Takamaru

“	I, Takamaru, have waited many years to appear in Super Smash Bros.! Link, Samus, Pit, and I debuted in the same year! Multidirectional Pinwheel Knife Rook Attack!!	”
—Masahiro Sakurai on Miiverse, portraying Takamaru

Takamaru
File:Takamaru Nazo no Murasame-jō.png File:SpecialStagesSymbol.png Official artwork of Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle.
Universe	The Mysterious Murasame Castle
Debut	The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986)
Smash Bros. appearances	SSB4
Most recent appearance	Nintendo Land (Referenced, 2012)
Console of origin	Nintendo Family Computer Disk System
Species	Human
Japanese voice actor	Tomokazu Sugita

Takamaru (鷹丸, Takamaru) is the protagonist of The Mysterious Murasame Castle. He appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a sticker, and in Super Smash Bros. 4 as an Assist Trophy.

Origin

Takamaru is the protagonist of the 1986 Famicom game The Mysterious Murasame Castle. In said game, 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, 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 worldwide releases for it; prior to the Famicom disc for the game making a cameo in Pikmin 2, Takamaru was effectively unknown in the Western world. The character would later make his first international appearance in Samurai Warriors 3 for the Wii as a playable character, and after being featured in his own mini-game in the Wii U game Nintendo Land, his own game received an international release for the 3DS via the eShop.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

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

Name	Game	Effect	Character(s)
Takamaru	Nazo no Murasame Jō	Attack +11

Takamaru (Nazo no Murasamejo)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Takamaru appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4. When summoned, he attacks with his katana dealing up to 40% damage. He also throws Windmill Swords that travel in different directions they deal 3% damage.

In an interview, Sakurai stated he briefly considered Takamaru as a playable character for Smash 4, but felt Takamaru's popularity was too low to make the cut, relegating him to Assist Trophy status.

Trophy Description

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

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 rock and the bishop in Japanese chess, to send projectiles spinning through the air.

: The Mysterious Murasame Castle (08/2014)

Gallery

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  Takamaru throws his pinwheel knives

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  Takamaru fighting along side Diddy Kong, Fox, and Falco against Bowser.

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  Takamaru and a Mii Gunner.

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  Takamaru attacking Duck Hunt.

Trivia

• Despite being depicted as a Samurai in all of his appearances before being an Assist Trophy in SSB4, 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 in 1986.
• Takamaru was originally considered as playable character in "SSB4", but was cut due to familiarity issues.