received a notable boost in popularity from his presence in popular fan works on the internet that likely played a large part in the support surrounding him (Most notably the flash animated music video "Rawest Forest", which was originally posted on Newgrounds in the thick of Brawl speculation). Despite this, he would unsurprisingly miss his chance with Brawl. While his support largely went quiet for most of the speculation surrounding the sequels to Brawl, *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U*, with much of SmashFAQs largely deeming him a joke at that point, he would gain far more attention during the DLC speculation period. The existence of the Smash Ballot led to many who had doubted his chances seeing a second chance at him potentially joining the roster. While he once again missed the cut, he would end up receiving a Mii Costume that further drove speculation around the character.

He would hit new highs with speculation in the Smash community in the lead-up to *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*, though this phenomenon was not as prevalent in casual crowds. In particular, a small portion of fans would end up gathering around Smashboards and end up crafting theories that were often a bit outlandish, with a user named Fatmanonice leading much of this. In contrast to his increased support, Geno also gained a far bigger amount of detractors, with SmashFAQs in particular having a large base of opposition towards the character. Despite the increased attention and Geno's eventual presence on the Grinch Leak, he ended up only making the base game as a Spirit. Debate over his potential inclusion would still continue for over two years with the advent of DLC speculation for the title, with it finally coming to a practical ending once Geno was deconfirmed as a DLC fighter via the return of his Mii Costume with the inclusion of Sephiroth. While some foolhardy supporters didn't fully give up, the majority conceded that he would not be joining, with the Geno thread on Smashboards closing soon afterwards. Many of the users on SmashFAQs ended up celebrating his deconfirmation and the end of the theories surrounding the character.

Geno has a very interesting legacy. While he undoubtedly does have a lot of notoriety due to his role in *Super Mario RPG*, which was definitely a success both on the SNES and in later rereleases, his role in Smash speculation can almost be considered just as important, if not more important, to his overall legacy. He is, for all intents and purposes, a character that shouldn't have been a pick as popular as he got, and it's honestly a miracle he actually got as much as he did in *Smash 4* and *Ultimate*. In the recent years of SmashFAQs, he has largely held the notion of being an improbable and ridiculous pick, with the prevalence of reaching theories towards his inclusion furthering the negative reception he has on the site. Regardless, Geno can be remembered as a large part of Smash speculation due to his unique nature, regardless of the opinions one may hold about him joining Smash.

## History on SmashFAQs

### Ultimate Days

Geno would gain record attention in relation to Smash (and honestly in general) in the lead-up to the next installment in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, later revealed as *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*

## Theories Surrounding Geno

*Main Article*: Geno Conspiracy Theories

With Geno's base of supporters has come a wide range of theories, fairly often of questionable worth. While these sort of conspiracy theories are found in other support bases, they grew particularly common with Geno. Much of this had to do with the Geno support thread on Smashboards and in particular Fatmanonice, who drove much of the speculation related to the character's chances being high. While some of these theories were perhaps grounded in actual reality, others had a lot less validity to them and made Geno's chances look higher than actual reality. Despite these theories largely being centered on one site, they would often leak onto GameFAQs both in ironic and unironic contexts.

## Mii Costume

While his support could not earn him a spot as a fighter, Geno has received a Mii Costume in both *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U* and *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*. This includes his distinct cap and an outfit for the Mii Gunner with an arm gun featured in a few of his moves, particularly his first Special Move, Geno Beam. The costume did not receive any major changes in *Ultimate* despite hopes from some for a deluxe costume in the style of characters like Sans and Cuphead. That said, it did in fairness receive a few minor touch-ups on par with some of the other returning outfits, with the most notable being a fix to his cape clipping as seen in *Smash 4*. Quite funnily, the reveals and releases of the costumes share a few similarites: both came with characters from *Final Fantasy VII* (Cloud in *Smash 4* and Sephiroth in *Ultimate*), both similarly came with the Chocobo Hat (which actually got a bigger overhaul for *Ultimate*), and the costume would mark its second appearance only a little over five years after its original debut.

## Geno Supporters

This is a list of users who have openly expressed their support for Geno in the past. Some may be bigger supporters than others, but these users have generally held a positive opinion towards Geno joining. Trolls will be marked when possible.

* demon\_cleaner

* Doomboy - troll
* IdontcaresoFoff
* Giratena2008 - inactive
* JudgeGeno - infamous troll account, suspended
* Shadow\_Myth - inactive
* WrestlinJustice
* YoungLink - inactive, disappeared following the reveal of Sephiroth
* ZekeDaGeek - formerly known as TheHypist and ThunderNinja96, abandoned Geno and admitted he was bandwagoning following the reveal of Sephiroth.
* kayokango - troll, account closed for backlash from calling people with autism a circus.

## Notable Opponents of Geno

On the converse to the above list, this is a list of users who have openly expressed dissent towards the idea of Geno joining. This may be on the grounds of distaste towards the character or simply just a sense of aggravation towards the idea of such a relatively niche character joining *Smash*.

* Blue-Lemon-Z
* crazybenjamin - Cited Geno's deconfirmation as a reason behind him buying Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Despite this, he outright stated that he was never opposed to Geno's Mii Costume getting the Sans treatment as a "compromise".
* CrazyDiamondSP
* SmashBurb - one of the most vocal opponents of Geno along with his more notorious supporters, like Fatman
* Tomasagaz14 - one of Geno's most vocal opponents on GameFAQs
* Psystrike95 - considers Geno a "bottom of the barrel trash pick for both a Super Mario and Square Enix rep" and believes other characters from the Super Mario series and Square should get in before Geno.