"I will make everything in this world mine!"
(((CHOU-CHOU INFINITE)))
Chou-Chou (pronounced 'Shushu') is the self-proclaimed "Undisputed God of the Universe" and the main character of Mugen Souls. She's pretty much an egotistical, selfish and short-tempered little brat who talks big and desires everything around her for herself. She’s easily fascinated by new things, but she can also be a bit clueless and is easily distracted by sidequests that pique her interest, like looking for treasure or exploring ruins. She… also happens to be amnesic, but you wouldn’t know from how she acts: she originally woke up in the middle of space after being discovered by the angel Altis, which is also when she made her decision to conquer all 7 Worlds after seeing them from afar and how pretty they looked. Definitely not something an ordinary person would do after waking up in the middle of nowhere with amnesia…
Chou-Chou isn’t someone you’d initially take seriously given her dinky appearance, but those who see her in action firsthand quickly realize that there is truth in her extravagant proclamations: her main ability, Peon Rebirth (commonly known and referred to as “moe kill”) lets her turn anything that falls for her into a Shampuru, a weird rabbit-like creature you can use to scrub yourself with in the bath among other things, but the few strong individuals like heroes and demon lords get to keep their physical form upon becoming a peon. The whole thing might sound pretty inhumane, but most Shampuru were actually former monsters who enjoy their new life with their master, and Chou-Chou dislikes the idea of turning normal humans into peons due to having a moral conscience about it. Indeed, despite how villainous “conquering the world” might sound, Chou-Chou always goes about it in a clean, benevolent way: she’s just satisfied with turning a world’s strongest beings into her peons, the hero and demon lord in this case, her intervention often changing the world for the better through various means (though it does involve bringing continents together - yes, you read that right). Chou-Chou also genuinely cares for her Shampuru despite being a bit hard on them, and she considers her main peons to be good friends, though she refuses to admit such. These more benevolent traits and surprising consideration for humanity have won over heroes and demons of the highest moral standing, being the reason why they follow Chou-Chou despite how unreasonable she can be and the fact that they’re helping her conquer other worlds. Also that she has no shame, and no qualms about being naked in front of her peons.
Alongside Peon Rebirth, Chou-Chou also has another uncanny, unique ability: Form Change. This allows Chou-Chou to change her physical appearance and usual
Egotistical self into one of 7 different forms, ranging from
Sadist,
Terse,
Graceful,
Masochist,
Ditz,
Hyper and finally
Bipolar (known as tsundere in the original Japanese). With these forms, Chou-Chou can adhere to almost anyone’s tastes and fetishes so she can moe kill them, playing an especially important role in turning the various heroes and demon lords of each world into her peons. The Form Change could be seen as split-personality, but it’s later revealed that each personality is its own being and that they’re all working together to help Chou-Chou indirectly, having created the game’s side dungeon “Mugen Field”, but that’s a story for another time.
With all that boring stuff out of the way, get ready for some overwhelming action!
(((OVERWHELMING STATS)))
Height: 134cm
Weight: 5
Ground Speed: 6
Jumps: 6
Air Speed: 5
Fall Speed: 5
Traction: 6
You expect flaws from the Undisputed God? Being the main character means Chou-Chou's stats are well-balanced, yet this also means none of them stand out… except that she’s short, standing at the height of shorter Smash characters like our dear Mario. Don't be fooled though, for Chou-Chou really breaks the mold with her overwhelming attacks!
"Who wants to become mine next?"
(((OVERWHELMING SPECIALS)))
[[Neutral Special - Moe Kill]]
This is the signature ability that defines Chou-Chou! In Mugen Souls, moe kill could be used to turn your enemies into peons instead of defeating them, which granted several benefits to your party both in and out of battle. This was actively encouraged by the game as one of its main selling points, almost to the point where all the other party members were made obsolete post-game and there was no reason not to moe kill. To pull off a moe kill, Chou-Chou had to get the enemy to like her by influencing their emotions through phrases and being in a form that matched their personality. With the right words and level of charm, the enemy would successfully be
moe killed or even
turned into an item in some cases, but if you messed up they’d instead become
frenzied, something you’d want to avoid since it gave their stats a boost, put them back at full health and made them immune to moe kill what with hating Chou-Chou. The mechanic was rather complex, almost needlessly so, but thankfully it manifests in a much simpler way in Smash - the last thing we want in our fighting games is to have to play a game in a game just to get a simple effect!
Attempting a moe kill will have Chou-Chou strike a cutesy pose and call out
"Love me!" affectionately, causing several small hearts to float around her in a small SBB-sized area. If something gets caught in that area, it’ll be frozen in place, seemingly smitten with the Undisputed God: a heart will appear above them, and they become compressed while an erotic sound plays, causing them to appear as a Shampuru from a cluster of hearts! Congratulations, you just made your first peon!
Chou-Chou’s godly charms know no bounds: she can moe kill ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING, be they traps, projectiles, items, minions, assist trophies, pokemon, makeshift structures, fiends, or even specific stage hazards (causing her to become immune to their hitbox until she’s KO’ed). She can even peon incorporeal things like illusions and Dr. Strangelove’s Neutrality Zones! It makes sense though, given she IS the Undisputed God of the Universe; she makes entire continents her peons on a regular basis and once made an impregnable barrier surrounding one of the 7 worlds her peon. Moe kill also works on opponents that are right next to you, but they retain their physical form due to having a degree of power and are instead shot away for decent non-KO’ing radial knockback.
If one pays enough attention to visuals, they may notice that most characters won’t gain a heart visual over their heads when moe killed by Chou-Chou, in the common event where they’re not smitten with her. Different strokes for different folks, as Ryuto would put it. This doesn’t affect the move in any way and is merely a visual.
Moe kill executes identically to a reflector, meaning you can pull it off on demand as a counter, but that’s not to say it’s Chou-Chou’s answer to everything: it takes a bit of time to turn something into a peon, more so if the strength behind the object was greater or it took longer for the user to create it, roughly a few extra frames over the amount of stun you’d expect to take when shielding against an attack of such caliber, and over a second against especially powerful objects. Chou-Chou is also completely vulnerable to outside attacks during the process, and if she’s hit out of the moe kill before it goes through the object that was held up will become frenzied, putting it back up to full strength, making it slightly stronger than before and giving it immunity to being moe killed again. In short, moe killing a simple projectile gives foes a greater frame advantage over Chou-Chou than if she had chosen to shield against it, meaning she can't be too greedy or else she'll pay the price.
But wait, aren’t you supposed to get something out of moe killing? Why yes - you get Shampurus! Chou-Chou starts off each stock with 10 Shampurus, indicated by a special counter next to her damage percentage, and she gets another one for each successful moe kill she pulls off. Foes are special however, as they give out 15 Shampuru when you first moe kill them each stock plus an additional Shampuru for each 4% they received between moe kill attempts, serving as Chou-Chou’s main method of collecting lots of them. There is absolutely no limit to the number of peons Chou-Chou can have, but if she’s KO’ed she’ll lose every Shampuru she had in her reserve, forcing her to start all over again. As such, players shouldn’t try to get too reckless, and would do well to pick the time and place to harvest Shampurus from an opponent.
Although this move creates Shampurus, the actual means of summoning and handling them is done with other moves. All you need to know for now is that Shampurus are very small and frail, standing at a mere 45cm (less than a third of Chou-Chou’s height) and being as easy to knock out as a Jigglypuff at 100% - something you’ll want to avoid, as losing a Shampuru to an opponent means losing it permanently. Shampuru are mostly used as Pikmin-esque living projectiles which travel quite far and deal a non-flinching 1% to their target, but once they hit something they’ll bounce off them in the opposite direction and travel 2 SBBs backwards, even bouncing off hitboxes that hit them from the direction they were coming from as a temporary means of protection. When not behaving as projectiles, Shampuru will hop towards their master at rather lowly speeds (Ganon’s dash) and gather around her in a cluster, but they’re unable to follow her into the air under normal circumstances. Also, while probably common sense, summoning a Shampuru will subtract it from Chou-Chou’s peon count.
Oh, and did I mention that there are many different kinds of Shampuru? Different monsters will take on different forms upon becoming Shampuru, as will different objects in Smash – you’ll know if you got a certain type of peon by its mug appearing next to your peon count to indicate that it’s your most recent catch. Below is a list of all the possible Shampuru you can get, and what you need to moe kill to get them:
Opponent - Private Shampuru
This is the most common type of Shampuru you’ll find, and also the weakest.
Attacking Opponent - Pilot Shampuru
Pilot Shampuru are just like Private Shampuru, except they cause flinching on contact. Only one Shampuru you get out of the lot will actually be a Pilot Shampuru, but this is an exception to this type.
Explosive - Dynamite Shampuru
Want more bang out of your Shampurus? Then get yourself a dynamite stick! These guys are as deadly as they look, exploding as soon as somebody hits with a fiery, explosive or just plain powerful hitbox that'd deal medium-high knockback. The power and radius of the blast are proportional to the amount of damage dealt by the trigger, capping out at 18% that KOs at 120% with Blast Box range. Weaker attacks will also trigger the blast, but these only hit hard enough to light several fuses among the sticks that will go off as late as 2 seconds, the blast itself likely amounting to being hit by confetti.
It might seem cruel for Chou-Chou to wanna blow up her own peons, but don't worry - these guys were born to go out with a bang, having been made from explosives. If Chou-Chou sets off a Dynamite Shampuru's explosion, the impending blast will cause the Shampuru to be shot up beyond the horizon like fireworks, adding it back to your peon count, but if the blast was caused by an opponent it'll actually die for real.
Dynamite Shampuru make for great counters, and if you have a lot of them out you could potentially set up a chain reaction of blasts...
Piercing Projectile - Drill Shampuru
These Shampurus were built to drill. They'll go through anything, be they enemies, barriers or makeshift walls, acting as true projectiles that deal 6% and rather low knockback capable of KO'ing at around 300%. The only downside is that they'll be sent flying by attacks that connect with them head-on due to not having bodies suited to bouncing off hitboxes. Drill Shampuru, however, will drill through the ground upon making contact with it, taking a good 2 seconds to get behind Chou-Chou (or the ground beneath/closest to her if she's in midair/offstage) and pop out as a hitbox that deals 5% and good set upwards knockback to any foe they happen to hit. This makes Drill Shampuru one of the more difficult peons to defeat if not dealt with immediately.
Static Hitbox/Clingy Minion/Pikmin - Spiky Shampuru
You read right - Chou-Chou can turn Olimar’s Pikmin into her peons! But that’s beside the point. Throw out one of these prickly punks, and they’ll dig into whatever they can get their seedy spikes into: if they hit an opponent, they’ll dig into them rather painfully and dish out 1% (non-flinching) with each second they stay on, able to be shaken off early but otherwise staying around for up to 3 seconds. They’ll also stick themselves into the ground or onto a surface, where they’ll deal a non-flinching 1% to any opponent who steps over them. They don’t seem especially harmful, but the damage they dish out can accumulate to sharp amounts if one underestimates a whole group of them.
Shielding Opponent/Barriers - Shield Shampuru
Chou-Chou can even turn her opponent's shield into her peon! This is entirely different to actually moe killing the opponent, and despite how it sounds (and looks) it does nothing to inhibit the opponent from shielding. As projectiles, Shield Shampurus push their target back a very short distance on contact with them and will tear through especially weak attacks that deal minimal damage or knockback, like Jabs. While grounded, Shield Shampurus will slowly shuffle towards their master with their back to her, acting as her shield, and when they reach her they'll position themselves in front of her. Shield Shampurus are capable of taking 3 weak attacks or 1 attack of medium power (like a tilt) from the front before their shield goes flying away and they become regular Private Shampuru, but stronger attacks will tear right through their defenses. Shield Shampuru are also capable of completely blocking very weak projectiles for Chou-Chou... except it's hilariously ineffective because of how short they are (and Chou-Chou doesn't need the defense when she wants to moe kill projectiles).
Makeshift Wall - Block Shampuru
Now we're getting to some unique Shampuru. Block Shampuru are bigger than average at quarter the size of a stagebuilder block (0.5 x 0.5), acting as makeshift platforms and being able to shrug off 8% before breaking apart and revealing an ordinary Shampuru inside. They deal 5% and okay upwards knockback upon hitting opponents, piercing through them like a Drill Shampuru would. They're also... completely incapable of movement, which is understandable given they were walls in their former life. Chou-Chou can have quite a bit of fun with Block Shampurus, able to stack them atop of each other to build a tower out of them, but this assumes you can somehow gather a lot of them.
Projectile/Projectile-firing Minion - Laser Shampuru
These Shampuru look fun, and are: they fire lasers! If one hits an object and bounces off of it, it’ll stall in midair at the peak of its bounce before its visor flashes and fires a very thin laser in the direction where its target was. The laser zips across the stage at high speeds and bounces off whatever surfaces it makes contact with, but it only travels 5 SBBs before fizzling out and merely tickles on contact, dealing 1% and almost no flinching. The easiest way for foes to avoid the laser is to move away from the spot where the Laser Shampuru bopped them or just attack it before the laser gets fired, but Chou-Chou will often be able to move as well and can use a foe’s reaction to her advantage. Once a Laser Shampuru fires its laser, its visor will go dim and require 4 seconds to recharge before it can fire again, so keep in mind that the laser can’t be spammed too much… unless you have a lot of these peons under your belt.
Laser Shampuru also serve another, unique purpose: if Chou-Chou is in the middle of charging an attack, they’ll attempt to fire at foes ahead of themselves to buy her some time, firing one at a time in the case of multiples. They may also fire to protect Chou-Chou if she’s performing an especially lengthy more kill, making them invaluable assets in battle.
Buffed/Debuffed Opponent - Flame Shampuru
If you moe kill an opponent with a buff or de-buff, you’ll take those away from them and get this Shampuru instead of the regular variety. Sadly, you can’t moe kill your own buffs or de-buffs to lose them, because that’d be kinda unfair to the opponent who worked so hard to put them on you.
Flame Shampuru come in one of 2 flavors: red and blue. Red flames are born from buffs while blue flames are born from de-buffs and status ailments, as you might have come to surmise. Hitting a target with either Shampuru will respectively increase or decrease their power by a very miniscule amount for 5 seconds, not becoming noticeable until you’ve hit them 10 times in which case their power will either be increased by half or cut in half. The change also makes projectiles move faster or slower, alters the HP of traps/minions, the effectiveness of stat changes and the duration of timed effects/traps, often making objects quicker and easier to moe kill. You can also throw Flame Shampuru onto reasonably large projectiles, minions, traps or makeshift structures to have them stick on and specifically apply their effects to it, and they’ll stay on forever until they go away.
Intangible Fields (Neutrality Zone/Lunar Dial) - Talisman Shampuru
One of the more unorthodox and situational Shampuru, Talisman variety are born with a warding charm that wards off a certain evil - specifically, they negate the effects of the very same field that they were born from when overlapping or very close to it. They're fairly easy for opponents to take out however, so you'll want to do your best to protect them as to get the most mileage out of their effect. Sure, Chou-Chou could just moe kill the enemy field, but if she could do so laglessly they can just put it up again laglessly, and if they had lag in putting it up Chou-Chou will also have lag, something the enemy can exploit to get a free hit on her.
Spring/Wind/Propellant Trap - Balloon Shampuru
Balloon Shampuru are twice the size of a regular Shampuru and much floatier, traveling and falling at half speed of one. What’s more, Chou-Chou can footstool jump off one of these guys to gain a bit of height, but only 3 times per midair trip. A Balloon Shampuru’s floatiness makes it easy to exploit, as you’ll eventually see.
Healing Item/Trap/Projectile/Whatever - Nurse Shampuru
A Nurse Shampuru a day keeps Dr. Strangelove away, or so it goes. These pink puffballs heal whatever they hit instead of damaging them, though I regret to say that you can’t heal yourself with them - the Undisputed God isn’t some little girl who needs her boo-boos tended to every time she gets hurt. Nurse Shampuru can also be thrown at projectiles or traps to refresh their timers, and even thrown at other Shampuru to heal or return them to their original state, like blocks or dynamite.
Trap/Projectile that fires other projectiles - Cannon Shampuru
See those 2 ear-cannons? Good, then you probably know where this is heading: to the land of fun! We’ll be going there a few times in this set, so be sure to buckle up.
Cannon Shampuru are especially unique in that you can store up to 2 of any other Shampuru in each of its cannons - either by throwing the Shampuru towards it or making contact with them when holding it. You can then throw the Cannon Shampuru, and once it travels 3 SBBs it’ll immediately fire out the Shampuru loaded into it in the direction it was traveling, both traveling side-by-side and very likely to hit an opponent at the same time. You can even load a Cannon Shampuru into another Cannon Shampuru and have it fire it out!
Item - Capsule Toy Shampuru
This weird Shampuru is hollow on the inside and filled with capsules. A rather fun Shampuru, it drops the same item that it was born from whenever it hits a surface or an opponent. It can drop limitless copies of the same item, but the chances of it doing so a second time become 50/50 and become slimmer with each successful snag. If an item container was moe killed, such as an Item Capsule, the item that comes out will be random each time, and if the container had multiple items it'll drop multiples each time.
Food - Colorful Shampuru
These Shampuru have candy in them. Yum. Each time they hit a surface, a piece of food will drop out, able to be eaten by any player. The amount of food they drop out is proportional to twice the damage the food they were born from would have healed.
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Oh, and one last thing about moe kill: if you press B while moe killing a target and have items turned on, Chou-Chou will turn that object into an item instead of a Shampuru! I did mention she could do that in-game, didn’t I? The item obtained depends on what you moe killed, but is generally very weak unless it was born from something very strong. You can use this on opponents to get a free item from them, its power related to how many Shampurus Chou-Chou would have gathered from them: with 50 Shampurus, she’ll actually make a Smash Ball spawn! Do note, however, that you need an opponent to be at 200% for this and that they’re also perfectly capable of breaking open this grand prize. Make it yours, however, and you’ll be on the path to an overwhelming victory.
[[Side Special - Moe Magic]]
Like most JRPGs, elemental magic exists in the Mugen Souls universe, but is distributed in a weird way. You see, each element is associated with one of 8 personality types, "Moe Affinities" as they're known by in the game.
Ego gets
colorless magic,
Sadist gets
fire magic,
Masochist gets
water/ice magic,
Bipolar gets
rock magic,
Hyper gets
wind magic,
Graceful gets
thunder magic,
Ditz gets
light magic and
Terse gets
dark magic. Both allies and enemies are categorized under one of the above 8 moe affinities, being capable of performing the elemental magic that goes with that affinity. This results in the main characters having strange elemental affinities given their moe affinities represent their personality (a bipolar android is able to use -rock- magic while a sadist mermaid gets fire magic), while enemies specifically have “personalities” that fit their associated element. Chou-Chou is able to utilize all 8 elements in-game through switching between different forms, but here she can use them all in the same form at the same time.
When used, a pink light will flash ahead of Chou-Chou as she crosses her arm over her chest, only to sweep it ahead of her forcefully. This creates a bright, circular rainbow that covers one SBB, dealing 16% with impressive knockback that’ll KO at 99% to those in front of Chou-Chou or 12% and radial flinching knockback if they’re hit elsewhere. This has a bit of starting lag, but a very brief duration and little cooldown on Chou-Chou’s part, a solid means of sending enemies flying as what could be considered a pseudo F-Smash. In midair, the rainbow will cover Chou-Chou entirely and has its radius expanded to 1.5 SBBs, but it’s also weaker than its grounded counterpart, dealing 12% and good radial knockback that KOs at 130% to those close-by and 8% with flinching knockback to those further away. Chou-Chou stalls in midair for a split second when performing the attack.
You can bring the other 7 elements into play by tapping B quickly into the starting lag, which lets you cycle between them and thus change which element is utilized in the attack. Although this may sound like 8 attacks in 1, the nature of the hitbox largely remains the same throughout each variation, with only visuals and changes to the attack’s duration to differentiate them from each other. The other 7 elements are also slightly weaker than colorless, dealing 4% less on each hitbox and noticeably less knockback which KOs 30% later. Chou-Chou will resume using an element she cycles to when the Side Special is used later on.
Fire creates a burning ball of fire which lingers a bit for 3 quick hits. In-game it could cast “skillseal”, which takes the form of residual flames that dance around the victim and inflict 1% and a sliver of hitstun whenever they try to use any Special other than their recovery for 2-5 seconds depending on how strong the blow was and how close they were to Chou-Chou. This can’t stack with multiple hits.
Water creates a gushing ball of water that lingers for longer with 5 hits, casting “poison” for some completely ridiculous reason, which in turn damages the victim for 2% every second for the same amount of time as skillseal.
Rock brings bits of stone together for a solid hit and casts “moveseal” on grounded victims, which takes the form of a residual, humanoid-sized slab of rock that manifests behind them if they were closer to Chou-Chou or in front of them if they were further away from her. This wall stays out for 5 seconds or until destroyed with an attack that deals medium knockback or more, and can be moe killed to get a free Block Shampuru.
Wind creates a wild sphere of wind which has a rather long duration with 10 quick hits under its belt and casts “darkness” (blinding), which takes the form of the victim being spun the other way round from the last hit, even if they were shielding. The wind also draws in nearby objects like Shampuru or opponents and reflects projectiles without changing their owners.
Thunder creates countless streaks of lightning in a clustered spherical form which hit for one blow, naturally casting “paralysis” which takes the form of increased hitstun typically dealt from electric attacks, but also gives Chou-Chou a few frames advantage over her opponent which can be beneficial if she hit with the sourspot.
Light creates a gentle, bubbly field with a reasonably short duration, landing 3 hits and casting “sleep” to reduce the victim’s movement speed slightly, while actually putting minions to sleep. The hitbox is also unique in that it possesses transcendent priority, meaning it can’t protect Chou-Chou from projectiles, but it does temporarily and drastically reduce the speed of any non-Shampuru projectile that enters the field for about 2 seconds, along with any projectiles of the same kind that touch that projectile, making it easier to moe kill a bunch providing the enemy wasn’t nearby. Finally,
darkness creates a sphere of thick, burning darkness which hits once and casts “virus” to cut the power of the victim’s disjointed attacks down to a third (projectiles, traps, minions) along with any of their own they make contact with during the time, not only making ranged combat less effective for them but also meaning it’ll take less time for Chou-Chou to moe kill any projectiles they throw at her. Opponents can only be affected by one of the above status effects at any given time.
Bar colorless, each element leaves a residual element on the victim for twice as long as their respective status effects would last for (including those that don’t inflict one), which is 4-10 seconds. What’s interesting about these residues is that if Chou-Chou moe kills the victim of that attack before it leaves them, she’ll receive a rather handsome reward: every Shampuru she’d get from that opponent will be of a certain, more interesting type over your usual plain Shampuru: fire = Dynamite Shampuru, water = Spiky Shampuru, rock = Block Shampuru, wind = Balloon Shampuru, thunder = Laser Shampuru, light = Nurse Shampuru and darkness = Blue Flame Shampuru. Moe killing opponents this way will remove the element’s status effect from them if they still had it, but it goes without saying that being able to access many copies of these useful Shampuru is immensely useful given how great most of them are in groups. The only problem is that Chou-Chou is forced to pull off a moe kill on the opponent in a short amount of time to actually reap the effect, thus making her predictable to some degree, but playing as Chou-Chou is all about being ambitious - don’t let such a little thing stop you from taking what’s yours!
[[Up Special - Link Attack]]
Link Attacks were special moves you could perform when in close proximity with up to 3 other party members. These were stronger than your standard attack and were always portrayed through a wacky cinematic that involved beating on the enemy with silly moves, oversized props and even... tanks. They added a comical flavor to battles that was fitting at the start of the game, but they got a little weird later on when you saw the various heroes and demon lords getting involved in them. They also had a playing card motif to them, for some completely underelaborated-upon reason. In Smash, Chou-Chou has Shampuru assist her in performing one of these Link Attacks.
On its own, the move causes Chou-Chou to crouch down before she leaps inhumanly high into the air, 5 SBBs high, able to DI a bit and act almost instantly after reaching her peak. This can even be charged for up to one second to increase the height gain to 8 SBBs, making it scarily good for midair pursuits.
If you smash the input, Shampuru near Chou-Chou will tag along with their master when she leaps and follow her around in midair until she lands. What's especially nifty is that this can be done even if Chou-Chou wasn't near her Shampuru, in which case the group that was around her most recently will jump up and meet her in the air. Opponents near the leaping Shampuru will take 1-10% and token flinching knockback depending on how many there were in the group, which is good if they were trying to beat up on the defenseless group.
The "Link Attack" aspect of the move can be performed by using the move again when Chou-Chou has Shampuru following her or is making contact with one. By tapping B, she'll use "Card Game", which has her laglessly throw a Shampuru down on a very steep angle and can be spammed like crazy for however many Shampuru she had following her. The only noticeable thing about throwing Shampuru like this is that they'll (or at least the majority) bounce off targets on a high arc and up into the air half as high as they were thrown from, continually bouncing off targets they hit until they lose all momentum and settle down. You can use opponents for this, but what's especially fun is that Shampuru will bounce off other Shampuru, meaning you can throw two down in quick succession and have the second bounce off the first.
If you hold B instead of tapping it and had at least 5 Shampuru following you, or didn't have any but had 5 in your reserves, a brilliant light will shine around Chou-Chou before revealing around her... an army tank! This bears an uncanny resemblance to the space animals' Landmasters and even deals identical to damage to those it falls on, only with several differences. Chou-Chou's tank is smaller, about a platform wide if you exclude the cannon, and the top half of her is completely open to being attacked. The tank is not a solid and can be passed through, but the front and cannon can be stood on like drop-through platforms. The tank can be moved back and forth at sound speeds with no delay, not dealing damage to foes it runs into, its cannon being turned around manually with use of the shield/grab inputs. It goes without saying that the tank cannot fly or do barrel rolls; holding up or down will instead raise or lower the cannon respectively, letting you angle it as high or low as 30/150 degrees.
Firing with the tank is as simple as tapping B, which causes Chou-Chou to fire a Shampuru from her reserves almost laglessly. The Shampuru is fired with enough force to send it flying straight across the other side of the screen on just about any stage, resulting in the little guy dealing twice as much damage and knockback (but not hitstun) than if he were thrown normally. Shampurus fired this way bounce back thrice as far upon hitting a target and are pitfalled for a moment if fired into a surface, Dynamite Shampuru instantly exploding at full power if they hit something. You can press A to have Chou-Chou hop out of the tank anytime, something you'll want to consider when opponents are close to it: the tank has 30HP, and when destroyed it'll explode and deal Chou-Chou the damage and knockback she would have received from the attack if she was still inside it. Having a tank destroyed this way also kills all the peon that were involved in its summoning. If Chou-Chou gets out of the tank manually, it'll stay out for 1.5 seconds and can be moe killed to gain one of several different peons based on where Chou-Chou was: a Cannon Shampuru near the cannon, a Shield Shampuru at the front or back, or a Block Shampuru near the top or center of the tank.
It should be noted that the tank can pass through onstage Shampuru without hindering them, but that's not to say you can't interact with them: if the cannon comes into contact with a Shampuru (usually by lowering the cannon down towards the ground on a 45 degree angle), it'll be put back in Chou-Chou's reserves and be shot next. Furthermore, you can scoop up Shampuru by lowering the cannon through the ground so you can carry them as you go for transportation purposes.
[[Down Special - Peon Ball]]
In Mugen Souls, the Peon Ball was an incredibly powerful attack that involved Chou-Chou amassing all the peons she'd collected throughout the entire game and forming them into a ball she'd throw at enemies for potentially catastrophic damage, often outright winning fights this way. The size of the peon ball could range from dinky to that of a GALAXY depending on the number of Shampuru collected, though it took literally billions of Shampuru and hundreds of hours from the player to amass such, making Mugen Souls one of the hardest games to get Platinum for on the Playstation 3... well over 400 hours. Also, despite the peon ball's immense power, it required a certain amount of in-game "Peon Points" to utilize and could actually overload if left out for too long, in which case it would drop on your entire the party and kill them. While not quite the same, the peon ball brings similar glory to Smash as a overwhelmingly powerful finisher that puts everything else to shame.
Before we get to that however, let’s go over the move’s main use. Tap B, and Chou-Chou will take out a Shampuru and hold it as a throwing item, taking out the one she created most recently. This is Chou-Chou’s primary way to utilize her Shampuru, and if used again she’ll cycle to the second most-recently created type of Shampuru, letting her shuffle through and get the specific one she wants with ease. In addition to taking Shampuru from her reserves, Chou-Chou can also grab hold of existing ones as though they were items by smashing this input while overlapping them. Handling and throwing a Shampuru is much faster than it sounds, as fast as picking up and throwing an item off the ground.
Shampuru deal unremarkable damage when used as a projectile, but there's a little way to have more fun with them: if you input the Side Special like a smash attack anytime after throwing a Shampuru by any means (including the Up Special) and before it hits the ground, Chou-Chou will aim her elemental attack at its location! This creates the elemental sphere around the Shampuru with a mass rivaling that of Kirby, but the attack comes out a good deal faster than normal and can be thrown out from a distance. You can also keep the sphere out beyond its normal duration for up to 5 seconds by holding B until an opponent is struck by it, even if the Shampuru would hit the ground, but you’ll only get opponents with the sourspot given you need to hit up-close to land the sweetspot. The sourspot will always keep enemies in place to get hit by the Shampuru covered by the sphere, however. Regardless of which element is used for the sphere, it makes for a great counter against opponents who think they can just waltz up to your Shampuru and attack them out of the blue.
The elements from the sphere - and only this particular variation - have certain effects on different type of outside Shampuru they hit.
Fire will make Dynamite Shampuru explode instantly, creating an explosion that’s stronger if you specifically connected with the sweetspot or weaker if you went for the sourspot.
Water will catch stray Shampuru and position them adjacent to the enveloped Shampuru inside the sphere (up to 8 can be caught this way), making it possible to catch a Shampuru that just bounced off the opponent and hit them with it again for quite a bit of damage.
Rock doesn’t have any effect on outside Shampuru, but rather it creates a small, jagged boulder around the Shampuru if you held it out until it hit the ground, able to be thrown as a weaker barrel with slope physics that can be targeted with this move.
Wind bounces around midair Shampuru that hit the sphere, even if they just bounced off an opponent or were otherwise harmless, letting you juggle them around in some crazy ways by throwing out this sphere last among a group.
Thunder instantly recharges any Laser Shampuru hit by it and gives all other Shampuru an electrical charge for 3 seconds, causing them to deal an extra 1% and extra hitstun to make them deadlier, especially good if the sphere passed through a whole bunch of bounced/falling Shampuru.
Light does nothing special to Shampuru in particular, but the sphere gets left behind as soon as it envelops the Shampuru and thus can serve as a unique defensive option or means of projectile manipulation. Finally,
darkness gives Shampuru it makes contact with 7% heavy armor for 2 seconds, usable for protection.
"Now's the time to show me your loyalty! Go! Peon Ball!"
And now for something different. If you held B even just a little, Chou-Chou will amass 9 more Shampuru with the one she's already holding to create a “Small Peon Ball”, using Shampuru from either her reserves or those close to her if she was holding one she just picked up. Despite how it sounds (and looks in the image), this small peon ball is only the size of Kirby and acts as a somewhat laggy throwing item, dealing 10% and decent knockback capable of KO’ing at 200% on contact with a foe regardless of the Shampuru used to create it. Fairly mundane stuff if you think of it that way, but what makes the projectile fun are the Shampuru that it was composed of: these guys will behave in the same way they would if they were thrown normally upon hitting a foe or a surface, making it possible to nail a foe with several piercing Shampuru to harm their shield or have 10 Laser Shampurus aimed at them. You can also stuff a whole bunch of Block Shampurus together to form a 3x3 stack with a 10th block stacked at the center top. It’s like you just threw 10 Shampuru at once! Foes can’t handle the small peon ball like an item, but Chou-Chou can grab hold of it as though it were a regular Shampuru. You can envelop a small peon ball in an elemental sphere via Side Special, but the sphere won’t get any bigger to accommodate the bigger projectile.
"I'll use you well... now, die!"
Holding B beyond the small peon ball lets Chou-Chou create a true Peon Ball, as shown in the above picture. This uses and requires at least 20 Shampurus, but if you continue to hold down B you’ll throw in more at an incredibly rapid rate, about 50 Shampurus per second, taking specifically from either your reserves or onstage Shampuru much like with the small peon ball. Once B is released, Chou-Chou will hold the peon ball high above her head with both hands raised before she throws it in a dramatic motion, either on a 100 degree angle or on a 160 degree angle depending on whether she was grounded or in the air (in which case she’ll be suspended in midair for a moment). Creating and throwing the peon ball has a moderate amount of lag to it,
The peon ball initially travels at an unrealistically sluggish pace, but after a second or so it’ll start to pick up speed and accelerate rather quickly until it reaches Mario’s dash speed after 3 seconds, bursting in a fantastic purplish explosion upon hitting something. At minimum size, the peon ball rivals a Party Ball and engulfs its target for one second before dealing 20% with high knockback capable of KO’ing at 100%, but every extra Shampuru will increase the damage the ball deals by 0.5% and make the attack KO 1% earlier, not to mention outright increase the overall mass of the peon ball. It goes without saying that you can create a huge and very powerful projectile with several dozen peons, the ball gaining some special properties for the number of peons used in it: 50 peons gives the ball the ability to bypass reflectors and drop-through platforms, 80 peons will allow it to instantly break any shield and bypass makeshift structures, 120 peons allows it to KO at 0% and ignore the stage, 150 peons allows it to KO any non-boss character without exception while 200 peons gives it the god-like OHKO properties of Strangelove’s Doomsday Device to anyone hit by it. A peon ball made up of 500 Shampuru will hit every opponent upon exploding while a ball with 999 Shampurus will cause Chou-Chou to instantly win the match, but come on. To be fair, even accumulating 100 peons in a single stock is a mighty difficult task when foes will only give out 40-50 Shampuru per stock at most, but it’s not completely impossible. Should Chou-Chou ever be successful in throwing out a peon ball made up of at least 100 Shampuru, her opponents will most likely be completely screwed. To help in hitting with the peon ball, Chou-Chou is able to knock it around with her attacks as though it were a soccer ball, in which case its momentum will be reset and it’ll fall upon reaching the peak of its knockback.
For all its power, the peon ball carries one huge risk: if Chou-Chou OR the peon ball raised above her are struck by a powerful attack during the starting lag, the latter will “overload” and fall on its master, exploding and damaging her for what WILL amount to fatal damage. The smaller peon balls aren’t so bad given Chou-Chou can just jump up into the air using her Up Special and take advantage of the brief midair stall, but bigger peon balls take longer to create and are much easier for foes to attack. So even if you do manage to get those 100 peons, you’ll need to find the time and space necessary to pull off the peon ball, especially if you had no peons left to defend you - this is especially difficult in a FFA setting, which is ironic given Chou-Chou has a much easier time farming Shampuru when she’s fighting against more opponents who are constantly damaging each other. Also, foes can damage the traveling from the sides or behind to kill off a number of Shampuru equal to the damage they dealt with their attack, so Chou-Chou must be willing to fight back against them to prevent unnecessary losses. Once a peon ball goes offscreen or explodes, Chou-Chou doesn’t lose the peons used in it but rather gets them back at a rate of 2 every second, making huge peon balls impossible to spam. Finally, the peon ball will automatically explode if it doesn’t hit someone after 5 seconds, so you can’t keep them out forever.
Outside Shampurus won’t be added to a peon ball on contact with one, but they can be added to one if thrown right next to it. Chou-Chou can use this move beneath an existing peon ball to increase its size or re-throw it, providing she’s careful about the risk of overloading. There is no limit to the number of peon balls that can be onstage, and if two come in contact with each other they’ll bounce off each other, but if Chou-Chou raises one ball and the other makes contact with it both will merge into one bigger ball.
(((OVERWHELMING STANDARDS)))
[[Jab - Peon Craze]]
Chou-Chou swipes diagonally with her right hand and crosses it over her her shoulder before following up with her signature pointing pose, because her pointing is godly enough to do real damage; a total of 7% that finishes with mild mostly-horizontal knockback that'll KO at 300%, or at 130% if you sweetspot with the finger. It kinda lacks range, but comes out very fast and lingers for a bit on the second hit, not to mention it has very low end lag. You'll be using this move a lot given Chou-Chou likes getting close to her opponents for a moe kill, the poor knockback scaling working well for her since it keeps enemies close to her and alive for further moe kill attempts. The sweetspot is easy enough to land with a bit of spacing, too, if you want to actually KO the opponent. Behold the power of pointing!
If you continue tapping A at the end of the attack, Chou-Chou will send out Shampuru close to her as projectiles ala Pikmin Toss, which is a good way to spam or follow-up on an enemy still close to you after being hit providing you don't let them kill off your peons. Alternatively, you can instead hold A to have Chou-Chou use Shampuru from her reserves, and this can even be done after the first hit if you like. This can also be done, peculiarly enough, right after you've just thrown a Shampuru and continued to hold A.
[[Dash Attack - Overwhelming Drive ]]
Did you know that Chou-Chou has a sword? Yes, the weapons used in battle were quite wacky and overwhelming in size to ensure they stood out as much as possible, sizes that would break a game like Smash and put the likes of Falchion to shame. It goes without saying that we’re gonna downsize these absurdly large weapons over the course of this movement, starting with this thing here.
For this move, Chou-Chou will throw her hand back dynamically to summon her crazy-looking sword before thrusting it ahead and shooting forward with it, spewing purplish energy behind as it goes. You could think of the attack as a combination of a grounded Raptor Boost and Shield Breaker in terms of lag/speed and reach respectively, along with overall animation, making the move appear especially overwhelming for a standard attack. If Chou-Chou hits an opponent as soon as she stabs her sword out, she’ll deliver a very powerful 12% with high knockback on a 60 degree angle that can KO at 110% while continuing to rush forward, but if she runs into someone along the way she’ll drag them along for up to 12 hits of 1% before depositing them ahead of her for surprisingly some mild mostly-horizontal knockback that generally won’t KO until 222%. This essentially lets Chou-Chou run into opponents and drag them across the stage before spacing them decently from her, but you have to be careful about the end lag and being punished by a shielding opponent. The sword can also be used to catch any Shampuru that fall on top of it and carry them along before dropping them ahead of Chou-Chou harmlessly, say it just bounced off the opponent and you want to catch it to make use of much more easily.
[[F-tilt - Endless Reach]]
Crossing her arms confidently, the lengthy ribbons streaming down from Chou-Chou’s hair suddenly come to life, raised at the ready before lashing out a SBB ahead of their master. This can be angled and understandably comes out with a bit of starting lag, but the ribbons linger for a bit and deal 4 very quick hits of 1% while pulling the target in as far as 0.5 SBBs, leaving both players in a frame-neutral state and possibly right next to each other - giving Chou-Chou the chance to pull off a moe kill. If Chou-Chou doesn’t want foes right up in her face for whatever reason, she can perform a follow-up attack that sees her ribbons whip them away for another 4% and good-negligible knockback that’ll KO between 400-160% depending on whether they were hit right up-close or from far away. Also, you can charge the attack for up to half a second to double the ribbons’ reach and pull to that of a platform, enabling Chou-Chou to draw in foes from greater distances.
The only other noticeable thing about this attack is that it will bring individual Shampuru and all manner of peon balls towards Chou-Chou if they connect near the tip of her ribbon. This can not only be used to save or reposition Shampuru, but also use them to damage struck foes further since they’ll function as hitboxes on their way to Chou-Chou.
Chou-Chou throws out a hasty vertical split kick with an angry look on her face! She used this attack in the Mugen Souls opening to punish a naughty Shampuru that was after a peek at her goods. Though it lacks range, it comes out fast and deals 10% with some very reliable upwards knockback that can KO at 152%, sending enemies flying far enough to put a bit of distance between the two of you at lower percentages - great stuff given there's almost no end lag. The tip of Chou-Chou's foot is a weaker hitbox that deals 6% and lesser knockback that won't KO until 225%, but this is much better suited to juggling if you want to mix things up. Overall, a great close-up tool for launching and creating a mid-ranged situation.
If you hold A after performing the attack, Chou-Chou will shout suddenly in what seems to be a pseudo-taunt, but is actually a command to any Shampuru close to her: specifically, she'll order them to stack themselves on top of each other to form a makeshift tower, 5 Shampuru volunteering themselves in quick succession as you continue to hold the input. Newer additions to the Shampuru cluster will sit at the top of the tower while the older ones stay at the bottom, though Block Shampuru will always be beneath the other types and cannot be stacked atop of those Shampuru. The tower overlaps with Chou-Chou's position by default, but you can angle the control stick to have it be formed next to her on either side for convenience's sake. There is absolutely no limit to how tall a tower can get, nor how many you can have out at once, just so long as you have the necessary amount of Shampuru. A tower can easily be dismantled by re-issuing the order next to one, but there are other ways to go about breaking it. Shampurus forming a tower cannot move.
Shampuru towers are convenient simply because they align your Shampuru vertically in an orderly fashion, letting Chou-Chou pick them out easily or have them form a (rather weak) wall against projectiles. The tower gets especially fun if you throw a whole bunch of one type of Shampuru together: Dynamite Shampuru can be strung together to create a huge chain blast, while Block Shampuru can be used to create towers you can stand on, even raising Chou-Chou up with them as they go if the tower would overlap with her position, making for a good way to pursue opponents after kicking them up into the air. Chou-Chou can easily add to an existing tower by throwing a Shampuru or a small peon ball on top of it, or alternatively take from it when she needs to.
If Chou-Chou hits a Shampuru(s) above her with her kick, she'll send it flying right above her as though she had thrown it with the force of a giant giant. This not only lets you send Shampuru flying further but also keep them out of the fray for a moment, but they often won't come back down for a good 7 seconds. Small peons ball can be sent flying this way, and it can be on individual Shampuru forming a tower. Dynamite Shampuru will not explode when kicked this way.
[[D-tilt - Undisputed Stomp]]
An angry look on her face, Chou-Chou leans far back in an exaggerated manner and raises a foot before stomping down with it, sending out a weak, short-ranged shockwave along the ground. Chou-Chou’s foot acts as a powerful hitbox that deals 12% and high spiking knockback that’ll KO at 145%, while the shockwave inflicts 8% with very low base knockback that scales well enough to KO at 200%. The attack has considerably low lag on both ends given it’s a D-tilt despite its potential power, just that the shockwave doesn’t really reach out any farther than a typical D-tilt attack. The stomp many be difficult to connect with at times given its non-existent reach, but not overly so given Chou-Chou has a need for being up-close. It can be used to launch opponents and even spike them when platforms are thrown in. What’s more, it can spike opponents who are right above Chou-Chou and knock them down into prone, where she can possibly follow into a moe kill.
If Chou-Chou stomps down on Shampuru, they’ll be buried deep enough that only the tip of their ears can be seen, unable to move or attack but also unable to be attacked by opponents. Buried Shampuru can be made to contribute to a peon ball or be picked up, but they cannot contribute to a Link Attack or be thrown out with the Jab.
If the shockwave connects with Shampuru, it’ll bounce them 1.2 SBBs up into the air for a split second, which also unearths buried Shampuru. These Shampuru function as hitboxes as they bounce, which is especially fun if you just bounced a Shampuru tower into the air, but the bouncing can also be used to protect them from an oncoming enemy attack or projectile (which Chou-Chou can then moe kill). Like with the F-tilt, you can charge this move like a quick smash attack to extend the shockwave’s reach by a platform length, allowing you to catch Shampuru from greater distances.
(((OVERWHELMING SMASHES)))
[[F-Smash - Reflection Ball]]
Chou-Chou crosses an arm over her shoulder to have a transparent, greenish sphere form in front of her, which grows over time as though it were an Aura Sphere from Lucario at his best. Upon release, something resembling life energy suddenly bursts inside the sphere before Chou-Chou bats the whole thing forward as a projectile. This projectile travels at Mario-Ganon dashing speed for 4 SBBs, but after that it quickly drops in speed to the point where it’s only traveling at 1/5th of its original speed after covering another 3 SBBs before exploding in a blast radius slightly bigger than the ball itself a moment later, which it also does on contact with an opponent. The projectile’s damage output varies greatly on how long it was charged for, dealing anywhere between 12-24% and mild-solid mostly-radial knockback (knocking enemies back 20 degrees higher than the angle they came from) that’ll KO between 160-90%.
The reflection ball can be reflected by opponents in the same way the Ice Climbers’ projectile works, in which case the hitbox will be removed via the inner “life energy” disappearing, but Chou-Chou can just hit the ball with one of her own melee attacks to reflect it back and breathe life into it again - or even pull it towards her if she tips it with the F-tilt. The ball has rather high priority that lets it shrug off weaker projectiles and will only yield to especially powerful attacks at the highest charge, meaning it’s an incredibly solid defense against projectile spam which encourages foes to get up-close and hit the ball to remove its hitbox. There is no limit to the number of reflection balls that Chou-Chou can create and have out, but if one is reflected 2-3 times by an opponent it will burn out of existence. It’s also somewhat difficult to spam this move since it contains both pre-charge and post-charge lag, but surprisingly little end lag. Thankfully you can have Laser Shampuru fire their lasers at opponents to keep them busy while Chou-Chou charges the attack.
If Chou-Chou specifically smash-throws a Shampuru directly into a reflection ball of any condition, or a Shampuru falls in front of her when she’s charging the attack, it’ll remain suspended at very center, a ball fitting 1-10 Shampuru inside of it depending on how big it was. This might not seem like much, but Shampuru hit out of a reflection ball will simply bounce off the hitbox as though they were projectiles and thus won’t die. Certain types of Shampuru can make this interaction more interesting, too: Dynamite Shampuru will make the reflection ball explode prematurely if struck, forcing foes to be careful about the spacing of their attack or outright ignore the ball, while Cannon Shampuru will aim themselves in the direction they were traveling when thrown (except when thrown vertically, in which case they’ll aim the opposite way towards Chou-Chou) and fire out further Shampuru thrown into the ball. Block Shampuru inside the ball can be stood on, but they’ll be pushed down and out of the ball if stood on for any longer than a second. Another thing about throwing Shampuru inside a reflection ball is that Chou-Chou can target the ball with her Side Special since said Shampuru hasn’t touched the ground, making for a good counter if opponents recklessly move through a ball they just reflected.
One more interesting thing about the reflection ball is that it can be moe killed, as can the essence inside of it which will be left behind for 1.5 seconds should the ball succeed in hitting an opponent. The type of Shampuru obtained varies from a Laser or Dynamite Shampuru depending on charge, but if Chou-Chou fully charged the attack she’ll get a very special type of Shampuru: an Overwhelming Shampuru! This is easily the strongest type of Shampuru Chou-Chou has available to her, being a very powerful projectile that deals 16% and high knockback that KOs at 120% upon hitting opponents at the cost of being a bit slower to take out and throw than the other types, making for an interesting surprise if suddenly thrown out amongst a bunch of Private Shampuru. Overwhelming Shampuru travel a bit farther and much faster than regular Shampuru, and upon hitting the ground they’ll run up to their master very quickly, actually having the speed to follow her around. Overwhelming Shampuru can make up the cost of 5 Shampuru for the Link Attack Tank, count as 3 peons for a peon ball and are actually able to move around while holding up an entire tower of Shampuru given their strength, but they do have one big weakness: they are overwhelmingly easy to kill, taking twice as much knockback as a regular Shampuru and being sent flying even if hit when acting as a projectile. It is also worth noting that it takes Chou-Chou over a second to moe kill a fully charged reflection ball, making it risky to do so when the ball has just been reflected back at you or the opponent shielded against it. Getting an Overwhelming Shampuru out of the deal is, however, well worth it.
[[U-Smash - Galaxy Cross]]
Chou-Chou turns halfway towards the screen and cups her hands together, appearing to form a mysterious object with an excited look that hints something overwhelming. And overwhelming it is: she just made a black hole! Chou-Chou thrusts the little guy high above her in a vigorous motion, an action that greatly resembles Mewtwo’s U-Smash for an attack that deals 5 hits of 3.8-5.1% before launching the enemy for high upwards knockback that scales very well, KO’ing between 95-65%. The damage and knockback is rather overwhelming for how safe the attack is combined with its duration, but you actually only get that amount of damage by sweetspotting with the center of the hitbox at the start of the move. Hitting with the edge of the hole instead results in 2.2-3.5% and mild upwards knockback that won’t KO until 200-175%, which is at least fairly easy to follow up on for aerial assaults.
If you hold the control stick in any direction during the last hit of the attack, another black hole will flash 3 SBBs ahead of Chou-Chou’s black hole for a split second. This extra black hole does nothing on its own and doesn’t even act as a hitbox, but rather it will result in a victim of the sweetspot being sucked into Chou-Chou’s black hole and out of this new one as they take their knockback from it. The attack’s duration gives you enough time to determine where you want to aim the control stick, but you cannot create a black hole on an angle lower than 120 degrees, and opponents actually take far less knockback, as though they were hit by the sourspot. The weakened knockback can be useful to Chou-Chou in that it lets her capitalize on the sweetspot’s damage output for a moe kill, however, and if she releases a victim on the lowest angle possible they’ll be knocked into prone upon hitting the ground.
Needless to say, Shampuru can and will be absorbed into the black hole, where they’ll be protected from enemy attacks until released. The real point of absorbing them however, is to teleport them to different parts of the stage so you can drop from the on opponents from afar or reposition them. It also helps that you can hold A near the end of the attack to keep the black hole out indefinitely, but it will die down and not function as a hitbox against opponents, indicated by a lack of sound coming from it. While keeping a black hole out this way, you can tap the control stick in a direction as Shampuru fall in to teleport them individually, or wait until a whole bunch come in before dropping them all down at once.
Chou-Chou can cancel any hit of the Dash Attack into this move, but the black hole won’t combo from it. Rather, this simply gives Chou-Chou the option to slide across the stage to try and catch opponents and Shampuru. It helps that Chou-Chou travels relatively far, but not blazingly fast, due to the nature of her Dash Attack.
[[D-Smash - Peon Parade]]
Chou-Chou faces the screen with her signature pointing pose, causing nearby Shampuru to converge into clustered, blockish, rectangular 2D masses on each side of their master, effectively splitting them into 2 groups. Once released, Chou-Chou points skywards to have the Shampuru leap out weakly on a 20-90 degree angle at random, causing any opponent touching either mass to take 1.1% for every Shampuru it was made up of and an appropriate amount of knockback, being launched vertically close to Chou-Chou but on a lower angle if they were further away, horizontally if they were somehow hit from a platform away. Being hit by a Shampuru as it flies out results in receiving half the damage it would normally deal as a projectile.
With only 1 Shampuru, the attack has abysmal range and deals similar knockback to a weak U-tilt, but having extra Shampuru will greatly increase the attack’s range and its knockback output. With 5 Shampuru, the attack is able to start KO’ing at around 200% and 20% earlier for every extra 5 thrown in, with absolutely no limit cap on the knockback. This might seem weak given the amount of Shampuru you’d need to even get a remotely powerful attack, not to mention the fact that your forces split up when performing it, but the key thing about the move is that it not only comes out insanely fast but also ends just as quickly, actually allowing Chou-Chou to take advantage of the weak upwards knockback from one Shampuru to follow into a moe kill. Shampuru will also dish out their specific effects against foes that were specifically making contact with them upon being hit, namely the Spiky Shampuru, Flame Shampuru or even Overwhelming Shampuru who will significantly increase the amount of base knockback they receive. Laser Shampuru will even proceed to fire their lasers against the victim if they had charge.
Charging the attack doesn’t increase its power, but rather takes a percentage of Shampuru from Chou-Chou’s peon reserves to use for the attack based on how long she spent charging, taking everything she had with a full charge. These Shampuru are added to the existing mass if Chou-Chou initially had nearby Shampuru, meaning it can become quite powerful if you’re willing to gamble it all. Having a lot of nearby Shampuru lets Chou-Chou potentially throw out a very strong attack almost instantly to surprise enemies with, but charging gives her more control over the attack’s power and lets her spam it more often, since the Shampuru scatter out upon being used for the attack and thus makes it difficult to spam normally given they have to run back up to you.
Last but not least, the Shampurus can block attacks for Chou-Chou while they’re clustered during the charge, but this is not something you should abuse just for the sake of such given it’ll put them in danger. Shampuru towers will remain in-tact when you use this move, but Shampuru that fall on either mass will join in on the attack.
[[D-Smash (tower) - Peon Sword]]
This attack gets a totally different function if Chou-Chou uses it whilst overlapping a Shampuru tower: she’ll take the bottom 3 Shampuru and use them as a makeshift weapon! All 3 Shampuru will straighten out for this as Chou-Chou uses the ears of the bottom Shampuru as a handle, swinging this new weapon across the floor around her in a typical D-Smash fashion. The attack deals 10-16% with relatively good knockback that’ll KO between 140-110%, launching enemies upwards if they’re hit by the bottom Shampuru near Chou-Chou, diagonally if they’re hit by the middle Shampuru and mostly-horizontally if they’re hit by the top Shampuru. Unlike the regular D-Smash, this can be spammed, but it’s not nearly as fast and can be punished by a wary opponent. Using this move again while overlapping a tower will cause Chou-Chou to take the next 3 Shampuru in-line while discarding the ones she was using.
Upon using this attack once, and while unarmed, the “Shampuru sword” becomes a weapon that replaces Chou-Chou’s Jab, Dash Attack, F-tilt and F-Smash in typical battering item fashion, alongside the aforementioned D-Smash. The Jab becomes a quick overhead smack that deals however much damage the Shampuru that connects would have dealt as a projectile, being reasonably fast but not blazingly so. The Dash Attack functions like Chou-Chou’s regular Dash Attack, only weaker and less range but being much faster, which in turn has an effect on a DACUS performed from it. The F-tilt is a horizontal swing that deals average knockback that’ll KO at 170% and can be angled. The F-Smash has Chou-Chou use the weapon like a baseball bat in a similar manner to Ness’s F-Smash, only dealing 17-23% and solid knockback that KOs between 100-70% no matter where it hits while reflecting projectiles that hit the tip and also smacking Shampuru across the screen. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Shampuru sword, however, is that it can be thrown like a typical battering item and will remain completely in-tact unless struck by a foe, the Shampuru actually going through their opponent instead of bouncing off of them. Shampuru swords will lie on their sides when grounded as to differentiate them from a Shampuru tower.
A Shampuru sword is made interesting by the individual Shampuru that compose it, letting Chou-Chou create a custom weapon with different traits on each of the 3 sections. Pilot and Drill Shampuru deal a bit more knockback on contact, while Overwhelming Shampuru greatly increase the knockback enemies receive. Dynamite Shampuru give Chou-Chou something of a makeshift counter against enemies who try to clash with the weapon’s hitbox. Laser Shampuru will actually fire their lasers when you use the F-tilt or F-Smash. Flame Shampuru let you buff or debuff opponents upon hitting them. Nurse Shampuru heal their targets instead of damaging them, which you really don’t want. And Cannon Shampuru are especially fun, since you can actually scoop up stray Shampuru you hit with your battering attacks before firing them with said attacks, up to 3 if you had a sword made up of 3 Cannon Shampuru that each had a single Shampuru loaded. Most of the attacks will fire the Shampuru horizontally, but the F-tilt lets you angle where the Shampuru is fired and the F-Smash makes it go flying twice as far and deal twice as much damage if you fully charge the attack. The only Shampuru you can’t use in a Shampuru sword are Block Shampuru and Balloon Shampuru.
(((OVERWHELMING AERIALS)))
[[N-air - Infinity Lash]]
Chou-Chou faces the screen and crosses her arms confidently, extending her two ribbons from each side of her to form an infinity symbol that snakes in a loop. The attack has a decently long duration to it (but not that long), and while the loops start out small initially, they quickly expand (mostly) horizontally further into the attack, reach as far out as 1 SBB near the end. This deals 10 hits of 1% while dragging opponents around by the specific part of the loop they were caught in, before ejecting them for rather mild radial knockback that won’t KO until 200%. Because of the way the loops work, you can technically knock a foe away in almost any direction, even spike them, though it’s not that powerful and can averted with DI. Chou-Chou can use the hitbox to drag foes around from a mid-ranged situation, but really she merits from the move’s defensive properties: it can be used to approach thanks to its potentially high range, and even if foes see it coming they won’t be able to punish you if they try to shield it from a distance. It especially helps that Chou-Chou is able to cancel the attack early if she lands while using it.
Shampuru that come into contact with Chou-Chou’s ribbons will loop around the edge of them before being dropped off directly in front of the hitbox in front of Chou-Chou, but can be dropped off behind her if the control stick was held in that direction. This is yet another way to gather and move Shampuru around, but they’re perfectly capable of damaging an opponent caught in the loop for what can amount to some high damage. Like with the U-Smash, you can hold A at the end of the attack to have Chou-Chou keep her ribbons out without their hitbox (again indicated by a lack of sound) if you want to keep dragging Shampuru around before dropping them off anytime. If Chou-Chou catches tower Shampuru in her ribbons, they’ll continue functioning as a tower when she deposits them, letting her split a tower into 2 with precise positioning. Small peon balls are exempt from being caught in Chou-Chou’s ribbons, and if she uses the move close to a peon ball she’ll take Shampuru from it at a rapid rate as her only means of salvaging them if she wants to use them.
[[F-air - Savor the Taste of My Fist!]]
Chou-Chou looks super-pissed! That sure ain’t good. She uses violence to get her point across, throwing out a mighty swing that makes up for its lack of reach with speed and power. Right up-close, this deals 14% and strong horizontal knockback that’ll KO at 140%, while any farther away it instead deals 7% and weak horizontal knockback that’ll KO at 220%. The move is simple enough, but it’s noteworthy for being very spammable and thus a great utility in close-quarters, since Chou-Chou is comfortable from fighting at any distance.
This move can be used to punch peon and reflection balls quickly and efficiently, due to its speed. It can also be used to punch (mostly midair) Shampuru and send them flying as far or twice as far as Chou-Chou would normally throw them if she hits up-close, in which case the Shampuru will deal twice as much damage on contact. This is a natural follow-up to knocking foes into the air with an U-tilt and using the command to create a Shampuru tower, the likes of which you can use to easily nail a foe instead of having to line yourself up with a falling Shampuru and an opponent.
[[B-air - Overwhelming Clothesline]]
Chou-Chou leans back a bit and extends her ribbons 1 SBB behind her, a relatively fast attack with only a minor amount of starting lag. The very tip of the ribbons functions as a sweetspot that deals 15%, freeze frames and powerful rainbow knockback that can KO at 120%, while the midsection of the ribbons deals 5% and flinching and 8% with weak upwards knockback directly behind Chou-Chou (KO’ing at 333%). This is good if you’re looking to punish an opponent from a distance, say they’re planning on abusing a poor Shampuru, but it can also somewhat help with approaching and getting up-close in their face with the sourspot. It’s also surprisingly good for using on a reflection ball behind you so you can bring it back towards you given its range and fairly low lag.
This can be used to catch Shampuru behind Chou-Chou and bring them towards her so she can pick them up via DSpec, or bounce one back up into the air if it landed on the ribbon with precise timing. It also has an interesting effect on tower Shampuru if you nailed one with the sweetspot: the Shampuru will be tied to the ribbon, which is reeled back to Chou-Chou, and is consequently able to be dragged around by her. Shampuru beneath the tied Shampuru will follow suit, effectively causing the tower to bend. If Chou-Chou uses this move again with a tower Shampuru tied behind her, she’ll release it and cause the tower to suddenly snap back and straighten cartoonishly, becoming a hitbox that deals 1-0.4x the damage of the ribbon’s sweetspot depending on how close they were initially to a portion of the bended tower and how far it was bent back. This can prove to be quite a powerful aerial attack with massive range if the tower was tall enough, being easy enough to position for when you have the Up Special. It has almost no lag, but just enough start-up lag to let foes know it’s coming.
If Chou-Chou lands with a tower Shampuru tied behind her, she’ll have it somehow grab hold of the ground and turn the tower into an arch that can be stood on by players. Crazy, I know. Sadly, the arch is very easy to break down simply by removing a single Shampuru from it, which causes it to spring back up into a tower, or even two towers if the Shampuru was removed from the middle of the arch. Removing the Shampuru results in Chou-Chou experiencing freeze-frames on her action to give opponents a chance to dodge the springing hitbox, but if opponents remove the Shampuru themselves no delay will occur and no hitbox will be created.
Finally, if the tower Shampuru Chou-Chou ties to her ribbons was not the Shampuru on top, the Shampurus it was supporting will sit atop the arch and become a separate tower. Any Shampuru making contact with a springing tower will be launched forward on an appropriate angle as if Chou-Chou threw them, separating Shampurus in a small peon ball.
[[U-air - Full Orbit]]
Chou-Chou extends her ribbons above her, but then they suddenly split out horizontally and curve downwards to meet up 1.5 SBBs beneath her, forming a perfect circle upon doing so. The attack initially hits a reasonable distance right above Chou-Chou for 10% and decent juggling knockback that KOs at 180%, or 6% with low upwards knockback that KOs at 400%, but it has the strange property of also hitting beneath Chou-Chou despite being an U-air, the intersecting ribbons being a sweetspot that deals 12% and high upwards knockback capable of KO’ing at around 165%. Despite how it all sounds, this attack is actually very fast and suffers from very little lag, making it as effective for juggling as any other U-air.
Shampuru nailed with any of the hitboxes get bounced up into the air as though they were thrown by Chou-Chou. Also, airborne Shampuru are bounced off the interior of the ribbon circle based off the angle they hit, and Chou-Chou can keep her ribbons out indefinitely for as long as the player holds A just for this purpose. If Chou-Chou uses this attack when there’s less than 1.5 SBBs distance between her and the ground, the ribbons will intersect prematurely, exempting the need to space it. The ribbons also keep Chou-Chou suspended in midair when they hit the ground, which is highly useful for quickly pursuing an opponent you just knocked into the air. The rate of which Chou-Chou can keep herself suspended is comparable to Lucario’s D-air.
[[D-air - Meteorific Descent]]
Chou-Chou straightens herself vertically and proceeds to plummet down! This is a stall-then-fall that don’t stop till you drop, an overwhelming attack accompanied by an overwhelming fiery visual. Those struck are blown aside for 10% and good knockback on a 60 degree angle that’ll KO at 150%, but the attack gets 1.1x stronger for every SBB Chou-Chou travels, and with absolutely no limit on how strong it can get. Needless to say, you’ll love spamming this out of the Up Special. What’s more, you get a nice, juicy explosion visual around Chou-Chou when she lands, and her attack gets a slight damage multiplier alongside now dealing entirely vertical knockback. There is some end lag to contend with, but that’s a small price to pay for being able to give enemies beneath you a good pounding and reach the earth in record time, mostly for the sake of your Shampuru.
Chou-Chou’s overwhelming descent is met with a shockwave that covers a length on both sides of her equal to the distance she fell, dealing and the faintest of pushback but no flinching. The shockwave also throws Shampuru high up into the air (about 3/4s the distance Chou-Chou fell from) and on such an angle that they’ll always land next to their master provided they don’t run into any obstacles or opponents along the way. It goes without saying that you’ll be using this move to herd all your Shampuru together since there’s no reason to scatter them across the stage when it puts them at risk of being killed.
If Chou-Chou makes contact with a small peon ball during her descent, she’ll kick down on it hard enough to transfer all her momentum into the ball, effectively causing it to take her place as she cancels out of the dive with a bit of end lag. The ball will travel at the same speeds Chou-Chou did and dish out the same amount of damage, but it’ll actually bounce off the ground and up into the air the same height Chou-Chou started the attack from, though upon reaching its peak it’ll return to dishing out its normal damage and falling normally. This is by no means a situational interaction and can be performed deliberately, simple as Chou-Chou creating a small peon ball and immediately dropping it beneath her before using this move.
(((OVERWHELMING GRAB)))
Contrary to what you might have come to expect, Chou-Chou’s grab is actually nice n’ simple as she reaches out with both hands and pulls the opponent down to her level by the collar of their neck. This even comes with an annoyed expression! Yes, Chou-Chou does not like being looked down upon. Upon grabbing an opponent, any Shampurus near Chou-Chou will move into the background and dogpile the opponent.
Chou-Chou’s pummel is a relatively slow headbutt that inflicts 3% per hit.
[[Special Pummel - Scrub Down!]]
Chou-Chou calls out
“Get em guys!” to have a Shampuru cling onto the opponent and scrub them down, soap bubbles appearing around the victim’s flesh. Yes, Shampuru have the power to scrub away evil, and if they can’t scrub then they’ll smack away instead. This is a very, very fast Pummel that deals however much damage the Shampuru would have done as a projectile per hit, meaning it can be one of the best pummels in the game if you had a lot of Shampuru around you… especially Overwhelming Shampuru. Of course, it’s only fair given you need Shampuru around you to pull it off in the first place, and that they were very prone to being taken out by an opponent. You can only sic 10 Shampuru onto an opponent at once, however.
Shampuru made to cling on an opponent will remain doing so even after the grab has finished, and will proceed to smack at them for 1/10th of their regular damage output every second until shaken off like Pikmin, one at a time. Shampuru cannot be damaged while clinging onto an opponent, but they become vulnerable to attack once they fall off and thus are very easy to KO afterwards unless Chou-Chou comes to their aid. Despite the risks associated with exposing the Shampuru to danger, Chou-Chou can take advantage of the situation by juggling the opponent and using the Shampuru that fall off of them, even use the U-Smash to teleport the lot. Some of the clinging Shampuru can even be deadly to opponents, like Dynamite Shampuru that can blow up in their face if their D-air was too powerful.
Making Shampuru cling to an opponent provides 2 more benefits for Chou-Chou. First, it changes the Shampuru Chou-Chou gets through moe kills into one of the types that were clinging, always prioritizing non-Private/Pilot Shampuru if there were other types, but not including Overwhelming Shampuru. Second, the last Shampuru set to fall off the opponent acts as a target for Chou-Chou’s Side Special so long as she doesn’t throw any more Shampuru until then, the opponent taking horizontal knockback from the sweetspot. Using the Side Special causes all Shampuru clinging onto the opponent to fall off of them however, whether they dodge or not, so it’s a one-shot thing and not something you can spam. You can even just use the move to get all the Shampuru safely off the foe if you like.
[[F-throw - Ultimate Pitch]]
Endorsing the spirit of wacky, Chou-Chou whacks the opponent with a pink baseball bat! This delivers 11% and high horizontal knockback that can seal the deal at around 125%, dealing very little hitstun and putting enemies in a position where they can set-up and shoot projectiles while moving back without too much trouble, providing they don't tumble off the stage first. Chou-Chou can react when the opponent can, making it good for moe kill opportunities or using the Side Special.
[[B-throw - I’ll Let You Off The Hook This Time]]
Chou-Chou uses her ribbons to lift her opponent off the ground before lightly slamming them behind her, dealing 8% and alright non-KO’ing knockback on a high angle. A simple throw, but one that Chou-Chou needs: it keeps opponents close to her unless their damage percent is absurdly high, giving her the means to harvest a moe kill from them when most of her other moves would result in KO’ing them. It also lets Chou-Chou keep tabs on the opponent and follow-up easily with her adaptable melee game.
[[U-throw - Spinning Tower]]
A 4-man Link Attack from the game, Chou-Chou lifts the opponent above her head before she spins up into the air with them while facing the screen, covering 4 SBBs before descending. You can move Chou-Chou back and forth in midair as she rises, similarly to the Koopa King’s Flying Slam, but she’ll automatically move back to where she performed the throw once she starts descending. Once Chou-Chou lands, she’ll slam her opponent into the ground with such force that they’ll receive 12% and be launched tremendously on a 20 degree angle, but the scaling from this is poor enough that it won’t KO reliably until 150%. Foes can also DI rather easily due to the attack’s insanely long duration, though said duration is also beneficial to onstage Shampuru. Regardless, this throw is a very good spacer, especially given Chou-Chou can have it end prematurely on a platform above her and just fall through it.
Nearby Shampuru will join in on this attack by stacking themselves to form a tower (if that wasn’t already the case) that holds up the opponent and is in turn held up by Chou-Chou. The spinning then proceeds as normal, but the opponent takes an extra 0.3% for every Shampuru involved in the throw. What’s more, a Shampuru tower will automatically be created and Chou-Chou will end up right above it, effectively placing her higher off the ground for the more Shampuru she used in the throw - maybe even well above the opponent. Shampurus make this a great set-up move if you had a good number of them, especially since you can use the throw to position them on a platform that was above you given they don’t normally follow you into the air.
You might not get a tall tower with just nearby Shampuru, but any Shampuru you make contact with while spinning will join in on the attack. What’s more, you can hold any input or direction on the control stick when the hit connects to have Chou-Chou send out ALL her reserve peons from her clothes (no, I am not kidding) to form a tower beneath her, even add to the Shampuru she already has out. This will more than likely give Chou-Chou a tower tall enough to be able to follow-up on an opponent or get above them, but it’s insanely risky to just shell out all your peons for such a chance when you’re leaving them all open to being killed. Of course, this also makes for good bait and can be used to your advantage if you’re clever.
[[D-throw - Sticky Soap]]
A mad look on her face, Chou-Chou tosses the foe down in front of her before kicking them away! This deals 2 hits of 4% before delivering decent diagonal downwards knockback that scales well and would KO offstage at around 110%, but often leaves the opponent lying in prone at the peak of the knockback if they didn’t slide off the stage. This serves as a good opportunity to try and pull off a reflection ball or nail the foe with a Shampuru.
Any Shampuru that make contact with the sliding opponent will attempt to cling onto them, just like with the Pummel, again maxing out at 10 Shampurus. This is effective for scooping up stray Shampuru ahead of you, and it doesn’t really matter if they good offstage or you KO the opponent with them clinging on since they’ll just be added back to your reserves.
(((OVERWHELMING PLAYSTYLE)))
[[Undisputed God of the Universe]]
The main character of a fighting game is often known for being the most accessible and easiest fighter to pick up among the roster, but in Chou-Chou’s case it’s actually the other way round: she’s one of the most difficult characters to use! Not that Mugen Souls is a very easy game to play or understand in the first place, for Chou-Chou has to carry the weight of its game mechanics on her godly shoulders. Mugen Souls is all about being ambitious, taking everything for yourself and being over-the-top, so it should go without saying that Chou-Chou would embody all those traits.
No matter the match-up, Chou-Chou will always want to prioritize gathering more peons, as only then can she fight with her true potential. A simple way of doing this is to moe kill your opponent’s projectiles, but it’s a slow and tedious process that can be met with backlash if you’re not careful: remember that opponents can take advantage of the moe kill process to get a few frames ahead of Chou-Chou, but they can also outright interrupt the moe kill if they had projectile spam on their side… say, Falco and his laser. That’s not to say Chou-Chou doesn’t have a way around this, as she can just short-hop continuously so she’s not caught in any sort of dangerous projectile stream. Enemies can set-up, but it goes without saying that if you don’t approach them and just spam moe kill on their projectiles, they will try to approach you. If Chou-Chou moe kills enough projectiles, she can just set-up Laser Shampuru near her and have them provide cover as she charges one of her Smashes, namely the F-Smash, and most projectiles will have a difficult time nailing Shampuru given how short they are. Thus, she can become dangerous to those who camp against her for too long.
Moe killing is, of course, most effective when used directly on the enemy, yielding Shampuru more quickly than just turning objects into peons. As such, Chou-Chou benefits from fighting up-close and damaging the enemy as much as she does camping, if not more so. She can fight comfortably from any distance and has no one true preference for where she wants to be in a fight, able to take advantage of both close and long-ranged battles. Up-close, she can fight back with one of her fast melee attacks or attempt to pull off a moe kill. Mid-range gives her the opportunity to use one of her high-ranged attacks like the F-tilt or aerials, the Side Special or nail the foe with a quick Shampuru toss. Long-range is useful for set-up, baiting foes into using their projectiles or throwing out a reflection ball or two.
While the importance of gathering peons is already obvious enough, it’s not to say Chou-Chou can’t make good use of the 10 Private Shampuru she starts off each stock with. They may not seem impressive on their own, but even the weakest Shampuru can be deadly when you take Chou-Chou’s Side Special into account, hitting unsuspecting opponents for more than they bargained for. Shampuru also make great bait for an opponent, and in some match-ups they’ll be immune to their projectiles as they go flying right over their heads, forcing them to actually approach (and Chou-Chou can moe kill that projectile!). The whole baiting business is especially helped by the fact that Private Shampuru don’t cause flinching, encouraging foes to try and run ahead and hit them as they bounce back or maybe even intercept with one of their attacks just as they bounce off of them. If you really want to make the bait more convincing, you can attempt to gamble all your peons on a small peon ball or maybe form them into a tower as an easy target for the opponent. A Shampuru tower is easy enough to target with projectiles, and you can even use this to moe kill them as Chou-Chou hides right behind the tower and has the moe kill radius extend through them. It’s also very easy for Chou-Chou to intercept opponents trying to attack her Shampuru through her long-ranged melee attacks. But really, not all opponents are just going to go for your Shampuru given they’re not really a threat when they’re just lying around: some might even just go for Chou-Chou, something she’ll have to be especially careful of.
((( EX SKILL)))
Get ready to be overwhelmed! Glowing with the radiant colors of the 7 worlds, a fiery aura flares up around Chou-Chou before she performs an astronomically high leap, going well past the top blast zone. She then, almost immediately, lands in front of the nearest opponent and hits them with a sudden yet powerful punch (17%) that emits several rainbow shockwaves and stuns them in place, which is then followed up by an uppercut that knocks them out into outer space (23%). If you successfully landed the first hit, then congratulations! If not, you’ll probably eat a grab or tilt to the face, so be wary.
Upon succeeding, Chou-Chou will follow-up with a cinematic attack that sees her release 7 streaks of light above her that scatter outwards before closing in on the opponent, exploding on impact and knocking them further up in the order of
yellow,
orange,
red,
indigo,
green,
blue and finally
violet (17% x 7). After this, Chou-Chou flies into her opponent and uppercuts them further into space (42%) before they’re finally finished off by a massive, colorful explosion that completely engulfs them (99%). The damage totals in at a ludicrous 300% and knockback that WILL kill any opponent no matter what, which is of course entirely fitting for Chou-Chou.
"And that’s that!"
[[Chou-Chou’s Personas]]
Before we finish things up, there is one little matter that needs to be addressed: Chou-Chou’s other 7 forms. In the original game, you could change between forms in the midst of battle, but Smash requires you pick a form as an alternate costume and stick with it for the battle. Each form has different dialogue and a different set of stats due to there being a difference in their heights, which in turn gives some of them more melee range at the cost of being just a -bit- slower. Also, each form uses the element they’re associated with by default during the Side Special.
(((C.C SADIST)))
"Hmhmhm. Have you reached your limit? That’s fine. You may drool to your heart’s content."
The first of Chou-Chou’s forms is a dominant force that likes to whip and abuse unwilling victims, her words seductive-sounding and filled with innuendo. Her torture comes in both physical and verbal forms, but she doesn’t like torturing those who want to be punished, making her a dreadful yet annoying presence. Despite her personality, she’d definitely appeal to masochists or those looking for a dynamite body…
Height: 164cm
Weight: 6
Ground Speed: 6
Jumps: 6
Air Speed: 5
Fall Speed: 7
Traction: 6
(((C.C MASOCHIST)))
"Yipes! U-Um, excuse me… Please forgive me, my lady! I’ll do anything you ask…"
C.C Masochist is the polar opposite of Sadist; she has an inferiority complex and is constantly apologizing to everyone she meets, even Shampuru. She loves being called names and receiving pain, but hates being treated with kindness. She can be surprisingly difficult to handle, but sadists will love using her as a toy, and even the most stubborn of personalities may give into her continuous apologies…
Height: 144cm
Weight: 8
Ground Speed: 5
Jumps: 6
Air Speed: 5
Fall Speed: 3
Traction: 10
(((C.C BIPOLAR)))
"T-This is the only time I’ll let you see me like this, got it!?"
Yep, this Chou-Chou is a bonafide tsundere, “bipolar” merely being used by NIS America to keep consistency with all the English terms. Stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside, her words and desires completely contrast with each other. Any light novel protagonist would know that her kind are especially difficult to deal with, especially since she’ll follow you around until you get the hint. Likely to get into an argument with other tsunderes.
Height: 154cm
Weight: 5
Ground Speed: 5
Jumps: 5
Air Speed: 6
Fall Speed: 6
Traction: 6
(((C.C HYPER)))
"That’s oooooh-kaaaaay! I’m doing it on purpose!"
Hyper is ridiculously energetic and also ridiculously short, easily the shortest character in the series… probably. She can’t stand waiting and always wants to play, but her idea of “playing” is rather rough and involves high-powered tackles that would easily knock out an ordinary person. Those who desire to become a more active person may take a liking to her…
Height: 114cm
Weight: 1
Ground Speed: 8
Jumps: 4
Air Speed: 10
Fall Speed: 10
Traction: 1
(((C.C GRACEFUL)))
"First, allow me to serve you all some tea."
Chou-Chou’s only form that isn’t unreasonably difficult to deal with, C.C Graceful acts as the representative and de facto leader of all the personas, speaking to the party about urgent matters regarding her significant other. She values etiquette and rules above all else, at one point attempting to prepare a tea ceremony for the party so she could explain something… actually making her annoying to some degree. Chou-Chou considers C.C Graceful her boring personality, something the latter is self-conscious about. Those with a thing for the Yamato Nadeshiko will feel as though they’ve drifted off to heaven upon seeing her…
Height: 164cm
Weight: 5
Ground Speed: 5
Jumps: 8
Air Speed: 9
Fall Speed: 2
Traction: 4
(((C.C DITZ)))
"Am I being good? Am I? You should pat me on the head!"
Ditz does everything at her own, slow pace, forcing everyone else to follow along. She doesn’t seem very intelligent, but she can actually be a bit of a troll, pointing out sensitive issues like romance that would otherwise never be brought up. Those who just want to sleep away their whole lives would take a liking to her…
Height: 154cm
Weight: 5
Ground Speed: 4
Jumps: 5
Air Speed: 10
Fall Speed: 3
Traction: 1
(((C.C TERSE)))
"Gross. A little toad begging a girl like her to kill him. Just croak, toad."
Terse rarely speaks, but when she does it’s usually a sharp, sharp blow. She likes being around conversations, but she doesn’t like taking part in them. Those who like being insulted will enjoy the rare stings of pain she delivers.
Height: 134cm
Weight: 5
Ground Speed: 4
Jumps: 6
Air Speed: 3
Fall Speed: 4
Traction: 10