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Takamaru

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Takamaru
Takamaru
SpecialStagesSymbol.svg
Official artwork of Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle.
Universe The Mysterious Murasame Castle
Debut The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986)
Smash Bros. appearances Brawl
SSB4
Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance Super Mario Maker 2 (2019, cameo)
Console/platform of origin Famicom (Disk System)
Species Human
Gender Male
Voice actor Tomokazu Sugita

Takamaru (鷹丸, Takamaru) is the protagonist of The Mysterious Murasame Castle.

Origin[edit]

Takamaru in The Mysterious Murasame Castle.

Takamaru is the protagonist of the 1986 Famicom game The Mysterious Murasame Castle: he is an apprentice samurai who must protect Edo Japan and four neighboring castle towns from an evil alien menace, residing in the titular Murasame Castle. Armed with only a katana and his wit, he sets off to rescue the people from the extraterrestrial's influence. The game worked similarly to The Legend of Zelda - being based on the same engine - and had several power-ups for Takamaru to use, including sandals that let him walk on water, fireballs, throwing knives, and windmill swords.

Takamaru and his game became rather obscure, owing to the lack of an overseas release; prior to the Famicom disc for the game making a cameo in Pikmin 2, Takamaru was effectively unknown in the Western world. The character made his first international appearance in Samurai Warriors 3 as a playable character, with an English voice track by Darrel Guilbeau accompanying the appearance. After being featured in his own mini-game in the Wii U game Nintendo Land, his own game received an international (albeit untranslated) release for the Nintendo 3DS in the eShop.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

While he does not make any appearance in Melee, Sakurai stated that Takamaru was at least considered for a playable role during development, but the idea was later scrapped, likely due to low relevance.[1]

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Takamaru's only appearance in Brawl is as a sticker.

Sticker[edit]

Name Game Effect Character(s)
Takamaru Nazo no Murasame Jō Weapon (type) Attack +11 RandomHeadSSBB.png
Brawl Sticker Takamaru (Nazo no Murasamejo).png
Takamaru
(Nazo no Murasamejo)

In Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

As an Assist Trophy[edit]

Takamaru as an Assist Trophy.

Takamaru appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4. When summoned, he moves around swiftly with dashes and jumps, mimicking the animations of his original game with choppy body movements. He attacks either by throwing Windmill Swords that travel in an "X" shape and deal 3% damage to characters on contact, or with a flurry of repeated slashes using his katana, which traps opponents and deals up to 40% damage, with high knockback on the final hit. He can be defeated if he takes enough hits. Takamaru is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who also voiced Chrom in the same game's Japanese version. He is one of five characters in Smash 4 that only speak Japanese in every version, with the others being Marth, the Prince of Sablé, Roy, and Cloud.

In an interview, Masahiro Sakurai stated that he briefly considered Takamaru as a playable character for Super Smash Bros. 4, but just like how Takamaru was scrapped in Melee, he felt that Takamaru's popularity was too low to make the cut, relegating him to Assist Trophy status.

As a costume[edit]

A Mii Swordfighter dressed as Takamaru.

Takamaru is also the basis of a downloadable Mii Fighter costume for Mii Swordfighters. Nintendo also released a QR code for those who wish to have the exact Mii used in the costume's advertising.

Trophy[edit]

Takamaru's trophy appears in both versions. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U it is part of the Memorabilia Trophy Box.

Takamaru's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Takamaru
NTSC The main character of The Mysterious Murasame Castle. In this game, he dashes and jumps straight to the nearest opponent and shows off his swift sword skills. If he's got a bit of distance, he uses his special ninja techniques, based on the rook and the bishop in Japanese chess, to send projectiles spinning through the air.
3DS: The Mysterious Murasame Castle (08/2014)
PAL The main character of The Mysterious Murasame Castle. In this game, he dashes and jumps straight to the nearest opponent and shows off his swift sword skills. Once he's got a bit of distance, he uses his special ninja techniques, based on the rook and bishop in Japanese chess, to send projectiles spinning through the air.
Famicom Disk System: The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986 (JP))

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

As an Assist Trophy[edit]

Takamaru returns as an Assist Trophy, acting like how he did in Smash 4. KOing him now earns a point, and he cannot appear on Boxing Ring, Mute City SNES, and Norfair. His voice clips from Smash 4 are reused in Ultimate and he is one of seven characters in the game that only speak Japanese; the others are the Prince of Sablé, Cloud, Yuri Kozukata, Akira Yuki, Sephiroth, and Kazuya.

As a costume[edit]

Takamaru's wig and outfit also return as part of the base game.

Spirit[edit]

No. Image Name Type Class Slots Base Power Max Power Base Attack Max Attack Base Defense Max Defense Ability Series
1,128
Takamaru
Takamaru
Attack
★★★ 2 2948 8869 1541 4636 1139 3427 Sword Attack ↑ The Mysterious Murasame Castle

Gallery[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name
Japan Japanese 鷹丸, Takamaru
UK English Takamaru
France French Takamaru
Germany German Takamaru
Spain Spanish Takamaru
Italy Italian Takamaru
China Chinese Takamaru
South Korea Korean 타카마루, Takamaru
Netherlands Dutch Takamaru
Russia Russian Такамару

Trivia[edit]

  • Despite being depicted as a samurai in all of his appearances before being an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4, Takamaru is mislabeled as being a ninja in the English translations of his character Trophy. He is even shown wielding a ninjatō, a weapon associated with ninjas, rather than wielding the katana like his previous incarnations.
  • In the Wii U version, the "Game Releases" section of the trophy description only mentions The Mysterious Murasame Castle's international debut on the Virtual Console in 2014, and not its original Japanese release on the Famicom Disk System in 1986.
  • In Ultimate, Takamaru's first line does not appear on Sound Test, despite the line being played out after getting summoned out of the Assist Trophy.
  • Takamaru's kimono is a much paler shade of blue, almost gray, on his Assist Trophy model compared to how it appears in the official artwork used for his Spirit. This appears to be due to the model being based on a version of Takamaru's official artwork with inaccurate colors; it more closely matches the colors seen in his Sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

References[edit]