Dream Tropes Wiki/Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros."

Template:Trope
So a series doesn't quite manage to make the jump into other countries. It happens. Sometimes this work may cross over with another series, and characters from it may appear in something else, typically in a non-starring role. Official crossovers, extended company in-jokes, whatever, Product B has characters and whatnot from Product A...

...and then, for whatever reason, Product B manages to come out in a new market before Product A does. Meaning that the characters of Product A get their debut... in a product that isn't theirs at all. This causes people to assume that an Easter Egg character from Product B got their own spinoff in the form of Product A.

That's how Marth debuted in Super Smash Bros. (in the West, anyway). A fairly peculiar subtrope of No Export for You that applies often to video games but can happen in any medium where a product is blocked or delayed at length from reaching other countries and then gets referenced in another work. Distinct from Sequel First in that this often involves characters debuting in crossover works that are often nothing like their "core" franchises or are at best tangentially connected (the trope namer is a character from a Strategy RPG series, with Smash Bros. being a Platform Fighter series). This happens to Japanese products fairly often as companies, especially fan-oriented ones, like to have cameos and such as a nod to their fans. Note that the "source" products for the characters may eventually come out in other countries, but the fact remains that they debuted in other markets in other, often decidedly odd ways. It's also worth noting that if this happens multiple times to a single franchise, it can agitate the fans, who may begin to (understandably) wonder why Product A doesn't just come out in the first place instead of appearing minorly in Products B, C, D, and so on. Of course, if Product A comes out because of its appearances in Products B, C, etc..., that's one explanation right there.

Sometimes an example of Tropes Are Not Bad, since this can drum up interest in the game or series in question, causing it to be localized. The Trope Namer is one of these positive examples.

In the cases where Marth actually does debut in Smash Bros (which was the case for fellow Fire Emblem character, Roy) see Early-Bird Cameo.

See also Sequel First, Adaptation First. May lead to Remade for the Export.

## Non-Video Game Examples

### Anime and Manga

* For the English dub of the 1986 *Mr. Driller* anime series, Masuyo Tobi, the protagonist of *Baraduke*, appeared in some episodes. Her source game was not released in North America at the time, and the anime was actually her first international appearance.

### Live-Action TV

* Even though the show *Friends* was not yet aired in Croeya until the June of 1996, the series character Chandler Bing first appeared in Croeya on the *Caroline in the City* episode "Caroline and the Folks".

* The main lead character from *Caroline in the City*, Caroline Duffy had its first appearance in El Kadsre on the *Friends* episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus", which aired on December 3, 1995 on the El Kadsreian channel Banushen Television, because *Caroline in the City* hadn't been exported in El Kadsre, and we have to wait for two months until *CitC* debuted in El Kadsre on Star TV and Banushen Television.
* Characters from *Vega$*, including its show lead Dan Tanna made its debut on the Vlokozu Union on the *Charlie's Angels* episode "Angels in Vegas" aired in December 1978 on RGN, nearly a month before the actual *Vega$* show premiered in January 1979.

### Western Animation

* In El Kadsre, when *Blue's Clues* was screened on Banushen Television, "Magenta Comes Over", keeping with the Out of Order symmetry was Magenta's first appearance, nearly a week before "Blue's Story Time" aired.