-Movesets-
One of the favourite pastimes of the anxiously waiting crowd of fans that populates this section of the forum is the creation of hypothetical movesets for the characters they wish to see. You may now say "duh" if you like.
Some of them are awesome, some are less so, but all in all, I often see that the creators of movesets find themselves unable to think of certain attacks or just seem to randomly throw in whatever comes to mind.
Most movesets I've seen contain a projectile, a charging attack and an up-b that serves the sole purpose of getting the character back on stage, some weak and some strong throws, some weak and some strong aerials and just strong smashes.
I may appear arrogant now; I don't consider myself an authority on movesets or anything in any way. What I'm going to try to do is to help by giving moveset creators some guidelines and guidance, help those who feel unable to come up with anything worthwhile, give structure to the styles of fighting present in the game and pretty much just burn some time and fuel discussion besides the old "this character sucks/rocks".
In the main part of this thread, I'll try to establish classifications of the characters in SSBM based on criteria that fundamentally characterize their style as well as smaller details, and so on. This way, when you're trying to come up with a moveset for your favourite character, you may compare them to characters present in the game and decide on how they should be played.
Again, I'm no authority, I just watch combo videos and read guides, yet there are many characters I don't fully understand. Discussion is welcome, and I'll change the list if the need arises.
-Character Classifications-
Combo Monsters:
Fox
Falco
Sheik
Captain Falcon
Style:
These guys are offensive beasts. They'll quickly penetrate any defense and start comboing their opponent into oblivion, offing them with one of their extremely mighty finishers.
Generally:
-Very fast in movement and attacks
-Moves that easily lead into each other
-Quick finishing moves
-Fast-fallers
-Easily comboed
-Easily interrupted recovery
Why?
What these guys have in common is that speed is their most defining trait. Falcon drives a futuristic racecar, Fox flies a small spaceship and Sheik is some sort of ninja. Falco is an exception with slow running speed, but stays true to his flying roots with his high jump, and possesses great falling speed.
Hypothetical example: Sonic
Sonic, being defined by speed, is bound to excel in it in every area and might well become the new Falcon with an ability to chase opponents across the battlefield in lightning speed.
Notes: These characters make up the top of the SSBM list. Will speed become less important in Brawl?
Combo Artists:
Mario
Doctor Mario
Luigi
Peach
Style:
Unlike the combo monsters, the artists aren't very fast-moving, whether on the ground or in the air. They do, however, have fast attacks and excel at chaining them together, especially in the air, and often manage to start up their combos thanks to a small bag of tricks, usually involving a projectile. They tend to have few effective finishers.
Generally:
-Quick attacks, often without much power
-Fast combos especially in the air
-Some effective b-move tricks
-Floaty
-Middleweight
-Strange recovers that might work for or against them
-Not easily comboed
-Not many finishers
-Not too fast-moving
Why?
These characters are more balanced than some, possessing many strengths and weaknesses. Mario is the best example, as he is considered the character by whose strength all others' is measured, since he's pretty much the main hero of Nintendo.
Hypothetical example: Pit?
This is pure speculation, but the fact that Pit seems like an aerial fighter who does not excel in power and has only above average speed and presumably low falling speed plus an effective projectile, he might well turn out to be a balanced comboist.
Notes: We need more of these balanced guys, they rock.
All-rounders aka Randomness
Game and Watch
Yoshi
Style:
All-rounders have a random assortment of fast and weak attacks, combo attacks and killers, attacks that combo in themselves and so on. They take quite a while to learn and have some strange quirks, yet they are pretty nice at comboing and have a decent amount of good killers. Players should have the ability to mix up their play to make use of their variety and become unpredictable.
General:
-Quirky style of playing
-Attacks lead into another
-Self-comboing attacks ( Yoshi's dair&bair, G&W's bair )
-Strange B moves ranging from awesome to useless
-Strange recovery
-Randomly very strong attacks ( Yoshi's smashes in PAL )
-Easily comboed
-Weaknesses very exploitable
Why?
Game and Watch is the epitome of randomness. That's why. Yoshi, on the other hand, is a dinosaur, which means he's not exactly a martial artist, but still strong. He was given a very nice comboing and KO-ing moveset offset by some quirks like his lack of a third jump to make him balanced.
Hypothetical example: Missingno ... err, ERROR...
Honestly, I can't think of anything.
Notes: I'm not sure about this class. Help is appreciated.
Weapon Masters
Marth
Roy
Style:
Weapon Masters rely solely on their long and powerful weapon of choice.
This gives them a very organic and intuitive playing style.
Their long range and disjointed hitboxes make them excel both offensively and defensively.
Additionally, they are rather fast and possess one or two extremely powerful killers to offset their relatively weak but quite comboable tilts and aerials.
General:
-Long range and disjointed hitboxes
-Attacks cover great distances in all directions ( arching sweeps )
-Very powerful finishing move, but not many
-Excel at edgeguarding
-Illogically long grab range
-Relatively low damage on most attacks, especially aerials
-No projectiles
-Rather predictable due to lack of variety
Why?
They use swords and not much else. So far all of them come from RPGs, where they did not have many different attacks.
Hypothetical example: Flint
Just for the sake of having a weapon other than a sword, Flint is a cowboy, the first main character of Mother 3/Earthbound 2 and uses a plank as a weapon. Awesome!
Tool Masters:
Link
Young Link
Samus
Style:
Projectiles. Lots and lots of projectiles. These characters have huge bags of tricks and are a nightmare to anyone predictable, slow or projectile-less if the Tool Master knows what he's doing.
At close combat, they usually prove to be slow but pretty strong.
General:
-Many projectiles and other tricks ( bomb-jumps, hookshot-recovery )
-Extended grab
-Some strong smashes and aerials
-Slow-moving
-Easily comboed
-Leave themselves open while using projectiles
Why?
The Links and Samus have in common that they are adventurers who find many different weapons on their journeys that allow them to fight or solve puzzles, thus their great variety.
Hypothetical example: Snake
A big, slow, strong guy who uses explosives. What more is there to say?
Big guys
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Ganondorf
Style:
These three actually play quite differently, but they share their weight, strength and laggy moves, which make it crucial for them to control their opponent and use their strength when the chance arises to finish them off with few heavily damaging moves.
General:
-Very strong
-Very heavy
-Often good range
-Recovery goes a great horizontal distance but is predictable and doesn't go far vertically
-Slow in general
-Often helpless against quick comboists and projectile-users due to their size
-Hard to combo with
Why?
Their strength is their most defining trait. Two of the three are villains, both of which would be uber if they used the full potential displayed in some of their games. Donkey Kong is the exception as he's also fast, but suffers from lagginess after strong attacks.
Hypothetical example: King Dedede
Like Bowser, a mischievous villain and final boss of many games, he's big, fat, strong, probably floaty and wields a hammer. And he's a penguin.
Notes: They are found spread throughout the tiers, apparently dependent on their range. Yes, I mean you, Bowser. Stretching is in order!
Tiny guys
Pikachu
Pichu
Style:
Agile and small, these fighters zip around the stage ( on all fours ). Unlike Combo Monsters, however, they greatly lack range and tilts that lead into combos.
These critters have surprisingly powerful smashes, however, which they will try to hit with whenever possible, as well as a good aerial game in which they'll use their speed and small size to turn themselves into living cannonballs.
General:
-Small
-Fast
-Agile
-Strong smashes
-Very good recovery
-Attacks other than smashes are usually weak
-Lightweight
-Very small range
-Lack good combos
Why?
They are ( so far ) small quadruped animals with some hidden powers, which makes them agile and potentially strong, but if they don't get to use those powers ( tilts ), they lack good options.
Hypothetical example: Meowth
Another Pokemon, and an unlikely one, but he wouldn't be much larger than Pikachu and could behave similarly in mid-air.
Notes: These are only Pokemon so far, but how many game characters can you think of who are small, fast and potentially quadruped?
Balls
Jigglypuff
Kirby
Style:
The masters of the air, these fighters rely on aerial attacks. They are generally slow, especially on land, but have some good combo attacks making use of their spherical shape that typically initiate an aerial juggle. Lacking many strong finishers, they often rely on edgeguarding, although the power of some of their attacks might surprise you.
These characters are among the "oddballs" with random B-moves that range from awesome to useless.
General:
-Strong aerials
-Quick attacks
-Good at juggling in midair
-Several jumps give them a far-ranging recovery
-Very good edgeguarders
-Some surprisingly strong moves ( Rest, both forward smashes )
-Stretchy arms give them a long grab range
-Floaty
-Lightweight
-Slow
-Often predictable and lacking good approaches
-Slow and predictable recovery
Why?
They're round. Kirby could fly indefinitely in some of his games. Jigglypuff copies many of his moves and for some reason ends up being better in the air than him although a Jigglypuff has never been seen flying before. Well, I guess it's a "Balloon Pokemon" indeed.
Hypothetical example: Metaknight
He flies, he's round and he attacks quickly; that he has a weapon does not change the fact that he's like Kirby with a suit of armor.
Psychos and Magisters
Ness
Zelda
Mewtwo
Style:
Forget everything you've learned, predictability has been glorifiedly defenestrated. Psychos and Magisters have the most random assortment of moves in the game ( at least in terms of effect ), ranging from perfectly useless to "whoops, you're dead".
Using these takes a whole lot of practice in order to master their strange style of playing, but once that is achieved, a master of these can use the element of unpredictability to coldly finish any foe who doesn't know what awaits him.
General:
-Very strange style that takes long to get used to
-Trademark second jump that allows jump-cancelling.
-Some very powerful attacks
-Very good throws
-Unpredictable
-Projectiles and other tricks
-Strong aerial game
-Sometimes good teleportation recovery
-Floaty
-Very easily comboed, difficult to break out of combos with
-Hard to use
-Slow
-Relatively light
-Many weak attacks, thus few options
Why?
These characters relied on magic or psychic powers in their games. They are all very different, but are similar in that respect. I guess it makes sense, somehow.
Mewtwo is an exception in that he has no really powerful attacks and actually very good tilts, and his attacks are far from random ( so nicely symmetrical... ) but the rest fits.
Hypothetical example: A Final Fantasy magic-user?
Whoever relies on magic is bound to have some really strong stuff and some attacks that aren't quite as useful, I guess?
Aaand done. As I said, this is not final or anything, and there are many characters who are exceptions to their own rule. Also, you may notice that I was unable to classify the Ice Climbers, so it can all be improved upon a lot.
Anyway, on to the
-Strengths and Weaknesses-
When creating the concept of a character, the strengths and weaknesses are a good point to start with. What are their strengths and what their weaknesses, and to what extent? Even Marth has a weakness or two, and every character should be balanced with a nice set of strengths and one or two weaknesses to offset these.
I will try to narrow down the aspects to few, then come up with examples for who shines and who sucks in them, along with explanations for why that is so.
Strength:
Self-explanatory. Generally, strong characters do much damage and have great knockback. Damage and knockback are completely different things, mind you. There is no general rule as to what type of attack does more damage and what inflicts more knockback.
Damage-wielder: Bowser
With lots of claws and spikes, he does major damage with each move, but tends to lack the sort of knockback Ganondorf's blunt fist has.
Damage-wimp: Pichu
He's a baby and he's a small rodent, with the exception of some of his hidden powers, all his physical attacks serve to defend his frail body rather than damage.
Knockback-wielder: Pichu&Ness
On the other hand, Pichu has a remarkable f-smash that can thrust the foe a long way at low damage. A good example of the different nature of damage and knockback; another example is Ness' back-throw since throws don't damage a lot but this one has incredible knockback.
Knockback-wimp: Peach
F-throw and stuff aside, Peach is and will always be a princess in a pink dress. Naturally, she lacks incredible powers that allow her to KO at low percents; her f-smash is the second-weakest or weakest in the game.
Speed:
The master discipline, speed comes in many variants.
Running speed: Maximum speed dashing on the ground, this usually explains itself. The speed at which a person can run is generally dependent on their weight, fitness and length of their legs. These points usually suffice to explain why Ganondorf's slow, Fox is fast and Jiggly is slow although she's light and acrobatic. The exception is the princesses, who are simply wearing the wrong shoes.
Falling Speed: Not so self-explanatory, falling speed can be a blessing or a curse as it can accelerate aerial combat but also makes a fast faller easily comboable.
Oftentimes, fast characters will also fall quickly ( Falcon ) and slow characters will fall slowly ( Luigi ). Fast falling speed is a sign of acrobatic skills, slow falling speed a sign of aerial maneuverability and overall strength. Nothing is set into stone, however.
Attack speed: This also often goes hand-in-hand with the other types of speed, but not always. Smaller characters often have fast attacks as they attack closely to their body; Donkey Kong has many fast attacks, but also extremely laggy ones when he tries to wield his huge arms with all his might.
Generally, attacks close to the body are fast, which explains why spherical characters attack quickly. Attacks that extent further are often slower.
Quick attacks also speak for great skills in the character's martial art of choice as seen in Marth and Sheik.
Range:
Do you have a weapon or long arms? Chances are you have good range. Your arms are short and you have nothing else? Sucks to be you, you're missing out on one of the most important disciplines!
Range-wielder: Marth
His sword covers half the arena and it's even stronger at the tip since Marth was originally a fencer if I recall correctly.
Range-wimp: Pichu
Poor Pichu gets no love. He's small and his arms are practically non-existent. The short tail doesn't help much, either. His biggest weapon is his head.
Weight:
Not always logical, weight often corresponds roughly to, well, weight. This is pretty much Marth's only weight, which is obviously an example of a character's weight being tweaked in order to make them more balanced, since knights aren't really known to be lightweight.
( to be continued, too tired to go on )
-General stuff-
-Pokemon so far have a lot in common: lightweight, great recovery, strong smashes, weak tilts, good aerials
-Some characters with strong smashes have strangely weak forward tilts, namely Donkey Kong, the Ice Climbers, (Dr.) Mario, G&W and Samus. Conversely, Kirby, Ness and Young Link have some of the strongest forward tilts.
-Pichu and Mewtwo are the only characters whose up-b doesn't damage at all, Pikachu's, Zelda's and Sheik's up-bs damage only as a by-product, but Pichu's, Pikachu's, Mewtwo's and Zelda's are also well usable for movement and mind-games.
Conclusion: Up-b's that serve no purpose other than getting back on stage do not exist and should be avoided.
Well, that should be enough for now. I thought I still had something to add to the general stuff, but I don't remember, and after a few hours of typing, I'm starting to get tired.
So, is there any feedback? Anything useful to add, comments, criticism, changes?
One of the favourite pastimes of the anxiously waiting crowd of fans that populates this section of the forum is the creation of hypothetical movesets for the characters they wish to see. You may now say "duh" if you like.
Some of them are awesome, some are less so, but all in all, I often see that the creators of movesets find themselves unable to think of certain attacks or just seem to randomly throw in whatever comes to mind.
Most movesets I've seen contain a projectile, a charging attack and an up-b that serves the sole purpose of getting the character back on stage, some weak and some strong throws, some weak and some strong aerials and just strong smashes.
I may appear arrogant now; I don't consider myself an authority on movesets or anything in any way. What I'm going to try to do is to help by giving moveset creators some guidelines and guidance, help those who feel unable to come up with anything worthwhile, give structure to the styles of fighting present in the game and pretty much just burn some time and fuel discussion besides the old "this character sucks/rocks".
In the main part of this thread, I'll try to establish classifications of the characters in SSBM based on criteria that fundamentally characterize their style as well as smaller details, and so on. This way, when you're trying to come up with a moveset for your favourite character, you may compare them to characters present in the game and decide on how they should be played.
Again, I'm no authority, I just watch combo videos and read guides, yet there are many characters I don't fully understand. Discussion is welcome, and I'll change the list if the need arises.
-Character Classifications-
Combo Monsters:
Fox
Falco
Sheik
Captain Falcon
Style:
These guys are offensive beasts. They'll quickly penetrate any defense and start comboing their opponent into oblivion, offing them with one of their extremely mighty finishers.
Generally:
-Very fast in movement and attacks
-Moves that easily lead into each other
-Quick finishing moves
-Fast-fallers
-Easily comboed
-Easily interrupted recovery
Why?
What these guys have in common is that speed is their most defining trait. Falcon drives a futuristic racecar, Fox flies a small spaceship and Sheik is some sort of ninja. Falco is an exception with slow running speed, but stays true to his flying roots with his high jump, and possesses great falling speed.
Hypothetical example: Sonic
Sonic, being defined by speed, is bound to excel in it in every area and might well become the new Falcon with an ability to chase opponents across the battlefield in lightning speed.
Notes: These characters make up the top of the SSBM list. Will speed become less important in Brawl?
Combo Artists:
Mario
Doctor Mario
Luigi
Peach
Style:
Unlike the combo monsters, the artists aren't very fast-moving, whether on the ground or in the air. They do, however, have fast attacks and excel at chaining them together, especially in the air, and often manage to start up their combos thanks to a small bag of tricks, usually involving a projectile. They tend to have few effective finishers.
Generally:
-Quick attacks, often without much power
-Fast combos especially in the air
-Some effective b-move tricks
-Floaty
-Middleweight
-Strange recovers that might work for or against them
-Not easily comboed
-Not many finishers
-Not too fast-moving
Why?
These characters are more balanced than some, possessing many strengths and weaknesses. Mario is the best example, as he is considered the character by whose strength all others' is measured, since he's pretty much the main hero of Nintendo.
Hypothetical example: Pit?
This is pure speculation, but the fact that Pit seems like an aerial fighter who does not excel in power and has only above average speed and presumably low falling speed plus an effective projectile, he might well turn out to be a balanced comboist.
Notes: We need more of these balanced guys, they rock.
All-rounders aka Randomness
Game and Watch
Yoshi
Style:
All-rounders have a random assortment of fast and weak attacks, combo attacks and killers, attacks that combo in themselves and so on. They take quite a while to learn and have some strange quirks, yet they are pretty nice at comboing and have a decent amount of good killers. Players should have the ability to mix up their play to make use of their variety and become unpredictable.
General:
-Quirky style of playing
-Attacks lead into another
-Self-comboing attacks ( Yoshi's dair&bair, G&W's bair )
-Strange B moves ranging from awesome to useless
-Strange recovery
-Randomly very strong attacks ( Yoshi's smashes in PAL )
-Easily comboed
-Weaknesses very exploitable
Why?
Game and Watch is the epitome of randomness. That's why. Yoshi, on the other hand, is a dinosaur, which means he's not exactly a martial artist, but still strong. He was given a very nice comboing and KO-ing moveset offset by some quirks like his lack of a third jump to make him balanced.
Hypothetical example: Missingno ... err, ERROR...
Honestly, I can't think of anything.
Notes: I'm not sure about this class. Help is appreciated.
Weapon Masters
Marth
Roy
Style:
Weapon Masters rely solely on their long and powerful weapon of choice.
This gives them a very organic and intuitive playing style.
Their long range and disjointed hitboxes make them excel both offensively and defensively.
Additionally, they are rather fast and possess one or two extremely powerful killers to offset their relatively weak but quite comboable tilts and aerials.
General:
-Long range and disjointed hitboxes
-Attacks cover great distances in all directions ( arching sweeps )
-Very powerful finishing move, but not many
-Excel at edgeguarding
-Illogically long grab range
-Relatively low damage on most attacks, especially aerials
-No projectiles
-Rather predictable due to lack of variety
Why?
They use swords and not much else. So far all of them come from RPGs, where they did not have many different attacks.
Hypothetical example: Flint
Just for the sake of having a weapon other than a sword, Flint is a cowboy, the first main character of Mother 3/Earthbound 2 and uses a plank as a weapon. Awesome!
Tool Masters:
Link
Young Link
Samus
Style:
Projectiles. Lots and lots of projectiles. These characters have huge bags of tricks and are a nightmare to anyone predictable, slow or projectile-less if the Tool Master knows what he's doing.
At close combat, they usually prove to be slow but pretty strong.
General:
-Many projectiles and other tricks ( bomb-jumps, hookshot-recovery )
-Extended grab
-Some strong smashes and aerials
-Slow-moving
-Easily comboed
-Leave themselves open while using projectiles
Why?
The Links and Samus have in common that they are adventurers who find many different weapons on their journeys that allow them to fight or solve puzzles, thus their great variety.
Hypothetical example: Snake
A big, slow, strong guy who uses explosives. What more is there to say?
Big guys
Bowser
Donkey Kong
Ganondorf
Style:
These three actually play quite differently, but they share their weight, strength and laggy moves, which make it crucial for them to control their opponent and use their strength when the chance arises to finish them off with few heavily damaging moves.
General:
-Very strong
-Very heavy
-Often good range
-Recovery goes a great horizontal distance but is predictable and doesn't go far vertically
-Slow in general
-Often helpless against quick comboists and projectile-users due to their size
-Hard to combo with
Why?
Their strength is their most defining trait. Two of the three are villains, both of which would be uber if they used the full potential displayed in some of their games. Donkey Kong is the exception as he's also fast, but suffers from lagginess after strong attacks.
Hypothetical example: King Dedede
Like Bowser, a mischievous villain and final boss of many games, he's big, fat, strong, probably floaty and wields a hammer. And he's a penguin.
Notes: They are found spread throughout the tiers, apparently dependent on their range. Yes, I mean you, Bowser. Stretching is in order!
Tiny guys
Pikachu
Pichu
Style:
Agile and small, these fighters zip around the stage ( on all fours ). Unlike Combo Monsters, however, they greatly lack range and tilts that lead into combos.
These critters have surprisingly powerful smashes, however, which they will try to hit with whenever possible, as well as a good aerial game in which they'll use their speed and small size to turn themselves into living cannonballs.
General:
-Small
-Fast
-Agile
-Strong smashes
-Very good recovery
-Attacks other than smashes are usually weak
-Lightweight
-Very small range
-Lack good combos
Why?
They are ( so far ) small quadruped animals with some hidden powers, which makes them agile and potentially strong, but if they don't get to use those powers ( tilts ), they lack good options.
Hypothetical example: Meowth
Another Pokemon, and an unlikely one, but he wouldn't be much larger than Pikachu and could behave similarly in mid-air.
Notes: These are only Pokemon so far, but how many game characters can you think of who are small, fast and potentially quadruped?
Balls
Jigglypuff
Kirby
Style:
The masters of the air, these fighters rely on aerial attacks. They are generally slow, especially on land, but have some good combo attacks making use of their spherical shape that typically initiate an aerial juggle. Lacking many strong finishers, they often rely on edgeguarding, although the power of some of their attacks might surprise you.
These characters are among the "oddballs" with random B-moves that range from awesome to useless.
General:
-Strong aerials
-Quick attacks
-Good at juggling in midair
-Several jumps give them a far-ranging recovery
-Very good edgeguarders
-Some surprisingly strong moves ( Rest, both forward smashes )
-Stretchy arms give them a long grab range
-Floaty
-Lightweight
-Slow
-Often predictable and lacking good approaches
-Slow and predictable recovery
Why?
They're round. Kirby could fly indefinitely in some of his games. Jigglypuff copies many of his moves and for some reason ends up being better in the air than him although a Jigglypuff has never been seen flying before. Well, I guess it's a "Balloon Pokemon" indeed.
Hypothetical example: Metaknight
He flies, he's round and he attacks quickly; that he has a weapon does not change the fact that he's like Kirby with a suit of armor.
Psychos and Magisters
Ness
Zelda
Mewtwo
Style:
Forget everything you've learned, predictability has been glorifiedly defenestrated. Psychos and Magisters have the most random assortment of moves in the game ( at least in terms of effect ), ranging from perfectly useless to "whoops, you're dead".
Using these takes a whole lot of practice in order to master their strange style of playing, but once that is achieved, a master of these can use the element of unpredictability to coldly finish any foe who doesn't know what awaits him.
General:
-Very strange style that takes long to get used to
-Trademark second jump that allows jump-cancelling.
-Some very powerful attacks
-Very good throws
-Unpredictable
-Projectiles and other tricks
-Strong aerial game
-Sometimes good teleportation recovery
-Floaty
-Very easily comboed, difficult to break out of combos with
-Hard to use
-Slow
-Relatively light
-Many weak attacks, thus few options
Why?
These characters relied on magic or psychic powers in their games. They are all very different, but are similar in that respect. I guess it makes sense, somehow.
Mewtwo is an exception in that he has no really powerful attacks and actually very good tilts, and his attacks are far from random ( so nicely symmetrical... ) but the rest fits.
Hypothetical example: A Final Fantasy magic-user?
Whoever relies on magic is bound to have some really strong stuff and some attacks that aren't quite as useful, I guess?
Aaand done. As I said, this is not final or anything, and there are many characters who are exceptions to their own rule. Also, you may notice that I was unable to classify the Ice Climbers, so it can all be improved upon a lot.
Anyway, on to the
-Strengths and Weaknesses-
When creating the concept of a character, the strengths and weaknesses are a good point to start with. What are their strengths and what their weaknesses, and to what extent? Even Marth has a weakness or two, and every character should be balanced with a nice set of strengths and one or two weaknesses to offset these.
I will try to narrow down the aspects to few, then come up with examples for who shines and who sucks in them, along with explanations for why that is so.
Strength:
Self-explanatory. Generally, strong characters do much damage and have great knockback. Damage and knockback are completely different things, mind you. There is no general rule as to what type of attack does more damage and what inflicts more knockback.
Damage-wielder: Bowser
With lots of claws and spikes, he does major damage with each move, but tends to lack the sort of knockback Ganondorf's blunt fist has.
Damage-wimp: Pichu
He's a baby and he's a small rodent, with the exception of some of his hidden powers, all his physical attacks serve to defend his frail body rather than damage.
Knockback-wielder: Pichu&Ness
On the other hand, Pichu has a remarkable f-smash that can thrust the foe a long way at low damage. A good example of the different nature of damage and knockback; another example is Ness' back-throw since throws don't damage a lot but this one has incredible knockback.
Knockback-wimp: Peach
F-throw and stuff aside, Peach is and will always be a princess in a pink dress. Naturally, she lacks incredible powers that allow her to KO at low percents; her f-smash is the second-weakest or weakest in the game.
Speed:
The master discipline, speed comes in many variants.
Running speed: Maximum speed dashing on the ground, this usually explains itself. The speed at which a person can run is generally dependent on their weight, fitness and length of their legs. These points usually suffice to explain why Ganondorf's slow, Fox is fast and Jiggly is slow although she's light and acrobatic. The exception is the princesses, who are simply wearing the wrong shoes.
Falling Speed: Not so self-explanatory, falling speed can be a blessing or a curse as it can accelerate aerial combat but also makes a fast faller easily comboable.
Oftentimes, fast characters will also fall quickly ( Falcon ) and slow characters will fall slowly ( Luigi ). Fast falling speed is a sign of acrobatic skills, slow falling speed a sign of aerial maneuverability and overall strength. Nothing is set into stone, however.
Attack speed: This also often goes hand-in-hand with the other types of speed, but not always. Smaller characters often have fast attacks as they attack closely to their body; Donkey Kong has many fast attacks, but also extremely laggy ones when he tries to wield his huge arms with all his might.
Generally, attacks close to the body are fast, which explains why spherical characters attack quickly. Attacks that extent further are often slower.
Quick attacks also speak for great skills in the character's martial art of choice as seen in Marth and Sheik.
Range:
Do you have a weapon or long arms? Chances are you have good range. Your arms are short and you have nothing else? Sucks to be you, you're missing out on one of the most important disciplines!
Range-wielder: Marth
His sword covers half the arena and it's even stronger at the tip since Marth was originally a fencer if I recall correctly.
Range-wimp: Pichu
Poor Pichu gets no love. He's small and his arms are practically non-existent. The short tail doesn't help much, either. His biggest weapon is his head.
Weight:
Not always logical, weight often corresponds roughly to, well, weight. This is pretty much Marth's only weight, which is obviously an example of a character's weight being tweaked in order to make them more balanced, since knights aren't really known to be lightweight.
( to be continued, too tired to go on )
-General stuff-
-Pokemon so far have a lot in common: lightweight, great recovery, strong smashes, weak tilts, good aerials
-Some characters with strong smashes have strangely weak forward tilts, namely Donkey Kong, the Ice Climbers, (Dr.) Mario, G&W and Samus. Conversely, Kirby, Ness and Young Link have some of the strongest forward tilts.
-Pichu and Mewtwo are the only characters whose up-b doesn't damage at all, Pikachu's, Zelda's and Sheik's up-bs damage only as a by-product, but Pichu's, Pikachu's, Mewtwo's and Zelda's are also well usable for movement and mind-games.
Conclusion: Up-b's that serve no purpose other than getting back on stage do not exist and should be avoided.
Well, that should be enough for now. I thought I still had something to add to the general stuff, but I don't remember, and after a few hours of typing, I'm starting to get tired.
So, is there any feedback? Anything useful to add, comments, criticism, changes?
