(and even then, it isn't even really canon, that's just the name everyone adopts because it's the constant name in presets and it's what the special manga uses).
A bit of a late reply, but... this is false.
The name "Red" isn't just seen as canonical by fans because it's the first name on the default list, or because the manga calls him that. His name is Red every time he appears as an NPC in the games (such as the battle at the top of Mt. Silver in G/S/C), too. Red is seen as canonical to the game universe by fans because... it's the name used for him by the game universe, nothing more and nothing less.
Being able to rename him when you play as him in R/B/Y doesn't override his "canon" name, at least not any more than being able to rename Link in most of the Zelda games, or being able to rename Ness and company in Earthbound, or being able to rename the entire cast of pretty much every Final Fantasy game (at least before voice acting showed up) overrides their "canon" names.
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On an unrelated note, Sonic being back means that the two 3rd-party guys I was actually expecting for Brawl (Sonic + Megaman) are now in Smash Bros. together. That's pretty neat.
I wonder if there's going to be any more (...I would guess Snake is back too?), or if they're going to limit them to a certain number? It should definitely be "more Nintendo than 3rd-party" since that's the whole point of the game, but I'm wondering what the cut-off point will be before the 3rd-party guys seem to be overrunning the game a bit. Oh, and the 3rd-party characters should definitely be limited to pretty classic/iconic characters (Sonic, Megaman, Snake are good examples.) No generic no-names or characters from games that just came out with the first in their series a year or two ago, for example. They should be pretty well established (and... actually be characters, not "types") already to get in. I could see someone from Street Fighter (Ryu?) getting in if we didn't already have a Capcom character. Maybe somebody from the Castlevania series? Simon Belmont's about the only one from the old Captain N comics/show that hasn't made a Smash Bros. appearance yet at this point, now that we have Pit and Megaman both in the games.
(...a lot of people have brought up Pac-Man as a possibility in the past, but honestly I really, really hate the 3D Pac-Man design, the one with arms and legs and a big goofy nose and such... and I just know that's what they'd use if he was playable, so I'd rather not see him get in. I'd prefer if he stayed an 8-bit yellow circle with a mouth and
maybe tiny dot-eyes. Speaking of that... maybe "8-bit Pac-Man" could be an assist trophy, if they're okay with doing 3rd-party assist trophies--using it puts down a randomized pattern of dots in lines, and then Pac-Man eats one of the power-up pellets and then starts munching the rest of them down, hitting anyone in his path?)
