Character-Altering Costumes...featuring Lord Ike!

[Demonic Raven]

I'm not sure if this theory has been brought up before (although I'm sure it has at one point or another), but you'll get the gist of what I'm saying.

So for example, if we wanted to implement a way to include Dr Mario without having him take up a whole character slot, we can instead have an unlockable costume for Mario that not only gives him the Doctor's look, but the Doctor's moves as well. Along with the small changes (pills instead of fireballs, slight difference in handling), he could have a select few major changes (like a new down B since he shouldn't have FLUDD).

We could also apply this with the new characters...for example, poor Ike. I say poor because he's been getting blasted for his rather bad recovery and lag/attack speed. It's easy to see where I'm going with it now....it's time to introduce Lord Ike!

First off, I noticed that out of all of his outfits, none fit his true Lord-class outfit (seen here (http://www.ndomain.nl/images/reviews/fepor_1.jpg)). So this would be his primary outfit, along with color-swaps.

Second off, as many have noted we never truly get to see his whole Aether attack. As of now, Ike only has the first hit. Lord Ike would introduce a second hit into his up-B. After landing on the ground from his usual Aether, one has to tap B again with precise timing to activate it. Ike slashes in front of him while doing a backflip. I can see a couple of good applications of this move. The most obvious is the combo, the second is as a surprise. For example, if someone rushes in and tries to punish you for a mistimed Aether, you can activate this attack as a safety.

The next big change is one that would fix his recovery. His side-B would gain a second hit in a similar fashion. After doing the Ranger Critical, Ike can immediately activate his Lord Critical, though once again it takes precise timing. Ike spins around while slashing his sword and he rises vertically. His movement can be controlled a slight bit, so he can gain a little more horizontal distance, as well as vertical. This would hopefully balance his recovery, while once again granting him more options in battle (that aren't as slow).

The last change is the biggest one...and it's just less startup lag on many of his moves! If I could put it in Sakurai-nese it would be "Now that Ike is more experienced, he can handle his sword much better!" There's not much more to say here, despite it being the biggest change/improvement.

As I implied, unlocking this costume would take a decent amount of Ike playing, like having to play a certain amount of matches using Ike or something to that effect.

Well, how does this sound? I realize that this probably won't be happening, but more unlikely and stranger things have happened (Stage Creator, anyone?). Will this make Ike better? Does it help him too much? (Constructive) Feedback/criticism is appreciated.

[Chaosblade77]

There is one major flaw with this theory. As much as I would like to see an improved version of Ike, I don't see this happening.

The problem is your definition of "character slot." It's not so much an issue of him taking a spot, it's the time spent programming it when that time could be spent on something else, for example, another character. Fact is they could add as many slots for characters as they want, but the quality and uniqueness drops as more characters are introduced.

Most people don't want to see Doc at all, basically. Regardless of whether he has his own spot. If he has his own special attacks and major differences between himself and Mario, he is still his own character, and that time spent making him could have been spent on another character.

I think the best hope for Ike now is that they do some retouching on his pre-attack lag. That is his biggest issue. Sure his recovery is bad, but if he can hit his opponents and get kills, at least he has SOMETHING going for him.

[Glinth]

I don't want ALT costumes at all and this is even worse =_=

So no

[Marthgreil]

IGN suggested the samething for Dr.Mario, however I'd imagine thats not happenening however I doubt a costume change would change a person's moves.

[Demonic Raven]

Okay, I understand that the costume theory is rather unpopular. However, that wasn't exactly what I was trying to go for when I made this topic.

Unlikely and unpopular as it is, let's say hypothetically that character-altering costumes are in Brawl. Would the Lord Ike costume I suggested be a legitimate upgrade?

[Tyr_God_of_war]

Once you unlocked this would all of Ike's gain this ability? If not then why would you ever play as Non-lord Ike? And what if more then 1 person wants to play Ike in a match? What then?
And if he does keep his stats would you play as Lord-Ike of Non-lord Ike in competitive games?

[3D King]

So work hard and you get a better clone of a character, but instead of being a blatant clone, its a clone in disguise?

[True Fool]

I am strongly against versions of the same character that are intentionally stronger. Marth>Roy, Dr.Mario>Mario, Pikachu>Pichu were all examples of clones being made with one being accidentily superior over the other. When they do it on purpose, it just gets ridiculous.

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

The idea of alternate costumes seems to be absent due to the demo revelations, but the idea of having clone characters as alternate outfits is fairly questionable in terms of development. Who knows, it may be possible, but don't seek this as an improvement for Ike.