Thanks! I'm glad you've been liking my threads!
I feel the same way with Zelda. Some of my more casual friends think Zelda is the best character in the game. So yeah I think they're trying to reduce her FFA potency without making her too bad in the format. And thus we end up with a Zelda that just isn't appealing in 1v1. To be fair her aerials have improved along with her recovery, but it doesn't seem like a balanced trade in the least.
As for Villager I didn't actually touch him at all. A friend of mine who I consider to be one of the best players in Victoria played nothing but Villager. She picked up the character incredibly quickly and was just doing amazing things with the guy.
Here's her notes:
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VILLAGER:
Jab: Punches with boxing gloves. 2% per hit. Unknown if there's a jab combo since all he ever did was just keep punching.
Side Tilt: Swipes with umbrella. 8%. Nice range and also nice for killing.
Down Tilt: Pulls grass from ground. Damage varies depending on where you get hit. 4-6% if right in middle of grass. 7-9% if you get hit by the grass pulled/hit at the edge of the grass.
Up Tilt: Swirls a stick in the air. There are two parts to this move: 1) the initial hitbox @ the beginning, which has low knockback and knocks the opponent into the 2nd hitbox, 2) the hitbox that knocks the opponent upwards (at low percentages) but for some reason, sideways @ higher percentages. 3-5% with both hits. Can be used for killing.
Neutral Air: Spins around (like Lucas' nair). Moderate damage but rather low knockback. Its range is also lacking. 7-9%.
Forward Air: Fires a small object (can't tell if it's berry or rock or whatever though) on a slingshot. Reaches about roughly 2 and half Villagers in front of him. 4-10%. Surprising amount of knockback scaling on it makes it a viable killing move.
(I have a feeling it does more/less damage based on how far it has travelled, but I have no way to confirm this)
Back Air: Same as forward air, except backwards + less damage. 6-7%.
Down Air: Thrusts turnips downwards. Amount of turnips vary randomly. More turnips = more damage + more knockback.
1 turnip: 3-4%. Pitiful knockback.
2 turnips: 5%. Decent but still pretty bad knockback.
3 turnips: 7-10%. Nice knockback.
(There seems to be an extremely small sweetspot that spikes enemies, but even with 3 turnips it is ridiculously hard to get that spike to work).
Neutral B: Pocket projectiles. Works with literally EVERYTHING. Megaman's side smash, Yellow Devil's Eye-shots (or something), Wii Fit Trainer's Sun Salutation, Zelda's Phantom attack etc.
NOTE: It seems you lose the projectile you take if you take enough damage; enough damage being a small amount considering how easily Villager kept dropping that baseball bat he pocketed.
Also you can't pocket Smash Balls or Assist Trophies.
Unknown if redirected projectile is stronger/weaker.
UNFINISHED:
Uair: Same as down air. ?%, but with 3 turnips it can kill very efficiently.
Side Smash: Drops bowling ball. Very nice damage + knockback, but oh-so hard to hit with because of the startup time.
Down Smash: Buries opponents on both sides. Leads well into his side smash. Or pocketed baseball bats 8D.
Up Smash: Activates fireworks. Very nice range, but the strongest hitbox is small and in the direct centre of the attack. There are smaller hitboxes near the edge of the move.
Side B: Fires a Lloid Rocket. Villager can just send it off on its own or ride it to deal more damage. It goes for about 1 and third Battlefield length before it explodes on its own. Very good for horizontal recovery, but there is lag when you jump off and when you hit something.
Notes:
- If Villager rides on it and it explodes, he doesn't take damage BUT he is thrown into helpless state (i.e. can't do anything until he lands).
- You can jump off the rocket early, but you will still be in helpless state (which makes sense otherwise Villager is always going to be able to recover from any part of the screen).
- If Villager rides on it BUT it hits an enemy, he'll jump off and WON'T be in helpless state. Yes, you can spam rockets all day, provided they hit.
Down B: Plants a sapling, waters it, and chops it down. Very, very, useful + insane amount of knockback. There are 3 stages to this:
1. Planting the sapling. That's all you're ever going to do in your first use of down B.
2. Watering. Once the sapling is planted, you can use the watering can anywhere. It's essentially the same as Mario's F.L.U.D.D or Squirtle's Water Gun attack... but spammable + instant. Use it offstage to make everyone cry (maaaaybe not against Little Mac or Link; they have it tough already).
3. There is a tree. You now have the axe. The axe can be used anywhere, even in air. It deals about 15-20% per hit. And it's instant.
The catch? Its range is only a little bit better than Jigglypuff's rest. And it has lag.
Buuuut... if you chop the tree, and tree hits someone, it does ridiculous damage + kills very quickly.
Note: You can roll around the tree.
Up B: Gets balloon hat. Flies up really quickly if you spam B. YOU MUST KEEP PRESSING B, EVEN IF SLOWLY.
This is because if you stop pressing B, you WILL descend quickly. And the momentum is hard to stop. Can't tell you how many times I've died because of that.
Grab: Pulls the net out. As far as grabs go, it's pretty bad. But my main was Ness, so don't take my word for it.
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Villager can deal a lot of damage really quickly and is ridiculously safe with a lot of his attacks. I expect a lot out of this character.
As for Rosalina we didn't get to figure out anything for her defensively. So I can't help you there.
Wii Fit Trainer seems pretty cool, but yeah her attacks have very awkward range. Her down special increases her damage and knock back output. It also makes her jab combo bury opponents into the ground on the last hit. It might have other effects as well, but that's all I noticed.
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