Animation Inspirations/Analysis

[Shadestars]

Hey guys, as a long time fan of Final Fantasy I've been having a bit of fun picking out where each of Cloud's attacks have been inspired from. So, I've compiled this list of where I think each of his attacks came from, with gifs~

If anyone can pick out any that I miss or corrections to be made, point them out and I'll add them.

JAB

Spoiler

Didn't expect this, but I believe his kicks came from Ehrgeiz! He has pretty much the exact same double-kick in that game. There is....pretty much absolutely no other source material I can think of where Cloud uses a kick....at all. I can't however put a pin on the third part of the jab, the slash. It may be just a random slash to complete the jab.

F-TILT

Spoiler

The standard attack from the original FF7, classic.

D-TILT

Spoiler

Another attack lifted from Ehrgeiz, awesome. Thanks to Ffamran for finding a video of this in a different thread, Ehrgeiz references are hard to find. I'm just ganna say right here, if Cloud ever uses a punch or kick, it's likely from Ehrgeiz.

U-TILT

*placeholder/unknown*

DASH

Spoiler

The dash is interesting, he sort of flies instead of runs. He actually does this in the original FF7, as he travels from his position on the field over to the opponent to attack them. But, in smash, he doesn't hold the sword over his shoulder, he holds it out to his right side. This is the same as his dash in Dissidia.

DASH ATTACK

*placeholder/unknown*

FORWARD SMASH

Spoiler

I believe this is based on Cloud's 'Double Cut' materia. A fast, multi-hit attack. The animations match up almost perfectly.

DOWN SMASH

*placeholder/unknown*

UP SMASH

*placeholder/unknown*

FAIR

Spoiler

The original Braver limit break. Even has the little shine on the blade, nice.

UAIR

Spoiler

This seems to be based on the first pose Cloud does when activating his Omnislash limit break.

DAIR

Spoiler

Dissidia's version of Climhazzard has an extra hit on the end that 'spikes' the opponent, exactly like the Dair we see in the trailer. The only other place I've seen Cloud thrust his sword down like that is when you attack 'downwards' during Cloud's chase attack, also in Dissidia.

NAIR

*placeholder*

UP SPECIAL

Spoiler

Climhazzard from the original. These specials are going to be obvious. Looks like smash tacks on a downward slash component, neat.

SIDE(?) SPECIAL

Spoiler

Cross-Slash. yep.

NEUTRAL(?) SPECIAL

Spoiler

Classic Blade Beam. The Smash version uses an upward sweep instead of a downward swing for some reason.

DOWN(?) SPECIAL

Spoiler

It's not completely obvious if the Limit Charge is mapped to down b (though it likely is), I'm putting just Finishing Touch here for now and putting the charge under it's own spoiler.

LIMIT CHARGE

Spoiler

While limits ofcourse orginated in FF7, you never had to charge it with button presses until Dissidia. The animation for the Limit Charge came from there. Additionally...

Being 'Limit Charged' gives Cloud a blue aura. Also, it turns his Limit Breaks Blue, such as Blade Beam. This seems to be referencing the color of his limits in Advent Children, which took on blue colors.

*note: I'll be updating/editing this more later today for his taunt and grab stuff.

 

[Virum]

Good analysis so far. The downward hitting component of his Up B reminds me a lot of Dissidia Braver personally.

 

[gainsborough]

[U-Tilt]

Spoiler

[down smash]

Spoiler

[Nair]

Spoiler

[up smash]

Spoiler

This is all speculation, though.

edit: aaaand I just realized what you're actually doing in this thread... I don't know where these animations are derived from...

 

[Puppyfaic]

Good analysis so far. The downward hitting component of his Up B reminds me a lot of Dissidia Braver personally.

I have to agree here; I'm fairly certain the downward slash of his Up B is supposed to be Braver.

 

[Ffamran]

Keep in mind I never played Final Fantasy VII, Dissidia, or Ehrgeiz; I'm just an animation nut. I have played Kingdom Hearts and I remember Cloud spamming Sonic Blade as a kid. Funny, he doesn't have that move at all... It could have been his Side Special while Cross Slash could have been his Side Smash since his current Side Smash pretty much functions like Cross Slash. Eh, it might make him too good if he had basically, an Ike Quick Draw that goes through people, a stronger Ike Close Combat, or a Devil May Cry 4 Devil Trigger enhanced Stinger.

Anyway, I think Cloud's moves were inspired by...

Like Mega Man, Ryu, and to an extent, Pac-Man, some of Cloud's moves are going to have names. Looking at the gifs, his trailer, and looking at Final Fantasy VII and Dissidia, I think these are the named moves he has.

Spoiler

Ftilt: Dissidia Cutting Edge? Look like the first part of it... Makes me wonder if there's a second which doesn't seem so if Pit's flying that far.

Up Smash: Dissidia Aerial Fang or Dissidia Sonic Break variation? For Aerial Fang, Cloud makes himself airborne like in Dissidia or like how Wolf can suddenly flip upside and not fall while doing his Up Smash. For Sonic Break, he just does an uppercut, but steps forward - sort of like a vertical baseball bat swing. Edit: It's probably a variation of Sonic Break... which could mean Nair is a reverse Aerial Fang.

Side Smash: Modified Dissidia Cutting Edge? In Dissidia, Cloud would do 2 downward slashes with the second one having him leap and land with his right leg in front. Smash 4 has him do 3 hits with the last hit being in place and the second hit being an uppercut that sort of serves as a link to the last hit.

Nair: Dissidia Slash Blow last hit variation (Edit: or potentially a reverse Dissidia Aerial Fang). Looks kind of similar, except in Smash 4, it looks "weaker", "lazier", and wider than in Dissidia where it's basically his Braver or Ike's Fair, but if they spun after the hit. Same principle is there; a wide, arcing hit, but in Smash 4, Cloud only uses one arm just like how Ike uses only one arm to swing.

Uair: FFVII Climhazzard first hit variation. No question marks, just seems like an aerial version of Climhazzard - can't tell if Cloud rises up slightly. FFVII since unlike the original, Dissidia has Cloud slash upwards like Marth's Dolphin Slash or Dante's High Time in Devil May Cry instead of holding his blade parallel and rising up.

Fair: FFVII Braver? Closest thing that looks to it. Difference being Cloud doesn't shoot down like FFVII or Dissidia. Kind of reminds me of Snake's Fair except instead of using his leg, Cloud uses his Buster Sword.

Bair: Dissidia Slash Blow. Closest thing to it. Differences being Cloud only hits once (as far as we know) and there's no finisher which if it did have one, would be pretty broken if Cloud could guarantee a spike. Oh, and it's a back hit unlike in Dissidia where Cloud uses this while facing forward.

Dair: Dissidia Climhazzard second hit variation? In Dissidia, Cloud would thrust his sword down kind of like an upside Link Uair while in Smash 4, it looks like he just slams the flat of the blade down. If he is thrusting his blade down, then it's just Dissidia's Climhazzard's second hit.

Neutral Special: Smash 4 Blade Beam and EX Blade Beam. Surprisingly enough, it doesn't resemble either FFVII or Dissidia's Blade Beam. Cloud swings up instead of swinging down like in his game and in Dissidia. Strange... Really strange. Also, the regular Blade Beam is colored green like in FFVII while the EX version is colored blue like in Advent Children and Dissidia.

Up Special: FFVII Climhazzard and EX Climhazzard. Nothing different about this move other than the second hit which is just a downwards FFVII Climhazzard.

Side Special: Smash 4 Cross Slash and EX Cross Slash. Another one? In FFVII, Cloud would slash diagonally up, slash horizontally again, and it looks like the kanji would be the last hit while in Dissidia, he would slash down, slash diagonally to the left and move left, and finish with a diagonal slash to the right and move right. Smash 4 has him hit 4 times; diagonally down twice in a X formation, a low slash?, and diagonally up. Funny enough, this makes it more similar to Zack's Chain Slash, except Zack's low slash is a downwards slash immediately followed by a horizontal slash and he ends with a downwards slash.

Down Special: No idea; people say he's using a Limit Break charge.

Final Smash: Omnislash.

Finishing Touch... I don't know where this ones goes. It could be his Down Special after it's charged and it could be his EX Up Smash which would mean Cloud's the only character with a normal that changes through a move like how Little Mac's the only character with different moves when his Side Smash is angled instead of, well, an angled Side Smash.

For Ehrgeiz, I think that's where his jab combo is based from: https://youtu.be/p4EPJPENSlI?t=44. So, in Ehrgeiz, he does a side kick, turnaround back kick to the body, and a turnaround whip kick to the head while in Smash 4, he does a side kick, roundhouse, and uses the momentum to swing to his right. Also, it looks like his Dtilt comes from Ehrgeiz as well: https://youtu.be/p4EPJPENSlI?t=61, except it's kind of higher up and not low like in Smash 4, Tekken, or Soul Calibur where you can do a running slide kick.

And I think I found where his dash is from: Kingdom Hearts; people were able to mod Kingdom Hearts and this is footage of Cloud (and Xaldin) as playable characters in Kingdom Hearts II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fWtzoAnNV0. Apparently, Cloud never runs in-game, but I don't remember ever seeing that since he spammed Sonic Blade all the damn time and at low health, he'd start spamming that and fly. Cloud can move around by strafing in Kingdom Hearts, but it's really, really slow. This is kind of bad... We don't know what his walk even looks like, but if it's based on Kingdom Hearts, then Cloud might have some issues when his only mobile option is running. When I'm talking about slow, I'm talking about Ganondorf walk speed slow. Cloud's strafe in Kingdom Hearts was really, really slow, but didn't matter 'cause Sonic Blade spam. Now, if his "walk" is based on Dissidia('s run), then he'd probably be at least Mario's speed since it's a jog with a heavy sword or at most, Little Mac's speed which would be insane as he'd have the fastest walk for a two-handed swordsman which is currently held by Shulk followed by Ike.

That said, Cloud has another thing under his belt: Cloud's based on multiple games some of which aren't even spin-offs to his own series; Cloud's based on the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (of course) which includes FFVII, Advent Children, Crisis Core, and maybe Dirge of Cerberus, Dissidia Final Fantasy, a fighting game celebrating Final Fantasy and starring the protagonists and antagonists of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, a Square Enix and Disney collaboration, and Ergheiz, a fighting game that featured Cloud and other FFVII characters. Of the current third-party characters in Smash, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Snake, and Sonic, all of them are based on one series or even one game like how Snake is Solid Snake, but has elements of Naked Snake from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater or how Ryu's mostly based on Street Fighter II. Pretty cool thing to have under his belt as not many... er... I don't think any characters have this distinction.

 

[Bladeviper]

I have to agree here; I'm fairly certain the downward slash of his Up B is supposed to be Braver.

idk his fair looks closer to braver. to me the second part of his up b looks like he holds it with only one hand and perpendicular to his body

 

[Virum]

idk his fair looks closer to braver. to me the second part of his up b looks like he holds it with only one hand and perpendicular to his body

FAir is FF7 Braver, Up B downward strike is Dissidia Braver.

 

[ChikoLad]

GameXplain go into some of this in their analysis of the trailer they just put up.

I think my favourite detail is his double jump animation, really impressive stuff.

 

[Gunla]

This thread exists for moveset analysis:
http://smashboards.com/threads/cloud-moveset-analysis-including-gifycats-frame-data.423261/